Community Involvement Matters

access-933142_640

By Grant Wright

At (W)right On, we’re frequently asked to become engaged in community affairs of some sort – support a political cause, gauge the pulse of an issue, contribute to a worthwhile endeavor – and in as balanced of a way as we can, we often say yes.

We’ve supported at-risk youth; senior Olympics; domestic violence prevention; independent living for disabled adults; cancer prevention; youth sports programs; student academic scholarships; hospital programs; and more. Additionally, team members engage individually in support of men’s health issues, high school and college student mentoring, and a number of worthwhile causes.

Unless you live under a rock, community involvement matters… to a degree. There will always be more to be done than time or resource allows, so ‘everything in moderation’ is probably apt here. So what are considerations as you think about why and how to engage in your community?

Benefits

  • Community engagement is often smart business. It expands your brand, is a source of intelligence, fosters teamwork and enhances morale, and provides your organization a higher sense of purpose.
  • It makes a difference – to the community and sphere that is your influence. A simple effort or gift of timely wisdom can literally change someone’s life in far more profound ways than the effort or thought needed.
  • It feels good – doing the right thing always does, and in that it contributes to improving the community in which you live, it comes right back to you.
  • It provides a sense of purpose and direction.
  • It sets an example for others – your engagement can have a multiplier effect.
  • It’s fun – Involvement in the community expands your circle of relationships and can often serve as stress relief.

Potential Pitfalls

  • Community involvement can overwhelm or be extremely time consuming. It may be worthwhile to begin with something simple and consider additional support from there with better insight.
  • It can just be more work, busywork or misdirected – it is important to have reasonable understanding and expectation of the benefit you’ll be causing.
  • It can take time from professional and family growth – there are only 24 hours in a day for all of us, and if engagement involves some sort of financial assistance it’s important this is done in a balanced way with all the demands upon your time and resources.
 

At (W)right On, we take great pride in all of our community involvement endeavors. It’s the right thing to do and it’s smart business. Plus, at its core, good communications is all about creating connections and building communities. But especially as we begin to approach the “giving season,” it’s important to consider the size and scope of your community involvement.

What are some of your favorite ways to get involved in the community? Let us know in the comments.

12 Signs PR Agency Life Isn’t for You

By Julie Wright

1. Month end is just another day to you.

jb1

 

2. You’re happiest doing one thing at a time.

bp1

 

3. You don’t read the by-lines as closely as the articles.

jb3

4. You don’t measure your life in 5 minute increments.

jb4

 

5. You come up with song hooks instead of news hooks in the shower.

tumblr_le7ppmG5iV1qfha26o1_500

 

6. Your only sense of urgency is when the barista takes too long with your latte.

tumblr_lovkaiQkqi1qggn6bo1_500

 

7. You had to Google KPI.

jb7

 

8. You think the work day is 9 to 5.

jb8

 

9. You wouldn’t describe yourself as a people person.

giphy

 

10. You follow the Kardashians more closely than Facebook’s algorithm changes.

jb10

 

11. You fall asleep Sunday nights with no thought to the client projects waiting for you Monday morning.

jb11

 

12. You fall asleep Sunday night.

jb12

Measuring the ROI of Public Relations: Five Experts Weigh In

By Molly Borchers, Sr. Communications Strategist

Public relations and business growth go together like peanut butter and jelly. The last new restaurant I tried? It was because of a good review I read in a local magazine. The last lip-gloss I purchased was the darling of Allure beauty editors. The last business software I evaluated wasn’t because of some advertisement. It was through word of mouth. And as we often say at my company, PR is the ultimate word of mouth.

In fact, the famed Guy Kawasaki recently came out in support of PR as the way to get the most bang for your marketing buck:

“Brands are built on what people are saying about you, not what you’re saying about yourself. People say good things about you when (a) you have a great product and (b) you get people to spread the word about it.”

But despite this advice, I know of many companies who would rather devote their entire marketing budget to advertising. For marketing people, advertising is easier to wrap their hands around. Leads and quantifiable metrics, like click-through-rates and page views, often make marketing people look good in front of their bosses. In advertising, you can often see directly how people are moving through the funnel. With public relations, it’s a bit less tangible.

To further complicate things, actually measuring ROIthe return-on-investment (ROI) in PR is a seemingly herculean task. I hate to say it, but marketing directors and PR folks seem conflicted on measurement. Some are (still) using the antiquated Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE) metric. Others come up with statistical correlations that are tailored to each client’s needs. Some are adopting the Barcelona Declaration of Measurement Principles. Others are measuring tactics like reach and number of placements, rather than outcomes (like increase in sales or website conversions).

So, to help you better advocate for a slice of the marketing pie, I have asked five experts to provide their best practices on PR measurement.

In the beginning, ask “Why?”: Shonali Burke (@shonali), ABC, president and CEO of Shonali Burke Consulting, Inc. knows a thing or two about measurement. She is Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins’ M.A. in Communication program, founder and curator of the #measurePR hashtag and Twitter chat, and owner of the popular blog/community, Waxing UnLyrical. To start, Shonali says that one of the most important questions to ask when trying to figure out how to measure the success (or failure) of your campaign or initiative is, “Why?” Why” are you investing time and resources into a particular campaign? What do you hope to get out of it? Ultimately, your PR efforts should support your business objectives, so don’t stop asking, “Why?” until you get there.

Agree on measurement goals upfront: Shonali says that her biggest challenge in measuring the ROI on PR is that some companies sometimes think of measurement as an afterthought. Her advice is to bring it front and center. In fact, she doesn’t sign contracts until she and her client have agreed on the measurement goals they’re working towards.

Deirdre Breakenridge (@dbreakenridge) is CEO at Pure Performance Communications, adjunct professor at New York University, and author of five books. She agrees with Shonali on setting measurement goals up-front. But she says you also need to determine in the beginning how to quantify and benchmark progress over time.

Don’t just analyze outputs – also benchmark against competition: Aaron Brown (@abrownFMPR), senior vice president at Fahlgren Mortine, says that his method of measuring share of editorial discussion resonates with his clients. This approach requires analysis against key competitors within target strategic areas in a defined set of media. So, if technology is an area of emphasis for the brand, how is it performing on technology-related topics against competitors in the most influential media outlets?

Broken-Silo-2Break down the silos: Deirdre Breakenridge likes making the connection between spikes in PR coverage, website traffic and then conversions to leads/sales, but says it’s important to work closely with other areas of marketing, web and sales to have access to data that may not be readily available. When you break down the silos you can show a more accurate picture of ROI.

Julie Wright (@juliewright), president of (W)right On Communications agrees with Deirdre. She thinks of PR as fitting with the flywheel concept in the book Good to Great by Jim Collins. When you are doing many things right across social media, PR, branding and more, you can achieve a better overall outcome than when you take a siloed approach to your communications.

Aaron Brown says, the best measurement approach crosses silos and accounts for earned, owned, paid and shared media. This helps to account for all of the ways target audiences engage with the brand. Failure to incorporate these areas of marketing and communications leads to a measurement report with holes.

Use social media for a two-way dialogue: Jennifer Dulles (@DStreetTweet), president of D Street PR, advocates for social media listening. Today, we can poll audiences, ask people their preferences and see where they are going. It’s a much richer world for measuring results than back in the days when we had to hire a survey research firm for pre and post-telephone surveys. When brands need to measure sentiment or gauge whether opinions changed, they can simply ask.

Give it time: Julie Wright says that moving the needle and making an impact requires a sustained commitment. However, many companies are looking for a one-time silver bullet to timeachieve their communication goals. If you think of communicating with your stakeholders in the same way you think about it with your spouse, you know it is not a process that you turn on and off at will or just give it your all every once in a while. Predictable, consistent and, of course, interesting communication is the key to building trust and relationships with your audiences.

Ultimately, in our data driven world, it’s a challenge to show dollar-for-dollar the value of public relations. But PR does have its benefits, even if we struggle to explain them. Julie Wright said the best measurement tool she ever had was a line out the door at her client’s store after an article hit on their product. How’s that for value?

Originally posted on Huffington Post.

Why PR is Becoming a Visual Game (and How to Win)

Wonka meme

Remember when you were a little kid and your parents asked you to pick out a book to read? Did you gravitate toward the one that was a sea of black-and-white letters, or the cool one with lots of colorful, eye-catching photos?

In high school geometry, which was the better textbook? The one that wrote out how to determine the surface area of a trapezoid, or the one that showed you?

Even now, are you more engaged and likely to retain information with presentations that are strictly verbal, or ones that have graphics and charts?

It’s a fact: human beings are visual creatures. As a general rule, we remember 80% of what we see, compared to 20% of what we read and a small 10% of what we hear, a New York University psychological study found.

Applying this to PR, an industry in which the main objective is to communicate positive messages about a brand or person, Wharton School of Business researchers determined that presentations based on visuals were found more compelling and convincing than those that were only verbal.

Furthermore, 67% of the audience in the study said that merging visuals with verbal aids were all the more effective. So how can we, as PR professionals, leverage these findings to the advantage of our brands?

Get Social

With the popularity of visually-driven social media networks like Pinterest and Instagram, there’s no time like the present to socialize your PR strategy.

pinterestPinterest is especially great since a pin can link directly back to a website. If you pin a PDF of your fresh press release and put some compelling preview text in the description, your audience will not only want to read that particular release, they’ll be taken to your news room, blog, etc. and likely read many more. And check out your team. And explore your website.

In an industry like hospitality, make sure to load your website and e-menu up with lots of great photos showcasing your space, food and amenities. With one click, users will be on your site and one step away from making reservations.

instaInstagram isn’t to be forgotten, though. Although it lacks the referral power Pinterest has (at least for now), it’s a great vehicle for furthering community relations efforts or raising awareness of your brand offerings.

For example, nonprofits can benefit immensely from showcasing their volunteer efforts and positive impact in real time, while a fashion line can post sneak peeks of their new collection and the behind-the-scenes design process to get fans excited to buy.

With a few well-placed hashtags, even non-fans will be in on the action. Networks like Facebook and Twitter, as well as outlets like blogs, can also add to your visual storytelling power in their own unique way.

Create a Better Press Release

Notice I say “create” rather than “write.” That’s because although words still rule in PR, the changing face of the industry requires a little something extra for maximum connectivity and traction from both consumers and media.

As mentioned last year in our piece on putting together a great press release, adding just one photo to a release will increase views by 14%. Applying elements like more photos and video continues the upward trajectory, culminating in 77% higher consumption when visual education tools like infographics comepolaroids into play.

This all depends on the industry, too. B2C brands will do well with high-quality photos of their products or properties, while B2B people may be more receptive to charts and graphs.

As with any PR effort, think about your target audience when adding visual elements to collateral like press releases.

Get Ready for Your Close-Up

If you’re not sprinkling video into your PR plan at least occasionally, you should be.husky

ComScore found that in the US alone, people watch more than a billion online videos every day. Why?

They’re dynamic, typically easy to consume and people equate them with entertainment. Video makes it simple and fun to showcase brand philosophy, spread the word on updates and give a glimpse at the human side of a company, which consumers love.

If you’re trying to rebrand a respected, but traditionally conservative corporation, try a regular feature showcasing employees doing volunteer work or shadowing them for a day on the job. If you’re a tech-savvy company, dabble in mixing up your written press releases with video ones.

Video is also a great tool for media relations. At (W)right On, we’ve had great success creating client b-roll and sending on to news stations for high-quality, late-breaking event coverage – plus, it allows you to pick and choose the footage you want to show off. And, video is a fast way to introduce people to who you are as a company, piquing the interest of potential customers, media influencers and even investors.

What other ways have you found visuals instrumental in a successful PR program? Tell us in the comments or find us on Twitter.

Getting Real About Media Results

99 problems

PR = media results. It’s a fact even those unfamiliar with public relations know to be true. As industry professionals, it is our responsibility to navigate the complex world of media relations on our clients’ behalf, build a rapport with journalists across a variety of publications and verticals and, naturally, land solid media hits that lead to a positive action – booking a hotel room, purchasing a product, forming new awareness or an elevated opinion… the list goes on. But often, companies can get hung up on the quantity of results without first considering the quality. Here at WOC, one of our guiding philosophies is our belief that media hits are not a communications strategy. Take a deeper look into why, and how a fresh perspective on results can benefit your brand’s bottom line.

Recently, a client partner was looking to spread the word on a comprehensive, weekend-long event that would appeal to a specific type of traveler. Rather than sending a pitch to every outlet that maybe, possibly, if the time was just right could have covered it; I got real – I examined the timeframe we had, the audience we were trying to hit and the feasibility of particular outlets saying “yes” given their proximity (or lack thereof) to the location. The end product? A slimmer, but highly tailored, pitch list. And it worked – we got several hits that made perfect sense for the task at hand. One single-handedly resulted in close to 70% of the attendance goal reached within just a few days of being published.

This approach is beneficial in several ways – it conserves time (and therefore budget), leaving more wiggle room to focus on a variety of client efforts; it allows the PR pro to build more meaningful relationships with journalists they can reach out to time and again; and it ensures that media hits make real sense. The time used to create a well-crafted, impactful pitch and secure a few solid media hits is much better spent than on spinning wheels and taking shots in the dark, or getting a large number of hits that may not connect in the right way. Some may say, “at least you’re getting the word out,” and yes, sometimes you do need to take a chance on a pitch. But if you ask me, talking is a lot more productive when there’s someone ready to listen.

Readership numbers are important as well – they give indication to an outlet’s clout and how many eyeballs will be on your content. But sometimes, smaller outlets can be just the ticket. For example, say an online publication has 10,000 monthly readers. Not mind-blowingly impressive. However, you have to investigate who those readers are. Do they engage with the content? Do they comment on and interact with social media channels? Do their demographics fit the mold of the person you’d want to learn about your client partner’s news? You also need to do your due diligence on researching the outlet itself. Is the writing high-quality? Does the author hit on a number of focal points? Do they include great photos with their pieces? If so, they shouldn’t be overlooked based on numbers alone. Key takeaway – just don’t forget about the little guys along the way. Plus, any big pub has to start somewhere. If they happen to explode, you’ll already have your foot in the door and a relationship in place.

On the topic of big publications – another PR factor that often isn’t fully understood. For many brands, these are the Holy Grail of media hits, and rightfully so. We want them, too! However, even if you have a BFF-level rapport with the editor-in-chief, it takes a great deal of time, effort and typically multiple attempts to break through. Take a magazine with millions of readers each month. It will have more writers and editors assigned to cover content, to be sure, but also an inordinately higher number of pitches and invitations and press releases flowing in and out each day. I’ve had editors at national outlets tell me they get over 200 emails an hour, most from PR people. For an average workday, that’s 1,600 emails to comb through. A bit overwhelming, wouldn’t you say? Once they’re done sifting the good from the bad, they’re still faced with whether something fits with their (usually more stringent) editorial calendars, they have a writer to work on the assignment and whether they even have the space for it.

In a realistic world, it could take even a veteran PR pro with an awesome, perfectly crafted angle a year or more and numerous pitches to make it into a national magazine. Seriously. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying to write off your chances of ever getting into Sunset or Forbes. We’ve done both, many times, and there are more outlets where those came from. Just don’t put undue stress on yourself (or your friendly neighborhood communications expert) if you don’t make the cut right away.

So remember – when assessing the best approach to a media strategy; spend time on the smart stuff, don’t forget to play nice with the lesser-known and stay persistent when shooting for the big leagues. Before you know it, you’ll have a roster of results that highlight your brand and establish a savvy, respected public face.

Twitter’s New “Buy” Button is Ready to Shake Up Your Social Media

Twitter's New Buy Button Ready to Shake Up Your World

In today’s digital-loving environment, it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t shop online. Retailers tempt with exclusive products, special deals and shipping incentives; and Cyber Monday is quickly on its way to taking over Black Friday, just about the biggest brick-and-mortar shopping day ever. So e-commerce has the world wrapped around its proverbial finger – but what about s-commerce? Yes, s-commerce, or social media commerce, is A Thing. Platforms like The Fancy (like a purchase-minded Pinterest) are in on the game, and Facebook started sussing out a Buy button in July. But people today move at a rapid-fire pace, and need something to keep up – enter Twitter’s new Buy button.

“We are beginning to test a new way for you to discover and buy products on Twitter,” the company announced last week. “This is an early step in our building functionality into Twitter to make shopping from mobile devices convenient and easy, hopefully even fun. Users will get access to offers and merchandise they can’t get anywhere else and act on them right in the Twitter app.” Already tested out by influential retailers, nonprofts and music acts including Burberry, The Nature Conservancy and Pharrell Williams, the “Buy” button works like it sounds – within the Twitter app, users can view a tweet offering a product. If they like what they see, they simply need to tap “Buy Now” to pull up more details, enter shipping and payment info and – done. Although results of the test run haven’t been provided, we at WOC think this will be a game-changer in terms of how brands do business on the Web – and on social media to boot. It’s a streamlined and straightforward way to make a purchase, and it’s intuitive – it speaks to the ever-present need to get things done and get them done fast. Where networks like The Fancy and Facebook encourage browsing, Twitter’s buying feature works just like the platform itself – real-time and easily consumed on the go. This tool is in beta for just the elite members of the Twitterverse for the time being, but it doesn’t mean you can’t plan ahead. Brands with marketable goods and services are wise to start thinking about how they can leverage this for success once it’s available to all. Sure, clothes and music are a great fit for this, but ponder how you can step outside the box and be an early adopter in your industry. For hotels, for example, this feature could act as an excellent sales tool. When new seasonal packages or meetings promotions roll around, tweet them out with the option to buy. Booking directly isn’t supported (yet), but a Twitter follower could easily purchase a voucher and connect with you to arrange their visit. You could take it one step further and create a great first impression, as well as maybe secure a true social media evangelist – when Twitter-sourced fans check in, greet them with a special treat and a note encouraging them to tweet about their stay with a preset hashtag. Nonprofits could use “Buy Now” to sell event tickets and donations by creating buy amounts, then let people buy $5, $10, $20 and so on. Much easier to manage – and more likely to make people feel at ease – than a buy-with-hashtag situation. Or, for agencies or inidviduals touting thought leadership, you could peddle whitepapers and access to webinars reserved just for your loyal Twitter fans. Any brand could build excitement and high-quality followers by releasing regular specials on a certain day, too – people would quickly look forward to “Travel Deal Thursday” or “Webinar Wednesday.” Have you tried out s-commerce, or will you now that it’s becoming so easy? Talk to us about it @wrightoncomm. By Erica Schlesinger, Communications Strategist