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.
There’s nothing like the beginning of a new year to help reenergize you and put you on a path of optimism and renewed focus. The promise of a fresh start is intoxicating and each year it inspires more than 40 percent of Americans to resolve to <insert your personal or professional goal here>.
Turns out while almost half of us won’t hesitate to pledge our earnest efforts toward turning over a new leaf, getting organized or eating better, only 8 percent of us actually succeed at our resolutions. If you think about it, it’s disheartening that 92 percent of us who start out with the best intentions will wind up failing – 25 percent after the first week. (Unless of course, you own a gym, in which case your business model thrives on us weak-willed individuals and I imagine you are doing exactly this right now.)
I say let’s make a resolution to achieve our resolutions this year. Blast Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” or your motivational song of choice and read on for our team’s tips to become a real “goal-getter” and join that elite 8 percent:
Write your goals down. I find committing my goals to paper keeps them top-of-mind, especially on days when I need an extra boost of motivation. It’s particularly rewarding to be able to go back and review those goals later on and reflect on how I accomplished them. – Beth, Account Manager
Break it down to baby steps. The overall goal may seem overwhelming or unattainable; however, if I can break it down into actionable, steps I usually find it is less overwhelming and provides mini-victories to keep me motivated/inspired along the way. – Colleen, Partner
Develop a plan and stick to it. The only times I’ve been successful in keeping to my New Year’s resolution is when I developed a detailed plan of actions I needed to take in order to achieve my objective. This includes building out full timelines for activities and holding myself accountable to complete the tasks on time. I’ll also often recruit my wife to help keep me accountable – I find that having a third-party around to keep tabs on my progress motivates me to achieve my objective…not to mention the fact that I don’t want to disappoint my wife! – Alec, Account Manager
Make the goal meaningful. While it’s easy for me to tell myself to eat healthier, I’m more likely to accomplish my goal when I consider its implications – e.g., longer life, feeling better, setting an example for my son, Finn, etc. – Molly, Account Manager
Failure is not a (mental) option. Right now I am training for another half-marathon and since I had a rocky experience with my first one, I am nervous that it could happen again. When I’m training, instead of letting myself worry about failing, I tell myself “I can do it.” I’m also practicing this at work, making sure not to let nerves affect my performance and accepting constructive criticism to help me grow in my career. Keeping my positivity and confidence high gives me a much better chance of achieving my goals. – AnnMarie, Assistant Account Executive
Put down the champagne to set realistic goals. My first piece of advice is to not make any resolutions on New Year’s Eve when you’ve been drinking. It’s best to write them down when you have a clear mind so you can make sure they’re realistic. Also, I think when people fixate on the outcome and don’t enjoy the process along the way, that’s when the goal becomes really overwhelming and they give up. – Jennifer, Partner
My final piece of advice is to make sure you’re passionate and excited about whatever your goal may be, because otherwise it’s not worth pursuing.
What resolutions have you made? Do you have any tips on how to set/accomplish goals?
As we come to the end of another year, we like to look back on the accomplishments of the past 12 months. Communiqué PR and our clients have much to celebrate as we close out 2016. Below we have noted just a few of the reasons we and our partners will be popping a cork, or 13 (as we are wrapping up our 13th year in business), at year’s end!
Flowroute’s CEO and founder Bayan Towfiq was named to the Puget Sound Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” listing, for his entrepreneurial spirit and desire to build software that changes the way enterprises communicate.
The International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers (IABM) presented Dell EMC with the 2016 Game Changer Award in the storage category for its Isilon CloudPools and Isilon SD Edge, solutions which help media organizations integrate cloud storage into their current workflows and easily enable new remote office productions.
Communiqué PR Account Managers Molly Strong and Beth Mayer co-presented in an undergraduate marketing class at the University of Washington on “Earned, Owned and Paid Media.”
We started working with Interroll, which announced the U.S. debut of its MSC 50 at PACK EXPO.
Adding to a memorable election year, Democracy Live, the nation’s leading cloud-balloting technology firm, released LiveBallot to provide every U.S. voter with access to his/her ballot ahead of Election Day.
Spaceflight Industries continued its mission to enable timely and affordable access to space while redefining how we observe our planet in real time. We helped secure coverage around the company raising $18 million in funding and acquiring OpenWhere and announcing agreements with the federal government, Google’s Terra Bella, SpaceX and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Additionally, the company announced the successful launch of its BlackSky Pathfinder-1 and released the first images captured by the satellite.
We enjoyed a particular fondness and pride in working with Bank of America on a project to create Safe Places in our city.
A Place for Mom, the nation’s largest senior living referral service, released a series of reports highlighting national data on the cost of senior living, the amount of time it takes to find housing for aging loved ones, and the impact that a senior living transition has on senior and caregiver quality of life. APFM also created the VA Benefits & Long-Term Care eBook to spread awareness about and guide families through the process of applying for the Veterans Aid & Attendance Pension.
Delta-Q, a leading supplier of battery-charging solutions, announced its Lithium Charger Development Kit at the 2016 The Battery Show, driving 13 articles in relevant trade publications including Material Handling Wholesaler, Energy Storage Journal and others.
Cape Productions, a drone video service, received the first-ever Section 333 exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration for a consumer drone service, driving coverage in outlets such as USA Today, Fortune and Fast Company.
Rational Interaction, a full-service digital agency and business consultancy, announced the addition of Alison Tintle as its new executive creator. Rational also issued a report on social customer care, which garnered coverage in Adweek, CIO and Forbes.
The Communiqué PR blog was also recognized as one of the top 100 PR blogs on the planet – earning its place as #21 on a list that includes some wonderful PR resources. We are honored!
We also are thankful to work with such an amazing group of people. During the year we took time to celebrate our team and have some fun together. We look forward to more fun with our team in 2017.
Communiqué PR wishes all of you a new year filled with optimism, opportunity and success. While none of us may be able to predict the future, one thing you can rely on is that Communiqué PR will remain dedicated to building meaningful collaborations with our clients and true to our core value of smart, focused, success-driven service in a fast-changing world.
In three short days, 2016 comes to a close and people across the globe will toast 2017 as they welcome in the New Year. This time marks a period of reflection and promises of self-change for many people, while others take advantage of the time off work to celebrate accomplishments from the prior year.
For public relations professionals, the start of a new calendar year should also spark a need to think about industry successes and trends that will continue into 2017. What are anticipated PR trends for the New Year? What is working for reporters and what isn’t? And what should communications professionals be thinking about as they get to work on 2017 PR programs?
Below is a shortlist of trends in the communications world that are expected to dominate the next 365 days:
Data Journalism. According to Technopedia, “Data journalism is the use of data and number crunching in journalism to uncover, better explain and/or provide context to a news story.” This type of journalism isn’t new – reporters have covered data since the inception of the media – but today there are reporters solely dedicated to interpreting and reporting on data trends due to the vast volume of information available in this digital era. The data journalism trend hasn’t gone unnoticed by PR gurus and brands, many of which are hiring specialized “data scientists” and other number crunchers to analyze market trends and create stories that resonate with the media. Companies such as A Place for Mom, Mastercard, Southwest Airlines and many others are leveraging big data for content development and media outreach purposes with great success.
Battle for Social Media. When a younger co-worker left the company recently, she provided contact details for reaching her in the future. Beyond calling or texting her directly, she only gave SnapChat account info for connecting via social media – and everyone in the office over 30 realized they’d probably never speak to her again. This example showcases the challenge that many PR firms and brands face today: How does one reach a target audience segmented by so many different communication platforms? New social media platforms pop up daily, while others just as quickly rise and fall in popularity. For PR professionals, understanding the right social media platform – or more importantly, integrating communications across all major social media platforms – is vital to a successful program.
Personalization. The days of developing one pitch for mass distribution to hundreds of reporters are over. Journalists want to know that the person pitching him or her knows their beat, reporting expertise and the publications’ focus, and the pitch reveals all of these things. In fact, a recent article featured on Muck Rack discusses how one reporter rejected 95 percent of all the pitches he received in one week because of the following issues: 1) pitches were not personalized; 2) the contact was not flexible with their angle; 3) the story was too self-promotional; and 4) the outlet had already done a similar article. The fact that 95 percent of the pitches this reporter received in one week didn’t meet a certain criteria needed for consideration should be startling to any PR professional. But, more importantly, the industry needs to do a better job of developing personalized pitches for journalists – a little due diligence and research can go a long way in getting a story placed.
Contributed Content. Media outlets are continuing to cut staff but the need for content is greater than ever. To fill this void, editors are turning to contributed articles to ensure they are securing content that is valuable, educational, and engaging to their readership. This development is music to the ears of many PR experts and represents much opportunity for clients. For example, thought-leadership industry bylines should be a mainstay of most communications plans. Not only do publications need this type of content to attract readers and are more likely to accept pitches around these opportunities, but it allows leaders to brand and position themselves as experts in the space.
The one constant about PR is that the industry is forever evolving. From the days of looking up contacts in thick directories to the advent of social media in general, the industry has changed dramatically in just 10 years. Will 2017 be remembered for such seismic shifts as well? Only time will tell but you can be assured of one thing: PR professionals will adapt and excel to whatever is thrown at them.
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With the rise of digital, how we consume news has shifted – and new outlets are feeling the effects. In the last two months, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, Gannett, Univision, Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters have all announced job reductions. Just last week, The Seattle Times announced that it was offering a buyout program before layoffs.
While many news outlets are struggling to evolve with the changing landscape, one publication has managed to double web traffic in the last three years, and the daily number of online posts filed by its reporters is higher than that of The New York Times and BuzzFeed. So which publication is navigating these turbulent times in the publishing world?
The Washington Post.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, purchased The Washington Post for $250 million in 2013 and has worked to reinvent the paper by focusing on things like digital speed and additional features that optimize the site for mobile. Columbia Journalism Review recently sat down with Shailesh Prakash, chief information officer at the Post, and Joey Marburger, the director of product, to discuss the paper’s success and the secrets behind it. Under the leadership of executive editor Martin Baron and Bezos, Prakesh and Marburger have turned the paper into a digitally savvy and innovative – yes, innovative – business. While I highly recommend reading the interview in its entirety (found here), I’ve summarized a few of the most interesting takeaways from the interview.
Don’t Hesitate to Innovate
When asked about discovering an effective business model for newspapers, Prakesh, formerly with Microsoft and Netscape, said that no one had figured it out yet. Because no one had figured it out, the next step was to experiment with other options.
With his background in technology, Prakesh brings a fresh perspective to a traditional industry. He believes that the perception that experimentation has to be costly is wrong. Currently, the Post is partnering with Google on a developing an extra-fast mobile website. At this point, a little less than 10 percent of their current web traffic flows in from the mobile site, but there is potential this could grow. By partnering with Google, the Post hasn’t invested in hiring engineers, making an extensive plan, or spending an extreme amount of money building the platform. If the new mobile site doesn’t see the success they hoped for, simply shutting it down is an option.
Speed Matters
Speed has proven to be a factor when it comes to digital. Marburger, the journalism half of this team, noted that speed may encourage readers to come to them on a regular basis versus another paper covering similar topics. He said that they are already seeing correlations in the data—people are more likely to consume more content and subscribe to the paper if they can access the site faster.
In today’s digital world, consumers are inundated with headlines and links. Content is available anywhere, anytime. How quickly the audience can access the content can be a huge differentiator. The idea originated from Bezos’ inspiration for the Kindle. When considering the Kindle, Bezos thought, “How can we keep everything that’s fantastic about a book and also [incorporate] the [benefits] of digital?” So, the Post considered how you read a newspaper – with ease. It’s relaxing, easy to scan. The Post is aiming to replicate the benefits of physical papers with the speed and convenience of digital.
Digital Openness
Digital news is here to stay, so journalists and publishers are shifting their thinking around it. According to Marburger, the same qualities that make good journalism are still driving the content produced. Instead of printing for an A1 story once a day on paper, publications can produce fresh digital editions every hour.
Outlets also need to consider that with digital content, the readers experience is dependent on more than just the content. Prakesh looks at the Post as being product-focused. What exactly is their product? It’s good journalism, interesting content, features on the platform like being able to save a story for later, and speed.
Journalism is rapidly changing and publications everywhere are feeling the impact. However, The Washington Post has taken a modern, innovative approach to appeal to digitally focused readers. As the paper continues to evolve, and if they continue to see success, it may encourage other publications to follow suit.
While fake content has circulated in tabloids and on the internet for years, the 2016 election has given us a reason to take it seriously. Stories about the Clintons selling weapons to ISIS and Trump winning the popular vote (he didn’t) spread like wildfire, and in some cases outperformed real news.
The false narrative that Pope Francis endorsed Trump garnered a staggering 960,000 engagements on Facebook, more than the Washington Post’s in-depth, non-hoax exploration of Trump’s failed businesses. While Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg dismissed the impact of fake news on shaping hearts and minds, studies validate that what we see in social media influences our moods and perceptions.
Moreover, according to a new Pew Survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults, 23 percent of Americans say they have shared a fake news story – many knowingly. More troubling? Most teens can’t spot fake news.
According to a Stanford University study, 82 percent of middle schoolers couldn’t distinguish between an ad labeled “sponsored content” and a real news story from a legitimate source. While teens may be digital natives, many lack the sophistication to gauge the legitimacy of a source.
The spread of fake news and the ease with which it’s legitimized through social sharing clearly has dire implications for the U.S. electorate and our political process. But how will it impact PR – and how can PR pros take a meaningful stand against the proliferation of fake news?
The Evolution of PR in a Post-Fact Era
Perhaps most obviously, driving awareness of real news will become increasingly challenging, in what President Obama deemed the Post-Fact Era during an interview with The New Yorker. We live in a “new ecosystem,” he argued, “in which facts and truth don’t matter. You attract attention, rouse emotions, and then move on.”
Clickbait’s sole purpose is to generate ad revenue – after all, flashy claims and scandal draw eyeballs. As publishers downsize and fake news sources, such as the Denver Guardian, gain popularity, it will be incumbent on PR professionals to continue to pitch and foster relationships with legitimate news sources.
The rise of fake news is also likely to erode the public’s trust in all media. Earned media has always been persuasive because it offers third-party validation. If PR professionals contribute to creating false narratives and peddling fake facts, we will ultimately help undermine the value of earned media. But there are actionable steps PR professionals can take to combat fake news.
How PR Can Combat Fake News
Provide Sound Facts and Sources to Reporters – While it can be tempting to spin or exaggerate facts, it’s incumbent on PR professionals to provide sound counsel to clients and accurate facts to reporters. Though PR is sometimes referred to as the “dark side” of journalism, it doesn’t need to be.
We can support journalists by providing them with legitimate sources and stories that impact their communities. In fact, some of my most talented and valued coworkers have a background in journalism – we need to support quality journalism in a climate that is increasingly hostile or agnostic to facts.
Pitch Sources that Care about Facts – When we’re building press lists, we can continue to be thoughtful about who we include. While a blogger may provide an easy hit, it’s important to consider the legitimacy and reputation of bloggers and influencers before engaging. This is critical from both a client-service perspective and to help ensure we support legitimate news organizations.
We can also do this in our personal lives, and read content from quality sources that vet and care about facts and attribution.
Support Journalism with Your Wallet – In addition to providing journalists with great stories and sources, we can also subscribe to news sources we value. Earlier this month, The Seattle Times announced staffing cuts as ad revenue fell, echoing an industry-wide trend that has caused layoffs in newsrooms across the country. If there aren’t enough staff, it can be difficult to cover all the stories that matter. And it can be challenging to fact check. (Rolling Stone, I’m looking at you.)
In heartening news for the industry, just one week after Election Day, The New York Times saw a huge boost of 41,000 new digital subscribers. While PR professionals tend to be avid consumers of news to keep abreast of industry trends, we can also personally support the news sources we value by paying for their content.
Don’t Amplify Fake News – In pitches and bylines, we cite facts to substantiate claims. PR professionals can be extremely conscientious when it comes to verifying that the facts they’re citing are accurate. By citing legitimate facts, we also help drive traffic to publications that support good journalism.
In our own social media echo chambers, we can follow similar practices. We can be scrupulous before liking or sharing an article. After all, we stop giving oxygen to fake news when we take a more critical eye to what we share. Embracing facts and shunning opinion masquerading as fact can help foster a culture that values honest, integrity-driven journalism.
The Next Four Years Matter
Media is our bread and butter as an industry, but having robust journalism is also critical to a healthy democracy. These next four years may be tough on journalists, with the president-elect bashing Vanity Fair, The New York Times and others on Twitter.
While PR professionals aren’t journalists, we too play a role in fostering a culture that embraces thoughtful, accurate reporting, both in our personal and professional capacities. Let’s use that role to promote accurate news stories to legitimate sources, helping to amplify journalism at its finest. If trust in journalism is eroded, the demise of PR won’t be far off.
Last Friday we held our company holiday party at Upper Bar Ferdinand with food prepared by 2012 James Beard Award Winner, Matt Dillon and wine pairings by Marc Papineau (@marcspapineau). It was a wonderful evening filled with lots of laughter, amazing bites and a raucous White Elephant gift exchange. In this busy season, the evening provided a good reminder of why it is so important to make time for celebrations – both big and small – and time to interact with each other outside the office.
At Communiqué PR, we are focused on delivering meaningful results for our clients and helping them achieve their objectives. We recognize the importance of working smart and hard to make sure the right things are happening. We also value collaboration and transparency; both of which are easier to execute on if you have trust and chemistry within your team and across your client relationships. Socializing with peers offers opportunities to build and nurture the rapport among team members.
We have a number of more informal gatherings throughout the year but appreciate it can be hard for everyone to participate in an after-work happy hour or an afternoon boating adventure on South Lake Union. Additionally those casual gatherings typically do not include spouses, partners, friends or family. So I always look forward to our holiday party, when we get to interact with our colleagues and their family and friends, and toast each other, our amazing team and the people that support them in their endeavors.
In 2017, I hope that we continue to make time to come together for social gatherings and celebrate the wonderful and unique people on our team, as well as the success of our business and that of our clients.
What does your company do to foster relationships within your team? Are there events that have meant a lot to you or your team?
Happy Holidays!
