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How to Influence Consumers and Customers with PR and Storytelling

Public Relations and StorytellingPeople love stories. Even before we learn to read as young children, cuddling next to a parent, grandparent, sibling or caregiver to listen to a story or book is a favorite pastime enjoyed by every generation.

This love of stories doesn’t subside when we grow up.

In the digital age of Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories, Snapchat Stories, podcasting and TED Talks, the methods of telling and sharing stories may have changed, but our affinity for stories hasn’t lessened one bit.

So what’s the point for brands and companies? We’re glad you asked.

Sharing news about a person’s life, loves, challenges or career is interesting for others as it relates to their own life or circumstances. The same goes for brands and companies.

Storytelling is an effective way for you to reach the people who matter most. Brands and companies that share compelling insight can use storytelling to humanize them — gaining loyalty and positive perceptions in consumers’ minds by doing so.

A recent Wall Street Journal article by Barbara Haslip discussed how an entrepreneur’s story can be the perfect marketing tool. It cites research that suggests why humans respond well to character-based stories and memorable images, explaining the relevance for businesses. Read the interesting piece here.

Public relations professionals inherently use different tools and strategies to help clients tell their stories to the right audiences. By doing so, connections are made and buying decisions are positively influenced.

Companies should also leverage consumer input in brand storytelling. An article in MIT Sloan Management Review, says new research finds that sharing consumers’ positive stories about a brand can be a highly effective online marketing strategy.

Here are five ways we work with clients to share their stories:

Media Relations: We package and pitch your messages then reach out to the appropriate journalists to arrange media coverage for your brand, business or organization. These placements provide third-party endorsement via earned media which builds credibility, thought-leadership, visibility and SEO.

Content Creation: Produce and place bylined articles, press releases, blog posts or custom video designed for company blogs and websites, industry-specific or local and major media.

Strategic Partnerships: Arrange partnerships perhaps by creating community special events presented by companies and nonprofit organizations. This is an effective way to engage audiences, build brand equity, secure media coverage and provide an interesting story for the parties involved to tell across all of their platforms.

Live and Online Events: Identify speaking opportunities for company leadership or spokespeople at live or online events so sought-after audiences (either the press, consumers, businesspeople or partners) hear about the latest news, products or brand story first-hand and why it matters for them.

Blogger Engagement and Influencers: Reach out to mega or micro bloggers or social media influencers in your space who drive conversations among their devoted fans and followers. Some may be interested in exclusive content, brand partnerships or sponsored opportunities for their blogs, websites and social media channels encouraging readers to take action – i.e. buy the product, try the service, enter the contest or share the content.

When planning your marketing strategy, don’t overlook the power of stories to help business growth and let us know if we can help.

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New Digital Outlets Present PR Opportunities: Don’t Miss Out

digital media

As we dive into 2017 new digital outlets abound and surely the trend will only continue. Mainstream news organizations like The New York Times and NBC News to niche online magazines like Hodinkee (which caters to male wristwatch geeks) are embracing digital to be profitable and meet reader and advertiser demands and interests. Time Inc. is centralizing its digital operations creating 10 digital desks to help it grow audience faster by pooling its editorial resources.

But at the same time, print is NOT dead! People are still reading print books, newspapers and magazines as an antidote to countless hours spent looking at screens. Hearst will soon introduce two new print magazines, Airbnb and The Pioneer  Woman, the later is a partnership between Hearst, the Food Network and Scripps.

“Magazines of the Year 2016” in Ad Age says magazines such as AARP, EatingWell, HGTV, The New Yorker and Women’s Health are thriving in print and digital due to new partnerships, contributors, influential writers and podcasting. Bon Appetit just introduced Healthyish, a new food vertical.

You may be wondering, does digital change how PR practitioners work with journalists and bloggers for the earned media part of the PESO (paid, earned, social, owned) model?

Not really. The process we implement to arrange coverage is basically the same regardless of whether the story will run online, in print, on-air or in a podcast. Some of the key steps we follow are below. Keep in mind there are many other strategies and tactics used that are customized for each client partnership.

  • Stay up-to-date on new outlets, platforms and emerging news publications
  • Familiarize ourselves with our client’s business and communications goals
  • Develop and “package” the story for the audience(s); create the main messages
  • Uncover trends, consumer or business interest for which the products, services, innovations, events, thought leadership, etc. align or are at the forefront
  • Tailor our pitches to pique interest; convey the information to the appropriate media
  • Offer spokespeople, experts and other sources for interviews and comments
  • Provide relevant images, video or audio
  • Follow-up with the reporters, editors, producers, bloggers and podcasters to ensure their questions are answered and their needs are met

We’ve been on the lookout for outlets that have recently transformed to digital-only or are new digital publications. Here are nine that differ in their appeal and audiences providing opportunities for brands, companies and services that are a good fit:

Organic Life

Spring.St, a new website for women covering politics to parenting.

Mach from NBC News covering science and tech

SELF

Healthyish

Observer (formerly the New York Observer)

The Outline, launched by a former Bloomberg Editor

Bloomberg Pursuits

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Please let us know if you come across new digital outlets and we’ll add them to the list.

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As the Year Winds Down Plan to Rev Up Your Brand with PR in 2017

PRAs the saying goes, “out with the old and in with the new.” This is the time of year when communications budgets are reviewed and new ones are set. Consider including PR in 2017 as there are many unique benefits you can expect.

PR is an investment in your brand’s equity. It’s a valuable adjunct to your marketing, advertising, influencer, social media and other promotional expenditures.

PR strengthens authority, reputation, goodwill, relationships, community connections, revenue, visibility, credibility, thought leadership, SEO and engagement to spur action.

PR uses many different strategies and tactics to tell your authentic story so that customers learn, better understand and develop loyalty for your products and services over a competitor’s. As Susan Credle, Global Chief Creative Officer at FCB says in this WSJ article, “When you are telling your brand’s story, you aren’t spending money – you are investing.” We couldn’t agree more!

Consumers are savvy and skeptical when gathering information by checking online and with those they trust before making purchases. Thus they are familiar with native ads, sponsored or paid editorial that must be labeled accordingly as required by the FTC. However earned media coverage, the type that PR delivers, appears in news outlets reported by journalists and bloggers who your audience knows, follows and trusts. Contributed content via bylined articles, OpEds and guest blog posts, are other effective ways to convey credible information under the PR umbrella.

To help you understand how to evaluate and measure PR results, we’ve cited an ebook and a few articles worth reading.

Diane Thieke, President and Founder of Simply Talk Media and a former Executive Director of Marketing, PR and Communications Solutions at Dow Jones & Company, wrote “Talk to Me” 10 Tips for Explaining the Language of PR into the Language of Business. This concise ebook explores the perceptions and attitudes of both PR professionals and senior executives toward the impact of public relations on business success among other topics.

The Barcelona Principles are the industry’s accepted method of how to measure PR. They state Measuring Outcomes is Preferred to Measuring Media Results. This principle suggests that: outcomes include shifts in awareness, comprehension, attitude and behavior related to purchase, donations, brand equity, corporate reputation, employee engagement, public policy investment decisions and other shifts in audiences regarding a company, NGO, government or entity as well as the audience’s own beliefs and behaviors.

A new Google ranking study shows that links are very important to highly rank in Google from reputable sources. PR does just that by generating coverage that brings visitors to your website or blog.

This article in the Harvard Business Review says making an emotional connection matters more than customer satisfaction, which effective PR helps bridge and strengthen.

Bospar, a boutique tech agency, surveyed 500+ CMOs, vice presidents of marketing, marketing directors and marketing managers. The results are here indicating that after top-tier media coverage ran, survey participants saw an increase in brand awareness followed by an increase in:

  • Brand value
  • Web traffic
  • In-bound sales leads
  • SEO improvement

Once a significant story is published those surveyed recommended it be supported with these activities:

  • Promoted in social media
  • Showcased on a company’s website
  • Included in a company newsletter
  • Sent to prospects and customers or clients

To properly evaluate the ROI of a PR effort it must be tied to your defined communications goals set upfront and monitored along the way. This will ensure it is a worthwhile expenditure with lasting long-term value.

 

 

 

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How Podcasts Amplify Brands

podcasts While the Olympic swimmers have wowed us from Rio, Katie Couric, Hillary Clinton, Fortune and Bloomberg Media have plunged head first into waters of a different sort this summer – podcasting. Why the big interest now?

I wanted to find out more about them myself and did by attending a breakfast event this morning hosted by the Princeton Chamber of Commerce. David Bevins, COO of Connoisseur Media, a company which owns more than 30 radio stations in the U.S. and produces podcasts, discussed the brouhaha surrounding podcasting.

You may be surprised to learn that 6 billion podcast episodes were downloaded last year. *

Appearing on a podcast or hosting your own could make perfect sense for your PR strategy.

Podcasts, which are digital audio files, came on the scene about 10 years ago. Since smartphones are ubiquitous, (80% of consumers have one*) they are a convenient way to learn about favorite hobbies, stay informed or be entertained whether exercising, waiting on line, shopping, relaxing at home or commuting.

Subscribers download podcasts from iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, via an RSS feed or from another provider, directly onto their mobile devices and listen when and where they choose. Most podcasts also offer the option to stream or listen online. There are thousands of niche topics to choose from depending on a consumer’s interests.

Podcasts fit beautifully into our on demand at-your-fingertips world, so everyone is getting into the game – small business owners, major media companies, universities, politicians, news personalities, professors, health & fitness influencers, celebrities, major brands, you name it.

Here are seven benefits intrinsic to podcasts highlighted during this morning’s presentation:

  • Versatility – share news, expertise, information and entertain.
  • Loyalty – listeners enjoy their favorite podcasts and hosts, so engagement is high.
  • They make information personal.
  • Connectivity with consumers to help develop trusted relationships.
  • Portability for on demand technology.
  • Easily woven into a social media marketing strategy to enhance digital presence.
  • Can be featured on websites, blogs or newsletters for an inside look into a business, brand, leaders, cause, event, industry trends, etc.

To learn more about podcasting from a business perspective, professional podcaster Steve Lubetkin has co-authored The Business of Podcasting, He says in The Talking Points podcast of which he was a guest, that a goal of podcasters should be to attract the right listeners to your subject matter and not to be concerned with acquiring a mass audience.

Some like NPR and Wharton have been at it for a while. I learned that NPR’s “Fresh Air” with host Terry Gross is the most highly downloaded podcast. Knowledge@Wharton produces many podcasts featuring CEOs, Wharton faculty and experts on business trends, breaking news and market research.

This summer Bloomberg debuted the “Game Plan” podcast exploring the workplace with two of their reporters as co-hosts. Fortune launched “Unfiltered” with Digital Editor Aaron Task as host featuring in-depth conversations with business leaders and the Katie Couric Podcast with big names in the news, politics and pop culture chatting with Katie just began.

Debbie Galant, former New York Times Jersey columnist and current publisher of Midcentury Modern on Medium, launched a new podcast, In the Attic about the things we acquire and the importance they hold in our lives (or not).

On August 12 the “With Her” podcast was launched featuring Hillary Clinton as a co-host with former journalist Max Linsky as a lead up to the November election.

Podcasts, whether as a host or by being a guest on one, are another effective business communications tool to consider in this digital age.

*Source – Connoisseur Media

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How One Media Interview Led to a Fruitful Business Relationship

Bart Jackson, left, with Jacque Howard in Princeton, New Jersey
Bart Jackson, left, with Jacque Howard in Princeton, New Jersey

PR has many benefits and building lasting relationships with desired audiences is one.

Maybe you’d like to connect with buyers of your products and services who are young consumers, senior level business leaders, homeowners, health conscious parents or online retailers.

Perhaps you want to find new clients, business partners or trustworthy vendors to help grow your business or explore potential possibilities and ideas.

If so, public relations can help with all of the above whether your business is B2C or B2B.

Here’s the back story about how a collaboration was born out of a single media interview.

In our previous post an interview that we arranged for Bart Jackson on Jacque Howard’s show Trenton 365 was cited.

Jacque’s the founder of Trenton 365, a community building program promoting civic engagement with a focus on the Delaware Valley Region and host of a radio show by the same name. It airs on WIMG AM 1300 and is streamed live Tuesdays from 8 to 9 p.m., and on WWFM 89.1 HD2 and streamed live Wednesdays and Thursdays at 6 to 7 p.m.

We reached out to Jacque proposing Bart as an interesting guest and sent along copies of his books. Jacque agreed he’d be a good fit and we subsequently arranged an interview last fall at a cafe in Princeton, New Jersey.

Bart is a congenial, entrepreneurial multi-talented guy as is Jacque so they had a lot in common and enjoyed chatting long after the interview ended.

Synergy developed between them in the following ways:

These are gratifying results sparked by an initial introduction via a media interview.

Have any of your media interviews or news coverage led to fruitful relationships? If so, please share them as we’d love to know.