Social Media / PR Archives | Page 24 of 33 | Bristol Creative Industries

There has been a lot of hubbub in the marketing world recently about the upcoming Government campaign encouraging businesses to cut their marketing spend to allow them to cut prices for consumers amidst the cost of living crisis. Is this a sensible move for any business, and should all marketing activity be treated equally in this scenario? How will business blogs fare in these discussions and how will you weigh up your options?

Yet again we find ourselves in an unprecedented situation – this time with the cost of living increasing exponentially. You hear about these things on the news and brace yourself for change, but when you go to the petrol pump and it costs almost £90 to fill up your family car with petrol, the pain is real! So, the fact that the Government is attempting to affect change for the masses is a necessary course of action. However, is cutting marketing spend really the best way to go?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t claim to be a political expert and I wouldn’t want to be making these decisions. But I do know marketing and anyone with any experience in the field will know that promotional activity has a lead time. If industry cuts marketing spend now, business won’t stop overnight, but gradually the pipeline will dry up. Conversely, more money spent on promotion now will result in more business further down the line. Many industries are still in very fragile states of recovery after the pandemic, so to pull back on marketing now, could be damaging to their future prospects.

Whether to cut back on marketing or not, is of course not just down to the Government either. Businesses always need to keep an eye on every line in the budget, and especially over the last two years will have wanted to make sure there is no wasted spend and every part of the business is as efficient as it can be. And of course, when making decisions about your marketing spend, it’s not necessarily an all or nothing scenario.

The best marketing campaigns consist of a mix of marketing tactics including public relations, direct mail, telemarketing, advertising, and online campaigns. If you are committed to best practice and you are already measuring the success rate of each tactic, perhaps there is an area you can easily cut back on because you can clearly see in your metrics it’s not performing as well as other activities in your marketing mix. Or perhaps you need to review your mix to make sure you’re getting the most for your marketing spend.

If business blogs don’t yet form part of your marketing mix, now might be an excellent time to instigate one. Business blogs are a fantastic low-cost option to build and maintain a consistent presence online, while creating content to use on social media platforms. An increasing number of businesses are moving their marketing spend online anyway, so whether you need to cut, adjust, or increase your marketing budget in 2022, business blogs are a fantastic, cost-effective option to have in the mix.

National Awareness Days refer to a day to commemorate an occasion or place of importance for a particular cause and can include day, week or month long campaigns.

There are national awareness days for almost everything, from the serious to the hilarious. You can shape your content to be as fun and adventurous as you like.

Most of us are familiar with a few of these campaigns such as International Women’s Day, World Book Day, Pride Month. But did you know that there are awareness days for so many different occasions such as International Picnic Day… The list is endless, and this is where the fun begins…

Want to know how and why to inspire content using an awareness day calendar? Read on to find out more.

Having a list of awareness days at hand (I have a printed copy stuck to my wall), you should be able to generate many great content ideas. With a little sprinkling of imagination, some time set aside to plan and prepare your content calendar and dedication, there is no reason why you too can’t benefit from using these awareness days to shape great content.

How do awareness days help to inspire amazing content?

National Awareness Days have been used by PR’s and Marketing experts for a long time.

Why? Because the media love nothing more than well-timed, relevant stories. Using these relevant days to reach your target audience is a powerful tool. If you can identify a date that’s relevant to your business, then you’ve identified a potential PR angle!

Awareness days are brilliant for inspiring content for social media posts, blogs and newsletters so use them to your advantage and use them wisely. Just look for the relevant opportunities and piggyback off them

How to make your content unique when using awareness days

Take it from me, it’s entirely achievable to create unique material when using awareness days to shape content. You just need to think outside of the box, be creative and use them as prompts to come up with content. Make sure business tone is captured.

Selecting Awareness Days that are relevant to you or your business

It’s important to let your creative juices flow when selecting the dates for your content. There will be many that are relevant to your business sector but also try to get involved with days that don’t feel 100% relevant – be sure to start by plotting these dates out and adding them to your content planner. You need to think creatively to make them relevant to your brand. If you feel passionate and have something to say about them, or feel some affiliation for the cause associated with it, then do add it to your planner.

Here at Carnsight Communications, we use a platform called Planable to schedule our posts. This is then the start of your content plan.

Plotting these ideas into your planner will provide clarity and structure to the content to create each week. Using this template will enable you to add in other forms of content around the awareness days such as case studies, blogs, client testimonials or business updates.

It’s important to plan ahead with content and definitely take advantage of the awareness days available to you but make sure you don’t overdo it with these dates. It’s the same with everything, if there is too much of one specific type of content, it gets boring for the audience. Be sure to mix things up a little.

Drop these Awareness Days in your content every now and then. Obviously, this is dependent on whether you feel the topic is relevant to you or your business.

If you can embed them into your content, great… they can be a brilliant way of engaging with your audience and can really get you noticed.

What are commentary compilations?

We keep every comment our clients have given us on a range of topics, but rather than using our inboxes as files, we use Trello. This ensures that whichever team member you give comments to, they’re captured, by subject area.

What comments do we use?

Meeting notes, responses to feature requests, previous interviews – there’s a lot of content that we can use, even from our every day discussions. That’s why you’ll often see us scribbling during meetings! For more on the PR process at Carnsight, see our blog on the things every small business should know about PR.

How do we use the comments?

Mostly these are comments first written in response to a certain feature, but sometimes they’re around a theme or a new launch, or even a quote in a press release.

We use them for a number of reasons and in a number of ways:

To save you time – you’ve put thought and energy into creating these comments and we want to maximise them. We can often use the same comments slightly editing to respond to journalists without having to come to you each time. This will also avoid you feeling like you’re repeating yourself by commenting in the future.
To inspire features or thought pieces – sometimes a particular point of view will spark an idea for a wider piece, or a comment made six months ago works with the current news agenda. In which case, we’ll refer back. We check the compilations frequently as a team.
To get to know you better – our clients comment on a wide range of issues that could be industry-specific or general – such as comments on the workplace or recruitment. Your comments help us to understand who we should approach in future on similar pieces.

What if I don’t have time to comment?

If commenting doesn’t come easily, or you never seem to find the time, don’t worry. We have a range of techniques for busy business owners including taking notes over a 15 minute phone call, working from a brain dump or bullet points or pulling content from existing presentations, blogs or social media post.

We’ve worked with over 50 different founder-run businesses over the last six years and we are a small business ourselves, so we know the challenges involved and how to overcome them.

There’s more on where to start with content for PR in our blog.

Originally posted on: www.carnsight.com

Writing is a skill that has to be honed over time, but today, Carnsight Communications Account Manager, Leigh-Ann, is sharing seven quick tips to take your writing to the next level.

1. Always say what you want in the least number of words possible

I’m a chronic rambler in real life. I used to ramble a lot in my writing as well (still do sometimes). But the reality is, the quicker and simpler you can say it, the better.

And don’t worry if you find this difficult. Ramble all you want in the first draft and then be brutal and cut, cut cut! A writing mentor of mine used to call it ‘changing up the gears’. Read through your writing and see if you can spot where you were changing up the gears and when you hit full speed. Cut the gears part. (Thanks, CJ Skuse!)

2. Consider planning what points you want to make ahead of time

Sometimes it can be helpful to jot down the points you want to make before you start writing. That’s what I did to write this article. This will help you focus on what it is you want to say without having to work your way up to it through writing waffle.

3. Interrogate your use of adverbs and adjectives

As a general rule, think no adverbs, few adjectives. You can definitely break this rule. In fact, I would encourage you to eventually. But remember you have to learn the rules to break them.

If you’re using too many adverbs and adjectives, chances are you just aren’t picking strong enough words. Rather than saying ‘he said loudly’, perhaps ‘he shouted’ works better. Again, it comes down to conveying meaning in the most concise and considered way.

4. Avoid overusing exclamation marks

Exclamation marks are very useful but like any device, when overused they can really bring down the tone of a piece of writing. Exclamation marks are used for emphasis. But don’t overemphasise!

If you overemphasise too much then it becomes meaningless! It can even feel like you’re being shouted at!

5. Learn your literary devices

I know it may remind you of dreaded English classes at school, but having a few literary devices in your toolbox can be a really great way to take your writing to the next level.

You may think that these literary devices are only present in novels or pieces of fiction, but the reality is that these devices are used to engage the reader in all types of writing; including non-fiction. These techniques are present in the great classic pieces of literature because they work. Try using a few in your own pieces of writing and see what a difference it makes.

6. Avoid staccato sentences

Staccato sentences are short sentences written back to back. When used appropriately they can create tension and build pace within a piece of writing. When used incorrectly and too often, they make a piece of writing feel bland and monotonous.

Avoiding staccato sentences is all about understanding the rhythm of your writing. Rhythm in writing is about varying your sentence length. Think about how we talk. We don’t use sentences repeatedly with the same syllables and sounds. The rhythm of our sentences changes. Let me show you what I mean…

7. Really think about tone and how word choice impacts this

Tone and voice are all about how a piece of writing sounds and feels. What vibe or feeling does the piece of writing give off? Your word choice will massively impact the tone of your writing and so it’s always important to take extra care when it comes to choosing the right words. It’s not just about conveying meaning, it’s about how you convey that meaning.

Use too much industry jargon and waffle and your tone will be pretentious and condescending. Use over-simplistic language and you run the risk of insulting the intelligence of your reader. It’s all about striking the right balance.

Most of us will alter our tone and word choice appropriately automatically when in conversation, but it can be harder to get it right when writing things down. I’d advise reading your work aloud. Imagine you’re reading it to the very audience you’re trying to reach. Does the tone feel right?

Bonus tip! Tools like Grammarly are a lifesaver.

You don’t want to be reliant on these kinds of tools, but they can be incredibly helpful, particularly when you’re starting out. We’re not affiliated with Grammarly in any way, but it’s a tool I use myself and recommend to anyone trying to tighten up their writing.

You have probably heard of branding in relation to business branding. But what is personal branding and is it really necessary? Personal branding is all about you. It’s how you present yourself to the outside world and how the outside world perceives you. Your personal branding should showcase your skills and experience as well as your personality, which is the most unique thing about you. If done correctly, personal branding has the power to shine a positive spotlight over you. It can help you stand out from the crowd and give you the professional boost you need.

But why is personal branding important?

In today’s world, where everything is shared and discussed on social media, it’s more important than ever to mould your public persona in ways that work for you. Personal branding allows you to communicate exactly who you are and what it is that you do. Ignoring your personal branding may lead to you unnecessarily missing out on opportunities relating to employment, partnerships and/or even networking. According to CareerBuilder (link here), more than half of employers won’t hire potential candidates without some sort of online presence.

The good news about personal branding is that, for the most part, you can be in control of it. You have the ability to mould your image to whatever it is you are wanting to project to the public. It does take time and patience. Always remember that you are leaving an online footprint that might be tricky to get rid of in the future, so always be mindful of what you decide to share.

How to get started on your personal branding journey

Developing your personal brand is hard work but essential to your online presence. Luckily, due to the increase in social media platforms, it has never been easier to get started. Here are some important tips to remember when considering your personal branding journey.

Be genuine

The difference between branding a business and branding yourself as a person is that it is easier for people to build trust with actual human beings than with other businesses. This means it is easier for authentic relationships to be built via personal branding. By sharing stories, you can better build connections and allow others to create bonds through similarities they have or have experienced. Be authentic by always matching your actions to the way you are branding yourself, and most importantly, aim to provide others with some sort of value.

Have a plan

Note down what it is you aim to achieve. Now decide on how you plan to get there. Be aware of what your strengths are and use them to your advantage! Be proud of the skills and experience that set you apart from the rest and let this knowledge guide you. Believe in yourself but remember that it is equally important to be aware of your weaknesses to allow for further growth.

Consistency is key

Be sure to have a presence and to post consistently across all social media platforms. Keep the theme unified as this establishes your personal branding amongst a variety of audiences. You will likely find that different platforms will bring you different opportunities and have different benefits, so it’s important to be a part of them all.

Remember, it doesn’t happen overnight! So be patient and most importantly, have fun with it.

In a recent blog post, we shared our top tips on what you should avoid when pitching to journalists. There we talked about the common errors PR professionals or companies can make when pitching to a journalist, and gave some advice on what to avoid to ensure your news is featured by the target publication. Today we wanted to delve even deeper and teach you how to craft the perfect pitch.

In today’s world, securing the PR you desire can be tricky; journalists are busy with endless press releases flooding their inboxes making it hard to stand out from the crowd. We’re going to make your life a little easier by teaching you how to find and connect with the right publication for your business, and how to write the perfect pitch.

Finding the perfect publication for your business!

You’re about to start your PR campaign but you find yourself stuck on the first hurdle; Where do I pitch my news? Well, this is where we can help you! You’re going to need to do your research to find publications, journalists and relevant websites or bloggers to pitch to. To make sure this publication is right for you, you’ll need to have a thorough understanding of your ‘ideal‘ target market and identify the publishers who match your needs. Remember to keep track of these as they can stack up quickly.

The five W’s

A great place to start when creating your perfect pitch is with the five w’s: who, what, where, when and why. Ask yourself; what is it that you want to achieve through this PR push?

When you have set yourself a clear objective, you will find it much easier to identify your target audience and craft the key message you are looking to communicate.

List out the themes or topics and then begin your research on specific publications that cover your key themes – make sure you fit your story around what they would typically write about!

Research, Research, Research!

When you are happy you have identified your target audience, start researching other industry-specific journalists. Familiarise yourself with the stories they cover, keep a note of journalists’ contact details who cover relevant topics and research them before reaching out. Taking some time out to network with these key people will prove key to the success of your campaign.

If you find yourself at a loss at this stage, try looking into what publications your competitors are featured in. Detail these publications along with the specific journalist contact information for that story. This will help you get a feel for the news they feature whilst providing details of target publications.

Keep a detailed and up-to-date media list

Once you are happy you have identified your target publications, you will need to ensure you keep track of them. Keep the key information stored within a document that allows you to update and amend regularly (such as an Excel doc). At Carnsight Communications, we do just this with our media lists.

Within this tracker, the basics are needed such as publication title, journalist contact details and key themes or topics they cover etc. Never be afraid of targeting the bigger titles either. Often, smaller businesses feel they aren’t as interesting as the larger organisations out there, but this is not true. If you have a fresh perspective or a new idea – make sure you do your research and then reach out!

Engage and build on the relationships

OK, so you now have your list of target publications to pitch to (media list). What’s the best way to get in touch?

At Carnsight Communications, we’re all about building relationships with you, our clients and also with journalists. Building and maintaining these key relationships is a huge part of what we do and the results we achieve.

When you have found your target publications and journalists – look them up on social media, follow them and engage regularly. Never underestimate the importance of this. It’s vital to expand your network.

You will often find a link to the reporter’s contact information within their social media bio. This allows you to pitch to them directly or just to introduce yourself. Being present and engaging often will have many benefits.

Start crafting your perfect pitch

Now you have researched and sourced the target publications for your business, and you’ve started networking with these contacts – you’re ready to start crafting the perfect pitch!

Keep in mind the five w’s (who, what, where, when and why)

It’s all in the storytelling. What is the news you’re sharing about? Remember to always keep your target audience in mind.

Provide all the information that makes the story. By providing all the information, reporters are more likely to feature because they have less work to do.
Make sure to clearly define your purpose: What problem does your product or service solve? Who is your audience and who has that problem?
Why you’re the expert in this field? What experience do you have on this specific topic and what sets you apart from others in your field of work?

Present the perfect pitch; professional and concise.

Some other great tips for reaching out to target journalists are:

Check out where that journalist is most active online (such as Twitter or LinkedIn) and keep a note on your media list.
Draft out a personalised and detailed pitch. Remember to keep it short and sweet.
Use a subject line that grabs attention – don’t leave it to chance! Now is the time to be noticed.
Include a ‘boiler plate’ of your ancillary materials in case these are needed. These include a short company bio, links to the website and social channels alongside a folder of different sized images. Ensure these images are labelled to support the journalist.
Respond quickly – don’t leave them hanging. If you send out a release, make sure you keep an eye on communications and respond as quickly as you can. Don’t leave the journalist hanging on for days as they will not want to work with you again.
Get to the point – bullet points are often preferred.
Be polite and personalised. Remember journalists are people and we all like to be greeted nicely, try to research a little about them as individuals. Do they share details of their personal lives on social media such as likes or interests? If so, tailor your greeting around these details.

Keep it consistent!

Last but by no means least – let’s look at how you’re going to make the above happen!

It may seem difficult to get time in your diary to get pitching but our best advice to you is for you to schedule an hour or so every couple of weeks that is solely dedicated to researching your target publications, cultivating your existing contacts, and staying in regular contact.

Remember to regularly update your media lists and engage often on social platforms. Get involved with those conversations online, add your valuable input and stay fresh in your target audience and journalist’s mind. Be consistent with this and the results will speak for themselves.

We hope you have enjoyed reading through these tips on crafting your perfect pitch. If you need more advice on what a pitch is and how to craft a winning pitch, MuckRack has outlined some great pointers here.

Social media analytics allows you to improve your business strategy and optimise engagement via the collection of data. This data will help you and your team better understand your audience and learn what is working for you and what isn’t. It also allows you to set benchmarks to compare against the future performance of your brand.

Although it is possible to collect basic data manually, social media analytic tools allow for quick collection of data that is easy to understand. With just a few clicks your business will be given a data-driven plan for the future of your social media channels, allowing you to monitor metrics and data trends ensuring your business won’t fall behind.

1. Measure your performance

I think we can all agree that the main objective of a brand having a social media presence is to improve business. Social media analytics provides instant feedback on business performance. This means that you can quickly pick up on strategies that are not working for your brand and improve them before it’s too late. Social Media analytics not only works to measure how your social media pages are performing in terms of likes, shares and follower growth but many other aspects as well, such as click-through rate which is traffic that has been directed from your social media channels to your webpage.

2. Teaches you more about your audience

Do not underestimate the power of your audience. Your followers are a big part of how well your business performs, so be sure to encourage engagement across all your channels. By using social media analytics, you can monitor the rates of engagement by what posts attract the most views, likes, comments, shares and click-throughs, allowing you to constantly post effective material. Make sure your content evolves with your audience and stays in line with trends that are relevant to your industry.

3. Shows you where you rank amongst competitors

Doing well as a business is great. But not when your competitors are miles ahead and are doing better. Social media analytics allows you to compare your performance with competitors and show you where you rank amongst average industry performance. This data will help your business figure out how much it needs to improve to be one of the best businesses in the market. Your business can also monitor accounts of competitors, taking note of their strengths and any weaknesses that your business may be able to fill in.

Although social media analytics can seem a little scary to those who are new to it, it really isn’t that complex once you get the hang of it. Keep an eye on our blogs for more on social media analytics in the coming weeks.

As PR professionals, pitching to a journalist is part of our every day and is almost second nature. It’s key to remember when pitching to journalists that there are a few things we must avoid. In this blog, we will be sharing with you our top tips covering what to avoid when sharing a potential story, and some expert tips on nurturing a positive relationship with the media.

Journalists get a daily barrage of press releases and sorting through them can be challenging. They will spend the majority of their time filtering through emails with the aim of finding content that is actually newsworthy. That’s why it’s important that we assist their duties by sending through details that they need or want whilst making that journey for them as smooth as possible.

It’s vital as PR professionals that we recognise habits and other little things that frustrate journalists and aim to avoid them where we can.

1. Make sure your pitch is relevant!

Before sending any email through to a publication or journalist, make sure to do some research on them beforehand. Have they covered a similar topic or theme previously? Is the pitch relevant to that publication’s readership or audience? Does your pitch stand out from the others? Make sure your pitch is relevant before proceeding any further.

2. Avoid sending a pitch without detailing why it is relevant

If you want to make sure you give your pitch the best chance of being seen and featured, ensure to include an explanation of why this story is relevant to them. This can help journalists to save valuable time and will increase your chances of receiving a response to your pitch. Be it a yes or a no, a response to a pitch is great for future networking possibilities.

Remember to keep your pitch snappy and to the point. You can also explain why your pitch is perfect for the audience within the first few lines of your pitch.

3. Time that follow-up call correctly!

Most journalists will be happy to receive a call from a PR professional. But there is a time and a place for a follow up after sending a pitch email. Don’t overdo it!

There is nothing more annoying than having your head deep in a document only for your phone to start ringing, right? You lose your train of thought and can often be sidetracked elsewhere. Keeping this in mind, it’s absolutely vital that we keep these follow-up calls to a minimum. This saves time for both you and the journalist.

Personally, after pitching a release, if I haven’t had a response within the first three to four days – then I will make a follow-up call. Upon making this call, I keep in mind that the journalist is likely to be busy so will always start off the conversation with ‘I hope this is a good time for you to take my call?’. Once confirmed – now is the time to stand out. Ensure to ask the journalist how they are, get to know them a little and start building that relationship. Avoid too much time-wasting and small talk, however.

Another tip when it comes to making that call; NEVER call a journalist outside of their working hours or whilst they are on annual leave. Research their specific working hours and contact during these times. Calling outside of these times shows a lack of respect.

4. Be personable

When sending out a pitch make sure you include a name and a snappy but relevant greeting and tailor the copy to that specific publication. This shows the journalist that you know who they are, what they write about and importantly, that you know your stuff. If you stand out to them and engage with them like a colleague, they are more likely to reply to you.

5. Keep the load to a minimum

Avoid overloading a journalist with several pitches as this can be harmful to your relationship.

If you have more than one release to share at one time, select the most relevant for now and give that release enough ‘air time’ before proceeding to send on more.

Also, keep the email chasing to a minimum. Don’t keep sending your pitch so that it’s floating at the top of the journalist’s inbox. Journalists don’t have time to respond to every pitch they get individually. So, if you don’t hear back assume it’s a no.

Sometimes we may not ever hear back from a publication after pitching news or we may even get a straight ‘no’. That’s OK. Never argue with a journalist about the decision. Respect the decision and move on. There is no harm in trying again with your next story.

6. Proof, proof and proof again!

This point can not be stated loudly enough! When sending a release to a journalist make sure you have gone through your copy with a fine-tooth comb. Nothing looks more unprofessional than a release full of typos. Double-check your email before sending it to any journalist making sure their name and the company they work for are correct.

We all make mistakes from time to time. Even PR professionals will make mistakes but when a press release is filled with grammatical and factual errors, a journalist is more likely to simply delete it. Remember to proof, proof and proof again. You can never proof too many times.

7. Offer interviews/ speakers

Another vital step in ensuring a response to your pitch is to make sure there is someone that the journalist can talk to if they wish to do so. Most often than not a journalist will want to put their own spin on the story in order to make it different or unique, so having the option to collate more details is a must.

We hope you have enjoyed our top tips on what to avoid when pitching to a journalist. By following these steps you will maximise your chances of organic media placement whilst maintaining great relationships with the media.

A biography (or bio) is a great way to give potential clients, customers, or employers a quick snapshot of who you are. It’s a chance to show off your experience in the industry and share whatever it is that makes you different. In PR, biographies are essentially used for pitching purposes but can be edited slightly and used as a branding tool on other platforms such as on your website or social media pages.

A good bio should be a summary of your resume/CV, consisting of approximately four to eight sentences that read in a creative fashion. As readers are usually short on time, your biography needs to be concise and able to pack a punch. Here are four things to include when writing a good biography:

Start with the basics

Start your biography with your name along with your current job role or profession. Think of this as the title of your biography.

List your experience

A good way to start your biography is to list the experience you have had in your industry and how it has led you to where you are today. A brief history tells readers where you’ve come from and allows you to list your biggest accomplishments.

Your current role

Once you’ve managed to fit your past work experience into a couple of creative sentences, it’s time to fast forward to the present. Let readers know what your current job role is and how long you’ve been there. You do not have to follow this format. Feel free to start with your current role and work backwards if you prefer. However, it’s important to show readers what makes you special and what it is that you offer your industry that others may not.

End with some personality

Although this part is optional, ending your biography with some personality is a great way to stand out amongst the crowd. Feel free to mention a fun fact about yourself such as ‘speaks five languages, or ‘is a karate blackbelt’. Unlike resumes/CVs which are usually quite formal, you can be a little more flexible when writing your biography.

If you’re still stuck on how to write a good biography, here is an example from Jessica Morgan, founder of Carnsight Communications:

Jessica Morgan

In 2016, after 15 years of working with high-profile clients at TEQUILA\, Craik Jones and Proximity and then as Director of PR agency Pumpkin, where she worked with M&C Saatchi among other global brands, Jess founded PR consultancy, Carnsight Communications.

Passionate about the benefits well-executed PR brings to businesses big and small, Jess loves working directly with Carnsight clients and the media to create campaigns that resonate and deliver beyond expectation.

Since setting up Carnsight, Jess and her family moved from London to the West Country where she is the proud owner of a lively cockapoo (Clifford) and a burgeoning vegetable plot.