All posts by : janinepaterson

Time will tell

“We can tidy up your drive and get rid of that dip” said the man at the door.

He had been doing some work for a neighbour of ours down the road.

I’m usually wary of door to door salesmen. Having advised on consumer law for over 10 years I’ve heard all the stories.

And as the price came down the longer we talked, I was still a little concerned.

But sometimes you have to trust someone to do what they say they will.

It did need attention, there were weeds growing between the blocks and that dip, caused by rodents burrowing beneath the drive, was getting worse.

With winter coming, it seemed they called at just the right time.

So we said yes, and yesterday they turned up and did a great job.

It is looking smart and the dip has disappeared.

I guess we will have to see how it weathers, but I’m optimistic.

Hopefully the work will speak for itself.

And I will consider buying from someone at the door again.

Promoting my services door to door is not a marketing channel that would work for me, but it can work for the right business.

But there are rules around this.

And if you have any questions about promoting your products and services, whichever channel you use,  you know who to ask.

Good job really!

“Miss, you’ve got the times wrong”

And I had.

Good job I decided to do law and not accountancy when I went to university,

A wise decision I think as apparently I can’t do simple maths.

I was invigilating a chemistry mock GCSE at my daughters’ old school the other week.

Once the exam starts, you have to calculate the end time, depending on how long the exam is.

You also need to work out the extra timers too, both 25% and 50%.

I had 3 exam papers, a higher and foundation paper for the combined sciences, which was 1 hour and 15 minutes, and the standalone chemistry paper which was 1 hour and 45 minutes.

So I had to calculate 2 end times, plus 2 x 25% and 2 x 50% end times.

And I got it wrong.

So maybe the decision that a career in finance was not for me was right all those years ago.

I certainly don’t regret that decision.

32 years as a qualified solicitor has taught me a lot, and immersing myself in the world of marketing and advertising law for the last 17 years has been an interesting rollercoaster ride.

So if you have any questions about your next advertising campaign or the emails your marketing team want to send out, get in touch.

Expert legal advice with the knowledge of how it works in the real world.

A winning combination, even if I say so myself!

… on myself

1 hour a day.

Nothing more.

I didn’t know I could become obsessed with something but I was wrong.

I know other people can – my elder daughter is quite the geek when it comes to Doctor Who.

And I know a number of people who have a slight obsession with Lego – you know who you are!

But my obsession: Word Search.

I know – I’m rather embarrassed to admit this.

Let me explain:

I have solitaire on my home phone and enjoy the downtime it provides.

So I decided to find a game for my work phone.

I love words and I’d seen ads for various word search games when playing Solitaire (I don’t pay for ad free!), so I downloaded one.

There are different puzzles – standard letter grids with a list of words to find, but also ones where they hide some of the words behind smiley faces, just giving you a topic as a hint.

One game I initially struggled with.

Find the synonym – they give you a word and you have to find a similar one in the grid.

And it became really addictive, trying to find the answers, and that’s when I realised I was playing it all the time

It’s a good brain game, improving my vocabulary, so I don’t want to stop entirely.

So I’ve cut my game time.

I’ll see how that goes.

Honest I’m not

My hubby and I take it in turns to get up in the morning and let the pup out.

Weekends are a little later, but a certain young man thought it was very late last Sunday.

The clocks went back an hour, so when we went down at 8.30, he thought it was 9.30 – not acceptable in his humble opinion

This change catches out humans as well. My younger daughter was away for the weekend and only remembered when she came down on Sunday morning to all the clocks being put right.

But how do you explain this to a dog?

I explain aspects of marketing and advertising law to clients every day so they understand what they have to do and why.

But I’m stumped when it comes to explaining British Summer Time and Greenwich Mean Time to a hound

I’m sure he will adapt over the next couple of days.

We will have to see if he reacts the same when he loses an hour’s sleep next March!

I got carried away

Last week I told you I was celebrating a professional milestone – 34 years since I qualified as a solicitor.

Well I slightly got my dates mixed up.

It’s actually 32 years!

I was so into celebrating what I had achieved, my maths went slightly awry.

But what’s 2 years between friends!

Since this small mistake, I have been thinking about how easy it is to miss something.

In this case, it’s not really a big deal, and something I can easily rectify – check my maths before pressing schedule!

But in other aspects of business, what seem to be small mistakes can have bigger consequences.

Recently, a complaint about a misleading image in an ad on Facebook was upheld by the ASA.

The ad, for an online platform for new and expectant parents, stated:

“Mums, have you claimed Your Baby Box worth over £50 yet?”,

and showed an image of the baby box with various products for babies and new mums.

However, the contents of the box were subject to change, and despite text in the ad saying this and that the image was for illustration purposes only, the ASA ruled it was not an accurate representation of what mums would receive.

The company hadn’t thought about the wider implications of using the image, including in this case the way ads are displayed on social media.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and using an image to show your products is a good idea, however there are things you need to consider in order to keep you on the right side of the ASA.

Today marks 32 years since I proudly qualified as a solicitor.

This journey was long, four years at university, one year at Law School, and a two year training contract.

Finally, I could call myself a solicitor.

Looking back, it’s incredible how much I’ve achieved both personally and professionally.

My career has been diverse, beginning with criminal law, expanding into matrimonial cases, and then transitioning to an in-house role focusing on consumer law advice.

And then my current journey began, marketing and advertising law.

It was an interesting learning curve, and one that continues today – every day being a school day as they say!

But there were moments early in my career when I questioned my choice of profession.

At times, I even thought I wouldn’t choose law if given another chance.

However, reflecting on the past 17 years assisting business owners and senior managers in navigating the complexities of promoting their products and services, I can confidently say I would choose this path again.

Understanding all the rules is crucial for any business, and many people are not even aware they exist

And the impact they have on maintaining customer trust and loyalty is not to be underestimated.

… for making my mornings a little easier.

My morning doesn’t really get going until I’ve had my first cup of coffee.

I’m easily pleased, black, no sugar, instant or cafetiere.

And it appears we have Kaldi, a goat herder in 9^th century Ethiopia to thank.

Legend has he noticed his goats were very energetic after eating the coffee beans that grew all around them.

So, let’s raise a cup to Kaldi, especially today as its the 10^th International Coffee Day.

Created to celebrate the coffee bean and raise awareness of the difficulties coffee farmers face in our changing world.

There are over 100 species of coffee grown mainly in the “Coffee Belt” a region of the world between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, as the climate there is perfect for growing coffee.

This includes India and Indonesia in Southeast Asia, Mexico and Costa Rica in Central America, Columbia (my favourite) and Brazil in South America, and Kenya and Ethiopia in Africa.

The levels of caffeine vary depending on the species and how the coffee is brewed, with even decaf having low levels, around 1 – 2% of a regular cup.

So next time you put on the kettle for a brew, you can thank Kaldi, and his excellent powers of observation. Without them, mornings may be just a little harder.

Goldilocks!

The text said:

“is your lunch portion too big, too small or just right?”

My daughter’s reaction:

“Who am I – Goldilocks?”

She does have the right hair colour to be fair!

This was a question I had sent her as I was portioning up the mac ‘n’ cheese we had made. I wanted to make sure I got the right size for her lunches.

We cook lunch every day and always make enough so there are leftovers for her.

She is the envy of her work colleagues with a home cooked lunch every day.

Getting the right portion size makes sense as it maximises our efforts and avoids food waste.

And this applies when I am tailoring my retainer service for each client.

As it’s flexible, I can work out what support they need, so nothing is wasted.

If tailored legal support to help with your marketing and advertising compliance sounds like something you could benefit from, you know where I am.

It can be costly

We had to take the pup to the vet the other day.

He was losing weight, was not himself and he was chewing his paws, making them red and inflamed.

The vet said these were classic signs of a food allergy which can happen in young dogs.

She thought it was the chicken in the food we give him, as chicken and beef  can cause issues in pups.

So we looked at alternatives from our supplier and discovered something worrying.

It wasn’t the chicken that’s the problem, it’s the wheat!

We knew that some dogs are gluten intolerant (they are also lactose intolerant) so we had chosen a wheat free chicken puppy food which he loved.

So when we moved onto the junior range, we moved him to the chicken version of that, as we assumed it was also wheat free.

Wrong – unlike the other 2 flavours, the chicken one has wheat in it.

So, while we waited for our supplier to deliver a different flavour, lamb & rice, we went out and found one to keep us going.

And the pup loves it, bowl emptied and licked clean.

He is more like himself and he’s stopped chewing his paws so much. I know it will take time for the irritation to subside.

This made me realise the dangers of assuming things. I will definitely look at the ingredients when we move him on next time.

Now making assumptions about your marketing and advertising can be costly.

Just because your ad copy was compliant in the past doesn’t mean that can’t change.

Rules change and it can be easy to miss important updates.

So if you need someone to review your ad copy to ensure its legit, you know where to find me.  

And it’s so easy to fix

Many people are not bothered with spelling and grammar these days, saying it’s old fashioned and not necessary in our digital lives.

But I disagree.

I received 3 email newsletters the other day and all of them had either spelling mistakes or words missing!

This is disappointing.

Spelling can be difficult for many – it wasn’t something I got to grips with until I went to uni – but putting out content with spelling mistakes, and whole words missing, is not showing you in the best light.

You only get one chance to make a first impression, so don’t waste it for want of a spell/grammar checker.

And I know, it can be a case of not seeing the wood for the trees when it comes to our own work.

So ask someone to read it- I get my other half to check mine and he sometimes spots something I’ve missed.

And this is so much more important when it comes to your marketing and advertising copy.

An ad about your products and services that is interesting and catches the viewers’ attention is what you’re aiming for, so don’t detract from that with simple spelling and grammar errors, as these are likely to be what they remember.

The devil is in the detail they say, so if you need a fresh pair of eyes on your copy, and ones that can make sure the content is compliant as well, you know where I am!

Because I’m more than a proof reader.

PS. You can get this support as part of my retainer service – reviewing the ad copy is within the rules as well as spelling and grammar