PR - Marketing - Social Media - Design

Services we provide:Away DaysCopywritingCreative Concepts and DesignCrisis ManagementMedia TrainingProspectus writing and project management*Public RelationsSocial Media Training (Community Management)Video Planning and ProductionWebsite Project Management*

*Working with our own teams, or with your existing design and website suppliers as needed

Our experienced education marketing team can help you achieve moreExtend your marketing team – as and when you need to!

Do you ever feel like you need an extra pair of hands? Someone to write those case studies? Someone to develop a creative campaign idea?Some extra people to help man your event?Someone to page plan your prospectus and write new course information?

Here at Extend PR and Marketing, we’re all about providing a flexible, supportive and invaluable extension to your existing team. Founded by Rachel Till after 7 years as a Head of Communications at a large college, our mission is to make your life less stressful, whilst adding bags of creativity, oodles of common sense, and a can-do attitude to making things happen. We’re here when you need us, and out of your hair when you don’t.

Meet the Team...

In addition to this core team, we work with a range of other trusted associates as part of our EXTENDED team – this includes video production companies, app development and a range of additional PR and design professionals.

It has been a pleasure working with the team at Extend PR over the years. They have shown a professional approach to co-ordinating promotional materials and marketing campaigns.

Jo Jones, Staffordshire University

Rachel TillFounder & MDRachel has over 20 years of marketing experience, including 11 years in-house in education. Since then she has worked with universities, academies, studio schools and FE colleges across the UK, including marketing and brand consultancy, training, crisis communications and copywriting.

Lottie MarchantAccount ManagerAn experienced and award-winning marketing professional, Lottie worked as a Senior Marketing Officer in further education, before spending the last 4 years as an Account Manager overseeing marketing campaigns and website projects for B2B, consumer and education clients.

Bryony BlackPR & ContentBryony trained and worked as a journalist and features editor across a range of regional media before working in a consumer PR role at Alton Towers Resort. She works on PR and content writing projects for our clients.

Cath ShuttlewoodAssociate ConsultantCath has an extensive PR and corporate communication background and has worked as a senior consultant to Extend PR’s clients since 2012.

Melissa PlimmerDesign & Social MediaMelissa has a wide range of design experience, having worked clientside as well as running her own design business for a number of years. She runs social media training sessions alongside developing creative campaigns in a range of sectors.

Branding andCreative Concepts

Our Account Management and senior creative team have masses of agency experience working on big-name brands and multi-million pound campaigns. We have also spent lots of time working in-

house in college marketing teams and we enjoy bringing our approach to education clients: Carrying out research with the target market, writing creative briefs, developing a single-minded proposition

and evolving this into a creative concept that stands out from the crowd. If you’re looking to evaluate or rejuvenate your brand and positioning, look no further than Extend PR and Marketing.

New College Telford ProspectusWorking on this project, we interviewed students and spent time at the college getting to know staff and students alike. We also reflected on the type of students typically attracted to the college – how far they travel, their motives in choosing the college, and why they enjoy their time there. We translated this into a creative brief before our designer developed a range of creative concepts. These concepts were tested at open events with prospective students, at a local school and with current students to choose the final creative approach. We also rewrote much of the prospectus to achieve consistency in key messages.

New College Telford Awards 2014After working on a number of different projects for New College Telford previously, we were asked to support them with their annual award ceremony. We designed programmes and banners, as well as supporting them with event organisation and PR.

Reach MagazineWe met with the Marketing Manager and principal to take a brief on the principal’s vision for the college and translated this into key messages, content plan and copy for a newsletter to be mailed to applicants as a keep warm communication.

The Midland Studio College

We developed, planned and managed a through-the-line campaign for The Midland Studio College in Coventry and Hinckley. We worked with the management team at the school and the staff at the sponsoring college to develop a creative approach that reflected what existing pupils and parents say the value about the school. The campaign incorporated press advertising, online (PPC), direct mail, PR, events and outdoor advertising. We also ran telemarketing, DM and events aimed at engaging employers to offer work placements at the school.

For this campaign we were asked to develop the creative brief, proposition and concepts. Key to this campaign was that the school’s uniqueness stood out – because moving away from mainstream education is a big move for both parent and child. The selected concept went on to be implemented by the college, through a whole host of marketing mediums including radio and facebook advertising.

Stafford CollegeWorking with the college’s current brand guidelines, we developed a new brand for Apprenticeships and employer engagement at the client’s request. This included the development of the brand name and logo, literature design and copywriting for apprentices and employers.

Stafford CollegeOur design work for Stafford College has included employer engagement materials, internal communications, Tier academy launch, and online handbooks for students and apprentices.

Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College - A-level ProspectusOur client approached us with an urgent need for an A-level prospectus, to be delivered in less than 3 weeks. We collated all the content, including condensing copy from over 90 pages to just 24, including short intro spreads to convey the college’s key messages for the A-level audience. The design was led by the college’s existing branding but with a refreshed approach.

Ealing, Hammersmith & West London Colleges -Apprenticeships MaterialWe have developed a suite of materials for the college’s Apprenticeships team, targeting students, parents and guardians; as well as employers. We worked with the college to bring in an element of their existing style whilst developing an approach that can be used to appeal to all the target markets.

Ealing, Hammersmith & West London Colleges - Open Day Adverts

The Midland Academies TrustThis client required a more consistent approach to branding, both in its own materials and when used by member schools and academies on their own materials. We worked with the client to evolve the existing logo into a brand style and colourways, whilst also producing template prospectus designs that allowed use of each individual school’s own branding and style. We also worked with the sponsor college’s in-house web team to write and project manage the launch of a new website.

Copywriting and Project Management

As an experienced education marketing team with bags of in-house and agency experience, we work directly with you, your curriculum staff and students to produce high quality copy that reflects your key messages. We also research and produce engaging, career-focused course content and case studies to bring the learning experience to life in printed materials as well as through your online presence.

Prospectuses and Course GuidesAlthough we have our own design team here at Extend PR, we are always happy to work with our clients’ in-house designers or retained design agency if that is your preferred option. Both the above examples saw us developing key messages and a concept to bring the copy together, whilst the design concepts and artwork were completed by the college’s in-house team.

Burton and South Derbyshire College - Mini GuideWe visited the college to take a verbal brief from the marketing team which outlined the findings of their research with the target markets and their key selling points. We condensed these into a smaller number of key messages and prospectus sections, producing copy for the mini prospectus to very short timescales – before then completing the full prospectus.

Burton and South Derbyshire College - Full-time Prospectus

Thank you for all your help we are very happy with the prospectus.Mary Hemingway, Burton & South Derbyshire College

We developed copy for the whole prospectus in line with the brief already agreed for the mini guide. We then collated and audited all course information templates completed by curriculum staff, before suggesting a page plan, chasing up missing information, carrying out online research into key career paths and progression routes, and ensuring consistency across all the different curriculum areas.

North Warwickshire and Hinckley College Prospectus

Extend PR worked with us to produce our full-time prospectus. They took the hard work away from us – chasing case studies, writing reams of copy, sorting photographs – which was an amazing help, particularly so we could concentrate on other big projects at the same time. The team at Extend are extremely flexible, reliable and delivered the project within budget and to deadline. Thank you! Susanne Davies, North Warwickshire & Hinckley College

Saïd Business School, University of OxfordWorking with the marketing and business development teams at Oxford University’s prestigious Business School, we facilitated away days to review messaging for two of their Executive Education programmes. We developed key messages and content outlines from this, before writing new copy for their OTL programme brochure.

All of this is great! I think it captures and improves on our thinking from the workshop; it’s actionable; it’s appropriate. And I’m sure it will be effective. I think this will really put us where we need to be. Many thanks to you for pulling it together so smoothly.” Dr Pegram Harrison, Programme Director, Saïd Business School.

Public RelationsRanging from short-term consultancy on reputational issues to retained ‘in-sourced’

PR services, we have worked as a virtual PR team for a number of education clients. Whether researching and pitching newsworthy case studies, providing media training, or helping out at Royal and Ministerial visits, we pride ourselves on taking a

pro-active and supportive approach to assisting the college’s in-house team.

Operational PRPress Releases Case StudiesAlumni interviewsOnline content & blogs

Strategic PRCrisis and Issues ManagementCommunity Engagement - e.g. new build developmentsEmployer Engagement - networks & stakeholder mappingMedia Training & Crisis Planning

Some experienced PR Managers like to call on us for day-to-day implementation so that they can focus on other internal or external communications projects. Others bring us on board for strategic assistance ranging from full communications audits, to issues management planning, to crisis communications and media training for key spokespersons.

The team at Extend PR have proven to be a valuable asset to the marketing team at SLC.

The work that they have undertaken for us has been creative and of a high standard. Our college profile has been enhanced during our time working together and has seen us significantly increase the coverage we have in local, regional and education media. The team are very easy to work with and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them!

Katie Munro, Marketing Manager at South Leicestershire College

It was a joy to work with the Extend PR team again at our last graduation ceremony where the amount of publicity received was of enormous benefit to the University and celebrated the achievements of our graduates. We look forward to working with the team at our next graduation ceremony where we hope to build upon the success of 2014.

Jo Jones, External Relations Manager (Partnerships Team) Staffordshire University

The team at Extend are extremely flexible, reliable and delivered the project within

budget and to deadline. Thank you!

Susanne DaviesNorth Warwickshire & Hinckley College

Public Relations

How we can help you at an operational or strategic level:

Stafford College Press Coverage

South Leceistershire College Press Coverage

North Warwickshire & Hinckley College Press Coverage

Burton & South Derbyshire College Press Coverage

Away Days, Senior Consultancy and Training

Messaging & Proposition DevelopmentDo you want to unite your team, and possibly others within the or-ganisation, to reflect and agree on your messages – whether they are right, how you find your proof points, how consistently you are conveying them online and offline to a wide audience? How long is it since you had the time to develop your college or university’s single minded proposition, and plan an integrated, award-winning campaign to convey this?

We know how hard it is to find the time and space to reflect and work as a team, on a mission that you are all agreed on. We really enjoy bringing teams together and helping them go back to basics – let us help you create your next award-winning campaign!

The combined expertise of our small core team and associate consultants means that we are often called upon to work with our clients at all levels. We pride ourselves on delivering engaging, informative, and above all, empowering workshop formats to marketing teams, business development teams and senior managers alike.

Media TrainingOur media training workshops are ideal for Principals, Senior Manag-ers and PR Managers who may be called upon to provide interviews or comment to the media – whether for print or broadcast use.

The training is delivered in a structured yet informal and empowering way to help develop confidence and gain a good understanding of what the media want from a spokesperson, how the news agenda works and how this can help you plan for interviews, and how to deal confidently and credibly with any questions.

Extend PR’s media training gave me much more confidence to face questions from journalists, including tips on how to generate great content as well as how to deliver your answers on camera and a variety of different mediums. Our trainer ensured that it was both engaging and interesting. It was delivered in an informal, yet insightful manner with a good mix of theory and practice. I would highly recommend Extend for media training and would definitely use them again. Catherine Whitehead, Assistant Principal, New College Telford

This training and consultancy can be delivered to a ‘crisis committee’ at your school, college or university and we can work with you to identify suitable people for the training if needed.

We help the whole team to understand their individual roles in the event of a crisis and to consider the needs of your various publics at that time.

This training is not just about what you say to the media, but how you provide an efficient in-bound and outbound communications response.

Rachel and Lottie can share their experi-ence of working on an extensive public con-sultation and marketing campaign to support the new development of a £60m college and sports centre, achieving a huge increase in enrolments and a Heist award for communi-ty engagement along the way.

Through training, a workshop or consultan-cy, we can work with you to help you identify and work with important stakeholders - from town centre partnerships, to councillors and MPs, to the local neighbourhood group and of course, staff, students, parents and employers.

In this workshop we look at how to make the most of your PR budget and your in-house team by maximising the use of photography and video, having an effective online content strategy, and of course, making the best use of social media such as Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter.

This can be a great way to get the marketing team together and get them buzzing with new, cost-effective yet creative ideas that they can implement back at their desks.

The above are just some of the examples of training and away day formats for our education clients.All programmes can be organised and tailored to your team’s needs – whether for the marketing team or the senior management team.Call us now on 01785 851640 or email info@extendpr.co.uk for more information.

Crisis Communications & Critical Incident Planning

New Build Projects & Community Engagement PR in the Digital Age

What our clients say….

We brought Rachel on board to help us with the marketing of our 16-18 recruitment and

the launch of a significant new range of full-time courses. We found Rachel’s input invaluable – she is very willing to share ideas and experience and importantly, she was able to work directly with curriculum staff which freed up some of my time for all the other projects we were juggling.

She also worked well with our existing designers and media agency to bring the full campaign together. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Extend PR and Marketing’s services especially to hard-pressed marketing and PR departments trying to juggle their workload. Great value for money and no headaches.

Cindy HorwoodSouth Staffordshire College

Rachel is helpful, accessible, committed and creative and

continues to make an active and positive contribution to our efforts to inform and enthuse local employers about our new studio school. I have found her to be tenacious and diligent in making things happen and atrue collaborator.

Chris FinnDirector of Personal Coaching and Business Links, Midland Studio College

Just a quick thank you for all your support this week, it has been

gratefully received.

Head of Marketing, large FE College

Thanks so much for turning this around quickly and within our limited budget, I’m really grateful Stafford College

We commissioned Extend PR to carry out a review of the current

marketing approach for one of our Executive Education programmes. The team provided initial advice and ideas to think about a way of delivering key messages and we wanted to explore this further and asked her to run a workshop to help us work on our strategy and messaging. Rachel researched, planned and facilitated and engaging and thought-provoking workshop that left the whole team feeling energised and much clearer on our message and strategy.

Shing-Wai WongBusiness Development Manager,Said Business School,University of Oxford

Get in touch:Telephone: 01785 851640Website: www.extendpr.co.ukEmail: info@extendpr.co.ukTwitter: @ExtendPRFacebook: www.facebook.com/ExtendPR