Tag: Public Relations

My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 19

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Public Relations, Raleigh PR Agency, , , , , , 1 Comment on My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 19

A lot of my work at Clairemont thus far has been centered around doing social media and blogging for clients, but every once in a while, I’m doing what we now consider “traditional PR,” as well. My most recent task has involved pitching the Charlotte and nearby Lancaster, S.C. media regarding our client Walnut Creek’sannouncement that three new builders are set to begin construction in the housing development.
Pitching media is still a new experience for me, and it is probably one of the most nerve-wracking assignments that I have worked on yet at a PR agency. Reporters are busy and can receive hundreds of pitches a day. Sometimes they are just not interested in hearing another pitch, and sometimes your story just really isn’t what that reporter needs.

My best advice? Don’t take the rejection personally. Pitching the media can be hard, but it gets much better with practice (so I’ve heard). Instead, make the pitch into a game. What can you do, what angle can you approach it from to make your story sound the most interesting to the reporter? What can you do to make the reporter’s job easy? If you can give the journalist as much information as they need as soon as they need it, you are making his or her job easier, which means you are in a much better position to get placement for your story.

This is just my initial reaction on how to make pitching the most interesting and effective, but for those of you who have had way more experience than me, do you have any tips and tricks to share?

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What Does a PR Agency Do? Community Relations Case Study

Josephine ButlerAwards, Blog, Case Studies, Marketing, Public Relations, Raleigh PR Agency, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , , , , , , , , ,
ABC 11’s Angela Hampton poses with Santa Claus, himself!

People commonly ask us what a PR agency does. We thought the best way to answer that question would be to share case studies from our work that was recently recognized at the North Carolina chapter of the Public Relations Society of America’s (NCPRSA) InSpire Awards. Clairemont won 14 InSpire Awards, and we hope that this “Award Winning Wednesday” blog series will inspire you, too!

Client: Triangle Family Services, a United Way of the Greater Triangle partner agency that has been dedicated to assisting families in need for 75 years, providing programs focused on financial stability, family safety and mental health services to more than 7,000 area residents.

Objective: Provide media relations support for the Annual Gingerbread Benefit, the premier fundraising event for TFS, with the following goals in mind:

  1. Use the event to boost overall awareness of TFS and the role it plays in the community by securing local news stories
  2. Help TFS repeat revenue generation of the 2010 event, totaling $93,165 (the largest in the event’s history)
  3. Increase attendance of new donors to help address an overall challenge facing TFS – its aging donor base

Execution: In addition to providing media relations support, Clairemont team members served on the event planning committee for the Gingerbread Benefit.

  • Research: The Clairemont team researched the Gingerbread Benefits held in   previous years. We interviewed the organization’s director and event co-chairs to determine their expectations for the event. Additionally, we took a look at what other popular holiday events were going on in the Triangle around the same time. We used this information to identify what types of events would garner the most attendance and what types of auction items would secure the most interest from bidders.
  • Planning: The Clairemont team participated in monthly meetings and calls to begin planning for the event. Based on our research, we identified several target audiences, including first-time (or new) donors, as well as outlined objectives for our media relations support.
  • Execution – pre-event: Previous pitching experience, including pitching the 2010 Gingerbread Benefit, taught us that local reporters often feel overwhelmed by the number of pitches they receive surrounding holiday benefits. Because of this, we knew we had to get creative with our pitches and took the following approach:  Business angle: Any information or updates surrounding the corporate sponsors of the event, we submitted to business outlets and reporters. Business angle: Any information or updates surrounding the corporate sponsors of the event, we submitted to business outlets and reporters. Chef pitch: Because the event featured gingerbread houses created and then donated for auction by local celebrity chefs, we identified the area’s most recognized local food blog, the News & Observer’s Mouthful, as an appropriate target. With the idea in mind that building gingerbread houses offered excellent visuals, we also successfully pitched local TV stations. Attendance drivers: We submitted event information to local online event calendars. Additionally, we issued two releases on Business Wire to share with reporters and boost SEO.
  • Execution – onsite logistics: The Clairemont team provided onsite support the day of the event, with one team member serving as volunteer coordinator. Because of our strong ties to ABC 11’s Angela Hampton, the emcee for the event, the Clairemont team also served as her point of contact. Additionally, we took photographs of the gingerbread houses as they were being delivered and shared them via the Triangle Family Services Facebook page. Tagging participating vendors and chefs created last-minute buzz that enticed additional people to come to the event that evening.
  • Results: Our media relations campaign was a success! Here’s how we measured up to each of our stated objectives:
  1. Through the placement of nine news stories including interviews on ABC 11 and NBC 17, we strengthened brand recognition of TFS and the Gingerbread Benefit. Additionally, advance coverage from outlets such as Cary Magazine and Mouthful, gave the event credibility and helped increase ticket sales.
  2. Clairemont helped raise total event revenue by 3 percent from 2010 and 174 percent from 2009.
  3. Tickets purchased by new donors represented 50 percent of all ticket sales (a 20 percent increase from last year).

All in all, our efforts were a total success and helped us exceed each of our objectives. Now, we’re already kicking things into high gear to begin planning (and pitching) the organization’s 10th Annual Gingerbread Benefit and 75th anniversary! Stay tuned…

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My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 12

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Professional Development, , , , , , ,

Working in public relations is a lot more than planning events or helping a celebrity or corporation recover from a public blunder. Yes, event planning and crisis communications are very important skills for public relations professionals, but the most fundamental, absolutely necessary, hire-or-fire skill is something a little less glamorous – great writing. Whether it’s a tweet, blog, press release or annual report, clear and concise writing is one of the most important weapons a PR practitioner can have in his or her arsenal.

2012 AP Stylebook — the #1 resource for all things style and grammar!

The difference between good writing and bad writing is a press release that gets primetime media coverage verses a release that gets ignored because of its weak lead; it’s the difference between an attention-grabbing tweet that is shared and retweeted, boosting a company’s ROI and SEO, compared to a tweet that is too long or boring to get noticed; it’s the difference between a strong, convincing, informative brochure or fact sheet that can inspire publics to act and change their behaviors, compared to a ready-to-use piece that inspires nothing and no one. But, most importantly, it’s the difference between the ability to generate results for the client or to not.

At Clairemont, the importance of writing is stressed on a continual basis, and nearly all of my daily tasks are centered on writing in one way or another. A number of my assignments are creative writing projects, and this past week, I’ve been working on writing copy for a furniture client’s new collections. While the style of writing is certainly different than that of a press release, it still comes down to the same concept of aiming to create results. For furniture copy, this means exuding the feeling and style of the collection or piece. It is about making a customer feel the sophistication of the product. Furniture copy is not just a description – it’s a feeling.

Writing furniture copy isn’t always the easiest, though. It takes time to perfect and to know how to write in the client’s style. For me, the biggest help is to sit down with Josie and walk through the editing process with her. Instead of just passing my copy on to her to edit, she will sit down with me and show me exactly what she is looking for and how to make those edits. This way, I can see the mistakes or style issues in my writing and address them in future assignments.

Does anyone else have any other writing or editing tips? We are always looking for ways to improve because it is such an important skill!

 

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My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 11

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Marketing, , , , , ,

If you remember my blog from day four on the job, I recently put together several e-books for professional development. This week, Dana has assigned each of us a different one of these books, and I have been reading a Hubspot manual about how to attract customers with Twitter. I’m familiar with recreational Twitter use, but it’s not my favorite social media platform, so I have never really taken it upon myself to do more research into how to use Twitter for business purposes (beyond the basics). 6 Steps to Optimize Twitter for Search was one of the chapters that really appealed to me, and I’ve shared some of the tips below:

Make Twitter pay off for your company with these tips from Hubspot

1. Make Twitter handles spam-free. To ensure that your Twitter page is one of the top hits on Google, Bing or any other search engine, try to avoid using numbers in your user name. Since many spammers’ Twitter handles include numbers (e.g., @Name456781), when Google’s algorithm scans links on Twitter, it often disregards such usernames because it cannot differentiate what is a legitimate username and what is spam.

2. Include keywords in your bio. With only 160 characters to create a valuable Twitter bio, don’t waste space with too many industry keywords. Instead, reflect your business in an accurate and meaningful way that will help improve your search visibility. Also, since search engines often display Twitter bios in the links’ description on the results page, make sure you bio is attention grabbing!

3. Build your reach. Simple concept, but apparently overlooked by many. According to Google and Bing, both of their algorithms check the authority of every user tweeting, so make sure to gain a following for better SEO.

4. Create a special subset of keywords. Make a list of keywords or phrases that your business attempts to rank in search engines. For instance, key phrases Clairemont would want to rank for include “Public Relations” or “Raleigh PR agency.” Shorten longer key phrases and pick a smaller subset of keywords for Twitter. Then, use theses phrases regularly in your tweets to boost SEO.

5. Keep tweet lengths in the retweet safe zone. To ensure that your SEO keywords and phrases are not deleted when another user shares your tweets, give your tweets about 10-20 characters of wiggle room. This keeps those keywords safe from being deleted when ”RT @username” is added to the shared tweet. Plus, data indicates that 120-130 character tweets have the highest click-through rates.

6. Create your own inbound links. Lastly, make your content interesting enough that other influencers on Twitter will retweet it. Both Google and Bing take the value of Twitter authority figures and correlate it with the value of the link. So, the number of followers a user who retweets your content has is important for search engines that are measuring the value and importance of the retweeted link.

Any other Twitter tips worth sharing? We’d love to hear them!

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My First 30 Days at a Raleigh PR Agency: Day 8

Margot HorganBlog, Entry-Level PR Job, Social Media + Influencer Engagement, , , , ,

At Clairemont, we focus on blending traditional communication and social media to provide our clients with monumental results. So, knowing what is the next big thing to hit the social media world is our job! But with social media and technology changing everyday, it can be a challenge keeping track of all the newest social crazes.

Sites like Mashable and PR Daily do a great job of reporting on industry news and are a good reference for social media updates. According to a June 6 article on PR Daily, the video version of Instagram is an up-and-coming contender for the next popular social networking app. Here is its list of their top 10 Instagram-for-video apps to watch:

1. Viddy. Of all the new-breed video-sharing options out there, this is the one that looks and feels the most like Instagram. It has all the features you’d expect, including Facebook Timeline integration. If celebrity interest is any indication, Viddy might become the “it” platform. For some mind-bending content, check out Britney Spears’ channel (only available on iPhone at this stage).

2. SocialCam. This is the other “hot” video-sharing app at the moment, thanks in part to the team behind another popular video-based service, Justin.tv. The “leaderboard” function shows you who has the most followers on SocialCam, which at this point is led by The Roxie a “SocialCam Rockstar.” It’s available on iPhone and Android.

3. Klip. This should have been called Klipstagram or Klipterest, because it is the closest to a mash-up of Instagram and Pinterest you’ll see. It’s another iPhone-only app, except you do have the ability to connect Klip with YouTube or upload directly from Klip.com (something that Instagram has avoided).

4. Looplr. A combination of the first three apps profiled here, Looplr allows for simple “shoot, share and watch” capability from your phone, supported by that familiar Pinterest-style viewing interface on the Web.

5. Tout. Tout is a little different from the first four; it’s more of a “Twitter for video sharing” app, enabling users to upload 15-second video status updates. Ex-NBA star Shaquille O’Neal was one of the first big names to join Tout (under the direction of Amy Jo Martin, a.k.a. Digital Royalty, one of sports most respected digital marketing experts).

6. Veetle. This is slightly different from the others in that it focuses on “live video broadcasting” among your social networks as opposed to recording and then posting (in a similar fashion to qik.com).

7. MyVidster. Again, this one is slightly different because it started as a Web-based video-bookmarking service, but it has recently launched a mobile app to allow sharing on the move.

Instagram for Video apps

Social video discovery specialists

There are a few similar Web-based apps that focus more on discovery than creation, which shouldn’t be overlooked.

8. Shufflr. While this is available on mobile, the most interesting element of Shufflr is the Facebook integration that sits within your profile and serves up your daily video fix based on your interests.

9. Chill. One of the more recent talked about Web apps, Chill borrowed some inspiration from Pinterest and made video content sharing more “personally social” than the behemoth YouTube.

10. Frequency. This Web-based aggregator brings video content together from professional content creators such as BBC, ESPN, and the NBA. It’s hard to categorize this one, and it does feel similar to the current YouTube interface.

Does anyone have an account on these apps? I’d be interested to know which ones everyone is using. I think I’m going to download Shufflr and give its daily video feed a try!

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