As part of my past in marketing and specifically in social and digital media development, I have worked and volunteered with different organisations in the promotions of their causes and in the strategy behind the marketing. Whilst also working to gain a wider and deeper audience basis for the social media platforms and gaining a deeper understanding and demographic of the audience type and how best to interact and gain more brand recognition.

Other areas to which I have knowledge and have had previous experience is in the distribution of materials, looking at where best to distribute whilst also finding new areas and creative methods in order to best gain publicist to not just any member of the public, but to the target audience. I have had direct input to the creation of websites, media strategies, fliers and leaflets and also other video and photographic material.

When first starting with the Headway Worcestershire trust, I was volunteering with the publicity and marketing team, where the primary job was to gain material for the new and upcoming website. This would consist of on and off camera interviews with service users who had suffered head and brain trauma from sporting accidents and traffic collisions to brain tumours. Being able to talk to these people who have relied on the charity in the past and also to their present day was inspirational, hearing the stories of what those people went through. However this also brought with it, its own problems as due to some of the injuries the service users had suffered, there where on a couple of occasions instances where some of the details in the stories where too personal and could not be used. This enabled me to use my journalistic skills with the writing up of the stories content, whilst also using my own personal discretion to filter the content so that personal details weren’t used.

To attach with the written stories there where video footage of some of the service users telling their accounts of what happened to them, from their accident, their treatment to their introduction with the charity and how the charity helped them. My role through this was to record the footage, make notes and record the interviews and to structure the interviews and footage in a format that would best fit with the requirements with the website. That of the charity helping people and showing that the charity is all about the people it helps, that it is them and the stories that matters and that the donations help to provide a service to the users and how their lives would be different if it wasn’t for that service.

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Social Media Platforms

There was a significant change it the structure of the social media platforms, the way that they were used and optimised, whilst reviewing the demographic that was being attracted, using and interacting with them. Prior to my involvement with the social media platforms, there was no structure that would enable the staff to interact and use them on a daily basis, which lead to the content that was being uploaded to be sporadic in nature, sometimes going weeks without any statuses, upload or interactions with the online community. The content would be sometimes months out of date and sometimes not relevant to what was going on with the charity.

The strategy for the use of the social media was to first gain a structured pattern, where the content that was being uploaded onto Facebook would match what the charities aims and objectives where and would fit in with the message of its brand. The content would be kept up to date, drawing upon news stories from across the UK and from further afield, and example of which would be that of the skiing accident involving Formula one star Michael Schumacher. Updates of his condition, what had happened as well as the viewpoint of the charity towards what had happened where all publicised through social media. Other examples where also brought in, following the theme of sporting accidents, which were surprisingly common at the time, from motorsport to rugby and also more extreme sports.

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The way that the stories where used where to grab the audience’s attention firstly about the news story and what had happened, but the secondly inform the public of the health

implications. This brought the charity into a more open perspective for the online community, as anyone from the public could read the news story, see the charities stance and connection with it and then read into the charity. Following the use of news stories that linked with the charity, the social media platforms and that of primarily Facebook where also targeting a younger target audience. The idea behind this was to gain a younger target audience

demographic, between the ages of 18-24 and primarily aim this at student. This Idea would help the charity in its ability to gain potential volunteers but also to gain links with sports groups and societies, with the ultimate notion of gaining an increase of daily Facebook views and a more interactive viewing audience.

Publicity for ABI Week

The Publicity for Awareness of Brain Injury week or as it is more commonly known by ABI was one of the campaigns where I could really get involved with what was going on and from a marketing point of view, help to publicise and gain audience awareness to the events that were being held.

Ideas

Mad hatter tea party

Hat and costume competitions,

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Cake stands

Tea and coffee

Possible games, e.g. tom bowler, raffle and musical chairs.

The idea behind ABI week was to portray a party and that even though you may have had a life changing head injury, life can still go on that you can still have fun. The target audience for this was for carers, service users and volunteers, but also bringing some members of the public to donate. Putting links to the event and what was going on through the Facebook page, consisting of time, dates and locations as to the day’s activities and also the week’s events and what could be done to utilise the social media platform.

Promotional ideas

An idea that would lead to the promotion of the charity for the charity to a target market of students was the introduction of wrist bands. This idea was formulated by jumping upon the growing trend surrounding the culture of students as the wearing of wrist bands, either by supporting charity courses or by showing just what concerts they had been too, would had been a growing tend to jump onto.

The background research I did lead me to work with a strategy that the wristbands should be handed out at events where a stall was present and to begin with they would be free. However once the brand would grow, in order to obtain a wrist band there would be a donation needed towards the charity I and in return you would get the wristband and also a pack as to what the charity was doing, a newsletter and also where the charity wanted to be 12-18 months in the future.

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Other ideas where to use car stickers and place them in local taxi’s around the Worcestershire area, this would have led to an increase of brand recognising. The reason for choosing taxis are due to the fact that some of the service users where using taxi’s to get around, but also taxis as always moving around and are seen but hundreds of people a day.

There were some discussions about links with local businesses with promotion with Facebook pages and websites, but also links with local media and nes organisations. Obtaining a radio station to bring more publicity to the charity, however that was very difficult due to the budget of all of the marketing projects were done for free and with no money.

Past Published Work Examples

The Student council meeting report

One of the organisations that are not really known about within the University as a whole is the organisation that is the student’s council. This organisation is different from the STARs and the institute Reps, in the way that it helps brings together representatives from across the university as a whole into one room to discuss the matters that affect students at the University.

What is discussed at these meetings are a range of issues and matters that have been brought to the council’s attention by the student body themselves. (That’s right, you guys out there!!) The people that sit on these meetings are not just the chair person, whose job it is to make sure that the meetings run to time and to run clearly and letting everyone has their say. Student representing departments such as International Business, Disabled Students, Sports committee Humanities and arts to name but a few.

With representatives from across the Student body in one room a meeting can actually take place where the key points on the agenda can get a more in depth range of views from across the student’s body. But with this the feedback from the Sabbatical Officers (the people we as students vote for) are in the words of Chairperson Stephanie Johnston “Question the officers and to take them to account”, they are our officers so the direction that they take and the way that they speak is representing us the students body so the Students should “Give us a hard time…That is what the council is for” Kynton Swingle President of the Students union.

So with this in mind one of the questions that came out of the meeting from the Sab Officers was for Children in Need and if there are any ideas surrounding Students involvement, either by “Getting us the Sabs to do anything… within reason!”Kynton Swingle President of the Students union. But with this the Students Union is aiming to Break a World Record, Oh yes, Worcester SU are aiming high by aiming to beat the world record for blowing up as many balloons up by people in the space of a minute, “we need to get more people involved with the SU” Representation officer Wesley Hudson. Carrying on with this theme the message there is a mass expansion planned with the Students Union, this year there are more societies than ever before, already over 50 societies with a prediction from Lee Collyer Vice president of Student experience for “the end of the year to have 60+ societies are possible”. It is not just with societies where there is target growth as the targeted volunteering hours for this year are twelve thousand hours, which is double the amount of last year.

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So the message really is to get involved with the Students Union, you are part of it, they want to make a difference and the more of us students that get behind them the more they can do.

Tour Of Worcester 2013.

Most of us would think that cycling 30 miles would be a pretty horrible experience, but not the guys from the University Cycling Club who entered a team that did not just take part in a 64 mile circuit but a couple of the members also completed the 94 mile circuit of the Tour of Worcester. Now you may think that would be an obscene amount of cycling to do in one day, but to those who are in the cycling society it is just another challenge.

At the starting line there are a mixture of nerves and anticipation for the assault on the body yet to come. At the start line some of the words that where spoken where not just about the course and who was riding which route but with remarks like “I just want to go now” and come on let’s get on with it”, showing that even though on a cold October day, at 7:40 in the morning the competitive nature still was apparent. The route took us out of Worcester Race course heading through St John’s and out past Powick on the way to the Malvern’s, with the first of the big hill being the “Witch” road that takes you up and over the Malvern hills themselves. Before setting off the decision was to at which point should we split up if riders where struggling, this was decided that we would try to keep as close to a group as possible until we got to Malvern. There were a couple of attacks off of the front as rides began to warm up, wake up and want to push on harder. One attack was by myself, but as a half-hearted attack to see what the wind and conditions were like as a single rider. This provider amusement to other members of the team as Mark Bonnes and James Jewiss said afterwards when at the pub “we saw you go past and we both looked at each other and thought, alright calm it down….he is going to blow himself out in a minute”, for sure after spending 5 minutes off of the group we were all in I sat up and went back to the group.

When we hit the Malvern’s the Guys all attacked at the bottom, one person who stood out to all of us was that of “Dragos Hrituleac” who unlike most of the other people taking on this Sportive of Road bike, he had a Mountain bike but with Road tyres and was leaving guys on road bikes for dead on the hills, on the flats and pretty much where he felt like. On the Twisty decent of the Malvern hills, it is really not a good idea to have very little breaking and is not a very good idea to realise this as you start the descent. That what happened to me, as my back break half gave up leaving me to carry on with 40 miles with Just the front brake and very little rear breaking.

One of the trickiest descents that I and a couple of the guys had faced was the 19% gradient descent into a ford with a 15% gradient incline hill straight after. Myself and Mark Tyas both hit this together with luckily neither of us coming off on the descent, but after a little moment as I tried to ride up the other side, only to find mud on a surface that was even slippy anyway and almost coming off “Which in clipped in shoes is never a good idea”, I did chicken out and walked up the other side, as did the other participants. However Tyas managed to ride up to top without falling off. “fair play”. Mark Bonnes, and James Jewiss both said that they found it hard not to lock up a wheel, Mark (Bonnes) later went on to say that when they went down he did see quick a few people lock up and fall off. Sadly for one of our lads who took part that is what happened to him. Callum Scott did come off and

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hurt his wrist, but carried on and finished the event. After the wind, rain, hail and 64 or 94 miles all of the riders made it back to Worcester safely, some more cold and wet that others.

Example of own work

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