"I was consistently impressed with the way in which the team produced relevant and well-written content for our newsletters each and every month with very little input from us. Left to our own devices the staff newsletter would have fizzled out after the first couple of months but they took the lead and kept it alive and interesting and it is very well received by our staff."
Specialist coach holiday and private hire company Skills Holidays came to us for expert support when they wanted to bolster their internal communications. They were keen to introduce a staff newsletter but had no internal capacity with which to do so.
They did have a full-time in-house graphic designer, who also took on some marketing tasks, but to launch a newsletter they needed both project management and copywriting support.
Acting like part of the team
We met with the senior team to establish exactly what they wanted and needed, and then took on the task of running the monthly publication – developing the production schedule and page plan for each issue, suggesting topics to cover, prompting contributors for their submissions in good time, editing where needed, and writing the majority of the articles from our own research and by interviewing team members.
We also created features to help launch Skills’ ‘Go Green’ sustainability drive and crafted important and sensitive articles informing current staff about company acquisitions and welcoming new teams into the Skills ‘fold’. We regularly contacted managers for updates on operational and company news, industry legislation and health and safety (always a challenging task with such a busy team and so many of its members frequently away from the office).
As Skills is a family-run business, we also supported the company culture and community feel by featuring stories about the staff themselves and creating competitions, wordsearches and ideas for family fun around holiday times such as Christmas and Easter.
We made sure each article was approved by the relevant manager and then sent the content to their graphic designer, who created and sent us draft artwork for proofing before print.
An ideal partner
Once our working relationship with Skills was up and running, the team began to turn to us for additional ad hoc PR support, including writing award entries, trade media articles, and press releases on award wins, new developments and charity work.
Working with Skills, we were able to link with their in-house team and develop corporate knowledge which then made us an ideal partner when they needed a little ad hoc, extra support for a one-off communication – without the need for a retainer that sets out specific tasks and covers all eventualities.
"Ali is efficient, effective, flexible and responsive in the way she works. I would definitely recommend her company to anyone who could use a little extra help with making their marketing and communications ideas a reality."
To find out more, drop us a line at hello@sortedcomms.co.uk or call us on 0115 678 6727.
For more information about Skills Holidays, go to skills.co.uk.
