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.
The end of one year and the beginning of a new year is always an invigorating time for me. I enjoy reflecting on the successes and accomplishments of the past, while focusing on new goals and objectives for the coming year. This year is no different, although as 2014 marks 10 years since the founding of Communiqué PR, I anticipate that during the coming year we will take time to reflect on the years since the beginning of our business and contemplate those to come! Before we do so, however, I’d like to recap some of the highlights of 2013.
Throughout 2013 we worked with Kymeta to build awareness of its groundbreaking technology and the accomplishment of key milestones in the company’s growth, including its partnership with Inmarsat to launch a game-changing business aviation broadband solution; partnership with O3b Networks to develop a flat panel satellite antenna for ultra-fast, affordable broadband; securing additional investment of $50 Million; and successful demonstration of the first-ever transmit and receive capability with a metamaterials-based antenna. During the year we secured more than 130 articles on behalf of Kymeta.
2013 was an exciting year for mobile data and analytics provider Mobidia, as its app, My Data Manager, continued to rapidly grow in number of users. Our work with Mobidia in 2013 focused on driving awareness of data voluntarily provided by My Data Manager’s users. To this end, in 2013, we distributed seven releases focused on data from Mobidia, including most recently a release about mobile shopping on Black Friday. Leveraging both formal releases and proactive pitching, we secured articles featuring Mobidia’s data in numerous publications, including Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Internet Retailer and The New York Times. We also pursued a few byline articles to build on this exposure and establish thought leadership, securing placements in App Developer Magazine and WIRED.
We began working with commercial real estate developer Schnitzer West in 2013 and helped the firm with several announcements and press meetings throughout the year, including the closing of two significant real-estate transactions totaling nearly $500 million. Most recently, in December the company announced the purchase of a prime site in downtown Bellevue, where the firm will build a 16-story office building. For more information, check out the coverage that appeared in The Daily Journal of Commerce, Puget Sound Business Journal or The Seattle Times.
In December, we joined PR Network, a global collective of PR agencies based across Europe, Africa, America, Asia Pacific and Australasia. Communiqué PR is PRN’s exclusive U.S. partner. We are thrilled to be a part of this organization and are looking forward to participating in the PR Network board meeting in Stuttgart, Germany in late January 2014.
After working with Smartsheet in November 2012 to announce a new round of funding, we took Smartsheet on the road in early 2013 to introduce the company and its highly-acclaimed work productivity tool to a new set of business- and product-focused journalists. Between press tours on the East and West Coasts, Communiqué booked more than 15 in-person and phone briefings with publications such as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, TIME and Bloomberg BusinessWeek. The briefings went far in helping Smartsheet build relationships and get on the radar of some very noteworthy publications, many of which published great articles about the company, including Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Forbes, NetworkWorld and CITEworld. Throughout the year, we also drove coverage for a number of Smartsheet initiatives, including the launch of its mobile apps and the introduction of new product updates, and found great success with pursuing contributed content. In the last quarter of 2013, Communiqué landed five contributed articles on Smartsheet’s behalf with another four articles likely to be published in 2014.
In May we began working with Twisted Pair Solutions, an exciting Seattle-based company delivering solutions for smarter push-to-talk. We helped grow attention for its game-changing voice communications software in markets ranging from public safety to utilities to the oil and gas industry. Our team helped Twisted Pair turn customer success stories into media coverage by developing in-depth case studies, and helped grow its share of voice by placing contributed articles from company leadership in publications that reach its potential customers. Since May, we have distributed four press releases, written six case studies and lined up more than 25 pieces of press coverage in key sales markets for Twisted Pair.
In addition to helping our clients achieve their business objectives, our team continued to share its perspective, expertise and thought leadership through regular posts to the Communiqué PR blog. During the year, many of our team’s blog posts were picked up by industry media outlets and we saw a steady increase of traffic to our firm’s website. The most popular posts published during the year were “‘Nacho’ Best Move: Lessons From Taco Bell’s Taco-Licking Disaster,” “How the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch Failed: Takeaway PR Lessons” and “Applying the Five Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy to PR.”
We also took time to get together for some fun throughout the year with a chocolate tasting at Chocolopolis, several happy hours and afternoon breaks at Molly Moon’s, participating in The World’s Largest Waterfight as part of team Smartsheet, a team pumpkin carving, the Rwanda Girls Initiative fundraiser, the Seafair Foundation’s “Jam with the Jets” fundraiser breakfast, the GeekWire Gala and our own holiday party at Teatro ZinZanni:
For PR pros, the rise of social media has led to new opportunities, strategies and—for many—questions. How can PR pros use social media to reach journalists? Should you use it to pitch reporters? What does it take to be successful?
Media-database powerhouse Cision recently published a fascinating infographic, redistributed via PR Daily, revealing the results of its 2013 Social Journalism Study. For the report, Cision asked more than 3,000 journalists worldwide the question: How have your impressions of social media and PR changed in the last year? The answers shed light on how journalists engage social media in their work and the nature of their current relationship with PR.
For instance, journalists disclosed that they overwhelmingly still prefer to be contacted by email (83 percent) rather than by phone (33 percent) or social media (25 percent). Thirty-one percent held a negative view of the effect of social media on journalism, and 20 percent even agreed with the statement: “Social media will lead to the death of professional journalism.”
However, the findings strongly held that journalists do in fact use social media in their work. The majority (55 percent) use it at their job for 1–2 hours per day on average. In particular, 79 percent of journalists use microblogs (such as Twitter) for work in a typical week, and more than half (53 percent) have more than 500 followers on their preferred social media site.
For the most part, journalists also expressed that they would like PR pros to engage with them more through social media than they currently do. This lends to the conclusion that the outlook is generally optimistic for the ongoing relationship between journalists and PR pros in the age of social media.
Check out the full infographic for more intriguing insights:
Compliments of Cision, you can also download the full 2013 Social Journalism Study here.
Earlier this month former Wall Street Journal reporter and editor Jessica Lessin launched a technology and business news site – The Information – that got the media world buzzing. The Information costs a hefty $399 a year, or $39 a month, and offers no free content up front, which is one of the strictest paywalls on the market. At first most media professionals were skeptical, and some were even condescending toward Lessin’s lofty goals. But it got everyone in the media world thinking – in an era where content is fast and free, can Lessin carve out a niche audience among those who value quality over quantity?
Lessin decided to leave WSJ and start her own publication because she saw an opportunity to go after an underserved market, which she describes in a letter from the editor as “professionals in technology and in industries being upended by it.” Lessin told AllThingsD that her goal is to focus on deeper, more investigative analytic reporting instead of simply reporting the latest breaking news. The publication currently has eight full-time employees, all with impressive professional backgrounds.
Many media professionals are questioning The Information’s bold business model. Bigger, more established media outlets have tried less expensive paywalls in the past and failed and many newly established outlets have folded or struggled due to unsuccessful paywalls, such as the crowdfunded outlet Matter. The Information is also choosing not to host any ads, which means its only sources of revenue are its subscribers and investors.
But the boldness of The Information’s business model could be what makes it successful. Business Insider did the math and discovered that the publication only needs about 1,800 annual subscribers to break even, and if it garners 5,000 subscribers it will have a profit of $1 million.
The publication could easily acquire the number of subscribers it needs because it is aimed at professionals who are accustomed to paying for content that will help their businesses. If an employee makes the case that a subscription to The Information could help increase the company’s bottom line, the boss is unlikely to say no.
Regardless of whether The Information is successful, it is admirable that Lessin has taken the first step toward creating a sustainable publication that produces high-quality journalism.
Technology seems to be advancing at exponential speeds these days. Just look at the changes that have evolved from the first cell phones 30 years ago to today, where interactive smartphones provide us ways to communicate, navigate, and enjoy entertainment from the palms of our hands. So it comes as no surprise that seminal e-commerce company Amazon recently revealed its business plan to begin having unmanned drones deliver products to customers in the next four to five years.
This futuristic plan was announced by CEO Jeff Bezos on “60 Minutes,” which aired Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. Clearly Amazon is a powerhouse in the e-commerce industry, which is why Bezos is constantly reinvesting the company’s profits into perfecting delivery and distribution. Bezos explained his vision to enhance delivery speed and efficiency with the development and deployment of drones, known as octocopters, which would be able to carry as much as five pounds of cargo within a 10-mile radius of an Amazon fulfillment center, according to the Seattle Times.
This announcement came just in time for Cyber Monday – a brilliant PR strategy might I point out. According to CBS, Amazon was expected to push more than 300 items per second on Cyber Monday. The prediction that many customers would take their business online in order to remove the fuss of Black Friday lines proved to be true. The Seattle Times stated that e-commerce spending increased 15 percent, resulting in $1.2 billion in sales. Amazon was surely a big component of those sales and the buzz surrounding the drone announcement likely drew curious consumers to the website.
Bezos’ announcement is being covered everywhere. People are interested in this highly successful company’s future projects, but this announcement is also getting tremendous amounts of coverage for the futuristic and innovative plan of drone usage. The general public is somewhat fearful, though, of unmanned aerial vehicles (think surveillance, crashes, etc.), but in reality they have the potential to improve the world. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out, drones could be used to assist reaching developing countries where adequate, safe road systems are lacking and supplies and medicine are still needed. Drones could also aid in disaster relief, where conventional transportation may no longer be an option due to the conditions. Essentially, the public’s fear surrounding drones may very soon be outweighed by the potential those devices have to aid and improve society.
Regardless of the future of drones, Amazon’s announcement is generating significant press coverage and will be on top of mind for consumers during the holiday season, helping fuel what will most likely be an overwhelmingly large number of sales for the e-commerce company. The coverage of Amazon will also further enhance Bezos’ image as a big tech thinker and innovator and will continue to help shape the image of the company moving forward. I am interested to see what the future holds for tech-savvy and forward-thinking Amazon, a company that has come so far in so little time.
Yesterday I was reading PR Week’s 15th anniversary issue and came across an article entitled “What will a PR agency look like in 15 years?” It was a compilation of comments about the future from some of today’s industry leaders: Gail Heimann, president of Weber Shandwick; Kim Hunter, president and CEO, Lagrant Communications; and Patrick Sandusky, chief communications and public affairs office with the US Olympic Committee, among others.
The article got me daydreaming about 2028. The United Nation has forecast that India will be the worlds’ most populous nation, scientists tell us a one-mile-wide asteroid will pass close to earth, and maybe we will all be driving electric cars. In terms of public relations, analysts project that the industry will grow. According to PR Week, the annual spend on public relations and word-of-mouth marketing services in the U.S. will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14 percent between 2010 and 2015.
However, over the size of the industry, I am more curious about what the agency of the future will look like. What types of services will agencies offer? How will the mix of services differ in small, medium and large agencies? What will the talent pool look like?
Gail Heimann with Weber Shandwick thinks, “PR organizations will meet the need for true global activation and team flexibility by operating 24 hours a day, enabling people to work at whatever set of hours suits the needs of their clients and their own lifestyles.”
While I agree with Gail’s statement, I would be surprised, and frankly, disappointed, if it took us 15 years to get to true global activation and team flexibility. With the advancement of technology, I think firms are on the cusp of better global collaboration, activation and flexibility in the near future.
Perhaps I think this future is closer because of Communiqué PR’s own advancement in the past year with Smartsheet. Today, we are using Smartsheet’s cloud-based collaboration technology and it is transforming how we work. How we interact with partners, co-workers and clients has drastically changed in our past year using this tool. We use the intuitive project management tool to share information in real-time with our international PR partners, including agencies in the U.K., Germany and South Africa. The tool has also helped us more effectively leverage a talented team of freelancers in multiple states.
Collaborating with overseas partners or freelancers in our pre-Smartsheet era was arduous. It involved a lot of sorting through email to track information. With freelancers, we were swapping Excel spreadsheets to track the hours they were working. Now, they enter the information directly into Smartsheet and we can access it in real time. We never have to search email for the file. The information is in the cloud and accessible from our desktop PC, home PC, tablet or mobile phone.
Smartsheet is not the only solution. There are myriad web apps and services popping up that are changing how we accomplish tasks, and allowing us to work with the most talented people regardless of their location. Clearly, it is hard (if not impossible) to predict or conceptualize the long-term impact these new tools will have on the agency of the future. However, I believe we will see technology like Smartsheet help the agency of the future improve workflows, priority setting and organizational agility – and I think this future is closer than we think.
Finally, if in the next 10 or 15 years healthcare coverage becomes more affordable to individuals, I think more people will want to work in the PR industry on a part-time freelance basis. Collaboration tools will allow firms to tap the freelance people with the right experience to join account teams and seamlessly add value.
For more on this topic, please check out the following articles:
- How collaboration technologies are reshaping PR
- Managing Moving Parts: How to Collaborate in the Modern Workplace
What do you think the future will bring for PR firms? Please share your comments, and bookmark this page so you can re-read it on Jan. 1, 2028.
When I graduated from college last spring my career path looked more like a complicated maze with no clear direction. I have a background in communications and journalism, but at the time I wasn’t sure how to narrow down my interests to a specific career or how to go about searching for jobs.
My parents encouraged me to reach out to a family friend who owns a marketing and communications agency for guidance. He provided me with invaluable career advice, the best of which was to continue reaching out to people in the communications industry.
Once I realized the importance of building professional relationships I decided to learn more about networking. I came across a book called “Never Eat Alone,” by Keith Ferrazzi, that helped me realize that at its core networking is really just creating meaningful relationships with people. I learned a great deal about making connections from this book, but here are five of the most useful tips I picked up:
Dream with a deadline: If you set specific goals for yourself it’s much easier for others to help you get where you want to go. Ferrazzi refers to goal-setting as “dreaming with a deadline” and lays out a three-step plan for goal setting: find your passion, flesh it out with smaller goals you can achieve, and identify ways to establish connections with people already in that field. Once I realized that I wanted to pursue a career in public relations I reached out to the handful of people I knew who work in PR to learn firsthand about different segments of the industry: How is working at an agency different from working in-house? How does a large agency differ from a boutique? Each person I met with offered valuable insight and new people with whom to connect. The bigger my public relations network grew the closer I came to accomplishing my overall goal of breaking into the public relations industry.
Follow up or fail: The key to establishing a new professional relationship is following up. Ferrazzi says the follow-up is the hammer and nails of your networking toolkit. To ensure you don’t get lost in someone’s “mental attic,” Ferrazzi recommends sending a quick email within 12 to 24 hours of meeting them. Another way to quickly establish a connection is to immediately add new contacts on LinkedIn.
Stay in touch: The most important part of building and maintaining a professional network is staying in touch. Sending quick, casual greetings on a regular basis will keep the connection alive so the next time you see the person you won’t be met with a blank stare. In order to maintain secondary relationships, Ferrazzi recommends getting in touch three to four times a year. I have found that an easy way to do this is sending a birthday note or congratulating someone when they are promoted or start a new job.
Pay it forward: Networking is a two-way street. While you should always be looking for people to mentor and guide you, it is just as important to find others who you can help. If you hear of a job lead that would be perfect for one of your contacts, pass it on. If you meet someone who you think would be a beneficial contact for your colleague, introduce them.
Throw out work/life balance: In general, it’s important to find a happy medium between the hours you put into your job and the time you spend with family and friends. But when it comes to networking, there’s no need to separate your personal and professional life to keep them in balance. Since Ferrazzi’s career is relationship-driven, he says he doesn’t consider it a career but rather a way of life. Although most people don’t feel that way, it is common for your most valuable professional contacts to also be close friends or family. Communique is a shining example of this – our firm’s founders are sisters.
The essence of Ferrazzi’s message is simple – create as many meaningful relationships with as many people as possible. But building relationships is not always an easy task. Are there any networking tips you have found to be helpful?