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.
If you have been practicing public relations for longer than a decade, you are more than aware that the industry and how we practice the craft have evolved in response to new digital tools. From email and social media, to branded digital content and SEO tactics, we have been provided with such an abundance of tools that, frankly, it can be challenging to ensure that we keep up with advances in technology. It can be additionally challenging to determine whether a new tool will truly impact the success of our clients’ campaigns.
If you’ve ever wondered how your practice compares to your peers and whether that latest, greatest digital tool you recently read about will be just another passing trend or something truly disruptive, you are not alone. Last month, Vocus released the State of Public Relations 2014 report—based on a national poll of 325 mid- and senior-level marketing and PR professionals—which provides insight and busts myths around how we are using digital media technologies.
Following are the report’s findings around four widely held myths:
Myth 1: Virtually Everyone Has a Content Marketing Strategy
While many PR professionals are creating owned content—market research, blogs, infographics, etc.—for their clients, the Vocus study shows that only 60 percent of respondents (marketing and PR combined) have an actual content marketing strategy in place. Only 53 percent of PR professionals say they use branded content in their campaigns.
Myth 2: PR Practitioners are Adapting to All the New Digital Tactics
These tactics include social media, owned content, native advertising, SEO and more. According to the poll, a significant group of PR professionals do not use these online tools. More specifically:
- 53 percent of PR professionals use content marketing
- 49 percent use search engine marketing
- Only 34 percent of PR practitioners have a mobile engagement strategy
Myth 3: Social Media Pros Don’t Care About ROI
According to the research, social media professionals care more about increased revenue per customer than their marketing and PR colleagues:
- 32 percent of social media professionals care about return-on-investment
- 22 percent of traditional marketers measure ROI
- 21 percent of PR professionals say ROI is a key metric
Myth 4: Blogging is Essential
Of the many distribution channels noted by poll respondents, blogging was considered the least effective, with only 35 percent of respondents giving it the highest rating in terms of successful distribution. Further, the report states that unless a brand has a streamlined blog and can own relevant keywords, its blog posts are less likely to create a big impact for news and information dissemination and brands should therefore focus efforts elsewhere. Following are the distribution channels rated in order of most successful by respondents:
- Website
- Events
- Social Media
- Media Pitching & Relations
- Press Release Distribution Service
- Employee Advocates
- Blog
The State of Public Relations 2014 report concludes that while the PR industry is moving toward “acceptance of digital as part of its fundamental definition,” as a whole, the industry is less converged than expected.
How does your agency or practice compare? Are you optimizing your client’s campaigns through digital tools?
For more detail around the State of Public Relations 2014 findings, download the free report from Vocus. In addition to busting myths, the report shares findings around trends that impact PR including integrating social into media relations, strategic aspirations and tactical concerns, resource challenges and changing distribution models.
In early July my Communiqué PR cohort Jaymelina Esmele and I traveled to Brescia, Italy, to participate in the semi-annual meeting of the PRN, a worldwide network of boutique PR firms. Our firm joined the network at the start of 2014 after working with two member agencies, Proof Communication and Sympra, on joint projects, and we were honored to be invited to join PRN as the exclusive U.S. partner.
Jaymelina and I had a wonderful time meeting with the partner agencies, learning about how execution of PR strategies within the various countries differs and sharing successes. These in-person meetings are important to Communiqué PR, as the partner agencies are an extension of our firm. When our clients are looking for in-country support – whether it is “feet on the ground” to manage and facilitate press meetings, or pitching to local media – we know the partner agencies have shared expectations on the level of counsel, service and support that is provided.
While the world is more accessible than ever before, there are times when it makes sense to invest in in-country PR. Take for instance the results of a survey conducted by Ascendant in 2013 that show that Europe, “… remains from a sales and marketing perspective a region of over 25 separate states, many with their own distinct languages and culture, that require on the ground local language PR experts, and local news and content that will interest a parochial and inward looking media. The net of this is that often several PR teams are needed across Europe, where the cost is higher than for a single regional agency as in the US, and the cultural interface needed is more prosaic than just an English language format.”
The PRN meeting and ongoing conversations with our international colleagues confirm that the observations from the Ascendant survey are accurate. For instance, in discussions with our PRN partners we found:
- Press conferences are still fairly common in France, while not so in other countries
- There remains skepticism across Europe about the value of social media
- Variation around the world with the acceptability and etiquette in paying travel expenses for reporters, and
- Differences by country in what is considered newsworthy.
Because of each country’s subtle and not so subtle business and cultural nuances, engaging an in-country agency can be the key to the success of a multi-national PR campaign. Ultimately, the members of PRN are united in the importance of taking a strategic approach to PR and that it is important to have a long-term view when considering PR activities. For our clients, that means when they are ready to extend their PR activities beyond the U.S., they can be confident that PRN agencies will extend their strategies in-country with the same quality and professionalism they have come to expect with Communiqué PR.
Below are some additional articles about the differences in PR when working internationally:
Valant Medical Solutions recently enlisted our help to assist with an announcement of $11 million in private equity investment. Valant is a leading provider of cloud-based, electronic health records (EHR) and e-billing software for behavioral health practices. This funding will enable Vālant to fund future growth in the behavioral health market segment and to broaden its EHR and e-billing suite capabilities for public behavioral health practices.
“This investment validates our vision of transforming the quality of behavioral health services through clinician-focused software tools,” said David Lischner, M.D., CEO and founder of Vālant. “As we look toward future growth, this additional funding better positions Vālant to help behavioral health practitioners objectively evaluate the results of their treatments with the goal of providing a higher quality-of-care for its patients.”
We have truly enjoyed working with Vālant thus far and are very excited about the coverage they received. Below we have included links to the articles highlighting details about the significance of this funding.
The European Union’s top court recently ordered that search engines within the EU adhere to “right to be forgotten” removal requests. The court ruled that Google and other search engines are “data controllers” and, as a result, are responsible for the content they display, meaning if an individual wishes for the removal of personal information that appears in a search of their name, the search engine will have to abide by the request and are required to pull any information the individual deems to be “inadequate, irrelevant, or no longer relevant.”
According to an article from Forbes, though, the right to be forgotten still lacks implementation clarity. The EU is currently debating a new EU Data Protection Regulation that will be more concrete and clear as to how and where this applies to EU residents’ protection. The article points out that companies need to be prepared because this new regulation will apply to EU residents no matter where the resident’s data is collected.
At the end of June 2014, Google began pulling search results in compliance with the ruling. According to an article from The Wall Street Journal, Google received 41,000 requests in the first four days. Google has updated its technical infrastructure to meet this demand and has hired a “removals team” to assess each individual request. Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing have said that they will soon begin implementing a removal process in response to the European court’s decision as well.
Controversy over this removal process is sure to arise, as some see this as censorship left to Google and other search engines’ discretion. However, those in favor of protecting the public’s privacy point out that search-result removal only occurs if the search results are from a search of the individual’s name and are not removed from all search results.
WSJ’s article also pointed to signs that this option for removal of personal information in name searches may transpire in other countries soon. Allen Chiang Yam-wang, Hong Kong’s top privacy regulator, recently wrote about predictions for Canada and Japan to soon follow in the footsteps of Europe. Yam-wang suggested that Google apply its removal processes globally, as cases are soon to follow in more and more countries.
It will be interesting to see how the right to be forgotten ruling evolves in the EU and where else implementation of similar processes might occur. I am further curious to see how this affects search engine processes in the U.S., because of censorship claims. What’s your take? Is allowing search engines to remove personal search results protecting the public’s privacy or is it censorship?
Think about the last time you moved to a new apartment or home – you probably did not do it alone. After all, it is nearly impossible for one person to move a sofa or bed solo. Like many things in life, moving is simply much easier and faster with the help of a well-organized team, be it friends, family or professional movers.
Nevertheless, not all teams are equal in their productivity and effectiveness. Some teams are excited to be working together and appear to be having fun doing the work, while others are dysfunctional or seem doomed for failure. Successful teams, if you take a closer look, all have leaders who invoke the same five basic steps.
1. They set clear goals and objectives. When moving, the goals and objectives are clear – you need to move furniture and belongings from point A to point B. In business settings, however, the goals and objectives are not always as straightforward. The most effective team leaders involve teammates in the goal-setting process so everyone has shared expectations around what they are trying to achieve, and they do this before ever assigning projects or tasks. Effective teams know goals help ensure everyone is focused on the right activities at the right time – without them, everyone runs the risk of wasting time and energy.
2. They make sure the team has clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Good leaders know that role confusion can lead to frustration. Most people want to understand how they will contribute to reaching the goal and what they will be accountable for doing. Whenever possible, assign tasks to people based on their strengths or desire to learn new things or develop new skills.
3. They regroup regularly to monitor progress and results. Leaders have predefined critical milestones so they know if they are on track or falling behind. If they find they are falling behind or stuck on a task, effective team leaders, and strong team members, ask for help so they can make adjustments in time to achieve the goal. In monitoring the progress, it is also important not to blame anyone if things go wrong, but instead focus what can be done immediately to achieve the goal.
4. They design feedback loops into the work. Consider this classic example of the feedback loop: A company has a wonderful culture and offers terrific benefits, which leads to positive reviews on Glassdoor, which further leads to a bigger pool of qualified candidates and more good hires. The smart team looks for opportunities to create positive feedback loops. An effective business development team gets good at defining its ideal customer, which leads to an increase in sales, which then leads to an even better understanding of what customers are looking for from its product and services. For more on this topic, check out this article in Smashing Magazine.
5. They leverage technology for all of the above steps. Team leaders understand that effective leadership means keeping people informed and taking a democratic approach to sharing information. Solutions such as online collaboration software Smartsheet enable this. With Smartsheet, leaders can outline goals, tactics, and milestones and, because it is cloud-based, teammates can access this productivity tool from their PCs, tablets and cellphones. They can also set up dependencies for key projects with alerts. And it is easy to design reports and surveys to quickly identify and optimize positive feedback loops.
Productive teams are vital to getting things done, and you can vastly improve you team’s productivity – and happiness – by taking these five steps. Helen Keller stated it well when she said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
For more information on our use and work with Smartsheet, please check out these articles:
- Smartsheet Secures Another $35 Million
- Building Homes with Smartsheet
- Smartsheet Goes on the Road
- Smartsheet Announces $26 Million in Venture Funding