Tag: PR Agency

For the Love of PR

Clairemont InternBlog, Fashion, Public Relations, , ,

Ah, Valentine’s. Stop and unwrap a few Dove chocolates (or Hershey’s Kisses … whatever your indulgence). At Clairemont, we are using this “season of love” to celebrate our everyday work. We love what we get to do for our clients, and here’s why!

  1. We never have a dull moment. Nope, never bored in our world! With all that PR encompasses – media relations, brand management, crisis communications, content development, social media management, influencer marketing and the list goes on – it’s endlessly fascinating. No work day is the same, and we love that.
  2. We love to learn. Over the years, we’ve worked with a bunch of great clients across a number of industries, including British nobility, pepper festivals and chocolate factories. Our job is continuously evolving. To keep up, we have to always be learning. From the latest social media platform, analytics tools or creative trends, our team loves to dig deep and dive in to new ventures.
  3. We stay on top of trends!  One of the many things that PR pros are renowned for is being “in the know.” And we love to dress the part! From breaking news to the latest fashion trends (yes, ruffles and white boots have become popular again!), we’re always switched on to what’s going on in the world.  (Remember that time we jumped on the palazzo pant trend?)
  4. We commit! PR is one of the best businesses for building relationships. The job gives us countless opportunities to network with spirited co-workers, clients, members of the media (news anchors, print journalists, bloggers) and even celebrities! At Clairemont, we love finding new friends and turning them into lifelong pals.
  5. We love to save the day. PR pros are like ninjas. We think fast on our feet in even the most challenging of crisis situations. Even more, we love making a difference in the community; the Clairemont team takes pride in planning and implementing community events and nonprofit initiatives to improve the lives of those around us.

In PR, what we do today can make a difference on what tomorrow will bring. Revisit your own list of things you love often and revise it as you develop your own goals.

What do you love most about your work?

By the way, on the topic of love, Clairemont “speaks” the five languages of love.

Written by Clairemont Intern Ru Wolle, a senior at NCSU.
Photos from Canva.

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The Five Love Languages: PR Edition

Kelli FletcherBlog, Hiring a PR Firm, Public Relations, , , ,

In 1995 Gary Chapman wrote a book that promised to enlighten you on “how to express heartfelt commitment to your mate.” It was dubbed the “secret” to making a relationship last and promised a path to truer, deeper love. The book was titled, The Five Love Languages. Twenty years later a revised edition of the book was released and since then, pop culture has seen a resurgence of the concept: that there are five ways to express and experience love, and that each person has one primary and one secondary love language.

Well, call us silly, but we do fancy ourselves in the business of love and commitment. As in, we LOVE what we do and who we do it for, and we are COMMITTED to making our clients happy, day in and day out. In fact, to take it a step further, our team strives to not just make these relationships with our clients but also to maintain them for years to come.

And because each client’s needs are different and each views success in a variety of ways, we’ll argue that we’ve become somewhat of a group of experts at this whole theory and each of its languages. Bottom line: Every day we strive to present our clients with all the languages of love!

Here’s a little snippet of ways we at Clairemont “speak” the five languages of love:

Receiving Gifts: Some people love flowers, but we think nothing says “I love you” more than a big fat clipbook of media hits in our client’s target outlets.

Quality Time: We not only connect with our clients weekly but we also try to do it in person whenever we can. We love hosting kick-off meetings and “calls” at the Clairemont House. This way our clients (and potential clients) can see where all the magic happens.

Words of Affirmation: Whether it’s feedback on a recent camera interview or acknowledging a fantastic idea, we want to let our clients know they’re doing a great job. We think we work with some of the best clients in the biz, and, well, we’re going to tell you about it.

Acts of Service: For us, this is our most fluent. We’re not just going to talk the talk; we’re going to walk the walk! Maybe it’s connecting our clients to the community or to each other. Or perhaps we are tasked with executing a flawless event. Whatever it is our clients need, we’re going to make sure it gets done.

Physical Touch: Often times we’ll kick off a client relationship with a strong handshake and celebrate successes with a high five. But there’s no hiding that we’re a group of huggers at heart, which means we often hug it out with our clients when we say hello and good-bye.

Maybe one of these languages speaks more loudly to you, or heck, maybe you and your business need them all. Either way, our team is up (and excited!) for the chance to show you we care! Want to learn more? Drop us a line!

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Finding Your Head-Tilting Idea

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Public Relations, , , , ,
You have it. You found your something, your showstopper, your Shark-tank-worthy product that you know will revamp your industry! You wouldn’t invest your time, talent and resources in an initiative if you didn’t believe in its revolutionary power.
Why, then, aren’t media inquiries flooding your inbox? Why aren’t eager customers beating down your doors and clearing your shelves? Why is your social media engagement fizzling to nothing?

Sound Familiar?

Alas, thus is the plight of many brands that come to us — a world-changing idea that hasn’t yielded the results they expected. Now notably, many elements of the business require honest evaluation in this situation, from the product production to the business model itself.
But at Clairemont, we’re in the business of transforming a company’s marketing and PR from “blah to Voila,” as we say. And one of our secret ingredients is what one of our friends – Sean Lilly Wilson of Fullsteam Brewery — once called “the head-tilting idea.”

The Head-Tilting Idea

A head-tilting idea is the element that makes you simply stop … and take a second glance — the “wait, what now?” factor. (That’s the technical term in our PR textbooks.) This twist of creativity swivels the spotlight to your company, placing your brand on centerstage. Whether based on humor, a bold CSR move or an unlikely partnership, the contrast where the expected meets the unexpected produces a magical magnetism, one that we’ve seen catch the attention of busy reporters and create a vibrant buzz amidst consumers.

Ideas in Action

Here are just a few we cooked up in the Clairemont creative kitchen:

Hoedown Showdown: A master-planned community threw a barn-raising themed event to celebrate its first anniversary. To transform this internal milestone into a media-worthy moment, Clairemont concocted the ultimate “dancing with the stars” competition. Media were invited to compete in the square-dance competition dubbed “the hoedown showdown” for a chance to win $1,000 to donate to charity of their choice. This unexpected boot-scootin’ bonanza captured the attention of busy media, landing coverage across the Triangle.

LEKKER’s 24 Hour Tour: Fans flocked to see North Carolina’s  newest star — one that made its debut for just 24 hours in Greensboro. The celebrity made appearances at everything from restaurants and boutiques to morning TV shows and even on stage at a live band performance. The guest celebrity? A Dutch fashion bicycle making its debut in the United States. Clairemont positioned the LEKKER bike as a celebrity that spent its first American day doing photo opps, “signing autographs” and meeting its new fans. Clairemont transformed a typical product launch into an anticipated debut, garnering fans, securing bold coverage and topping the season’s holiday shopping list.

Wrangler Dave Launches the Railinc CowParade: When Railinc, IT provider to the rail industry, asked Clairemont to give them some creative ideas to promote its sponsorship of CowParade North Carolina, we said we’ll do you one better and give you something no other sponsors have! We’ll give you a cowboy! Clairemont’s Wrangler Dave became the official cowboy of the Railinc cow. In full cowboy getup Wrangler Dave starred in videos and on the Clairemont-created landing page talking about how supporting mooovelous causes like the CowParade made Railinc an udderly amazing place to work. We collaborated with the 16-year-old artist selected by Railinc to paint their cow to include QR codes in the cow’s design, linked the landing page. Railinc employees were invited by Wrangler Dave to participate in a cow-naming contest, a photo contest and to join Wrangler Dave at CowParade events. During Raleigh’s First Fridays while Railinc’s cow as on parade, Wrangler Dave hosted “Chow Cow,” a promotional game that highlighted career opportunities and helped boost Railinc’s employment!
Are you looking for that new angle, a fresh pizzazz to bring your brand to life? Drop us a line to find your head-tilting idea!
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“Secret Sauce” for Client Relationships

Tracy LathanBlog, Hiring a PR Firm, , , Leave a Comment on “Secret Sauce” for Client Relationships

The foundation of any good relationship is built on several fundamental values, such as trust, transparency and mutual respect. But there also needs to be that spark, or chemistry, to really make the magic happen. The same holds true for successful agency/client relationships.

Throughout my career, I have worked on numerous account teams and navigated through all types of client relationships. The one common thread among the accounts where we really moved the needle for the client and produced big results were the ones where we had the secret sauce.

Wondering what the ingredients are? Let me share a few with you.

Mutual Respect – This should go without saying, but sadly that is not always the case. The client and the agency team members need to have a mutual respect for one another as well as for their roles and responsibilities on the account. They need to be able to really listen to each other and understand their respective areas of expertise.

Trust – Trust is key. As an extension of the internal team, clients need to be able to trust their agency partner as they would their in-house colleagues. Confidential information must not be shared and deadlines need to be consistently met to establish that trust. They also need to be able to trust that their agency partner has their back and is looking out for issues and opportunities that could affect the business.

Good Rapport – Often during a busy workday it feels like there isn’t much time for chit chat. But sometimes taking those extra few minutes at the end of a call with a client to ask about her weekend or family can make all the difference in the world. You are building a relationship, and while it must always be professional, taking the time to also make it personal can make all the difference in the world.

Honesty – I think we all would agree delivering bad news to a client is never easy, but it is always best to be upfront from the beginning and for the agency contact to alert the client at the first sign of trouble. If a project is going over budget or there are hiccups when planning a big event, pick up the phone and let the client know where things stand. That approach will eliminate any big surprises at the end and will help build the trust I mentioned earlier.

Sometimes it’s effortless, and all of these elements fall into place naturally. Other times the dynamic doesn’t start out as smoothly, and you need to cultivate the relationship. Either way, it’s in everyone’s best interest to put in the extra work to make sure the key ingredients are in the secret sauce. It will pay off in the long run. I promise.

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Making the Most of Your Hashtags

Clairemont InternBlog, Marketing, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , , , , ,

Hashtag. It’s one of those words you keep hearing and the more you hear it, the weirder it sounds. In social media, you’re constantly reminded to “hashtag this” or “hashtag that.” But which hashtags should you really be using … and why?

Remember that a hashtag is merely an identifier that pools certain posts together and keeps relevant data connected. It is a way for communities to share, a way to gauge opinions on topics and most importantly, a way for users to sift through the millions of terabytes of content floating around on the internet.

If you’re looking to beef up your hashtag game, you have to first ask, “For which platform am I creating content?” There is a monumental difference in strategy and results among Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Let’s break down each one.

Twitter

Twitter is where hashtags started, and the platform still emulates the tried-and-true spirit of their original purpose. Hashtags siphon your post into an online conversation. These tagged posts are “connected” to a thread of posts with the same hashtag, linking all the posts together. They work wonders for discovering developing trends and tracking relevant news or your favorite topics.

© [Artistan] / Adobe Stock
Twitter’s timeline algorithm, much like Instagram and Facebook, organizes your feed based on what it thinks will be relevant to your interests. One of the easiest ways to utilize hashtags is to find a popular tag and make your brand a part of that conversation. By engaging with a popular tag, your post will attract much more eye traffic. Connecting with trends is a great way to keep your brand in the loop.

Due to the 280-character limit, using several hashtags in a post doesn’t work well, so the most effective route is to use only two. Believe it, or not, there is an aesthetic appeal to social media content and writing a well-composed, organized and “clean” post could make all the difference.

Instagram

While people log on to Instagram to see carefully framed and beautifully filtered pictures, it is often the hashtags on the caption of a post that generates likes and helps it reach star status.

Tags on this platform serve as buckets for posts. Once a certain tag is put on a post, Instagram will group that post with all the other posts with that tag, creating an enormous gallery. Users can search any hashtag with Instagram’s Discover tab and see all the buzz on that topic.

This has shaped a community feel on the platform, letting foodies and travel enthusiasts alike share their posts with specific niche communities. Any brand has the chance to reach out to an exact market and share content with people that are interested in a certain topic.

Over time, certain hashtags have developed into industry standards, generating millions of posts. If you are a travel enthusiast, it may seem like a good idea to throw “#adventure” on your post, but at the time I wrote this article, that hashtag had almost 64 million posts. Remember that if you decide to use the more popular hashtags, your post could be lost a lot quicker due to the amount of activity!

However, Instagram allows you to insert 30 hashtags in one post, so use as many as you like! Just as a friendly reminder, it’s a good idea to make your hashtags appear lower in your caption so your post does not look cluttered. This can be accomplished by burying them beneath your text with dots, line breaks or whatever symbols you prefer. People will only be able to see the hashtags if they click on your post to see the full caption. On the other hand, tags can also be put into the comment section after a post has been made.

Facebook

Many people aren’t sure if Facebook is the place for hashtags. The original social network has traditionally been a platform for people to connect with close friends or specific users, unlike Twitter which encourages conversation among non-connected users.

Many businesses on Facebook use hashtags and promote campaigns the same way they would on any other platform. However, according to a study done by BuzzSumo in which more than a billion posts from more than 30 million brand pages were analyzed, posts without hashtags garnered more reach than posts with hashtags.

© [momius] / Adobe Stock
The sheer volume of that study makes it hard to argue that one should be using tags, but if your team has created a killer campaign and has found a great way to market it with an inventive hashtag, do it! It is still a good idea to keep the number of tags low to make it more appealing to the eye. We recommend approximately two.

The most important facet of the hashtag process is research! Research your industry leaders, influencers and audience to gauge tags people are using and which ones are resonating with those communities. In order to come up with meaningful hashtags that stick out, you need to know who you are trying to reach. You want to make sure your tag is refreshing and different from another brand’s hashtag!

Do your #research, be #inventive and don’t forget to have fun!

Now that you’re in the groove, check out some other tips on social media strategy!

Cover Photo Credit: © [Michail Petrov] / Adobe Stock

Written by intern Nathan J. McDaniel, a senior at Western Carolina University.

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