It’s almost five years since Carnsight Communications opened its doors, over ten years since I switched to PR and almost twenty years since I started in marketing. It’s a time for reflections, so here’s one of mine. Looking back, working in marketing was a fantastic grounding for great PR. It continues to be as the two roles move ever closer.
One of the things we regularly get asked is ‘what is the difference between PR and marketing?’ In simple terms, PR is about earned media – earning your place in publications. Whereas marketing is generally about paid-for placement – such as adverts, sponsored pieces or what we used to call advertorials.
But the lines are continuing to blur. It’s no secret that the media sector has struggled this year, with publications closing their doors and a number of job losses. There are far fewer staff roles (permanent positions) and many more freelancers. We try and do our part as a PR agency by subscribing to many of the publications we pitch to. We’ve also given support by donating and contributing this year, as well as working with journalists as freelance consultants.
We pride ourselves on pitching in quality editorial content and products to relevant titles. But we also know that alone is not enough to keep publications up and running. So, we also encourage clients to get involved by subscribing, considering sponsored opportunities if the opportunity is right, and getting involved with events and awards.
We also work closely with marketing and media teams to see if they’re planning to run ads and where they might be placing them. This is particularly pertinent for local press and smaller publications where editorial and commercial are more closely aligned. We wouldn’t ever expect editorial placement purely because of advertising, but it’s important to understand how it all fits together. And that’s not to mention the rise in influencers which takes this to a different place again.
Starting out in marketing gave me a great grounding for understanding commercials. Managing budgets and managing spend comes in a lot earlier – especially if you’re in client services. In my experience, commerciality isn’t a big part of PR training, but I think it should be – especially now.
Understanding messaging and brand and campaign propositions has also been key. Advertising campaigns start with a brief and key message: a line or two that everything can be boiled down to. What’s the essence of the product or service? That is something that’s at the very heart of PR, which is why we often start with a Three Lens Messaging Session in our client work.
A journalist once asked me to give my pitch to him in 10 seconds during a phone call. Scary, but actually a really excellent idea. If you can’t get across what you’re trying to say in that time, how can you expect it to be an idea they can buy into? We spend a long time crafting press releases and accompanying emails to make sure the essence can be communicated quickly and simply. We use that approach over the phone or in person, too (or we used to!)
Working closely with marketing agencies such as Sharp Thinking Marketing and Rapport Digital makes for a really effective, joined up process. For example, PR and marketing often work to different timelines, and while messages could be led by advertising, they’re likely to be interrogated more in the PR process.
So, being able to understand marketing’s role and approach and ensure it fits alongside ours makes for the most successful campaigns. We can also share resources, such as information on the target audience, tone of voice and good, high res photography.
PR is very much about relationships. Relationships with your team, your clients, journalists and influencers. It’s about building trust, being respectful, delivering and helping each other out. The power of building relationships was definitely something I first learnt in the world of advertising. It’s relationships and connections which make for the best results.
We work with a range of creative and strategic marketing agencies, helping to promote their work and profile their key people. I still have a very special place in my heart for the advertising world. And having worked with the sector press for over 10 years, it’s a landscape I know very well.
Advertising is something I’ve loved since I was little – I actually used to fast forward programmes on my VCR to get to the adverts! I remember the great campaigns from Levi’s, Guinness and even the Green Cross Code (!) word-for-word to this day. I hope I’ve passed that on to the wider team. As we’ve seen this year, good advertising can be pivotal to creating movements and changing lives.
So, starting in marketing and advertising has been invaluable for me, and continues to be as we move into a brand new year. I can echo everyone’s thoughts in saying I’m hoping for much better things for us all in 2021.
AMBITIOUS has recently delivered a national campaign for PillTime, working with Dr Hilary – securing 11 TV and radio interviews, with the total reach of the campaign over five million.
About the campaign
PillTime is an NHS certified online pharmacy and their mission is to make life more manageable for people who take multiple prescriptions every day.
They do this by providing pills in a pouch with the time of day stamped on the packet. This prevents people from taking the wrong medication and most importantly not taking too much.
The aims of the campaign were to raise awareness of the added pressures on non-professional carers as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and inform the public about the tools offered by PillTime to make caring for loved ones easier.
Our activity started by commissioning a piece of research amongst unpaid or non-professional carers to see how they were feeling – and if they felt they were getting enough support. We set about creating a news story to primarily secure broadcast coverage because we wanted to get people talking about unpaid carers on International Carers Rights Day – a key awareness day we had identified as an platform to secure media coverage, an opportunity for newsjacking and a PR platform to use these findings to create newsworthy earned media content.
PillTime already had a working relationship with the nation’s favourite GP – ITV’s Dr Hilary Jones – and AMBITIOUS were able to offer interview time with him to radio and TV stations. With his medical background, Dr Hilary was able to articulate the stressors on unpaid carers and highlight how people who are worried about a loved one taking the right medication might be able to get some peace of mind.
AMBITIOUS launched the campaign on International Carers Rights Day to further highlight the worry, stress and anxiety carers in the UK are facing. PillTime also wanted to show support of the awareness day in a meaningful and genuine way and offer people who are worried about taking the right prescriptions a solution.
Campaign results with national reach
AMBITIOUS introduced PillTime to a range of regional and national media platforms and were able to secure some fantastic interviews with Dr Hilary talking about the research on a day of significance for the brand.
Quality earned media coverage was achieved across 11 TV and radio interviews, with the total reach of the campaign over 5 million. The flagship coverage on International Carers Rights Day was ITV Borders who used the interview in their early evening bulletin which reaches close to 100,000 viewers per week.
Paul Stonuary, Head of Marketing, PillTime, added: “AMBITIOUS are not only a team of great minds and fantastically creative thinkers, they are also an endearing group of people to work with. They took the time to really understand my business and what I hoped to achieve. The results were far beyond what I might have expected.”
For more information about this campaign or our PR, content, social media or digital marketing services, please contact AMBITIOUS via our website or at [email protected].
Bath-based digital media buying agency, SearchStar, and London-based multilingual digital marketing agency, Adapt Worldwide, have announced that they will now operate as one company, retaining the Adapt name while launching a new-look brand and proposition for 2021.
Both agencies had previously been acquired by international localisation company, Welocalize, with SearchStar the most recent acquisition in 2018.
Together, SearchStar and Adapt become a global Digital Performance Marketing Agency, with an expanded list of services focusing on delivering growth for ambitious clients domestically and internationally. Adapt’s service offering now includes: Paid Search, SEO, Programmatic, Paid Social, Content Marketing, Conversion Optimisation and Web Analytics.
Importantly for Bath and the wider area, the new launch of one of the South West’s largest agencies brings with it new and exciting employment opportunities in the digital sector. With growth ambitions of its own, Adapt will continue to hire aggressively at all levels a it seeks to expand its teams across its entire service offering.
Speaking of the merging of both agencies Managing Director, Jon Greenhalgh, said:
“The integration of SearchStar under the Adapt Worldwide name, and launch of a new agency brand is a huge milestone in an incredibly positive period of alignment within the wider digital marketing operation of our parent company, Welocalize.
“It’s the culmination of two years of progress – the coming together of two highly talented teams of digital marketers into an agency capable of delivering ‘growth without boundaries’, domestically and internationally.
“And it’s not only the growth this move will be able to deliver for our clients that excites me – it also creates fantastic opportunities for the team. An opportunity to truly broaden their horizons and take further steps in their careers.
“Importantly, retaining our identity as a distinct digital brand means we have been able to preserve the agility of operating as an independent. And one able to take full advantage of the truly multi-market nature of Welocalize to assemble teams specifically aligned with each client’s needs globally.
“It is with that support that we find ourselves in a unique position to meet the expectations of today’s most ambitious brands, whatever they want to achieve – be it to launch internationally, bolster growth in existing markets, or identify opportunities for global expansion.”
The launch of the new Adapt brand and integration of SearchStar is effective from 13th January 2021.
Welcome to the third and final blog in our series on Augmented Reality (AR).
In case you missed it, our first segment introduced AR technology and its impact on markets across the globe, while our second blog explored AR’s potential when it comes to marketing, today. Today’s final instalment delves deeper into the practical use-cases for AR today, along with some of the loftier examples of where its tech could take us.
If you had one, you were of course, lucky enough to be able to afford an extortionately expensive high-end smartphone. You were also probably unlucky enough to be pestered by people who wanted to ‘have a go’ for themselves.
Arthur C. Clarke said, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ And touchscreens certainly had enough magic to magnetise the masses. Now, AR is taking a similar step from the realm of the mystic, into reality. And the timing couldn’t be better.
From the everyday, to the extraordinary: there are opportunities for the world’s biggest brands, most digital-savvy marketers and forward-thinking businesses.
In the age of the smartphone, you could be forgiven for thinking business cards have largely become redundant. But if the line ‘Are you on LinkedIn?’ doesn’t set you on fire, an AR business card could be a stronger opener when encountering potential business contacts in the wild.
Upon scanning your business card, the recipient could be greeted by a showreel video of your products, a short introduction to your business, a tour of your office locations or even live and up-to-date special offers – in fact, there’s limitless potential.
And best of all, creating an AR business card could be a lot simpler than you think. Prototypes already exist which simply work by the recipient scanning a QR code on the card with the camera on their smartphone – no special apps or software necessary!
It goes without saying: this tech doesn’t need to be contained to your business card. Product catalogues, service leaflets and even your quarterly reports can all be brought to life with some clever AR, making your brand not only more appealing – but more engaging, too.
For those of us who treat clothes shopping like a competitive sport, aiming for a new P.B. each time we hit the rails, life could become simpler with the introduction of augmented reality.
One option, which many of us will already be aware of, is ‘virtual try on’ – both online, with the assistance of your laptop or smartphone camera, and in-store through specially-AR-activated mirrors.
L’Oreal was one of the first businesses to introduce AR ‘smart’ mirrors at beauty counters, offering consumers the option to try on cosmetics with ease – and my guess is this will only become more prevalent after the hands-OFF-your-face impact of the pandemic.
Virtual try-ons aren’t just for people, either.
If you’ve visited the Ikea website recently (who hasn’t during lockdown?) you can now ‘try on’ furniture, wallpaper, tiles and more to visualise products in your home. And the same principles can be applied to commercial premises, too.
So if you’re selling high-end office furnishings, commercial signage, or even an air conditioning unit, you can easily make your products more impactful by introducing them directly into your customers’ lives – even if it’s virtually.
This doesn’t need to be just about chasing Pokemon. You can create a treasure hunt for adults which introduces a new level of interactivity between your brand and your customers anywhere you have a physical presence.
For example, if you’re attending an expo, you can place AR locators around your exhibition stand to deliver information about your individual products and services. You’ll stand out from the other exhibitors at the event, and be able to engage your visitors more effectively, keeping them attentive for longer so your employees can follow up the conversation too. And, again, it’s a great conversation starter.
If your business has a retail presence, you can replicate this experience in your showrooms – or even choose to implement an AR window display which could be used to great effect on social media, too.
So imagine this. You hear the clunk of your letterbox and head to collect the post. There’s a small, shallow cardboard box with a bold message printed on top.
GRAB YOUR PHONE AND GET READY.
You open the box, and a leaflet drops out: SCAN ME. Opening your phone’s camera app, and capturing the QR code, you’re taken straight to a video, introducing a teaser on an Amazing New Productᵗᵐ.
Upon further inspection, the leaflet introduces you to the brand behind the ANPᵗᵐ – you even watch a video about the team and see they’re local. In fact, their interactive office location map shows they’re just a mile away, where you can pop into their showroom for even more information.
It might sound otherworldly. But at Proctors, we’re making virtual, reality today. We can help you to create an irresistible campaign, whether it’s wowing shareholders with your next quarterly report or enticing new customers with clever interactive artwork in a viral social campaign.
Talk to us, and let’s discuss your possibilities at [email protected].
Although 2020 has not been a great year for shooting on location, particularly for branded content or commercials, Bristol filmmaker & writer Gavin Knight got round this problem… By crafting a brilliant script & sourcing rare footage from Bordeaux documentaries, the film was made during the first lockdown & released in April. It promotes a new concept in wine by Viniv – you can blend your own barrel of wine (240 bottles!) under the auspices of Chateau Lynch-Bages.
The Evcom London Film Awards normally take place at the BFI, but sadly this November it was a virtual ceremony. The film can be viewed on Gavin’s website here:
https://buxtonknight.myportfolio.com/viniv-bordeaux-wine
2020 has certainly been a rollercoaster and while we’ve had some pretty big lows, there’s also been some highs. Over the year, one thing that has come up again and again is the number of inspiring people and businesses that have come together in our city over the past year to support each other.
From our favourite restaurants providing free school meals to virtual initiatives across all sectors, it’s been efforts like these which have helped us get through and kept spirits high despite all the doom and gloom.
To share the love ahead of the end of the year, we thought we’d spend some time saying thank you to Bristol’s Best people and businesses, and encourage others to do the same.
We’re encouraging everyone to use the hashtag #BristolsBest to thank the businesses and people that have been brilliant over the past year – whether someone has stood by your business, supported you in personal capacity or just made you laugh. Why not take 30 seconds to call them out as Bristol’s best?
To help share the love, for everyone who tags us into a social media post ( LinkedIn, twitter or insta) we’ll be randomly sending little gifts from a selection of some of Bristol’s best independent businesses to those nominated and those saying thank you.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s end the year on a high. Who do you want to call out as BristolsBest?
Peter Hoole, Spencer Gallagher, founders of growth consultancy Cactus and Agencynomics and Stephen Knight, Founder of Pimento are lending their support to the growth of the recently formed Alliance of Independent Agencies. Each will join the Board of the Alliance alongside its Founders Clive Mishon and Graham Kemp and the Alliance’s Managing Director Matt Sullivan. Collectively the networks boast over 1000 Independent agency members and around 8000 employees across the UK.
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This Board will direct the trade body that represents and promotes independent agencies and all the people that work in the sector.
The 3 Co-Chairs of the Membership Board, that directs the 9 Peer to Peer Action Groups, will continue to drive the strategic direction for the Alliance under their respective pillars of People (Ruth Kieran as Chair), Purpose (Laurence Parkes as Chair) and Performance (Dion Myers-Lamptey as Chair).
Spencer Gallagher, Founder of Agencynomics and joint CEO of Cactus said “whilst we predominantly support the founders of Agencies, the Alliance supports agency leaders and their teams, which is why it is a natural complementary fit, many of our clients are already members of the Alliance and we hope that more members of the community will follow suit to help their agencies get the additional support they need for themselves and their wider teams.”
Peter Hoole, Founder of Agencynomics and joint CEO of Cactus added “we have already seen the tremendous value and support that the Alliance is offering to the independent agency sector and we look forward to contributing further to their great efforts to date. We will be aligning Cactus and Agencynomics to the Alliance to bring an even better experience to our fast-growing community, and provide better representation of the industry”.
Stephen Knight, Founder of Pimento added “Independent agencies have needed a louder voice and representation for some time, the ethos and values of the Alliance align perfectly with our own and complement our own Member proposition. We are confident that Pimento members will benefit from our investment in the Alliance and that collectively we can punch above our weight”
The Alliance will continue to represent the interests of the independent sector through the Advertising Association and with their membership of the Federation of Small Businesses and The Debating Group.
Graham Kemp, Founder Director of the Alliance says “The independent sector has been recognised as an essential element of the communications landscape, providing creative, innovative and agile solutions for clients big and small. Through collaboration we can give real voice to the independent agencies so it’s a joy to think that now with the collective firepower of Agencynomics and Pimento we can further promote their excellence going forward. Spencer, Pete and Stephen have already made a significant contribution to the independent agency sector and as part of that have been great supporters of the Alliance”.
About the Alliance of Independent Agencies www.allindependentagencies.org
Independent Agencies are a unique and special group of businesses and people; connected by their independent spirit, ideals and purpose, not simply their service offering. To be independent is something unique, and very important in today’s evolving creative economy. The Alliance is the trade body that represents this community and enables its agency members to be as good as they can by nurturing all their people, supporting their purpose and giving guidance to optimise their performance.
In addition to delivering benefits to the independent agencies and their teams, the Alliance is equally focused on promoting the value and unique DNA of independent communication agencies to the wider industry and business community.
About Agencynomics https://agencynomics.com
Agencynomics is a not for profit, social enterprise which started out as an international bestselling book, and has now become an organisation dedicated to supporting the now, next and future of Agencies through it’s free community, events and it’s podcast, Agencyphonics
About Pimento https://pimento.co.uk
Pimento is the UK’s leading independent agency network. Founded in 2005, it now boasts 200 agencies and consultants, covering almost every aspect of marketing services. As such, the firm is able meet the complex demands of clients by creating bespoke teams, drawn directly from its members.
About Cactus https://cact.us
Cactus is the UK’s leading Agency growth consultancy and corporate finance broker. Cactus has worked with over 1,000 agencies globally over the past 9 years many of which are recognised as some of the fastest-growing agencies in their territories. Cactus help Agencies realise their true potential and true financial value.
You see it everywhere. Viral videos on YouTube and TikTok, videos from businesses that are putting themselves out there and showing the world both what they have to offer and the sense of wit that lingers behind their business image. But for many businesses, the question is how to utilise video marketing so that you can create viral content that engages audiences in all the right ways. Well, this guide is here to take you through some of the best methods and secrets.
Put simply, viral marketing is a form of advertisement that relies on the audience to generate and spread the message behind a product or service. This form of marketing is considered viral once it starts being shared by the public at large and not just the target audience. It will start appearing on everyone’s social media feeds with multiple reactions and shares.
A really good example of excellent viral marketing can be seen from the Dollar Shave Club back in 2012. At this point, it was still a little company, but their video marketing went viral alongside the slogan “Our Blades Are F***ing Great.” It was funny, unconventional, and racked up tens of millions of views in no time at all. Subscriptions spiked, and it became a $1billion company.
The big thing that all viral campaigns share is that they are organic. They are never forced, and the truth is that they can’t be. Viral marketing relies on the public to share, react to, and comment on the content that you are providing and videos are the best way to achieve this. They are snappy, engaging, and people love to watch them.
Viral content always has good timing. Your marketing team needs to be right on top of the latest trends, fingers on the pulse of social media channels as they scan for the latest craze. Trends go as quickly as they come, so you need to act fast if you want to capture the audience and get your content out there.
The Secrets to Viral Marketing Success
Viral marketing is not always going to be easy, and you can’t expect your first video release to be a massive success. In fact, it will likely be a failure. But, the fact of the matter is that 56% of web surfers find new sites through viral marketing, and a whopping 80% of businesses have incorporated it into their marketing plan. So, what are the secrets to success?
To Conclude
No one said that viral marketing would be easy, but once you get into the swing of things the content that you generate will be snappy, interesting, and enough for people to want to share with friends and family. All you need to do is incorporate these little tips for success and work hard to create the kind of video content that people want to see, share, and follow.
This week marks Skylark Media’s 15th birthday. Although it’s a bit of a weird time to celebrate we wanted to say thanks to the fab clients, partners, colleagues and friends who’ve crossed our paths over the years. Without you we wouldn’t be here.
It feels like yesterday that Jo Haywood, fresh from making climate change documentaries for the Beeb and Discovery Channel, mustered up the courage to set up her own video production company.
Running a creative business isn’t always easy (especially in 2020!), as our peers in the creative industry will agree. Now more than ever, it’s vital to support each other and take collaboration to another level. Over Lockdown, 92% of independent agencies have either collaborated with another agency to take a brief, or are willing to. That’s fantastic news – and we hope that in our partners we’re able to fill skill gaps, deliver great client service and aid creativity where we can. We are looking to expand our network of creatives and agencies, so please get in touch if you’d like to partner at [email protected]
As we enter another Lockdown, we wanted to reassure everyone that it’s business as usual, and we’ll continue to film according to APA guidelines. If you’ve got a few minutes, we’ve launched our new website this week at www.skylarkmedia.co.uk and Jo has a few words to say herself: https://bit.ly/3kQOxkH
In the age of information, content is in abundance.
Scroll through social media and you will be spoilt for choice: every company worth its salt pumps out content to win over the hearts and minds of prospective customers.
Sadly, it doesn’t always hit the mark. When the ‘Likes’ are low and the average time spent on the page is not marrying up to your expectations, it might be time to go back to the drawing board.
Whether you have yet to devise a strategy or you want to revisit your plan, we’ve put together a step by step guide to help you win at content marketing.
Often, we spend so much time involved in our own products and services that we fail to see the real issues our customers want to hear about.
The outcome? Complex, jargon-filled content that our target audience has no real need for.
If this sounds familiar, take a step back to map out your buyer’s persona. Instead of taking briefs from an ops team, ask your salespeople to give you the lowdown on the conversations they’re having with prospective clients.
What genuine problems do they have that your content could solve?
By taking the time to understand their unique interests, pain points and motivations for choosing a particular solution, you will form a strong starting point from which to build your content marketing strategy upon.
Your goal is to create a content marketing strategy that attracts a steady flow of on-target traffic to your website. After all, without a strategy, the performance of your content is a matter of luck. As with all marketing activity, your efforts should never be random, nor should they be derailed by something shiny.
(“Shall we do a blog post about…” and “I’ve seen so and so doing a podcast” are perfect examples of how not to plan your content. Don’t chase a bandwagon – start your own.)
The best way to achieve goals is to make them measurable and to tie them into wider marketing KPIs. Content-specific performance indicators will help you stick to goals by giving you clear milestones to tick off that prevent you from getting derailed.
Content KPIs will vary depending on your wider objectives but could include form-fills and conversions, page views, time spent on a page as well as social media metrics and email campaign results.
Once you have identified and set-out a thought-cloud of topics to fuel your content, consider the medium they will best respond to. Written content is a classic – as well as conveying the expertise of your company, it can enhance visibility across search engines given the right research.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t step outside the parameters of your business’ blog to engage your audience. Research from Cisco projects that global internet traffic from videos will make up 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2021 – and you don’t have to be Spielberg to tell a compelling story through video.
Concise and captivating video content can be as simple as your CEO answering a frequently asked question. It also presents an opportunity to showcase a snippet of your employer brand to the outside world. Charity events and team days out can make for clickable content that acts as a window into your company culture, and all it takes is a phone with a good quality camera to get started.
Beyond video, helpful content such as short slide decks and eye-catching infographics can help your brand to stand out in a crowded space.
Now that you have laid the foundations of your content marketing strategy, the next step is to ensure you can deliver on your intentions.
Without an individual or team to take ownership of your strategy, the task often falls to anyone with free time. Of course, time is money, and when urgent issues take priority, content slips back down to the bottom of the pile until – yep, you guessed it – someone sees something a competitor is doing on LinkedIn and asks:
“Why aren’t we doing that?”
More often than not, it comes down to a lack of commitment.
Simply put – if you want your business to be a leader in content marketing, it must be a top priority. As such, it should have ample resources behind it. Hiring a dedicated team or even just one specialist is far more effective than leaning on the sales team to throw something together when they have a spare moment.
A winning content marketing strategy is often best executed with the help of a content calendar.
Why?
Because a big behemoth that comprises of several mediums and messages can make for a daunting task. By breaking it down into smaller blocks that chunk off particular themes against set times in the year, the plan becomes a lot more manageable.
A reliable content calendar can be organised on a weekly or monthly basis, and helps keep track of all content being produced and published, whether that means upcoming articles, whitepapers, case studies, webinars, or promotional event updates.
As well as saving considerable time, a content calendar keeps the momentum going to prevent infrequency and encourages regular audience engagement.
Top tip: Before putting an editorial calendar together, we recommend undertaking a content audit on your website to determine which pieces can be re-used, re-purposed or re-shared throughout the year.
Just as every business is different, so too are your audiences. While there are certain mediums and channels that help boost engagement and increase reach, there is no off-the-shelf solution that works for all.
Analytics are your North star – they should help guide you in the right direction by identifying what is working and what is not. Don’t hesitate to make changes on the fly: if a particular style of content isn’t resonating as you thought it would, do some digging to discover the reason.
There will nearly always be key takeaways that can tell you more about what went wrong and what to action in the future to improve performance.
Need a hand on creating a content marketing strategy? We’re here to help. Drop us a message or give us a call to find out what we can do for you.
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