Services

Emailers can be a colourful and impactful way of communicating with your target audience. We work with clients to maximise the impact of their PR activities by reinforcing great press coverage in the media with great content in their clients’ inboxes.

Often people see articles in the media but don’t take on board all the messages so it can be a very effective way of reminding your key customers of your most important news.

MAW Communications has developed a series of media training courses ranging from a Media Awareness “taster” through to a full day of Media Training using the latest recording and playback equipment:

Media Awareness Taster
A half day introduction to working with the press. Aimed at individuals who are just beginning to deal with the media, the course is designed to demystify the press and help understand how journalists work. We include an analysis of what is ‘news’, explain why some stories get into the press and some don’t, explore the ‘anatomy of a newspaper’, provide top tips on how to deal with the press and give them exactly what they want, and then finish by letting participants have a go at putting a news page together.

Media Training (half day or full day)
Tailored to your requirements but aimed at those with some experience of working with the press. It is designed to quickly refresh participants on current best practice before taking them through a role play based agenda preparing key messages and practicing in front of camera. The session involves detailed feedback on technique and an action plan for improvement.

Tailored preparation for a specific interview
More intensive 1:1 coaching aimed at more experienced media commentators who want to sharpen up for a particular interview. Here the agenda is based on the particular challenge and tailored to the abilities of the attendees. Generally, the objective is to familiarise the trainees with some more advanced techniques and raise confidence levels before a specific challenge.

Tailored for you
The above courses can be adapted and tailored for your needs. We can source professional facilities and equipment if required, as well as carry out training on your premises if that is appropriate.

The trainer:
Gordon Maw was media trained by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and has over 20 years experience working in PR and communications. He was formerly the Director of Communications for Virgin Money.

Gordon has worked with a broad range of newspapers and broadcasters both in the UK and beyond. He has appeared as an expert commentator on programmes such as ITN’s News at Ten, BBC Breakfast, Sky News, BBC News 24, Channel Four News, Radio Four’s Today Programme, Radio Five Live and Channel Four’s Dispatches and been quoted in everything from the Financial Times to The Sun.

Having worked with journalists for years, Gordon knows exactly what they want and how best to position individuals and organisations to deal with the press. Today Gordon trains and coaches other people in how to get the most out of their time in the media spotlight and has trained a wide variety of chief executives, press spokespeople and celebrities.

MAW Communications has developed specialist strategies for expert commentators to ensure that the media come back to them time and time again. As a result, MAW Communications has been shortlisted in the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Awards for its work with brand expert Simon Middleton.

News is made up of many different components – most important of all it should contain something ‘new’. But it will also have some facts and figures, some human interest, perhaps elements of conflict, sex, death and money (one of which is rarely far from the surface of most stories) and invariably it will contain expert opinion.

Expert opinion provides the insight and the context for stories. Journalists rely on independent commentators to explain what it all means or to provide an opinion. Often that opinion will represent one side of an argument and another expert will be sourced to balance up the article with a view from the opposing side.

Understanding the basic structure of news is essential if companies are to work effectively with the media. The role of the PR agency is to help companies work with the media and present them and their work in a way that is accessible for journalists and helps them do their job.

Organisations are built on expertise and staffed by experts. In some cases that expertise is unique to that organisation because of the products and services involved. However, in most cases the benefit of the expert commentator for the media does not come from their unique viewpoint, but from the ability to communicate in an effective, timely and insightful way.

Your company may not be the only widget manufacturer in the world but you can still be the first port of call when a journalist is writing about widgets.

The benefits of being an expert commentator in the press can be considerable. It showcases you and your organisation as experts and potentially the leaders in your field. It also helps people see exactly what you do, the issues you are passionate about and the value that you could potentially add.

So how do you become an expert commentator in the press? MAW Communications specialises in running expert commentator PR programmes, so if you want to start making the news, give us call!

The world of communications is changing fast and people are gathering news and information from an ever widening range of resources. These days you are just as likely to hear a brand’s story first on Twitter as on the News at 10. We work with a growing number of companies to either; guide them and train their in-house team on social media or to run their social media campaigns for them.

We use social media to compliment PR and email marketing in integrated communications campaigns to be sure that your target audience hears about you in a coordinated and impactful way.

We combine our own hands-on experience in social media with our creative skills and writing ability, as well as working with online social media tools to help maximise the efficiency and impact of your campaigns and analyse your activity.

PR is a people business and our success is based on great relationships built up from years of working with national, regional and trade media. We pride ourselves on not just knowing journalists, but also knowing exactly what they need and how they want it delivered.

Media Relations is at the heart of everything we do. As in any business, journalists do business with people they like and trust. We are respected by journalists as an agency that always provides great stories and spokespeople and cherished by clients who have enjoyed the results.