Category: PR

National Leaders in Care Awards finalists



Sharp Minds has made it to the final five in the Best Care Marketing Team
category for the Leaders in Care awards. The shortlisting showcases our expertise in the sector –
for over a decade we have helped care providers and sector suppliers improve
their commercials and achieve their business goals.

Here’s why…

Within less than 6 months of starting work with Autumna, the UK’s largest later-life care directory, we identified an opportunity to create a groundbreaking campaign to spread awareness for their digital Dashboard for Accelerated Discharge (DAD), a unique solution for finding appropriate care options for elderly people stuck in hospital – quickly. This campaign alone secured a digital audience of more than 120 million. 

Spotting the intelligence gap

We began by conducting extensive research to discover what had been published in the arena and the intelligence gaps that could provide an opportunity for headline-winning thought leadership. This identified that there had never been a report on care providers’ experiences of the hospital discharge process. We therefore crafted a questionnaire for providers to determine the effectiveness of the current system, which was sent to the Autumna database.

The findings from 568 responses provided empirical evidence for the first time that the hospital discharge process is failing, giving a national overview as well as regional results, which revealed a postcode lottery for elderly patients waiting to be discharged from hospital. 

We turned the findings into a compelling, detailed, evidence-based 40-page report to communicate the findings effectively, project managing the design to create a report that is visually exciting and accessible. 

Tailored press releases for the national Tier 1 press, care trade press and local media (with bespoke versions for the 10 different regions), were sent out under embargo for the August bank holiday to optimise the silly season. 

The report was covered by The Times, The Independent, The Standard, BBC, ITN, Tier 1 trade press and more than 100 local newspapers around the country, creating new focus on the failing hospital discharge system.

Debbie Harris, Managing Director of Autumna shared: “Sharp Minds have played a key role in ensuring the challenges that the social care sector faces with hospital discharge are being heard across the country, and that they are being brought to the attention of the government.”

Reputation boosting

Other successful campaigns we have conducted have enabled Autumna to launch a new service to its core, care sector audience, as well as bringing the brand to a wider audience by securing coverage in the business and Tier 1 press. 

An exclusive negotiated with The Telegraph on Kent County Council charging families for acting as care brokers was the first time Autumna had featured in the national Tier 1 consumer press. 

Through effective news-hijacking, we have created additional opportunities for Autumna, cementing its reputation as a go-to commentator. 

This exceptional success has been possible through a combination of our astute PR expertise, extensive knowledge of the care sector and rigorous onboarding to understand Autumna’s business goals, challenges, opportunities and expertise.

We will find out if we’ve taken the title at the black-tie awards ceremony in National Conference Centre in Birmingham on Tuesday, 8th October.

If you are looking for support with an award application, please get in touch.

Based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Sharp Minds Communications offers brand development, digital marketing, offline marketing, and public relations to businesses across Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and Greater London.

Want to get your brand noticed? Get in touch

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Account Manager wanted – full- or part-time 

Are you an astute professional with a creative flair and an ability to think strategically, who is motivated to get the best results for clients? If so, you could be the Account Manager that we’re looking for to join our ambitious, award-winning marketing and PR company to play a key role in delivering public relations support for clients across a diverse range of sectors and sizes, as well as liaising with our marketing team to ensure PR and marketing strategies are aligned. 

The contract is offered on either a full-time or part-time basis, with blended office/wfh (maximum wfh 40%).  

Key skills and responsibilities: 

  • Running effective PR campaigns to secure editorial, including: keeping abreast of relevant political, social and sector developments; identifying opportunities for campaigns, news hijacking and thought leadership; writing press releases; maintaining media lists; nurturing effective relationships with journalists; delivering and overseeing media campaigns; monitoring and reporting campaign performance 
  • Effectively nurturing clients’ needs – working proactively to champion clients’ interests, making strategy recommendations to capitalise on potential opportunities, informed by analytics and campaign monitoring  
  • Client liaison – maintaining excellent relationships with all clients 
  • Project management – ensuring client and internal projects run smoothly and on time, juggling resources as required to meet budgets and conflicting deadlines, using internal processes and platforms effectively to ensure smooth project management and internal communications 
  • Line managing junior members of the team – developing their talent and acting as the quality gatekeeper to ensure clients receive consistently high service and outputs   
  • Working effectively with external suppliers, collaborators, sub-contractors and freelancers – including website design agencies, graphic designers, photographers, printers, video production agencies, marketers, copywriters and editors, briefing them effectively to ensure optimal outputs 
  • Core sectors: Professional services, financial services, property/construction, tech, health, care. 

You will need to have:  

  • Excellent communication skills, written and verbal, including first-class grammar, evidenced by a portfolio of content demonstrating a range of voices and styles for different brands and platforms 
  • Holistic vision to look for marketing opportunities for clients and liaise effectively with our marketing teams to ensure PR and marketing are aligned 
  • PR agency (senior account executive) or senior journalistic experience  
  • Sector experience, or be able to demonstrate how you will quickly get up to speed in these sectors: financial and professional services, technology (essential); care, property & construction, transport & logistics (good to have) 
  • Data literacy: the ability to read data to draw out stories 
  • Project management experience, ideally using appropriate software  
  • Line management experience  

In return you will receive a competitive salary and benefits and the opportunity to make your mark within a small, ambitious team as you enable the company to expand.  

Interested?  

Email your CV, three examples of your written work including at least one press release, together with a covering letter with your availability and salary expectations to communications@sharpminds.agency  

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PR and Content Marketing Account Executive vacancy

We have an exciting vacancy for a Public Relations and Content Marketing Account Executive (either full- or part-time).  You need to be a fantastic writer who is passionate about delivering results for clients; in return, we’ll give you first-class training to develop your skills and as much opportunity and responsibility as you can handle. 

About us 

We’re an established and award-winning marketing and PR agency based just outside of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, providing marketing, public relations and consultancy services for clients across a broad range of sectors and sizes, from start-ups to globally listed corporations. We live by our name and would welcome an individual who is also a ‘Sharp Mind’: ambitious for themselves, for us and for our clients.  

About the role 

The focus of the role is content marketing and public relations, with key duties including: 

  • Account management: The first point of contact for clients, you will project manage and deliver their work effectively, nurturing successful, long-term relationships and optimising opportunities for them. 
  • Public relations: Be responsible for helping to manage and grow client relationships, developing and executing successful issue-driven PR campaigns. You will have the opportunity to learn and grow at a very fast pace and be comfortable nurturing relationships with journalists.  
  • Content creation and digital management: You will agree objectives, content calendars and timetables, research content and write compelling copy for B2B and B2C clients, adapting your style for different brands, outlets and goals. You will upload and schedule content across a range of digital and social platforms, providing analytics reports to inform future marketing.  
  • Core sectors: Professional services, financial services, property/construction, tech, health, care. 

About you 

  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal – a first-class writer, your content is always engaging, clear, punchy and precise , but you are able to adapt your style for different media, clients and audiences, creating the right tone of voice for different brands to drive brand awareness and engagement.  
  • Great interpersonal skills, as you will be required to work productively within a small team, work with all levels of client teams (up to MD), and represent the company and clients to third-parties, incl. journalists.   
  • Organised: You will be responsible for managing your work as well as providing key support, including researching, managing and maintaining accurate media lists.  
  • Ambitious to develop a broad range of PR and content marketing skills or to enhance your proven skills.   
  • Aptitude: A self-starter news junky who’s not scared by numbers, you’re a natural storyteller with a flair for engaging audiences and the initiative and resilience to be able to work alone when required.  
  • Experience and education: We will consider a graduate, someone with a couple of years’ relevant experience or an experienced content and PR professional who’s had a career break.  If you’ve already got some experience, we’ll be there to guide you as you get stuck in, but if you’re just starting out, we’ll give you on-the-job training to kickstart your career. What we need as a minimum is: 
  • Qualifications: A Bachelor’s degree or two year’s relevant experience 
  • Evidence you can write: We need to see three examples of your work (PDFs or digital links) 
  • Technical skills and aptitude: Ability to use or learn digital content creation and management software 
  • Driving license: You will be required to get to client meetings under your own steam; ideally, you can drive and have access to your own car 
  • Enthusiasm, a willingness to learn and a sharp mind! 

What we can offer you 

Competitive salary (£22,500-£25,000, depending on experience), good benefits. Excellent on-the-job training to fast-track your career in marketing and PR; our previous account execs have gone on to bigger agencies in London and Maidstone.  We’re a small team, so you will be able to make a huge contribution to our success – and benefit from the opportunity to learn or refine a wide range of professional, in-demand skills and grow with the business. And we offer flexibility; we are very happy to consider part-time/flexible working arrangements (unfortunately, we can’t accommodate term-time only). 

Interested?  

Email your CV, three examples of your written work (not academic work), together with a covering letter to communications@sharpminds.agency 

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How to win at awards

‘Award winning’ helps take a brand to the next level, adding credibility and getting attention across channels. Managing Director and award ninja, Siobhan Stirling, shares her tips for taking the title and maximising the opportunity for marketing and PR.

Is applying for an award worth it?

You may turn your nose up at them, but awards bring benefits, adding value on many levels:

  • Moral booster for the team
  • Multi-channel marketing and PR opportunities
  • Boost recruitment
  • Help open doors to new markets, new clients and new investment
  • Great opportunity to take stock and reflect on all that your team has achieved – this may seem the least important, but it’s something that we’re all too often poor at doing. Awards can provide a great lens to appreciate what your brand has achieved in the last year.

If we post award success on Sharp Minds’ LinkedIn, we get around ten times the engagement as other content. When we meet business associates they always comment ‘I see you won another award.’ Amongst the hum drum of mainstream business content, a team togged up in black tie stands out and gets noticed.

Choosing which awards to apply for

Award success can help fuel business success, but simply being in it isn’t enough to win it – you also need to demonstrate to the judges why your brand, team, campaign, project or initiative deserves the crown.

When I first judged awards, I was shocked at how poor the average application was. You don’t need to invest much effort to be ahead of the pack.

Before you start an application, there are a couple of fairly axiomatic checks to make – but from judging awards, not everyone does them: make sure to check that you can match the criteria for the title you want to go for, and consider if the award is relevant and can add value to your business:

  • Can you demonstrate the qualities/outcomes the judges are looking for?
  • Can you back this up with supporting evidence?
  • Will you be able to go to the award ceremony (a requirement for some awards)?
  • Is it a title that will provide additional credibility for the markets, partners and investors you’re trying to reach? Some paid awards have devalued the currency slightly, but there are still plenty of awards that have genuine clout.

If the answer to all of these is ‘yes’, go for it. But realise that you need to invest time to ensure you tick every box (scrutinise the criteria closely to make sure you demonstrate each one).

How to write a winning award application

Researching previous winners and analysing how and why they might have won, will give you a helpful benchmark for your own application. Make sure you:

  • Demonstrate your points of difference: how do you outpace the competition? What do you do that is different or innovative? How can you evidence this?
  • Tell a story, rather than just stating facts, to make your application as memorable as possible
  • avoid cliches (being ‘passionate’ about what you do doesn’t evidence how you are ahead of your field or add value for your clients)
  • Use evidence: how can you demonstrate growth (turnover, profit, staff numbers, new services, bigger offices); how you deliver for your clients (measurable Return on Investment, client loyalty, percentage of word-of-mouth referrals); expertise (qualifications, keynote speaking opportunities, leadership roles within your industry)?
  • Make the most of the word count: if the limit for an answer is 300 words and you only submit 75, you’re probably missing an opportunity to shine – or you’re entering the wrong award.

And don’t leave it to the last minute; it takes time to gather supporting evidence, such as client testimonials.

Maximising award benefits – whether you win or not

Whether you win or are a finalist, the key benefits of an award lie in the marketing and PR opportunities, so have your strategies in place to leverage these before you find out if you have made the shortlist.

Awards offer opportunities for multi-channel promotion, so utilise all of these if you make the shortlist, on the day of the award-ceremony, and then if you win:

  • PR: to trade and local media – note that if the award is run by a media titles, competing titles will not cover them
  • Marketing: Brand channels, including social, website, newsletters, digital signatures

And, of course, make sure you splash your winner’s logo on future communications, including business development collateral. It’s an objective endorsement as to why you are better than your competitors – so make sure your prospects know about it.

If you are looking for support with an award application, please get in touch.

Based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Sharp Minds Communications offers brand development, digital marketing, offline marketing, and public relations to businesses across Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and Greater London.

Want to get your brand noticed? Get in touch

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Turning a crisis into an opportunity; key client highlights of 2023

There’s no denying that 2023 has been a challenging year on many levels for businesses. Thriving in an unpredictable economy can be challenging, but with the right strategies, businesses can not only navigate the challenges more effectively but also thrive.

At Sharp Minds we tend to think outside the box and look for ways to turn a crisis into an opportunity. This has been the case for many of our clients for whom we introduced tactical PR and marketing strategies to boost brand awareness, protect brand reputation and help continue to drive revenue, despite volatile markets. As we all begin the countdown to Christmas, Sharp Minds reflects on 2023 and some of the key highlights for our clients.

55Plus: Rebranding and strategic marketing and PR to meet national ambitions

Background: This year the equity release market contracted hugely, 450 specialist brokers lost their jobs, and the big brokers abandoned business plans, halted marketing, and shrank operations. Despite one of the most challenging years for the equity release market, later life lending specialists 55Plus were one of only a handful of companies that not only survived the past 12 months but grew in size and turnover. This year Sharp Minds implemented a mature marketing and communications strategy at the beginning of the year to help the company navigate the difficult market and turn a market in crisis into an opportunity for 55Plus.

Rebrand: Our starting point was a complete rebrand for 55Plus with a new website to build a more mature and dynamic brand that reflects its national ambitions, captures more clients and appeals to introducers.

Tactical PR: The relaunch was followed by a carefully targeted and tactical PR campaign in the national press, with 55Plus becoming the leading authority on later life lending, helping to educate the general public about the benefits of equity release. This included multiple stories in The Telegraph, Financial Times, Daily Express and a front-page story in the Sunday Telegraph. The PR success was picked up and praised by the Equity Release Council.

Employer brand: Building a more modern brand  and boosting brand awareness helped to attract an additional 16 advisors, enabling the company to meet its goal of going national.

Strategic digital marketing to clients and introducers: Sharp Minds built a strategy for 55Plus to have a more targeted and collaborative way of working with its clients/introducers and provide initiatives for feedback. This included a fortnightly newsletter sent out to introducers, helping to improve engagement and feedback. Two blogs a month to help educate its introducers and clients on equity release and reactive/proactive social media strategy to improve customer engagement and service. 55Plus has also begun analytic deep dives to make sure content is personalised and being shared with introducers to improve and enhance 55Plus’s referral network.

Award success: 55Plus was a finalist in the Mortgage Introducer Awards last month and is also in the running to win the Equity Release Awards in January.

Dootrix: Helping a start-up transition to a mid-size business

Background: Dootrix, a national tech cloud disrupter, had a relatively unknown brand despite having built successful long-term partnerships with household names, such as Confused.com, Gridserve and Heathrow. The company wanted to progress its reputation from a start-up to an established, medium-sized business and brought in Sharp Minds to help towards the end of 2022.

Strategic messaging and communications review: Sharp Minds immediately conducted a thorough communications and messaging review, helping to align messaging with desired new direction of travel. We then implemented and aligned marketing and PR strategies to showcase Dootrix’s key points of difference and help establish the brand as a disruptor, outpacing global tech giants. Sharp Minds helped develop the key messaging for the business as specialists tackling the complex challenges of innovative organisations.

Tactical PR: A tactical PR campaign around Dootrix’s work with GRIDSERVE, whereby the firm built a powerful data platform that allows it to process information and take payment in seconds for EV charging sessions across the country, generated more than 16 articles across the UK. This catapulted the brand into the media for the first time, receiving praise and recognition within the cloud industry. Dootrix also implemented a new board and COO after a 74% surge in revenue, which was featured in 6 articles in the tech press.

Award success: Building brand awareness and the right messaging has helped support Dootrix on its upward trajectory and the firm was a finalist for the Tech Business of the Year Award in the prestigious Lloyds Bank British Business Excellence Awards 2023, a testament to its resilience, innovative spirit, and entrepreneurial acumen.

Loch Associates Group: Increasing brand credibility through PR

Background: Whilst having received accolades and recognition within the legal sector, law and HR business Loch Associates Group was an unknown brand nationally, despite having a strong team of dedicated solicitors. The company wanted to progress its reputation from being a law firm, to a multi-service Law and HR medium-sized business. Earlier this year Sharp Minds was appointed immediately following a corporate rebranding.

Media strategy: An internal and external audit was carried out as part of the discovery process, as well as a thorough SWOT and competitor analysis. This was followed by the design and implementation of a clear media strategy to promote the new branding and the corporate division of the law practice.

Media roadshow: A tier-one and trade media roadshow was conducted to highlight new and updated messaging that reflected Loch Associate Group’s new direction, building active relationships with leading business, national and regional press in Kent, Sussex and London.

Expert messaging matrix: A leadership team was formed as go-to commentators on relevant topics, to share media responsibility away from the founder.

Media coverage: Over 70 media articles were generated in the past 12 months, including tier-one publications, such as The Financial Times, The Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.

Waterlodge: Strategy support and marketing to grow partnerships

Background: An innovate start-up founded five years ago, Waterlodge have grown their portfolio over the past two years to broaden their reach in the holiday park and marina industry sector and to individual customers interested in floating accommodation on inland waterways or coastal marinas. The brand is leading the way with its luxury floating lodges, and throughout 2023 gained new Partnerships with the likes of the largest Marina owner, AquaVista, as well as Liverpool Marina and Yarmouth Harbour Commissioners. With further partnerships in the pipeline and a busy exhibition and trade fair calendar, Waterlodge continue to use Sharp Minds as an extension to their business for help with their marketing strategy and tactical marketing and PR campaigns.

Marketing strategy: This year, Waterlodge were facing an increasingly difficult market, due to the general UK economic situation. They have continued to adapt their portfolio to appeal to the UK staycation market, offering innovative options that need communicating to a niche industry and consumer market. Sharp Minds reviewed past activity and produced a strategic marketing and PR plan that can be implemented into next year to leverage Waterlodge as an industry leader and specialist in their field.  

Exhibition support: Ongoing advertising review and advice given, plus exhibition support material for product or stand display and marketing literature, adapted and/or developed for new ranges at several large shows in the UK and Ireland, such as Ireland on the Water, Boatlife 2023 and the Southampton International Boat Show 2023. Advising on lead generation and post-show marketing.

Tactical marketing: An ongoing monthly tactical marketing communication plan is created and executed by Sharp Minds through e-newsletters, social media and supported by a robust SEO strategy. Ad-hoc communications were created to promote new partnerships, the two AirBNBs at Yarmouth Harbour and for advertising opportunities.  

Award success: Waterlodge was a finalist at the New Forest Brilliance in Business Awards 2023, for the Royal Lymington Yacht Club Award for Marine and Maritime, selected for their commitment to excellence, innovation and sustainability within the New Forest economy.

Want to get your brand noticed? Get in touch

Based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Sharp Minds Communications offers brand development, digital marketing, offline marketing, and public relations to businesses across Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and Greater London.

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Why every business needs a PR strategy: client update

Tactical PR strategies for our clients have resulted in some strong coverage in recent months. But what do we mean by PR? How has it changed in recent years? Which businesses is it appropriate for? What makes good PR? And what are the benefits PR can bring to your business?

PR update: tech challenger

Sharp Minds’ PR campaign for Dootrix, the national tech start-up, and its work for EV-charging pioneer, Gridserve, generated more than 16 articles across the UK in key trade titles. This catapulted the brand into the media for the first time, receiving praise and recognition within the cloud technology sector. Digitalisation World, The Business Magazine and the UK’s leading industry trade title Technology Record were just some of the strong media placements.

PR update: law and HR firm

In October law and HR business, Loch Associates Group, stole the show by generating 13 articles in just four weeks with key regional titles such as Sussex Express, The Times of Tunbridge Wells, as well as key national trade titles, such as Solicitors Journal, HR Magazine and People Management. In November, the company was featured in the Financial Times discussing nepotism in the workplace.

What size businesses should have a PR strategy?

Businesses of every size can benefit from having a well-considered strategic PR plan, one that reflects your brand’s overarching goals and desired positioning within the media landscape. Whether you’re a start-up, a thriving direct-t- consumer brand or a national business, there are numerous benefits that PR can provide.

There’s no company too big or too small for press to do PR. In fact, fledgling startups can often attract the most attention as reading about new business ventures can be innovative and inspiring. Positioning and knowing what makes a good story is something Sharp Minds excels in. We are also extremely well connected within the media and our senior team is made up of ex-national newspaper and BBC broadcast journalists.

Why PR?

PR adds credibility to your business. PR has intangible and far-reaching benefits; you simply can’t put a price on getting featured in media outlets and setting yourself up as a thought leader. It puts you in a position of strength within your industry, becoming the go-to person for commentary, insight and expertise.

What do we mean by PR?

Many people think PR is simply getting mentioned in the press, but it’s so much more than that. It’s everything you do to promote and increase the visibility of your business.

The media landscape has changed so much in the last few years, especially with the shift towards digital and remote working during the pandemic, and our definition of PR needs to adapt accordingly. PR is anything and everything that helps get your business talked about, including social media and influencer brand relations.

PR in its true definition refers to strategic communication from an organisation to the public to maintain or cultivate a public image. PR is what other people say about you. It’s how your services and brand are perceived by others and the efforts you undertake to build a positive brand image. But it’s also so much more than that.

PR is about how the public feels about and interacts with your company. Yes, it’s about image; but it’s also about connection and appeal. It’s what springs to mind when the name of your company has been mentioned and how people engage and respond to the content you post online. PR is about the emotional connection you’re able to build with individuals through your work, which in turn leads to sales opportunities and results. We all have relationships with the brands we buy from, the companies whose services we use, the experts we trust, and PR can fast-track building these relationships.

PR is about getting in front of your audience and creating trust with them. Getting featured in the press is a medium for nurturing relationships with your desired audience. If you find other effective methods to help you build those relationships such as Instagram, LinkedIn or email marketing, then traditional PR can complement this. Getting featured in the media helps build your credibility, thus strengthening the bond with your audience. Word of mouth is often cited as the most powerful method for getting business traction; with PR you simply get in front of more mouths.

What makes good PR?

The execution and successful application of a PR activation or campaign relies on a thorough understanding of the brand. Whether your PR process is being headed up internally or externally by an agency, it’s crucial to get under the skin of the brand, its ethos and its client base. When implementing an integrated campaign, Sharp Minds undertakes a thorough analysis of the brand’s audience base, what they like and what they see, as part of a discovery process.

The success of any campaign is based on knowledge of the landscape and what the brand wants to achieve. Whether it’s increased sales, brand awareness, reputation management or the promotion of a new product or service, good PR is a competent combination of meticulously planned communications, in the brand language, placed in relevant spaces that your audience will be.

Want to get your brand noticed? Get in touch

Based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Sharp Minds Communications offers brand development, digital marketing, offline marketing, and public relations to businesses across Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and Greater London.

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