You may be aware that we are an award-winning PR company. But did you know we had a few other talents hidden up our sleeves?
Our top-notch posse of ex-journalists is often praised by clients and media alike for the quality and creativity of its written content.
And (shamelessly giving our trumpet a big blow – PARP! PARP!), that is always lovely to hear. But it’s no great surprise to us, as we have a combined experience of newswriting that amounts to several decades. So, we really should be good at writing by now!
Public relations – or at least Poppy PR’s version of it – includes many other services and skills, such as crisis communications, influencer relations, media relations and social media management. We think we do a pretty good job at these too!
But one of our newest clients learned of a few extra creative skills we sometimes roll out when asked, but which we don’t sing about too much.
Picture of Health
The team behind a new private GP practice opening next month in Duffield, Derbyshire, approached us to talk about PR, and maybe to pick our brains a bit in terms of general marketing. We, of course, were extremely happy to help out.
‘Dr James Burns – Private GP’ wanted a press release to effectively announce the new venture, highlighting in particular its ‘above-and-beyond’ approach to patient care plus a variety of specialist provisions, such as safe, GP-led weight loss, menopause treatments, allergen testing and continuity of care for patients with long-term ailments such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
We gathered the information, took the photographs and wrote the press release, which saw fabulous coverage in local and regional media, including the front cover of the Duffield Scene, a monthly magazine delivered to a few thousand households in the Duffield area, which was our client’s primary target.
Vital Signs
But our involvement (or at least our director Phil’s involvement) didn’t stop there: First, we were asked to design the practice’s logo and branding. We then designed and printed business cards, designed and sourced external and internal signage for the new private GP practice and designed and produced a full-page advert, which is destined for April’s edition of the Duffield Scene. (Note: copywriting for ads is an entirely different discipline to news writing).
The latter was combined with an additional photoshoot, which we styled and shot ourselves, as well as taking headshot images of the GP’s team for use on the practice’s new website.
The brief was to present the business as expert, professional, approachable, high-quality and both exclusive and affordable. We immediately knew the key to achieving the correct brand identity was ‘less is more’. Classy and subtle. Confident but trustworthy.
Doctor Feelgood!
We were definitely pleased with the results, which saw very few client amendments from start to finish. The really important point though is that our client was over the moon.
This stands us in great stead when we’re asked to provide something beyond our normal PR service. But keep all that to yourselves people – or everyone will want a piece of it!!
Even though we say it ourselves, this was a job well done. So, time to pop the champagne – purely for medicinal purposes of course!
