Blogs Archives - Page 33 of 34

Social media has been around for so long now that no one can deny that it’s a valuable tool for those businesses who want to know what their target audiences are saying online. However, social media isn’t a one-way street. Just because you’re sharing content and being mentioned by customers on a daily basis, it doesn’t mean you’re doing all that can be done to get the most out of your social media efforts. The key is social listening… an exercise that’s often over-looked despite the fact that it goes way beyond any inbound engagements you might currently be getting.

Are you listening?

So, what is social listening? It’s the process of searching (and capturing) social networks for posts that mention certain phrases or words. This allows businesses to discover, monitor and engage with conversations that may be relevant to their expertise/services/products, or may simply not have mentioned their company handles. This opens a whole new world of possibilities as it lets businesses drill down and decide on who they want to reach out to, ultimately all this information feeds into the sales cycle to warm up leads which wouldn’t be accessible through traditional marketing methods.

The businesses that are more savvy to social listening are seeing more benefits than before they started. Not only are they seeing an increase in engagement, they’re able to spot different industry trends, see any product issues, pass on leads to their sales teams and even increase brand sentiment online.

How do you get started?

Implementing social listening is key for ensuring your business is meeting its customer’s needs. Listening to what people are saying about your industry or brand will provide more insight on what you need to do to outshine your competitors online. The data you’ll be gathering won’t just be useful from a sales perspective, it will benefit a range of departments such as marketing, customer service and even R&D.

There are multiple tools available for businesses that help to make social listening easier. From Sprout Social to TweetDeck, both premium and free tools have built-in features that will enable you to drill down into the feeds of your customers so you can track the terms and phrases that matter most for your business.

In terms of first steps, I would recommend simply setting up searches around your brand’s name. By doing this you’ll see any post that matches the search criteria, even if they don’t directly mention your business (if your brand often gets misspelled then include this in your search too). The next step would be to monitor keywords or phrases which your company can interact with. The beauty of this is that some social networks allow you to monitor based on geographic location, so if you only want to see people posting about cloud computing in Manchester (for example), then it takes only a few minutes to set up.

It’s not as hard as it sounds

Social listening is an extremely useful approach to social media for any organisation. While it’s important to get it right, don’t fret if you’re not seeing results straight away. It takes time and refinement before you start seeing those “golden” engagements. The key here is to make sure you’re doing something, because something is always better than nothing when it comes to social media. Once you start building your confidence by increasing the number of monthly engagements on your social feeds then you’ll notice that your social strategy is beginning to evolve around social listening itself.

Emma Walker, Digital Account Lead

A successful media event can really strengthen your relationship with relevant journalists and publications to aid your wider PR campaign and plans moving forward. It’s a chance for you to showcase your latest products and solutions or release an insightful piece of intellectual property to targeted media attendees. You may even wish to partner with a customer or trade partner to present your business as an industry leader on a relevant theme.

Ultimately, if you are planning a media event it needs to have the desired result of ensuring relevant media coverage or at least consolidating relationships with media for opportunities further down the line. The following points will help to achieve an effective event that delivers on these results:

Define a Theme – To maximise media attendance, its highly important that a theme is decided upon that will resonate with key journalists. A balance needs to be struck between your marketing plans and a theme that is topical with the target media – ideally a theme relevant to what journalists are writing.

Exclusive Content – In dissecting this theme for the media, you need to offer something exclusive to them to ensure they attend and plan write-ups afterwards. Exclusive content could be commissioned research results that you plan to release at the event or news of your latest product or solution which you can demo to those in attendance. Stronger still, you could partner with a customer to discuss your latest findings or solution. An endorsement from a customer in attendance at the event will also hold media interest because they can provide valuable proof points and context to the theme discussed.

Define Roles and a Timeline – Communication is key ahead of a media event with roles defined as part of a cohesive process. Tasks such as choosing and managing the venue, briefing spokespeople and preparation of presentation and media documents should be discussed at the start with a checklist created from the outset. A shared timeline will ensure that progress can be monitored ahead of the event with regular weekly touchpoints in the diary to discuss completed items, challenges to resolve and next steps.

On the Day – Thorough preparation ensures that all scenarios can be managed effectively on the day of the media event. With media attendance, preparation should start with the spokespeople to check that they have revised presentations, key messages and answers to predicted questions from journalists. The event may start at a certain time, but rehearsals, run-throughs and last minute preparations are factored in ahead of journalists arriving. In working with a PR agency, the floor plan, dietary requirements, itineraries and media packs should be printed and shared with a team large enough to manage the number of attendees you are expecting. The team’s engagement with the media on the day is vital. They should be equipped with the correct media materials to share with the journalists in person rather than sending afterwards.

Following-up – Once the media event is over, following-up with the media attendees is highly important if the desired results of coverage are to be achieved. There may have been follow-up questions from journalists that need to be checked with the correct information sent through as swiftly as possible. Often, the work starts after the event has taken place as contact with the attending media needs to continue to ensure they have everything to write-up their reactions.

Charlotte Causley, Account Director

I will always remember being asked during an important new business pitch to give an example of feedback received from a prospect who didn’t select us and the reasons why. It turned out to be one of the most important questions posed during the RFP process and led to winning the business (well, that and a realistic creative approach!). Given the importance of the creative vs realistic debate, I thought it worth sharing some thoughts here.

Probably the most frustrating piece of feedback we receive on those rare occasions we do come up short in a competitive pitch is the generic statement “we went with a more creative approach”. No tailored feedback or acknowledgement that the strategy proposed was sound, showed understanding of the market or clearly linked to the business’ wider objectives. It’s the type of feedback that sends us to the pub to drown our sorrows and debate the injustice.

We often wonder how many PR buyers have been burnt during the pitch process selecting the agency with the whizzy, out of the box idea when reality hits and the PR programme needs to be evaluated. How many of these concepts have delivered measurable outcomes that have impacted the objectives the business is trying to achieve?

On the flip side, this is feedback we hear time and time again when talking to prospects who have been tempted by the flash option, but end up with little more than a gimmick. It only goes to strengthen our resolve.

That’s not to say we aren’t creative, we absolutely are, but at the core of our strategic thinking is ensuring our campaigns will resonate with the end audiences we are looking to reach but also appeal to the needs of the journalist – as we know the press will be our biggest critic! Often the most traditional of tactics can be the best to achieve the desired outcomes and shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. Storytelling, stunts and other “creatives” are often employed as smoke and mirrors to ensure ROI is never questioned.

In today’s communications landscape it has never been so challenging to reach target audiences. There are an array of traditional and new digital channels coupled with increasingly short attention spans and the expectation that content will be tailored.

Yes, there is a need for creativity but crucially this must have an audience-centric approach to the creation and delivery of these ideas, which engage audiences while achieving communications objectives.

While some PR agencies will pitch off the wall ideas and talk of telling stories, we firmly believe that the key to achieving a client’s objectives is to combine compelling ideas with purpose, that are tailored to the target audience. Otherwise, it is just noise for the sake of it.

Creativity is key but it must be able to be delivered, measured and achieve clear ROI for a business.

Hayley Goff, Chief Operating Officer

Have you got your pencil case at the ready and your school shoes polished for a brand new term at our public relations academy? If so, let’s get started on how the UK’s leading B2B technology PR agency writes a headline grabbing B2B technology press release.

Regardless of the supersonic speed of breaking news tweets these days, the role of the humble press release has never been really usurped. It still remains one of the most important tools at your disposal as a marketing and public relations professional in B2B technology communications. Not only does it provide companies and clients with a strong format to present their news to the world, but it can also be used on their websites and various social media platforms.

When drafting a press release, there are four basic rules to follow.

1. KISS – Keep it short and snappy

When announcing something new in retail tech, telecoms, broadcast technology and many other niche sector titles, your press releases should be short and to the point. Use simple, straightforward language and be mindful when using industry jargon. Concise sentences will make it easy to read and understand – An ideal sentence length should only contain 8 to 10 words, anything more than 25 words and readers start to nod off.

2. All hail the headline

Make sure to grab the reader’s attention from the second they open their email. A strong headline (and, for that matter, an effective email subject line when you send out the pitch) will pull in journalists seeking good stories. Your headline should be as engaging as it is accurate. Keep the reader engaged with a captivating first paragraph and you are on to a winner.

3. Answer the right questions

When you write a press release, you need to answer the following questions: Who, what, why, where and when, and each one should be answered in the first paragraph. The how can be addressed in subsequent paragraphs.

Who – Who is involved (you, your customer, your partner etc.)? What – What is the news hook that is going to interest the reader? Why – Why is this important (to the rest of the world – not just your company or client)? Include hard numbers where possible to give weight to your story Where – Where is the news happening/taking place? When – When is this happening? Or has it already happened? How – How did this come about?

4. Write with your audience in mind

A press release should be written in the style of the target newspaper/radio station/social media/online channel, so it connects with the audience. The content should be accurate and not biased towards your company or client, product or particular point of view (it is not the job of the journalist to amplify your story – there should already be a legitimate news angle in the release itself).

For those that simply lack the time to put these tips into practice, where better to turn to than media relations agency, Whiteoaks, where our expert team of B2B content creators and writers have decades of experience in journalism and technical writing across B2B tech and consumer technologies, and across a huge variety of industries. For more information, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your requirements.

Class dismissed!

Discover the Whiteoaks Difference

You know when you wake up in the morning and immediately get the urge to find out the precise location of all your friends? No, nor do I. Nevertheless, Snapchat’s recent addition of ‘Snap Map’ enables you to keep a real-time track on the location of your Snapchat contacts. Snapchat’s sister company, Bitmoji, is incorporated into the feature, which uses the cartoon avatar to represent users at their location.

Hotspots where a lot of Snapchat activity is present are displayed with a glowing circle and global live events can be viewed from the perspective of the app’s users as their snaps are collated into a story from that location, Reading Festival for example. The technology uses your phone usage and speed of travel in combination with your location to place the Bitmoji version of you in the most accurate position possible. This includes being in a car if you are moving fast, or depicting you as asleep in bed if you are stationary for an extended period. Smart, right?

Users do, however, have the option to place themselves in Ghost Mode, invisible to their friends, though still able to keep track of them. The increasingly intrusive data that is readily available to internet users is a cause for concern for some, yet from a strategic PR perspective, the sharing of information such as locations can prove extremely insightful and help businesses grow.

Working for a technology PR agency, it is always interesting to consider how such innovative technology can be advantageous to both our clients and us. Location-based technology and the sharing of this data is bringing about a whole world of opportunities for marketers with the introduction of ‘geomarketing’.

Geomarketing incorporates location intelligence within a marketing effort to help ensure a message reaches a targeted market at a specific time. A strand of this is geotargeting, which is simply delivering content to users, generally via mobile phones, based on their current location or previous locations they have visited.

This form of marketing is already common within social media sites, predominantly Twitter and Facebook, who allow businesses to very specifically target their ideal customer based on location, demographic, age, gender, interests, connections, etc. Paid geomarketing on social media platforms can be most effective for small businesses as they can optimise their campaigns by targeting those most likely to visit.

An example of a potential geomarketing campaign could be for a retailer to send a discount voucher to consumers’ phones as they walk past one of their stores. This would increase interest in the brand, as well as traffic in the store.

While privacy concerns remain valid and should be considered, use of geomarketing could pave the way for future innovative marketing campaigns. In the meantime, you can have fun spying on your friends while they are on holiday.

Let’s accept a simple truth – PR is sales support.

It is a topic I have previously covered on the Whiteoaks blog, to look past the smoke and mirrors that many PR agencies create to deny any accountability to the wider business. After all, if you can drop a nice pile of clippings on the marketing director’s desk, you must be doing your job, right. Right?

Wrong.

One of the many benefits to the business development role is working with clients from across the technology spectrum to set PR strategies, regardless of where they sit on the maturity curve. They have either had a bad experience (often through signing up to a monthly retainer and getting plenty of timesheets but little in the way of activity), or are investing in PR for the first time to aid their growth.

What interests me is the differing treatment that PR is given by sales teams. Many acknowledge that increasing positive perceptions of the company through media coverage in relevant press titles will aid their business. Others search for a link between that appearance in the Financial Times and the number of inbound phone calls they receive off the back of it. Were that a hard-and-fast way to judge PR success, we would all be multi-millionaires.

It can often be tricky to find commonalities given the range of personalities, size of business, markets they operate in and so on. However, there is one – content.

The first step is to speak to all relevant internal stakeholders to get an overview of the industry in which the company operates. This includes the barriers the industry faces and how the company’s products, services or solutions solve these challenges.

And here is where content plays a key role. You could draft a whitepaper, for example, that sets out those industry challenges and proposes solutions. This asset could be hosted on your website, firstly to capture details of prospects, and secondly, to give those leads something to look at once they visit your site.

And what you’ve created is an asset that can be used across multiple channels.

Take a traditional media relations campaign. Strong content will enable you to build a bank of thought leadership materials, placed in your target media, showcasing an understanding of the issues and challenges in the marketplace.

Soundbites and snippets from the whitepaper can then be used across social channels and in regular blog posts, driving web visitors to relevant content that speaks to the issues and challenges they face.

If prospect data is strong enough, this issues-driven content can be turned into email direct marketing, reaching out to specific targets. Suddenly, you are far more able to showcase how this content is impacting individuals.

While I am being deliberately brief for the purposes of the blog, what I hope to demonstrate is how content can feed not only a traditional PR campaign, but truly impact the sales cycle.

Stay tuned for more – the PR debate cannot be settled in one humble blog!

Every industry has its own set of buzzwords and PR is no different! A buzzword is described as ‘a word or phrase, often an item of jargon, that is fashionable at a particular time or in a particular context’. And if you’ve ever worked in an office you will be very familiar with some of the phrases that come in and out of fashion, and start to appear in company presentations, emails and even chats around the kettle.

A recent survey of 2,000 UK employees by Glassdoor revealed the corporate jargon that us Brits find the most annoying.

Some of the phrases you may be all too familiar with, like ‘touch base’, ‘blue sky thinking’ and ‘we’re on a journey’ – are the top three most irritating. But some are new to me, for instance, ‘run it up the flagpole’ and ‘punch a puppy’.

Many of the terms have been coined by strategists and psychologists with the aim of developing a strong company ethic, but some have lost their meaning, become overused and frankly, annoying.

Although PR favourite ‘thought shower’ made the list at number 6, I was surprised to see ‘storytelling’ didn’t make the cut. It’s definitely a term that is overused by our industry, so much so that it has lost its meaning. It’s as though the PR industry collectively came up with the term a few years ago and now it doesn’t mean anything.

Regardless of its overuse, the concept of storytelling remains important in PR. We must develop stories that bring a brand’s message to life, craft phrases to inspire conversations and encourage audiences to share the content. We also have the challenge of aligning to the objectives and messaging of our clients, while remaining interesting to the journalist receiving the information and the audience consuming it.

But the content must have a purpose, this is why at Whiteoaks we have developed an audience-centric approach called Content with Intent. Our approach helps cuts through the noise with content that hits the mark and focuses on what the audience wants to hear.

Particularly, in the B2B technology space we find that clients are so passionate about their products and want to focus on the features and functions in their content, but audiences will want to consume content that resonates with them and addresses the issues and challenges they face with clear guidance.

In order to make content hit the mark, it must focus on what the audience wants to hear, rather than just what the company wants to say – and this applies to all content, be it a technical whitepaper, a rapid response to breaking news or a social media post.

While buzzwords are ever-present in the world of PR and business, and companies tell their stories through the medium of PR, storytelling is important but content must have a meaning and focus on what audiences want to hear rather than what companies want to say.

Who are you? And what’s your job at Whiteoaks?
Suzanne Griffiths, MD. Where to start… I’m responsible for the overall day-to-day running of Whiteoaks with a particular focus on our people and business development.

What does your daily to-do list look like?
Unpredictable, long and varied!

What made you want to get into PR?
My interest started when I was at university. I studied marketing and found the intricacies and challenges of PR really attractive. As a result, I focused my final year dissertation on international PR… and I haven’t looked back since!

Who is your favourite brand and why?
Truly I don’t have much brand loyalty – but I have a lot of respect in terms of what some of the big brands have achieved and how they continue to remain relevant. For example, while Amazon has come under fire over the years, it is a shining example of a brand which has evolved over time and adapted its offering to appeal to macro trends.

What’s your top tip for someone who wants to get into the PR industry?
I’d say, grab any experience you can, wherever you can. Whether that’s an industry placement or internship, volunteering at your local newspaper or writing your own blog.

How do you unwind after a day in the office?
That’s an easy one — ideally a run, then PJs , TV and early to bed!

What’s your favourite anthem suggestion for Friday’s Whiteoaks Power Hour?
Anything Whitney!

If you could be any character in any film, what would you be?
Sandy from Grease, but I’d probably never become the cool version!

What’s your ideal getaway location?
Anywhere warm with somewhere to cool off and plenty of refreshments on tap.

What’s your go-to party trick?
As a child of the 80s, I can perform the full dance routine to Wham’s Wake Me Up Before you Go Go

And finally, cheesy chips?
Only on Christmas Eve and always with mayo!

Influencer marketing is all the rage these days. It’s the go-to approach for a brand’s social media strategy because it helps companies raise awareness and introduce their products/services to a wider audience. Businesses planning a successful marketing campaign recognise that using influencers who have established audiences is key… So what’s the catch?

Influencers with large engaged audiences don’t work for free. Often companies must pay individuals to promote their products, but how deep does your pocket need to be if you want Kim K to promote your product?

HopperHQ, an Instagram scheduling tool, has tried to answer this question. Basing its research on a mix of its own data and public information, the company compiled an “Instagram Rich List”. Below are HopperHQ’s top five lists for Celebrities and Influencers which highlight the predicted #Ad incomes of each user on Instagram.

The top five celebrities in 2017’s Instagram Rich List are:
1. Selena Gomez – 122 million followers – £424,000 per post
2. Kim Kardashian – 100 million followers – £385,000 per post
3. Cristiano Ronaldo – 104 million followers – £308,000 per post
4. Kylie Jenner – 95 million followers – £308,000 per post
5. Kendall Jenner – 81.7 million followers – £285,000 per post

The top five influencers 2017’s Instagram Rich List are:
1. Huda Kattan – 20.5 million followers – £13,800 per post
2. Cameron Dallas – 19.8 million followers – £13,000 per post
3. Jen Selter – 11.3 million followers – £11,500 per post
4. Zoella – 11.1 million followers – £10,800 per post
5. Nash Grier – 10.2 million followers – £10,000 per post

It makes an interesting read. Of course, these figures need to be taken with a pinch (or heap) of salt. But it raises the question as to what the industry feels about the current state of influencer marketing and where it’s heading in the future. I took to Twitter to gather a few opinions from the experts on how the industry currently feels about this growing marketing trend.

Q: What do you like/dislike about influencer marketing right now?

@emshelx – Award Winning Lifestyle Blogger – Emtalks
A: Like – Brands who work on campaigns with us and give us complete creative freedom and control, they trust us. It’s good to be trusted by a brand as I’d only ever put content out that I’m happy with and that my audience will resonate with so it’s great when brands get that.

The fact that we are being recognised by brands now and they take us seriously and invest in working with us. It’s a total honour.

A: Dislike – Many still don’t see blogging as a real job and don’t appreciate the time, effort and energy that goes into it, they expect a lot for zero return.

Q: What do you expect for the future of influencer marketing?

@ItsJeffHiggins – Director of Social Media – Bloomerang Solutions
A: I think it’s in a state of change right now. Agencies are discovering the different levels of influencers and using that to their advantage. Levels broken down to: Paid Influencers, Brand Ambassadors, Street Team, User Generated Influencer. Also, realising the benefits of micro-influencers when dealing with localisation campaigns. bigger isn’t always better. Think scale & goals.

@CassGowing – Global Senior Social Media Manager – ALLSAINTS
A: I think the future of influencer marketing is truly dependent on Instagram. A lot of influencers are finding their content is gaining lower reach due to Instagram’s algorithm, as engagement rate is a key metric for brands this could massively impact this form of marketing. Instagram recently launched a ‘partnership’ tag on Instagram which I predict may also lower the deliverability of the content to feeds as the advertising isn’t sitting with Facebook.

Based on these responses, you can’t deny that the state of influencer marketing is changing. This is forcing both marketers and influencers to stay savvy if they want to continue seeing success. There does seem to be an ugly side of the coin but I guess nothing is perfect, especially when money is involved…

What are your thoughts on influencer marketing? Is it something you’ve added or are considering to add to your marketing plan? Join the conversation by tweeting @WhiteoaksPR to share your voice.

Lastly, a massive thank you to Em Sheldon, Jeff Higgins and Cass Gowing for sharing their thoughts with me. Do me a favour and make sure you give them all a follow on Twitter!
@emshelx
@ItsJeffHiggins
@CassGowing

In the spring, the Financial Times launched a list of Europe’s 1,000 fastest growing companies, with the tech sector forming a meaty part of this exclusive club.

Consisting of businesses that have achieved the highest percentage growth in revenues between 2012 and 2015, it was doubly pleasing to see London host 78 of them, making our capital city a true “hub for innovation and commerce in the EU”.

At Whiteoaks, as a specialist B2B tech PR agency, we are proud to represent a wide selection of the UK’s fastest growing business to business technology companies, from providers of innovative retail solutions to leaders in emerging and high-growth trends such as user-generated content.

From our experience, a common denominator for these businesses is a genuine desire for PR to link to their business objectives – and be a strategic ally in their growth.

Whether backed by venture capital cash, a private equity firm, or entirely self-funded, PR is a significant investment for companies in scale-up mode. Which is why a transparent approach resonates so well with them.

Think about the alternative. The business locks itself in to a monthly retainer, with the agency getting paid whether they deliver an impactful campaign, or very little at all. How are you supposed to demonstrate value if the key metric is how many hours you buy? Oh, and if you use up those hours, expect a bill in order to achieve anything greater.

When we meet with these companies, we are able to guarantee investment levels and set out with complete clarity the tactics that will make up our campaign, as well as the results they will generate. We make these commitments from the outset.

Furthermore, if we don’t hit these targets, we give money back, on a pro-rata basis.

This isn’t a flippant approach or a gimmick, it is born out a genuine belief that this is the right way for fast-growth companies to engage a PR agency. This transparency breeds trust – and it is the reason we have become a crucial cog in the sales and marketing teams for many, many leading tech brands.

We welcome any measure that seeks to showcase fast-growing tech companies, particularly those that showcase London as a leading centre for innovation, despite what might be perceived as “doom and gloom” about our place at the international table.