Public relations is an incredibly important skill to all kinds of organisations, particularly local councils as they support their community. Here, PR expert Helen Rudd, explains how she and her team can support EELGA members.
Tell us about yourself and your specialism:
I have more than fifteen years’ experience in PR, specifically across the public sector in the East of England. Originally, I am from the North East but I moved to Suffolk in 2004 to start my communications career at the Port of Felixstowe.
My own specialism is PR strategy. I regularly offer consultancy to public sector organisations looking to review and overhaul their communications strategies. My work ensures they are talking to their audiences in the most effective way and meeting their business objectives.
I also have extensive expertise in running election communications, throughout purdah and voting days, and managing media at the count. I have supported two General elections and over ten District, County, Combined Authority and PCC elections as an extension to a Council’s in-house team.
Tell us what you can provide potential clients as an associate on EELGA’s Talent Bank:
As a consultant, I can supply EELGA members with a wide range of services. My services include media relations, training, social media and digital marketing, press office management, crisis communications, graphic design and videography.
I am also very experienced in all manner of crisis communications and can help Councils deal with various issues. Using my expertise, I can work to protect the reputation of the Council, alongside providing media training where required.
Tell us about any significant challenges relating to your specialism and how you can overcome them:
When I first started in PR in 2004, social media was only just starting out through Facebook and Myspace. Websites weren’t the shop window of a business, nobody bought things online and businesses only had one spokesperson.
Now, social media is a vital communications channel and every organisation, no matter what type, needs to be on top of this and managing it in the most effective way. Everyone is a spokesperson now, one bad review can go viral and crisis communications management is needed much more frequently. The media is also 24/7, so I can provide an ‘on-call’ service to answer media enquiries around the clock so no opportunities are missed, and there will never be a ‘no comment’ scenario.
My crisis communications and press office offering, coupled with media training is a solution to those issues.
Tell us where you have come from and what has led you to be part of EELGA’s Talent Bank:
I have assisted the communications team at EELGA since 2010.
I have supported EELGA as an extension to their in-house communications team for around eight years. I provide media relations support to ensure that the fantastic work they are doing is covered far and wide in the press, as well as a wide range of other communications activities.
I am proud to have been asked to join EELGA’s talent bank when it was first set up and to be a recommended supplier of PR and communications consultancy.
If you’re interested in support from Helen Rudd, you can register an interest here.