4. Electronic Direct Marketing (EDM)

Everywhere you go, everybody is talking about having the right lead funnel, building up your database, keeping in front of your potential customers and getting everything set up and automated so you don’t need to waste all day every day on it.  Easier said than done!

When I first set up my website years ago, my designer advised I needed a ‘find out more’ or ‘click here’ button but the thought of having to constantly provide content and ‘feed’ your website, was just too overwhelming: ‘Extra’ I called it and dismissed it.

Fast forward 15 years and I guess, on reflection, she was right.  These days, it’s important to give something back in order to get something in return – ‘permission selling’.  It’s a funny thing running a PR agency, always coming up with great ‘angles’ and story ideas for clients but when it comes to coming up with the same for our own businesses, we are often lacking and time poor.

As part of my ’15 marketing tactics on a shoestring’ experiment, I am going to need to give a great deal of thought as to how I could even begin to get ‘subscribers’ to my website when a. Bay PR currently ranks at 100 or more on Google;  b. I don’t have a ‘lead funnel’ in place and c. I don’t have a budget to spend up big on advertising and nor do I want to.

Just thinking it through, I guess I need to consider what the benefits are of having a regular newsletter going out to those who sign up to my database and if it’s even worth doing.  The main benefit I can see is to stay relevant and top-of-mind amongst potential clients as well as keeping existing clients up-to-date with our business and the world of PR generally.

But – in the spirit of my marketing experiment, which is just as much about me pushing my own boundaries as anything else, my plan is:

1.     Establish a database of contacts I am already connected to via social and the ‘real world’

2.     Send them an email/do a social media shout-out to tell them about my experiment and ask them to sign up

3.     Formulate an EDM content strategy

4.     Get my head around automating it

5.     Do it

6.     See how it goes

OK so if any of you get an email from me, then I’d really appreciate it if you can sign up to receive Bay PR’s newsletter and (hopefully!) informative downloads, PR tips, tricks and advice!  In the meantime, if you’re on this page, please click here:  https://baypr.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe

Look forward to seeing how this goes!

SEO For Dummies

Back in the early ‘90’s, I was the first person in the publishing house I worked for (major international publisher, not naming any names!) to get my own computer.  It was an Apple Mac.  It was delivered through the doors of the publicity department to my desk in a big (read ‘BIG’) box.  It had a lot of additional stuff with it that you don’t see today.  It was huge.  But so exciting.  Everyone stood around and said ‘ooh’ and ‘aahh’ as this new age beauty was unveiled and carefully arranged on a special desk next to mine.

It was remarkably easy to use.  My colleague Samantha and I would stay late playing games, learning how to use the mouse and having fun with this fascinating tool.

It revolutionised the way I worked and being young, I taught myself pretty much everything I needed to know to do my job.  While the art department across the hallway was still cutting and pasting book cover designs using scissors and glue, I was whizzing my way though mail merge for book launches and events and bashing my way through press releases.  Auto delete had an instant ‘wow factor’.  Until then, I had been staying late meticulously typing up sheets of journos’ names for book review distributions.  I would type the same name over and over again onto a page of sticky labels and then start again on another page with another name.  You can imagine how long it took to get through a media database of 100 literary reviewers – a lot of late nights.  If you made a mistake, you had to go back and use tippex or if you had a fancy typewriter, you had a ribbon that popped up and removed the mistake.  Very laborious, especially after a late night typing up sheets of mailing lists.

Fast forward, ahem, a few years and here I am running my own PR company.  I’ve been doing it a long time.  I’m pretty good at PR actually, it’s a bit of a love of mine.  However, as you get older, moving with the times gets harder and you move a bit slower.

The tide started to change around 12 years ago.  My sister called me from the UK for a chat.  She ran an online fashion company and was doing very well in her niche.

“You need to get into social media, you know Facebook and stuff.  It’s where it’s at, “ she said.

I made all the right noises at her suggestion but inside I felt uncomfortable.  I was quite happy with the way things were and so were my clients.  Our success was measured in column inches and volume and we churned out press clippings and monthly evaluation reports to suit.

The first time I was tagged in a photo on Facebook I was appalled.   I hated the photograph.  I looked fat and plain and I was horrified that anybody could see it and I’d had no choice in it being there.  I couldn’t take it off and so I hit the ‘help’ page and filled out a form which was then sent to my friend to request that the image be removed and I be untagged. It felt very formal and odd but that was my only choice it seemed.

My friend called me in the morning.

“Did I upset you?  I got this weird message from Facebook about the birthday photo asking me to take it down.”

“Well yes,” I said.  “I’m sorry about that but I tried to remove it myself and I couldn’t  and I don’t look very nice in the photograph.  I would hate anybody to see it I haven’t seen for years (read ‘ex boyfriends’). 

My friend understood and took the photograph down.  I spent a lot of time in those days trying to understand Facebook.  I literally snorkelled over the top of it, looking at people’s posts and wondering, aghast at their brazen self promotion.

It seemed so unnatural – fully fuelled by ego and showcasing grandiose statements about their lives - a bit of a shocker.

One of my clients caught on around the same time.

“We need to get into this social media stuff,” he said.  We all agreed it was a good idea and he sent us all a book on it so we could read up.

I used to read it at nighttime and it mostly put me to sleep.  The concept was interesting but it didn’t translate to my world of press clippings.  It didn’t fit into any category I could understand, certainly nothing I could imagine working with.

So I left it for a few years.  In the meantime, the digital marketing agency was born.  At meetings, ‘social media boy’ was rolled out.

“Josh and Julie are social media experts,” clients would say with a sigh of relief.

Josh and Julie would run their PowerPoint presentation and everybody would nod at the right times, a bit like sitting in a French class at school.  You could kind of grasp the jist of the conversation but you’d better not be asked to remember any of it – or worse still, get tested.

The Josh’s and Julie’s did very well for a while, blinding everybody with jargon and charging a fortune for it.  Clients dug deep and found extra dollars because it was ‘important’ and ‘necessary’ and ‘everybody else was doing it’.

Then slowly, something else crept in.  Content.  Now you’re talking.  They were calling it ‘content’ but it’s just ‘story telling’ - what PR’s have always done.  Suddenly this social media thing started to sink in.  And the phone started to ring.

“Can you write a blog?  Can you re-write my website copy?  Can you put together a social media calendar that resonates with my target audience?”

“Yes, no problem – of course we can do that!”

“Can you fix my SEO?”

“Oooh well.  We can do key words but get you up to number one.  No sorry, we don’t do that.  But I can write you a blog or two, I can re-write your website copy to make it sing, we can tidy up your social media content so it aligns with your brand personality.  We can write you some great media releases and get you on TV.  But SEO, no we can’t do that, sorry.”

“OK – just do all of that and don’t worry about the tricky SEO stuff – I can get someone else to do that.”

“OK, no problem.”

Fast forward 6 weeks, several TV appearances, a scattering of press and radio interviews and many blog articles later and voila – my client hits number one in her ranking on Google.

She called me up laughing.  “You know – when I took you on, you said you didn’t do SEO but you actually did do it – and you saved me thousands of dollars.”

The world of PR is changing.  Has changed.  How fascinating.  How thoroughly interesting to be learning on the job and seeing it all unfold at my finger tips, using my existing long established skills in PR, doing what I love and seeing the results play out in a different way, not just press clippings, but rankings, engagement, conversation, excitement and still, always, making a positive difference.  I feel very lucky to be part of this industrial revolution and ever curious to see how this changing landscape will continue to affect the way we operate and communicate now and into the future.

Dear Clients and Consultants – have you been naughty or nice?

When it comes to the client/agency relationship, there is always going to be a shifting dynamic- a ‘vibeometer’ if you like.  An old boss of mine used to say; “You’re only as good as your last press release – an article today, fish and chip paper tomorrow.”  While that was somewhat cynical (and also a sign of our times back then when print was king) there is still this constant desire to perform and meet KPIs (whether these are media articles, bums on seats, engagement etc.) and to be always achieving what we set out to do and making the client happy in the process.  Exhausting isn’t it!  Especially in media relations when outcomes rely on your skill mixed with a journalist’s decision, the news agenda of the day and a whole host of other variables that could keep you awake at night - if you let them.

And there’s the point – as PR people, what keeps us awake at night and what sends us off into dreamland for a deep and peaceful sleep?

In a nutshell – it’s the client relationship.  The ‘vibeometer’.  I have found over time there are some key elements of the client/agency relationship that can help to keep us all sleeping soundly in our beds at night – especially as we head up to the end of the year and we are looking back at everything we have achieved and where we are heading next year.

1.    Integrity– such a big word.  More than likely bandied around by many agencies in new business pitches.  The issue is that once the business is won, do you and your team stick to your word? Integrity means many things but really boils down to honesty and transparency.  If you think you can achieve an outcome, then go ahead but if it’s never going to fly then advise the client so – however high it is on their wish list. Better to be realistic and honest from the outset then after the activity has fallen over.  Often, by sitting down and involving the client in the process, a better way of doing things can be agreed upon.  Then everyone is on the same page and can share in the success when the desired outcome is achieved – and that makes for the start of a great relationship. 

2.    Go the Extra Mile– when I worked as a group director in a big blue-chip agency, we would get our knuckles wrapped for over-servicing.  While constantly over-servicing can be a drain on the team and budgets, in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with going the extra mile.  That means, stretching just a little bit to get the job done - and some.   It could be just a small thing that means a lot to the client, such as securing a product review and then a one-to-one interview on top.  I recently wrote a media release for a new client then threw in some social content.  While I may not always be so generous with my time, it did help demonstrate to the client our genuine desire to help and it has lead to that small project now being extended into a longer-term relationship.  Money in the trust bank, if you like – which is what all good relationships are founded on.

3.    Stuff – to do our job well we often need to ask clients to provide ‘stuff’ to us – quality images, mission statements, design specs, prices, advertising plans…etc. To many clients who haven’t worked with an agency before, this can be a drain on time and resources – especially if it is ad hoc.  Far better, once the contract is signed, to hand over a list of everything that is required to get started and give a realistic amount of time for the client to gather everything together.  Much easier than constantly asking for stuff to be sent over at short notice – a sure fire way to put everyone on a short fuse. 

4.    Time– as a client, if you’re under the pump, it’s very easy to ask the agency to jump onto a campaign or project at short notice but by taking the time to provide a proper brief and background information, you save yourself time in the long-run.  It means we are then armed with all the information to go out and get the job done well.

5.    Go now– if the relationship has run its course and it’s time to move on, clients please be assured that we know.  The vibeometer has flicked the other way and we are lying awake in our beds wondering how to get it to move back.  If you think it’s time to part ways, then please put us out of our misery and let us know – or give us the chance to help fix it. Don’t ask us to tender if you know you want new blood – release us, let us go, so we can spend time looking for a new love – it’s the kindest thing to do.

So whether you have been naughty, or nice this year – cheers! We survived it and in this fast paced ever-changing world, that in itself is worth celebrating!

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Old Versus New. The Value of ‘Traditional PR’

If you’re considering taking on a PR agency and wondering about the value of traditional PR versus more modern approaches, then read my article here….