APOLLO FACT OF THE DAY: MARK THOMPSON TO STEP DOWN AS DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE BBC IN AUTUMN

Small Business

While it is possible for any publicity campaign to fall flat, the right story told at the right time in the right way can bring powerful and valuable attention to your business far in excess of what you spend to develop it.

We believe this more than ever because the media universe isn't what it used to be. There are more cable channels, more radio channels, more magazines, and infinitely more Web sites, blogs, and other online avenues than any of us could have imagined a decade or two ago. At the same time, journalists are being forced to get along with fewer resources. So there is more content to fill with less time to do it and if there is one thing that news organisations hate - it's a news vacuum. This presents a golden opportunity for your small business good news story.

We believe creativity is the key. We pride ourselves on working hard to understand the detail of your business to unearth what will really attract the attention of the public and make an easy sell to journalists. It could be an interesting fact about the person behind the business, a new market which your type of product has never reached before, something unique you are doing in tough economic times or a radical new CSR initiative that larger businesses should be copying.

Whether you need a one off media campaign or a steady stream of publicity in one key trade publication, we have a team that will devise a tailored approach. Throughout our dealings with you we will have a laser-like focus to ensuring we get the type of media coverage that will actually make a difference to the bottom line of your business.

We will be completely up front about what will work and won't. If we feel what you want will not actually be achievable or make a difference to your customer base then we will say so. If we feel a brand new approach may actually help you break into a whole different sphere of media then we will also say so. But our entire focus is about ensuring that your faith in investing in media relations will reap a return.

We work with a number of exciting start ups that are backed by major venture capital funding. This includes Brainient which won the early stage UK startup competition Seedcamp Week. Brainient is set to revolutionize the internet video advertising industry as it has devised the world's first platform which enables brands to easily add layers of interactive add ons to their internet video adverts. Similar to the iphone app store, marketing execs can head to the "LayeredBrain" store and buy "layers" which they can easily place on top of their adverts.