You're my commsHERO – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, Anisah will talk about her ‘interesting’ journey into the magical world of PR and Communications- it certainly was never in her so -called plan of life- but with a little bit of confidence, some talent spotting and a bunch of incredible leaders in her corner. Anisah talks about how she now manages the PR, Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment for the first ever established and fourth largest Sixth Form College in the country… all whilst trying to make a small difference in a very special town.

From a degree in Education and Philosophy from UCL, to starting her career off in the Student Recruitment field, Anisah fell into PR in your not-so traditional way. She is now Head of Student Experience and Corporate Communications for one of the oldest, largest and most academically successful sixth form colleges in the country. Call it luck, or fate but she couldn’t have chosen a more perfect career for herself. Anisah is the youngest female, ethnic minority Head of Department in the colleges history! 

Anisah is also a Trustee of Level Trust, Ambassador for Step Forward Luton and more recently won the Asian Women of Achievement Award for Young Achiever of the Year 2023.

‘Don’t be the magpie’ - how marketers need to avoid overlooking the essential elements of a plan for the sake of the quick fix. 

With the constant pressure to present value, busy marketing teams frequently fall victim to short term fixes leading to influences on a strategy that are subjective and poorly informed.

 It’s all too easy to lean on short term fixes at the expense of the essentials that make up the foundation of a good marketing strategy that will last into the long term. This is where the real value in marketing lies. It’s handy to take stock of the essentials often so we know that we’re still on the right track and avoid a marketing strategy with more holes than a Swiss cheese. 

 In this podcast, Jim runs through the thinking behind this and the essential components that he relies on to maintain a true course. 

Guest Biog: 

Jim is an award-winning Chartered Marketer specialising in digital marketing and marketing strategy with over 10 years of experience. Having cut his teeth in a range of agency and in-house positions, Jim is a keen believer in sharing his learnings and experiences (good and bad) so like-minded marketers can benefit in kind. Jim is currently serving as Head of Marketing at Onfigr - Interactive Inspiration Tools. On top of this, Jim curates the Marketing Meetup sessions in Leeds. 

Women in PR Northern Ireland was born out of a CIPR panel discussion in Belfast, organised by Sara, which explored the barriers affecting women working in the communications industry. It was clear there was an appetite for that conversation to continue. Michelle was on the panel and approached Sara afterwards. And so, the independent initiative that is now Women in PR was started. Research reveals that while women hold over 60% of all PR jobs, the majority of senior leaders continue to be men.  At the core of our vision is inspiration and aspiration - helping to promote the changes needed to support gender balance, nurturing female talent and supporting aspiring leaders. Our membership comes from across the public sector, in-house agencies, consultancies and independent practitioners. 

There is something reassuring about print; it creates an emotional reaction. It’s tangible and has a smell and feel that you can’t replicate. In this episode, Sarah Waddington tell us about her love of print and why it’s an important part of any campaign. It’s been around for longer and people trust print more. Print offers a nice way to disconnect from technology as there’s such a saturation of content online. So grab a brew, sit back and listen… and then grab a printed book and have a good old sniff.
 
Twitter: twitter.com/Mrs_Wadds
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/astutework

Empathy Based Marketing:  EBM is about walking in your customer's shoes to understand their experience and how we can better help them get what they want. You don't want to think like the customer. You want to BE the customer. Provide your customers with what they want by understanding what motivates them. Amy shares the story behind the brave move to stop selling at the beginning of lockdown and change the messaging on all Aster Sales marketing campaigns to an empathy based approach ‘We’re Still here’.

Twitter: twitter.com/amynettleton1 
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/amy-nettleton-00865348
Website: amynettletonblog.wordpress.com

Natasha Calder , is a PR professional in the public sector and has a blog title ‘Make this viral.’ This episode is from one of Natasha’s blog posts that talks about the anxiety many of us feel when pushed out of our comfort zone. Natasha shares some of her experiences of this anxiety and introduces us to her friend, Polly Panic. You’ll learn how she copes with this as well as explaining why this type of anxiety is a good sign.

Twitter: twitter.com/natashacalder92
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/natashacalder
Website: makethisviral.wordpress.com

In this episode, Jenni Field, Business Communications Strategist and Founder of Redefining Communications shares her findings about trends for business and communications in 2021. Jenni carried out some research where she asked her network from the UK and USA what their specific views where on trends for 2021. 4 key themes stood out; Listening, Wellbeing and Community, Hybrid Working and AI Automation. Totally unrelated to the research, you’ll also find out if a Jaffa Cake is a biscuit or a cake.

Twitter: twitter.com/mrsjennifield
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jennifield
Website: redefiningcomms.com

In this episode, Ed Thomas, Group Head of Marketing and Communications at The Wrekin Housing Group tells us about how and why he feels networking is important for your #CommsHero career. Networking isn’t always from behind a screen and getting out and about to meet comms colleagues, peers and local/regional/national events in person is an important part of your role too. Covid has changed this but what will networking life look like in the new normal? 

Twitter: twitter.com/ET_Comms
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/edward-thomas-7345036/

In this episode, Rachel Miller, Director of ALLthingsIC shares advice as her business approaches it’s 8th Birthday. There are lots of practical tips on what to look out for if you’re a comms consultant or an in-house communicator. Rachel gives some great advice for 2021 comms planning in the new normal including a change of mindset and skillset.

Twitter: twitter.com/AllthingsIC
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rachelmiller01

In this episode, Lauren Millward shares her some insight in to a tweet that created plenty of discussion amongst #CommsHero types. See for yourself here: https://twitter.com/lmillward86/status/1332259370781077505?s=20

Twitter: twitter.com/lmillward86
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lauren-millward-heaton-0b8b874a