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.
We often use analogies to help our clients tell their stories. We find the more complicated the subject matter or the more novel the concept, the more helpful it can be to use an analogy to help people grasp your ideas.
An analogy is a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based: For instance, one can see a similarity between the heart and a pump.
Here are a few other examples of analogies used to explain complicated subject matter:
- Example No. 1 “We are kind of like eHarmony, but for jobs,” Rob McGovern, founder, Jobfox. This statement was made during an interview with NPR and we found it to be helpful in immediately explaining what Jobfox does – matching folks to the right jobs. In addition to highlighting Jobfox’s value proposition, we found it to be memorable.
- Example No. 2 comes to us from an article on Ragan.com containing 10 tips for writing numbers and numerals. To explain the difference between the two, Michael Moser writes: “A number is an abstract concept, whereas a numeral is a symbol used to express that number. “Three,” “3″ and “III” are all symbols used to express the same number (or the concept of “threeness”). One could say that the difference between a number and its numeral is like the difference between a person and her name.”
- Example No. 3 comes from a quote in a Serials Solutions press release and compares the Summon™ service to Google: “What Google does for the Worldwide Web, the Summon service will do for libraries,” said Jane Burke, vice president, Serials Solutions. “It’s a transformation in library service that addresses our community’s most pressing need: a simple entry point to the vastness of library collections. One search box, one results screen, one path to the best, most credible content.”
So how does one come up with a good analogy? Here are a few tips that we often use to come up with the right comparisons:
- Get clear on the key attributes and the correlating benefits of your product or service.
- Brainstorm “like” scenarios with a small group of people, ideally no more than four or five. Ask everyone to fill in the blanks to this statement:
- Our service XYZ does ___________ and ________________ just like a ____________________ (person/company) does ________________ and __________________.
- Don’t criticize the ideas as people share them, as it will inhibit creativity. Instead, record them all so you can critically review them later. Once you have your top two or three analogies, you may want to socialize them with a couple of people who are not familiar with the subject matter to see if your analogies resonate with them.
- Remember you’re striving for a description that helps folks grasp your concept. It likely will not be an exact correlation to your product or service. This point is important if you’re brainstorming with folks who tend to take information literally, or who look for information to be presented in a tangible or concrete manner versus information that is more abstract.
- Finally, we recommend that you start paying attention in your reading for good examples of analogies.
Analogies can be a powerful way to bring your story to life, but they need to be relevant, clear and compelling.
Analysts are a critical audience. They influence customers, provide endorsement to the media, and help create visibility around the category. Developing an effective analyst relations program is often one of the cornerstones of our clients’ overall PR programs. However recently, there’s been a significant amount of consolidation in the analyst arena with large firms such as Forrester and Gartner acquiring second- and third-tier firms to expand research agendas and win new customers. This consolidation has left many PR and marketing professionals rushing to get their arms around this new landscape.
As I was working to get a sense of the current state of analyst relations for a presentation, I came across a couple of great resources which I thought would be helpful to share including:
- SageCircle – SageCircle “is an advisory resource that delivers AR strategic planning and tactical tools for vendors of high tech products and services.” In addition to its paid services, the company has a fantastic blog, which I read regularly to get a pulse on the analyst community. The blog covers a variety of topics surrounding both top- and second-tier firms including trend reports, social media, new hires, job openings, earnings announcements and more. This blog was incredibly helpful for a recent presentation I developed for a client surrounding analyst trends for 2011.
- Institute of Industry Analyst Relations – another excellent resource, Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) blog covers topics useful for PR and marketing professionals including analyst trends, criteria for selecting a paid analyst relationship, consolidation, and event recaps. The IIAR is a “not-for-profit organization established to raise awareness of analyst relations and the value of industry analysts, promote best practice amongst analyst relations professionals, enhance communication between analyst firms and vendors, and offer opportunities for AR practitioners to network with their industry peers.”
In addition to these high-level industry blogs, most analyst firms have a corporate blog as well as a series of analyst blogs that cover trends and observations in a variety of industries. These can be valuable resources when looking to get a sense of a specific analyst’s perspective on a particular trend or topic.
Do you have a favorite analyst resource? We’d love to hear about it, drop us a line or leave a comment.
A good quote can be the heart of a compelling article. Good quotes help to tell a story and enhance the credibility of a press release, news story or speech. Words that are crafted well can leave a lasting impact on the world.
Every day I drive by a reader board on my way home from work and every few days there is a new quote that streams across the screen. I find myself looking forward to sneaking a peak at what inspirational message I will have to ponder on my commute home. This is the impact that words can have.
The following are some memorable quotes that have lived on past their delivery:
- “I’ll be back,” California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most famous quote isn’t from his time in office, but from the big screen.
- “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” Defense attorney Johnnie Cochran arguing that a glove used as murder evidence in the O.J. Simpson trial was too small.
- “Just say no,” Nancy Reagan’s anti-drug campaign slogan.
- “Read my lips: no new taxes,” George H.W. Bush, accepting the GOP presidential nomination in New Orleans.
- “In the 21st century, it’s not enough to leave no child behind. We need to help every child get ahead,” Barack Obama, asking Congress to rewrite the decade-old No Child Left Behind law – which requires that public school students be measured by regular testing – by this fall.
It is good to keep in mind those words that have caught our attention, as we create the words that will be used to represent a product, company or person. As a spokesperson you want to ensure that your message is clear, concise, compelling and it doesn’t hurt to be catchy.
Not only do we want to strive to be eloquent and pointed in our speech, but use phrases that will resonate beyond the daily news cycle. For tips on what makes a good story, check out our past blog post, “What Makes a Good Story?”
Recently, Seattle-based TechFlash, a major source of technology news, went through dramatic changes with the departure of Todd Bishop and John Cook, the outlet’s founders and first employees. As avid followers of the media, and fans of TechFlash, we were hungry to know the type of following TechFlash has had. The information we discovered, based on a 2010 online survey, is surprising.
TechFlash, which is owned by the Puget Sound Business Journal, has only been around since 2008, but has a loyal and large following of influential readers. According to the survey, TechFlash has more than 500,000 page views per month, of which 200,000 are unique. Whereas the weekly Puget Sound Business Journal has about 18,500 paid subscribers with a readership of 90,000.
So who is reading TechFlash? It turns out there is a mix of readers from sales, marketing, information technology and engineering. Business size also runs the gamut – 41 percent of the readers are small businesses, 41 percent are large businesses, and 18 percent are medium-size businesses with roughly 50 to 500 employees.
Here are a few other key survey statistics that we found useful:
- 17 percent of the readers make more than $200,000 a year and 65 percent make more than $100,000.
- 40 percent of the readers are from Washington.
- More than 50 percent of the readers are responsible for making final IT purchasing decisions or providing input into these decisions.
- 35 percent of readers are in the 34-44 age bracket.
Unearthing this kind of information about a specific publication can be tremendously important as you think about targeting a particular audience with your next story. It definitely helps ensure that you are achieving your desired result by reaching out to the right publication. We’ll be interested in updated statistics around TechFlash, given the recent changes.
Losing fans, followers or subscribers can leave a painful feeling in the pit of your stomach. Twitter and Facebook don’t offer an explanation for this. Consumers are allowed to “unlike”, unfollow or unsubscribe without reason. This leaves the author or organization asking, why? What did I do? The cliché breakup line “it’s not you, it’s me,” offers us little comfort as we strive to do better.
At Communiqué, we take pride in our blog and work to deliver content that is timely, interesting and relevant to our readers, but we too, have experienced that painful message when we have lost a subscriber. I recently came across an article, “Top Reasons Why Consumers Unsubscribe Via E-Mail, Facebook & Twitter,” on Mashable written by Erica Swallow, which helped put this question into context.
The article gives some great perspective on why readers unsubscribe, “unlike” or unfollow a company. Not surprisingly, most people surveyed unsubscribe because the information is too frequent, irrelevant or boring.
Identifying why people dump brands on social media platforms can help companies understand how to keep them interested. We thought it might be helpful to provide a few key dos and don’ts to follow as you work to develop social media content.
- Don’t over post. The top reason that people gave for “unliking” a brand is the posts were too frequent. Make sure that the content has a purpose. Posting a tweet or blog just to post will not establish credibility with your followers, fans or subscribers. Instead, establish expectations about how frequently you plan to post and then deliver on that commitment. Limit posts to once a day on Facebook and a blog. It is more acceptable to tweet frequently, but make sure you are adding value.
- Deliver creative and compelling content. No matter which platform you are utilizing, developing creative content is essential to maintaining a strong following. By blogging or posting to Facebook and Twitter, you should be offering information that is helpful and valuable to your audience. Many people unsubscribe to marketing emails, Facebook and Twitter because the content is boring and repetitive. Avoid re-posting the same content over and over. A good rule of thumb is 90/10. 90 percent of the time you should be sharing relevant information, 10 percent of the time you can share promotional information about your company or organization.
- Make yourself irreplaceable. One of the top reasons why consumers unsubscribe via email, Facebook and Twitter is because their feed or inbox is too crowded. The only way to beat this is to ensure your content is a must-have. Focus on your target audience and filter all content through that view. Position your brand as a thought leader, speak to trends, and not just brand news. Instead of just posting articles, add context. For example, a roofing company can speak to a growing trend, “Totally agree with this NYT article. We are seeing a significant spike in requests for solar panels. It’s boosting our bottom line!”
Keep in mind that sometimes it is unavoidable to lose a fan, follower or subscriber. However, by keeping these tips top of mind while optimizing content for social media, it will help to make sure that your posts are relevant to the reader.
The field of communication – whether public relations, marketing or journalism – is constantly changing and morphing with the steady flow of emerging technologies. As experts in the field, we must be mindful of the trends and learn to adapt.
This includes becoming savvy with new social media platforms, hip blogs and industry trends, so that we know what is the latest information and where it will be published.
One way to identify changes in the field of communication is to consider how journalism is changing and what that means for communication and PR professionals. Mashable.com recently posted a video from its fifth “NextUp NYC” educational series, which explored the emerging skills of tomorrow’s journalists. A group of panelists touched on the continuing evolution of technology and its effects on the journalism industry, as well as how journalists can better train themselves and improve their skills.
As Technology Reporter Jenna Wortham for The New York Times explains, “The way we read and consume news and everything is totally changing. I mean we get everything from our social networks, our kind of first layer filter and then we rely on institutions and organizations like The New York Times and Mashable to help us filter and tell us what is relevant. There is just so much constantly coming at us.”
The take away from the video is that there is a lot of information available in the world today. The Web is saturated and can be overwhelming. The challenge is trying to figure out how to digest this information as a journalist. For PR and communication professionals, it is essential to understand how much information journalists sift through on a daily basis, and keep that in mind when developing communication plans. We must embrace the different channels of communications and utilize those that are relied on most heavily by journalists, in essence making it as easy as possible for them to find and digest that information.
In addition, the way we consume content is evolving. From tablets such as the iPad to smartphones to laptops, we are more connected than ever before. People are consuming content on the go, with apps that make it easy to access information, which has pushed journalism toward its current direction. Journalists must remain aware and adaptable to these changes. This means that, as PR professionals, we must cast a wider net. Not only do we need to be aware of the many avenues of communication available and utilized by journalists and consumers, but we should be savvy in employing alternative platforms gaining notoriety, such as tumblr and Audioboo. By gaining a better understanding of how the information will be dispersed, we can target journalists in the most appropriate manner.
It is clear that the future of journalism, and communication in general, is digital, and as those in the field adapt more changes will certainly follow in this constantly evolving industry.
Here is the NextUp NYC video, courtesy of Mashable:
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