Kimberley Gray of Gray Matter PR has been shortlisted for the Chartered Institute of PR Awards as Outstanding Freelance Practitioner. The awards recognise best practice across the UK PR Profession.
The nomination comes from her work with the Psychological Consultancy Ltd (PCL), a provider of psychometric tools and analysis. PCL was launching a new profiling tool called Risk Type Compass, which assesses a person’s attitude to risk.
Budget was limited and restricted to only a couple of days per month over a twelve month period, yet the campaign received 30 good quality pieces of coverage including seven pieces in the national press and features in top business magazines Director and Business Today.
Kimberley Gray comments: “It was a lovely surprise to have been shortlisted in these awards. There is some tough competition, but the PR campaign I have been nominated for is an excellent example of how PR can become a driving force behind a marketing strategy and how powerful PR content can be as part of an integrated approach to the marketing mix.”
The PR programme was broken down into three phases:
Phase I – media relations in trade media
Media relations activity encouraged HR publications to feature articles about the Risk Type Compass along with an offer of a free assessment for readers. This free assessment enabled PCL to capture participant data and build a prospect database (subject to data privacy laws). Media coverage was achieved in: Training Journal, AskGrapevineHR, Strategic HR Review, HR Director, TrainingZone, Human Resources, PersonnelToday, Coaching at Work, HRZone and Changeboard
Phase II – media relations in vertical media
Phase II focused on vertical sectors. Based upon challenging stereotypes within different market sectors, Kimberley suggested that publications look at whether there may be a certain risk-type which attracts people to their industry. The four key sectors that were identified were fire-fighting, IT, engineering and recruitment in addition to general business titles. Media coverage was achieved in: The Recruiter, Professional Engineering, Computer Weekly, Director, Business Today, Business Review Europe, International Fire Fighter, Asia Pacific Fire, Professional Adviser and Your Money.
Phase III – research paper
PCL used its in-house analysis expertise to look at trends across various sectors and job functions. As a result of the media relations programme and its work with one of its clients within the auditing sector, PCL had a good sample of risk-types to work from. The results were developed into a research report called Managing Risk, the Human Factor, bit.ly/12ZPiv8 and was launched at a central London venue. At this launch event, corporate friends, prospects and media came together to find out the results of the survey and to listen to an eminent speaker within the financial services sector about why human factor and risk should not be overlooked. This resulted in further media coverage in the Sunday Times, Financial World and The Auditor.
The research was also presented at the British Psychological Society conference resulting in further national coverage in the Telegraph, Evening Standard and dailystar.com.
Examples of coverage can be found on http://www.graymatterpr.co.uk/Showcase/PCL/
If you would like to find out more about how Gray Matter PR can help you to develop content for PR and marketing activity, including social media, then please contact us on 0118 969 4904.