Category: Uncategorised

By Millie Goodwin, Business Development Executive

What’s your career background, in brief?

After going to college, my first job was as an Account Assistant at the luxury car dealer, Rolls Royce. While it was nice working for such a high-end brand and experiencing the luxury market, I felt it was time for a change and a new challenge, so I decided to dive into the PR world.

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

By far my most challenging job has been working as a waitress in a pub, with it being my first job, I was quite shy and I was really thrown in the deep end with it. Firstly, I realised how challenging some people can be. Secondly, I was working for my parents and if you have ever worked with family before, you know what a big no no it can be.

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

I hate to say but Instagram 100%. I have a love/hate relationship with it, I love it because I’m quite a nosey person, and I love to get inspiration of things to do and places to go. But I know it has its negatives and can be quite toxic.

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

My favourite quote ever is “great things never come from comfort zones”. I don’t think it’s a particularly well known or famous quote. But I believe it’s so true, all those scary job interviews, nervous first days, awkward moments, and all the mistakes you make are just pushing you to be more confident and realise how much you are capable of.

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

I haven’t worked in new business for too long, but in my short time, I have learnt there is nothing more thrilling and exciting than getting a response from a potential new client, knowing your work stood out against the rest is truly a great feeling. It makes me excited to win some new business!

Do you personalise your workspace?

Unfortunately, not yet but I intend to get a plant (probably a fake one) because I don’t think I would keep a real one alive. I’ll definitely get some organisers because a tidy space is a tidy mind.

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

100% make myself a cup of tea, I cannot function without my morning cuppa.

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

At the moment, I’m watching Grey’s Anatomy, it’s by far one of the best things I’ve ever watched, I’m currently on season 5 and there is 18 so I think it’s going to be keeping me busy for a while.

We hosted a special 45-minute edition of our 30 minutes on… series where we discussed the top PR & marketing trends to look out for in 2022 and how to capitalise on them.

Watch Mark Wilson, Creative Director; Ross Walker, Head of Digital and Social Media; and Hannah Buckley, Head of Content as they share their top trends.

By Laura Bundy, Junior Account Executive

It’s no surprise, that after a dramatic rise in smartphone usage, we would one day need to learn the TLC behind our greatest connection.

This week Apple introduced us to ‘self-service repair’, a scheme that allows customers to fix their own devices by gaining access to the tools and guides to do so. This has been applauded for the opportunity it has given and for the right to repair that many feel is owed to them. With the amount current iPhone and MacBook’s go for, it’s no wonder that its owners believe once the product is theirs, they should be able to have full access to it- parts and all. But what does this mean in the long run?

Hanging up on old habits

With COP26 being such a hot topic throughout society, it raises the question as to how this scheme may help in driving forward progression in sustainability. Or how we as individuals can influence this change. We’ve all been there, the excitement of purchasing your phone quickly turning into panic over how you can protect it. We buy screen protectors, cases, we keep the box in the back of our cupboards for years just in case it’s needed. Yet, when it comes to looking after our once loved now broken products, we result in chucking them away and buying new as quickly as we replaced the one before. I believe that with this new scheme there will be a change in habit, now that we have the access to solve any issues that may arise. Consumers instead may work on fixing and quickly resolving the problem, causing less hassle for the customer than buying a new product itself. In turn, aiding in the recycling and reconditioning of technological devices.

Fixing the progress

Apple has made their stamp too, claiming that customers who return their broken part for recycling will receive credit toward their purchase. With a company as huge and influential as Apple this can only prove to be successful in setting an example for the rest to follow and to perhaps inspire others to do one better. Representing a way to source such a positive impact on the climate! Could this be the way forward for technological businesses? A move in the right direction, to create an element of sustainability and care in how we tackle protecting the environment. I for one believe that this will have a domino effect in businesses to come, raising the importance of sustainability and laying out how this could be achieved.

There has been a mark made in the technological world toward positive environmental impact, the question is, how long till others follow in its footsteps.

A good client-agency relationship is a partnership. At least it should be. But too often it’s relegated to a transactional relationship – something we hear often in a new business environment.

What’s needed to build a lasting long term relationship and ensure your long-term growth? What should you expect from your PR agency? While the list isn’t exhaustive, here are Chief Client Officer, John Broy’s 5 things:

By Leo Nash, Junior Account Executive

What’s your career background in Brief?

I graduated from Bournemouth University last year with a degree in Public Relations. I worked at Victoria’s Promise, a woman’s cancer charity, for a year as a PR Intern and have worked in the hospitality industry for over three years!

What’s the most challenging job you’ve had?

Although extremely rewarding, working at the Basingstoke Vaccination Centre was really challenging and physically demanding due to the long hours and freezing weather. Talking down anti-vaxxers wasn’t much fun either.

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

It’s got to be Spotify really, podcasts and music get me through the day.

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

You can always add more spice, but you can’t ever take it out!

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

Having only really started my career path, I have to say learning new things and seeing improvement in day-to-day tasks is giving me a kick as of late.

Do you personalise your workspace?

Only with snacks, nothing special.

What’s the first thing you do when you get into the office in the morning?

Say good morning and head for the coffee machine.

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

Currently reading Go Ahead In The Rain by Hanif Abdurraqib, watching What we do in the shadows and revisiting MFDOOM’s discography.

By Tom Addison, Senior Digital Marketing Executive

For a long time, digital PR and SEO operated separately, often at odds with each other. Fast forward to now, and integration between the two is vital. While some argue that a good digital PR strategy can have a bigger impact upon SEO than PPC, email marketing and other digital approaches, alignment of PR and SEO is the way forward.

Integrating PR and SEO doesn’t need to be a huge overhaul to your strategy and planning; simple collaboration and communication can drastically transform your results and enable you to see the bigger picture.

Here are three reasons you should consider digital PR when it comes to developing your SEO strategy:

Backlinking

Backlinks are where a 3^rd party website links to yours. This is something that most clients want in their coverage because it’s more likely to drive referral traffic to their website. And as we all know, referral traffic is a very valuable source of visitors. This traffic typically spends the longest on the website and has a higher conversion rate than the other sources of traffic. It’s always worthwhile to take a deeper look into it on Google Analytics to see which referral link is working so you can focus your efforts on getting more backlinks that are similar.

Backlinking can also help you boost your domain authority, which can then help you rank higher. There are eight broad areas to Google’s ranking algorithm and one of them is having authoritative backlinks to your website. Moz has developed a scoring system for domain authority, which gives you a good idea of how authoritative Google thinks your website is. For example, if you get a backlink in The Guardian, which has a domain authority score of 95 then Google will consider you more of a reliable and authoritative source than someone with a backlink in a lower-scoring website. That’s not to say that one backlink in The Guardian is better than lots in a trade publication – there is a fine balance between quality and quantity.

Content creation

A large part of building out your SEO is creating a consistent stream of optimised content to help improve your organic traffic and rank on Google. Content marketing is hard work, it can take up a lot of your time or budget if you’re outsourcing it. So, you want to make sure that you’re getting your money’s worth. PR teams can work with SEO teams to help determine which content could be worth amplifying by pitching it to the media. It’s a win-win if you’re able to create one piece of content that can help drive traffic and get you coverage.

This mainly just comes down to communication between teams. If your digital PR and SEO team are integrated or have frequent meetings to make sure that their goals are aligned and they’re sharing ideas, it can eliminate duplication and improve efficiency.

Reputation management

When people are deciding to buy something they now have all the information they need at their fingertips – especially when it comes to B2B. They can quickly do a search that will tell them whether people think you’re doing a good job or not. Whether your product or service delivers on its promises, and whether your brand is trustworthy. This third party endorsement is incredibly valuable to businesses because the prospective buyer will trust what other people have to say about you much more than what you have to say about yourself.

Every company has had at least one bad review – deserved or not. So, what can digital PR and SEO do to help combat this? I would like to say though that if all your reviews are negative then you might want to look at your business practices, not PR and SEO. But to get control of your online reputation from that one pesky review that haunts you, can be done with some successful PR activity. It could be through a successful integrated campaign that has got you national coverage or in a highly regarded trade publication. The search engine results on page 1 for your brand may look a lot more appealing to a prospect – or even potential staff – something we discuss in our Whiteoaks Prodcast episode on building the employer brand.

If done right, PR and SEO can have a huge impact on your inbound lead generation. Even if it’s just increasing the communication between the teams it’s worth thinking next time you’re creating content or pitching an article how can this benefit each other.

If you want to talk more about aligning your B2B PR and SEO then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

By Bekki Bushnell, Head of Business Development

The fintech industry isn’t something that is new, it has been around for a long time. But it’s quite hard to determine the actual inception of the fintech industry. Like cloud, ERP and CRM, fintech is part of our business vernacular. But when did the term even originate? Was it the world’s first ATM in 1967? Maybe the introduction of the Nasdaq, the first electronic stock exchange in 1971? Or does it go as far back as 1866, when the first transatlantic cable was laid? Many people would claim that PayPal was the first to really kick off the rise of the fintech industry – the online payments system has brought fintech to the masses.

Today, the UK fintech industry is worth £11 billion, according to Kalifa Review published in 2021. Regardless of its origins, the industry presents a wealth of business opportunities for fintech startups. So, with such a competitive market and one that is growing rapidly – how do they capitalise on it? Beyond the obvious answer (have a great solution), fintech PR has a definite role to play in making your brand stand out and help fuel your growth.

I’ve outlined three key areas you need to consider when thinking about fintech PR:

Understanding your fintech audience

The first thing you need to do when considering fintech PR is to understand your audience and who you’re engaging with. The fintech industry has a multitude of areas to it, from mobile payments to SME financing, all these audiences have different factors that affect their buying decisions. Your digital PR agency can help you define this audience (B2B customers, B2C customers, potential investors) so that you can fully understand their needs and pain points. They can also help you split them into different buyer personas so that when you come to create your messaging it can be tailored to each persona.

Your tech PR agency can then take the messages directed at each persona and identify the channels they need to be targeting for each, whether that’s the media, social, events, or a combination. By doing so, you as the client can know that your messages are hitting the right targets at the right time.

Building trust

Confidentiality and security are vital for customers in the financial services sector, which means new entrants have to work harder than established players to build up trust and break through the perception that it’s not just those organisations with decades of experience behind them that are trustworthy. This is where fintech PR and marketing can play a key role in fostering that trust and credibility.

Customers need to have confidence in the company to deliver what they said they would. Thought leadership and customer endorsement can play a key role in this. SiriusDecisions suggests that 70% of the buying decision is now done before even speaking to a salesperson. That’s why B2B content marketing is so important now. You can build up the profile of your brand and team, giving you presence in the fintech sector and people will start to see you as the source of information when it comes to your niche.

By gaining the trust of your customers they will become much more comfortable in your ability to handle their data responsibly and provide vital services within financial services.

Learn more about how to build trust in our Question of Trust eBook.

Return on investment

Considering how competitive the fintech industry is, you must make sure every penny you spend on PR is helping you achieve your business goals and objectives. PR has long had a reputation for being hard to prove business impact, but this is not an excuse anymore. Stakeholders will want hard evidence that their PR investment is working – this is more than just coverage numbers – they want to be able to see evidence of sales leads, share of voice and website traffic to name a few.

I would recommend all fintech startups considering a PR investment not to accept the recommendations of the agency until they can prove the link between the activity they’ll be undertaking and the company’s startup strategy and goals. This is why our deliberately different approach of set fees for set deliverables, linked to clear performance commitments underpinned by a formal service level agreement, continues to resonate so well with fintech startups and firms looking for PR.

If you’d like to hear more about our approach or need help with your B2B PR, content strategy,  creative PR or digital strategy and social media, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

By Susan Richter, Marketing Communications Manager

Of course this blog is inspired by Facebook’s bold move to rebrand its holding company to Meta. Like most things Facebook does, the rebranding is not without its critics; from the reasons behind it (to divert attention from the allegations of whistleblower Frances Haugen) to the lack of translatability (meta means dead in Hebrew).

But Facebook isn’t the first brand to take the leap and it won’t be the last. The one example that sticks out in my mind is WWF (World Wrestling Federation) changing its name to WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) in 2002. This was as the result of the wrestling organisation losing a trademark lawsuit brought by the World Wildlife Fund, or the “real” WWF.

As far as reasons go, Northern Rock becoming Virgin Money also stands out. The Newcastle-based bank failed, was nationalised and eventually sold to Virgin Money and quickly rebranded.

There are a number of reasons for a rebrand; ones that don’t involve lawsuits or fixing bad reputations. M&A, brand evolution, moving into new markets, change in strategy… the list goes on.

Regardless of reason, it should be a good one; a rebrand is costly. Not just in terms of design and implementation, but also the impact it can have on your customers, investors, suppliers and other stakeholders.

Brand building is an ongoing process, and key in strengthening credibility and creating trust. Not all brands have the luxury of changing their name, garnering international media coverage and being big enough (with big enough budgets) that a name change won’t affect customer loyalty or market perception.

Although a rebrand doesn’t always equate to a complete name change. Starbucks Coffee dropped the “Coffee” and Kentucky Fried Chicken lost most of the consonants and all the vowels from its name to become KFC. Again, these are massive global brands. But what about smaller brands?

In 2018 The Whiteoaks Consultancy rebranded to Whiteoaks International. The reason? To move with the times, to reflect our evolution and to highlight our reach as an agency. Three years later we revamped our brand identity and tagline, for some of those same reasons. One step that was vital for us in both instances, was considering our audiences.

For other brands, the same is also true. How will this impact customers, staff and other stakeholders? This ties into the overriding reason for the change. Is it with the customer / end user in mind? Or is it a vanity exercise? How will the change affect reputation, market credibility? Are you staying true to your purpose as a business?

Then there’s the logistics involved in managing the change. The key to a successful rebrand is having a solid plan to roll it out – from communicating the change to internal and external audiences, to designing the assets and revealing them in all forms, including building signage, letterheads, website and social channels.

As humans, as much as we resist change, we’re all about reinvention. From a new hairstyle, to a new colour scheme in your bedroom. And who could forget the artist formerly known as Prince, proving it’s not just companies that can rebrand. In all seriousness, it’s easier for us; a trip to the hairdresser (or Boots) and a visit to Dunelm for soft furnishings and voila. For brands, it’s a little trickier because the stakes are so much higher and there are a lot more moving parts. So when it is time to think about a rebrand or a brand evolution? What is the secret to success? If the strategy behind it is well-considered and the change is well managed, the sky (fun fact: Sky One was recently rebranded to Sky Showcase) is the limit.

By Ellie Nash, Digital Account Executive

With LinkedIn Creator Mode, anyone can become a LinkedIn influencer… Even you! And here’s how.

What is LinkedIn ‘Creator Mode’?

LinkedIn launched its new ‘Creator Mode’ feature in March 2021 with the aim to help professionals on the platform help build their personal brand. The tool supports individuals with growing their following, building a presence on the platform, getting their content noticed and also provides a higher opportunity to be noticed by potential clients. This new feature is a strong step forward in creating a bigger LinkedIn influencer community.

How do I turn on ‘Creator Mode’?

LinkedIn Creator Mode is now available for all profiles. You’ll find the option to turn it on via your LinkedIn dashboard on your personal page. Once you’ve switched the toggle on, you’ll be encouraged to add 5 hashtags that will be based on topics you’re most likely going to be discussing and these will be displayed on the top of your profile. These hashtags are optional, but I’d highly recommend adding them to your profile. But why? These topics help to show potential followers what you discuss the most. For example, on my profile, I have added; ‘#PR #marketing #PRcareers #socialmedia #socialmediamarketing’, as these are what I talk about most frequently on any content I share or post organically. You can find these hashtags underneath your job title on your profile.

What’s happened to my profile?

Don’t panic! Once you’ve turned on the ‘Creator Mode’ toggle, LinkedIn will automatically shift the profile around to show off your content. Previously, the ‘About’ section lay above the ‘Featured’ section but after turning on ‘Creator Mode’, the ‘About’ section will appear below ‘Activity’ and ‘Featured’ section so that your content is forefront and centre for everyone to see.

How do I grow my network now ‘Creator Mode’ is on?

Once ‘Creator Mode’ is turned on the ‘Connect’ call-to-action button immediately changes to a ‘Follow’ button. Don’t worry, people can still connect with you by clicking on the ‘More’ button on your profile, but the idea behind ‘Creator Mode’ is to increase and grow your following.

What is the ‘Creator Community’?

Once you have turned on LinkedIn’s ‘Creator Mode’, the app will encourage you to sign up to their weekly newsletter, the ‘Creator Community’. Now, I know what you’re thinking, SPAM! But no, think again. This newsletter is written by Daniel Roth, the editor-in-chief and VP of LinkedIn and will provide you with endless ideas for what content you should be posting, some strategy ideas to boost your following and more! It’s a great opportunity to gain insight into what’s trending in the industry so that you can keep on top of it as a creator and excel.

How else can I show off my profile as a Creator?

If you’ve turned on Creator Mode and are still looking to take your profile to the next level, how about considering a ‘Video Cover Story’? The ‘Video Cover Story’ feature provides you with the opportunity to replace your profile picture with a 30-second video where you can introduce yourself to new followers. This feature is a fantastic way to show off to recruiters, as well as helping you gain potential clients; you immediately look friendly and approachable to anyone who visits your profile.

You could also use this cover story to tell followers about an upcoming webinar that you’ll be speaking in or tell them about an event that you’ll be at. You can say a lot in 30 seconds!

To conclude…

Now ‘Creator Mode’ is turned on and you’re ready to become a LinkedIn influencer, it’s time to start growing! To grow your network now ‘Creator Mode’ is fully set up, you must start considering a content plan. LinkedIn favours a mix of content so be creative, post videos, photos, blogs, and polls to start conversations. According to statistics, it’s best to post a maximum of 4 times a week on LinkedIn.

Not only should you worry about your own content, but you need to start thinking about other people’s content too. It’s key to engage with other people’s content on LinkedIn. You can like, share, and comment, all of which will help you gain exposure to your page. Why not comment asking a question about the post? Why not share and congratulate how insightful the post is and tag a few of your connections to view the post? All of which is helping you grow.

But overall, get creative! Have a bit of fun with Creator Mode because you never know, a year from now, we could be looking at a LinkedIn influencer.