Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
It has been a long-standing tradition for major brands and companies to avoid commenting on major social and political issues to avoid alienating their customer base. But times are changing. In today’s volatile political climate, there has been a push for brands to take a stand. From LGBT rights to immigration, social justice issues are front and center, and how a company reacts to new legislation can have a substantial impact on its brand image. As an increasing number of companies begin to openly take a stance on controversial topics, it is becoming apparent that staying silent on issues can be just as dangerous as speaking up.
Over the last year there have been a number of companies that have failed to meet customer expectations on social issues. One that stands out is Uber, whose reaction to Trump’s immigration ban caused a huge number of customers to delete the app and switch to Lyft. However, this loss of customer base didn’t happen because Uber took a definitive stance for or against the executive order, but it happened because they failed to take a stance at all. In the midst of influential brands like Lyft, Ford and Netflix speaking out openly against the order, some even calling it un-American, Uber’s CEO remained relatively quiet simply stating that he would bring up the issue at President Trump’s business advisory group meeting.
For a company that has labeled itself as progressive and bold, its silence turned a lot of customers to its competitor. In an attempt to repair the damage, Uber made a statement calling the order unjust, but it was too little too late. Uber illustrated just how dangerous inaction can be in a world that is striving for social justice.
In many instances, big brands taking a stand on social issues have had a positive impact on social change. Brands are becoming increasingly aware of how much influence they can have, and that they have the power to make a real difference. We witnessed this last year when North Carolina passed a law that would allow discrimination against the LGBT community in public accommodations and housing. Multiple companies rose up in opposition including the NBA, PayPal and Google. The NBA went so far as to move the NBA All-Star game from Charlotte to New Orleans in opposition to the law.
Many see this sort of political activism as a good thing, and while the bill in North Carolina passed, politicians and social activists are already working on a repeal due to the repercussions. This goes to show how companies’ stances can impact state and local government legislation,, which can be just as important as national regulations.
Choosing a side can have consequences. In such a politically charged climate, no matter what stance you choose, there is the potential for opposition. However, recent research has shown that the majority of people feel that not taking a stance is worse. A national survey found that 78 percent of adults across multiple political positions believe that companies should take action on political issues. This is a huge shift from past beliefs that business and politics should remain separate. Stakeholders and consumers are continuously pressuring CEOs to speak out on issues and to communicate where their company stands.
Keeping a company’s political stance in line with its core values is also important. If a company champions ingenuity and inclusion, and then declares that they are not going to support environmental regulation, it will create confusion about what the company truly stands for. It is easier to create a narrative that makes sense if the issue hits close to home for your brand. For example, many tech companies were openly opposed to Trump’s executive travel-ban because they recruit a lot of talent from the countries that were being affected, making the issue extremely personal to the current employees.
It would be difficult to take a stance on every single social issue that will arise, but it is important to speak out on topics that are important to you and your brand. Inaction now is no longer an option, and it shouldn’t be. The power that brands have as a social-change driver should not be downplayed, as it could have a lasting positive impact on society. For the foreseeable future, companies will continue to speak out on controversial issues and – hopefully – change the world for the better.
Due to demand from professors internationally, we recently agreed to have our book “Strategic Public Relations: 10 Principles to Harness the Power of PR” published via Kortext’s digital platform. Kortext serves more than 40 university partners across Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Africa.
Through this agreement professors can now easily access “Strategic Public Relations: 10 Principles to Harness the Power of PR” and utilize our book as a text for courses. This allows students to learn the value of managing corporate and personal reputations, as well as how to use public relations as a strategic component within their marketing mix. Using real-life examples, the book demonstrates that taking a strategic approach to communications does not have to be a difficult or expensive process.
“Strategic Public Relations” is already being used as a text in a number of universities in the U.S. both as a physical text and e-book. We are thrilled to make it easier for professors internationally to discover our book and for more students to learn how to effectively harness the power of PR!
Read the full press release here.
The media industry has undergone dramatic change over the last 10-15 years. We’ve written numerous times about the shifts in the landscape and how to navigate them. However, rarely is there quantifiable information about how the evolution of the media landscape affects the PR industry.
MediaMiser released an infographic outlining the future of PR, stating that the tactics and strategies PR professionals will turn to will be centered on tech-driven media intelligence. For example, according to the infographic, 83 percent of journalists use only 10 percent of the press releases they receive. While this data is not shocking, as numerous journalists have informed me of their dislike for releases, it further supports the need for other creative methods to disseminate messages to key audiences.
The infographic lists thought leadership, content marketing, social media content and working with influencers as some of the new tactics being adopted in place of the traditional news release and media relations. These tactics are effective for a number of reasons: control over the messaging, the demand for original content, and most importantly, the ability to measure engagement and reach, allowing businesses to understand the impact of each initiative.
While we frequently execute on all of these tactics for a variety of clients, not all media relations should be eliminated. For instance, proactive pitching is still an effective way to secure journalists’ interest and can provide them with a story that won’t appear on the wire. To do this, find an interesting trend in your client’s industry, read through what has already been written and find a new, creative angle that your client can provide commentary on, serving as an expert source for the journalist. Not only does it have the potential to lead to coverage, it can also assist in building a relationship with the journalist and demonstrates your clients’ knowledge outside of their own company.
The evolution of the media landscape presents challenges for PR professionals, as it requires creative thinking and the ability to adapt. However, PR generates conversion rates 10-50 times that of advertising, proving that it is still an effective tool to assist businesses in achieving their overall objectives.
This infographic was created by MediaMiser and published on MarketingProfs.
For startups with limited marketing resources, it can be a challenge to prioritize which materials and channels will provide the most ROI and engagement with target audiences. For companies with complex and technical offerings, white papers and data sheets can be effective ways to share detailed product information; for other companies, a robust blog and social media accounts may make more sense.
In today’s age-of-information overload, where we’re bombarded with content, where does this leave the trusted email newsletter? Is there room for this “old school” email-marketing tool, or are newsletters something to be tossed aside as inbox-clogging spam? Entrepreneur contributor Jacquelyn Whitmore writes that some consider email newsletters as “the sad old fuddy-duddies of the online marketing world.”
Email newsletters – like any marketing communications channel – have evolved in recent years, due to the rising number of devices and media competing for mindshare, coupled with the public’s generally shrinking attention span. As a result, after fine-tuning their content and models, newsletters are thriving and many are seeing better subscriber numbers today than they did five years ago. So what are newsletter publishers doing differently? A few examples are provided below:
They speak to their audience authentically: theSkimm has more than 5 million subscribers to its email newsletter The Daily Skimm which “gives you everything you need to know to start your day.” The newsletter features the important news stories of the day and delivers a summary in an entertaining, dry and witty style.
Part of what has contributed to The Daily Skimm’s success is that it offered a new way for its subscribers (largely female millennials) to get their news, using a more digestible, easy-to-understand and conversational tone. Bloomberg notes that many media outlets covered the final presidential debate of the election, “But the tenor of the Skimm’s coverage was, uh, less formal: ‘Trump and Hillz had a night out in Vegas,’ the summary began. In Skimm parlance, ‘Hillz’ is Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump doesn’t get a nickname, though during the 2012 election Mitt Romney was known as Mittens.”
This editorial voice is far different from the formal and conservative style you’ll find on the pages of The Wall Street Journal and that’s because theSkimm’s founders know how their target audiences speak and they tailor their content accordingly.
They’re becoming stand-alone destinations for content: Publishers are learning to evolve their newsletter strategies – and are increasingly treating them “as platform-like publications themselves, designed to be read entirely in email without readers having to click through to the host’s site.”
Quartz is one news source experimenting with this approach with its Quartz Daily Brief. Gideon Lichfield, senior editor in chart of the newsletter, stated to Digiday that the business publisher “recognized that people are no longer coming directly to publishers’ sites through social media side doors, so it takes the approach that everywhere it publishes is a platform in and of itself, rather than just a way to get people to Quartz’s site.”
Ozy is another publication taking this approach. Its Presidential Daily Brief is designed to be entirely read in email and the publication is planning to do the same with its other email newsletter, the Daily Dose, according to the Digiday article.
They’re shaking up the newsroom masthead: Vox is one media company that’s been shaking up the format and model for its newsletters, and more recently, has dedicated an editorial position as “senior email editor” that will focus exclusively on the site’s newsletter program. In 2014, Vox launched its Vox Sentences email newsletter that provides “a handful of top stories with a collection of the best links from around the web … And, as the name implies, it’ll be direct — just a bunch of sentences.”
In an article from the Poynter Institute, Vox’s co-founder Melissa Bell stated, “Newsletters offer a direct relationship to readers in a platform that is necessary to a lot of people’s lives: their email inbox. So we want to have a presence there and make sure that we’re developing a direct relationship with people who like to consume our stories in that manner.”
So for startups (and established companies) looking to build out their content marketing library, the humble email newsletter may deserve a second look. Entrepreneur’s Whitmore stated that “Email marketing is still the most viable, affordable way to get your point across,” and there are several innovative newsletter publishers like those above to inspire your content and design teams.
Have you launched an email newsletter recently? What has worked for your organization? Let us know in the comments here!
It’s no question that creative storytelling is top of mind for PR professionals. The objective of nearly every press release, pitch, webinar and case study is telling a compelling story that will not only entice a journalist, but will help the company communicate and strengthen the relationships with their target audiences.
With that being said, telling a good story usually requires an audience and, in today’s world, it’s increasingly difficult to capture and keep attention spans long enough to transmit the message and spark the desired reaction.
A recent article by Time covered a study, which found that people now have shorter attention spans than goldfish – individuals generally lose concentration after eight seconds, where the average attention span of a goldfish is nine seconds.
So how can stories avoid falling victim to the pile of tossed-aside content?
The answer lies in creativity and not getting complacent with old storytelling strategies. Storytelling with photos is an underexplored tactic and has the power to communicate a message in a quick and powerful way.
For example, if a long-form article is not resonating with the intended audience, take a moment to brainstorm alternative ways to repackage the content. Such as telling the story with images.
This can be done in multiple ways and with the accessibility of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, has the potential to be shared across multiple audiences.
A great article by PetaPixel shares the following six tips for telling stories with photos:
- Create a plan that includes your topic and the type of images you want to include.
- Determine if you will use a single shot or a series of images.
- Take “strong” images. This means an image that conveys emotion and has layers of meaning.
- Trust your instincts and take the photo, even if it might not be “perfect.”
- Be original. To echo the points made earlier in this post, people are presented with an overload of information every day, so telling stories with images they’ve never seen before will be advantageous in keeping their attention.
- Don’t be afraid of failure.
Any good story needs a beginning, middle and end. Storytelling with photos is no different. PR and communications professionals will need to consider the above six steps to determine how they will bring their story to life through images. A few possibilities for PR storytelling could be to illustrate a customer case study, results of a survey or a new product announcement. Using photos applies a deeper level of connection and enables the reader to visualize and understand your product or solution quicker than words can convey.
I look forward to exploring different ways to utilize photography in PR storytelling and would love to hear ways in which you’ve been successful with your photo storytelling PR campaigns.
With journalists working remotely from all over the country and PR professionals working with clients in a variety of cities and even countries, the PR industry rarely feels the limits created by location. However, broadcast often seems like the one of the last mediums to feel its constraints.
Recently, we’ve secured several broadcast interview opportunities for our clients via Skype with stations located across the country. Upon securing these, we’ve also realized that while Skype interviews are similar to in-person broadcast opportunities, there are a couple of other items to consider for ensuring a successful interview.
First things first: Brush up on traditional broadcast interview best practices. These include practicing key messages and preparing for expected interview questions, wearing solid, neutral clothing, answering questions concisely to provide useful sound bites, and being mindful of body language throughout the interview. As you prepare for your Skype interview, here are several specific items you should consider:
Set the Stage: One of the biggest differences you’ll experience with a Skype interview is the lack of an in-person reporter or cameraperson to assist in setting the stage. First, pick a location that has a solid backdrop and few distractions. Busy paintings and pictures, or crowded, messy bookshelves create distractions, making it difficult for the viewer to focus on you and what you have to say. The other critical aspect of the interview setting is lighting. The main source of light should be either directly above you or in front of you to illuminate your face. If the main source of light is behind you, there will be a shadow covering your face.
Consider Body Language. Body language is an important aspect of communication. To demonstrate engagement, sit up straight and, to avoid distraction, keep hand movements to a minimum. Remember, the frame will likely include a shot of you from about the waist up and flailing your arms excessively across the screen will make is difficult for the viewer to see your face and to focus on the messages you’re communicating.
Make Eye Contact. This small, instinctive item is trickier than you might imagine when it comes to Skype. During the interview, you’ll be tempted to look at the screen where the reporter appears or look at the small image of yourself in the lower right-hand corner, but remember to look into the camera. When you look into there, it will appear as direct eye contact for the people on the other side of the connection. This may take some practice.
Use Post-It Notes. For each of our clients, we deliver documents in advance of a briefing to provide background information on the journalist and share the journalist’s objective for the interview. These sheets also include suggested messages that will likely be of interest to the reporter. On the phone, it is easy to keep these nearby and refer to them during an interview. However, with a broadcast interview, it is apparent when the interviewee looks down at a document. If you need a couple of reference points or reminders during the interview, use sticky notes and place them along the sides of your computer screen. This will make it easy for you to ensure you hit your key points without looking distracted or like you’re reading from a script.
Test the Technology. Once you have the interview scheduled and your stage set, it would be incredibly disappointing to learn that you can’t remember your Skype password or aren’t sure how to find a new contact. In advance of the interview, practice a Skype call with your colleagues or PR team to ensure that all systems are a go.
Skype interviews are becoming a common practice for broadcast interviews, enabling reporters to access experts all over the world. With Skype interview opportunities, it is important to ensure you are prepared, because while they share a number of similarities with broadcast interviews, there are a number of subtle differences that can have a large impact on the outcome of the interview.