What people say about me

What people say about working with Ali Turnbull and fit to print (and what I like about working with them):

“A safe pair of hands”
“Positive, proactive content”
“Her enthusiasm is infectious and reassuring”
“Completer-finisher with bells on”
“Made our words make sense”
“Highly effective marketing copy”
“A skilled polisher”  
“Accessible and reassuring content”
“Made dry subject matter clear and engaging” 

“A safe pair of hands”

I’ve worked with Mando Group,  Liverpool since 2004. Directors Matt Johnson, Ian Finch and their team are great to work with, and it’s no surprise that every time I visit their offices there’s a new award on their shelves.

Although I’m 120 miles away and several years older, I feel a valued member of the Mando team. They are receptive to new ideas and wisely realistic about some of my wackier ideas. And they respect the traditional standards of grammar, spelling and punctuation that I bring to new media.

Mando’s Ian Finch says:

“I love working with Ali – she’s very experienced but still has a youthful dynamism for new ideas. She’s a safe pair of hands for consultancy and roll-out alike and brings new-school thinking alive with old-school values and approach.”

“Positive, proactive content”

One of Mando Group’s clients is the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). I’ve helped HSE to revamp a number of their sites to showcase good practice in health and safety. I’ve made it easier for people to assess, minimise and control the risks at work. Examples include:

• Looking after your business
• Sound Advice 

I like working with HSE’s Head of Online Kenny Macdonald because he’s one of those rare bilinguals who can communicate equally with civil servants and creatives. He also has great diagnostic skills – in a few words he can tell me what’s wrong with a site and how he thinks I can improve it.

Kenny Macdonald says:

“Ali’s role is to take a substantial quantity of source material and rapidly identify the audience, the key messages, and the fastest reader journey through the website for experienced and first-time users.The result is positive, proactive content that encourages readers to take action.”

 

“Her enthusiasm is infectious and reassuring”

In 1999, Nick Hopewell-Smith, then Vice-Chairman of Bounty SCA UK Ltd, hired me to turn the contents of Bounty’s pregnancy and parenting guide books into web pages. I turned 80,000 printed words into more than 500 web reference pages. Then I kept these pages up to date, and helped to develop Bounty’s in-house content management system.

It’s hard to believe now, but I did the whole CMS thing without broadband! I commissioned and wrote features on new subjects and updated the news pages daily. Bounty’s Interact team taught me a lot about what is – and isn’t – possible on the web.

Nick Hopewell-Smith, now MD of Henley Offices (your go-to guy if you want a garden office) says:

“In spite of her location – remote to our Norfolk office – in Cumbria, Ali’s commitment to, and enthusiasm for the new bounty.com project proved infectious and reassuring to everyone involved.

She was very quick to familiarise herself with the constraints and possibilities of the HTML process, while her material was produced on time to exacting deadlines set by the Bounty Interact department.

It was soon apparent to myself and others that Ali’s capabilities stretched beyond skilled editing and web content planning. She prepared proposals and discussion documents that underlined her considerable vision.

Working closely with me, she helped to specify and co-ordinate a best-practice panel of health professionals to advise on our printed publication as well as our website. I recommend her skills, diligence, enthusiasm and good character to other potential employers.”

“Completer-finisher with bells on”

When I worked on Running magazine from 1981-86, I introduced a number of editorial and support features, many of which – I’m proud to say – still exist today in Running’s successor Runner’s World. They included the charities review, an annual shoe survey, the Running Sisters support network for women runners, equipment reviews, and the events listings.

This was all in the early eighties before the convenience of email, database and Google.

Andy Etchells, then Editor of Running Magazine, and now Director of CrunCH, the Charity Runners Clearing House says:

“Ali Turnbull is a completer-finisher with bells on. Not flashy and annoying bells, but highly competent ones that serve a purpose. She is someone who marries two often mutually exclusive components: creative thinking and detailed tenacity. Margaret Thatcher said every PM needed a Willie (Whitelaw). I remember thinking that every magazine editor needed an Ali: someone who was as good writing entertaining, accurate articles as she was devising and executing fantastically complicated projects.

Later, when I was asked by the London Marathon to recruit and organise Team Flora – 500 first-time runners raising money for the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund – the first person I turned to for logistical and communications expertise was Ali.

Common to both of these jobs was the sense of absolute assurance provided by Ali’s presence. That meant that I was free to concentrate on the things I had to do (such as absenting myself for two or more weeks to cover the Olympics) knowing the office and the systems were running smoothly in my absence.”

 

“Made our words make sense”

I met Lucy Whittington of Inspired Business Marketing on Twitter when I was researching an article about social networking in the hospitality industry. She was really helpful with case studies and contacts. Lucy was looking for someone to edit the Hotel Success Handbook she was writing with co-author Caroline Cooper. 

Lucy Whittington says:

“Ali was exactly what we needed in a copy editor - taking everything we'd written and organising it perfectly. Ali understood exactly what we were trying to achieve with our book - what we wanted to say and how we wanted to say it.

Ali made our words make sense.I would have no hesitation in recommending Ali, and when I get the time to write another book, I’ll be booking her services right away.”

 

“Highly effective marketing copy”

Catherine Rumney of The Creative Branch in Kendal invited me to write the content for Tim Marston, master fire juggler, Juggling Inferno.  I couldn’t resist – who else can boast they have worked for a fire juggler and HSE in the same month? Tim’s health and safety credentials,  by the way, are top notch.

Master fire juggler Tim Marston says:

“fit to print took my initial ideas and created highly effective marketing copy for my site. My customers tell me they like it, so clearly it works!”

“A skilled polisher”

Tarnside Consulting are fundraising and management consultants who work with charities to help turn their dreams into reality. I’ve worked on three of Tarnside’s cases for support – the Calvert Trust, Chetham’s School, and Lichfield Cathedral.

Tarnside’s Patrick Boggon says:

“Thank you very much for your help with the Calvert Trust Case for Support. I thought that you made a really useful contribution and enhanced the paper and made it flow much better. Thank you for being such a skilled polisher.”

“Accessible and reassuring content”

Stephen Bolger, Partner, Warwick Square Osteopathic Practice, Carlisle says:

“Ali helped us realise that we needed to describe what we do in a way that people would understand and relate to. She helped us get rid of the jargon and keep things short, straightforward and interesting.

Our new web content explains what we do in a way that is accessible and reassuring. We hadn’t thought about including case studies, but they are a perfect way to show the wide range of people and conditions that we treat.”

“Made dry subject matter clear and engaging”

In 2006 I wrote the Company Support pages for Skillset, the Sector Skills Council for Creative Media. These pages help people in the creative media to set up and run their small businesses. 

Paul Dykes, e-Communications Co-ordinator for Skillset, says:

“Ali’s proactivity and initiative made her a joy to work with, transforming our project brief into a reality swiftly and smoothly. Her excellent web writing style took sometimes dry subject matter and made it clear and engaging.”