— Steph Tod is the PR manager at Lava, an award-winning marketing agency in Lincoln. In an expert comment series for The Lincolnite, she explains that despite an increase in agencies offering new PR services, which have helped to transform the industry, the heart of any successful PR campaign still remains the same.
When developing any successful PR campaign it is important to establish a strong, well thought out media relations strategy, but with the emergence of new services such as SEO and social media management, PR agencies have had to evolve in order to stay ahead of the game and offer a fully integrated service to their clients.
While the rise of social media has been an important focus for a lot of businesses over the last few years, the strategy behind delivering a successful PR campaign and a successful digital campaign ultimately remain the same.
The purpose of any good PR campaign should be to engage with your audience and this can be applied to any online strategy you are trying to implement. Think about who you are trying to reach first and why before you start talking to them.
Once you’ve identified your audience, the next step is to work out what it is you’re going to say to them. This planning stage is vital in both the online and offline communications. By maintaining a consistent and regular flow of news your audience will begin to trust you and see your updates or news releases as a credible source of information.
Like with journalist engagement, the way you pitch ideas to bloggers is quite similar. Researching their interests as you would do with a media outlet is vital to establish whether your information will be right for them. However, while it is much easier to contact a blogger than a journalist, you have to adopt a much more conversational approach as most bloggers will not respond well to a traditional PR sell in or press release.
Budget is also something you should give real consideration to. People often think that social media campaigns are both cheap to implement and will generate in quick results, however this is not the case. Investing time and money into your campaign, as you would a traditional media strategy, will help you to build a strong following and achieve better results.
PR and media relation are still at the heart of most campaigns, but with falling newspaper sales businesses now have to think of more innovative ways to get their brand’s message across. This does not necessarily mean implementing a completely new strategy, as the fundamental aspects of successful campaigns remain the same. Know your audience, develop clear objectives and a strong strategy, be creative, allocate a decent budget and most importantly establish a mutual trust between the client and agency.
If you follow these simple rules your online campaign should always complement your offline activity in order to deliver a truly successful campaign to your intended audience.
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Stephanie Tod is the PR manager at Lava, an award-winning marketing agency in Lincoln.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
Extinction Rebellion Lincolnshire have been protesting and campaigning for action on climate change for a number of years, and they’ve had a trusty sidekick with them every step of the way.
Snowy, a unique German Shepherd and chocolate labradoodle crossbreed, was employed by Extinction Rebellion Lincolnshire as a de-escalation and therapy dog in 2018 and has been the talk of the town ever since.
His owner, Ian Rushby, called him “a special dog” that is “completely chilled out and gentle, with a habit of standing on your feet and leaning into you.”
This protesting is tiring work! | Photo: @snowy9796 on Instagram
Born in October 2014 as the largest of five puppies, the six-year-old pooch has been attending Extinction Rebellion protests in Lincolnshire and beyond since the winter of 2018.
Ever since his first protests at Biscathorpe in the Lincolnshire Wolds, Snowy has been there to comfort rebels and be a calming influence during marches in Greater Lincolnshire, Hull, Manchester, Leeds and London.
Snowy is an avid attender of XR protests across the country. | Photo: @snowy9796 on Instagram
“Snowy steps forward and provides a safe, neutral, space where the people involved can find some common ground”, Ian said.
“He has been the starting point of great conversations and friendships across all cultural and demographic boundaries.
“I’ve lost count of the number of people who have been moved to tears, both grief and joy, by having Snowy around.”
Snowy is always eager to help out. | Photo: @snowy9796 on Instagram
He has also apparently defused potentially hostile situations at roadblocks and other protests, and this is due to Snowy “just being himself.”
It hasn’t always been the rebellious life for Snowy though, who has been to a number of countries with his owners since being born, including Morocco, Switzerland, Malta and Italy.
Even a therapy dog needs some me time. | Photo: @snowy9796 on Instagram
He was described as a bit of a celebrity everywhere he went, attracting attention and making an impression on the locals whenever he went out on walks.
Ian said: “Because of his striking looks, friendly and relaxed manner, everyone wants to stroke him, which has created a virtuous circle, of looking even cuter in order to be stroked again!”
Snowy was one of five puppies, and was the only one with white fur. | Photo: @snowy9796 on Instagram
If you want to follow Snowy’s story, you can visit his Instagram page.
The husband of a Lincolnshire carer who died in 2014 after her tuberculosis was repeatedly misdiagnosed, has spoken out publicly about the family’s tragic ordeal for the first time.
Moza Ali Hill, who was born in Zanzibar in Africa and lived in Stow in Lincolnshire, was misdiagnosed for tuberculosis. She was instead treated for suspected Sarcoidosis with immunosuppressants and tragically died in January 2014.
The cause of her death was not formally identified until a coroner carried out a post-mortem examination and established that Mrs Hill had in been suffering from TB.
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are said to have initially refused to admit fault for several years.
The family only received an apology shortly before the case was due to go to a trial when evidence of clinical negligence was said to have been uncovered. Moza’s husband Victor received a six figure pay out in 2019.
This came after he had contacted Langleys Solicitors in July 2014. Legal proceedings continued for a number of years as the trusts involved allegedly refused to accept that failures in their care had resulted in Mrs Hill’s death.
He recently decided to share his wife’s story publicly to raise awareness that TB can lie dormant for many years.
Victor said: “There is no question that had my wife’s illness been correctly diagnosed and treated when she first started experiencing symptoms, she would still be here today.
“Even when it became clear she was becoming increasingly ill, her doctors continued to treat her for Sarcoidosis. She never complained but it was clear to see that she was going downhill, yet despite her clear risk factors for TB it was never even suggested as a possibility until it was too late.
“My wife worked as a nurse for most of her life, before becoming a carer when she felt that looking after the patients had become secondary to the job. I just wish that the healthcare professionals who treated her had shown her the same level of care and respect that she always showed to others.
“Although nothing will ease the pain of losing her, I’m determined to raise awareness of TB, in the hope that nobody else goes through this needless pain.
“While I was hugely disappointed in the attitude of the trust, the team at Langleys were fantastic throughout. They provided me with so much support at a very difficult time, and when the proceedings finally came to an end it almost felt like saying goodbye to friends.”
Mrs Hill, pictured with one of her two sons Salim Victor.
As Moza was born in Africa, it put her at increased risk of TB and she is said to have had all the textbook symptoms, but respiratory specialists never tested her for it. She had worked as a nurse in a number of countries badly affected by TB, but it was not recognised by doctors that she was at significantly increased risk of infection.
She first visited her GP in January 2012 as she was suffering from an array of relatively mild symptoms typical of TB. This included a persistent cough, joint pain, tiredness and fatigue, and over the following year she lost two stone.
She had enlarged lymph nodes in her throat, abdomen, groin and chest, which can be a sign of TB. Her husband Victor says these symptoms were not fully investigated by Lincoln County Hospital.
After being referred from Lincoln County Hospital to Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, she was wrongly diagnosed with Sarcoidosis.
Sarcoidosis is a rare condition that causes small patches of swollen tissue to develop in the organs of the body. Chronic symptoms can be managed with strong steroid tables that suppress the immune system.
However, as she was battling a serious bacterial infection, this treatment plan led to her decline as her condition gradually worsened after beginning the course of steroids.
Mrs Hill was reluctant to keep taking the drugs as they were making her more ill, but continued to take them on medical advice. Despite this, she continued to work as a carer right before her death as she was dedicated to look after others.
The treatment rapidly worsened the TB and Mrs Hill was admitted to Lincoln County Hospital in December 2013 and then transferred to Northern General Hospital, where she later died.
Moza Ali Hill shortly before her treatment.
A tissue sample taken in March 2011, which had never been sent for culture by Lincoln County Hospital, tested positive for TB as part of later legal proceedings.
It is believed that had this been sent when the biopsy was taken in 2011, Mrs Hill would have been diagnosed, received appropriate treatment and potentially survived.
According to expert evidence, if she had been given appropriate treatment for TB at any point up to and including January 8, 2014 she would have survived. On this date she was advised it was possible she was suffering from TB, but treatment for this condition was not started until January 18, 2014.
Sadly, by this point it was too late to arrest her rapid deterioration and she died in ICU with her husband Victor at her bedside on January 29, 2014.
Andrew Cragg, head of the Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury teams at Langleys Solicitors, said: “This was a clear case of medical negligence: given Mrs Hill’s background, TB should have been ruled out as standard.
“Moza’s death was absolutely devastating for Victor and his children who were devoted to her and so we were very pleased to secure justice for Moza, Victor and their family in highlighting the shortcomings in her treatment. Importantly, this case has also highlighted the urgent need for more education around TB, both within the medical community and the general public.”
Hospital trusts apologise
Dr Neill Hepburn, Medical Director at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We have offered our sincerest and deepest apologies to the family of Mrs Hill for the failings in her diagnosis and treatment.
“We have also put in place measures and training to ensure that we learn from the errors made in Mrs Hill’s care to prevent this from happening again.”
Dr Jennifer Hill, Medical Director (Operations) at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our teams work exceptionally hard to provide the best possible care to our patients and we are so very sorry that in respect of Mrs Hill’s care in 2013 some of our actions were not as expected.
“We have apologised to Mrs Hill’s family for the shortcomings in the care that we provided and whilst nothing that we can say will take away the pain of their loss, we can assure them that we have taken what happened very seriously in order to learn and make changes where we can, so that the chances of it happening again are minimised.”
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