Is the press release dead?

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In recent years industry pros have declared that press releases are dead. Once, one of the most effective modes of PR communication, press releases have been criticised as being used to spam journalists with irrelevant content.

With many journalists often copying and pasting content, press releases have been penalised by Google’s search algorithm which punishes outlets for duplicating content.

This has resulted in wire services and PR pros having to rethink their approach to press releases and how to distribute them to influential journalists.

Here at Vuelio, we have published numerous White Papers about how to get press releases right, but the question that keeps arising is: Are press releases dead or alive?

Wildfire PR reviewed coverage from over 100 releases to establish whether the press release is still a reliable source of information. Things like the company’s key messaging, whether there was a direct quote from a company spokesperson, whether there was a link back to the organisation’s website or landing page were scrutinised.

And the results were quite revealing. PR agency Wildfire found that 98% of coverage resulting from a press release included a company’s key messaging, 82% featured a direct quote from a company spokesperson, and 46% provided a link back to the brand’s website.

Proving that they are not dead, results show that 61% of journalists had used the press release as the basis for a wider article, rather than simply copy and pasting the release itself.

“With Google increasingly penalising sites for relying on duplicated content, many people have argued that the press release no longer has a place in modern PR” said Debby Penton, managing director at Wildfire. “Our research shows that instead of killing the press release, these changes have simply encouraged journalists to alter the way they use release content. Rather than copying and pasting directly, journalists are now using press releases for their original purpose – to provide a factsheet for a wider story. This is not only great news for brands looking to get their message across, but is also good news for end consumers who want to read unique, interesting and original content.

“Thanks to this change in approach, I believe that the press release still has life in it yet – as long as it’s used correctly. Journalists should not be copying from press releases wholesale, and PROs should not be using press releases as a way to spam publications with irrelevant news. What is needed is a more targeted, intelligent, PR strategy – of which press releases are just one small part.”

Engaging with new MPs after #GE2017

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So, on the 8th of June, there’ll be some brand new faces sitting in Westminster. Knowing who they are, their political interests and, most importantly, the best way to engage with them is crucial to the success of your public affairs strategy in the coming parliament.

GE2017_WEBINAR

If you want to keep ahead of the game why not tune into our upcoming webinar ‘’Engaging with new MPs after #GE2017’’ for a complete guide to identifying, engaging and influencing the new MP intake which takes place on Tuesday 20 June at 11:00 am BST.

During the webinar we’ll be covering everything from:

  • Identifying the right MPs to engage with based on their political interests, such as select committee membership.
  • Access over 4,000 political contacts including MPs’ staff– the most effective way of reaching MPs.
  • Achieving ROI on your engagement with email tracking and comprehensive reports that measure the success of your campaigns.

Save your spot now on our up and coming webinar to see how our political database can help you!

CAP issues new guidelines on influencer marketing

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So, CAP has issued fresh guidelines for influencer marketing but will it make a difference? According to a recent survey, a surprising proportion of consumers still remains in the dark, with 77% unaware what the #sp hashtag stands for (‘sponsored’) and 48% even unsure what the #ad hashtag means.

As a result of confusion over how brands and influencers label paid-for content, it remains a big issue. In response to this problem, CAP (the Committee of Advertising Practice) has issued a fresh set of guidelines to help social influencers and brands stick to the rules.

So, what does this mean for you and how will it impact the future of influencer marketing?

Well, when it comes

to affiliate marketing deals, CAP states that all ‘marketing communications must be obviously identifiable’. In other words, brands and influencers should ensure that any paid-for content is clearly labelled as an advert.

The guidelines put forward by CAP are certainly not new, but they are now emphasising that influencers should be more aware of the differences between platforms in order to recognise how to label sponsored content accordingly.

For example, on platforms like Instagram where images are visible before text, the word ‘ad’ should be overlaid so that users are aware before they click through. Alternatively, where a vlog might include a minute or so of content related to affiliate products, this should be flagged (even if it doesn’t require the video to be labelled as an ad overall).

Ultimately the new guidelines reinforce the notion that there is no blanket approach to labelling branded content, but that it is vital that consumers know when they are viewing ads.


Born Social’s survey suggests that consumers look down on sponsored content, with 48.7% of people trusting a recommendation to a lesser extent if they know an influencer is being paid. However, a poll by Kantar Millward Brown suggests that, in contrast, teenagers are becoming more receptive to brand content. In addition to this, it also states that 35% of 35-49-year-olds in the UK also feel positive towards content relating to products, services and other brand info.
While these findings might sound contradictory, there is one common thread – that transparency is key.

Regardless of how a person might feel about brand content in general, deliberately hiding or failing to disclose it will only do more harm than good.

How to create a multi award-winning PR campaign

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The opportunity to combine SEO and PR is something that remains unexplored by many marketers, yet it has the potential to yield significant results – particularly if you’re working to a tight budget.

In 2016, Ad-Rank launched a campaign on behalf of CruiseDeals.co.uk that showed it’s cheaper to live on a cruise ship for a year than it is to live in London. Since then, the campaign has won two prestigious search awards, and gained both national and international coverage in publications including the Daily Mail, AOL Travel and Express. We’ve taken a look at this case study to give you some top tips to help your next Vuelio press release reach new heights.

It’s all in the research

Ad-Rank-research

By nature, successful PR campaigns engage the audience and deliver a message strong enough to encourage them to pass it on. Conducting research for any PR campaign can be a lengthy process, but the results can be well worth it. Whether you’re presenting a story that’s entirely unique or tackling old news from a different angle, putting some hard work in at this early stage is the only way to set the foundations for a strong campaign.

An attention-grabbing headline

Ad-Rank-Headlines

Distribute a press release through Vuelio and its title will appear as your email subject line, so it’s crucial that those few words grab the audience’s attention. We chose to title ours ‘Living in London is more expensive than living on a cruise ship’, which effectively gave journalists the headline they were looking for from the off.

Narrow your audience

Audience

Even the best-written press release is unlikely to gain traction unless it’s visible to the right audience. Vuelio allowed us to sift through a huge catalogue of journalists and influencers from across the globe, adding specific filters to our search in order to make sure that the release reached exactly the people we needed it to. From there, we could easily source the contact details of those most likely to be interested in our story.

Support your release

Ad-Rank-PressRelease

With hundreds of press releases landing on their desks each day, journalists are unlikely to sift through pages of copy in order to decide whether the story is right for them. Include only the most important details in the release itself and create a supporting article or blog post on your website to provide more information if needed. Not only did this allow us to link journalists to extra details they may need, but it was effective in actively driving additional traffic to the client’s blog as a result.

The personal touch

AdRankPRCampaign

For us, the key to connecting with individual journalists and publishers was to send out personalised follow-up emails. Using Vuelio’s History feature, we were able to track exactly who had opened our press release and when. From there we could send gentle reminders to journalists that appeared to be interested in our story – or simply re-introduce the press release to those who hadn’t opened the original email.

A successful PR campaign does more than just get the word out about your company, it creates a story. And despite being frequently overlooked by marketers, a solid PR strategy can fuel SEO, generate positive awareness of your brand and help build a strong online reputation.

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PRs now following guidelines on influencer marketing

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According to new research, 54 percent of marketers and PRs now use the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) guidelines on influencer marketing, compared to just 37.5 percent in 2016.

Infleuncer(CAP)

In the past, PRs have often been accused of not following the guidelines when it comes to blogger outreach following some high-profile scandals including the likes of Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid who failed to disclose that they were paid to advertise products and events on behalf of big brands.

Conducted by micro-influencer marketing platform Takumi, their survey reveals 600 UK marketing and PR professionals now agree that full transparency is important when working with influencers.

“PR and marketing individuals and brands are becoming more and more savvy when it comes to working with influencers and content creators,” said Mats Stigzelius, co-founder and CEO of Takumi. “Whereas before there was a certain amount of confusion with regards to the guidelines, the research has shown that there is a greater awareness on how to get the most out of influencer marketing and what the guidelines are.”

Here at Vuelio, we have published various guides, webinars and white papers about how to work with influencers and stressing the importance of disclosing product placement. Influencer marketing is no longer the wild wild west where PRs don’t have to abide by any rules.

“As more and more brands begin to educate themselves on how to effectively use influencers and are able to measure the results and the ROI, I think that we can expect to see an increase in the use of influencers as part of a more targeted approach for consumers particularly for millennial audiences,” said Stigzelius.

The research also found that 84.5 percent of professionals believe that ‘live’ content is becoming increasingly important to influencer marketing. Furthermore, 28 percent say Instagram’s algorithmic feed – which prioritises high engagement content – hasn’t impacted their campaigns. However, 11.5 percent now budget for advertising to boost influencer posts. Takumi found that 65 per cent of professionals work with influencers as part of their marketing strategy and 61.3 percent of respondents said they feel they are able to accurately measure engagement levels and return on investment (ROI).

Blogger Spotlight: Craig Landale, Menswear Style

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Launched in 2012, MenswearStyle has grown to become one of the leading digital publications in the UK and was ranked number one in the Top 20 UK Fashion Blogs. From the UK’s finest independent menswear stores to how to wear trouser suspenders to luxury trainer brands, MenswearStyle provides an essential guide for the fashion conscious man.

The editor-in-chief Craig Landale is a marketer and fashion expert who has worked with high profile brands such as Mulberry and is the author of ‘ABC of Man: The Foundations of a Stylish Man’. In this spotlight, Craig Landale, who is number one on our top ten men’s fashion ranking chats to us about how he got into blogging, collaborating with BMW and why he believes MenswearStyle can be one of the biggest names in the men’s fashion publishing sector.

Craig Landale - Menswear Style Vuelio Spotlight

What inspired you to blog?
Had just left my job working as a digital marketing manager for a large menswear group and I missed menswear blogging. To fill this gap I set up MenswearStyle as a hobby.

Was it easy coming up with the name for your blog?
Picking a name was tactical. I wanted to use two major industry keywords so it was simple and easy to know what the website is all about. I was amazed when I found that our URL for both the .co.uk and .com was available.

Which blogs do you read on a daily basis?
Other than spending half my day on my own blog I also like to read all types of different industry blogs in homeware such as Design Hunter, Family such as Father of Daughters, and business such as Courier.

Which photographers do you work with?
We’ve worked with lots of photographers over the years, especially for our street style gallery. Yu Yang, Grace Lunn and Zach Dodds to name a few.

What does fashion mean to you?
Fashion is a hobby, career and passion. I now know my style and stick to it. I rarely follow trends but I admire observing other people perfecting these trends each season. It is such a creative industry and once I truly admire.

Which are your favourite brands?
I have leaned towards brands which represent my style over the years. Brands such as Oliver Sweeney, Reiss, Ted Baker, Belstaff, and New Balance.

Have you been able to build a relationship with them and how did you go about this?
Yes, I’ve worked with all those mentioned brands over the years. I’ve worked with hundreds of great brands. I’ve never had a sales technique and I simply wait for offers, projects and correspondence to come to me through email.

What’s the biggest campaign you’ve ever been part of?
There’s been quite a lot of big projects but a recent BMW one was great collaboration. It involved driving around the south of France and track courses. There was an outstanding car photographer with us and we produced a striking set of articles for them.

Do you approach brands for collaborations?
Luckily I don’t have enough time and offers come direct to me through our website and email. In the first 6 months I would email brands but we’re over 5 years old now and I’ve not had to do it since.

How important is social media for your blog?
Hugely important. We have a strong following across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. This is how we update our readers about hot new articles. It helps our feature reach new audiences and one or two often go viral.

Where do you see yourself 5 years from now in relation to your blog?
Any personal goals? I’m concentrating on growing the website in both maturity and in audience figures. I believe MenswearStyle can be one of the biggest names in the men’s fashion and lifestyle publishing sector. I’ve recently acquired new writers with strong experience. This will hopefully help with this mission.

What advice do you have for aspiring men’s fashion bloggers?
Do it because you enjoy it, and not for any other reason. If you enjoy it, the rest will fall into place. Stick to what you’re good at in the business and outsource the rest. Keep everything simple and do not underestimate design.

Craig Landale and MenswearStyle both appear as entries in the Vuelio Influencer Database alongside thousands of bloggers, journalists, editors and media contacts. 

The dos and don’ts of blogger outreach

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Are struggling with your blogger outreach? Can’t engage with the right contacts or unsure how to pitch? Or maybe you just don’t know where to start? Here’s your chance to learn how to get it right. 

bloggeroutreachdos&donts

Why not join our best practice webinar for PRs –The Dos and Don’ts of Blogger Outreach: How to do it right and get the results you want. 

During our webinar we will talk you through the process from start to finish – how to start building authentic relationships with influencers, how to pitch them in a way they are most likely to respond and how using a blogger database can help you get results fast. 

Filled with top tips straight from the horse’s mouth – the bloggers themselves – this webinar is your step by step guide on brushing up your blogger outreach strategy.

The Dos and Don’ts of Blogger Outreach webinar will take place on Tuesday 23 May 2017 at 14:00pm BST. 

The charity sector – a gift to the PR industry

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The charity sector is a gift to budding PR pros and content marketers. Unlike other “business” sectors where content might yield very little “human interest”, the content available to the charity sector almost writes itself. In fact, I would go as far as saying, if you work in the charity sector and you struggle to find anything to write about, your organisation is probably built on very shaky charitable foundations.

The very best PR and content marketing pros understand that comms work at their very best when they address and solve very real problems for their target audience. As most charities aim to alleviate a particular problem within their specific community – the inspiration for press releases, blog posts, social media and email marketing campaigns is everywhere. In fact, having too much to write about might be a bigger problem.

Online fundraising organisation JustGiving understand the potential PR opportunities just bubbling under the surface of their clients’ campaigns and have recently hired Rooster PR to “identify and amplify” human interest stories posted on their site.

Rooster’s MD, James Brooke, told journalists at PR Week: “JustGiving is an inspirational company that helps people raise money for a wide range of deserving causes. We’re proud to have been appointed to help them showcase what an incredible impact their crowdfunding pages can make on peoples’ lives.”

The agency has already worked on a number of high-profile campaigns, including the handling of the campaign for PC Keith Palmer, who was killed during the Westminster terror attack in April. The campaign to date has raised more than £736,000.

There are PR pros out there, reading this blog post who look after clients that manufacture all sorts dull, boring and uninspiring products (industrial widgets – anyone?). I’m sure they would love a few of the benefits afforded to those who work in the charity sector.

What advice would you give to PR professional in the charity sector? How much could a little more “human interest” aid your organisation’s PR output?

PR Spotlight: Alison Dagwell, Digital Mums

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Launched in 2014, by Nikki Cochrane and Kathryn Tyler, Digital Mums specialises in getting mums job-ready with in-demand social media and digital skills, so they can find rewarding roles that sync with family life. In this spotlight, Ali Dagwell, co-head of storytelling at Digital Mums chats to us about her 15-year long career in PR, crisis management, working on campaigns that empower new mothers, and why flexible working hours for women with children is important.  

Can you talk a little bit about your professional background and how you became the co-head of storytelling for Digital Mums? I’ve worked in PR for over 15 years, starting off agency side at Cohn & Wolfe and then Fever PR, where I was lucky enough to work on big brand campaigns for clients including O2, Amazon, Sky+ and Smart cars. I then moved out of London for a few years and went in-house at Thomas Cook. As well as gaining an understanding of the role PR properly plays within a business, I was given a crash-course (excuse the pun) in crisis management thanks to 2am calls from Sky News and BBC about major world events including the volcanic ash cloud and Tunisian riots. It gave me a broader view of PR and showed me how PR is very much a customer information tool as well as a brand awareness driver. The Press Association very quickly became a favourite in my phone contacts. 

I then put those crisis management skills to work in-house at Wonga after the birth of my first daughter. I can honestly say it was one of the best teams I’ve worked in and toughened my PR skin!

I came to work at Digital Mums as my eldest daughter was starting school last September and I made the New Year’s Resolution to find a flexible role that would allow me to be at the school gates both ends of the day. Much harder to achieve it seems than giving up alcohol or chocolate! I heard about the Digital Mums training from a friend and was going to apply to take part in the Social Media Marketing: Associate Programme, which is designed specifically for mums from a Marketing, PR or comms background and matches you with a live business, much like a (digital) apprenticeship. I then saw the role for Head of Storytelling advertised and here I am almost 12 months in!

What do you most like about working as the co-head of storytelling for Digital Mums? And what are the challenges? I love everything about working at Digital Mums. As a small business, I get stuck into all areas of the comms business, from email marketing and social media to blogs and traditional PR. I love working for a brand that I totally relate to and have personally gone through the challenges that we are fighting to change. The team culture is also amazing. Although 31 of the 35 employees work remotely or part-time, culture is a huge part of Digital Mums and there’s just as much banter as I had agency-side, albeit most of it digitally rather than in person.

The biggest challenge is ‘where to start’! I’m in a great position where Digital Mums as a company and Digital Mums the graduates are relevant to so many publications and so many people. It’s a PR’s dream but at the same time challenging to prioritise and goes against my reflex reaction to never turn down or miss an opportunity!

It helps that our founders very much live and breathe the philosophy that you learn from mistakes. It’s one of the lessons on our training to ‘Test, Measure and Reflect’ and this is applied to the company as a whole. It gives you the freedom to try things out and is extremely liberating.

It has been stated that 70% of women leave the workforce because they find it impossible to combine their career and family life, what needs to change to provide more flexibility? The current mindset. As one of my co-founders said: “Work is a thing you do and not a place you go to.”  Our #WorkThatWorks campaign is all about empowering mums and businesses to try a new way of working – whether it’s remote working, part-time hours or splitting hours flexibly across the week, as I do. Flexible working is too often viewed as a dirty word by businesses and colleagues who see it as the reserve of the ‘lucky’ few and only of benefit to the individual. Businesses need to be made aware of the benefits of flexible working if real change is going to be created. Changing attitudes to hiring won’t just benefit parents, but will also help businesses attract millennials who don’t necessarily want to be working nine to five, five days a week either. So much has moved on in the working world in terms of technology; but the hours we work haven’t.

It has been stated that Digital Mums are removing the barriers that mothers face by providing them with social media management skills that allow them to set their own hours and work from anywhere. Can you talk a little about the impact this has on the women who use Digital Mums services? This is by far the most rewarding part of working for Digital Mums. We literally have hundreds of incredible mums who pre-children have had these amazing careers and have either lost their confidence having been out of the working world for even just a few months; lost their previous roles while on maternity leave or are stuck in a 9-5 job and want to find more of balance between career and children. Digital Mums not only upskills them with in-demand social media and digital skills, it gives them their confidence back and empowers them with #WorkThatWorks. It might sound cheesy but honestly, our mum case studies are extremely moving and motivating. You can read some of them here.

Digital Mums main speciality is providing innovative social media training to produce high-calibre social media managers. Why has Digital Mums focused on social media jobs? Our co-founders Nikki Cochrane and Kathryn Tyler first set up their own social media agency a few years ago and were overwhelmed with how many small businesses needed help to build and manage their social media presence. They knew they needed to take on more people and realised that mums would be the perfect solution. Kathryn’s previous work at the Innovation Unit meant she’d worked with a number of innovative schools in the US. She knew she could take these learnings and insight to design a course that would teach mums everything they needed to know about social media management. Additionally, they both recognised that maternal unemployment is a huge issue. Social media management offers mums a third way – family life and a career – it’s just a matter of teaching them the skills. So Nikki and Kathryn stopped working for clients and started training up mums in social media instead.

It’s been stated that getting women back into the EU digital sector will contribute 9 billion to GDP. Other than getting more mothers back into work, what other qualities can employees benefit from? Fulfilling and flexible careers. In today’s highly connected world, it’s crazy that women are still having to choose between careers and childcare because the right opportunities don’t exist. PR, in particular, has never been a 9-5 role and there’s no reason that it can’t be done remotely or part-time. I now job-share my role with an amazing journalist, Rachel Mostyn, as the business has grown to such an extent that my three days a week wasn’t enough. It’s important to note though that flexible working benefits businesses too. Digital Mums now gets the benefit of two minds for the price of one and can scale their team in sync with business growth. It really is win:win.

As the Head of storytelling, what has been your strategy for Digital Mums? As a relatively new brand, the main strategy has been to simply increase brand awareness for our two training programmes through a mix of thought leadership pieces, case study placement, feature pitches and our #WorkThatWorks Movement. We launched this campaign back in September to present a solution to the much-debated issue of mum unemployment. Research we commissioned with YouGov and the Cebr produced some incredible insight into how flexible working really could be the answer for not only mums but businesses too. Almost 7 in 10 stay-at-home mums would go back to work in some capacity if flexible working around childcare was an option, while well over a third of working mums living with children would work additional hours. This could provide businesses with a total of 66 million hours more work a week and the UK economy with an annual £62.5 billion boost to output. Through this campaign, we actually touched the hearts and minds of a lot of people and are now very much a go-to for media, influencers and government bodies on all things flexible work and mum employment, which was one of our initial goals. Our #WorkThatWorks Movement is very much ongoing with more events and campaigns planned for this year.

How are you using social media to promote Digital Mums? As a social media training company, it’s obviously at the heart of all of our comms. It’s the platform that allows us to speak directly to mums and businesses. It’s particularly effective for building up support and influence for campaigns big and small. Twitter is a great listening tool for news and relevant events as well as crucial for relationship building with influencers and press. Facebook is a huge community driver and a place for us to embrace the fun of our brand as well as showcase some of the incredible people doing our training. And Instagram is essentially our brand window, allowing us to reveal the personality behind Digital Mums.

Digital Mums has been featured in The Daily Telegraph, MailOnline, the guardian, what kind of response have you got from the media? Hugely positive! We’re addressing two problems – the lack of digital skills and maternal unemployment. Maternal discrimination is obviously very topical and sadly all too prevalent. We’re providing a solution to this often debated issue and are in a unique position where we have hundreds of positive case studies of women who have achieved the holy grail that is #WorkThatWorks.

Digital Mums has been running for 3 years now. What future plans do you have? As well as obviously growing our current business, our ultimate aim is to change the view of flexible working and consign ‘working 9-5’ to the lyrics of a karaoke classic.

How to identify the real influence of a blogger

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Are bogus influencers undermining brand confidence and confusing the state of play? According to Emma Austen, the founder PR agency Emerge, they are.

In a recent PR Week opinion piece, Emma says that brands are often drawn into the science of probability – if someone has two million followers, that will impact the bottom line of influencer marketing. But increasingly PRs and marketers are having to wake up to the fact that an influencer having a large following on social media does not automatically mean that a blogger has real influence.

Emma Austen said: ”It is the responsibility of PR professionals to be vigilant in determining which influencers have legitimate, relevant followers, and which have tried to buy their way into the club.”

With countless apps and sites that allow people to easily buy followers at the click of a button, it is becoming increasingly easy for bloggers to make false claims about how influential they are. Due to a lack of sophisticated influencer tools, it is difficult to get an accurate assessment of how influential a blogger is and their engagement levels, which often results in brands basing their spending decisions on false information and disappointing results.

Nik Speller, the founder of influencer marketing consultancy; N.K.B. and contributor to men’s lifestyle blog Buckets and Spades, said PRs need to change their focus when it comes influencer marketing.

He said: “This industry is changing so fast, but I think there are a few trends bubbling up that will grow this year. Firstly, I’ve noticed a few brands pay more interest in content, than in follower numbers. These brands have seen that working with the mega-influencers doesn’t always yield results, as they aren’t always the best fit. Working with smaller, creative influencers, with a specific and highly relevant audience, can be far more effective.”

So, when it comes to blogger outreach, how do you identify who are the real influencers?

Here at Vuelio, we offer access to our influencer rating tool, not just for bloggers, but also for specific journalists and different publications. Our rating considers a broad range of data points – including content frequency, engagement, social presence and following, to determine overall influence. By having our unique influencer ratings at your fingertips, you will be able to make a better assessment of whether a blogger has legitimate influence. This will enable you to connect with the right bloggers for your campaigns and stop wasting time and resources on bloggers who do not really influence your target audience.

Vuelio-Influencer-Database

But before you reach out, make sure you have a strong pitch. Results from our 2016 Bloggers Survey showed that fifty per cent of bloggers receive seven plus emails per week, but seventy per cent of pitches get little attention from bloggers as a result. For best results make sure you are transparent about compensation, take the time to understand their blog, and personalise your approach by using the name of the blogger.

Despite the rise of bogus influencers, there are genuine ones. With the right approach and the right tools, these bloggers can bring you a significant return on your investment.

Why snap elections are big opportunities for lobbyists

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There once was a time when elections were all about manifestos. They provide an opportunity for political parties to bring together their brightest and best, and articulate why they are fit to govern. Sometimes it can be the tool that injects some much needed life into a party’s support base, or it can be a long suicide letter, as the late Gerald Kaufman once described the Labour party manifesto during the fateful 1983 campaign.

But over the years manifestos have come to take on a whole new role. The 2010 Conservative Manifesto, a leather bound “Invitation to join the Government,” was a communications and marketing tool dreamed up by blue sky thinker Steve Hilton. Its centre piece, the creation of the Big Society, was more platform than policy. To the extent that nobody really understood it. Since then we’ve seen lots of rhetoric whilst being startlingly policy-lite in these increasingly flashy concept pieces. Even Ed Miliband’s act of carving the highlights into stone failed to transform statements such as “A country where the next generation can do better than the last” into a physical commitment.

So where does that leave lobbyists, the politically incorrect term for us lot that try to influence policy, highlight issues and affect change? In many ways it can be a vital opportunity for us to get our stall in early, especially if you’re supporting an issue that captures the imagination of the public and the media. But it can also be a millstone around our collective neck; a period when the government shelves policies that you’ve been supporting for years, as the parties do deals on what should be nodded through and what should be shelved ahead of dissolution.

In a political age where rhetoric has more currency than commitments this is a chance to make sure that you get your cause into the spotlight. And as manifestos seek platforms rather than spending commitments, unless you’re in a ring-fenced area, it can be a lot easier to sharp elbow your way in and the risk is much lower. No promises, just aspirations.

I work for a national poverty charity, and it has never been more important to make sure that we have a commitment to help those struggling financially. This is where getting the balance between policy and rhetoric is important. A commitment to support the lowest paid might sound positive, it is, but it can also be a used to defend a policy of cutting support for those less fortunate. Reducing the national debt is a good thing, but without a specific commitment as to where those savings are coming from you never know where the knife is going to fall.

The most powerful weapon that you have as a campaigner is the truth. Funny that. As a charity it’s not hard to sell an emotional narrative to policy makers but if you’re light on facts and fight on passion you can be easily swiped away. As the broader sector continues to commit to measuring impact through impressively scientific and robust ways we have seen our politicians increasingly rely on us to bolster their chosen policy commitments.

This is something that is particularly powerful for charities that work directly with the public, especially those that work with the vulnerable. Solid data is a powerful weapon when guiding policy positions and one that is not used often enough. It is not the job of charities to campaign politically, some people may differ in that view, but it is our job to represent those that cannot represent themselves.

Over the next six weeks we can expect a surge of activity from charities, as well as all sectors looking to fight their corner. This is not about getting something in the manifesto, they’ve been cobbled together already, but about setting up the circumstances for that vital clarification, denial or equivocation that can be used to fire the policy starting pistol after the election.

The media has an increasingly important role to play in this too. How many times have we seen an election commitment come out of a tabloid campaign, or more frequently, a surprise budget announcement? These are the easy wins, the policies that seem to make everyone happy at first glance yet frequently are found to be ill thought through. For a niche cause this can be your chance to shine, especially if you have an effective backer in parliament.

Snap elections mean snap decisions, and because prospective governments know how dangerous these can be they are wary of making them. But they do happen. There will be policy teams out there that are about to have their biggest success for the next five years and they don’t know it yet. The secret is getting the data right, have a clear angle, and get your media and political ducks in a role.

But let me finish with the elephant in the room. Most people think they already know the result of this election, and most people are probably right. But it’s a danger to think that only one party needs to be lobbied. Labour may well be the underdog here, a position which may cause them to do better than some predict, but a popular policy on the doorstep is a popular policy full stop. We don’t just see this during general elections; at the last Mayoral Election for London we saw a range of sensible and popular policy proposals from parties that had little chance of polling 10%. They can be stolen by the winning party, and it’s the final destination that counts in this game.

This election is a chance to get the political parties to do your job for you. If you have an idea, and the evidence to back it up, you will be their best friend. You might even change the world, just a little bit.  Be clear, be direct, be non-partisan, and you might just get what you want. See you in 2022.

 

Improve and maintain corporate reputation

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Businesses and organisations are acutely aware more than ever of the importance of protecting their reputation. Some have learned the hard way when crisis situations have hit and they haven’t been prepared or have handled it badly.

There are three sides to reputation management – the first is maintaining reputation when it’s at its highest, the second is developing a good reputation from a new-start perspective and the third is managing reputation and then changing perceptions in a crisis situation.

When conducting studies, the Reputation Institute, the global reputation-based research and advisory firm, uses its RepTrak® measurement framework and measures the perceptions and opinions on:

  • products or services
  • innovation
  • workplace
  • corporate governance
  • public and social impact
  • leadership
  • performance

Reputation can make or break businesses. You can use the above to help with your strategy and management.

Companies or organisations with reputation issues are more likely to feel the wrath of the law and importantly, the public. Nowadays, it may also provoke a cyber attack.

So, how can corporate reputation be improved or maintained when there are so many different elements to consider?

Firstly, it all comes back to the organisational values and objectives. If the values of the organisation are real, ethical and trustworthy, then they should be embedded in every element of organisational work.

Business and organisation have a duty to their shareholders, stakeholders, employees, suppliers and the public, not to mention regulators. You will be held to account.

Public trust is paramount. In the 2008 crash, public trust was at an all-time low in the financial industry, with the public being wary and confused, financially worse off and the impact on the global economy at its worst.

Today’s challenge in reputation management is not only speed but also given the change in landscape, there is media, social media, influencers in their many forms and we must ensure our risk assessments, scenario planning and crisis comms plans are fit for purpose today.

I’m not talking about lying. I’m not talking about coming up with cover-up stories, I’m talking about genuine, ethical business practice. Understanding the business, the scenarios, the likelihood and the potential impacts, will help you understand what you’d need to do, over the short, medium and long-term, to protect reputation.

LauraSutherland_Reputation

Actions speak louder than words

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You can say whatever you like, but if your actions don’t back this up, then your words are worth nothing and will no doubt be even more detrimental to your reputation.

In addition, the under-rated skill of listening is key. Listening to the people who impact on your business. Listening will help greater understanding and greater understanding leads to better-informed decisions and strategies.

Listening will also help build better relationships as people recognise you are taking their opinions, views and also experiences into consideration. This, in turn will also add greater value to the business and the influence gained will be beneficial.

Listening tools also exist and can be used online, monitoring and listening to different communities. This is essential to keep on top of any issues which may be arising and also in case there are any other groups or communities who you may not even have been aware of. It always an opportunity to respond to issues before they may turn to a crisis.

Top down, bottom up

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As we know, communication works both ways, as does respect and understanding. CEOs and boards have a duty to act as leaders. Leaders should want insights, understand and listen. It shouldn’t just be something for management. Leaders should set an example.

CEOs have the opportunity to really put their money where their mouth is and strengthen corporate reputation by distinguishing themselves and setting a moral, ethical and world-leading standard – no matter how big or small the business or organisation may be.

Charged up CEOs can really set an example and inspire others, too.

Cyber threats

LauraSutherland_CyberAttacks

Interestingly, people find it curious that PR people should be involved or be keen to know systems and protocols in IT departments.

At #PRFest in June, I’ve worked with Craig McGill at PwC to bring their Game of Threats cyber attack simulator to the festival. One of the biggest organisational risks is unhappy employees or those who don’t understand the potential impacts of bad practice.

Take someone using an unknown USB in company IT equipment which could contain malware or unhappy employees spreading negative stories about the company. You are more likely to be targeted if you’re deemed an unethical business or an organisation with an already poor reputation.

It’s so important PR and comms people are on top of recognising issues and impacts and including this within their plans, including simulating scenarios.

Act before a crisis hits

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With tools, systems and people to recognise issues as they start, the key is to address them before a crisis hits. This involves insights and data, planning, scenario tests, and regular monitoring to ensure the plan is always fit for business purposes.

Every member of staff at every level has a part to play. Managers are more likely to spot issues further down the chain than say, a CEO would. But do they know how to report or deal with it to ensure it’s handled effectively? This leads to thorough internal communications functions, policies and management.

Systems and processes

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An early warning system using the risk assessments and listening/monitoring tools will play a vital role in any issues or crisis situation. It’s the reporting of a potential issue that is vital – quickly. Without denial.

  1. Insights and data –internal and external – listening and monitoring
  2. Understand what this information is telling you. Also understand what matters to your stakeholders. What do the actions look like that support what you’d be saying?
  3. Wider and transparent conversations. Think of collaborations and partnerships as an opportunity to involved a bigger set of stakeholders and by collaborating or partnering, there is a two-way approach.

Six areas for corporate reputation to monitor and manage

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  1. Operating and business performance
  2. Legal or ethical
  3. Personnel – particularly misconduct
  4. Political
  5. Environmental
  6. Safety and security

Confidence in you and your business

The importance of confidence in crisis preparation must be underlined. Knowing that you and your business are prepared to face ‘the unknown’ instils confidence. Feeling, being and acting confident are essential groundings for facing unforeseen and emotionally difficult crisis events at a time when you must reassure others that the situation is under control and being handled properly.

The ability to anticipate trouble before it happens is the best source of confidence. Your reputation is your biggest asset. It must be protected.

 

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Are we having the right conversations about diversity?

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Diversity is a hot topic. Hashtags like #OscarsSoWhite and #BritsSoWhite have forced conversations about the lack of diversity into the mainstream. From the echo chambers of social media all the way to the Houses of Parliament, everyone is talking about the absence of proper representation across different sectors. But does it mean anything? Or is it all just lip service?

Despite the PRCA highlighting the lack of diversity in PR, the industry is still struggling to diversify its workforce. In a candid interview, Karan Chadda, director of Evolving Influence shares his thoughts about why it’s important that the CIPR board represents the full spectrum of the UK’s public relations workforce; why we don’t need more conversations about diversity but substantive change, and why he believes that having more diversity at the top of the PR industry will help to not only attract more diverse junior-level applicants, but broaden the national conversation driven by PRs – making stories more accessible. 

Karan Chadda_Diversity-Vuelio

Why do you think the lack of diversity is such a big issue in PR? I think it’s a big issue for every industry. In the UK, where so many sectors talk about talent shortages, it seems daft that we need to make the case for greater diversity at all. If you only recruit from a small segment of society, you inevitably miss talented people. There is undoubtedly a shortage of talent but we should also be asking how much talent is hiding, overlooked or unseen?

You’ve also spoken out against the CIPR board for not having much diversity, why do you think that it is important for the CIPR board to represent the full spectrum of the UK’s public relations workforce? I noted it as unfortunate. Part of attracting a more diverse workforce is showing them what’s possible from a career in PR. You can tell people that it’s a great industry full of amazing opportunities, but if all they see is a monoculture at the top, your words will count for little.

What kind of conversations do we need to be having in 2017 about diversity in order to make progress? 

I’m not sure that we need more conversation, rather we need more substantive change. I think many would agree that the industry is more fond of talking about things than changing them.

And to some extent that’s human nature. Change is hard and commercial priorities are never-ending, but at some point, you need to invest in change and that change should strengthen your business. The PRCA’s recent move on gender pay gap reporting as part of the Consultancy Management Standard (CMS) process is an excellent example of getting on with doing things.

Karan Chadda_Vuelio-Diversity

Diversity has become quite a popular term, but do you think that most people have a real understanding of what it is and how it applies to the workforce? It’s popular to the point of cliché and that’s a problem. Banging on about it has little affect these days, so it’s important to focus efforts where substantive change can be made.

On the plus side, I don’t think there are many people in PR who think more diversity isn’t a good thing. Where there is a disconnect is where we have people talking about the benefits of diversity but few practical examples of how to change and achieve those benefits.

What does diversity mean to you? For me, it means finding the best people. That means recruiting from the biggest pool of talent and, equally importantly, recognising that talent isn’t about shared cultural experiences or how well spoken you are or what colour shoes you wear with a suit. In practical terms, that means changing assessment criteria and reaching out beyond existing networks.

Some PR agencies might say that it’s the job of Taylor Bennett Foundation and Creative Access to help young ethnic minority people to start their careers in the industry. What would be your response to this? Bluntly, it’s not the job of charities to subsidise agencies’ recruitment problems. However, they do an excellent job and I’d urge agencies to help fund them to ensure their vital work can continue and grow. We should also note that the PRCA run the industry’s apprenticeship scheme, which is an excellent initiative. Alongside that a number of agencies have, via the RPCA, committed to paying interns the living wage. These are actions of substance and they’re good for diversity in the industry.

What are some of the barriers that people of colour face once they enter the industry and how can this be addressed? There’s a lot of research that says the primary issue at a junior level is that the industry is not seen as a place for people like them. That comes in two parts, one of which is that PR isn’t seen as particularly diverse and the other part is that it isn’t seen as a prestigious career option.

You’ve been quoted as saying that there is a big difference between access and progression. Can you speak more on this? For me, you’ll only really see the diversity issue resolved once the top of the industry is less uniform. Most industries have little difficulty in recruiting a diverse group of people at the junior level, those advances will be short-lived if some of that cohort doesn’t grow into the top jobs. Diversity at the top signals that PR is a career to aspire to and that it is possible to get to the top.

Another entirely separate point, and this might sound a bit grand, is that PR helps create the national conversation. More diversity at the top will likely broaden that conversation and that can only be a good thing.

What needs to be done to attract more young people from ethnic minority backgrounds into the PR industry? I’m not sure about this one. I recommend speaking to Sarah Stimpson at Taylor Bennett who has excellent experience in this area.

What future trends do you think we will see in regards to diversity in PR in 2017? I’m not sure we’ll see any notable new trends. There are more and more new initiatives and many of them, like the living wage commitments, apprenticeships and reporting changes, will over time make a difference. Change never happens overnight but there is definite change afoot.

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Have you got a dysfunctional relationship with your client?

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I love conflict. For me, healthy conflict is an important part of any working relationship. It appears, however, that I’m not alone in this thinking. In fact, a very clever chap, Patrick Lencioni, defined the five characteristics of a highly effective team. The second characteristic is, healthy conflict.

Having just been part of a team that went through the formal training associated with Lencioni’s theory, I started thinking about whether this theory could and should be applied to client relationships.

No matter how much we strengthen our internal team’s relationships, we’ll ultimately not move forward with enough pace if our client relationships don’t improve as well. If I’m soiling myself every time conflict arises between a client and I then know something is not quite right.

dysfunctional relationship_JohnBrown-Hotwire

So, how do we go about building a healthy relationship with our clients?

According to Lencioni, highly functional teams have the following characteristics:

  1. Trust – they start from the foundation of trust. A degree of vulnerability about strengths and weaknesses builds trust and for a team to function well, everyone must believe that best interests lie at the heart of each individual.
  1. Healthy conflict – my favourite. Not being afraid to challenge, question, debate and air opinions on ideas and actions. A strong team should mean everyone within it feels empowered to speak up and have their voice heard.
  1. Commitment – this is about buy-in. You’re never going to get everyone agreeing from the off. Most teams will still have disagreement about a direction taken. However, importantly the team will have complete buy in that the decision has been made and we’re moving forward.
  1. Accountability – my least favourite. Everyone holds each other accountable for their actions. A healthy team doesn’t need a cruel ruler dishing out punishment and keeping everyone on track. They should each be ensuring the other is doing what they say they’ll do
  1. Results – winning for the team. While individuals will and should always be called out for exceptional work, a strong team will always have the bigger picture in mind and share collectively in the successes of the team

DysfunctionalRelationship_JohnBrown-Hotwire_PR

I think as an industry, we get this right internally a lot more than we give ourselves credit. We tend to be more comfortable with trust and feedback than other professions and everyone knows how much we love to slap each other’s backs – just look at how many awards there are out there. But when looking at these characteristics through the lens of a client relationship, things become a little more troublesome.

I’m going to flip these five pillars of a strong team and turn them into their dysfunctional cousins. What’s more, I’ll try and describe the dysfunctions from the perspective of a client relationship.

  1. It’s all about the money – the client sees the agency as always sniffing out the extra dollar or pound without any regard for what’s in the client’s best interest. Equally, the agency believes the client is trying to squeeze them at every turn and is constantly on the watch for scope creep and creative payment plans.
  1. Put up and shut up – the agency only sees its role as functional delivery. It’s not there to challenge the client or offer a different perspective. The client sees the agency as lazy but also doesn’t want their views (or their boss) questioned.
  1. Go ahead, it’s your budget – the client refuses to sign off on a campaign or an idea officially but instead just says ‘if you think it’s how you want to spend the budget then go ahead’ – total lack of commitment. Equally, the agency reluctantly executes a set of tasks and offhandedly informs the client ‘well it’s your budget, if you want to spend it like this then go ahead’.
  1. It’s their fault – the agency is the client’s perfect scapegoat. When shit hits the fan, it will be the agency’s head that the axe falls upon. Equally, when the agency is brought in front of the judging panel, the first place they’ll point to is their non-committed ‘daft’ client who didn’t give them the necessary support.
  1. I win – here, it’s all about one-upmanship. A constant murmur of, ‘we won that battle’ rather than a commitment to building results for the team. The client tends to feel that they deserve the credit for dragging the agency with them and surprise surprise the agency feels the same about the client.

DysfunctionalRelationships-HotwirePR-JohnBrown

Can you spot a dysfunctional characteristic within these five? If so, it might be worth going back to the characteristic before the one you seem to be having a problem with. If you’re suffering from a lack of healthy conflict with a client, it might be because neither of you trust each other enough.

I can’t tell you how to improve your client relationships, only you will know the necessary detail to make specific changes. However, this piece should serve as a guide for potentially spotting opportunities for improvement and identifying which areas may need some work.

Do invest some time reading Patrick’s book and in your next team building session, have a think about whether what you learnt could be applied to your clients as well as each other.

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How to Stop Wasting Time at Work

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Do you feel as if you’re wasting vital time at your job? How much time do you spend on tasks without knowing just how, exactly, they contribute to your work?

Stop Wasting Time at Work_VuelioTipsheet

Everybody wastes some time at work. A study by Sharp Europe revealed that 34% of respondents had fallen asleep in meetings, which says a lot about the value of those meetings. Meanwhile, chief financial officers told a survey by recruiter Robert Half that 17% of their time spent on work email is wasted.

Our new tipsheet: “How PRs Can Stop Wasting Time at Work” looks at some of the clever ways in which PRs can eliminate time-wasting tasks from their day-to-day activities and focus on their what matters most in their job – connecting with their audience.

Download our tipsheet now and discover how you can get rid of the biggest time-wasters at work and become more efficient through the use of technology and automation.

United, Spicer and Pepsi – cannot put bad news genie back in the bottle

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What an amazing couple of weeks in crisis management. If you ever want a masterclass in how not to manage a PR crisis in this socially-enabled age, take a look at the lessons our American cousins are learning.

First, there was Pepsi with their in-house designed, Kendal Jenner-fronted, “protest” campaign which social media pretty much pulled to pieces.

Then there was the footage of a United Airways passenger being pulled from his seat and dragged bleeding from the aircraft so a member of the airline’s staff could get a free ride.

And do we even need to mention the Whitehouse Press Spokesman Sean Spicer for suggesting that Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons in the Second World War and referring to Concentration Camps as Holocaust Centres?

To give Pepsi their due, at least they pulled their ill-thought-out campaign pretty damn quickly and apologised for any offense.

But United and Spicer made the cardinal mistake of trying to justify their actions/words and dig an even bigger hole for themselves.

In a letter issued to airline staff on Tuesday, United boss Oscar Munoz said: “I deeply apologise to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way. I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.”

This is quite the departure from a man (who was once voted by readers of PR Week in America as Communicator or the Year) who in an earlier statement described the passenger as “disruptive and belligerent.”

Munoz would do well to remember, the Internet doesn’t forget things so easily.

In an age where everyone has the ability to create and share news content via the mobile devices in their pockets, big brands and governmental organisations have to understand that once released, it’s impossible to put the bad news genie back in the bottle.

Trying to talk your way out of a situation that everyone has already made a judgement call is stupid and will result in pouring more fuel on the PR fires that threaten your organisation.

So what’s a big brand (or government spokesperson) meant to do when then drop the preverbal ball?

Well in an age where social media makes us all more accountable, it also has to make us more honest. So admit your mistakes, put measures in place to ensure they don’t happen again and learn from the experience.

Media Spotlight: Matt Cooke, Google News Lab

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Matt Cooke is the Google News Lab lead for the UK, Ireland and the Nordics. Before joining Google, Matt worked at the BBC for seven years as a broadcast journalist. Matt, who is also a frequent public speaker, is passionate about teaching journalists techniques that will enhance their storytelling such as immersive 360-degree/VR technology. In this spotlight, Matt chats to us about why the approach to digital storytelling should be ‘story first, technology second, helping journalists to verify and fact check stories and engaging audiences through visual content. 

Can you introduce yourself and talk a little about your professional background? Hello, I’m Matt Cooke – I’m a former journalist and now I’m part of the Google News Lab where I help editorial teams innovate and experiment with digital storytelling. I cover northern Europe – as I speak I’m on my way back from Finland and earlier this week I was in the Netherlands – I travel a lot! Before joining Google nearly five years ago I was at BBC News for about seven years where I worked across radio, television and online.

You worked for a long time as a presenter, reporter, and producer, why did you decide to switch to online? I started my BBC career at Millbank, but I soon moved to become the Home Affairs Producer for BBC London TV – that’s where I learnt from great journalists and hard-working producers. I started to present on BBC Three, I reported in Birmingham for a year and I presented on BBC Three over the weekend. But, it was just before 2012 when I realized I was ready to make a change. The BBC was experimenting with new ways of storytelling – for a time I filmed my own TV reports, wrote my own articles and made audio packages from a base in East London. This independence from the main newsroom gave me a taste to experiment with new formats and online content.

There seems to be a growing trend of people moving from more traditional media corporations like the BBC to online outlets like BuzzFeed, What’s driving this trend? I’m extremely grateful to the BBC – it was a great place to learn and looking back it was a brilliant place to work. As new opportunities at places like VICE News, BuzzFeed present themselves I think it’s only natural for inquisitive minds to investigate and consider a new challenge.

MattCooke_GoogleNewsLab

What do you most like about being a lead for Google News Lab? And what are the challenges? I spend about 40 to 50 percent of my time visiting newsrooms, talking to journalists – my job is to help them translate their stories and ideas into reality, with the help of technology.

The approach to digital storytelling should be ‘story first, technology second.’ Within newsrooms there are always different levels of experience when it comes to digital tools – some are experts and some are beginners. My background is not tech and I’m not an expert (on anything, actually!) so finding ways to communicate to all levels of interest and experience is something I have to do every day!

Within newsrooms there are always different levels of experience when it comes to digital tools – some are experts and some are beginners. My background is not tech and I’m not an expert (on anything, actually!) so finding ways to communicate to all levels of interest and experience is something I have to do every day!

How is Google News working with publishers to create innovative partnerships and experiments? The Digital News Initiative provides training and research, product development and an Innovation Fund – so far recipients (ranging from individual journalists to major news organizations) have received €51m in awards, a new round has just opened. You can learn more at digitalnewsinitiative.com.

Within the Google News Lab we’ve collaborated with lots of publishers and journalists – we supported projects such as 6×9; The Guardian’s first experiment in virtual reality, we’ve provided free access to training events across Europe (EJC, GEN and more) and we’re working with journalists to help verify and fact check stories surrounding the French election – that’s led by FirstDraftNews.com – a coalition we helped to launch back in 2015.

I just finished a project that helps journalism students gain experience within a newsroom – the Google News Lab Fellowship. We launched this in the UK last year and about 250 people applied, this year that shot up to 650 applications. I launched the scheme for the first time in Ireland and the Nordics too – the Fellowship is offering 28 placements in total!

What has been Google New’s approach to social media campaigns, and what has your experience been like working on them? The key though is to provide the right information, in the right style to the right audience on their platform of choice.

Can you talk about the current partnership between Google News Lab and YouTube newswire, and why it’s important? Eyewitness media, also known as UGC (user generated content) has become part and parcel of the daily newsgathering process for many journalists. Whether it is a breaking news event or a developing story we all now have the ability to capture high-definition video or stills – all with a smartphone. We’ve worked with Storyful to help journalists source the most credible, verified content on YouTube – to help them find video they can use and refer to in their storytelling. Every day the YouTube Newswire provides fresh playlists and showcases the latest eyewitness media. The best place to learn more about working with UGC content and eyewitness media in all of it’s forms it firstdraftnews.com

MattCooke_VuelioSpotlight

When trends do you think we will see this year in regards to how news content is created and distributed? Editors often talk about the renewed importance of video, often live and always shareable – mobile first audiences need video that is made for mobile handsets, not the TV. Traditional broadcasters such as RTÉ have excelled at creating content on a mobile, with video designed for audiences to consume on-the-go-you’ll be able to find subtitled interviews and a heavy use of graphics – all to engage the viewer for longer.

As a hub of the very latest news of everything that is happening in the world, how is Google responding to fake news? We have updated our publisher policies and now prohibit Google ads from being placed on misrepresentative content, just as we disallow misrepresentation in our ads policies. Moving forward, we will restrict ad serving on pages that misrepresent, misstate, or conceal information about the publisher, the publisher’s content, or the primary purpose of the web property.

One of the things you’ve championed is data journalism. Can you talk about how Google News Lab has incorporated this and how it connects with Google trends? Google trends provides anonymised, indexed, real-time data that can help journalists gain another perspective – the most searched for terms or the changing trends in themes and topics can be interesting. My favourite data visualisations are the simplest – they make things clear.  On our website we provide self-paced learning on how journalists can use Google Trends to enhance their storytelling.

What has been your career highlight? Working as a reporter at BBC News was great, the chance to produce and prepare stories for television never lost its appeal. More recently, helping members of the Royal Family connect with audiences via Hangout was also memorable!!

Are you working on any exciting projects at Google News Lab this year? Yes, stay tuned – there is a tool refresh that focuses on audio – well worth an experiment!

Introducing the all new integrated database from Vuelio

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George Osborne’s appointment as editor of the Evening Standard showed just how easy it is for the worlds of politics and the media to collide.

That’s why we’ve integrated our media and political contacts on one platform, giving you full insight from across the stakeholder community.

So whether you need to contact journalists, MPs or other stakeholders, you’ll have all the information you need, in one place.

Our new integrated database allows you to:

  • Categorise your engagements by campaign or issue – for all your media and public affairs outreach in one place
  • Achieve ROI from your communications with graphs and analytics to measure and evaluate all your stakeholder activity
  • Stay on top of your conversations with a searchable, real-time overview of interactions with MPs, the media and other stakeholders

 

Political and Media Database

 

‘’The media contacts database has been really helpful in creating media campaigns and the political monitoring and contacts database have ensured we have covered off all bases when organising events or targeted stakeholder work.”

Kirsty McCaskill-Baxter, Communications and Public Affairs Manager

BRITISH CYCLING

It’s the full package, and we’d like to show you how it works – request a demo here

 

Don’t be afraid to challenge media relations briefs

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In the old days, all you needed to work in the PR industry was a laptop and a mobile. Two pieces of technology that feel surgically glued to you as a 24/7 news cycle means plenty to respond too. The steady integration of social media into PR programmes has shortened this cycle – we’re dealing in seconds now.

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Today man cannot live by email and phone alone. Behind the flurry of emails, already being displaced by internal collaboration tools, are a series of 3rd party tools helping practitioners deliver 21st Century work. These pieces of software help keep PR services relevant for 2017.

For publicity and media relations you may choose the support of Vuelio, for social media a social listening tool such as Pulsar is essential, community management may rely on Hootsuite. It’s a saturated and overwhelmed market; cross-industry collaboration project PRstack began categorising the market in 2015.

The range of tools, their subscription by in-house and agency professionals, are testament that PR services no longer work in a vacuum. Understanding the PR ‘workflow’ has become an integral task by managers who wish to offer a broader range of services, efficiencies, and best practice. We’re all trying to offer services across the PESO (Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned) pie.

Whilst the digital applications in PR programmes are no longer considered innovations, unless you’re dabbling with emerging technologies such as augmented or virtual reality, the industry is broadly still coming to terms with the fact PR is more than media relations. To be impressed by agencies that have approached PR representative of the entire marketing mix, look at any of the big industry awards.

As a side project, I’m grateful to occasionally be involved with judging industry awards. It’s shown me that the most creative campaigns that deliver outcomes is when an agency challenges a client brief and is willing to offer appropriate measurement. As a consultant, this is an essential but often challenging role, and usually leads to better results.

The next time you receive a client brief focused on pure media relations; have a think about how it could include other service areas such as digital. Despite the gloom of Brexit, it’s a fortuitous time to be working in PR thanks to the opportunities provided by our friends in the 3rd party tool and servicing market. In fact, the future of our industry depends on them.

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Are you struggling with public affairs?

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If you want to ensure your organisation influences the political agenda, a public affairs strategy will be crucial to your wider stakeholder engagement. And if you’re struggling to identify who to engage with and how, our upcoming webinar ‘’Influencing Public Affairs’’ will give you the full toolkit for success.

InfluencingPublicAffairs_Lionel Zetter

Our guest speaker, Lionel Zetter, is the former President of the CIPR and the CIPR Government Affairs Group, and is the current Chairman of the PRCA Public Affairs Group. Lionel will explore the fundamentals of public affairs and show you how to achieve tangible results from your political engagement.

Save your spot to see how our public affairs tools can help you:

  • Target your outreach by tracking your open rates and logging engagements with MPs and their staff
  • Stay on top of your team’s external interactions with a searchable, real-time overview of conversations
  • Measure the impact of your activities and see ROI from your public affairs by organising, sharing, tracking and evaluating all your stakeholder activity

The webinar will take place on Tuesday 25th April at 11:00. Make sure you Register now!