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 AP Stylebook continues to be a key resource for writers and PR professionals, and last month, the AP published its 56th edition. The most recent edition includes more than 300 new and updated rules, including new guidelines for reporting on polls and surveys, religion, disabilities, and pronouns. There is also a new chapter on inclusive storytelling.
Below is a snapshot of some of the new rules in the latest edition. You can order the latest AP Stylebook to learn the specific updates within each chapter.
Social Media and Web-Based Reporting
The new edition offers guidance for writing and reporting on information shared via social media and posted on the web. The AP created this chapter to help mitigate misinformation that readers might mistake for facts. The Stylebook’s previous edition addressed some of these rules in its internet section. However, the updated chapter targets the massive increase of information circulated on social media and other online platforms. The new edition helps writers use social media as sources in their reporting.
Polls and Surveys
Another new chapter expands and updates guidelines for reporting on surveys and polls. For example, the most recent edition provides more detail on survey weighting and exit polling.
Race-related Writing
The newest print edition adds race-related rules that were included in the Stylebook Online following the 55th edition. Writers should avoid using “Black” or “white” as a singular or plural noun. The updated section on American Indians and Native Americans states that it is ok to use the term “Natives” upon the second reference. This section also includes the preferred spelling of “tipi,” details for reporting on critical race theory, and when to use “CRT.”
Disabilities
The updated edition includes 35 revised disabilities-related entries. One of the rules relating to brain injuries, traumatic brain injuries and brain damage, states that reporters should say that a person has brain damage or a brain injury, not that the person is brain-damaged. Writers should also avoid using the terms “high functioning” and “low functioning” when referring to people with disabilities. It’s best to be specific about an individual’s condition and to only reference a condition when it is relevant to the story.
Pronouns
The AP Stylebook now advises using they/them/their to accurately describe and represent people who use those pronouns.
The list above is just a brief overview of the more than 300 style updates. I encourage you to follow AP Stylebook on Twitter @APStylebook. The account does a great job sharing relevant and helpful updates, especially related to unfolding news stories and broader trends and events.
The Communiqué PR team also has tips for navigating the AP Stylebook, incorporating new guidelines and integrating special rules into writing:
No matter the sector, the talk has been the same – how can we ride out the current inflation? In times of inflation, money’s purchasing power wanes, causing prices of goods and services to rise. Essentially, inflation weakens the power of the dollar.
Rising inflation often goes hand-in-hand with the possibility of a recession. According to the Wall Street Journal, “[economists] have dramatically raised the probability of a recession, now putting it at 44% in the next 12 months, a level usually seen only on the brink of or during actual recessions.”
To complicate matters, businesses aren’t only managing inflation. They’re also navigating supply-chain and workforce issues. A survey by Goldman Sachs found that 91% of small business owners see these trends hurting their businesses. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MetLife found that 85% of small business owners are concerned about inflation, an 11% jump from last quarter. A third of those owners ranked inflation as their top concern.
However, a survey by Gartner revealed that despite inflation, CMOs appear optimistic. Ewan McIntyre, chief of research and vice president analyst in the Gartner for Marketing Leaders practice, stated that, “the majority of CMOs surveyed feel inflationary pressures hitting their business and their customers will have a positive impact on their strategy and investment in the year ahead.”
With circumstances like these, it is important for companies to get creative with their marketing approach and consider best practices for navigating inflation.
A critical first step is understanding your company’s market position. Before implementing new or revised marketing strategies, take some time to understand the current situation and how it might affect your objectives. This may include understanding the differences between the CPI (Consumer Price Index) and the PPI (Production Price Index), as well as the main factors behind inflation.
It is essential to analyze your profit margins and costs. First, get a detailed view of spending. Your business can leverage accounting software to ensure visibility into all expenses. Be aware of how your profits differ based on the products and services you sell. Remember to include your own time.
These steps can help marketing decision-makers plan a new approach. They might revise corporate messaging, explore transparency and consider new networking or sales opportunities.
Revising corporate messaging can help better differentiate your company from competitors. Perhaps your business is now a lower-cost option within your industry. This poses the perfect opportunity to market yourself as more cost-effective for customers.
To maintain its perception of value, consider nurturing your brand’s emotional and rational stories. Remember, branding touches more than just consumer products. Keep in mind, too, that your target audience is not just the end consumer. When telling your brand’s story, consider all of your collaborators, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders.
Transparency and shared narratives have been persistent themes in marketing communications. However, brands rarely talk to consumers about inflation and its attendant price increases. It may be a bold move to explore transparency in this way and set your brand apart. It’s also a refreshingly honest way to win and keep the trust of your consumers.
Marketers might also consider exploring new networking or sales opportunities that will secure more leads. This could include tailored or targeted drip campaigns and newsletters that allow the brand to engage with its audiences in a more personal and consistent way.
Marketing teams can also evaluate opportunities to speak or attend industry trade shows now that they are in-person again. These events can build thought leadership and allow spokespeople to meet face-to-face with current or potential customers.
Some companies might not need to make changes at all, but it’s wise to check in on business health, objectives and customer satisfaction.
Inflations are temporary. In this challenging time, you can continue growing your business by making adjustments and remaining agile. Don’t be afraid to get creative!
Key takeaways from PRNews’s “Measuring Earned Media Pitching In Today’s Hybrid Environment”
The industry is still learning how to navigate our post-pandemic world. From hybrid events to media relations, we are all adjusting to new best practices. This month’s webinar from PRNews provided some valuable guidance.
“Measuring Earned Media Pitching In Today’s Hybrid Environment” featured a panel of speakers that included Zach Cutler, CEO and co-founder of Propel; Alex Ebanks, consumer and multicultural PR lead of Xbox Global Communications at Microsoft; and Tankia Pradhan, SAE at Rokk Solutions. The panelists discussed how public relations professionals can adapt their practices to better align with a post-pandemic society.
The pandemic forced companies everywhere to pivot to virtual events and webinars as safer alternatives to in-person events. As the world returns to normalcy, however, the panelists say they’ve seen a growing interest in returning to in-person events. Here are ways your PR team can prepare for this shift.
- Use social media to promote your events. Creating a Facebook event or using hashtags can help spread the word and build anticipation. Leveraging social media resources is a cost-effective way to reach a broad audience of potential attendees.
- Consider live streaming. While you may be ready for in-person events, you should include attendees who prefer a virtual option. Live streaming events using Instagram, Tik Tok or other platforms can help virtual attendees feel included and boost your attendee response.
Social media isn’t just a tool for customers to learn about brands, though. It’s also a great way for brands to learn about their audience.
Social listening is tracking social media platforms for mentions and conversations related to your brand, then analyzing those conversations for opportunities to act. The fact that one in three consumers use social media to learn about new products, services or brands provides PR professionals the opportunity to leverage social listening in public relations strategies.
According to the panelists, these are some social listening strategies you can leverage to be timelier and more relevant in current markets.
- Invest in platforms like Brandwatch or Meltwater to gain insight into what your target audience is talking about. These platforms alert you when specific phrases or brand names are mentioned. PR teams can create alerts for popular terms or phrases, then leverage these conversations for newsjacking.
- Follow and utilize buzz words. Keeping track of what key terms your audience uses when talking about your industry can be extremely helpful to stay up to date on trends. Using these social media buzzwords in pitches lets reporters know that your pitch is opportune.
PRNews’s webinar provided key insights and advice for creating successful PR strategies in our new hybrid environment. Preparing for the return of in-person events and leveraging social listening can better equip PR teams to navigate the post-pandemic PR world.
Before entering the world of PR, I worked as a Lead Kindergarten Prep preschool teacher. To promote what is known as emergent writing, I created a curriculum introducing letters in age-appropriate ways. One of my main areas of focus was making letters more inviting for children. Creating a welcoming reading environment can make or break a child’s interest in reading.
Reading has measurable benefits, including greater life satisfaction. But the amount of time adults read for personal interest is dropping, this could be partly due to reading challenges, so encouraging reading is paramount. What if there was a tool that could help stop the downward trend? The creator of Bionic Reading believes that his writing system will help people who struggle with reading. While the project was first conceptualized in 2016, Bionic Reading went viral in May 2022 on Twitter.
it’s incredible how reading this feels like finally unlocking 100% of your brain
— juan (@juanbuis) May 18, 2022
(via @christophepas) pic.twitter.com/nU6CblVZWT
Bionic Reading’s philosophy is simple. It posits that bolding the first few letters of each word helps the reader move more quickly through the text. The bolded letters help our brains fill in the rest of the word rather than having to read it in its entirety. According to Casutt’s website, “Bionic Reading revises texts so that the most concise parts of words are highlighted. This guides the eye over the text, and the brain remembers previously learned words more quickly.”
Many Twitter commenters praised Bionic Reading, saying that the new typeface might benefit neurodivergent readers and others who struggle with reading. The positive feedback also came with a high demand for tools to implement Bionic Reading, such as web browser extensions or eReader converters. It’s so popular that Casutt is not the only one to develop a tool for Bionic Reading. Jiffy Reader and Bionify recently debuted their own versions.
However, not everyone shares the excitement. Lauren M. Singer Trakhman, assistant clinical professor of human development at the University of Maryland, writes that Casutt’s claims have not been thoroughly tested. It’s possible that even if Bionic Reading makes reading faster for some, it’s unclear whether the method’s reading comprehension is strong enough to make it viable.
Until more research is conducted, we won’t know if Bionic Reading actually works. For now, do what feels suitable to you as a reader, and to be on the lookout for new ways to enjoy what you read. You may discover the next viral way of reading.
Try Bionic Reading here.
The news cycle is faster than it’s ever been – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The immediate (and sometimes chaotic) nature of news through digital and social media has forever changed how news reaches the masses. PR teams now have more options than just media outlets to share news. That said, securing earned media is still the key to building and maintaining client visibility and credibility. But between the breakneck news-cycle pace and smaller reporting teams in newsrooms worldwide, securing and maximizing earned media is challenging.
Summarized below are three ideas to place and maximize earned media placements.
Use Data to Tell Your Story
Another Communiqué PR blog post stated that “the most important currency in today’s world is data.” As PR professionals, securing compelling and unique data from a client can feel like winning the lottery. If a company can offer unique data, it is well-positioned to tell a story that will educate others and be of particular interest to the media. Data can define truths and shed light on topics that can help demonstrate thought leadership and build credibility. Data is typically straightforward for reporters to cover and for readers to consume, and it can be used again and again by reporters over time. For example, if a company conducts a study in 2022 and shares the results with reporters, those reporters might include the data in a comparative report two years later. Data has a great shelf life that can maximize earned media placements for clients.
Repurpose Earned Media Coverage
Similarly, a best practice is to further extend the shelf life of a placement by repurposing it. PR pros can repurpose media placements into various valuable content forms – from blog posts and infographics, to whitepapers, videos, newsletters, social media content and case studies. In addition to maximizing placements over an extended period, this approach also provides a brand with a consistent stream of new content. Creating a regular stream of content in different forms helps amplify an organization’s message and can help attract media interest over time.
Prioritize Publications Without Paywalls
Most people have experienced clicking a link to an article online and being stopped by a paywall. Paywalls pose unique challenges for earned media. It can be difficult to share the content with a client or on social media with individuals who aren’t paying users. And it doesn’t help with search engine optimization. There is certainly value in content published behind a paywall – after all, people pay to view it. But the reach of the content can be seriously restricted. A best practice is to, when possible, prioritize outlets that do not have paywalls.
Securing and maximizing earned media coverage in today’s 24-hour news cycle is challenging. PR pros can consider these three tips to ensure clients stay visible and get a return on their PR investments, even in today’s always-moving news cycle.
When establishing yourself in a new industry, building a relationship with a mentor – someone who coaches and guides you to obtain a better knowledge of your industry and profession – is arguably one of the most important professional steps you can take.
In fact, individuals with mentors are five times more likely to get promoted than individuals without mentors. Mentors are important because they often help less experienced workers learn new skills, inspire career growth and set professional goals.
However, just as there are ways to exceed in being a mentor, there are ways to become an equally strong mentee. Below are some of my tips for those who are looking to make the most out of their mentor relationships:
- Ask intentional questions. Building a relationship with your mentor starts by forming a foundation that shows your mentor your current understanding of industry skills and knowledge. This can be done by asking thoughtful and intentional questions.
While asking questions can be intimidating, it allows your mentor to meet you where you are. Additionally, asking questions is vital for clarifying expectations and demonstrating your commitment to delivering quality work to your mentor. This can also indicate to your colleagues that you are open to change and willing to learn.
- Do research. Before approaching your mentor with a question, conduct your own research so you are as prepared as possible. Not only will this improve your industry knowledge and facilitate learning, but it will also show your mentor that you took the time to try to address the question or solve the problem on your own before bringing it to their attention. Research will also help supplement your questions or idea with proof points and data, so that when you present it to your mentor, it is well thought out and thoroughly analyzed. This step will help your mentor learn your thought process, assist in streamlining next steps, and demonstrate your commitment to being solutions-oriented.
- Take initiative. Taking initiative shows your mentor that you are committed to enhancing your skills by implementing their feedback and that you can think through the next steps. It illustrates proactiveness, critical thinking and leadership, and will benefit you throughout your career.
Taking initiative can be as simple as doing additional reading, signing up for supplemental training, or sharing the results of research you conducted independently. Some other ways you can start taking initiative include seeking new responsibilities, stepping in during a co-worker’s absence, or volunteering to assist in work from other teams or departments.
- Solicit feedback. When your mentor provides feedback on your work, instead of letting it defeat or frustrate you, consider how you’ll apply it to improve your work on future projects. Keep in mind that you will make mistakes and that it is OK. However, it is up to you to learn from those mistakes and to continue to apply the lessons you learn to future assignments.
Feedback, when implemented appropriately, is known to improve performance in the workplace. Once you receive coaching, always demonstrate to your mentor that you are effectively internalizing and applying the feedback to exhibit your growth and improvement. This indicates to your mentor that you value their guidance and that you are utilizing your relationship with them to help you grow.
One teaching or learning style does not work for everyone, so developing a strong mentor-mentee relationship is often a trial-and-error process. Get to know your coach and become familiar with their work style, as they are becoming familiar with yours. Be patient in allowing this relationship to evolve and find ways to help your mentor help you. Doing these things will help you to become the best mentee you can be.