Our PR, Communications and Marketing approach

for Off to Work

What focused communications will do

Focused communication is about connecting with your customers through storytelling, because people listen to stories. To effectively command attention and capture your target audience, its crucial to communicate your services honestly, intelligently and with complete clarity to those influencing your target audience. Its about credibility. Communication isnt simply selling a service; its about removing the barriers to conversion by engaging with your buyers. Public Relations (PR) is about building and managing your reputation, positioning your business so people believe in your brand and trust you. In today's environment, PR can exponentially add to the power of a strong advertising campaign in a cost-effective way, so its critical to integrate it with your sales and marketing activities to see maximum return on investment.

Brand Positioning
We are aware that Off to Work can be sub-divided into three key business channels People, Training and Events which each encompass a number of other services.

People

Training Academy

Events

Events staffing

Recruitment consultancy

Platinum staffing service

Headhunting & candidate sourcing service

Accredited courses (CIEH, BIIAB, RIPH, HSE)

Mobile skills training (bespoke & hosted at client site)

Off-theshelf, assessed training modules

Off to Work events

Partner events

ISES Event School

Best of British The Training Shop online shopping cart for courses

National Chef of Year 2012

Square Mile Salute 2013

The Westminster Collection events

Aims & Objectives

Based on the discussions we had with Sarah Watkins and on our own observations of Off to Works current business, we understand your chief aim is: To position Off to Work as the most credible and innovative provider of staffing, training, recruitment and events in the UK.

To achieve this aim, we see our objectives as being to:

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Build Off to Works brand profile within the events and hospitality markets, by promoting hospitality and events staffing services, recruitment consultancy, training courses, Off to Work events and company USPs Raise the profile of Off to Works accredited training courses for events and hospitality professionals, to increase enrolments Grow the profile of Off to Work events and increase attendance Attract and win new clients for Off to Work Attract new talent to Off to Works hospitality and events teams

Your target market

People Event venues Event organisers Recruiters Jobseekers Hospitality & events professionals Employers/employees Students Hospitality & events professionals Industry ambassadors & spokespeople Partnership organisations & their members/associates

Training

Events

Our approach for Off to Work Targets, plans, activities measurement is key
Exceptional results from PR and marketing occur when strategic thinking and creative execution can be rooted to engaging customers with quality information and this is Custards niche. We are driven by outcome not output, unlike other agencies that measure success by column inches and advertising value equivalents. This means we focus on achieving genuine sales leads for your business, not simply volume of conversation. We see leads as the core demonstration of Custard delivering you value for money, whether thats clients hiring you to staff their events, delegates booking to attend Off to Work events or students enrolling onto your courses. With outcome critical, were big on setting targets. We therefore recommend that we carry out a full audit of all marketing materials, communication channels, social media channels, website content, website statistics and Off to Work partnerships to determine where there is potential to improve.

Maximising return on investment

Identifying ways to optimise the ROI of your content is a critical part of integrated communications. We know you are eager to distinguish between communications aimed at the recruiter and communications aimed at the job seeker. We agree this is essential and so our full audit will allow us to build a cohesive framework of all communications and the ways in which they can and should work together to maximise the number of relevant people who access your information and content. To maximise your investment into content, we will advise and construct a strategy that will allow the Off to Work magazine, newsletters, website news feeds and social media accounts to work fluidly together to recycle content. We will make recommendations about the most effective c hannels for engaging with your target audience depending on the topic and we will evaluate how effectively you are presenting advice, research, opinions and information. We will offer full editorial support and will be available as your extended marketing and communications team.

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Getting to know you

The full audit of all Off to Work channels is part of our commitment to getting to know your brand and understanding what unique traits we can tap into to paint a dynamic picture of the Off to Work business in all corners of its operation. In the initial weeks, we will spend time at your London office (and at your Birmingham and Scotland offices as required) meeting and interviewing key members of Off to Work staff. This is a vital part of our strategy for connecting with the personality behind the Off to Work brand and the individual characters who bring it to life through their unique skill sets, career backgrounds and personal opinions. Material collected from Custard interviews provides much of the framework for the detailed PR and marketing plan we will create and deliver for Off to Work. We will pitch the individual profiles of your key team members to media channels and develop stories that promote the talent within your business.

Connecting with your target audience

Story brainstorming is about connecting ideas together. It is about having an ear to the ground within the wider industry and spotting the opportunities to ignite discussion of the trends and challenges that encircle the industry Off to Work operates within. Having a visible brand voice can be a powerful way of connecting with your target audience, beyond the hard sell of direct marketing and we will use our strong journalism skills to position you as authoritative commentators on themes directly linked to your key business channels people, training and events which we believe should include, but are not limited to: Hospitality skills training and responding to industry attitudes towards hospitality as a career Developing talent Nurturing company culture Expert events theming Experiential marketing and events Executing unforgettable events Skills mentoring, job shadowing and apprenticeships The UK qualifications landscape for hospitality and events professionals

I really do appreciate everything you have invested in understanding the brand and our business to get the results and it hasnt gone unnoticed.
Liz West, PR Manager, Alton Towers Resort

How we secure coverage

We have dedicated time to developing strong, personal relationships with the editorial teams of the hospitality, tourism, leisure, conference and events trade press, and with lifestyle and travel magazines, national press, business publications, food and travel bloggers and critics. We know what makes them tick, how they like to receive information and when. Regular liaison with these journalists means we know what topics and special features they are running at any particular time. This puts us in a strong position to negotiate opportunities to secure credible editorial coverage for Off to Work, in the publications that are directly influencing your clients, future employees and event delegates.

Unforgettable events
Fulfilling the potential of Off to Works Event School and Best of British events is a critical part of your brand positioning. We understand the audiences you are trying to attract and have significant

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experience designing, planning and delivering an extensive number of events on behalf of Custard clients. These include large-scale speaker programmes for trade shows like Hotelympia and Hospitality, speciality food and wine events, FAM trips, exhibition stands and marketing campaigns to support presence at shows like SquareMeal and Confex, as well as advice-led seminars and masterclasses on subjects ranging from Google Analytics and event organisation, to food science and wedding planning. As seasoned speakers ourselves, we know what makes a brilliant and unforgettable seminar or dining experience. Having an eager eye for trends has afforded us a strong track record of recruiting crowdpulling speakers with fresh and influential expertise to share. We come with armfuls of contacts spanning hospitality, leisure, tourism and retail.

Case studies
Hotelympias HOSPA Hub 2012 The UKs leading exhibition for foodservice and hospitality, Hotelympia, commissioned Custard to design from scratch a five-day programme containing 25 individual seminars, reflecting the very latest in technology and digital marketing innovation for operators of restaurants, hotels and hospitality businesses. Securing representatives from companies including myhotels group, PwC, STR Global, Caterer & Hotelkeeper, Moving Food and The Gondola Group, topics incorporated talk of mobile phone app design, consumer behaviour in mobile purchasing, SEO, experiential web design and email marketing. Visitor numbers to Hotelympia 2012 increased 4% on the previous show, with 33,000 attendees passing through the door of ExCel.

Petra has a brilliant cando attitude in all tasks she tackles. I would thoroughly recommend her as a marketing or design consultant. Petra always delivers on time and with great results.
Toby Wand, Managing Director, Fresh Montgomery (Hotelympia / IFE / Hospitality Show)

One Wimpole Street Technology Masterclasses Understanding that engagement and relationship building is a major factor in event buyer behaviour, we initiated an education-driven campaign for leading central London conference and event venue One Wimpole Street, home of the Royal Society of Medicine.

High specification technology and an outstanding audio visual team are a leading selling point for One Wimpole Street. To demonstrate this to their target audience of event planners and buyers, and entice these lucrative bookers to the venue to experience the surroundings and service first-hand, we initiated a free educational breakfast masterclass series designed to deliver tips and expert advice on technology related topics. These included Google AdWords, mobile apps for the venue industry and social media optimisation. Speakers utilised the venues technology, while the masterclasses were streamed li ve over the internet to delegates wanting to watch remotely. As the fourth masterclass approaches, the success of the series to date can be seen in the exponential increase in venue show-rounds, the media attendance secured at every session and extensive press coverage achieved in titles directly influencing One Wimpole Streets buyers one article within six minutes of the event announcement going public. Bookings for the forthcoming masterclass reached 200 delegates within 24 hours.

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Harbour & Jones storyline development The owners of this specialist contract catering company wanted to achieve a larger profile within the fiercely competitive foodservice sector and they were eager to assert their successes to industry peers and potential clients as a way to showcase their growth and business values. As their PR agency, we worked to develop a positive story about their turnover doubling to 35m in just two years, peppering this with the coordinated release of announcements about a series high profile contract wins within the City. In October 2011, Patrick Harbour and Nathan Jones ran as the cover story in Caterer & Hotelkeeper, leading to a detailed three-page interview feature that very successfully positioned the duo as hot property in the contract catering sector. Just a couple of months later, we then secured the front cover interview feature in the January 2012 edition of FSM magazine, which is a specialist title for the contract catering sector. This ran as an exclusive, with the interview performed on site at H&Js new site, the London Stock Exchange.

Our approach: Audit, Create, Deliver Phase 1

Audit all Off to Work marketing and communications, including social media, magazine and newsletters. Meet with Sarah Watkins (and other relevant staff) to discuss Custard recommendations.

Phase 2
Create, manage and implement a comprehensive 12-month PR, Communications and Marketing strategy for Off to Work, integrating your three key business channels People, Training and Events. Within this, we will incorporate strategic activities regarding editorial, media liaison, client communications such as the magazine and newsletters, press releases and social media. As part of PR, Communications and Marketing strategy, develop Off to Works own events and detail the approach to maximising relationships with other event partners, including but not limited to ISES, Square Mile Salute, The Westminster Collection and National Chef of the Year.

Phase 3
Deliver 12-month PR, Communications and Marketing strategy. Create centralised Press Office and create a media pack detailing all areas of the business.

Client update meetings

To effectively implement all communications and marketing activities, share results and feedback and discuss future initiatives, we propose that we get together monthly. We will supplement this with a fortnightly update report and/or phone conversation as required.

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Custard Services Strategic Communications & Marketing

Short and long-term marketing and communications strategies Social media strategy, management and measurement Newsletter strategy, content planning and distribution management Reputation management Brand identity Brand positioning Media liaison Media seeding Media monitoring Storyline development Events and experiential campaigns Direct mail and email marketing Advertising Channel integration

Editorial Services
Publication design and production Corporate and marketing literature Copy editing Interviewing Features writing Press release writing Writing for the web / SEO Research reports and whitepapers

If we ever need any comment on social media, youll be my first point of contact.
Emma Eversham, Editor, BigHospitality.co.uk

Media tools monitoring press coverage Media database

Fast and reliable access to journalists is critical to securing media opportunities for our clients, which is why Custard has invested in a powerful marketing and PR service by global provider Vocus. This extensive, live database and information tool gives us access to the editors, staff writers and contributors of every publication in the UK both on and offline. With more than 150,000 UK journalists and bloggers, media outlets and publicity opportunities detailed, including dates of awards, conferences and tradeshows, forward features for the various titles, twitter handles and LinkedIn profiles, Custard always has the latest information to hand. The full-time media research team at Vocus makes more than 3,000 updates every day.

Press cuttings service

A fulfilling aspect of effectively engaging with the magazines, websites and blogs your customers are reading is when we secure coverage for Off to Work in features and articles. We employ a specialist digital press cuttings service provider, Yellow News, to gain as it happens access to news coverage and opinion, both on and offline. To enable us to supply you with cuttings of any press coverage achieved and to enable you to store and distribute these amongst your colleagues, you are required by law to purchase a Newspaper Licensing Association (NLA) licence.

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All press cuttings from national and regional titles fall under this regulation and we can provide more thorough guidance on NLA licensing as required. We are able to arrange this NLA licence on your behalf. Please see the proposed budget for details.

Your Custard team

Custard Communications is a healthy communications agency specialising in the hospitality industry. We are a small business and that makes us nimble. We move quickly to respond to and influence industry and consumer behaviour and we proudly deliver a big punch in everything we do. Our client include event venues like Alton Towers and Chandos House, restaurants like The Clink and Lupita, independent hotels like Tudor Farmhouse, hospitality industry suppliers like Pathfinder Energy Management and trade associations like The Westminster Collection. Relationships are critical to us, so we always strive to provide consistently outstanding service and our excellent client retention record is proof of this. Much of our business has come to us through word of mouth recommendation. Wed love to tell you more about the team at Custard. To keep this proposal succinct, weve simply included links to our individual team profiles here, so at your convenience, please do explore why we have the skills to take Off to Work forward and deliver exceptional results.

You have been amazing and again demonstrated why we would be mad to consider another PR agency. Your business writing is exceptional and quite amazing given the limited information you are often provided with.
Wendy Greenhalgh, Board Director, The Westminster Collection

Petra Clayton, Managing Director (@CleverCustard) Sophie Allcock, Communications Manager (@CravingCustard) Felicity Butcher, Senior Account Manager (@LilLadyCustard) Vicki Patterson, Account Manager (@CurlyCustard) Alexandra Bertram, Account Executive (@Keen_As_Custard)

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Proposed budget
To create and deliver a PR, Communications and Marketing strategy for Off to Work, we propose a minimum of three days consultancy per month. Based on this commitment and a minimum 12-month contract, we propose a daily rate of 475.

Activity
PR, communications & marketing consultancy:
Creation and implementation of PR, Communications & Marketing strategy Event development and support Social Media planning and integration Editorial services, storyline development and media liaison Management of Off to Work Press Office Administration and meetings

Monthly cost
1,425

Press cuttings service:

Standard press cuttings service to include up to 25 cuttings per month based on phrase Off to Work AND NLA Licence for distribution to colleagues and to print out and store cuttings supplied by Custard from national and regional press

125

All prices quoted are exclusive of VAT. Our fees are exclusive of the following disbursements and expense items relating to the agreed strategy: accommodation; design, artwork and print; direct mail; market research; courier services; newspaper and subscription services; photography and prints; travel.

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