Kate Strawson

As one of the co-founders of Shooting Star, I have worked on many of the agency’s key regional, national and international accounts over the past 18 years including Midlands Enterprise Universities, Doubletree by Hilton and leading European packaging firm Coveris. I am also responsible for the day-to-day management of the business and setting out the strategy and vision along with my fellow director Jez Ashberry. I line manage the marketing team, so naturally I get involved with a lot of the client work as well as business development. I enjoy getting out meeting other business owners, as well as writing proposals and pitching for work. I also relish the opportunity work with the next generation of marketers and can often be found giving a talk or careers advice to students in schools and universities. As an agency we also do a lot of charity work and adopt a Charity of the Year every year who we work for on a pro bono basis. Over the years I’ve taken part in numerous fundraising events including a trek along the Great Wall of China, the Lincoln 10K, Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life and a 33-mile bike ride.

My Skills & Experience

Having studied journalism at university I began my career as a print journalist for a local newspaper before moving into broadcast journalism reporting and reading the news for a group of radio stations across the Midlands and Yorkshire. I have also worked as a PR specialist in-house for a high-end international furniture business and the University of Lincoln before setting up Shooting Star in 2006.

My areas of specialism are content writing – I know how to write compelling copy and craft key messages which really resonate with a company’s target audience. I also enjoy talking to people to find out more about them or their business and the challenges they face, and then developing a strategy to meet their needs or help them achieve their goals. I think the ability to tell a good story is one of our USPs as an agency. Having worked previously as journalists Jez and I understand how to grab people’s attention and really make them sit up and listen. Conversely, we also know what makes a bad news story and how to manage a crisis which we incorporate into our media training courses.

We also deeply care about our staff and clients and always try and go the extra mile to make them happy. We don’t always get it right, but we own our mistakes and use our failures as an opportunity to learn and set a good example. We also try and treat our staff and customers as we ourselves would want to be treated and ensure everyone has a good work-life balance which we believe is key to employee wellbeing.

My Work

Before embarking on a career in journalism I worked in numerous industries including tourism, hospitality and manufacturing and this has given me a useful insight. As an agency we work for B2C and B2B clients across sectors, so my experience has proved invaluable as I understand the challenges our manufacturing clients, for instance, face. As a business owner I also understand what keeps other business owners up at night!

I’m a people person at heart so I enjoy talking to people which is what drew me to journalism. I love finding out about people or businesses and telling their stories. At Shooting Star I’ve had the pleasure of working with lots of fantastic private, public and third-sector organisations and finding out what makes them great or unique. It’s so rewarding to help them achieve the recognition and success they deserve. I recently worked with the team at the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust providing copywriting support for their teaching hospital publication which played a crucial role in helping them achieve teaching hospital status. For this we had to research and write over 30 articles talking about everything from simulation training suites to The Nursing and Midwifery Framework which required fantastic research, interviewing and writing skills!

Earlier this year, we worked with leading European packaging firm Coveris to develop their employer branding strategy which involved conducting focus groups and one-to-one interviews with existing employees to find out what they enjoyed about working there. The findings informed a hugely successful multi-channel recruitment campaign which resulted in a 94% increase in monthly job applications.

Another highlight of my career so far was providing the marketing and PR support to the official Kawasaki British Superbike Championship team for three years. During this time Team Green rider Leon Haslam won the championship, and we won two Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) awards. A great result all round!

Let’s chat!

If you need any marketing support or wish to find out more about our PR and marketing services connect with me on LinkedIn or contact me at kate@weareshootingstar.co.uk.