Samar Ghansar

• Establish and nurture relationships with local and international media, targeting key initiatives and events to enhance visibility in critical verticals.
• Monitor media coverage, compile reports, and conduct quantitative analysis to evaluate PR success, and inform strategic decisions.
• Assist the CEO and other executives with their communications, ensuring alignment with overall corporate messaging and strategy.
• Work with various departments within Thumbay Healthcare and Gulf Medical University to promote internal expertise, and position the organization and its leaders as industry thought leaders.
• Oversee all PR activities, leveraging industry events, and maintaining strong connections with media influencers to maximize the group's presence.
• Manage the creation and dissemination of press releases, byline articles, case studies, brand messaging, social media content, and other promotional materials.
• Develop and oversee communication strategies for all advertisements, including hoardings, radio, pamphlets, print ads, brochures, and video campaigns, ensuring consistent brand messaging.
• Develop and implement strategies for stakeholder positioning through media interviews, opinion editorials, and featured articles.
• Lead the process of selecting external media agencies, ensuring alignment with the company’s long-term strategy and positioning goals.
• Drive internal communications initiatives, including weekly newsletters, intranet updates, and internal announcements; manage and engage with users on social media channels, respond to digital leads, maintain doctor profiles online, and oversee content for the website and social media platforms.

As a Public Relations Account Manager, my main duties were to influence the public and promote Thumbay Group and GMU through press releases and news items, without the use of paid advertising. This included crafting, polishing, and maintaining the group and its other entities’ public image with positive news coverage. Some of the duties included.

• Cooperating with clients and media daily to come up with news content.
• Researching, drafting, and issuing press releases to the news media and blogs.
• Building strong relationships with clients, the media, and other employees in the company for the sponsorship of events.
• Constantly monitoring the news media, social media, and blogs to find new opportunities for clients.
• Attending external client meetings for Thumbay Media, Whoopey.com, and AKAR Technical Services, and preparing reports, and providing PR services.

As an account manager, I serve as a senior day-to-day contact for AKAR Technical Services and Thumbay Group's education and healthcare PR initiatives, effectively delegating and managing workflow, and assuming accountability for all PR deliverables. I secured a partnership for PMI with Lulu across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain for visibility for the Tobacco division in 2015; to date, these are the only two emirates in the UAE to have a dedicated tobacco visibility contract.

In this role, I exhibit proficiency in all types of writing, including messaging, press releases, new client pitches, annual plans, executive bios, company overviews, bylines, and other professional communications.

Furthermore, I also ensure every external communication and client deliverable has been thoroughly reviewed and demonstrates the highest caliber of work product, reflecting my commitment to exceeding client expectations at every opportunity.

In Dubai’s fast-moving, team-oriented environment, I have managed not only multiple PR accounts, but also led the planning sessions on new and existing accounts, and developed strategies for implementing successful client campaigns. Anticipating and addressing client needs while seeking senior management input when appropriate, I’ve maintained a positive and professional attitude in the face of client challenges and crisis communication, too.

The role varied according to the organizations and sectors I serviced, which included finance, construction, and aviation. I handled high-profile clients like the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), KEF Holdings, and Amadeus Aviation Technology. Tasks often involved:

• Planning, developing, and implementing PR strategies, collating, and analyzing media coverage.
• Liaising with colleagues and key spokespeople, liaising with and answering inquiries from media, individuals, and other organizations, often via telephone and email, researching, writing, and distributing press releases to targeted media.
• Writing and editing in-house e-letters, case studies, speeches, articles, and annual reports; preparing and supervising the production of publicity brochures, handouts, direct mail leaflets, promotional videos, photographs, films, and multimedia programs.
• Organizing events, including press conferences, exhibitions, open days, and press tours.
• Maintaining and updating information on the organization’s website, managing and updating information, and engaging with users on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
• Commissioning market research to identify the positioning.
• Fostering community relations through events such as the DIFC 10-Year Strategy Announcement, KEF Holdings’ new plant launch, and announcing the findings of Amadeus’ commissioned research, while managing the PR aspect of a potential crisis situation.

In addition, I was also involved in preparing the new client pitch report, which contained the scope of work, highlighting the goals of reputational-building engagement throughout the year, etc.

Planning the editorial contents for the organization’s two publications (The Intelligent SME and The Robust RAK), which included making the flat plan, coordinating a team of writers, subject experts, and editing them too, while producing articles and working with various PR agencies for additional content, interviewing several business owners, entrepreneurs, and government officials for profile stories, feature stories, and analyses, and planning and organizing seminars with topics pertaining to the business sector.

On the other hand, I also led the planning and execution team of high-profile events like the Emirates NBD Global Business Series, scheduled every month, where the publishing house hosted an up-close and personal session with business icons of the UAE.

Over a tenure of two years, I managed to bring on board industry bellwethers like Tony Jashanmal, Sanjeev Mehta (erstwhile Chairman of Unilever Gulf), Rizwan Sajan (Danube), Ahmed Bin Sulayem (Executive Chairman of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre), Avi Bhojani (Group CEO Bates Pan Gulf), etc., as guest speakers, sharing their pearls of wisdom on entrepreneurship, thought leadership topics, and how to succeed as a businessman or professional in Dubai's competitive market.

Likewise, I also assisted in several two-day-long conferences, like the SME World Summit, the Global Apps Summit, the RAK Corporate Wellness Awards, and many more.

On the creative front, I was responsible for the coordination between the in-house design team, freelance designers, and subordinates for the production of materials, uploading content of the magazine onto the online portal, and updating the Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter channels.

I handled a wide array of duties, which included writing click-worthy headlines for stories and introductory paragraphs, checking copies to ensure they were grammatically error-free, selecting apt images, and picture editing on Photoshop. Format and check the website content. Create and maintain publishing schedules and rosters. Design presentations for potential clients. Publish content via the company's proprietary content management system. Keep track of the website’s page views, and come up with strategies to improve its presence on search engines.

Worked for the website of the leading business news channel, Bloomberg TV, covering the stock market exchanges (Sensex and Nifty). My job involved tending to breaking news on the channel and putting it on the website quickly and objectively, ensuring comprehensive coverage, and also drafting exclusive special investigative stories on volatile stocks, company news, IPO listings, etc.