The Public Relations Strategic Toolkit

Alison Theaker has 30 years experience in public relations and taught public relations and integrated marketing communications in the UK and the USA . She is the author of bestselling textbooks The Public Relations Handbook (2012) and Effective Media Relations (2005). She is an elected Fellow of the CIPR and was its first Head of Education and Training. She has addressed conferences in the UK, USA and Australia about the future of the industry, developing teams and improving writing skills. She is now a PR coach for small businesses, running her own consultancy, The Spark, www.thesparkuk.com as well as being an accredited action learning facilitator.


Heather Yaxley is a hybrid public relations practitioner-academic, with over 25 years' experience working in-house and a consultant. She is a CIPR Fellow and Accredited Practitioner as well as an honorary member and director of the Motor Industry Public Affairs Association Ltd. A lecturer at Bournemouth University, where she is studying for a PhD, Heather is also course director for the CIPR qualifications with Cambridge Marketing Colleges. She established Applause Consultancy in 2000 and has worked with clients including Nissan, Bentley Motors, Coca-Cola, npower renewables, Tata and General Motors. She is a PR pioneer in social media and can be found as Greenbanana in Twitter and other social networks.