This edition we speak to Maggie Berry, Managing Director of Women in Technology.

Q: Why do you use PR?
A: We use PR to make female technologists aware of the opportunities available to them in the sector, as well as helping businesses to understand the importance of gender equality in the workplace. We have so much to offer the industry that one of our major goals is to ensure that every woman in technology comes into contact with us at some point during their career. This can be through a networking event, through our site, or through reading our advice in the press coverage generated through PR. Another reason is that it has a completely different effect to advertising. Anyone with the right budget can buy advertising space, but PR places you as an expert in your field within prestigious and targeted trade publications.

Q: How do you measure ROI?
A: We measure ROI by how our clients and candidates react to the press coverage they’ve seen, and we monitor increases in our web traffic following PR activity. We get a lot of feedback on articles people have read that bring to light the positive work we do. That is how we know we’re getting our message out there.
Q: What advice would you give to recruitment businesses considering PR?
A: Don’t expect advertising and instant results. PR is a completely different kettle of fish and if you’re looking to use it to promote a short-term initiative, you may want to think about your aims. For example, if you’re trying to immediately convert sales, PR may not be for you. However, PR can work wonders for longer term aims, particularly given that recruiters aren’t always the most popular of professionals. If you have a niche and want to set yourself apart from the crowd and establish yourself in key media as an industry expert, PR is definitely for you. If you’re thinking about investing in PR, it is worth noting that identifying an agency that is an expert in your field may be more beneficial than a generalist PR agency. This is certainly the case with us and BlueSky, who know the recruitment sector and can identify with the challenges we face as a business exceptionally well.

Having graduated in PR and Journalism nearly four years ago I jumped straight into the PR world with a graduate role in a communications agency, where I tried my hand at various PR elements in several industries. Since then I have narrowed down my interests to the HR and Benefits industry and have worked on PR campaigns with key industry leaders over the past two years.

In my new role at BlueSky PR I will be bringing my background in the sector to new clients in the recruitment, RPO and benefits industry.

My enthusiasm for writing and public relations started during my college years where an interesting combination of media studies and English literature introduced me to the world of creative writing and journalism.

I’ve also recently completed a course in digital marketing and am a real advocate of social media as a PR tool – if you want to hear about some of the latest social media news, trends and tips follow my twitter account @VickieCollinge

My main interests are in the creative arts, most notably classic literature and music. I taught myself piano at a young age (though I am by no means an expert!) and eventually went on to learn to play my dream instrument the saxophone. I am always eager for a new challenge and am looking forward to working with the team on innovative PR activity.

For some recruitment businesses, the decision to undertake PR can be a hard one. Recruitment is hugely results driven and ROI is easily measurable. PR is different, and it can take some time to see results. With this in mind, we thought we’d feature a Q&A in each newsletter with a recruiter who uses PR, and why they do so. This edition we speak to David Leyshon, MD of specialist technical and engineering recruiter, CBSbutler.

Q: Why do you use PR?

A: We use PR as a key element to achieving our ultimate business goals: namely to promote the company as an employer of choice, build the brand amongst target communities and, in all cases, to create positive messages for the market place.

Q: How do you measure ROI?

A: ROI within PR can be somewhat qualitative. While loose financial returns can be applied to media insertions, we largely base it around feedback from stakeholders. And in the case of candidates, the number of applicants who refer to key PR events, such as awards.

Q:What advice would you give to recruitment businesses considering PR?

A: Be clear about your priorities and business objectives, define your strategy and agree a set of expectations via measurable service levels e.g. the number of media articles per quarter. Once you’ve decided on your goals, hold regular reviews to discuss performance and fine tune the approach and tactics used. Be prepared to enter into a two-way partnership; the quality of work delivered by PR professionals is highly dependent on the material your team offers up – they cannot perform miracles!

Campaign: The Global Snapshot

Client: Antal International

Budget: £25,000 annual budget

Antal International, a management recruitment specialist, operating in 30 countries worldwide, appointed BlueSky PR to look at the marketing challenges generated by its global reach. Whilst the 75 individual offices were well known within their domestic markets, its overall global brand awareness amongst potential candidates and clients needed improving. Antal asked BlueSky to come up with a campaign.

Objectives:

• To raise awareness of the Antal brand on a global basis
• To keep the costs of the project down. Previous quotes from a major international PR firm had come in at £350,000 annually.

Strategy and plan: 

In order to keep the cost of the project down without sacrificing quality, the PR team came up with the idea of a simple quarterly survey which would monitor hiring and firing levels of managers and professionals in key markets around the world. The PR team knew this would appeal to both specialist and generalist media because employment trends are often are a reliable indicator of wider economic ones.

The survey, limited to four basic questions – are you hiring now, do you plan to hire in the next three months, are you firing now, are you planning to hire in the next three months, was carried out by Antal’s own consultants. The PR team reasoned that by including the consultants in the research would not only keep costs down, but also provide a valuable business development opportunity giving them a reason to contact potential clients.

With the research completed, the PR team turned it into a written report and then produced press releases tailored to each country.  The report was used for marketing purposes and the press releases were distributed on a global basis.  The PR team produced a ‘guide to dealing with the media’ so individual offices could distribute the releases to the local media without incurring large fees to use a news wire service.

Measurement and evaluation

The campaign generated hundreds of pieces of coverage in diverse media such as the Financial Times, CNN, Spain’s El Mundo, The Times of China, the Gulf’s Arabian Business, as well as TV interviews on stations such as CNBC.  All this has resulted in brand recognition and credibility on a global basis.

Results

As a direct result of the survey, Antal secured several new clients on a global basis. This included companies in the UK, Netherlands, China, Poland, India and the Middle East. During the 2 months following the release of the survey, the Antal website also experienced a 20% increase in unique users.

Q: Why do you use PR?

 A: We use PR to reach our three main audiences – clients, candidates and potential employees, Without having a PR strategy in place we simply wouldn’t get ourselves in front of the right people in the right way. PR has been instrumental to our success not only in winning new business, but also in reaching specialist candidates because the coverage we have gained has positioned us as real experts in our field.

Q: How do you measure a ROI?

A:  The biggest ROI we have seen is winning a new client by ensuring that we use our press coverage as an inherent part of our pitch. We took a piece of coverage to a client meeting which featured us talking about the energy trading space in a commodities publication. That really differentiated us from our competitors and won us the assignment. We also monitor our website traffic following blog posts, and the increase in Twitter followers over each quarter.

Q: What advice would you give to recruitment businesses considering PR?

A:  Remember that the effect of your PR efforts may take some time to show, and it needs a sustained approach.  It might take a couple of months before the phone starts ringing following an article you have written, but be patient and remember to use the coverage gained in your own marketing to clients.

Having studied Public Relations at Bournemouth University for four years and working in industry for a further two, I can honestly say that I love the world of communications. I have been lucky enough to be involved in some interesting and unique projects in the past, and I will be bringing on board  all of the skills and lessons I have learnt along the way.

People often ask why I chose such a specific degree and remark on my interesting career choice. But picking a degree in Public Relations was an easy decision to make –  I have always wanted to be  part of the communications industry. At the tender age of 14, I was required to make the drastic decision of where I would complete my two weeks work experience as part of a school project. Having always loved English and Media Studies, I had no idea what kind of career I could follow, but decided that a placement in the PR department at my local council would be a good  starting point, (even though I had no clue what PR actually was!). Understandably, the work at a local council wasn’t the most extravagant or thrilling experience, but I soon caught the PR bug and thoroughly loved my work experience. From that day onwards there was no other career path I wanted to follow, so  I set my sights on becoming a PR practitioner and have never looked back.

I have worked in a variety of environments, from charity PR to construction PR, through to helping students develop and create PR and campaign strategies on subjects they feel passionately about. I am now looking forward to working in the recruitment sector.

My main interests include politics and reading, but I am also a massive film geek and love nothing more than a DVD session of some classic films. I have a strong passion for volunteering and try to give as much time as I can to help charities with their hard work.

I have joined BlueSky as the latest Account Executive and will be working predominately on the recruitment side of the business. I look forward to facing new challenges at BlueSky and hope to meet and work with some of you in the future.

Some of you know and some of you don’t, but tomorrow marks my last day at BlueSky and the end of an era!

Almost four years ago I started my journey at BlueSky HQ as a fresh-faced graduate knowing not very much about the world of recruitment, or PR. Fast forward to 2011 and well, I still look as young as I did back then, but like to think that I’m older and wiser. It has been an interesting few years – we’ve had the recession but also the boom in social media and the digitalisation of both the PR and recruitment worlds. What’s more I have seen the company grow and have very much enjoyed being a part of it. Some of my highlights include our many trips to the waffle house, several drunken evenings at the Recruiter awards (we’ll save those stories for a rainy day) and of course meeting all you lovely people along the way.

So a big thanks to Tracey, Adrian and the rest of the team for being so brill to work for / with and helping me grow into the PR ‘rocket in your pocket’ that I am today! And thanks to all the journalists, clients, and tweeters that I’ve had the pleasure of working with.

I’ll still be tweeting in some capacity so you can continue to follow me or follow @blueskypr and the rest of the team for all the goings on at BS HQ.

Well that’s about it folks – I’m going to wrap up before I get too emotional about my last BlueSky blog. But as they say, it’s au revoir not goodbye…

The search is on…

A fantastic new opportunity has opened up at BlueSky PR for a great writer, account handler or media relations bod to take on a new challenge!

Who are we?

We’re a niche PR agency with clients in both the recruitment and business education sectors. On the recruitment side, we handle a variety of multi-sector recruiters at all levels and, on the business education side, we cater to the press needs of some truly prestigious, global schools.

We’re a small but busy team, with a good balance between heads-down work and focus and having a laugh. We’re friendly and fair and like to think we play on people’s strengths to really make the best of their skills, rather than pushing them into a job spec.

Is BlueSky right for you?

We’re after somebody with writing, account handling and media relations skills – ideally with all three, but any combination of the above would complement our existing skill set. The successful candidate will be working across our portfolio of recruitment clients, so some experience in the recruitment sector would be preferable.

Your potential is more important than your background – it doesn’t matter whether you’re a junior account handler, an account manager, a marketer, a talented writer or an ex-recruiter with a passion for media relations – this could be your chance to make your move into PR.

The details

We’re based just outside of Harpenden, within easy driving distance of North London. Interested? To find out more about BlueSky PR and the opportunities we have available, contact adrian@bluesky-pr.net

I’m a recent English graduate from the University of Exeter. Since graduating I’ve spent 8 months working in contract SEO copywriting, social media and blogging roles, in both the recruitment and education sectors, and now I’m thrilled to bring my writing experience to a wider PR role.

My main interests include politics, singing and songwriting, writing fiction and social media. In my spare time you’ll find me recording music, working on a new home decorating project or just curled up with a book or in front of a great film.

I’ll be working across the recruitment and business education sides of the business as an Account Executive. I look forward to meeting and working with you all in the future.

Follow me on Twitter

We’ve been providing PR and communication services to clients for almost ten years now, and by partnering with Starr Tincup we will be able to further expand our offering on an international scale. Together, we will be providing clients the following services:

• Brand and message development
• Market positioning
• Sales and marketing strategy
• Annual marketing plans
• Direct marketing, lead generation and demand generation through print, email and mobile channels
• Design – Web, print, social and mobile
• Public relations
• Media and analyst relations
• Thought leadership, including white papers, blogs and articles
• Executive communication
• Surveys and market research reports
• Web and application development
• Collateral materials, including brochures, newsletters, mailers and direct mail
• Social media consulting and development
• Video/multimedia
• Tradeshow strategy and consulting
• Product launches

If you would like any more information on these services, get in touch with us on +44 (0) 1582 790 700