Category: Articles

By Nick Wheywell, Head of Social

When I started in pr and social media, the thought was a brand should only rely on its organic content and social activity to create credibility, and that it shouldn’t have to pay to elevate its status amongst its target audience or its competitors. Paying for that amplification was almost seen as cheating, building a brand should be achieved on the merit of its organic content. Stat!

That’s still the case to some degree today, as a brand needs to see that its organic content is resonating with the audience and that they are creating ‘social currency’ – content the audience deems as valuable and therefore shares with their networks. But a brand can’t rely on organic activity alone. Even if you are a heavyweight in your line of business, other heavyweights are also vying for customers. If a brand wants to stand out in its undoubtedly ever-increasingly noisy market space, paid social needs to be part of its communication strategy. Putting a budget behind your content for paid and organic social media is now seen as standard practice.

You need to spend a lot, don’t you?

The good thing is you don’t have to spend thousands or even hundreds to achieve considerable success on social media. A carefully crafted paid social campaign with a clear and focused strategy can reap many rewards, and help a brand surpass the goals they set. It’s important to note that a paid social campaign is never set in stone, it needs to be flexible, and nimble. By monitoring its progress live, you can manipulate it, including the budget, to ensure it’s performing at the highest level.

Strategising and recommending paid social activity for clients is something our social team does daily. Be it standalone social activity, or as part of an integrated campaign with one or a combination of our other practices (PR, Media, Content, and Creative), it’s a tactic we are increasingly recommending our clients do to help create cut-through. It’s the ideal opportunity to get a product, service, or offering in front of a key audience, in the knowledge that through a targeted approach with a clear call to action, the right eyes are seeing the ad and that you are creating every opportunity for that potential customer to engage the way you want them to (website visit, book a meeting, product information, downloading a whitepaper, etc.).

What happens next?

By analysing the results of a paid social ad campaign, you can glean a lot of beneficial data that must be fed back into their social activity, both organic and paid. Reviewing what worked and what didn’t, what generated the most engagement, and how it has impacted the business, allows a brand to capitalise on the effective optimisation of all assets used, and refine upcoming activity based on these results.

If you’re thinking paid social activity could be an option for you, and are interested in hearing how it could positively impact your business, why not get in touch. Our social team would be very happy to jump on a call with you.

By Bekki Bushnell, Associate Director

There are a few age old debates in PR – demonstrating impact is one of them. From this, there’s been a lot of discussion around whether PR agencies really should be guaranteeing results, i.e. coverage. As you might expect, a lot of B2B PR agency professionals tend to believe they shouldn’t be, whereas those more likely to be on the client side usually say the opposite.

What do I think? Should PRs guarantee coverage? Absolutely. Here’s why…

Transparency is key

As consultants, we have a duty to be transparent and give our honest advice on what is going to deliver the outcome for our clients. That absolutely must work both ways. For example, if we have a client that wants to make a big splash about a non-newsworthy story, then we need to acknowledge that objective, understand the motives underlying that and then propose a strategy moving forward that will deliver impact but in a way that we know will work.

Clients look to us for our PR & Media expertise, so if we are proposing the right strategies and working with businesses that trust us to execute them, then why should we not be confident enough to guarantee the result?

Trust your strategy

The point around trust is interesting. We talk a lot about trust in our industry. How can we expect businesses to trust us if we don’t trust ourselves enough to be able to guarantee a result from a strategy that we ourselves have put forward?

If you don’t believe it’s going to work then it shouldn’t be on the table, and if you’re going to ask a client to believe in it enough to put their cash on the line then you ought to do the same.

Define success

In practice, understanding what success looks like needs to start with a conversation and agreement between both parties on what the desired outcome will be and how that will be measured. On one hand it’s impractical to agree things you have no control over, e.g. saying that a specific publication will run your story, but it’s also detrimental agreeing to metrics that are devoid of any meaning, e.g. talking about reach if your client is being mentioned in a story that is entirely irrelevant to the campaign objectives.

Being upfront, transparent and looking at the bigger picture of what you are doing within a much broader ecosystem driving growth are all important things to do.

Don’t stand still

But let’s be clear. PR and communications is not an exact science, and unfortunately things don’t always go exactly to plan. Sometimes the story just doesn’t land the way you think it will or the news gets dominated by something out of your control, among many other possibilities. That shouldn’t be an excuse to not commit to guaranteed outcomes. If you’re quick to adapt and skilled in spotting opportunities that others may miss then you will be able to tweak the strategy, deliver results and apply your learnings from that experience to do even better next time around.

Ultimately, whether you are agency or client side we all want the same thing – for our campaigns to be successful, our teams, clients and stakeholders to be happy and our bottom lines to be healthy. It’s only by being as equally committed to the process as each other that we will achieve that.

By Bekki Bushnell, Associate Director

In 1899, Charles H. Duell supposedly claimed that “everything that can be invented has been invented”. Whether he really did or not is a debate for another day, but supposing he did, I started to wonder what he would make of Uber. Or Monzo. Or HubSpot. Or any of the wonderful tech inventions that have transformed the way we do things across both our personal and professional lives.

Just take a look at fintech – it’s one industry that continues to impress on the innovation front, with the UK boasting countless examples of startups and scale-ups that truly embody forward-thinking, setting an example for other industries of what bold, unashamed disruption can achieve.

It’s therefore well received news that following proposals from the Kalifa review in 2021, the government is going to roll out a number of fintech innovation hubs across major UK cities, managed by a new Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT). The overall ambition is to build upon the UK’s position as a global fintech leader, bring in international investment (that has waned over the last few years) and attract the right talent that we need to be able to deliver on those first two points.

But a ‘one-size-CFITs-all’ approach in fintech won’t wash. Companies with fast growth ambitions have several economic, political and regulatory hurdles to overcome and a bold, innovative comms strategy (much like their solutions) must play an integral role in overcoming those. The three core objectives of CFIT (establishing leadership, securing investment and attracting talent) are actually the very same objectives we often hear from across our spectrum of B2B tech clients.

So what has this got to with PR and comms?

Put simply, decision making is driven by our perceptions and the values that we hold and therefore attribute to others. These will be shaped by a number of things, including covert and overt influences, lived experiences, shared and individual environments, cultural norms, etc. That is why when we want to arrive at a certain outcome (let’s say an investor giving funding to a fintech startup), we need to shape those perceptions around our brand by tapping into the values held by our target audiences (this fintech company is led by smart, trustworthy people that are building a unique solution that there is a demand for and will generate ROI). This is something we can only do when we understand the fundamentals of how that group of people operates (under pressure, data driven, risk aware, analytical etc). That then informs what you should be saying about your business in order to shape those perceptions.

Getting the right messages in front of the right people is what a good PR and communications plan will achieve and with so many game-changing products and solutions being developed every day, why wouldn’t you want to shout about it to the world?

When times are tough and budgets squeezed, PR and marketing are often the first to go. But (there’s always a but) skimping on services that will ultimately help your business isn’t a great idea. The key is proving to your board, management team, powers that be, that PR and marketing can deliver a return on investment, not just during times of prosperity, but also during times of uncertainty.

Our COO, Hayley Goff, recently chatted to Marketing Week about how PR can prove itself.

Read the full article here.

Life before PR

By Tara Williams, Head of HR

Like many industries, in PR we’re encountering a few challenges when it comes to finding skilled candidates. To be blunt, there are too many jobs and not enough candidates to fill them. Which is why we’re taking a more rounded approach to recruitment, including attending job fairs at nearby universities – to help stimulate interest in the discipline of PR & marketing early on.

While developing a deck that really sells PR (and of course us as an employer!) I found myself using a lot of industry terminology (jargon 😊) and realised university students won’t know what it means and will likely be put off by it.

Which got me thinking about the things I didn’t know before joining a PR agency… like what PR professionals actually did (I’m a hardcore human resources specialist), what lead generation was or what influencer relations entailed.

Expecting that this was the experience of many of my colleagues, I asked them the question and this was what they said…

Before working in PR, I didn’t know what…

“A press release was!” Bekki Bushnell, Head of Business Development and Associate Director

“Circling back meant. Or edge computing.” Emily Fishburn, Senior Account Manager

“News hijacking! It was a term that baffled me for a while especially when it’s called different things such as fast action or fast response comment.” Angelo Suanno, JAE

“PR!!” Ellie Nash, Senior Digital Account Executive

“Before working in PR, I had no idea just how much technology went in to making my favourite TV programme appear on my screen – in my mind, it was just kind of there, and I had never given the actual logistics any thought!” Amber Chawner, Account Manager

“Interoperability.” Leo Nash, AE

“I had no idea what an influencer was, or how broad the term could actually be.” Sophie Sadler, Senior Account Director

“The channel!” Suzanne Griffiths, MD

“An ebook.” Laura Bundy, JAE

“IoT, DDoS, SOC, MDR, XDR…” Annabelle Tooby, AE

While some of these terms are specific to the industries our clients work in, it does highlight that truly modern PR encapsulates a lot more than just traditional media relations. And offers a world of opportunities to those ready to take the leap.

While I’ll stick to my strengths in HR, I love the fact that a career path in PR can be so varied – something I’ve seen first hand and one of the first things I mention to candidates just starting their careers.

Want to find out more about PR? Take a look at what we do as a B2B Tech PR Agency

Can PR help you grow during periods of economic uncertainty?

By Bekki Bushnell, Head of Business Development

The last two years have been interesting, haven’t they? I won’t waste time recapping, we’ve all lived through it. But just as we thought we were out of the woods, along comes an anticipated recession. You can’t make it up.

As we know, the first fatalities of any period of uncertainty are typically PR and marketing. But as we saw from the pandemic, the brands that continue to invest in these functions are able to better connect with their audiences on a meaningful level, build trust, brand loyalty and ultimately grow their business in the longer term.

If the UK does go into a recession, it may be hard to find a brand that remains unaffected — particularly when it comes to PR and marketing budgets. In fact, according to an IPA Bellweather study taken during the pandemic, marketing budgets in the UK have suffered the highest cuts in the 20+ history of the report.

However, just because the majority of businesses might do it, is it the right thing to do? As a PR agency, we’re always going to argue no, and there is evidence to back this up. A study by Harvard Business School researchers shows companies that cut marketing investment come off worse when coming out of a downturn.

Here are our top four reasons to keep doing PR during the times of economic uncertainty based on our 25+ years of experience in the industry:

#1 Communication is still important

Never write off the importance of communications. Now more than ever your stakeholders, be it, customers, staff or investors, will look to you for assurance. Whether that’s about operations, customer service or delivery, the best way to do this is through communications – so keep the communications flowing because once those relationships are gone, they’re very hard to build back up again. It’s about having a constant stream of open and transparent information to avoid assumptions being made. This is especially true when it comes to the media – you want to keep those strong relationships so that when you’re ready to kick-start wider campaigns, they still know who you are and what your business stands for.

#2 The trust factor

If you don’t communicate, how do you build trust? In times of uncertainty, people want to spend money with businesses they know will deliver for them in the way that they need. Your customers trust you to do this and it’s one of the ways you can demonstrate your credibility to those brands you are yet to work with you. If you’ve developed a new product or service,  that builds trust because it shows you understand the landscape your clients and prospects operate in and are evolving to ease their pain points. If you’ve recently secured investment, appointed senior hires or made an acquisition then you are growing, and that builds trust because to grow you must be trusted by others.

So why keep doing PR? A good PR agency will work with you to pinpoint the right stories and messaging that will evoke the right reactions from your target audiences and understand which triggers will lead to a sales enquiry.

#3 PR can be flexible

 You may have the impression that PR is something that requires a big budget and isn’t very flexible. I’m happy to tell you that you don’t need to execute extravagant ideas or invest in a big PR campaign. Part of this is having an agency and account team that respond to your current needs. Your account team should advise and guide you through any situation you find yourself in and if that means reducing spend or reallocating some budget to focus on a different area such as crisis comms then there’s nothing to say that can’t be done. There is also no need to put blind faith in an agency in hope that they deliver results — make sure you are working with a partner that puts in fixed deliverables, set KPIs and formal service level agreements so you have total peace of mind about your investment.

#4 PR is so much more

 There’s more to PR than traditional media relations. Whether that’s working with you on social and digital, delivering creative campaigns or incorporating marketing elements, the agencies of today have broader skills across channels and can tailor make campaigns to suit your business needs — now and into the future. More than that, account teams often act as an extension of your own and have tremendous value to add over above “traditional PR”, especially in times when proving a return on investment is so important.

In times like this PR still has an incredibly important role to play in maintaining brand health and engaging with your audiences — whether you’re using it in the same way as before or in an adapted way. And with budgets under scrutiny, working with the right team can help you realise your ever-important return on investment.

By Mark Wilson, Creative Director

Video used to be a term that made marketing & PR teams clench their teeth and wonder in vain where the budget would come from. Unless you were a global brand with a multi-million pound budget, doing video – getting actors, filming it and editing was almost a pipedream. Enter 2022 and things have changed.

One of the many things that lockdown has taught us – apart from how to properly wash your hands and bake the perfect rye bread – is that compelling video doesn’t have to be costly.

With the right message and execution – you can capture the essence of your brand, show your personality and reach your objectives which is why video marketing is so important.

Now, that’s been a long intro to get to the point, which is a neat little segue into my first reason…

#1 Visibility

In an attention deficit world, video helps brands get to the point quickly. It attracts audiences better than copy alone, and gets them engaged faster and keeps them engaged longer; whether that’s on your socials, campaign landing pages or on your brand website.

#2 Shareability

Video also has the potential to go viral. That’s what every brand wants. In the B2B tech space that’s not always possible… BUT with video, it can be more easily shared, maximising exposure for PR and marketing campaigns.

#3 Versatility

It’s versatile – so from brand awareness and product launches, to recruitment and customer success, it can capture different audiences and fulfil myriad objectives. It can inject life into old formats (the video case study is far more engaging than just the normal written version) and be used to bring an added level of verve to organic social posts and content marketing campaigns.

#4 Likeability

You can convey personality – something that’s needed and appreciated in B2B marketing. Animation or live action, doesn’t matter, both are opportunities to show your brand flavour. It gives you the opportunity to tell a story, to be more relatable to your audiences, and be more personal.

#5 Findability

Video also impacts in SEO. Not only can you catalogue your keywords in a video and potentially feature on search results pages, but…video ultimately drives traffic to your website and, as mentioned, keeps visitors engaged, i.e. on your site for longer, all things search engine algorithms take into account when ranking your site.

By Hannah Buckley, Head of Content

The awards calendar forms part of many a PR & marketing plan, regardless of the industry you’re in. Taking home an award (even in some instances being shortlisted among high profile brands) is a great way to showcase your talent and expertise in your industry, demonstrate credibility and strengthen your reputation in the market.

What do you need to consider when writing a winning award entry?

The criteria for different awards is obviously… well, different. But there are 5 key areas you should always consider. I’ve sketched them out below:

#1 Always read the rules and entry requirements

It sounds quite obvious but a lot of valuable information can be missed if you skip over this stage and go straight to drafting. It’s kind of like ignoring the instructions on an IKEA bookshelf – you know what it’s supposed to look like at the end but could be missing out on the finer points of fitting that wood screw or using a wall stud.

Word count, specific questions that need answering, facts that need to be included, and of course the deadline – are all vital to writing a winning award entry.

#2 Ensure you’ve got the relevant content

This follows naturally from understanding the requirements. You’ve got a lot to say, many highlights and great achievements, but which category is the best fit? Do you have all the information that’s required? Do you need to chat with sales about a deal they secured? Do you need information from HR about company culture? Get all your content together, have another look at your requirements and then identify any gaps.

#3 Show results

It’s one thing to talk about your successes; it’s another to use tangible facts and figures to show that. Judges love seeing measurable results that will give your entry context. Remember that the judges won’t necessarily be as familiar with your industry as you are, so showing a clear picture of your success will help you stand out.

Don’t be afraid to add customer testimonials or any stats around customer satisfaction – this will also help build the bigger picture.

#4 Make it visual

Words are powerful. But having strong images to support them is even better. Whether that’s showing your latest product in action (if it’s a product category) or having a creatively designed infographic to show your company stats, great images always elevate your entry and make it more appealing to the judges.

#5 Make sure it’s professionally written

Here at Whiteoaks, this is what we do, so of course we’ve got a vested interest in this step! But in a nutshell, never hand this off to a junior, do it at the last minute, or use the exact same copy as last year. A winning award entry tells a clear and engaging story, using concise language. It needs to balance those elements with answering the requirements AND within a specific word count. Leaving this in the hands of professionals also means it will be accurate, properly proofed, and reflect the style and tone of your organisational messaging.

At Whiteoaks, in the last year alone, our Content Team has drafted 10 winning award entries for our clients. Get in touch if you’re keen to chat about how we can help you draft your next winning entry.