Editors notes from Cassie Moyse

Welcome to Issue 1 of Portfolio North’s dedicated Yorkshire edition.

Following 17 editions of Portfolio North in the North East, we’ve decided to launch a dedicated Yorkshire version of the magazine – and I could not be more excited about growing the publication in this amazing region.

We’re here to shout about the fantastic property and business opportunities that Yorkshire has to offer – from its robust and dedicated business community to its outstanding lifestyle businesses, bars, restaurants, hotels. We’re passionate about the North and we want to tell our readers about the impressive achievements and milestones which come from its businesses.

It’s all about supporting one another to create better places to live, work and socialise. Portfolio North exists to promote businesses and to help them in creating a bigger and better customer and client base, to create job opportunities and see direct, indirect, and induced economic activity which comes from businesses across all sectors. As a marketeer by trade, I understand the importance of PR, brand building and marketing – so my priority to create a great platform and audience for businesses across the North.

A particular element of the publication which I think serves us very well and that I am proud of is our distribution strategy. The magazine is complimentary, we choose who receives it and each area we target. From local people of influence to business owners, investors and high-net wort individuals. We distribute directly to those people, drop magazines in the best hotels and cafes as well as to prestigious residential areas.

We know exactly who our magazine goes to and know our geography, so that no opportunities are missed. We are always in the right place at the right time. Last week, partner of ours recently landed a multi-million pound contract because of an article their client saw in the magazine. Others have also signed significant business directly from our readers.

We recently conducted a perception survey which reported that 32% of our readers are business owners, whilst a further 22% are directors. This confirmed that our distribution, content strategy and established mailing list is what we need it to be to reach the right people for our partners, advertisers and contributors.

Part of our journey since launching has included building our digital presence, adapting and implementing new technology along the way. We want our website to be a hub of breaking news, and our readers benefit hugely from our quick coverage and promotion on social media. We began receiving a raft of press releases, so we decided to take the next step in creating an easy to use self-upload platform for PR professionals and business owners to use to submit their good news.

Each story is approved and formatted by the team, so we can maintain a high standard of news and presentation, while also creating the opportunity for us to share even more stories. In its first ten weeks 400 stories were uploaded and we look forward to that number growing as we welcome more PR firms in the North to the platform.

The Portfolio North Wine Club is now in motion, and our events are now underway which I hope to do many more of in 2023 – including a variety of networking opportunities. We will also have exclusive content online covering wine reviews, the best places to visit to sample the best wines across North East and Yorkshire and coverage of our events. You can keep up to date on the latest from the Portfolio North Wine Club, and other news from us and our partners, by signing up to our e-newsletter.

If the past few years have taught us anything, it is the importance of the ability to be agile and to be able to adapt to changing market conditions. Ensuring we continue with an established print readership, a growing digital presence, in person events, OOH advertising campaigns and more are all steps to futureproof and grow Portfolio North while remaining true to our core beliefs.

Portfolio North began as a publication to support and publicise established and award-winning property firm Bradley Hall and its clients. It has since grown and moved on, and is now a standalone publication, supporting dozens of clients and partners. I am delighted to still be working very closely with Bradley Hall and to now be on its board as it continues to grow its presence in the North – creating 60 new jobs and doubling turnover.

The managing director of Bradley Hall’s Yorkshire operation, David Cran continues to do a fantastic job of growing the business in the area and I am looking forward to seeing this part of the business grow significantly over the coming years.

While it’s important to be responsive and dynamic, one thing will remain consistent and that’s the fact that Portfolio will always promote good news from Northern businesses, lifestyle articles and the best properties from across the region.

Put simply, that’s what we are – a platform for great business news and lifestyle inspiration. Never pretentious and never void of purpose.

Thank you all for reading.