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.
In case you missed it, on Tuesday, April 23, A Place for Mom, the largest senior-living referral service in North America, announced the findings from its 2018 Senior Living Cost Index. The annual report is designed to help families and seniors as they consider moving to retirement, assisted living or memory care communities.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 47.8 million people age 65 or older in the U.S. on July 1, 2015. [1] And, by 2035, there will be 78 million people age 65 years or older. [2]
This means that each year millions of seniors are likely to be making important decisions regarding their housing and care, and there is a lot at stake for them. Decisions to move are often fraught with emotion and seniors typically spend more on housing than any other expenditure.
A Place for Mom’s Senior Living Cost Index can help them determine the cost of senior housing and care. It provides information – from historical rent and care charges– around the rate of cost growth by care type, and how costs might differ by region among other things.
This year, executives with A Place for Mom spoke with journalists with USA Today, Multi-Housing News, McKnight’s Senior Living and Senior Housing News to explain the findings and share additional insights on their significance.
Links to their articles can be found below and it is interesting to see how each person illuminated the findings:
- USA Today, There’s a ‘perfect storm’ (of good news) for senior living costs in 2019. Here’s why
- Multi-Housing News, Senior living cost growth lags healthcare
- McKnight’s Senior Living, Modest senior living cost growth presents marketing opportunity, experts say
- Senior Housing News, Competitive market keeps senior living rate growth in check
- PBS News Hours, Are Americans overconfident about paying for retirement? April 23, 2019 (Cites APFM’s 2018 SLCI data)
We also have heard from several other journalists that will rely on the findings from A Place for Mom’s Senior Living Price Index throughout the year.
Finally, it will be interesting to see what next year’s Senior Living Price Index will reveal. Do you think that American’s should expect price stability to continue, or will we begin to see costs climb at a faster rate?
[1] https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2017/cb17-ff08.html
[2] https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/cb18-41-population-projections.html
In September 2018, Cision, a leading public relations and earned media software company and services provider, commissioned Forester Consulting to understand how marketers perceive their communications’ teams and the value of earned media. Its surveys quantified marketing perceptions, providing unique insights. These insights allow us to adapt our positioning or behavior to either continue supporting the perception or attempt to change them.
This report, titled, Influencing Through Earned Media, garnered many valuable insights and I recommend taking a moment to review it in its entirety. However, the findings about the value of earned media and the approach to media outreach warranted further reflection.
Earned Media Plays a Significant Role in Achieving Marketing Goals
When marketers were asked how significant a role earned media played in helping their organization achieve its business priorities, 98 percent said it is critically or very important. For comparison, 98 percent said paid media is critically or very important.
These data points revealed that marketers find earned media as important as paid media. While media relations and securing articles in relevant publications is only a portion of what communications teams do, it is typically a key component of their work, and these findings solidify its role in the overall marketing strategy. It also highlights earned media’s ability to impact the bottom line and drive business initiatives.
When working with an organization, the foundational element we seek to understand is business objectives. This then influences the strategies we recommend and execute. For instance, we once had a client that was interested in growing revenue and a potential acquisition. In order to do this, we worked to secure articles in top-tier publications, place bylines by the executive team, and hone messages to highlight the company’s value proposition. Ultimately, these strategies helped raise awareness for the brand and established credibility in the product, as well as the leadership team. The company was acquired by a major public company that noted the company was a “media darling.”
Half of Marketers Expect Journalists to Reach Out to Them
Admittedly, this statistic surprised me. Surveyors inquired about how an organization’s PR team is integrated with overall marketing strategies, and while there were a variety of responses to this question, 52 percent said they rely on journalists to reach out to them. Waiting for journalists to reach out could result in a lot of missed opportunities.
Proactively reaching out to journalists has many benefits. First, it can place a story about a company or a trend relevant to the company which can assist in raising awareness and building thought leadership. Additionally, by proactively reaching out, you can establish relationships with key media. Not every touch point with a journalist will lead to an article, let alone a response, but providing them with opportunities and updates, and sharing information that is relevant to their beat demonstrates that you are working to service them with valuable and compelling information.
This proactive outreach, if done strategically, can lead to mutually beneficial relationships for both the brand and the journalist. Ultimately, establishing the brand, or a spokesperson, as a reliable and informed source for a journalist will lead to them reaching out. That said, it is possible that marketers at big, established companies that frequently received media requests could have skewed this data, however, proactive outreach still enables communication teams to develop trusting relationships with the media and influence story ideas or secure inclusion in additional articles.
This report demonstrates the value of PR and strategic communications as earned media is just as important as paid media. But if communications teams want to be successful in securing earned media, they need to be creative, strategic and proactive in their approach by sharing compelling and relevant story ideas with the media.
As any businessperson or entrepreneur knows, if you want to successfully scale your business, goals must be established. Objectives need to be set. Strategies and tactics must be in place. Each of these concepts plays a significant role in business planning – they set the very framework of guiding the direction of your organization.
And yet, it’s not uncommon for many businesspeople to struggle differentiating these terms from each other. Objectives may often be mistaken for goals, while tactics may be confused with strategies.
While these terms share similarities, discerning each for the unique concept it conveys helps paint a clearer picture of how businesses will achieve success. Below, we take a closer look at goals, objectives, strategies and tactics.
A goal is a broad outcome, which may take years to reach. It is often a brief, general and clear statement that illustrates what your business wants to do or where it aims to be. It is lofty and ambitious, focusing less on how your business will do something and more on what the desired outcome will be. An example might be that your organization wants to “become a market leader in its field” or “increase profitability.”
An objective is a measurable step taken toward reaching that goal. It is specific, actionable and defines progress made toward achieving your goal. If your company’s goal was to “increase profitability,” an objective may be to “boost revenue by introducing a new product in Q2” or “cut a percentage of overhead costs by the end of the fiscal year.”
A strategy is the approach taken toward achieving a goal. It focuses on how and less on what. Strategies can define your organization’s approach toward competing with other businesses in your field. They may guide the launch of marketing campaigns to influence customers and audience regarding the capabilities of your product or service. An example could be “inform customers of our new product launch through online and social media advertising.”
A tactic is an action or tool that an organization uses to achieve an objective associated with a strategy. A tactic is a what and not a how. While a strategy deals with the long-term direction of a business, a tactic takes advantage of opportunities as they happen and deals more with day-to-day matters. It’s important that tactics align with strategies and work in tandem – tactics serve as the action to a strategy’s larger approach. An example of a tactic may be after a bakery raises its pastry prices, a competing bakery that’s looking to increase revenue long-term slashes its pastry prices by 20 percent to capitalize on customer backlash.
It’s important to remember that each of these concepts relies on the other, as they all work in tandem to promote the advancement of your business. Organizations that understand and can differentiate these concepts are the ones positioning themselves for success and to best handle whatever the market throws their way.
Earlier this year one of our esteemed clients, Western Governors University (WGU), partnered with Lifetime™ for #SheDidThat – a campaign that celebrated four exceptional women who earned master’s degrees from WGU and have gone on to better the world as teachers, nurses, innovators, entrepreneurs and glass-ceiling breakers.
Out of the hundreds of nominations, Michelle Johnson, a language arts and student leadership teacher at Legacy High School in Kennewick, Washington was selected to be featured. Michelle is a graduate of WGU Washington’s College of Teaching and works with at-risk students who are vulnerable to problem behaviors, along with mental health disorders.
“So many of them have overcome so many of life’s challenges,” said Michelle, when describing the grit and determination of her students. “I tell people all the time, my students have a Ph.D in life – they’re just working on getting their high school diploma.”
Michelle works to make sure all her students have what they need to reach their potential, whether that means providing them with basics like clean clothing and toiletries so they can attend school with dignity, or teaching them the leadership skills they need to succeed after graduation.
Outside of the classroom she is making an incredible impact on the local community. For example, Michelle created a leadership program where students are given opportunities to volunteer with organizations such as Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
If you ask Michelle why she wanted to teach, she’ll tell you that one of the reasons has to do with the kids in the park, across the street from her school—the ones who’ve spent the night sleeping on picnic-tables.
“We have kids who are homeless and sleeping in the park across the street and as soon as we open the doors in the morning, they’re coming in to get warm,” said Michelle.
Michelle was also drawn to teaching from personal experience – her little brother was an at-risk teen, too. It’s all of this that led her to a career in education. She nearly chose a career path in marketing but soon realized where her true passion lay when working in education for some extra income. After excelling in her role as a para-educator, her colleagues noticed her knack for teaching and encouraged her to earn her bachelor’s degree and a position as a full-time teacher.
She soon realized that not only could she teach, but she could continue to expand her career and become an education leader in her community with flexible, online courses. Michelle earned a Master of Education degree in Learning and Technology from Western Governors University’s Teachers College.
Michelle hopes that one day she won’t hear about teens sleeping on park benches anymore. She’s working hard to help teens avoid that and similar challenges – like the ones her little brother faced when he was in high school.
It was our distinct pleasure to share Michelle’s inspiring story with media to highlight the impact she is making on her local community. We secured two broadcast interviews with the local NBC (KNDO/KNDU) and ABC (KVEW) affiliates in Kennewick that illustrate how Michelle is paying it forward.
To learn more about the extraordinary accomplishments of these four WGU grads and the #SheDidThat campaign, please visit wgu.edu/shedidthat.
An article in The New York Times highlighted a recent study around how team size impacts innovation. The research report from Nature titled, “Large teams develop and small teams disrupt science and technology,” exposed how small teams can produce more innovative (disruptive) work than larger teams.
These findings may be surprising to some, especially given the increased glorification of group work in education and investments in collaboration tools for businesses. However, after reviewing the takeaways from The Times’ article and taking a closer look at the study, I must admit that I was not surprised. Growing up I had the opportunity to experience small and large classroom sizes (from 10 to 300 individuals), as well as have exposure to a relatively larger work environment before joining Communiqué PR and our amazing team of seven.
For me, the smaller and sometimes more focused environments were the ones where I witnessed a greater impact and felt more comfortable contributing and questioning creative ideas. Of course, I recognize that this is my personal anecdote and that an individual’s comfort level to participate within larger groups can largely vary; however, my experiences echo the findings from the study and might be interesting to consider when scheduling your next meeting.
Further, from my experience participating in different sized internal and external planning and brainstorming meetings at Communiqué PR, I’ve witnessed that some of the most productive meetings occur when the group size is small (two to four individuals), and where participants are focused and feel comfortable being vulnerable and taking risks with their ideas. I would specify that in addition to group size, the overall attitude of the group and its receptiveness to ideas are vital elements that can impact the success of the meeting and its results.
Why small groups?
The research team developed a series of tests to determine how group size could impact effectiveness of results. They created a “disruption” ranking system based on citation patterns in past research papers by examining the frequency and content of citations, not the number of citations listed.
Through this ranking system they analyzed the group size of the team responsible for the papers securing the highest number of citations. Through this analysis they found the team size of these groups were often smaller. This then outlined a pattern, that “smaller groups were more likely to produce novel findings than larger ones. Those novel contributions usually took a year or so to catch on, after which, larger research teams did the work of consolidating the ideas and solidifying the evidence.”
This pattern illustrated that with every person added to a group or project, the results become less innovative or disruptive.
When to work alone?
Despite the creativity that can stem from small groups, the study also highlights the power of individual work. Suparna Rajaram, a professor of psychology at Stony Brook University, shares, “The product of three individuals working separately is greater than if those three people collaborate as a group. When brainstorming, people produce fewer ideas when working in groups than when working alone.”
Dr. Rajaram’s insight is also important to consider and rings true. Prior to brainstorm meetings at Communiqué PR we’ll take time to think of ideas alone, so that we can come to the meeting ready to share, create and critique as needed.
What does the future hold for large groups?
Despite different evidence around the benefits of small groups, it is important to note that there is still a place for large groups. The report highlights how “large consortiums are still important drivers of progress, but they are best suited to confirm or consolidate novel findings, rather than generating them.”
This perspective calls attention to the need for diversity of group sizes in order to bring creative ideas to life. For example, a small group can come up with a creative or ground-breaking idea, however, in order to implement and bring change, a larger group is often required for development.
The idea of “small groups disrupt, and large groups develop” is an interesting idea to consider when evaluating how to increase productive or creative results in meetings. For example, does your culture embrace or encourage group work (large and small)? Is your team one that suggests disruption or creates development? Can you or your team thrive in group sessions or are there too many distractions? Is your team efficient in solo idea generation? Are ideas actionable?
These questions can help to better approach group work and creating a balance of large and small teams moving forward. Further, the reports’ findings are a helpful reminder that while we don’t want to diminish or discourage practices that generate creativity, we must also consider reality and the ability to develop ideas into action.
In March, we hosted a party to celebrate Communiqué PR’s 15-year anniversary. Current and former clients and employees, colleagues, partners, friends and family joined us to commemorate the milestone and reflect on our successes over the years.
With our focus on helping our clients achieve their business and communication objectives, we don’t often take time to reflect on Communiqué PR’s past. A lot has happened since Jennifer approached me at our family’s Thanksgiving dinner in 2003 with a draft business plan for our firm. Shortly after that fateful day, we secured our first client, Knowledge Anywhere in mid-January 2004 and hit the ground running.
Within the first year of business, we moved from our home offices to our first space on Queen Anne, which Cara Jacobsen suggested after she noticed a leasing sign while on a run. When we leased the space from Bernard Jalbert and Carole Jones, we had no idea how lucky we were – they provided incredible mentorship and encouragement over the years! During our time in the Queen Anne office, we developed strong partnerships with our clients, grew our team and expanded our areas of expertise.
While there are a number of metrics to evaluate our company’s success, it is the people – our staff and our clients – we have been privileged to work with over the years that have had the biggest impact on our achievement.
We have been fortunate to have hired and worked with amazing PR professionals throughout the years – some were just starting their careers, others were seasoned communication experts. These individuals have influenced Jennifer and me, helping us develop as managers and deliver stellar results for our clients, ultimately building and reinforcing Communiqué PR’s reputation. We have also had the opportunity to expand our work internationally through our partnership and involvement in the global Public Relations Network. This has led us to work with Dürr, Interroll, Siemens Stiftung, sphingotec as among others.
Our team’s commitment to driving quality results has led to client relationships that span years and across different organizations. Jodi Sorenson, for example, has been a client for more than 10 years with three different client companies – including Smartsheet and Spaceflight. Similarly, we have had the pleasure of working with Pam Cory throughout the past several years on behalf of Serial Solutions (now part of ProQuest), Dell EMC and now BitTitan. Andrea Mocherman has been a client while working with SNAPin Software (acquired by Nuance), Flowroute and now K2 Software. Tideworks Technology, which was Communiqué PR’s second client, has been a client throughout the past 15 years, allowing us to collaborate with the company’s marketing team – Harvey Bauer, Erin Leahy and Pearce Cobarr.
We are grateful for all the companies, staff and partners who have been a part of our exciting journey. In addition to the clients mentioned previously, we are honored to work with A Place for Mom, Darigold, Dell EMC, Delta-Q, HNTB, Intentional Futures, LeoStella, Schnitzer West, St.Thomas School and WGU Washington.
As we plan for Communiqué PR’s next 15 years, we remain focused on surrounding ourselves with amazing people – clients, team members and partners – and ensuring we are making a positive impact.
