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.
Playmark, a Seattle-based startup, recently signed an exclusive partnership with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) to bring businesses and entrepreneurs unprecedented access to the official rights to NFL players. This innovative and unique partnership makes it possible for thousands of app and game developers, independent artists, agencies and businesses of all sizes to gain immediate access to the intellectual property rights of NFL players.
By bringing the star power of NFL players to growth markets like mobile apps, casual and social games, and on-demand merchandise, Playmark enables new businesses to be instantly recognizable to millions of NFL football fans. Communiqué PR had the opportunity to help Playmark and the NFLPA raise awareness around their partnership and generate visibility into how the Playmark platform simplifies the entire licensing process.
In the days leading up to officially launching the licensing platform, we collaborated closely with Playmark and the NFLPA to build out a PR strategy, create compelling story angles and develop media materials. As a result of our efforts and partnership, Playmark and the NFLPA garnered nine placements in business, local, sports and licensing publications to effectively reach their core target audiences.
Below are a few coverage highlights:
• Bloomberg: NFL Players to Launch Playmark Website for Licensing Images, Autographs
• Xconomy: Playmark Opens Digital Licensing Shop with Rights to 2,000 NFL Players
• Geekwire: Playmark scores TD, inks deal to license images of NFL players
• TechFlash: Seattle startup Playmark lands deal with NFL players
• Crosscut: How a new Seattle firm dove into NFL player licensing
• SportsPro Media: Playmark gains access to official rights of NFL Players
It was exciting and enlightening to work with two forward thinking organizations to support their PR activities. Playmark doesn’t intend to stop at the NFLPA, but hopes to expand its offerings into other major sport associations. Stay tuned for additional milestones from this innovative startup, which is truly revolutionizing the licensing industry.
If you are the CEO of a company large or small, you undoubtedly are busy thinking about myriad issues ranging from customer satisfaction, trends surrounding revenue growth, and alignment of resources, to recruiting, innovation, establishing direction and external changes, to name a few. In the midst of all of this, it is easy to forget about public relations and its strategic importance to helping your organization achieve its business objectives.
We recently were talking about the CEO’s role in public relations and wanted to share a few thoughts on this topic. In many organizations the CEO is critical to the success of a company’s PR activities. Namely he or she plays a role in the following areas:
- Serves as the company spokesperson. In many, but not all, organizations the highest-ranking corporate officer plays a significant role acting as the company spokesperson. Journalists look to this individual for comments and insight because she personifies the company. Clearly, the CEO is not obligated to be the spokesperson. He or she can appoint someone to take on this responsibility, but typically journalists working on a corporate story will expect to have access to the CEO for comment.
- Approves the Budget and Resources. Often a VP of Marketing or Corporate Communications, a Manager of PR, or Marcom Manager will have the responsibility for developing and proposing the scope of work and budget, but the CEO should be involved in reviewing and providing approval of the budget. The CEO should do this as he or she has a broad view of the organization’s situation from its projected revenue to the overall operating budget and can best see how PR fits into the bigger picture.
- Evaluates ROI. In addition to approving resources and the budget for PR, the CEO should play a role in considering the overall effectiveness of the organization’s PR activities. He or she should consider top-level success metrics (e.g. share of voice) and consider how PR is impacting sales. Clearly, in some organizations it is often impossible to prove that PR plays a direct role in motivating someone to purchase, but there should be some hard evidence showing the positive impact that PR is having on his or her organization and brand.
- Showcases Results. To build excitement about an organization’s activities, there is an opportunity for CEOs to showcase results from PR activities. For instance, the CEO might showcase a marquee editorial placement in a company meeting to build further staff enthusiasm for a particular initiative. When I joined Tegic Communications in January of 1998, we were a very small startup. Every month we had an all-employee meeting to discuss our progress toward company goals. PR was essential in helping us stay top-of-mind with our customers and our CEO Bob Hart, along with our VP of Sales and Marketing Don Davidge, did an excellent job of highlighting the editorial coverage the company was receiving. This was especially motivating to the engineers who otherwise might not have been aware of external reaction to their work. Other places that editorial coverage should be showcased include board meetings or even in some instances discussions with customers and partners.
For additional thoughts on the role of the CEO in PR, please check out this article by Kathy Keenan. It contains some excellent reminders for CEOs from the perspective of journalists with Fortune, Business Week and the New York Times.
Clearly, with many responsibilities it is easy for the CEO to abdicate PR to others in the organization. However, CEO involvement with PR is often paramount to achieving success.
We’re all human and very rarely does anyone produce an article, press release, internal communication plan or any other form of written work free of errors right out of the gate. This is why the review process is critical. At CPR, we make it a best practice to have other team members review important materials before sending them to clients to prevent embarrassing errors.
But even having several eyes review a document is not a perfect system. I once did a final review on a press release only to realize that the contact information was wrong. It is sometimes the most obvious items that escape even the most critical eye. I came across an article on Ragan’s PR Daily written by Daphne Gray-Grant that offers 10 proofreading tips that are especially helpful and easy to incorporate into your proofreading habits.
Consider the following:
1. Allow at least one day to pass before proofreading. This can be challenging, especially if you work in a deadline-driven environment. If it is possible, your fresh eyes will be able to catch unconscious mistakes that many of us are guilty of. For example, typing “thought” instead of “though.” If you can’t wait a day, I would recommend having other members of your team proofread your work as they are likely to have a different perspective.
2. Print it out. This will make many environmentalists cringe, but you will catch more errors if you print out your document and proofread in hard copy. With handy tools such as tracked changes, most editing is done electronically. But Daphne Gray-Grant writes, “the human eye reads material on screen much more quickly and less carefully.”
3. Use large font. If you are unable to print out your document as suggested in tip two, use a large distinctive font such as Papyrus 20 point when reviewing material on screen. This will make it easier to catch errors that could slip by.
4. Question facts. In addition to unconscious mistakes and typos, addresses, dates and titles are often goofed up. Most proofreaders will trust that this type of information is accurate. The most common is to mismatch days and dates. Be sure to double check the accuracy of your facts.
5. Pay attention to the obvious. Similar to dates and addresses there are other “invisible” items that are often overlooked. Daphne sites an example where the client’s name was misspelled in 48 point font. We often put too much trust in the obvious items such as titles and contact information, but that should always be given a scrupulous eye.
6. Begin at the end. This is a tip that I have not yet tried, but like the idea of. Daphne suggests that professional proofreaders often read documents backwards line by line. This will keep the focus on grammatical errors instead of content.
7. Put a ruler under each line. By putting a ruler under each line that you read, it will help your eyes from jumping ahead to the next line.
8. Consider what you might have left out. When crafting emails or pitches, it is sometimes the most obvious elements that are omitted. I am usually so focused on getting all of the details right that I forget to include a phone number or require an RSVP. After you craft your pitch or invitation, double check that you have not left anything out. I find it helpful to ask yourself, what would I need or want to know?
9. Make a list of common errors. Making a check list of common errors helps give you something to look out for. After you make the list, check your document for those you have specifically listed. For example, using “their” instead of “there” or “its” instead of “it’s.”
10. Read your work aloud at least once. By reading your work aloud, you’ll get a feel for how it actually sounds and will catch more errors. This is my favorite trick and what I find most effective when proofreading materials.
While these are great tips to help you catch mistakes and avoid embarrassing errors, my number one recommendation is to have other team members review important documents. It is helpful to have multiple folks review docs. And if everyone from your team is implementing some of these techniques, you are more likely to catch those sneaky errors!
What techniques do you find most effective?
Last week I had the opportunity to hear Jennifer Seymour, director of content strategy and integration with Seattle Children’s Hospital, and Cory Badger, vice president of corporate and strategic business development with Regence Blue Shield, speak over lunch at the Puget Sound American Marketing Association Healthcare Special Interest Group (SIG). Both presentations were informative.
Since we work with the team at Seattle Children’s, I thought I would share a few of the points from Jennifer’s presentation on “Building an Online Audience One Story at Time.” I think her story and tips are applicable to many PR or social media managers working to add value to online communities.
Jennifer began by sharing information on the history of the organization’s Facebook page, which was born in June 2008 with the goal of increasing engagement and awareness among prospective patient families. Created by the web department, the Facebook page came to be managed by the PR department. (This was prior to the creation of Seattle Children’s content strategy and integration team, which now manages the page.)
About a year ago, in October 2010, Jennifer and team decided to undertake a survey to uncover more about Seattle Children’s followers. By leveraging Survey Monkey, they gained new insights. They learned that 73 percent of the hospital followers were related to or close to a patient. Almost 17 percent were employees, 14.9 percent were guild members or volunteers, and 11 percent were donors.
These results were significant. Given that so many followers already had a connection to Seattle Children’s, Jennifer and team decided to now focus on sharing compelling content to deepen connections with Seattle Children’s.
Some of the ways that Seattle Children’s is driving more meaningful engagement with followers includes live chats with physicians and sharing tips for keeping families safe. Last summer, the team shared a reminder with parents that screens on open windows are terrific for keeping bugs out, but screens don’t prevent children from falls. They then posted a video with tips for preventing these accidents and received many comments on the post, including one from a mother who immediately went to the hardware store to buy special window locks.
Jennifer noted how rewarding it is to the Seattle Children’s team to use Facebook to help prevent accidents, and in terms of return on investment noted the seamless alignment of these results with the hospital’s mission.
In December 2010, Seattle Children’s also worked to raise donations via its Facebook page. In three weeks, the nonprofit organization received 172 donations and raised $24,365.
Jennifer summarized some of the keys to success on Facebook as follows:
• Have a great brand
• Encourage folks to share their stories
• Adopt a warm, caring, fun and inviting tone
• Answer questions (this takes time, but is worth it)
• Ask questions
• Thank others for mentions
• Consider Facebook advertising (Seattle Children’s has found this to be very helpful)
• Develop and share authentic content
• Find a balance in how often you post
• Become a curator of content
• Try new things
• Make it someone’s job
Today, Seattle Children’s has more than 25,000 people that “like” them and has seen a 150 percent increase in fans since the end of 2010. We look forward to seeing this growth continue and hope the PSAMA will invite Jennifer back to give another update next autumn.
Jennifer Gehrt
I can still hear my former professor repeating to the class, “Connections, connections, connections.” Though my classmates occasionally grew tired of this advice for starting a successful career, I certainly benefitted from the repetition. What I learned from my professor is that one of the most valuable tools when seeking and maintaining a career is, indeed, connections.
In the class, we discussed many social media sites, including LinkedIn due to its facilitation of professional connections. As an avid user of LinkedIn, I constantly receive email updates announcing various website enhancements. It has been particularly interesting and impressive to see the recent, increased attention LinkedIn directs toward enhancing features for companies using its networking capabilities. With a growing number of individuals and companies joining the website (there are currently more than 2 million listed companies and more than 100 million members), LinkedIn has improved its platform to focus on companies and boost their presence on its network.
In the past, LinkedIn had more focus on individuals and little reason for companies to pay much attention to their presence on the networking site. With new enhancements and features for companies, that has changed. It is therefore crucial for companies using LinkedIn to gain a good grasp on these enhancements so it is possible to optimize their profiles and improve visibility on LinkedIn. A few good tips on developing a stellar company profile can be found here.
LinkedIn is a unique service in the social media landscape and the recent enhancements herald user-friendly features seen on other websites such as Facebook and Twitter. In 2008 for example, LinkedIn introduced company profile pages to allow companies to provide relevant information about their organizations. In 2010, LinkedIn introduced a feature to “follow” these company pages. This is similar to how one could follow a company page on Facebook or a company’s Twitter account. To deepen the professional-to-company connections, LinkedIn recently introduced another feature that makes having a company profile even more valuable.
On Oct. 6, LinkedIn launched a feature called “Company Status Updates,” which provide a way for companies to become more engaged and connected with their communities of followers. LinkedIn outlines the benefits of the new feature this way:
“Company Status Updates are a powerful new way to engage directly with your followers. Influence consumer perceptions and purchase decisions by messaging followers across LinkedIn and the Internet. Post relevant updates, like company news, product promotions, videos, and industry articles. Amplify your brand message and benefit from follower engagement (likes, comments and shares), interactions that are virally distributed across a follower’s networks.”
For companies, this means they can tactfully share any important insights and news to their followers, who then may comment, like or share the status updates from their personal accounts. This new feature makes it easier for companies to communicate with their LinkedIn audiences about anything from job postings to new business achievements. Overall, these status updates allow companies to strengthen connections and gain visibility, as well as engage with customers, former employees, recruits, potential partners and others. Professionals already following companies on LinkedIn using the “follow” feature will begin receiving status and news updates from the company directly on their LinkedIn home pages. For more information on company profiles and status updates, go to LinkedIn’s learning center.
LinkedIn seems to be combining many of the best qualities of Facebook and Twitter to enhance its features for companies. It has employed these new social media features to help foster stronger connections, uphold transparency and gain visibility, while maintaining its own unique platform. The changes also showcase the benefits for companies that have a presence on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn would undoubtedly receive approval from my communications professor regarding these recent changes. They not only enhance the overall platform, but create an environment to foster connections for business professionals and now companies as well.
Katherine Turney
In the age-old tussle between public relations practitioners and the media, pitches take considerable heat. In fact, a blog is devoted to bad pitches.
Previously, I worked for a large organization in a small town. The local newspaper wanted story ideas – it just wouldn’t accept ideas that came directly from the organization’s communications office; the paper has an unofficial, though frequently cited, policy against publishing information that came from press releases. The organization, on the other hand, requires media to work with its communications office if it wants news.
Two conflicting needs arose: the newspaper wants “unique” news that no other outlet will receive; the organization wants to share its news with local audiences as well as in a larger geographical area. What was a PR practitioner to do? One strategy we incorporated was to “pitch” media through social media, a practice we found to be successful.
In general, PR practitioners may find media receptive to pitches through social media because inboxes may be flooded and social media is easier to wade through. In addition, reporters may be monitoring social media to stay on top of news.
“Though traditional media is sometimes still a more trusted source of information, I have found many journalists to be more accessible and attentive over social media than email or voicemail/phone,” says Corina Newby, a communications officer at Supernova in Toronto, Ont. “Social media is my go to for anything requiring me to quickly access key influencers, and initiate a viral spread of information.”
Here are a few tips.
- Establish relationships on Facebook and Twitter with the media. Follow them and engage with them, before you reach out to them with a pitch. Don’t let your social media relationships become a perpetual request to have the reporter do something for you. “I’ve used Twitter to introduce myself to editors that I didn’t know before Twitter, which then led to a soft email introduction, then to an actual face-to-face meeting,” says Mike Phillips of The Neo Com Group in Portland, Ore.
- Post thought-provoking, heart-tugging, sexy, timely or otherwise interesting content. (Here are a few tips on what makes a good story.) Not only does this capture the attention of media, but it also reaches your general social media audiences and takes your message further.
- Be succinct. The beauty in Twitter is that it requires people to keep messages brief. With Facebook, the tendency is to post longer messages simply because there is more space.
- Keep the content flowing continually. Have a plan for social media and stick to it, even during organizational transition.
- Don’t overtly call the media out when you post. If you’re creative enough or the news is captivating, they’ll notice. (Notice we started this list of tips out by listing “pitch” in parentheses – it’s because you need to engage in such a way that media don’t need to be flagged for the story because they’re already attuned to what you’re saying.)
- Avoid sending direct messages to media through any social media channel. Again, providing news and feature ideas through these channels is meant to intrigue them, not harass them in a way that makes them want to disengage.
- Be attentive. Follow your target media’s social media channels. Seek those opportunities to engage with them on their terms – be a resource for them when they ask a question or are looking for sources.
Not sure this strategy will work? Here are some successes:
- Jolene Miklas, director of communications at AnimalFriends in Pittsburgh, Pa., shared one of her successes. In June 2011, they conducted a large-scale cat rescue. “We knew the rescue would be expensive. We needed donations, and we needed to get the word out immediately,” she recalls. “Instead of sending a press release, I posted the story to our blog, Facebook, and Twitter. The story exploded and within hours we had TV, print and radio coverage.”
- Contstance Aguilar, a social media specialist and account manager for Abbi Public Relations in Reno, Nev., helps manage a tech client’s Twitter account. “It’s mostly for communication to fans and posting industry news and insights, but I did use it after the South By Southwest Conference to re-connect with a journalist at Entrepreneur Magazine,” she notes. “Through that initial connection, which was very in-depth and pertinent to the tech industry, which she covered and I was pitching, I was able to not only create a relationship that landed said client for an upcoming story in the magazine, but also set up two more clients for meeting with her, which resulted in a story that’s already been published.”
What are some of your successes or tips?
Related blogs:
- Check out Pop Culture PR Lessons for some tips on media strategies and relationship building.
- Are PR firms still great sources for media? Check out PR Firms and Media: A Symbiotic Relationship for some insight.