Posts Tagged ‘ marketing ’

My Thoughts: 5 Essential Skills for Public Relations Professionals

PR Daily recently posted an article titled, “5 Skills Every PR Professional Needs.” Although I think this article does a great job covering the basics, I would like to add five more essential skills to that list.

  • Multi-tasking: As public relations professionals, we often wear many hats. We are graphic designers, writers, editors, event coordinators, webmasters, copy writers…the list goes on. It is important for us, whether on the agency or in-house side, to multi-task. Being able to multi-task well can definitely work in your favor. But, it can also be your downfall.  A good multi-tasker is organized, first and foremost. Need help decluttering your life so you can restore organization? Check out a post I wrote about decluttering your work life.
  • Researching: Public relations professionals need to be great researchers. In order to provide the WIFM (What’s In it For Me) factor for journalists, we must be able to provide the adequate research that lets them know why our news is important, why it’s important for the journalist’s audience, what our news could mean for the industry/community, etc. Research is also important in other areas of public relations, including speech writing, media or interview prepping and backgrounders.
  • Adapting: As marketing and public relations professionals, we must know how to adapt to our environment. Whether through the way we speak to consumers and the media or the extra roles we may take on, we have to be flexible at all times.
  • Understand the business: It has been said that communicators make poor business people and vice versa. Let’s dispel that myth. Communicators need to have a seat at the board room table. When making your communications or public relations plan for the year, you should be using your company’s business goals as a guide. If you can prove how public relations helped the business grow or generate revenue, you are essentially proving your value to the company as well.
  • Understand new media: Online video, podcasts, social media, QR codes, mobile and group coupons…have I lost you? Trends in communications are continuously evolving. As public relations and marketing professionals, we must have a thorough understanding of new media. It’s not necessary to be expert in every form, but we need to understand the uses and appeal of each.

It is important to remember that some skills may vary depending on the industry. So, what are your thoughts on this list? Anything you’d like to add?

2011
03/07
CATEGORY
communications
Marketing
PR 101
public relations
speech writing
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Brands work to strengthen their relationship with the social consumer in 2011

According to research conducted during the October 2010 Pivot Conference in New York, marketing and adverting eyes are on the social consumer. With 58 percent recognizing the social consumer as a pivotal element to the brand, marketers and advertisers understand the value and power of the social consumer. In addition, 84 percent see social consumers as a primary or secondary target market this year.

Who is the social consumer?
They are tech-savvy consumers who speak to brands through social media. They “like” brands on Facebook and will retweet your brand’s newest promotion on Twitter. They will let all their social friends know they are spending some time with your brand when they check-in on Foursquare and spread online coupon love with your brand through Groupon.

Businesses keep social media management close to home.
The survey found that 52 percent of respondents run their social media efforts in-house, while 19 percent use full agencies and another 15 percent rely on specialized agencies to lead their social media efforts.

Among the 700 marketing and advertising professionals surveyed, 90 percent recognized social media as a marketing function. Public relations followed at 64 percent with sales not too far behind at 46 percent, and customer service at 39 percent. When asked what roles or functions they oversaw, the majority (64 percent) were responsible for social media marketing with brand management following closely at 58 percent.

So, how will marketing and advertising professionals divvy up their time in 2011?
The survey provides a quick breakdown:

  • Social Media. Marketers plan to increase usage of social media by 75 percent. Only 19 percent will remain at current levels, while one percent of respondents actually plan on decreasing usage.
  • Mobile. Apps for iPhone and Droid will see a rise of 62 percent, 21 percent will remain constant and 1 percent will decrease.
  • Microblogging. More than half of marketing and advertising professionals, 61 percent, will increase use of streaming apps such as Twitter and Yammer, 27 percent will stay the course and 5 percent will reduce current usage.
  • Video. At 55 percent, a little more than half of marketers will increase video production and distribution with YouTube, Vimeo and the like, 31 percent will continue as is, and no one plans to decrease their efforts in this category in 2011.
  • Blogs. Contrary to a recent story in the New York Times insinuating that the statusphere would spell the end of the blogosphere, brands will increase their focus on top tier blogs to reach customers and peers by 52 percent, with 35 percent staying constant and 5 percent reducing focus.

Social Media ROI
Such a hot topic in the world of social media for business, isn’t it? According to the survey, the majority of respondents are measuring social media success against internal goals and objectives. Of those who measure, 73 percent find social media useful, however; four percent say it hasn’t been all it’s cracked up to be.

Hmmm…Interesting…
As the survey proves, social media use will definitely grow this year. On the contrary, certain platforms won’t be receiving the same love. Geo-location networks such as Foursquare and Gowalla and Review sites will see a 10 percent retraction in focus this year. However, brands will increase usage of virtual worlds such as Second Life by 11 percent.

For the complete Pivot Conference social media branding survey, click here.

2011
03/03
CATEGORY
communications
consumer trends
Marketing
public relations
Social Media
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The value of trade show public relations

In a previous position, I had the opportunity to attend the industry’s biggest trade show/conference of the year. There were many weeks of preparation leading up to the big show, which pulled in thousands of attendees from across the United States. As a public relations professional in the industry, I knew how important this show was to a company’s branding, marketing, educating and selling purposes.

When businesses think of trade shows and conferences, their number one priority is sales. However; there is great value in a strong pre-show, show and post-show public relations campaign. Here are a few benefits:

  • Pre-show PR: Generate buzz about your brand. Pre-show PR creates interest among attendees and non-attendees. A major industry-wide trade show also creates a great opportunity to announce a major product launch. Using pre-show PR keeps momentum going about your new product or announcement weeks, if not months before the show.
  • Pre-show PR: Creates perfect opportunities to schedule meetings/interviews between senior level execs and industry media. What better way to take advantage of all your industry media being in one place at the same time! Take the opportunity to set-up meetings between your senior level executives and the trade publications. Trade media is there to take in the sights and sounds of the show and write a story, but they are also there to hear from your brand and your experts. These meetings could lead to editorial opportunities and position your company as a leader in the industry.
  • Show PR: Strengthen your relationship with your contacts through face-to-face interaction. Attending a trade show is a great way to strengthen your relationships with your media contacts. You will have the opportunity to put a name to a face and more importantly, so will they. You will no longer be name@xyzcompany.com. When someone knows you by face, they are more likely to reach out to you. It will be easier to hold their attention and really drive home the message for your company. Strengthening these relationships can turn you into a reliable resource for your media contact and ultimately garner more media attention for your company.
  • Show PR: Add to or create your video and photo inventory. With all the excitement that surrounds a trade show, be sure to catch it on film! All you need is a Flip™ and a digital or professional camera. Set up impromptu interviews with show attendees or see if you can grab a speaker before or after their session. Be sure to also catch some of your clients or business partners on camera so they can give you great video testimonials. A picture says a thousand words. Take pictures of the trade show floor and show your team hard at work! Then share those images and videos on your site, blog, social sites or other forms of communication you use with your audience.
  • Post show PR: Make sure you follow-up! Once the dust has cleared from all the trade show hustle and bustle, make sure you follow-up with your contacts and remind them about that product launch, announcement or interview you scheduled between them and one of your senior level execs. They will appreciate the follow-up.

There are many trade show and conference related opportunities that could be added to this list. Feel free to add your own. Leave a comment!

2011
02/18
CATEGORY
consumer trends
Marketing
Networking
public relations
Social Media
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U.S. companies lead global efforts in social media engagement for business

According to leading public relations and communications firm, Burson-Marsteller, 84 percent of Fortune Global 100 U.S. companies surveyed use at least one social media platform and 34 percent use all four major social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and corporate blogs together in their communications efforts.

Overall Growth.
Overall, the report showed there was an 18 percent increase in Fortune Global 100 companies using Twitter, followed by a 14 percent growth in YouTube channels and a 13 percent growth in companies using Facebook fan pages. Although Twitter is being used more by corporations, businesses using Facebook fan pages have more “likes” than Twitter accounts have “followers.”

Overall Twitter Highlights:

  • With a 68 percent year-over-year increase, Asian corporations led the way with the largest growth in total amount of corporate accounts.
    • Overall growth: 18 percent
  • Seventy-six percent more companies use the “@” response in tweets and direct messages, indicating more companies are engaging with their audience on the social site.
  • The average number of followers per corporate account increased by 241 percent increase in 2010.
    • U.S. corporations saw a 61 percent increase.
  • More than one-third of corporate accounts are tweeting to keep consumers informed about deals or contests specifically related to their products/services.
  • There was a 90 percent increase in the number of companies being talked about on Twitter over the last year.

Overall Facebook Highlights:

  • There was a 13 percent increase in corporations on Facebook.
  • With 89 percent of fan pages allowing posts from “likers” and 72 percent of pages responding to “likers” posts, U.S. companies led the way in Facebook interactivity.

Overall YouTube Highlights:

  • YouTube saw a 69 percent increase in the average number of channels per corporation globally.
    • This overall growth was led by the 192 percent increase among U.S. channels.
  • On average, U.S. corporations received nearly 716,000 views in 2010.

Overall Blog Highlights:

  • With a 29 percent increase, the total number of U.S. corporate blogs saw the greatest leap.

What does this mean?
Companies are leveraging social media as interactive platforms. What was once considered a here today, gone tomorrow tool, is now a mainstream means of communication between companies and their audiences on a global scale. The next step is to reinforce the value of two-way communication between company and target audience. Although more companies are heading to the social media space, all too many are still using it as a billboard instead of a way to engage in and monitor conversation about their brand.

For the complete results from this report, click the PowerPoint below.

2011
02/16
CATEGORY
communications
consumer trends
Marketing
public relations
Social Media
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