Category: Blogs

Founder of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, is embarking on his second major ground-breaking and radical plan since the WWW’s inception. His aim is to de-centralise the web and bring the power back to its users rather than those profiting from it – namely, Facebook, Google and Amazon. But, what will this mean to the wider world, including the industry of PR and digital marketing?

Berners-Lee has launched Inrupt, with its solution, Solid, an open-source platform built to decentralise the web. Solid allows you to access all of your data seamlessly, such as your calendar, music choices, videos, chat and research all in one place in a visual platform. It’s a digital assistant for all your daily needs, but crucially, all the information is under your control rather than owned by one of the big Palo Alto players. It’s your data, encrypted for your use.  In the current centralised web, data is kept in silos which are controlled by the companies that own them, but in a decentralised scenario, these silos don’t exist.

This is a developer’s dream as hackers have become used to unpicking these silos. Developers will have the freedom to build their own decentralised apps through the Inrupt site.

Thinking more widely, however, what will this mean for PR, marketing and digital professionals, who are continuously updating their know-how on the fast-paced, evolving world that the likes of Facebook and Google have developed? For instance, Whiteoaks is constantly reviewing and upgrading its digital service to clients, creating strategies that rely on targeting specific audiences. When it comes to audiences, this often falls out of where data is centralised and for all to use.

With the control of data firmly back in the hands of the Solid user with a personal data store, Inrupt could signify a power shift away from the online giants. This could mean that rather than relying on regulation such as GDPR, the default starting point for data rests with the user to opt in to how their information is used.

I’m trying not to sit on the fence as a PR professional, but I can see that there are benefits to starting again with a pure communications network that cuts out the middle man and focuses on what data we want to share and who we want to share it with rather than rules and parameters being dictated to us. Yet with huge commercial opportunities for the likes of Facebook to develop personalised and data driven initiatives, we almost need to work towards a stage where we have the best of both worlds – centralised or not.

Over to Jon Clarke, CEO at Cyance for this guest blog…

In the last few years, the behaviour of B2B buyers have changed, and so the marketing industry has adapted in response. The vast amount of information that B2B purchasers can find and the often-lengthy process, from research to consideration to buying, means it’s becoming more challenging to target and move those buyers through the sales funnel. And the ultimate challenge for most businesses now, is how to attract customers in increasingly targeted ways while growing revenue and market share.

The legacy mass marketing tactics of the past are way past their sell-by date. Marketing teams now need to be able to identify, categorise and then target customers at the right time and show them the right message. They need to take a more insights and account-based approach, as Suzanne Griffiths wrote about on this blog recently, and yes, change is needed in order to keep up with a transforming environment.

For the most part, marketers have been using programmatic marketing to target and attract new customers, but I think this needs to be taken even further, and be more personalised. Doing so will enable businesses to reach the 2-5% of customers or prospects that are actively looking to and are ready to buy.

Enter behaviour-based marketing, fuelled by buying intent data, which I believe is a better way of transforming the quality of leads produced by B2B marketing. The latest backdrop of GDPR and the required compliance adds an extra layer of complexity to the picture for in-house and agency marketers and their sales counterparts, but that complexity can be confidently overcome.

Executing behaviour-based marketing does however need a shift in mindset, something which will inevitably mean educating internal audiences. Moving away from traditional methods can be daunting and some of the C-suite may view it as risky too. The shift is to move from generating large amount of leads of questionable quality, to generating high calibre, relevant leads. It’s the age-old argument of quality versus quantity. In the case of B2B lead generation, volume doesn’t guarantee results.

Instead, success comes from the confluence of three factors: context, timing and relevance.

When it comes to context, we all know how useful the right digital keywords can be in identifying audience segments and what they’re talking about. Context is important because it identifies accurate behaviour signals and separate the warm leads from the cold ones. In practice, building context into the keyword approach means layering insights onto words, including which sites customers are using to do their research, to whether a specific industry problem is being discussed. Each layer that is added helps build a single picture of who that customer is and how your brand can meet their needs.

The next element is timing. Gathering insights about your customers’ needs to happen in real-time, or as close as possible. This is critical as you need to interact with them the moment they show you they’re ready to make that decision to buy. Without real-time insights, you run the risk of engaging with them too early or too late in the buying journey. Understanding timing also helps you tailor the message. With real-time insights you can see where they are in the process and be agile enough to send them the right message as quickly as you can to capitalise on the momentum.

Lastly, there’s relevance. This step is critical in ensuring you’re sending your prospects and customers the right content that addresses their needs and resonates with them — and of course reflects your products and solutions as the answer they’re looking for. And the type of content and actual messaging depends on where they are in the buying journey.

In the B2B sector, personalisation is so much more than knowing a customer’s name. It’s about understanding their pain points, what they’re looking for and how your company’s products or services can solve those challenges for them.

Helping brands and agencies to find new customers at the right part of the buying journey and sell more to existing customers is our purpose.  Using a combination of data and computer science, we help clients around the world to transform sales and marketing results.

Jon Clarke is CEO of Cyance, a multi-award winning B2B customer behaviour technology company.

1. What’s your career background, in brief?

Until now, I’ve always worked in-house for large B2B technology companies.  I started my career in PR and social media, but from an early stage I knew digital and social media was where I wanted to be, so I carved out my career in that direction. After nearly seven years of working client-side I’m really enjoying agency life.

 

2. What’s the most challenging job you’ve ever had?

Outside of my working week, I also work in property development. The hardest weekend of work I have ever done was when the Beast from the East met — ironically — Storm Emma, causing the worst weather in the UK for 10 years. I was working on a property with no central heating, or windows! To say it was freezing … is an understatement!

 

3. What apps, technology items and gadgets can’t you live without?

I most certainly couldn’t live without Instagram or, my guilty pleasure, the Daily Mail. I secretly love a bit of celebrity gossip. Although, we all do… right?

 

4. What’s the best advice you’ve been given?

Live for the moment! Never think ‘if’, ‘what’, ‘but’, just go for it.

 

5. Name one thing about your job that gives you a sense of satisfaction or makes you leave the office smiling…

Two things: successfully trying something new and being part of our internal Social Club. The digital landscape is so fast paced, so when you nail something new, that’s exciting and rewarding. All of the social media experts at Whiteoaks International belong to ‘The Social Club’ and part of what we do includes sharing new tactics and performance – it’s great for keeping creative ideas fresh.

 

6. Do you personalise your workspace?

I currently don’t. But if I did, it would be covered with glitter and flamingo inflatables.

 

7. What’s the first thing you do in the office in the morning?

First thing in the morning at home, I switch Radio 1 on, and as soon as I arrive at the office, it’s coffee!

 

8. What are you reading, watching or listening to at the moment?

A great TV programme that’s just started again is No Offence on Channel 4. It’s a fab witty drama that will fill your Thursday evenings. I would give it a solid 10 out of 10 rating.

On the 150th anniversary of its creation, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) brought a smile to many a worker’s face across the British Isles. We were told that with the latest advances in technology, especially #AI, a four-day work week is within our grasp.

Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC insisted that the change is possible. “In the nineteenth century, unions campaigned for an eight-hour day. In the twentieth century, we won the right to a two-day weekend and paid holidays. So, for the twenty-first century, let’s lift our ambition again. I believe that in this century we can win a four-day working week, with decent pay for everyone,” she said.

In response, Tahmina Begum @tahminaxbegum, reporter at  the Huffington Post took to the streets and asked people what they would do if they had a four-day week and ultimately an extra day to themselves. Those she spoke with suggested they would spend more time with their families, catch up on sleep or take up a new hobby. There are currently trials taking place at organisations based in New Zealand and Italy to see if a four-day working week will work. The jury is still out, with little evidence to back shorter working hours, especially after a two-year trial in Sweden when some companies introduced a six-hour working day has been inconclusive.  Although significant productivity benefits were initially reported, experts found that the cost outweighed the benefits overall.

With the UK having the lowest productivity of any country in Europe but one of the longest working weeks, maybe the tide is about to turn? Especially as many of us frequently check our emails and work when we’re meant to be on holiday.

Although a shorter week may still be a way off in the UK, if you are a client-side marketing or PR professional working in technology with not enough time in your work to get everything done, it would be worth considering hiring a specialist agency.

While we can’t commit to reducing your working week to four days (sorry!), we can guarantee tangible and impactful results that are underpinned by robust performance commitments and formal service level agreements within a strategic yet creative campaign. We all work hard to ensure that our clients can rely on us to be an extension of their in-house team, taking the time to really understand their businesses, challenges and the industry in which they operate.

To see what we do in practice, you can read some of our client case studies on our website.

There has been a lot of discussion and debate about the future of PR, but perhaps none so telling as the latest move by Bournemouth University.  From Autumn 2018, the University has announced it will no longer be accepting new entrants to its BA (Hons) Public Relations degree – a move that has sent shockwaves through the PR world.

Speaking as one of the 2011 course graduates, I have to say, the news comes as a surprise. Not only is the course at Bournemouth the UK’s longest-established BA degree in Public Relations, but it has become a hub of PR talent – producing a string of high calibre graduates that are sought after by companies and agencies alike.

And Bournemouth is not alone. The PR course at Edinburgh Napier University is also set to close, while the University of West London no longer offers one. So why are so many universities closing their doors to PR-only courses and what does this mean for our industry?

According to PR Week, the latest ‘State of the Profession’ figures show that just 17% of PR practitioners have degrees in PR or comms, while 57% have degrees in another subject. A quick poll around the office here at Whiteoaks paints a similar picture – only two members of the office have a degree in PR. So, is it just the case that PR degrees are no longer needed?

Not necessarily. There’s no denying that having a degree in PR certainly helps, but what I’ve learnt is that it isn’t a prerequisite for getting a job in PR. Instead, employers tend to favour particular skills and attributes in line with their company culture and any relevant work experience gained in a similar position. Of course, that’s not to say there’s no longer a role for the PR degree, just that a number of skills needed in PR – like communications and relationship building – can often be found across other disciplines too.

Instead of signifying what some may see as ‘the end of PR’, what the decision does indicate is a wider shift towards the integration of PR and marketing. In the case of Bournemouth, rather than standing as its own discipline, PR will now be included as an element in a wider marketing degree.

Speaking about the decision, Dr Darren Lilleker, who heads the corporate and marketing communication academic department at Bournemouth University, said the changes were being made “in line with industry trends and the integration of advertising and public relations into a broader communication framework”.

What this suggests is the fusion of three industries – advertising, marketing and PR – a trend we’re certainly seeing more and more among our client base. Long gone are the days when marketing and PR were viewed in isolation. Today, we’re increasingly running integrated campaigns for clients consisting of earned, owned, paid and shared media.

I believe we’re entering a new era of communication; one where the lines between marketing, PR and, to an extent, advertising, are increasingly blurred. The advent of social media and branded content means that no longer can the three disciplines be viewed in isolation.  And as, Paul Holmes, founder of The Holmes report commented “The PR industry will have to adapt to a world in which the lines between paid, earned, owned and shared media are not only blurring, but largely irrelevant in the minds of consumers”.

Our industry changes every day, and not all change is bad. In this new landscape, content is still king – and it’s in this environment that PR professionals have the opportunity to step up and take the lead. The main focus should be on achieving communication objectives through whatever means that might be.