What our Clients say about Us
 

From Simon Littlejohns, Tax Partner, accountants and business advisers PKF in Birmingham.

Marketing Management, and latterly ASAP, has acted as our PR agency in Birmingham since September 2002. The PR director Andy Skinner was interviewed by our Midlands marketing manager Jenny Evans on the recommendation of our London press office who had canvassed opinion among local business journalists and his name was suggested by the majority they had contacted.

In 2002 our concern was that our local profile did not reflect that PKF is a Top Ten UK accountancy practice, currently placed ninth, and we were eager to redress this situation in order to support our wider marketing programme.

This has been addressed by ASAP and we now receive regular coverage in journals such as the Birmingham Post, Birmingham Evening Mail, Wolverhampton Express and Star and other business journals across the West Midlands region.

Furthermore, we had never previously been able to gain access to any radio or TV coverage. This is something that ASAP has plugged away at and we now are regularly contacted by organisations such as the BBC, Central News, Saga radio and others for our opinions on a wide range of business and financial topics. At Budget time, Andy ensures that our name is in front of the radio and TV producers when they are looking for informed comment, and we have also had a number of successful interviews on Ed Doolan’s morning programme on BBC Radio WM.

Since April 2004, ASAP has also been appointed to handle the PR for our Nottingham, Derby, Leicester and Lincoln offices. This has worked well as ideas produced in one office can be swiftly adapted for local comment and local conditions, ensuring that one press release often results in several hits across the wider Midlands region.

Andy Skinner and his colleagues seem to have a strong relationship with local journalists and at his suggestion we have further reinforced this on PKF’s behalf by sponsoring the Birmingham Press Club Ball in 2004 (and again for November 2005) and this has resulted in a noticeably higher recognition of the PKF name among journalists.

 
From John Phillips, Regional Director, Institute of Directors in the West Midlands

We approached Andy Skinner on recommendations from other journalists in the city to act as our Press Officer in the West Midlands, a role he willingly accepted and which he has carried out since November 2002.

Although only paid for one day per month, Andy is always available and keeps us in constant touch with the media. This was particularly borne out during the latter days of MG Rover when Andy kept us at the forefront of media coverage, day and night.

Our media profile has never been higher and Andy has worked hard to open up new avenues for us such as radio and TV coverage. These are areas that are appropriate for the IoD to access, but which we had never been able to crack with any success until we recruited Andy.

We are very pleased to work with Andy and his courteous and efficient team at ASAP and I have no hesitation in commending their professionalism, flair and dedication to any other organisation requiring their skills.

Andy gets on very well with our press office in London and is often able to put a regional spin on the national business news.

We work under pressure and Andy saves us valuable time. We can give him the bones of a position and he is able to add appropriate detail. He understands how we think on key issues and writes in a style which is acceptable to business editors. As a company director himself he personally understands many of the frustrations experienced by our members and I highly recommend him as a clever business journalist and a real professional who is easy to work with.
 
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