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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.
Over the years our team has shared its expertise through posts published to the Communiqué PR blog. Some of the posts tie directly to content included in our book, Strategic Public Relations: 10 Principles to Harness the Power of PR, while other posts dig deeper into practice areas or capture key campaign initiatives and results.
Consistently the most popular content in terms of unique visitors are posts that provide guidance and tips on core PR activities and foundational elements. We recognize there are great books that cover these topics, however, with the fast-paced nature of our jobs today sometimes tracking down the right reference book can be impractical in the moment.
Below I have captured these posts for easy reference. Feel free to bookmark this page and use it as your PR reference “book.”
- The Importance of Planning
- Five Best Practices Surrounding Messaging Workshops
- PR Planning 101: Defining Objectives, Strategies and Tactics
- The Art of Storytelling in Public Relations – 5 Narrative Elements
- Writing for Different Mediums
- Tips for Writing a Byline Article
- Key Elements of a Crisis Communication Plan
- Internal vs. External PR Roles
The guidance provided in these posts is relevant for both experienced PR practitioners as well as communication students and those starting their careers.
Whether it’s an hour spent in bumper-to-bumper traffic, a 20-minute walk to class, or sitting on the bus through 37 stops, most people have to endure some form of a daily commute. The way we spend that commute time, however, can vary significantly. Some people listen to music, some read books, and others talk on the phone. Personally, after exhausting my music library during my daily morning commute, I discovered a different, more constructive form of travel entertainment: podcasts.
Specifically, I listen to “The Daily” by The New York Times. At around 20-30 minutes per episode, “The Daily” brings a thought-provoking, nuanced approach to exploring current events. Tuning in while driving has quickly become a much anticipated and valuable morning ritual.
“The Daily’s” secret ingredient is its host, former New York Times political reporter Michael Barbaro. Without a background in radio or broadcast media, Barbaro might seem an unlikely rising personality in the podcast sphere. His soothing voice, the obvious intensity in which he actively listens to his guests, and his knowledge of the world we live in make him an ideal face – or voice – for the evolving New York Times that now streams more than nine podcasts for its active readers and listeners.
Maybe it’s Barbaro’s affable introduction to every episode that keeps his audience hooked (a rough reproduction would sound something like: “From The New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro. This. Is. – dramatic pause – The Daily.”). It could be how he encourages banter with his guests, for example, Barbaro playfully began his interview with the Times’ chief Washington correspondent Carl Hulse with, “I am rudely distracting you from what I imagine is a well-earned cocktail.” But above all, what keeps everyone listening is Barbaro’s unwavering allegiance to his audience.
Barbaro is also not afraid to ask simple, foundational questions like, “So where exactly is Mosul?” or “What exactly does the Justice Department do?” Some podcast hosts may be embarrassed to ask questions that may be common knowledge, but Barbaro’s Everyman style allows him to act as “an advocate for the listener.” Without projecting a know-it-all attitude, Barbaro creates a relationship with his listeners that helps them feel comfortable wherever they are in their own understanding of the world and its current events.
Understanding the different facets of current events requires knowledge of complex political ideologies, international relations and public policy, all of which “The Daily” explains in layman’s terms. As executive producer Lisa Tobin puts it, “‘The Daily’ is about explaining something you’ve always wished someone would explain to you.”
Learning about current events is an invaluable habit to develop both personally and professionally. Staying up to date on breaking news and current events makes us all well-rounded and capable of developing an informed opinion about politics and social issues.
Unfortunately, a significant percentage of U.S. citizens are not committed to making current events a priority. In fact, according to Pew Research, only 22 percent of Americans are “eager and willing” seekers of information and have a strong interest in learning and the news.
As alarming as this statistic may be, it is not surprising. With work, family and a social life life to balance, it is easy to fall out of touch with current events. It takes time and effort to keep up with what’s going on, and even more effort to effectively understand it all. Once staying current on news or other key issues gets shoved to the back burner, it most likely remains there.
Since PR professionals typically represent clients across a wide range of industries, it’s imperative that we be well informed about the business, industry and technology trends being shaped by current events.
For example, the Communiqué PR team recently had an editorial brainstorming session for one of our clients, WGU Washington. The ideas we came up with were based on recent technological advancements including artificial intelligence and how it would affect the job market. Because the team possessed a broad knowledge across several industries, we were able to speculate how these advancements would impact our client’s target audiences, and offer some timely, relevant pitch suggestions.
Not only also does a regular news habit keep PR pros up-to-date with breaking world events, it can provide insight into the elements that journalists need to tell a compelling story for their audience, as well as the language and style they use. This can help PR and communications pros tailor their pitches and writing styles accordingly for different reporters and publications, and ultimately become more effective and successful in their careers.
The importance of understanding current events is irrefutable. To get a jumpstart on your continued learning effort, check out “The Daily” on your next commute. You may be surprised at how quickly Michael Barbaro’s dreamy voice will launch you into podcast Happyland, all the while keeping you informed.
As many of my friends and family know, I’ve recently begun doing more creative writing in the form of a historical novel and have had many new skills to learn. Fortunately, the classes I’ve taken at Seattle’s Hugo House have been tremendously helpful as I strive to develop compelling characters, put them in interesting situations, and come up with the right balance of scene and summary to tell an engaging story.
Practicing new writing techniques also has helped me realize that writing fiction is incredibly different than the writing that I typically do as a communications professional.
As I build new skills, I’ve received significant feedback from my writing group, my instructor and a few trusted friends. Overall, this feedback has been helpful, but there are times when I have felt discouraged. Other times, I’ve found it challenging to decide whether to accept or reject a person’s input.
For instance, this summer I solicited feedback from an author and teacher of fiction. His opinion was that my plot was flawed and he suggested I scrap my first 100 pages and start over. After mulling over his comments and thinking about whether I agreed with his perspective, I began again. After all, he is the successful author of two novels, numerous short stories and personal essays.
Although it created more work for me, I remain grateful for his feedback because I have never attempted to write a novel and I desperately wanted know how I could improve. Sure, it would have been better if he’d told me that my work was fantastic, but this is a learning process. And it’s probably not realistic to expect to produce a literary endeavor without hard work on the craft of plot development, narrative structure and writing. I also know some of the new skills I’m building will be applicable at work, so I am motivated to keep at it.
But not everyone is so enthusiastic about feedback. According to a Harvard Business Review article, “In a study of seven companies and 11,471 days of creative work, researchers found two striking patterns: First, getting feedback was incredibly rare, indicating that people seemed to avoid it; and second, when people did receive feedback, it generally left a negative emotional residue.”
Negative emotional residue. Yikes! Who wants to create that? I eagerly dove into the article entitled “How to Give and Receive Feedback About Creative Work,” and the research that the author did to address the question: what does effective feedback for creative work look like? Here’s a summary of the main takeaways:
Ask the Right Questions
First, curiosity plays a role in securing feedback. The researchers explain that people who are curious tend to get better feedback than those who are motivated by other desires such as completing a project quickly or eliciting praise. For instance, people who are curious tend to ask more open-ended questions versus asking narrow questions. When professionals ask “What do you think about my work?” or “What else do you think I should cover in this article?” they will elicit very different information than asking something narrow like “What did you think about the ending of my blog?”
The researchers also point out that there are often underlying motives at the root of questions. People may genuinely want feedback, they may want to minimize doing additional work on the project, or they may be looking for affirmation that they have done quality work. Individuals looking to validate their existing ideas tend to ask narrow questions and are often less likely to generate novel or groundbreaking work.
Remember it is an Opinion
The second interesting point in the article was the reminder about the subjectivity of feedback. According to the researchers, “… peers providing critiques who recognized that feedback is a subjective opinion as opposed to an objective statement were more effective in enhancing creativity …”
This is important for those of us reviewing other people’s work. When you give feedback, you are sharing your opinion. The authors of the article remind critics to use first-person pronouns and language like: “What I took away from this is…” or “I really enjoyed … and would like to see more of this.…”
In my writing classes at the Hugo House, students are encouraged to frame critiques in this manner. We often workshop one another’s work and are coached to remember that the authors of the work are vulnerable. We are also encouraged to provide feedback in the form of neutral questions around the craft of writing.
If you work in a creative field and are developing or critiquing creative work, the Harvard Business Review article may offer you some sound and practical ideas for soliciting and sharing feedback, as it did for me. Give it a read and then let me know what you think!
Two years ago, LinkedIn rolled out its employee advocacy platform, Elevate, a paid mobile and desktop app that makes it easy for its users to discover and share content from experts at their company.
Designed for organizations with 2,000 or more employees, Elevate helps companies create and improve employee advocacy, and helps encourage employees to become more active professionals by providing opportunities to build thought leadership and a personal brand.
The platform works by allowing companies to select and categorize online content from internal and external sources, which will then be distributed to its employees as suggestions for them to share on their social media channels. The Elevate app also offers a metrics-tracking feature that allows companies to measure how the content their employees shared (via Elevate) performed (i.e., leads to website traffic, new hires and sales leads, etc.).
Although Elevate is designed for larger companies, the platform builds on the powerful business practice of employee advocacy – a focus that companies of all sizes can and should prioritize. We all know that brand advocacy is significant and many companies have campaigns in place to build influencer followings, but why not start with closer targets and work with your own employees to be advocates?
Below are three tips smaller companies can follow to create employee advocacy programs that are right for them:
Tap into your company culture: It’s important that advocacy feels authentic to your employees’ communication styles and to the company’s culture. Encourage employees to follow the company’s account on the social media platform that feels most authentic to them (i.e., Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook). Creating an employee advocacy program that is fun and interactive for employees will increase their likelihood to participate, and may also increase their willingness to develop and share advocacy content of their own. Lastly, it is important that content isn’t forced. Applying too much pressure or oversharing company information and messages can create a negative connotation toward your employee and your brand.
Create simple guidelines: When building an employee advocacy program, it can be helpful to create a few rules to give your employees a sense of direction and ensure that they are not feeling disorganized or stressed that the program is creating more work for them. For example, employers can create a quick one-sheet that outlines recommended times for posting, number of posts to share per week, approved and off-limit topics, tips for responding to and engaging with industry experts and target audiences, as well as advice to build and maintain a following.
Measure results: As with any marketing campaign or project, it is crucial to track results to understand if and how your efforts are making progress and adding value. When designing the advocacy program, create a benchmark and set a few KPIs that you can work toward and then track. Reach and influence are two metrics that should be on your radar when monitoring the performance of the advocacy program. After you’ve tracked results, it is important to share them with your employees. Recognizing their results will help them understand how their efforts are creating impact and encourage them to continue participating.
LinkedIn Elevate is just one method companies can use to generate employee advocates. Taking the time to understand the different engagement tools and strategies best suited for your company size and industry will help you design an advocacy program that is valuable to your employees and your brand.
With cooler weather rolling in and pumpkin-spice goods filling store shelves, there is no question that my favorite season is quickly approaching: the holiday season!
When you picture the perfect winter day, what do you see? Are you skiing, sledding or chasing the kids around outside? Are you cozied up on the couch, reading a good book or binge watching your favorite show or holiday movie? Or are you entertaining, hosting a festive get-together with your friends and family?
However you spend your winter days, there’s no better way to warm up than with a hot cup of a familiar and comforting beverage. Luckily for hot cocoa lovers and eggnog skeptics across the Pacific Northwest, like myself, Darigold has released its new, Heat N’ Serve Hot Cocoa.
Before recommending others try this tasty new treat, I gathered my colleagues for a hot cocoa tasting party to be sure it was all that was promised. Without question, it truly is a decadent treat that sparks nostalgic memories of childhood and the excitement around snowy days and holiday festivities. It’s hard not to refill your cup, over and over. I just can’t get enough!
During the holiday season, my family considers hot cocoa one of the main food groups. Our favorite is taking it in a thermos, with plentiful amounts of marshmallows, to the local sledding hill and sipping it while we watch the kiddos take countless runs.
Made with Darigold’s farm-fresh whole milk and premium cocoa, this indulgent treat is rich in flavor and will warm your body from the moment its smell hugs your nostrils and its creamy cocoa kisses your lips. Not only does the hot cocoa come as a refrigerated, ready-made beverage that can be heated three ways (on the stove top, in the microwave or with a milk steamer). It can also can be swapped with milk in recipes to provide a fudgy flavor to delicious treats, such as:
- Hot Cocoa Crumb Cake
- Cocoa Fudge Cupcakes and Cakes
- Chocolate French Toast or Pancakes
- Chocolate Bread Pudding
- Cocoa Cheesecake
- Chocolate Overnight Oats
Darigold’s new hot cocoa can be found at grocery stores in the Pacific Northwest, including Walmart’s across the region, Costco stores in Seattle, and Safeway and Albertsons stores in Seattle and Portland. Don’t miss your chance to enjoy his seasonal treat as it will only be available through March 2018, or as long as there is demand.
Festive hot cocoa fans will have the opportunity to sample Darigold’s Hot Cocoa at local holiday events throughout the Pacific Northwest this winter, including Bothell’s Country Village Shop, the Mountlake Terrace Tree Lighting Ceremony at Evergreen Playfield and Yulefest at the Nordic Heritage Museum.
While I think this is the tastiest holiday treat you can get, we’re excited to see that others are taking note as well. As the weather settles in, celebrate with this delicious Heat N’ Serve Hot Cocoa!
Recently I began reading Charles Duhigg’s book, Smarter Faster Better, about how to be more productive in life and business. The first chapter focuses on motivation, which is important because motivation is often the driving force or reason that people strive to reach a goal, endeavor towards personal success or work to solve a problem.
Some may struggle with finding a purpose that keeps them motivated. I know I have, especially when it comes to getting out of bed early on a cold, rainy Seattle morning. Fortunately Duhigg uncovered in research that self motivation is not a static feature of our personality. Scientists have found that “motivation is more like a skill, akin to reading or writing, that can be learned,” says Duhigg.
In PR, having motivation or drive to succeed is a must-have skill. For instance, we cannot guarantee a reporter will decide to cover a client’s news, but we can make sure we do our homework so we are informed about that reporter’s interests and biases. Sometimes, this process is difficult, but to reach the goal we must continue to push forward. Our clients are looking to us to consistently exceed goals, and steadfastly challenge ourselves to secure results on their behalf.
So, how do managers and leaders help people build their skills around motivation? Duhigg elaborates on this, saying, “The first step in creating drive is giving people opportunities to make choices that provide a sense of autonomy and self determination.” This point stood out to me because, as an intern, I wasn’t sure what to expect in my workload or autonomy in completing tasks and projects. After beginning to work on a variety of projects in a support role, my involvement and independence has expanded. This has helped me grow more confident in my work and improve my skills, which I feel has positively impacted my overall performance and drive to perform well.
Duhigg also introduces the concept of an internal locus versus an external locus of control. An internal locus of control means people believe that their actions influence their destiny, while an external locus of control suggests that people believe their life’s destiny is affected by factors outside of their control.
He goes on to explain that managers and leaders can influence people’s self perceptions around their locus of controls. He quotes Sergeant Dennis Joy, a Marine drill instructor: “we praise people for doing things that are hard, that’s how they learn to believe they can do them.”
If a manager attributes people’s success to external forces outside their control, such as natural-born talent or luck, as opposed to something the individuals can control – such as hard work or the development of skills – it may potentially lead the people to believe that they could not perform the task successfully.
An additional example would be a manager saying something along the lines of “Cameron, you’re a natural born leader.” By attributing my leadership skills to traits I was born with, it detracts from the effort, time and learning it took for me to become a strong leader. It can also be demotivating because it doesn’t recognize my hard work. In contrast, employees who own their success or failures are generally more successful in their career, according to Duhigg.
The great thing is that at Communiqué PR, having this internal locus of control is part of our culture. Individuals make decisions and have some level of control over their work. Managers and colleagues know they cannot always control the outcomes around their work, but they can control the steps they take. We work hard because we take pride in our work, and enjoy doing it. Delivering the right results for our clients and exceeding their expectations is the icing on the cake.
For those that may be interested in knowing which personality trait you have, take this quick online test: Locus Of Control & Attributional Style Test. Your results may surprise you. If you’re interested in reading Smarter Faster Better, you can purchase a copy of the book here.