Winning awards is a wonderful way to earn your business prestige and recognition within your industry. Awards are not only great for PR, but also for team morale, positioning yourselves as experts within a given field and encouraging new business consideration.
But, how do you win awards? The truth is, no matter how great your business actually is, it all comes down to your entry.
Awards entries take a lot of time and energy; something that business owners and employees are often pretty short of. They can be frustrating and long, and ultimately, that’s where we come in. We can help you craft that winning entry. At Carnsight we’ve written countless and we’ve picked up plenty of tips and tricks along the way. Today we’re going to share some of them with you. Here are 4 tips for writing a great awards entry:
Before you even begin writing your entry you need to identify which award it is you actually want to win. Scratch the surface and you’ll find there are countless different awards out there in every single sector and industry and so it’s important to find which ones are right for your business.
This takes a lot of research and usually involves a lot of whittling down, too. Awards entries take a lot of focus and so it’s not possible to enter every one in your industry. It’s important to know which awards are worth the most to your business. Which one would mean the most to you and your business to win?
At this stage, a PR can help you by thoroughly researching the awards within your industry and creating a list of suggested focuses. At Carnsight, we not only work to provide a list of relevant and exceptional award opportunities, but we ensure we understand the entry and judging processes in order to give businesses the best chance of success.
As we’ve stressed above, entering for an award is a lengthy process which requires a lot of thought. If you’re a business owner or someone who works for the business, the likelihood is you won’t have a lot of extra time to give outside of the work you already do. Taking on such a task on top of your existing responsibilities is a lot and this is another reason why getting help from a PR is a good idea.
A PR will be able to give the entry exactly the time and attention that it needs and deserves. They can focus on the project and ensure that it is completed to the best that it can be without needing too much of your time as a business. Not only this, but a PR will likely be able to complete the entry that little bit quicker, given their experience in crafting entries.
This is perhaps the biggest area in which we can help as a PR consultancy. It’s often difficult as someone who is incredibly close to the business to see the bigger picture. A PR can help you to craft a story within your entry, telling the judges exactly who you are and how you got where you are today. As PRs we are skilled at telling businesses stories and it’s something we do on a daily basis. PRs know exactly how to get under the skin of your business and how to craft an entry that’s relevant, inspiring, attention grabbing and honest.
A PR will also be able to help you give your entry that special something. With vast experience, good PRs are especially great at knowing how to make your business stand out from the rest. It’s important to know what your hook will be, what makes your business the deserving winner over the hundreds of other successful businesses that have entered?
There’s no point in writing a beautifully crafted award entry that raves about your business if you can’t back up what you say. Judges want proof of your claims and you will need case studies and value based evidence in order to validate your entry.
It’s all very well to say that your marketing campaign was an unmatched success, but can you prove that? One of the best ways to prove your business is to demonstrate its impact. What has changed for the better because of what your business was able to achieve and how has it changed? You might struggle to feature the full results but even % are better than general terms.
You can find examples of our work in the form of case studies here. Case studies are a vital part of demonstrating what you can do as a business.
To find out more about PR can help your business check out our blog post on the benefits of PR.
You can also see further examples of our coverage over on Instagram where we share new coverage every Thursday.
eCommerce sales in the UK have continued to rise over the years, growing from a market value of £513.5 billion in 2014 to £693 billion in 2019. The pandemic forcing more Britons to stay home has massively accelerated this growth, pushing retail eCommerce sales past 30% of total retail sales in 2020.
In the uncertain world that we all live in today, to say that promoting your online store is important would be an understatement. Capturing the attention of a digital audience, however, requires digital marketing know-how, and when it comes to getting a foothold in the search engine results pages (SERPs) there really are only two main marketing channels to explore: organic SEO and paid search or pay-per-click (PPC).
In this mini-guide, we’ll briefly explore the main tools at your disposal to help push your eCommerce sales and grow your brand online.
eCommerce SEO is the practice of improving the search rankings of your online store for a whole host of related search terms so that potential customers are more likely to find you whenever they use a search engine to look for relevant products. It includes tactics such as creating intuitive, navigable site architecture and using well-researched keywords in product and product category pages, as well as creating a whole host of informative supplementary content and guides to really demonstrate your industry expertise.
Whether it’s your home page or any of your product pages, all have a better chance of ranking high in the SERPs of search engines like Google if you apply eCommerce SEO.
eCommerce SEO is vital for any business with an online store, as it drives organic search traffic and is an investment in building a brand’s digital presence.
Google Ads is Google’s advertising platform which allows you to display advertisements on their platforms, including Google Search Network. You have to pay Google for every action users take such as clicking on your ad (hence pay-per-click), but only then and not before.
As with eCommerce SEO, your online store will benefit from Google Ads by appearing high on the SERPs, specifically in Google Search, with increased site traffic and potentially improved conversions and sales. The key difference is that paid ads are shown before organic search results, so they can get more immediate attention from people who use Google Search.
You get what you pay for with Google Ads, and you have to keep investing money into it if you want your ads to stay up. In this way, the ROI is very transient as it’s entirely dependent on you maintaining your click budget (unlike organic SEO where the investment takes longer to materialise but will give you longer-lasting results).
Google Shopping shows ads of products for sale on various Google channels, including Google Search, from online stores that take advantage of the service. People who click on a Google Shopping ad are directed to the product page of the seller’s online store where they can complete the purchase.
Convenience is one of Google Shopping’s major benefits, as you only have to submit product info and a picture for your ad. Google will take what you’ve provided and show your ad to the most relevant audience.
A Google Shopping ad shows the product’s price and aggregate user rating for products with reviews. Such info is useful for qualifying leads, as those who click on Google Shopping ads already have set expectations and are more willing to make purchases.
Google Shopping falls under Google Ads, so it’s PPC that you also have to budget for to keep your Shopping ads running.
SEO and PPC are good on their own, but when they are both done together, the results can be outstanding.
You can use Google Ads to test out keywords that you’re thinking of targeting for your eCommerce SEO efforts. Paid ads can quickly drive significant traffic to your site, which you can then check if that same traffic results in conversions for the keywords you targeted. Depending on the results, you can choose to use those keywords for your SEO or not.
Conversely, you can use the data from your eCommerce SEO keyword research to bolster your PPC campaigns by targeting keywords that you already know perform well.
There are other ways to synergise SEO and PPC, but the core principle when using both is to use the data gathered from one method to inform and optimise the strategies for the other.
For eCommerce SEO, the top three metrics to consider are the following:
All of these are available in Google Search Console.
Meanwhile, PPC campaigns measure:
Google Analytics lets you track all these metrics for your Google Ads campaigns.
Apart from on-site SEO and PPC campaigns, online businesses can also greatly benefit from being connected to a network of blogs and influencers within their industries.
There is the broad benefit of building awareness for your brand when other websites and thought leaders mention your company on their platforms. It also has a more specific and material benefit of getting links back to your eCommerce store, which is important to improve your ranking.
You can start by researching blogs and influencers that cover the kind of products you sell and talk to your target audience. Build a rapport with them by commenting on their posts and interacting with their social media accounts genuinely.
Over time and with an established professional relationship, you can then ask to contribute to their websites with a guest post and get a link back to your online store in return.
Bitcade is a Bristol-based retro arcade machine manufacturer that was lagging behind its competitors in online search before Superb Digital implemented PPC and SEO campaigns.
Superb Digital, an SEO agency in Bristol, started with a Google Ads campaign, putting up both text and shopping ads. Sales shot up by 181% at the end of the first month and another 30% after two more months with further improvements to the campaign such as reducing their CPA.
With the initial sales boost and confidence in their digital marketing, Bitcade greenlit a full eCommerce SEO campaign.
We implemented on-site optimisation based on thorough competitor and keyword research, created a blog with rich, insightful content, building links with lifestyle and gaming bloggers, and overhauled the site design to make it more visually appealing and easier to use.
There were consistent increases in rankings and revenue for the first six months. This groundwork prepared Bitcade for the rise of digital purchases during the pandemic, resulting in a massive 297% increase in leads and a 370% upturn in revenue 12 months into the campaign. Suffice to say, Bitcade’s founder, Jack England, has been over the moon about the results and is continuing to invest in his digital marketing with us.
If you’re hitting a brick wall with your search rankings or have seen a recent drop then it could be time you engage with a reputable and trusted SEO agency. At Superb Digital we can help with your organic SEO and PPC campaigns, as well as other elements of your digital strategy.
Get in touch with us today and we’ll be more than happy to look into your online store (or any type of website for that matter) and put together a no-strings-attached quote.
E-Commerce is one of the world’s most lucrative industries. More than ever, businesses need to have an online presence if they want to keep their customers loyal to their products, services and brand. COVID-19 has only accelerated this need for organisations to get digital, put their product data online and offer a completely virtual service.
Of course, it’s easier said than done whether you’re a multi-national organisation or part of a smaller, specialised industry. Your main challenge is getting your product data from its source to your end user, quickly and accurately. And when your end user has the ability to interact with your product data in multiple ways, across any number of different platforms, that challenge grows in complexity.
So how do you manage this data flow? Having an effective Product Information Management tool (PIM) is key.
A PIM centralises your product data information and assets, including product specification data and any associated media assets, before distributing that data to multiple sources. Put simply, a PIM ensures your data flow is as efficient as possible.
In manufacturing, for example, it’s typical for product data to originate from older, legacy systems, where it’s input at the factory during the production stage. Then, the marketing teams responsible for selling these products have the daunting task of translating this data – often manually – in order to get it online. This process then often requires manual intervention again, to keep it up to date.
Processing the data manually in this way creates a disconnect between the marketing data and the product data: they’re never in sync with one another. And that leaves room for error.
According to Ventana Research, 46% of companies that don’t have one single source of product information, and instead, use Excel spreadsheets to manage product data.
This can be a serious problem. 47% of the above companies admit they often find product-related errors and almost 20% of those errors have a major detrimental impact on sales performance. PIM is the solution.
Your customers interact with your data on many different devices, through their desktop, mobiles, or even via their smart speaker. So, having an application with a modern Application Programming Interface (API) becomes essential in your data workflow.
By using a RESTful API your product data can be shared easily, as it’s exposed in a predictable, interactive format.
But not all organisations can commit the time, resource or budget to completely overhaul their systems, end-to-end, all the way to the factory level. Instead, there are other options.
To alleviate problems caused by disparate, legacy data, you can break the process down into smaller, more manageable applications. This is known as having a microservices architecture. Microservices are dedicated applications which focus on one dedicated function: in this case, in consuming your legacy data, transforming it into an end-user friendly format, then injecting that data into a PIM.
This approach ensures your original base data is kept up to date, and maintains data availability even if there’s a breakdown in one part of the workflow or chain.
Using cloud services, such as AWS, we can leverage tools like SQS and Lambda to support a decoupled architecture. Not only does decoupled microservices architecture prevent potential data loss, and preserve service in the event of application breakdown, it improves performance by offloading queue management and data flow into the Cloud.
A final but essential consideration, no matter what systems and applications you use: data security.
Experimental product data can be incredibly sensitive, so keeping it secure at both the point of origin and in-transit is important, as is ensuring pre-production data doesn’t accidentally end up publicly viewable. A PIM provides protection by implementing strict workflows for your data.
There are many applications and frameworks out there specifically designed as PIMs, and they range in price depending on the supplier and the size of your product data.
Likewise, every business has different workflows and product data structures. Once you include a legacy data issue you’re having, it’s rare that any off-the-shelf-solution will meet your requirements exactly. A custom solution is often the way forward. And this is where using a flexible framework, such as Drupal, has distinct advantages.
Drupal is an enterprise-level content framework with many applications. Traditionally it’s a content management system, but its latest version is much more than that.
Drupal has a powerful entity framework, allowing you to model almost any data. Its strong community – made up of real people struggling with the same challenges as you are – has developed countless modules and plug-ins to enhance functionality.
And what’s more, since Drupal is open source, there are no licence fees or user usage limits. So every penny of your investment goes where you need it: into solving your specific workflow and data modelling challenges.
No matter how large or technical your datasets, nor how specialised your business is, you deserve to get the most from your digital applications.
At Proctors, our team of technology experts have been solving problems for specialist businesses across the globe: from tech behemoths like Panasonic, to niche industry start-ups. When it comes to talking data, you’ll want to talk to Proctors.
We’re more than happy to put our heads together with yours and discover the best solution for your business.
Speaking to a journalist, especially for the first time, can be a bit daunting. Often we become all too aware of being recorded and of the significance that’s attached to each word. It’s easy to get flustered if you don’t fully understand the question or don’t feel like you have the perfect answer lined up. Talking it through with a PR agency or even a colleague in advance can really help.
Today we wanted to share with you some of our best tips for preparing for a journalist interview so that you can go into a meeting, on a phone call or, increasingly, on a video call with positivity and confidence.
The most important thing in developing your confidence going into an interview with a journalist is that you feel prepared. If you can, ask if it’s possible to see the kind of questions or areas the journalist would like to cover in advance. They may or may not want to share and these might not give you all the detail (many prefer off the cuff answers and discussion) but even some information will help.
You can also think of the kind of questions you might be asked so you can prep some answers, as well as refreshing your memory on any information such as reports or research you’ll need to know. It’s often helpful to write out some key bullet points that can sit in front you as a support.
This is important. It’s great to be interviewed but it’s also important to land some of your key messages during the interview. What do you want to work in there that would help your business and would be useful to say to the particular sector the publication focuses in?
It can be helpful to think of three key points that you can visualise as a triangle in your mind, but even one point about your expertise that would be good to come out is helpful. You should write it/them down and have it in front of you for reference.
You may feel you know what they cover, but be sure to have a good look at the publication your interview is going into so you can get a feel for what they cover. This way you can ensure what you have to say is relevant, and think of your responses in light of its tone.
Having a look at the journalists most recent work can help massively. You’ll get to know their voice and style, what topics interest them, and it can also provide you with reference points for conversation. You can compare and contrast, as well as getting a feel for the dialogue. Twitter is useful here as well as a Google news search.
Even though talking to a journalist might make you feel slightly under pressure, there really is no hurry. It’s important to remember that you are providing value in what you are able to offer. Take your time and don’t feel the need to rush your responses. Allow yourself to think things through as you would in any other conversation.
During the interview, the journalist will write down or record everything you say. Remember, anything they capture could be used for the interview so if you don’t want to see your words in print, it’s best not to say it in the first place. Unless you know them really well, treat everything you say as ‘on the record’.
If you want to share additional information that you’re keen not to attach to you, don’t do it during the interview. Instead, discuss it with your PR consultant or PR agency as there might be another way to share it.
Journalists aren’t trying to catch you out when they leave pauses after answers. Often people fill in the gaps and then say things they hadn’t prepared which leads to more interesting content – which is obviously what they’re after. So feel free to leave silences and let the journalist lead.
If you’re asked a statistic or figure that you don’t know and don’t have written down, feel free to say “good question – I’ll need to check that out. Can I email you back afterwards?” Don’t feel on the spot or you may make a mistake. It’s OK not to know everything immediately. If it’s really not something you can answer you can always say “that’s not really my area of expertise.”
The bridging technique is very important in dealing with difficult questions. For example, you could say something like: “That’s a really interesting question – but I think the key point is…” This will help you move on to something you’d like to highlight and can direct the conversation away from topics you might find difficult to cover. Remember, they are after interesting content, not trying to trip you up at every turn.
“One more thing” – it’s often the final question that trips people up. The formal interview seems to be over and before you say goodbye, the journalist asks an extra question that might catch you off-guard. Remember, the interview isn’t actually over until you say goodbye and hang up or leave the room. Be aware of the last question.
If you can bear these tips in mind during your interview with a journalist, you have little to fear. Often our anxieties are just in our heads. Entering anything with a level of preparedness makes a world of difference to our confidence so relax, give yourself time to prepare, and enjoy.
If you’d like some helping landing an interview with a journalist feel free to contact us here, and we can discuss how Carnsight Communications might be able to help.
There is a lot going on in the world right now – a pandemic, Brexit, and a lot of global uncertainty, but there are also a lot of opportunities.
Global trade is rebounding far quicker than it did after the 2008 financial crisis. Shipping volumes returned to levels in half the time that took to reach post-Lehman. Central banks are continuing to steam ahead with unprecedented financial support packages, driving some global stock markets to record gains.
Most importantly, different countries will recover from this period at different speeds. Which ones will recover faster? Which markets show the opportunity most suited to your expansion plans?
Maybe you have spotted an opportunity?
You need to consider these three things when looking to expand into new markets in 2021.
You have been working with your agency for a couple of years. They have a solid team and presence in a few different countries. You have talked to them about moving into different markets. It was a conversation that brought you excitement. They may have even offered to hire in specific countries for you. “Great,” you thought.
Do not remain with your existing partners for multi-market growth unless you have an extremely good reason to.
Dig into their network properly – assess their depth of expertise in different markets. Do they partner? Do they have a handful of account handlers in different countries and call that ‘international’? What is their client base? Which markets do their client base operate in? Are they showing bias by leading you into new markets based on their own experience?
The key to having a successful international partner is that they genuinely demonstrate to you that they have a substantial network that they have full control over (not partnerships). They need to be focused on the ways and means of providing the agility and connectivity that powers that network.
Customer experience has been an excellent buzzword for a few years. And yes, worry not, we have a customer journey loop we are proud of as well.
If you are looking to expand into a new market, the fundamentals should be understanding the culture and context of a new market. It is not about customer journey mapping in a conventional sense, but it is about truly getting to understand the culture, the context and how to reach customers in your new market. You can only really do this by assembling a team of people who deeply understand the markets you are moving into.
Get your context and cultural understand wrong and you have spent a lot of money and time launching into a new market badly.
What we have seen from clients who engaged with us throughout 2020 is that almost 100% needed help in planning their entry into new markets. The business case was there and strategically it made sense, but the substance in a business case needed building.
This comes from deep exploration into new markets. And by that, I do not mean spending time on ‘Google Market Finder’. I mean local insights – insights based on cultural understanding and a very deep level of data that is well assembled to digest and interpret.
Processing this data, at speed, is very difficult to do well across multiple markets without the right toolset and teams experienced in handling this data. Look for true added value from tools that your partner is offering or look to acquire some. Find a partner who will present you with assimilated data in ways you did not know possible to give you the context you really need.
Spend time interpreting and analyzing this data and ensure your entry into a new market is data-led and well researched, so you fully appreciate the opportunity (and pitfalls) of your strategy.
Clubhouse is the social media network that’s taking the world by storm. Despite only launching in April last year, the app had 8.5m downloads at the end of February 2021 and users including the likes of Elon Musk (@elonmusk) and Mark Zuckerberg (@zuck23).
Drew Benvie (@drewbenvie), social media expert and founder of Battenhall, joined a Bristol Creative Industries event to share tips on how entrepreneurs, marketers and other creatives can use the app to grow their profile.
Here’s a summary of his advice.
With 8.5m downloads compared to Facebook’s 2.8bn active users, Clubhouse “is teeny weeny as a social network”, Drew says, but due to the high profile nature of its users “it’s really starting to turn heads”.
Drew believes Clubhouse sits in a space between social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok and audio/video platforms like YouTube, Spotify and BBC Sounds. “At first I thought this is going to change social media,” he says, “people are going to start listening to things instead of writing or reading, but actually the data suggests it’s increasing use of other social media, and it’s also not really cannibalising mainstream audio or video. It’s kind of complementing that too.”
Drew says what excites him about Clubhouse is that “anyone can rock up, it’s really them and it’s unscripted”. That includes high profile people. Drew was hosting a room (we explain what that is below) about social media and Damian Collins MP (@damiancollinsmp), the former chair of the Parliamentary committee that grills big social network bosses, showed up to listen and then asked to speak. The next day he joined again.
Clubhouse is an app on which users host, listen to and participate in audio groups, known as rooms, where typically one or more moderators host live discussions.
Clubhouse is currently only available on iPhones and iPads. You also need an invite to get access. Speak to someone you know who’s on Clubhouse and ask them for one.
Once you’re in, set up a bio. You can add whatever you like including links to your Twitter and Instagram accounts. You can follow people on Clubhouse but there’s no messaging functionality within the app.
In terms of what username to pick, Drew recommends your real name as Clubhouse is all about real people having conversations.
The Clubhouse algorithm is still “a bit ropey”, Drew says, so to find interesting people to follow select topics that you’re interested in and look for interesting people talking about those topics.
Clubhouse connects with your phone address book so it will show you your contacts already using the app.
When you follow someone, click on the alarm bell icon in their profile and you can select to be notified always, sometimes or never when they speak on the app.
Rooms (sometimes known as events – see below) are where the conversations take place. All rooms are live and they are not recorded so you can’t replay them (although lots of people are secretly recording rooms and uploading videos to YouTube such as this one with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg). At this point in Drew’s talk, an attendee said she was in a room with Brad Pitt!
To get used to the app, join rooms that look interesting to you. A room has three tiers; a stage with the people speaking (some of whom are moderators), people being followed by the speakers and everyone else.
Everyone not on the stage is muted and you can’t speak. If you want to speak, you can raise your hand and a moderator can invite you to the stage. Moderators can also remove people from the stage or from the room completely.
It can be nervewracking to speak for the first time but hang out in rooms that appeal to you and when you’re ready and have something to say, raise your hand and speak succinctly.
Your followers can ‘ping’ you to join a room. Exit a room with the ‘leave quietly’ button.
Rooms can be:
The app will show you rooms based on who you follow and the topics you’ve selected.
If you click ‘start a room’ and select the type, it will go live instantly.
If you want to schedule a room for the future, Clubhouse describes that as an ‘event’. Create one by clicking on the calendar icon at the top of the app.
Clubs are anchors for your activity on Clubhouse. They are like what Facebook business pages are to your personal profile. It allows people to follow a theme. There are thousands of clubs covering all sorts of topics including social media, artificial intelligence, movies, public speaking, comedy and start-ups. Within a club, individual rooms are created to have live conversations. When a room goes live, you’ll be notified.
When you get on the app, click the magnifying glass icon top left and you’ll see lots of clubs to follow.
To set up your own club, click on your profile image at the top right of the app and then the + next to the icons of clubs that you are a member of.
When starting a room or a club, Drew recommends planning with other people to maximise exposure. When someone is co-hosting with you, make them moderators.
Listen to rooms to pick up best practice moderator skills such as introducing the show/room/event (they are called all those things!), welcoming people to the stage and keeping the conversation flowing.
To build momentum, it’s a good idea to host a room at the same time every day, week or month.
Drew says speaking in a room tends to grow your following by around 10% of the room’s total participants. You’re also likely to pick up followers on other social networks if you’ve included links in your bio.
You can’t send someone a link to your profile on Clubhouse but you can send them a link to an event you’ve planned.
People are also using other social networks to promote events such as this Twitter account for The Good Time Show, which is part of Good Time, one of the most high profile clubs on Clubhouse. An event with Elon Musk in that club broke the app!
In Clubhouse, you’re talking to strangers and you’re listening to strange conversations. There have been reports of trolling and harassment so Drew advises being safe by not allowing random people to speak in your rooms or letting them be moderators.
Other social networks are already taking on Clubhouse. Twitter Spaces is live and Facebook is rumoured to be building an audio product.
“A wider brand audio strategy on audio is something I would absolutely recommend you start considering if you think Clubhouse is interesting for you,” Drew says.
Think about why your audience would want to engage using audio and harness influencers across Clubhouse.
Drew Benvie runs ‘Trending’ which has a room discussing the latest social media trends every Tuesday and Thursday at 11am GMT.
He also recommends ‘9am in London’ created by Abraxas Higgins (@abraxas), one of the most followed UK Clubhouse users. His club hosts a daily “no agenda” room at 9am GMT.
You can follow Drew on Clubhouse at @drewbenvie and members of the Bristol Creative Industries team, Alli Nicholas, Dan Martin and Chris Thurling, at @allinicholas, @dan_martin and @christhurling.
If you’re a Bristol Creative Industries member who’s on Clubhouse, let us know by following us or sending us a tweet.
As a PR agency, we often talk about the importance of building the profile of a business or an individual, but what does that really mean? Here we cover the basics about building a profile – why it’s important, how it helps with day-to-day PR and where to start.
When we talk about having a profile, we mean being known for something – often for a specialism. For a PR agency, our client having a profile will either mean that, when discussing you with a journalist they might know you by name, or by company. Or we will be able to quickly demonstrate your profile by sharing articles and coverage that proves it.
Equally, you or your company might be given a quick Google at some stage. Generally, a range of pieces appearing, not just from your website, demonstrate what you stand for. The same goes for prospects or potential customers or connections – if they search for you, they should ideally see a good range of pieces that represent you and your area of expertise. (We’ve also written more about the benefits good PR brings across your business).
Being known for something in particular will mean you’re more likely to be featured in an article about it. You might become a go-to person on the topic. You could appear on a podcast or at an event all around it. Even if you feel you’re an expert, it’s much harder to convince a journalist to feature your commentary or news if they’ve never heard of you and can’t find much about you online. Especially if you’re up against competitors with ready-made profiles.
Remember, journalists need to be sure they’re speaking to an expert, rather than someone who could be talking a good game without much substance behind it. They can’t risk spending time on an interview otherwise. And, if they do find a good source with a decent profile, they will come back again, and could even remember you if they move positions or publications.
Two main things are important: the consistency of what you’re saying and the regularity of you saying it. Consistency comes back to your key specialisms or areas to push. And it’s not just about talking – it’s also about demonstrating. As an agency, you can do this through sharing creative work to prove your proposition, for example, or, as a business, through your output or your products.
We are happy to work on one-off pushes or launches, or on ongoing PR. But, to build a profile, you need regularity. It’s important to be providing what publications need frequently and consistently. That’s also key if you want to get into a particular publication. We will help you to understand what to target them with and we will keep them on our radar and discuss you with them at every appropriate opportunity. We can only do this with an ongoing relationship.
We often work with people who have never promoted themselves or their business, or worked with a PR consultancy before, so we’re experienced in starting from scratch. It’s an opportunity – a clean slate. But it’s also important to understand that it’s the start of a process of building a profile. PR isn’t about going from zero to hero overnight.
Take Joe Wicks, as an example. He wasn’t really on my radar until his brilliant PE With Joe initiative this time last year. We’re now faithful Friday home PE fans (fancy dress and all!) and you can hardly move for seeing another article or cover story about him. So I could be forgiven for thinking he was an overnight sensation.
But actually, he’s openly talked about his 10 years of hard work behind the scenes, leading to that event. If he’d have hired a PR company 10 years ago (and maybe he did) there’s no way he would have been so in demand. He worked hard on his product, captured the zeitgeist and now his profile is sky high.
OK, so we don’t all have Joe Wicks ambitions (although some might!), but we may want to become a sought-after speaker within our sector, or the go-to professional in our field within our local area. And it’s great to start with a clear objective.
As PR pros, it’s our job to help you define that objective – that’s why we kick off with our Three Lens Messaging Session. And from that, we create a plan which will have clear steps to build towards that ambition.
We’ve landed some great pieces for clients relatively early on in working with them – be that an interview with the BBC, the Evening Standard or The Times. Fantastic. But one piece – even a brilliant piece in a top tier publication – does not make a profile.
Having a profile is about momentum and consistency. Top tier titles might be part of that, but probably sector press will be as well. More about the importance of trade and local press here.
Two final points – it’s not about having advertorials or paid-for pieces. These aren’t always viewed in the same way as editorial. Advertising is part of the mix, but it’s not the same as having an earned profile. And lastly, timing is also crucial. It’s great if you did some activity five years ago, but if there’s nothing since that, your profile isn’t a current one.
For further advice on this, we’ve also written about what you can do to support profile raising through your own channels.
You’ve probably heard of the term ‘evergreen content’, but what does it really mean and how do you make the most of it? Evergreen content is basically content that keeps on giving. It is something that remains relevant over a long period of time (so is not time-sensitive), has good search engine optimisation, and continues to drive traffic long after it’s first posted.
Though all of your blogs and other online content aren’t likely to disappear after posting, evergreen content is content that people will always need, want and search for. Typically lists, industry resources, how-to guides, top tips and product reviews lend themselves well to evergreen content, but ultimately to make content that’s ‘evergreen’ you must ensure it remains fresh and of interest to your target readers.
Now you know what evergreen content is you might be asking why it matters. Here are some important reasons why you absolutely need it:
Evergreen content ultimately saves time and energy while still achieving great results. It is a necessary part of maintaining website traffic and coverage views.
Despite what you may think, even the biggest and best publications rely on this content and not the splashy, fleeting news headline.
Now let’s talk about how to write evergreen content and how to make that content work hard for your business:
Get to writing up your evergreen content now and save yourself a lot of stress and energy later. Go forth and provide constant value to your reader, while your evergreen content provides constant value to your business.
Vision 2030 has opened up tremendous opportunities for KSA organisations to take their place on the world stage over the last five years.
But, when first impressions are so important, how do you project a brand that connects with a culturally diverse, global audience? How do you convey your unique heritage in a contemporary way? And how can you remain distinctive across a fast-changing digital landscape?
Success relies on connecting your brand to the needs, aspirations and psychological motivations of your audiences. The words and images you use must resonate in their minds. They must feel that you share your purpose with theirs.
But words can be empty if they are not delivered by someone they trust, so the tone and personality you use to tell your brand’s story is important. It must be clear and authentic, spoken with heart and passion.
Above all, you want your brand to be distinctive. It should set you apart from others who tell the same story. It must lead with conviction and clarity. Only then will your brand create advocates in all who work for and do business with you.
There was a time when brands were created and then translated into digital applications as an afterthought. Today, in a world where the primary touch points will almost certainly be online, a ‘digital first’ approach to your brand is essential.
Of course, this raises important considerations for your logo. It should remain crisp and distinctive when rendered on the smallest of screens.And it’s worth considering how your brand narrative and tone will remain authentic in videos and infographics. How will it sound through digital assistants? How will it connect through augmented reality and artificial intelligence? What will the experience be online, in apps, and at virtual trade events and meetings?
Once you have explored the brand digitally, you can confidently translate it into what your audience experiences in the real world.
Creating brand authenticity requires a balancing act:
1. Be distinctive in your organisation’s purpose and personality
2. Be true to your rich and distinct heritage
3. Integrate into the global business community.
Visually, your brand will bridge the gap between the incredibly unique and individual cultures of the MENA region, which celebrate delicacy, nuance and complexity, and global brand dynamics which favour bold simplicity.
It is advisable to include semiotic audience research – the study of shapes, colours and images – as part of the development process, as these can take on different cultural meanings across diverse audiences. Reaching an understanding of these differences can help avoid any unintended miscommunication through the visuals you apply to your brand image.
Tone of voice should be driven by similar considerations. To connect pan-culturally, it is best to speak with clarity, whilst retaining your distinctive personality. At all times you will want to appear confident, but approachable.
We have talked about connecting your brand to the needs and motivations of your audience. To achieve this, your process will need to be grounded in thorough audience research. Not only will this drive the best creative outcomes, it will also help your team to make decisions based on an objective view, rather than personal likes and dislikes.
Equally though, brands that successfully achieve resonance are a true reflection of their organisation and people. Your will ideally represent who you are now, and who you want to be. No matter how appealing your brand, if your people aren’t ambassadors, holding its values and purpose in their hearts, it will be unauthentic.
Involving everyone in your organisation – at every level – in the discovery and development process will create engagement and a passionate shared ownership of the brand you create together. The objective should be to make sure that everyone is able to both understand, and be a living embodiment of your beliefs, aspirations, purpose, ambition and approach.
For your audience, this means that the promise your brand makes through its marketing is realised when they do business with you in person.
We have merely scratched the surface here. At P+S, we use a whole host of further considerations, applications and insights to develop brands for our international clients.
From tone of voice (how you speak to the world) and SEO (how you increase your voice’s reach) to the materials and platforms you choose to convey it all. Getting the right brand message, to the correct audience, at the optimal time, is the key to developing a brand that not only attracts but thrives long-term.
In short, creating and communicating a successful global brand requires strategy, creativity and technology. If you can harness all three, the world is yours.
If you’d like to tell us more about what you’d like to achieve from your brand, and explore what we can offer you in terms of developing and promoting it, please get in touch today via [email protected].
Want to grow your agency but don’t know how? Has growth plateaued? Are you struggling to find more of the right type of client? Are you trying to build an awesome team and are finding it tough to find the right people? Or perhaps your agency is growing but you’d like a refresher, tips and advice on how to accelerate your growth?
If any of these questions resonate then why not join a bunch of highly motivated agency owners and Janusz Stabik, a coach and mentor to agencies across the globe and lead coach for Google across numerous agency growth programs to help find the answer.
Audience: Agency owner/founders
What’s holding you back from running the agency you want to run? What do the high performers do differently from the rest? How good is your agency?
Janusz will take you through the strategy, benchmarks, tips and templates you’ll need to run an efficient and effective agency to accelerate your growth in 2021. You’ll meet other agency owners and gain fresh perspectives, you’ll feel the weight lift from your shoulders, you’ll be energised and excited about the future and you’ll have gained clarity on how to get there.
By the end of the workshop you will:
Audience: Owner founder + Directors
Running and growing agency depends entirely on recruiting and retaining good people who do great work. You work hard to attract great employees, you want the best! But what does the “best” really mean? Good cultural fit? Good at their job? Experienced? Passionate about their work? All of this?
If any of the following rings true, this workshop is for you:
At the end of this workshop you will:
Audience: Agency owner founders, sales/marketing teams, account managers/client service execs
The average agency loses 20% of its revenue every single year through client churn. The sobering fact is, this is the average and it’s not uncommon for churn to be closer to 45% (a HUGE hole to fill). This results in unhappy teams, unhappy clients, lost marketing spend, lost time, lost effort, lost money – no wonder growth is so difficult?
What if:
Sound like a pipe dream? It’s not and it’s eminently achievable.
At the end of this workshop you will:
Join this workshop to find out how to kick-start your growth by focusing on your most important asset – your existing customers.
You can book for each individual session via the links above or, for the most value, book all three sessions as a package by emailing [email protected].
Individual sessions are £45+VAT per session for BCI members or £70+VAT for non-members.
Book all 4 sessions for £100+VAT (BCI Members) or £160+VAT (non-members).
Janusz is a coach and mentor to agency leaders across the globe through his coaching practice and consultancy, Digital Agency Coach, where he helps helping agency owners to run better businesses, lead better teams, make more money and have fun doing so. He’s an ex-agency owner, a trusted speaker for Forbes, head coach at the GYDA Initiative and a lead coach for Google across multiple agency growth programmes throughout EMEA.
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