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Keystone Posts by Hayley Williams

Keystone showcases its community spirit as St Neots Festival sponsor for 2024

by | Jun 10, 2024 | #KeystoneAtWork

Keystone showcases its community spirit as St Neots Festival sponsor for 2024

We are hugely excited to confirm we’re sponsoring the award-winning St Neots Festival this year. As a key sponsor at the 2024 event, we’re helping to shine a light on the incredible community groups within the town – giving them the opportunity to promote their activities to thousands of festival visitors in the dedicated Community Zone.

Founded to great acclaim in 2023, the St Neots Festival champions all that is brilliant about St Neots. This free, two-day performing arts and music festival was the Gold Award winner of Cambridgeshire Festival of the Year, 2023, and it’s shaping up to be even bigger and better this year.

“The Festival organisers describe St Neots as “..a place where people feel connected and valued, where there’s a can-do attitude and optimism for the future” – and that statement describes the Keystone ethos too. We are a strong team of passionate people, community engagement specialists, and many of us live in the town and are active in the community ourselves. It’s no surprise we jumped at the chance to support this event and celebrate the wonderful groups across our town as the Community Zone sponsor. Community-led initiatives are truly at the heart of the town – and our business, and so Keystone and the St Neots Festival really are a perfect fit!” – Hayley Williams, Managing Director, Keystone Marketing

This year’s festival will be held on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th July in Priory Park. It is free to attend and is 100% delivered by a group of volunteers brought together through Neotists (a not-for-profit Community Interest Company). Additional festival support also comes from St Neots Town Council, Huntingdonshire District Council and a wide range of incredible local businesses and community organisations.

Come along to the Community Zone to meet local people making a difference to others and to our planet – and, whilst you are there enjoy music, singing, creative activities, and so much more. Discover more on the St Neots Festival website.

Curious about Keystone’s community engagement focus and wider communications consultancy services? Our featured case studies will show you how we successfully drive the profile and growth of commercial organisations and passionately engage communities too.

Reflecting on a powerful partnership with CPSL Mind

by | Apr 10, 2024 | #KeystoneAtWork, Engaging Communities

Reflecting on a powerful partnership with CPSL Mind

With a deep love for our local area and clear expertise in community engagement, a chance meeting with CPSL Mind back in 2022 got us thinking about how we could use our skillset to support the work of this fabulous charity on our doorstep. And so a new charity partnership was born. For over a year, Keystone partnered with the team at CPSL to champion their fundraising activities. As we reach the end of the formal partnership, we look back on an incredible relationship.

CPSL Mind supports local people across Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire (CPSL) who are experiencing mental health challenges. On average, the charity works with over 4000 people a year, providing an essential service, and community fundraising plays a vital part in helping maximise their impact and extend their reach.

We delivered tangible value to CPSL Mind by drawing on our experience of marketing strategy and community engagement; consulting with CPSL Mind’s in-house fundraising and communications teams for free. Through focused ‘power hours’, we offered them considered advice and fresh perspectives to help maximise their marketing activities and outcomes.

“I loved working with Keystone. Our chats were very worthwhile as Hayley has a great knack of disseminating valuable tips and advice in a short space of time. I learnt a few new tricks! The partnership helped us to maximise local engagement and made a real difference to our fundraising events and activities. Keystone’s support of CPSL Mind and what I was trying to achieve was truly appreciated, and I thank them greatly for everything they delivered.” – Gary Sutcliffe, Fundraising Manager at CPSL MInd

Our first task was to support CPSL Mind by promoting participation in Chiltern 50 Challenge, raising valuable funds from walking or running in the Chiltern countryside. From this, Keystone moved on to deliver an online communications workshop to help the in-house team identify how to engage with seldom heard groups. Other activities included interviewing Gary about suicide prevention at a Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce event, and promoting mental health training to Keystone clients and our wider network.

Working closely with local initiatives that wouldn’t usually be able to benefit from our expertise is a deeply embedded part of the Keystone ethos. Our next charity project sees us working closely with the St Neots Festival team; as the sole sponsor of the Community zone. St Neots Festival is a free two-day performing arts and music festival in Cambridgeshire that launched in 2023 to great acclaim. As a key sponsor at this year’s event, we’re helping to shine a light on the incredibly creative and community groups within the town – enabling them to promote their activity to thousands of festival visitors in the dedicated community zone.

The Keystone team has always gifted time and expertise to help local causes elevate their work. It gives us the opportunity to build a long-standing relationship and make a prolonged impact within our local community. Curious about what we do as a consultancy? Audience engagement is a big part of our work. Take a look at our featured case studies to see how we successfully and effectively engage communities.

Keystone celebrates double digit anniversary milestone

by | Jul 28, 2023 | #KeystoneAtWork

Keystone celebrates double digit anniversary milestone

It was July 2013 when Keystone’s founder Hayley Williams formally announced her transition to business owner – after a long career in marketing roles supporting multiple corporates and charity organisations.

Keystone is well known for our emphasis on strategic marketing advice and community engagement focusses, working both closer to home in Cambridgeshire and across the country. Our knowledge and impact stems from the strategic marketing services we offer to high-growth B2B organisations, as well as in our communications projects more widely for the public sector, local authorities and not-for-profits.

At the very heart of our business, is a focus on helping organisations build closer relationships with their audiences; developing strategy, content and campaigns that strongly engage and inspire action within their key communities.

In a celebratory event in St Neots on Thursday 6th July 2023, the Keystone team were joined by clients and colleagues from across the years to raise a toast to this new double-digit milestone.

In a short speech at the event, Hayley spoke of her pride for what the team had been able to achieve on behalf of its clients, her delight in the wonderful people they had met along the way, and her gratefulness for such continuing commitment and support.

We’re one of 5.5 million small businesses across the country, and we know that there’s only a very small percentage that get this far. With a clear proposition and an ongoing growth plan, we’re turbocharged to make a continuing impact in the years ahead too. Watch out for future announcements coming very soon that showcase some of the brand-new projects our team has played a central role in over the last quarter.

Photos from the ‘Keystone is 10’ celebration event can be viewed on our LinkedIn page. Our thanks to Shume for being such fabulous event hosts (and keeping the drinks flowing!), i-d Image Development for capturing the reception so beautifully, and to all our guests – including current Mayor of St Neots Rob Simonis.

Cambridgeshire wide arts programme The Library Presents chooses Keystone as its 2023-26 communications partner

by | Jun 15, 2023 | #KeystoneAtWork, Developing Messaging, Engaging Communities

Cambridgeshire wide arts programme The Library Presents chooses Keystone as its 2023-26 communications partner

Keystone has won a three-year contract to handle the communications for the flagship Cambridgeshire arts programme, The Library Presents – a longstanding vibrant and inclusive arts programme bringing music, drama, art, dance, storytelling, comedy, puppetry, magic, digital arts and workshops to libraries across Cambridgeshire.

Led by our Head of Communications Katherine Hesketh, Keystone will be working closely with the team at The Library Presents over a three-year period, to inject our well-regarded marketing skillset and community engagement expertise into the programme. Programme messaging, social media, PR, stakeholder relations and volunteer engagement all play a part in the campaign curated by the Keystone team.

Speaking of the new partnership, Keystone’s Managing Director Hayley Williams said: “The Library Presents is committed to enabling local residents to experience high quality, low-cost arts experiences across the county – and we are so pleased to play a part in support of this vision. As the programme’s chosen comms team, we’ll focus on creating greater community engagement across numerous audience groups, and deepening relationships with all key stakeholders.”

Ticket sales for the summer 2023 season (the 11th season for the longstanding programme) open on 15 June, with events running throughout July and August. The programme offers an incredible lineup of artists and experiences; including live music, family-centric events, and a sprinkling of theatre, dance and comedy too.

Showcasing its commitment to collaboration, the new season has been created with direct input from over 600 local residents who helped to choose this season’s performers and events.

As a St Neots-based business, we’re pleased to see the programme coming to life locally too. On 29th July, St Neots Library will be alive with the sound of samba drumming! This high energy and all-inclusive workshop will give everyone a chance to have fun with beats and rhythms. The library will host a second event on 4th August when comedian James Campbell will present his stand-up show for children, their parents and anyone who likes comedy without rude words. James wrote the bestselling Funny Life books, and has appeared on Blue Peter and at the Royal Albert Hall.

 

After the rollout of the current summer season, The Library Presents will be back again in October 2023 with an autumn series of arts events and workshops that will be promoted with Keystone’s help, before two seasons run in both 2024 and 2025 too.

For more information, you can visit the programme website, subscribe to the email newsletter, or stay up to date on Facebook and Instagram at: @TheLibraryPresents. The Library Presents is funded by Arts Council England, run by Cambridgeshire County Council working with Babylon ARTS.

CPSL Mind announced as Keystone’s Charity of the Year

by | Feb 7, 2023 | #KeystoneAtWork

CPSL Mind announced as Keystone’s Charity of the Year

It’s our pleasure to announce that Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire Mind (CPSL Mind) has been chosen as Keystone’s Charity of the Year. A partnership that will see our team support the fundraising goals of the charity in our local area over the year ahead.

Across our whole team, we’ll be drawing on our experience of marketing strategy and community engagement to consult with CPSL Mind’s in house fundraising and communications teams for free; offering them considered advice and fresh perspectives to help maximise their marketing activities and outcomes.

Our new fundraising page on Just Giving will also encourage direct donations to the cause across the year. You can access Keystone’s dedicated fundraising page and make a valuable donation here.

Speaking of the new partnership, Keystone’s Managing Director Hayley Williams said:

“I’m so pleased to have reignited our Charity of the Year initiative. We’ve always gifted time and expertise to help local causes elevate their work, and this renewed annual commitment gives us the opportunity to build a long standing relationship and make a prolonged impact. In the last year alone, CPSL Mind supported the mental health of over 4000 local people. The services provided at a grassroots level really are crucial, and we’re ready to play our part in making a difference in the geographical area in which the majority of the Keystone team live and work.”

Fundraising Manager Gary Sutcliffe and Keystone’s Hayley originally met through a Networking with Purpose Breakfast in the summer of 2022; an initiative developed by Cambridge based social entrepreneur Rachel Hales from Get Synergised. The event was driven to connect businesses, charities and social enterprises for the greater good, and the idea of this new official corporate partnership was developed thereafter.

The first activity that this new partnership will support is the campaign to encourage participation in the 2023 Chiltern 50 Challenge on 23 September 2023. Individuals or teams can raise valuable funds for CPSL Mind by joining their team and walking, jogging or running along historic trails and over rolling hills in the Chilterns countryside.

About CPSL Mind
Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire Mind (CPSL Mind) is a dynamic, local charity that supports people in their recovery from mental health problems, promotes wellbeing and campaigns against stigma & discrimination. We believe that no-one should have to face a mental health problem alone. If you are facing difficulties with your emotional or mental health, and are looking for support on your road to recovery, we are here for you. www.cpslmind.org.uk

About Keystone Marketing, St Neots
Our Cambridgeshire based marketing consultancy engages audiences and ignites communities. Helping local authorities and not for profits build closer relationships with their audiences is at the very heart of our business; developing strategy, content and campaigns that strongly engage and inspire action within communities. We are a highly experienced team of community engagement specialists; utilising our experience of marketing strategy to develop campaigns that drive interest, engagement and behavioural change.