Rhea Alton
Rhea Alton is Operations Director at J&PR, providing marketing and PR services for businesses across Shropshire, the West Midlands and beyond.
Rhea started the business Journalism and PR as a sole trader in 2009 before joining with co-director Kirsty Smallman and launching J&PR Ltd in 2013.
- Tell us a little bit about your business…
We are all about words…when it comes to marketing and public relations, so much of the content created is about words – even graphic images and videos have words! It’s all about telling the story in the most powerful way.
Many of the team are former journalists and combined with the digital expertise we have, we make a formidable team.
From social content, blogs and website copywriting to press releases, long-form content and marketing campaigns and strategy, we have a broad client portfolio, working with businesses of all sizes, from sole traders to leading global manufacturers across our range of PR, digital and training services.
- How did you get into the industry?
I am a trained journalist and worked in newspapers for many years before launching my own PR business. I started out working with small businesses and sole traders, but as my experience grew and the company began to expand, so did the client base.
- What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your industry?
There is a vast range of opportunities in marketing and PR – so many businesses are changing how they work because buyers are making decisions on what they see in marketing before they even speak to the company itself – and we can work with clients to change strategy and ensure they are doing all they can to increase sales and achieve growth.
Another huge opportunity is training. We started offering online training and support during the COVID lockdowns, and that part of our business has continued to grow. It allows employers to up-skill members of the team, update knowledge and provide support to marketing departments.
We host face-to-face training sessions for organisations such as Shropshire Chamber of Commerce and in-house for businesses across the county and beyond and are also guest lecturers for the digital apprentice programme at SBC Training and also lecture for students at Blackrook Academy.
One of the biggest challenges we face is that marketing is often the first service to be reduced or cut when organisations are looking to reduce budgets; on the other hand, another challenge we face is that businesses we work with can experience so much growth they move to an in-house marketing model – although this is always something we support and work with clients to achieve.
The skills of our team are many and varied, and it is hard for a business to replicate those skills in a marketing team without having to employ a large number of people – by sharing our expertise, we can support marketing managers in their roles.
- How would you describe your leadership style?
I asked the team to help me with this one….they said I would be a mixture of autocratic – because I am able to make quick decisions when needed but also provide clear, concise direction, and democratic because (when there is time) I would always consider their suggestions and input when making decisions!
- How do you get the most out of the people who work for you?
It is really important to us at J&PR that our workforce is happy. We know this happens when they are using the skills they love and working on campaigns they are passionate about – so we match the right team member with the right client, and we encourage them to bring all of their creativity and skills into their planning and work! We are known for our positive culture and for looking after our team members.
- What are the most crucial elements to your business running smoothly and being successful?
I would say the most crucial elements are teamwork and communication – we often say we act as an extra arm to our client’s businesses as we are a full marketing team that works together and shares skills to ensure a successful outcome.
- How have the past 12 months been for you?
The last 12 months have been great at J&PR and we are looking forward to marking another record-breaking end of year in July; our client base has grown, our team has grown, we have expanded our training offerings to meet the needs of our clients, and we have worked on a number of branding and marketing strategy projects.
- What will the next 12 months look like for your business?
The next 12 months are set to be exciting – the new addition to our team brings new skills that will see us able to offer our clients additional services in terms of graphics creation and video content, as well as further strengthening our content-writing capabilities.
- What are the highlights of your career so far?
I have had many, many highlights. A memorable one was as a sole trader when I managed the PR and marketing campaign for Cosford Air Show and saw it attract record-breaking crowds. It was also fantastic to see one of our global client’s Instagram accounts hit 65,000 followers after watching the efforts put in by the team to ensure its growth.
However, my biggest highlight was scooping the Shropshire Chamber of Commerce Award for Best Covid Response. The impact of COVID and the subsequent lockdowns saw us lose 50% of our clients in three days as we did not hold anyone to contract at that time – we could have done but we didn’t! It was then we launched online training to support high street businesses that suddenly had to move online or face closure…following the difficult period many of our clients returned to us and J&PR saw exponential growth. As a Director I was so proud of the team and all we had done.
- What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?
I am a big fan of business books and there are so many authors I would thank for sharing advice about business….I think the one that sticks out the most for me is Marcus Sheridan’s ‘They ask, you answer’ – it’s a very simple concept but one that should always be kept in mind when thinking about marketing strategy – meet the needs of your client’s customers…and in turn, theirs.
