THE HOLYROOD HOTSEAT – Meet the most important people at our PR agency: The clients

Blackwood Blog

Colleen’s creative licence sees her bring in PR experts to share the care


PR agency hear success stories from clientsWelcome to the first in our new series of quickfire Q&A sessions with some of the interesting characters behind the clients of Scottish PR agency. Here we catch up with Colleen Robertson of Blackwood


 

Holyrood PR in Edinburgh Q&A session with clients asking why  PR is important RENOWNED housing and care provider Blackwood has just capped a whirlwind year of media success with more than 150 items of coverage secured during the last 12 months.

Key coverage highlights include features in The Scotsman, Financial Times, Evening Times, SFHA and Edinburgh Evening News.

Success stories for the charity have come from its partnership with Triodos Bank, sponsorship of the cup-winning Lothian Phoenix wheelchair basketball team, delivery of an innovative student design competition.

Meanwhile Blackwood has continued going from strength to strength with its forward-thinking and tech-savvy provision of care, securing a wealth of positive headlines for the five star Care Inspectorate reviews at its developments.

We caught up with Colleen Robertson, Marketing Manager at Blackwood, to find out more…

How would you describe your company and its main aim?

Blackwood is a leading housing and care provider, specialising in services for people with disabilities across Scotland.

Founded in 1972 by Dr Margaret Blackwood, the organisation is entirely focused on creating personalised and individual solutions to help people live their lives to the full.PR photography by Edinburgh PR Agency

With over 1600 properties, 4 care homes and over 350 employees, Blackwood operates in 29 out of 32 local authorities providing homes, care and support for individuals with physical disabilities, long term conditions, sensory impairment and learning disabilities.

Blackwood’s staff teams are friendly, committed, motivated and trained to the highest level, which ensures the best possible outcomes are achieved for our customers.

With three regional offices in Stirling, Glasgow and Aberdeen and our headquarters in Edinburgh, we provide a great base for a unique and integrated housing and care service.

What is your current role?

Blackwood HQ Launch 8My role is marketing manager.

We do all of our graphic design in house, so have full creative licence for our marketing materials, literature and brand strategy.

I am also a web developer so manage our internet content and am currently working on our new intranet due to launch in April.

On top of that, I’m responsible for our social media profiles and of course, working with Holyrood PR to produce our media releases.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

The highlight so far in my role with Blackwood was being part of the rebrand we underwent in 2012.

That was an exciting project that delved into who we are and what we wanted to be known for. This was great for me as it gave me the chance to really stretch my creativity.

What are the PR objectives for your business?

We have a few objectives, the most obvious being to raise awareness of our company, but we have so many interesting customers and staff that we are never short of a story!

We also grade very well with our Care Inspectorate reports and we want people to know how good our services are.

Blackwood is also proud sponsor of Lothian Phoenix Wheelchair Basketball Team so we try our best to promote the sport and independent living.

How has working with Holyrood helped your business? 

Blackwood, client at award winning PR agency Holyrood PRWe get feedback all the time from people who have seen us in various local and national press.

Recently we even featured in the Financial Times!

Our Board are also delighted with the results as they can see the value in having a dedicated team that help us get the word out about how good we actually are.

The press releases give us more content for social media and with Holyrood PR covering a lot of our articles with video, we are building up a very professional profile.

Join the other savvy and discerning businesses who have discovered the benefits of working with our public relations agency in Edinburgh

Colleen is one of the many satisfied clients – past and present – who have worked with the Scottish PR experts at  our public relations agency.

We’d love to meet with you and chat about the possibilities that effective public relations could bring to you. Call us on 0131 561 2244 or fill in the simple form below and we’ll get straight back to you
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