Business development for Internet start ups, product management, PR and marketing, journalism, communications. It’s been a bit of an eclectic ride. Now I’m a content creator at Whiteoaks.
What’s the most challenging job you’ve ever had?
Once had a 30-minute presentation to give to an audience that spoke no English at all. It turned into a wild game of Pictionary.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was 5, I wanted to be a bomb disposal expert. From the age of about 15 onwards, I knew I was going to be a writer.
What apps, technology items and gadgets can’t you live without?
I love how Bluetooth connects my car and phone. That’s my favourite piece of technology in the world.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
You’ll never know if you don’t give it a go.
Name one thing about your job that gives you a sense of satisfaction or makes you leave the office smiling…
I get a buzz creating content that people pay attention to.
What are you reading, watching, or listening to at the moment?
Watching old episodes of House M.D. and listening to Kid Loco.
Cabin in the mountains or house on the beach?
Cabin in the mountains. Skiing in winter, biking and hiking in the summer. But the odd weekend at the beach too, of course.
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 Weekabout how PR can prove itself.
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.
By Kate Hellig, Account Executive
At the risk of repeating a cliche we have all heard time and again over the past couple of years, I will keep it brief: the pandemic changed everything: the way we work, our practices, expectations and norms.
In the public relations industry, this was no exception specifically upon considering how dependent our sector is on media attention which saw much of it consumed by Covid doom and gloom content. Added to this, the pandemic made it near to impossible to meet up with journalists face-to-face and this drastic reduction in the amount of real facetime led to previous contacts being lost and fewer new ones being made.
It’s been a long two or so years but (hopefully) the light we are now starting to see at the end of the tunnel is here to stay. As we begin to move out of the pandemic, we are beginning to see more opportunities arise for face-to-face meetings with journalists (arguably the most fun part of a PRs job!)
Informal or professional conversations?
I (along with some of my fellow media team colleagues) recently met up with Scott Bechino (Editorial Director of Telecoms.com) and a couple of his friends for an informal meetup and get to know you session at a pub in the Big Smoke. We drank pints and chatted about bands, festivals, movies and similar light and breezy topics.
We came away from the evening with insight into Scott-the-person as opposed to Scott-the-journalist and, at the very least, become faces (and personalities) to some of those names he will see in his inbox and, while this may not guarantee a secured media opportunity, it should ensure at least an email read.
While some journalists certainly prefer more informal, personal meetups, others do like to keep it purely professional. In this case, come armed ready to discuss the media hot topics and landscape along with a few pitches on initial client story ideas (obviously ensuring you have done your research well to make sure you are pitching relevant insightful ideas). Such face-to-face meetings will help you establish a reputation with the journalist as a reliable source of quality information, which will definitely help you out in the future.
Either way, meetings are memorable: when physically getting together with journalists they will be more likely to remember you and, if they are working on a relevant feature, they will certainly be more responsive to your emails as you are now not just a name without a face.
It doesn’t stop there
As the first meeting may not be (and doesn’t necessarily have to be) always transactional, don’t expect something to happen for you right away. But do actively take the time each week to build on the relationship from here: continue to send relevant information and pitches that they want (that they really, really), read their content and engage with them over social media, making sure to maintain regular contact.
While such meetings may at first be a bit daunting what’s the worst that could happen? Sure, you may stumble over a few words or take a bit longer to get to the point the first couple of times but, as they say, practice makes perfect and before you know it, this will become second nature.
At the end of the day, PRs face time with journalists is one of those back-to-basics tactics that produces great results for clients. Creating and maintaining trusting relationships built on face-to-face interactions is invaluable. While be it five months or five years into your PR career, media relations will always be the bread and butter of your job.
By Annabelle Tooby, Account Executive
Exciting, nail-biting and rewarding: three words that accurately summarise the planning and execution that went into my first-ever media event. A happy client is a happy PR and here is how it went…
With F2F events obsolete, postponed or cancelled for the best part of two years, it’s safe to say I was a little nervous to be fully responsible for securing media and analyst attendees on behalf of my client. Good nervous though, like an excitable flutter before jumping to do a skydive (I’m an adrenaline junkie so this was the best simile I could think of, perhaps it’s also like how a bride feels before she steps foot down the aisle for those less driven to the extremes).
I’ve always loved a good event. Be it a family gathering, music festival or of course work-related. So, as a budding PR media specialist, the prospect of managing the media attendees for my first client event was definitely something I was eager and excited to get cracking on.
So first up, what is my plan of action? Well, it all starts with probing the client for the interesting and ultimately headline-grabbing information that will be key in the initial outreach stages.
But for me, one of the biggest lessons I learned is the subject line is paramount. The first and one of the most important decisions is crafting a catchy, snappy and straight-to-the-point subject line to capture a journalist’s attention.
In today’s digitally-driven age – as most people are familiar with none more so than a modern journalist – inboxes are grossly overcrowded with hundreds and thousands of emails daily. To cut through the noise and make your event pitch stand out among a sea of other keen PR pitches, the subject line is key.
Navigating the post-covid variables of event planning was also a bit of a challenge, but ultimately a productive learning curve for me. In the past, the offer of free food and exclusive content would have made any journalist jump at the offer. But, with so many dispersed far and countrywide nowadays, the premise of taking a morning off work to come to London isn’t such an easy sell – even if the client and the event is bang on their beat.
While I got off to a promising start, with a few weeks to go and only half the target met, it was time for a change of tack. The pressure of the task was mounting and the fear of being ignored or turned down was starting to set in. With a refreshed pitch and a more punchy subject line, away I went again. Persistence is indeed key. I had secured the journalist my client was most keen to attend and hit the target a week before the event took place.
A 5 am start and coffee in hand I headed off to London and all the planning, preparations and pitching were soon about to materialise in a real-life media event – or that was indeed the hope! I bustled into a crowded train carriage and sent a friendly text to all the media and analysts to make sure they could reach me should any issues arise.
All that was left to do was wait for them to arrive and one by one, I greeted them in reception. I was particularly grateful I had prepared and printed off a checklist complete with headshots as this made sure I was able to recognise and greet the media by name.
So all in all, I am glad to say that not only was the first media event project a success for my client, but it also sparked a keen interest and appetite to organise and host more events in the near future.
By Kate Hellig, Account Executive
April Fools’ Day consists of practical jokes and hoaxes and, for most, is a bright spot in bleak times. Though, with a global focus on Ukraine and other conflicts, the yet again rising Covid numbers, the escalating cost of living and the ever-increasing amount of disinformation across news channels and social media, gauging the tone of a decent April Fools’ joke has become a lot harder for companies.
However, that being said, if we only look back to a week ago, 2022 saw no shortage of April Fools’ campaigns across a variety of brands.
What do brands hope to achieve?
Brands see April Fools’ Day as a way to help their brand appear more light-hearted, humorous and appealing. (However, there is a fine line.)
For 364 days a year (365 days every four years) brands work hard to create content to build and strengthen trust with their audiences. Yet, on this single day of the year, brands willingly suspend their trust-building efforts and throw caution to the wind by publishing content intentionally meant to fool (or even worse, make fools of) their audiences. (Sounds crazy!) And a lot of the time, it is.
When it fails
Sometimes there is absolutely nothing funny about April Fool’s pranks, especially those by companies that are taken seriously. It can even create a crisis. Remember Volkswagen’s 2021 April Fools’ campaign?
Three days before April Fools’ Day, Volkswagen (VW) announced it would rebrand itself as Voltswagen to help call attention to its growing line of electric vehicles. The timing immediately caused confusion, the announcementwas questioned, and, because VW refused to deny it as fiction, outlets ran it as ‘fact.’
The result? When VW came clean, media organisations across the globe, from the BBC to Reuters, were incensed, customer trust was lost, and VW’s reputation was damaged. What a disaster.
When it flies
On the flip side, well thought-out, appropriate light-hearted pranks are all in good fun and can absolutely achieve the objective of a successful April Fools’ spoof, skyrocket engagement and broaden audience reach as seen with Aldi’s 2022 April Fools’ campaign.
The supermarket announced its desire to launch a budget airline, AldiAir, which would take on Ryanair and easyJet (easily!) with a Twitter user even responding: “You’d do a better job”. The store even revealed a logo containing the slogan ‘Specialflys since 2022’, which is a play on its famous Specialbuys aisle.
The slogan was clever, the prank resonated well with Aldi’s audience, was share-worthy and achieved (humorous) customer engagement and banter.
Key takeways
A successful corporate April Fools’ joke is all about timing and specificity while carefully connecting with audiences on a less corporate level. Being playful on April Fool’s Day could be a rare opportunity to show audiences a lighter side, making brands appear more relatable.
However, organisations must ensure that the joke is related to their brand and not a joke about their brand while maintaining consistent brand tone: the bottom line is, if said brand content has never used humour or the element of surprise then don’t do it on this day.
Instead take a backseat and let other brands do the fooling. Don’t become the fool.
By Sophie Sadler, Account Director
Attending in-person client events and trade shows used to be the bread and butter of a PR’s role. Whether it was the exCel or the Birmingham NEC, or if you were lucky, somewhere slightly more exotic, they were a regular fixture on the calendar, providing an opportunity for proper catch ups with clients, peers and press. After two years of little to no exposure at these kinds of in-person events, I’ve missed the buzz. So, I was delighted to join our client, InterSystems, at Finovate Europe this week.
With a packed agenda of speaking slots, the two-day event flew by. But with the pandemic’s presence still being acutely felt, it’s clear that in this new era of in-person shows and events, a brand’s digital presence must never be far from mind to ensure maximum exposure to interested audiences. At the heart of this is creative PR through B2B content creation on the fly, which can range from slick video assets right down to timely and engaging snippets for social.
If you have an event coming up soon and you’re wondering where to start, I’ve highlighted three key areas below:
1. Tap into key themes and take conversations online
Perhaps it’s a snippet from a chat with a spokesperson on stand, or an emerging trend highlighted in a speaking session. If you find it interesting, there’s a good chance your audience will too. The key is not to spam audiences on social, but to share easily digestible snippets, always being sure to leverage the event’s social presence or hashtags. On Twitter, a higher volume of posts is acceptable, but on LinkedIn, avoid over sharing from a brand account. Also consider the best way to capture attention and vary your delivery – photos and post copy are great, but a short video with a key spokesperson summing up the day’s highlights adds personality and increases a post’s ’thumb-stopping power’ in the feed. Which leads me on to…
2. Don’t be afraid of hitting record
It can be easy to shy away from filming your own video content on the fly at events worrying about the quality of the output, but a decent short video for social doesn’t always require professional equipment to pull off. There are some simple things you can do to improve the final outcome: if filming on a phone, shoot horizontally and test the level of background noise being picked up. It might be that the bustling exhibition hall drowns out your spokesperson’s insight, so finding a quieter location with an attractive backdrop might be a better option. If it’s outside, weather conditions such as wind might be against you – but at a pinch, a lightly scrunched tissue held gently against your phone’s microphone with help to dampen noise interference. Lastly, keep it short and sweet – under 30 seconds is ideal.
3. Leverage the power of employee advocacy
A final important point to remember when sharing event content online is to not focus all your efforts just on your brand’s main corporate accounts. It’s likely you have sales managers or other key brand spokespeople with you at the event, and while they’re (hopefully!) busy chatting to customers and prospects, consider how you can package up snippets of content for them to drip feed to their networks from their personal channels before, during and after the show. This is a great tool for building thought leadership presence, and demonstrates the strength and the expertise of your team to a broader audience.
And that’s it! Three simple ideas for how you can maximise your brand’s exposure to digital audiences during in-person events. And of course, if it feels like you might need an extra pair of safe hands at your next show or event to help facilitate this, you know where we are…
