Social Media / PR Archives | Page 11 of 25 | Bristol Creative Industries

At the end of last year, Open AI released ChatGPT, a first-of-its-kind machine learning chatbot. The revolutionary chatbot experienced explosive growth, reaching 1 million users in just 5 days.

In January we posted our blog “How ChatGPT will impact search marketing”, here we explored some possible use cases for ChatGPT across the four core teams at Varn. We also wrote about some of the potential limitations of the technology. Over a month on, we have now had some time to experience using ChatGPT to aid in our SEO work.

As a team at Varn, we have identified three key use cases where we have seen the most value in using ChatGPT.

1: Writing Regex with Chat GPT:

No matter if you love Regular Expressions or are terrified of them, this tip will help all of you!

Regular Expressions (Regex) can expand the possibilities of important SEO tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog and more. For example, we recently wanted to filter out all the URLs in Screaming Frog so that only those containing a query string would display. This is exactly where we would want to reach for a regular expression.

However, with all the rules and complexities, writing Regex is very difficult. Even using documentation, writing a simple regex string can be incredibly time-consuming. This is where AI tools like chat GPT can come in extremely handy. Because AI has an understanding of what a user is asking, and can use this to write the Regex for us.

As you can see, we simply asked the chatbot (in plain English) how we would like to sort our URLs. Within seconds it gave us the working regex code, along with a handy description of how it works. By copying and pasting this regex into the Screaming Frog filter, we were able to sort URLs so that only those containing query strings were showing.

The true power of this feature comes from its flexibility. As SEO professionals, we could easily be presented with any number of pages or queries that we may need to filter down. But with the analytical abilities of AI, we can convert any written command into a working regular expression in seconds.

This use case has improved the way we use Regex at Varn, but it does come with limitations. ChatGPT will always try to do the best job with the prompt you have provided, but it will rarely ask for more information if it feels your query is inadequate. This means that when writing your prompts for ChatGPT you should always be as specific as possible, leaving no room for a different interpretation.

Additionally, you should be very careful to not just copy and paste this code if it’s being used for something important, like a client-facing Looker Studio filter. Instead, you should use a tool like regex101.com to test the regular expression against any unusual edge cases it may encounter.

2: Planning Blog Ideas:

One of the most challenging parts of writing SEO-friendly blogs is coming up with an engaging idea. But Chat GPT can help!

Chat GPT is extremely versatile, and it is also able to assist with more creative processes, as well as technical tasks such as writing Regex.

Blogs can be a great way to improve the Search Engine ranking of a site. They also provide value to visitors which helps to keep them engaged. However, we will often find ourselves racking our brains for a blog idea that is both engaging to a user and will also tick all the boxes for SEO.

Here is an example of where we have used Chat GPT to assist in the ideation of new blogs on the Varn website.

Here you can see that as a result of our request, we have been provided with a bulleted list of ideas for potential blogs on the Varn site. It is important to remember to give a very descriptive prompt for chat GPT – In this example, we found that we needed to specifically state that we wanted the answers in a bulleted list. Otherwise, we were presented with completed blogs, rather than blog ideas. We also provided a list of keywords that we could potentially use, but needed to make it clear that using these keywords was optional. Otherwise, GPT would just cram as many keywords as possible into each bullet point. This extreme level of specificity is vital if you want to unlock the true power of chat GPT.

There are a range of ideas in this list of potential blog posts (some of which are better than others), but overall this list could be a valuable resource when coming up with new blog topics. For example, the 8th blog in the list brings up an interesting idea about deciding when to reach for PPC or SEO for your web promotion. There are some ideas in this list that are too broad, or which lack a certain context, but overall there are many good prompts that you could use when creating a future post; They may just need some work to progress them into a workable blog title.

3: Writing Metadata and Headings:

Writing Metadata and headings with SEO in mind can be time-consuming, but Chat GPT can help streamline this process.

In the previous section, we showed how we have been using chat GPT to assist in generating blog ideas. However, we can also use Chat GPT to create content for these blogs.

Here is an example of how you can generate metadata and headings using Chat GPT.

Once again within this section, we found it was very important to be hyper-specific with our prompts to Chat GPT, even going so far as to state the desired length of the metadata we wanted. The results are very interesting, the meta and headings are all well related to the blog topic we gave, and they do a good job of including keywords we might want to optimise for. In addition to this, the content reads well and tells a good story of what kind of content the rest of the blog might include.

Despite the fantastic quality of this AI-generated content, there are some problems. Firstly, the metadata actually exceeded the character limit we provided, this is because GPT cannot directly count the number of characters it is generating. For this reason, the character counts are often not what we asked for, even if it’s usually not off by much.

The biggest limitation preventing us from using Chat GPT to generate content like this is the risk of search engines picking up on our use of AI-generated content. Historically, Google has explicitly given guidance to avoid the use of “automatically generated content”, and this is what makes us so cautious about using AI-generated content on websites.

However, over the past year, Google has been slowly changing their guidance on AI content to appear more in favour of its use. Last month, the company properly clarified their stance on AI-generated content, essentially saying that it doesn’t matter how the content is produced, it will be judged based on the content’s quality. This suggests that AI content could be usable in SEO, provided it is user-friendly and meets the E-E-A-T guidelines set out by Google. Despite this statement by Google, we still tend to air on the side of caution and remember that AI-generated content is not perfect. It is also important to remember that as SEO experts, we have a fully formed understanding of the specifics and will be able to produce higher-quality content than a chat bot. For this reason, we tend to use AI generation as a tool to help inform our own content and will never copy and paste anything directly from Chat GPT.

Going forward…

So far chat GPT has had an extremely positive impact on our SEO work at Varn. It has allowed us to speed up some tedious technical tasks and allows us to put more time into other areas of our work. Even now, we still believe we could find other uses of the technology to better improve our workflow, and we are excited to explore these possibilities.

However, we also believe that it is best to think of Chat GPT as an (albeit very powerful) tool in our toolbox, not a superpower that will do all of our work for us. This means it is still important to have a good understanding of the task you are trying to accomplish, so that you can review the quality of the response and provide Chat GPT with accurate information and context.

Catherine Frankpitt has a 20+ year career working in PR and communications. In 2020, she decided to launch her own business. Strike Communications works with organisations that are doing something positive in the world, such as delivering education, creating cultural opportunities and supporting disadvantaged communities.

Catherine launched her business just a few weeks before the start of the first coronavirus pandemic lockdown. A year into her entrepreneurial venture, she joined Bristol Creative Industries.

She tells Dan Martin about starting a business during the pandemic, how it has grown and the benefits of being part of the BCI community.

How did you get started in PR?

“I started out at the Mail on Sunday’s You Magazine as a 21-year-old. They had regular features called ‘My Last Good Read’ and ‘My Last Good Buy’. I phoned up celebrities to interview them. I spoke to Lloyd Grossman, Carol Smillie, Ulrika Jonnson and others

“I had a media degree and didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do although I knew it was on the editorial side of things. At the magazine most of the stories were coming from press releases and the copy was just rewritten. I decided that I wanted to go into PR because they were the ones actually having the fun writing the stories and coming up with the ideas.”

Why did you decide to start your own business?

“While working at a big agency, the clients that I was really interested in were the likes of charities who had lean in house teams and were not able to maximise the opportunity to do bigger and better things, reach more people and get more funding etc because they hadn’t got the capacity and resources to do it. They need the support, but can’t afford the bigger agency fees.

“I’m motivated by working on communications that I think people need to know about. I work on a lot of causes, charities and culture where the comms plays more of a role than just selling. It’s not just a transactional thing. It’s reaching people that benefit from knowing about it.

“That’s why I decided to set up Strike Communications, to provide a full service agency offering but keep the costs leaner than a bigger agency.”

You started Strike Communications just before the first pandemic lockdown. How was that?

“I was director of communications at UWE. There are some brilliant people doing great things at the university, but while managing a big team, I missed being hands-on. I like to get stuck in and ask ‘what’s the problem?’, ‘what are the objectives?’, ‘let’s get creative’.

“I wanted to do my own thing so I went from running a department with 85 staff to running a business on my own during lockdown in my spare room!

“I’ve been a single parent with a single income for a while and I’ve always been careful with money. I took out a loan in advance of starting the business just in case something went wrong. That was the best decision I could have made. I very quickly needed it because I launched the business with two anchor clients but within a few weeks of lockdown, everybody went insular.

“It was scary to start with because I didn’t qualify for any of the support that the government introduced. All of my network was in Bristol and that’s where I had planned the work to come from but I had to rethink the plan and widen my reach.

“Eight weeks or so into the first lockdown people started realising that they needed to communicate more than ever. A previous boss once said to me that in a crisis, the first thing to go is the comms and marketing and the first thing to come back is the comms and marketing. She was absolutely right.

“Suddenly people were knocking on the door and saying they needed extra support. I worked with two London universities because their comms teams were so busy doing internal activities and keeping the students informed.

“My networks changed almost overnight and I teamed up with people in the same situation. My experience during lockdown shaped the business in a way that I didn’t expect. We were working with organisations in Devon, Basingstoke and London which we probably wouldn’t have done without the pandemic and everyone being online.”

Tell us about how the business has grown and why you think you have achieved success.

“There are now three of us full time and two associates who work with us regularly plus a few others we bring in as required.

“I got some advice from a business coach who said in year one, you do anything for anybody. Year two, you start working out the things that you don’t want to do. Year three, you work out who you are. That’s absolutely what I’ve found.

“In terms of reasons for success, I’ve got a really good network because I’ve worked with a lot of organisations and that has been really helpful.

“Also, I very much operate on gut instinct and my idea for the sorts of organisations that I wanted to work with that I thought needed the help at a certain price point has proven to be true. Whether it’s dealing with COVID-19 or the cost of living crisis, there is always a need for support at a certain level and a certain price. While there are plenty of creative people in Bristol we have created our own niche.

“I find it very hard to do anything other than be honest and transparent. I have strong values and the people that work with us, whether it’s staff or clients, buy into those values. People look at how we talk about ourselves and see that we’re authentic. There’s an appeal to that. There are certain organisations that we just wouldn’t work with because it wouldn’t be right for us. There are others that we really care about and want to help.”

Why did you join Bristol Creative Industries and how has it benefitted the business?

“It’s important to be part of an organisation that is championing your sector, listening and supporting you. It’s also very useful for learning, networking and meeting people.

“I love the Friday morning Wake Up Call webinars with bite-sized advice. The members’ lunches have also been very helpful and I’ve made interesting connections. You can’t underestimate the importance of peer-to-peer support and solidarity, particularly for the founders of smaller businesses like mine. By talking to others, it makes it feel less overwhelming and less of a lonely place.

Watching Wake Up Call webinars, attending free member lunches and unlimited job postings are some of the benefits of Bristol Creative Industries membership. Find out more.

What’s your advice for being successful at PR and communications?

“You need to know what it is that you’re trying to achieve, who it is that’s going to help you get there, what they are going to be interested in hearing to help you get there and where you will find them. Your comms should frame around that.

“People get really bogged down by saying things like ‘we need to be on TikTok’ and ‘we need to be on Twitter’ but they are being led by the activity. You should take a strategic approach and know what you are trying to achieve and how the comms can support you to get there. It’s about working out who your audiences, stakeholders or customers are and where they are, whether that’s online, the media they read or where you can physically find them.”

Fancy joining Catherine Frankpitt as a Bristol Creative Industries member? Benefit from industry expertise, training, leads, curated news, kudos and more. Sign up here.

The iconic free family event of the summer, Bristol Harbour Festival returns from 14th – 16th July 2023, with newly imagined entertainment zones, Circus Playground moving to College Green and an inclusive water programme that celebrates the city’s harbour.

On Wednesday morning, organisers launched the return of the 2023 event with Mayor Marvin Rees and aspiring artists from Access Creative College.

For the launch, 18-year-old singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Madara Plusa performed Massive Attack’s Teardrop, accompanied by 17-year-old guitarist, Jack Isgrove.

The performers were also joined by fellow students 21-year-old Shaye Stewart, a gospel musician, pianist, and producer currently studying Access’ Artist Development course, and 18-year-old DJ Fitz, a music producer and DJ studying Music Production.

Attracting over 250,000 visitors to enjoy over one mile of entertainment, the festival will feature a huge range of local talent, world-class circus, music acts and on the water activity from cardboard boat races to high octane jetpack stunts.

With five areas filled with music and entertainment, Bristol Harbour Festival fans can look forward to five performance platforms, bringing beats, boats and backflips to the summer extravaganza. Cirque Bijou will once again be bringing tricks and trapeze, children’s entertainment and pop-up performances at the Circus Playground which will now take pride of place at a brand-new city green space, College Green.

The Jelli Shack will take over Millenium Square, providing chill-out beach-bar vibes with an acoustic programme brought to you by the team at Jelli Records. Featuring an abundance of Bristol talent, the Jelli Shack will also have dodgems and refreshments, making this a ultimate spot to bask in the sunshine.

The Amphitheatre will become a great spot to enjoy a bite from the Food Court with music from Access Creative College, Ujima Radio and BCFM Radio as it becomes Harbour View. The perfect place to promenade alongside moored vessels and look out onto the stunning setting of Bristol’s floating harbour. It’s time to pull up a picnic bench and soak up the summer vibes.

On the Water entertainment will return to the Harbour Festival, bringing the water at the heart of our city to life with activities showcasing maritime magic from jet ski stunts to the iconic Pyrounaut showing off its skills.

Bristol’s Georgian Queen Square will transform into the Music Quarter; curated by Harbour Festival programming legend, Tony Benjamin. This space will kick start the festival on Friday night and will also feature the brightest talent from Access Creative College alongside established acts.

The festival has opened its annual Expression of Interest for those wanting to perform and get involved with the festival this year, hoping to attract the newest and coolest into the festival from all over corners of the city once again. With a large number of performers coming through the EOI form last year, applications are open to everyone and anyone looking to share their talent.

Access Ceative College has been providing creative education in Bristol for more than 20 years, offering full-time vocational courses in music, events, games design, computing, Esports, graphic design, film, and photography.

The college has a strong focus on diversity and inclusion, ensuring students, irrespective of background, successfully develop the knowledge, skills, and behaviours to thrive in the creative and sporting sectors.   

Achievement rates are above national benchmarks and progression to higher education from socially disadvantaged backgrounds are double the nation average. 

Bristol Harbour Festival’s new and reformed festival is brought to the city by Bristol City Council. The Circus Playground is supported and funded by the High Street Recovery Fund.

To keep up to date with all Harbour Festival news and updates, follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter or visit the website.

There are countless benefits to having a strong social media presence. In 2021, 55% of consumers learned about new brands through a business’s social accounts (SproutSocial, 2021). In today’s blog, I am going to share six reasons why it’s important for businesses to invest in a strong strategy. From reaching a wider audience to keeping up with industry trends. Even small businesses will benefit from investing in social media.

Invest in social media to reach a wider audience

Social media is a great way to reach a wider audience. This process is simple. The more places your business shows up, the more exposure you receive. This can increase reach, engagement and ultimately, revenue. It’s important to keep in mind that different platforms have different purposes. So not every platform will be suitable for you. A good social media team will advise you on what platform/s is right for you.

Increase brand awareness

Social media works wonders in increasing brand awareness. It creates an opportunity for businesses to share consistent, on-brand content with their followers. Being able to connect with customers in real time allows businesses to build customer loyalty and trust while increasing customer retention.

The way your business deals with negative feedback is important and social media is also a wonderful way for businesses to show what your brand stands for by listening to the concerns of your audience and then working on making improvements.

Keep up with the competition

Social media is constantly changing and having a presence means that you can keep an eye on industry trends. This allows your business to appear dynamic, modern and able to adapt to the ever-changing needs of your customer base.

Choosing the right social media management team is equally as important for your business. There are countless companies offering services at budget prices that may seem tempting to smaller businesses looking to save on marketing expenses. An experienced team will provide:

Expertise

An experienced team will hold a deep understanding of social media platforms, and algorithms and will be able to identify target audiences. If your business is in a more niche industry, a good team will complete thorough research before beginning on a strategy and will continue with this approach when creating content – something you won’t get if you opt for a more budget service provider.

Alignment

If your company is already investing in PR and they also offer social media services, consider having them manage your accounts as well. They will already know your business inside out which means that social content will link up to PR and other messages that you want to get out there. They will be more likely to provide content that is on-brand and perfectly tailored to your business goals.

Consistency

Being consistent in content creation, posting and engagement is important, and a good management team will be able to provide all of this at the highest level. Make sure that your team aren’t going days on end without posting. They should be responsive, and able to react to current events.

Need help managing your social media channels? Get in touch to see how Carnsight can up help you boost your strategy and ultimately achieve your business goals.

This question came out of a really interesting podcast with Tom Lewis – Agency ownership models are everything. It’s primarily about the advertising agency model and how Tom sees it in a state of decline. My career started in adland before I moved into PR, and when I worked with Tom he was CFO and I was in client services. Ad agencies are set up slightly differently to PR agencies or consultancies, but there are similarities. We’re both service businesses and the relationships we have with clients are much the same. And one question arose (amongst many interesting areas) – can agencies ever truly work in “partnership” with a client?

I’m certainly someone who uses the word “partnership”– we like to talk about working with our clients as partners. But one of the podcast hosts argued that clients and agencies could never be true partners, because the relationship is never on an even footing. One pays the other for a service and that will always be the model. That’s no basis for a partnership.

It’s certainly a straightforward way of looking at it. And, having worked in service businesses for over two decades, I’ve experienced first-hand that many of the client/agency relationships have felt very uneven and unbalanced. There was often a sense of master/servant and we wouldn’t have considered the clients our “partners”.

But, that’s not true of every client/agency relationship. And, importantly, partners has more than one definition. One financial definition of partners is “persons carrying on a business in common with a view of profit”. Agencies and clients might not be based in the same business, but they should be working “in common with a view of profit”. They should have a shared goal, and ultimately, that will be a financial one. That definition is certainly closer to the partnerships I try and achieve with clients. The word “common” is key for me. Clients and agencies should be pulling together, united in objectives that are, ultimately, mutually beneficial.

I’ve always found that the best results come from working together, respectfully. As a consultant or agency, you must respect the client’s business, goals and knowledge. As a client, they should respect your expertise, experience and ability to achieve results.

Keeping an open dialogue is an important part of any good client/agency relationship. Both sides must ask questions and listen to answers. Trust is key, and that might be trust that’s earned over time, rather than gifted instantly (which is one of the reasons we always start off with a three-month trial with clients).

Crucially, if you’re going to work together well, a relationship needs to be forged, and the best relationships see you working alongside each other, I’d argue, as partners. That means being honest with each other, and discussing the fundamentals as a team. In the past, agency make up and models have meant we haven’t been able to walk away from a client that doesn’t work with us in this way. But at Carnsight, that’s not the case.

So for me, a client/agency partnership in this spirit isn’t just nice to have. It’s an essential.

Is your small business wanting to start PR without blowing big budgets? Read our blog for top tips on PR for small businesses.

We’ve shared many tips on crafting the perfect press releases here at Carnsight Communications and even what to avoid when pitching to journalists. What we haven’t done so much is provide detail on when is the best time to pitch your news. In this blog, we take a look at the most effective days and times to pitch, along with days to avoid. We also look into how current news events will affect the results of your pitching.

Bear in mind that this is based on averages and stats – so these are guidelines only, rather than rules to be set in stone.

Best days of the week to pitch?

So, you’ve crafted a great, newsworthy press release, but you’re finding the results aren’t quite what you’d expected. This could be down to a simple factor such as the time or day of the week you’ve sent it.

When is best to send your press releases to publications? According to many studies, the best day to send your news is on a Thursday. Press releases emailed on a Thursday tend to have the highest open rate.

Many people think sending press releases at the start of a new week would be the most effective time. Actually, Mondays are actually considered one of the worst days of the week to pitch press releases. This is likely to be down to the fact that people are catching up on a Monday, with emails and planning out their workload for the week ahead. Journalists tend to have overloaded inboxes on a Monday so your news tends to get lost amongst the mayhem. Also, it’s best to avoid Fridays when sharing press releases.

Best time to pitch?

So, we’ve looked at the best days to pitch press releases, now let’s look further in to what times of the day are considered most effective.

This is a really important factor when pitching your news. It will play a key part in your news being published.

Studies have shown that the best time of day to send press releases is between 10am and 2pm. Editors tend to open about one third of all emails received between this time. It appears sending press releases before 10am is less effective and open rates drop significantly between 6am and 10am.

Open rates considerably drop off after lunch time so try to stick within the 10am – 2pm window. Also keep in mind to be unique in the timing of the hour you send out your press releases. For example, many companies will pitch on the hour (11am) or at half past the hour. If you send at 13 minutes past you’re more likely not to be swallowed up by competition.

Be mindful of current news events and any holidays!

Using the above times and days of the week to pitch is likely to increase your chances of publication. However, it’s important to keep in mind current events and any holidays that may affect your chances also. Hold off pitching in times where the media are likely to have a focus elsewhere. Are there special holidays such as Christmas or coronations to be mindful of? Are there any breaking news stories or current events that are happening at this time? If so, your news will be lost. So these times are worth avoiding at all costs as your news will not be seen as a priority.

Keeping this information in mind will help your press releases get the results you want.

Remember there should always be a clear angle in your press releases, meaning a journalist should have a reason to cover the news and to tailor it depending on who you’re pitching to. Never, ever send it out to a blanket list. And always research who you’re sending it to and make sure it’s relevant. Otherwise, you’re likely to be junked.

Some more great tips on writing press releases can be found below but if you’d like any further tips, check out our frequently asked questions or FAQs about PR.

Why do we use different strategies?

Different challenges require different PR strategies. Mostly, it’s good to use a number of different techniques together, to get your messages heard by the right audience. After all, people need to experience a range of touchpoints before they engage.

What are the different PR techniques?

This blog post outlines some of the different PR strategies we use that work to help your business to get noticed by the right people at the right time, raising brand awareness and building stronger connections with your audience.

1. Press releases / Newsworthy stories

We use press releases to talk about an event, milestone or launch. They’re a useful tool any time you have something ‘newsworthy‘ or important to share. Press releases are pitched to press, usually for news stories but can also be kept on file to feed into longer features journalists are writing.

Here are some examples of ‘newsworthy‘ stories we’d write press releases around:

Product launches
Brand launches
Partnership announcements
Hiring new executives/senior team members
Interesting events

2. Case Studies

Case studies are essentially ‘the ultimate customer review’ and are used to show off a scope of work for a specific project or client and results achieved. They could also be people case studies – where a person testifies to what you’re communicating – for example a beauty case study talking about the amazing results your product gave them. Case studies can provide that human element in an article by telling your audience that your work is trustworthy and they help to share details into practices used in achieving the results.

3. A product feature / placement

A product feature or placement is where a particular product appears in a publication and includes details such as pricing and specification of that product along with brand details. You often need to provide the product to a journalist for a trial or photograph to receive a placement. These could also include seasonal gift list features (for example at Christmas).

4. Thought leadership / opinion pieces (Op-eds)

Thought leadership content and ‘opinion pieces’ (‘op-eds’) encourage the author to relay their personal opinion and thoughts on a specific subject and allows the reader an insight into your specific expertise and views. These can be placed in publications such as industry press – for example a retailer’s expert opinion on a current retail challenge.

Benefits to an opting for a thought leadership or ‘op-ed‘ piece include:

Influencing your target audience
Educating on specific topics
Letting your audience get to know the people behind the brand and on a personal level
Gaining trust and establishing authority within your sector

5. Interviews / Profile pieces

Interview style features are useful to raise the profile of a brand or person, their background story and successes along the way. They can also help audiences relate to you and your brand. An interview gives you the opportunity to share details such as important achievements along your journey, or to tell a poignant story that resonates.

Interviews or profile pieces include background research from the journalist as well as insights from the person or brand. The character and human aspect of a personal interview should appeal to readers.

Depending on the kind of interview, examples of questions that could be asked are:

Which was the first huge success that you can remember?
What’s your one big hope for the future of the industry?
Do you have any heroes in the industry?

6. Reactive and proactive PR

What is Reactive PR?

PR and journalism move very quickly, meaning it can be hard work reacting to stories quickly. Reactive PR strategies involve responding to current news situations that align with a client’s expertise, industry, or goals. Furthermore, reactive PR allows you to be ahead of the game instead of playing catch-up. Instead of trying to create the news, the news comes to you.

This method of PR will sometimes require comments from industry experts which are then featured in specific titles. The journalist could provide a list of questions to answer which will be used within a piece. Or you could provide facts or commentary to support their story. These comments again work to help with brand awareness and trust in your business.

What is Proactive PR?

Proactive PR is taking the initiative to get the word out there using an active outreach and by finding the right media publications and contacts to work with. Most people consider using this method when building a PR strategy. By seeking opportunities and actively promoting your brand to your target audience, you get to identify and tell the stories that you want to share.

Hopefully that’s a good overview.

If you’re stuck on where you should start with content for your PR activity, we can help. Take a look at our blog which will provide you with many useful tips and pointers.

Originally posted on: www.carnsight.com

You know everything there is to know about your area of expertise. Fantastic! Congratulations! But how useful is that if no-one knows that you’re a fountain of knowledge? Part of being an expert in any given field is making that knowledge available and accessible to those who need it. Writing business blogs is a great way to do this, but there’s more to it than that.

You could argue that if you download all the information in your head into one lengthy article, or one comprehensive website, you have demonstrated your knowledge and proven your expertise. I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple. Firstly, how many people will read one long piece of text in one go? Most of us are time poor and when searching for information we need, we want quick answers to specific questions. And even if we did stop and read all of that information in one go, we’re unlikely to remember it, or where it came from, for very long. By publishing content regularly, it keeps you top of mind. The more often people see your name pop up, the more often they will be reminded you know your onions!

To position yourself as an expert you need to be seen. This means the more places you can publish content demonstrating your expertise the better. This may sound daunting, but for example if you write a business blog just once a month, you can likely the use the content of that to create several social media posts to dot post periodically each week. If you can secure positions in relevant trade magazines or local publications relevant to your audience, with feature articles about your areas of expertise (not a sales pitch for your business) people are more likely to perceive you as an expert.

When you know everything there is to know about a particular topic, you might take this knowledge for granted. Don’t! Things change quickly, so make sure you keep up to date with changing technology, systems, suppliers, and trends. If the rest of the market has moved on and you’re still talking about an out of date process or service, your audience will quickly tune out and find another more reliable source of information.

Sounds obvious, right? But when you have all the answers, you might assume prior knowledge in your audience that simply isn’t there. It’s often useful to go back to basics, as well as covering more advanced topics and ideas within your field of expertise. To make sure you’re hitting the right note with your audience, ask them what they’d like to find out more about. Or think about what questions you get asked on a regular basis – if a few people have asked you about a certain topic, there are probably many more people looking for the same answers online. If they can find the answers from you when they need them, it helps to build your reputation as an expert.

There’s nothing worse than needing to find out more about a subject, landing on a website or finding an article in a magazine on that very topic, and not being able to understand a word it says because it is full of technical jargon. There is always a temptation to prove how much you know by using industry specific terms, technical abbreviations, and acronyms. But trust me, not only is it not necessary, but it will put far more people off than it will ever impress. Perhaps you want to talk in depth about legislation in your field, or the technical aspects of a new product launch. That’s fine to do, as long as you’re explaining it in a way your readers will understand, not just a way that you understand.

To position yourself as an expert, it’s best to separate the sales pitch from the informative resource as much as possible. if you are constantly trying to push your product or service on people, while answering their questions, they’ll start to wonder about your credibility. For example, if you’re a home improvement company writing a blog about different types of front doors and you only cover the benefits of the products you sell, visitors may not feel you’re offering them an honest, balanced view. If, however you talk about the pros and cons of every available door, whether you sell it or not, they’re far more likely to trust you and eventually buy from you for your expertise.

It’s not an easy balance to strike, to generate content that demonstrates your expertise, without appearing too pushy and without assuming too much prior knowledge from your audience. But when done well, positioning yourself as an expert in your field can generate a level of trust among your existing and potential customers that is truly valuable.

In the world of PR, there are two key categories to bear in mind: business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C). Both types of PR involve promoting a product, service, or company to a target audience, but there are some key differences between the two.

At Carnsight, we offer both B2B PR services and B2C PR services. This is because the skills are applicable to both and, as a team, we’re worked hard to develop our abilities in each element and area of PR. We understand the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between a B2B project and a B2C project and we’re able to adapt our approach accordingly. Today, let’s explore these differences together.

Target Audience

The target audience is perhaps the most significant difference between B2B and B2C PR. B2B PR focuses on reaching out to other businesses, while B2C PR targets individual consumers. In B2B PR, the target audience is typically made up of decision-makers within a company who have the power to make a purchase on behalf of their business. In contrast, B2C PR targets a much broader audience, aiming to reach the everyday consumer who may be interested in a particular product or service.

Messaging and Content

The messaging and content used in B2B PR and B2C PR also differ. In B2B PR, messaging and content tend to be more technical and informational in nature. B2B PR focuses on educating businesses about products or services that could benefit their company. B2B PR often involves sharing detailed whitepapers, case studies, and reports that demonstrate how the product or service can solve a specific business problem.

The messaging in B2B PR typically focuses on how the product or service can save the business money, increase productivity, or provide other tangible benefits. The content can be data-driven, analytical, and focused on the product’s features and specifications.

B2C PR messaging and content tend to focus more on the emotional and experiential. B2C PR aims to create a connection between the consumer and the product or service. B2C PR often involves creating content, such as videos, social media campaigns, and influencer partnerships, that can capture the attention and interest of a broad audience.

That being said, the decision-makers we’re trying to reach in B2B PR are still human, so emotion and experiences are still important. This could be a whole blog in itself but it’s key to remember that B2B can’t be dry and has just as much opportunity and obligation to engage and excite the audience as B2C. What matters is that the content that engages and excites the two different audiences will differ slightly.

Relationship Building

Relationship building is critical in both B2B and B2C PR as it’s essential to establish a sense of trust and credibility with other businesses or consumers. PR professionals may focus on building long-term relationships with industry influencers, journalists, and other key players within their target market. They may also attend events like launches, trade shows, conferences and fairs to network.

In the case of B2C, PRs often focus on creating buzz and excitement around a product or service. They may engage with influencers and social media personalities to create hype around a product launch or promotional event.

While B2B and B2C PR may share similarities, the target audience, messaging and content, and relationship-building strategies are different. Understanding these differences is critical for PR professionals looking to develop effective strategies and campaigns that will resonate with their intended audience.

However, it’s key to remember that the skills and techniques are universal, and people buy from people. The best PRs always have this front of mine.

Business owners are busy people. I’m sure that’s not exactly news to any of you. The thing is, because of this, the business owners and management teams of the businesses we work with often forget quite how important it is to engage with the publications they actually want to be featured in.

We often ask leaders what publications they and their client base read. And we often get the same sort of responses: I don’t know, I don’t have time to read, it’s all just advertorial nonsense from our competitors anyway.

There are so many reasons that business owners absolutely must read the publications they want their business to be featured in. Some are perhaps a little more obvious than others. But today, we’re going to cover them all. Including how it’s a massive help with boosting your PR presence.

How do you know your business is the right fit for specific publications if you don’t even read it?

Lots of clients come to us with big-name publications they’d like to be featured in, sometimes its national newspapers and publications like Forbes and Refinery29, and other times it’s publications key to a particular industry like The Drum, TechCrunch or Property Week. The thing is, those publications are difficult to get into. Not impossible. But a challenge. And we can absolutely meet that challenge, but in order to break through in those popular publications, the content has to be absolutely spot on.

We try to be completely honest with our clients about whether or not a piece of news or thought leadership will be interesting to the media, or a specific publication. The reality is, some pieces, while strong articles and news pieces in their own right, just aren’t the right fit for the business owner’s dream publication. Perhaps it’s the subject matter, the style, the strength of the argument being made or even how the argument is made.

Business owners will be able to get a much better sense of this for themselves if they regularly read the desired publication. This will help them get familiar with the types of content the publication features and shares.

Why should a publication feature you when you don’t actively support it?

To expect to be featured in a publication that you don’t actively support and engage with can come across as rude and presumptuous to the very journalists you’re pitching to and trying to impress. They want to feature content from writers and thought leaders who respect and appreciate what they do as a publication. And it makes sense on your side too, what’s the point in being in a publication you don’t even like, or at least respect and understand the value of?

Not to mention, in a day and age where journalists are facing increasing pressure and smaller and local publications are having to close left right and centre, these publications deserve your support. If you need them to promote your business, then there has to be some give and take. You can read more about the importance of local press in a previous blog.

Read the publication, share your thoughts on the pieces on social media. If you think a piece is particularly pertinent, you could even reach out to the writer on social media and let them know how much you enjoyed it. And ideally, have at least one subscription for your company. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it really can be money well spent.

Engaging with the right publications gets you noticed

If you do the things I mentioned above like sharing the articles you read and reaching out to the journalists who wrote them, you will start to get noticed by the right people. Publications appreciate their readers, particularly those most loyal and engaged with the content they produce. If you share any thoughts sparked by the articles publicly, then you might find you’ve shared a take that the journalist is really interested in. You can get a rapport going and may even be able to provide quotes for a follow-up piece if you’re lucky.

Reading makes you a better business owner/ leader

Ultimately, reading the thoughts and opinions of others in your industry will make you a better leader. It will broaden your perspective, teach you about things you didn’t previously understand, and keep you updated with the latest innovations and developments in your sector. Reading is good for you. There are ample studies that say so. And if you struggle with reading for accessibility reasons, or any reason for that matter there are usually a few things you can do:

But I really am time-poor!

The tough love answer to this is to make time. It’s an important part of your role. But I understand that there’s nuance here. And so, here’s a sneaky tip for those of you who want to read publications more but are genuinely struggling with finding the time due to business, childcare or other personal lifetime pressures:

Newsletters and bulletins – don’t have time to sit and read through an entire edition of a publication? No problem. Newsletters and bullets can provide a great summary of the biggest stories of the day. You can read them over breakfast, on your lunch, or even just skim over them with your morning coffee. Even just checking out the headlines on a REALLY busy day can go a long way in helping you understand the general goings on within a sector, though of course take the time to delve in deeper when you have the chance.

So, there you have it, plenty of reasons you should actually read the publications you want to be featured in. It’s really surprising how often this comes up.

I make a point of checking in with publications like PR Week, PR moment and Stylist (more for personal enjoyment) on a regular basis so I know what’s going on in the industry. I also read the bullets for all sorts of publications within the sectors we work in such as construction, advertising and marketing, business management and hospitality. And yes, it is my job, but arguably, it’s yours too!