A short case study of how weekly whiteboard trivia increases employee satisfaction and engagement.
The nature of public relations is changing as clients are increasingly demanding more complex marketing and advocacy campaigns that draw on specialties as diverse as polling, media buys, web design, and integrated social media.
The result is that the lines that separated such previously distinct fields as public relations, advertising, and marketing are disappearing.
With the increasing convergence of these fields, today’s practitioners must be nimble and cross-functional to be effective.
The Public Relations Society of America’s National Capital Chapter recently hosted a panel discussion at the National Press Club on just this convergence, and the implications it holds for the future of communications.
A key theme throughout was that, much like globalization, this convergence is happening whether you like it or not. So the way to thrive is to adapt to new skills and mindsets and help lead the change before you become a victim of it.
The panel included insights by:
- Cary Hatch, CEO of MDB Communications;
- Carrie Schum, EVP at Porter Novelli;
- Bob Farrace, Director of Public Affairs at the Marketing Design Group; and
- Mark Hamrick, Senior Economic Analyst and Washington Bureau Chief at Bankrate.com.
The group collectively shared the following 10 observations and insights:
1. “FOMO” can lead to inappropriate decisions.
Many PR practitioners today are so overwhelmed by the pace of change in social media that they suffer from FOMO (the “Fear of Missing Out”) – say, on an opportunity to score big with a well-placed tweet or clever Snapchat video that goes viral.
Thus, many PR firms (particularly digital agencies) are quick to try to harness the power of new technologies or platforms on behalf of their clients, even when it might not be the most efficient use of a budget.
The answer to this lies in:
2. Integration.
Many PR firms market themselves as “integrated” and “full-service” without first adopting the necessary culture to support those claims.
Rather, “integration” is a mindset, not a service offering – it’s something you do as a firm, not something you sell.
But another key to success is to “stay within your lane.” Clients want to hire the best, no matter where it is found. Thus, firms need to be honest with themselves and play to their strengths by identifying and marketing their core competencies rather than trumpeting their ability to “do it all.”
3. There is an arms race for talent.
All of the panelists agreed that attracting high-end creative talent in DC is difficult.
For traditional PR agencies, the best digital practitioners and designers are so rare locally that they “may as well be unicorns.”
Thus, investment in human talent and technology remains a constant challenge.
4. There has been no better time in history to work in communications.
For all the challenges of the new digital landscape and explosion in social media channels over the last few years, the ease of reaching consumers and the velocity of change keep things exciting.
Twenty years ago, the only major distribution channels for advertisers were television, radio, newspapers and magazines. In addition, there was little or no pressure to report on exact viewership numbers or return on investment.
Today, robust analytics allow firms to show clients exactly how many viewers watched a video, visited a website, or liked an Instagram photo.
5. Words matter.
How you talk about aspects of your PR campaign internally influence your results. For instance, is that element a platform, a concept, a theme, a tagline, or an insight?
Without consistent framing – setting a consistent vocabulary internally — you cannot properly express your value proposition to clients.
6. You must offer functional excellence.
This should go without saying, but while clients may buy the “sizzle” — the biggest, splashiest pitch presentation in the room — it’s the “steak” (the execution) that keeps the account for the long term.
7. It’s up to the PR and marketing practitioners to demonstrate marketing’s ROI.
CEOs often expect their marketing people to be business people first, and marketers second. Marketers often need help in explaining how their work translates into business value.
Research has thus become a key component for marketing campaigns, as it offers metrics to support the expense of an effort.
8. Hiring has changed.
One speaker told a story about Marty Baron, the current editor of The Washington Post. Asked how hiring prospective reporters today is different than 20 years ago, he noted that you used to hire for potential and train new reporters on the job.
Today, he hires new reporters primarily for their existing skillsets in hopes that they will help raise his organization’s game.
Likewise, in the PR arena, speakers noted that, since communications skills are a given, they are more likely to hire employees with the additional insights that academic backgrounds in history, English, or IT could bring rather than those with academic backgrounds in communications per se. The same goes with recruiting the mid-level hire, where key talent is just as likely to hail from Accenture, Deloitte, or IBM as from large PR agencies like Ogilvy or Edelman.
9. Freelancers are key.
Often today, the best creative talent prefers to remain as freelancers so that they can charge top dollar for campaigns they want to work on and enjoy greater flexibility.
At Porter Novelli, for instance, “having 39 1099s on our payroll is not unusual.”
10. Expectation-setting is key.
One speaker related how important it is to set expectations of success with clients from the outset.
In the example she used, a public relations team’s campaign led to fewer website visits in a 90-day period than the marketing team’s direct email campaign.
While this initially made the public relations team’s efforts look less effective, the difference was in the make-up of the distinct audiences: those reached by the email campaign were overwhelmingly existing customers, while those reached by the PR campaign were overwhelmingly new customers who had never before visited the client’s site. Thus, the PR team’s efforts resulted in an expanded overall audience.
By properly setting expectations and success metrics with the client from the outset, the PR team could have avoided confusion and the need for an initially defensive posture following the campaign’s completion.
I am a 21-year-old college student, and part of the 86 percent of millennials that own a smartphone.[1] I keep in touch with family and friends on Facebook, get my daily news from Twitter, connect with employers and classmates on LinkedIn, and share my weekend activities on Instagram.
And it’s not just millennials. An estimated 79 percent of internet-using adults aged 30-49 are regular users of Facebook, as are 64 percent of those aged 50-64 and 48 percent of those aged 65 and up.[2] It’s obvious: social media is necessary to reach all audiences nowadays and is crucial if you want your business to succeed.
When used strategically, social media delivers significant benefits:
- In a study of marketers and their social media habits, over 91 percent saw increased exposure for their business when they devoted at least six hours a week to social media.
- Similarly, 75 percent of marketers reported increased traffic to their website if they spent six or more hours on social media per week.
- Over half of marketers who invested at least two years in social media strategies reported that new partnerships were gained because of it.
- Over half of the marketers who spend at least 11 hours a week on social media report reduced overall marketing costs for their business.[3]
Maybe your business does have a few social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and/or LinkedIn, but you’re not seeing the results you want. Here are some tips, both from a social media user perspective and a communications perspective, that will likely increase exposure for your business on social media:
- Find out where your audience is. If they’re only on standard social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn, that’s great. But maybe you have clients who use Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat or Vine. Do some research and find out if you may be neglecting an audience because they use different social media channels.
- Tailor content for each platform. Be mindful of how different platforms operate and tailor your message accordingly. Some social media sites require less formal language than others; some allow for more words or characters than others; some use primarily photos instead of text. Businesses succeed on social media when they meet their audiences on different social media platforms and specifically tailor their content for each platform.
- When possible, include a visual. Facebook users watch a collective 100 million hours worth of video a day,[4] and photos posted to Facebook have an 87 percent engagement rate, which is much higher than any other type of content posted on the site.[5] You’ll get more eyes on your content if you have eye-catching visuals that motivate users to engage.
- Keep your posts and updates constant. Each platform is different in terms of the ideal frequency of updates. For example, most experts believe that LinkedIn requires only one post a day, but Twitter can be two or three times a day.[6] The key is to make sure you don’t let your posts slip, creating the appearance of being absent or irregular. Scheduling social media posts through websites such as Buffer or Hootsuite can help your business stay on track with different social media accounts.
I just counted, and I have thirteen social media apps on my phone at the moment, most of which I use daily.
It may seem overwhelming at first, but once your business cleverly taps into the breadth of opportunity that social media offers, the benefits can be huge.
[1] http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/29/technology-device-ownership-2015/
[2] http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/19/the-demographics-of-social-media-users/
[3] http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/report/ for all statistics in this list.
[4] http://www.recode.net/2016/1/27/11589140/facebook-says-video-is-huge-100-million-hours-per-day-huge
[5] http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/photos-generate-engagement-research/
[6] https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-frequency-guide
14 days may seem short to most, but my 14 days at DCC have been among the richest of my life.
DCC has shown me what it means to act as a truly trusted communications adviser. From DCC, I’ve acquired skills ranging from how best to pitch a story to how to efficiently gather every last pertinent contact for a media list.
Of the many lessons I’ve learned from my team, two resonated with me most.
Work hard.
Simple, right?
Well, not really.
I’ve always considered myself a hard worker, but I learned what it really meant to work hard when I walked into this building.
It takes determination, investment, interest and care to truly work hard.
Each and every team member at DCC possesses each of those qualities and demonstrates them all when dealing with clientele. Working with DCC, you only put forth your best.
Thanks to DCC, I know what a good work ethic truly looks like.
Collaborate.
Never underestimate the power of small. This is perhaps my largest takeaway from my time here. Today, DCC is a 6-person firm, but they can do what few can. We’re a team here. It doesn’t matter who you are. If you’re a CEO, an intern, an associate - whoever you are - you work together.
As a 16-year-old, it isn’t every day that you find yourself in an executive business development meeting. At DCC, I was present in every meeting, because despite my age, despite my experience, I was part of the team.
DCC is not just any team. It’s a team of smart, talented, creative, assertive and collaborative individuals. We learn from one another, thrive off of one another, and work with one another. It is to this teamwork that DCC owes its success.
After just 14 days and 5 new people, I leave with one thing:
Inspiration.
You know that online video is “hot,” right?
Let’s begin with some statistics.
96% of business-to-business (B2B) companies are using video in their marketing and communications campaigns, and 73% of these companies report a positive impact on their marketing results.[1]
And nearly three-quarters of Washington Insiders report consuming online video several times a week, with congressional staff and federal executives showing the strongest appetite.[2]
We could go on, but you get the idea. Video has gone from “nice to have” to “must-have” for any business or nonprofit that wants to get its message across in 2016.
Through a partnership with Frederick Digital Media, DCC is now offering a full array of affordable video services for our clients. Our partner Paul Farrell offers 30+ years of corporate PR experience and 10+ years of videography and editing experience, serving clients throughout the DC region.
Our video services include:
- Single and multi-camera field production
- 3-camera studio in downtown DC
- Video post-production
- Video streaming and podcasting
- Video program production
- DVD production
- Video-driven websites
- Broadcast commercials
- Product/service marketing videos
- Training/instructional videos
- Workplace communications videos
- Training for on-camera performance
And with our low overhead, you won’t find a better value in the DC region.
Check out this video we produced recently for our client IPC, an association of electronics companies, to capture the highlights of their CEO “fly-in” to Washington, DC.
To see more videos produced by the DCC-Frederick team, check out our new YouTube channel.
Then call us today to discuss how we can help meet your communications needs through high-quality, affordable video.
[1] According to a 2015 survey conducted by the Web Video Marketing Council.
[2] National Journal Group study, 2015.
As the Internet is more than 20 years old now, we’ve long passed the peak of the World Wide Web gold rush of the late 1990s.
Back then, every business suddenly found itself needing a URL and website to take advantage of the shift toward digital media.
By 2004, websites had taken another quantum leap forward with the beginning of “Web 2.0” – the term given for the evolution of sites from just online bulletin boards to two-way communications and e-commerce platforms. For the first time, companies could communicate with consumers, and consumers, by posting comments to corporate websites or social media sites, could provide companies feedback in real-time.
That was also the year that presidential candidate Gov. Howard Dean (D-Vt.) broke the traditional political fundraising model by raising the bulk of his primary funds from online donations. Today, that level of small-donation grassroots fundraising is commonplace, but then, it was ground-breaking.
Fast forward to today, and enterprising high schoolers can stand up a decent-looking website with ease with just a few hours of work. Thanks to platforms like WordPress, Squarespace and Wix, one need not have a knowledge of HTML to code a basic, good-looking site.
And yet it is this very proliferation of cheap platforms and standardized templates that is fueling the demand for professional web design services provided by multi-service firms like ours.
Why?
Launching a basic, functional site is so easy that there is now a huge gulf between amateur and professional sites. Companies that hire professional editorial and design services stand out from the crowd.
Throughout our existence, Dale Curtis Communications has helped create and develop many websites, and demand has been strong in 2015-2016.
We are proud to have been involved with the planning, content, design and/or implementation of the following sites (plus several more we aren’t allowed to advertise):
Thank You 9-1-1 (http://thankyou911.org)
Friends of 9-1-1 (http://www.friendsof911.org)
Run for 9-1-1 (http://www.runfor911.org)
SRT Wireless (http://www.srtwireless.net)
SRT Group (http://www.srtgrp.com)
IPC – Association Connecting Electronics Industries’ Political Action Committee (https://www.epacmanager.com/pass_sol/sol_ipcpac/frmLO.aspx)
In addition, we are currently working with two clients to revamp their websites, both of which are scheduled to be unveiled later this summer.
But we would be remiss if we did not mention another recently refreshed site of which we are proud: DaleCurtisCommunications.com. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since we launched it.
The so-called “parallax” template that we adopted is trendy among modern websites, but it’s popular for a reason. With its simplicity, priority on images over text, and inherently responsive mobile-friendly design, it is a far cry from the first WordPress “bulletin board” or “digital magazine” sites of even five years ago. Websites today need to be “mobile first,” visually beautiful, and extremely intuitive to navigate.
As you review your marketing materials, I encourage you to cast a critical eye on your website – your brand’s primary digital calling card. Considering all of the communications vehicles you invest in, ultimately more people will experience your brand through your website than through any other vehicle.
If you feel your site needs some work, please contact us to schedule a free consultation. We have a team of talented, experienced website developers and graphic designers ready to assist you.
We’re proud of our recent website design work and have some very happy clients as a result of it.
"Residential segregation. The Syrian refugee crisis. College access for illegal immigrants. There are not just policy challenges hotly debated among national leaders in Washington, D.C. -- at Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools, they are thesis projects that senior high school students present to educational leaders, including Obama administration staff." - Emily Leayman, Watchdog.org
From Left to Right: Senior Alexys Hewlett, Chavez CEO Joan Massey, Senior Nicolas Villaroel, and Senior Brenda Guevera-Ortiz
DCC was proud to attend Chavez’s 5th Annual Public Policy Symposium at Georgetown University recently. A day that Chavez CEO Joan Massey has declared her “favorite day of the year,” Symposium gives three top seniors at Chavez Schools the opportunity to present their public policy theses to an audience of education and community leaders. The thesis presentations were thoughtful, well-researched, and very impressive. There is no doubt that these students have bright futures ahead!
This year, we were thrilled to see Symposium receive well-deserved media attention. Check out the stories below!
“Chavez seniors not only research specific policies, they pinpoint weaknesses and propose alternatives. ‘I’ve never done anything like that,’ said Hewlett, who presented on how residential segregation hurts minorities. ‘I know my friends at other high schools don’t get to do stuff like that.’” –“D.C. charter school seniors join national policy conversation,” by Emily Leayman, Watchdog.org
“These were not superficial conversations about current day controversies. They were three sophisticated in-depth investigations of serious world problems whose solutions have major consequences. So much progress has been made at Chavez PCS over last two decades. It was enough to make you cry.” –“The Chavez PCS 5th Annual Public Policy Symposium,” by Mark Lerner for his blog, “Parents Have School Choice Kids Win”
“‘We hear our students say how they were so nervous about their thesis, but now that it's over it is one of the best things they've ever done,’ [CEO Joan] Massey said. ‘It not only prepares them for college, but life after. They walk away knowing they are ready for the next level,’ she said.” –“Chavez PCS Holds Public Policy Symposium” by Sarafina Wright, The Washington Informer
Congratulations to Chavez on another successful year of Symposium presentations. We already can’t wait for next year!
Recently, I attended a Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) event that examined the shifts that have taken place in the public relations industry and how PR professionals are adjusting.
The panel featured PR pros:
- Soren Dayton, Senior Vice President, Digital Advocacy, H+K Strategies;
- Sara Wiskerchen, Managing Director, Media Communications, National Association of Relators; and
- Beth Perell, Vice President of Communications and Information Management, Goodwill Industries.
Each panelist offered a different perspective on the ever-changing landscape of the public relations industry but agreed that we must embrace the transformation to succeed.
For at least the last five years, we’ve all known that the emergence of new technologies and the popularity of social media would change our industry dramatically.
For instance, social media has allowed PR professionals to interact with journalists and audiences in ways that were never available before.
"It's easier than ever to connect with journalists via social media -- following their blogs, re-tweeting and tagging them,” said Sara Wiskerchen. “And journalists today are responsible for promoting their stories over social media as well as writing them -- so helping them publicize their stories builds relationships in a natural, organic fashion."
In some ways, being able to pitch a story through Twitter makes the job simpler, but it does not take away from the traditional technique of picking up the phone and building relationships.
Here are five tips from the experts to remaining relevant in today’s PR industry:
1.) Keep it short and skimmable
Now more than ever, consumers are interested in receiving information quickly and conveniently. If you want to get a point across, be sure to keep it concise and catchy, and always include the most important assertions and facts near the top.
2.) Be visual
Since most customers access content via the internet and mobile devices, videos, infographics and photos help get a point across quickly while increasing consumer engagement.
For instance:
- Content with relevant images receive 94% more views than content without. (source)
- 51.9% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI. (source)
3.) Writing still matters, but distribution has changed
Digital modes of communication have not replaced the need for PR pros to be impeccable writers. However, the new emphasis is on where that written content appears.
“Success is increasingly being defined as results across platforms,” said Wiskerchen. “And lots of platforms are hungry for fresh contributed content. Nerd Wallet, Business Insider, Medium – all of these need eyeballs that our content (and audience) can help provide.”
4.) Paid media is on the rise
The debate over paid vs. earned media continues. There is a sense of gratification from placing an article or op-ed in a media outlet without paying for it. But it is becoming increasingly popular to pay outlets to run your content on a regular basis, which guarantees an audience will consistently see your brand.
According to eMarketer, paid social media spending in the U.S. and Canada was projected to rise by 31 percent last year and surpass $10 billion for the first time.
On the rise in paid media, “It’s happening. It’s real. It’s the future. And it’s only going to get worse,” said Perell. Further, most customers cannot distinguish between paid/branded media (such as pieces posted to Fortune’s (paid) “Voices” or Crain’s Chicago’s “On the Move” features) or earned media (such as pieces pitched to and placed in outlets like Forbes or The New York Times).
5.) Refresh your digital skills
Employees that understand how to build a website, record and edit video, as well as engage an audience on social media are becoming more sought out than ever before. Though easier said than done, it’s important to stay abreast with the new technologies and techniques to remain relevant in this industry.
"Putting out a press release is now only 15% of the journey,” said Dayton. “Then our team creates an infographic to send to journalists along with it, then we blog about the news, then we Tweet about it."
Further emphasizing the increasing role of digital in communications, Dayton argued that digital public relations campaigns are supplanting traditional lobbying.
“Lobbying doesn't matter the way it once did in terms of access to legislators. The emphasis now is on coalition-building via a digital campaign. Done right, a new digital microsite can generate 10,000 emails to a targeted member of Congress very cheaply and quickly – something that was unthinkable just 10 years ago.”
DCC attends Satellite 2016 - the largest annual satellite trade show in North America
When big news happens in the nation’s capital, it’s often a topic of discussion with our clients – both in terms of gossip and potential impacts on our communications strategies.