Category: Uncategorised

Our relationship with Sprout Social started back in July 2016. We took them up on their offer for a 30-day trial as we were in the market for a new platform that would help us manage and grow our clients’ social media channels. As soon as the trial ended, we knew we had to roll the tool out across our client base so they can start benefiting from the improved monitoring, publishing and reporting functionalities that the dashboard offers. Since then, our relationship with Sprout has only grown stronger. In May 2017, we become a Founding Partner of Sprout Social’s brand-new Agency Partner Program, and in October 2017, we flew out across the pond to attend the company’s first ever Sprout Agency Partner Day.

The Sprout Agency Partner Day was an exciting opportunity for us to gain valuable insight into the trends and future of social media and mingle with over 100 other industry leaders in the digital space, all of which are avid Sprout Social lovers like we are here at Whiteoaks! The day had a packed agenda with some exciting speakers lined up. Some of which included Twitter’s Eric Martin shining a spotlight on the future of Twitter as a social network; Fifty & Five’s Lucas Vandenberg sharing his insights into social KPIs; as well as a great discussion from B Squared Media’s Brook B. Sellas who discussed how she successfully scaled her agency to accommodate its continued growth.

One element I noticed as a recurring theme is the importance of listening to your followers and social audiences. Monitoring has always been key on social media, something we focus on here at Whiteoaks, but it’s becoming a priority for businesses that want to see success from their social efforts. Another exciting trend is social advocacy, where Social Compass’ Jared DiVincent shared his experiences with Bambu by Sprout Social, a tool which helps organisations to get their staff more involved with sharing company content on social media. Both trends are something that agencies and clients need to stay aware of as the social landscape continues to evolve.

As well as presentations from Social Media Unicorn, SSPR and Friendemic who shared their best practices to managing high-performing agencies in a panel, we had a peak into what’s next for the Partner Program, and the Partner Value Awards were announced (one thing we didn’t want to miss in this blog!).

We were thrilled to have received the #SproutPartner MVP award which recognises the partner that’s the most involved in the online Sprout Partner community! Congratulations to both Sarah’s Best Strategy and B Squared Media for being named in the top three. Also, a huge congratulations to Cosmitto, Social Compass and Digital Natives Group for taking home awards on the day too.

The day was a clear success, even without the award we would have left Chicago happier than we when we tasted our first bite of Chicago deep dish pizza. It was an absolute pleasure to meet and learn from our fellow industry professionals about all things social. It provided us with the perfect opportunity to learn where the social media industry is at the moment and where it’s heading — and we’ll be putting a lot of what we learnt into practice going forward.

I also wanted to thank the team at Sprout Social (Christine, Luke, Tara, Buck, Vera, Sarah and anyone else who I might have missed) for giving us such a warm welcome to their offices and for making us feel at home.

 

There is much doom and gloom in the media about robotics, automation and artificial intelligence stealing jobs, sending hundreds of thousands of workers onto the breadline while Skynet and the rest plot our ultimate downfall.

Fortunately, there is an alternative viewpoint. I was at an event last week where the issue of AI (and the data needed to drive it) was a prominent feature. The speaker in question, a prominent UK broadcaster, talked at length about the requirement for humans to set creative questions in order to make the most of the volume of data we as a society are now creating.

He quoted Dr Richard Oram – and the line has stayed with me ever since: “The room for creative questions using this resource (data) is mind blowing.”

The speaker (whom I am deliberately not naming) went on to argue that artificial intelligence and the like shouldn’t mean the traditional workforce is seen as a cost to be cut, but rather for humans to be more aspirational. Let the mundane be automated by machines, leaving humans to work on more complex tasks. In short, being creative.

And I like that as a premise.

Rather than being fearful of data driven technology, we should be more trusting. Another stat that caught my eye was the trust we have in mobile technology. There are seven billion people on the planet, of which 2.5 billion have no bank account. However, there are more than 7 billion mobile phones.

Given we would all consider a bank account as fairly fundamental, it is amazing to consider that the humble phone is comfortably considered as more essential. Particularly in areas of Africa, where mobile banking is the norm and, in many cases, these areas are blazing a trail in connected finance.

I would like to see more positive stories on the impact these three mega trends will have on the workforce of tomorrow. Let’s hope someone is listening!

 

 

Who are you? And what’s your job at Whiteoaks?

My name is Jonny Kerr but if you ask certain people my name is ‘Intern boy’ or ‘worky’… When Whiteoaks F.C was in full swing I picked up the nickname ‘Dave Batty’ as a reference to my ‘competitive’ approach but I think my style of play is more cultured.

As you can probably guess from my nicknames my role at Whiteoaks is PR and Marketing Intern. I am here on a placement year as part of my Business and Law Degree.

 

What does your daily to-do list look like?

In my first four months at Whiteoaks my daily to-do list has been extremely varied. Mornings usually begin with reading the papers for any interesting stories. The rest of the day can include anything from client calls and writing social posts, to driving round Basingstoke and Reading in a bright orange ice cream van with my best mate, Dave! This was completely work-related, I assure you!

 

What made you want to get into PR?

I have always wanted to pursue a career where there is a lot of variety and I can be creative. This, in addition to the fact that I have always been business minded, meant that PR was an obvious career choice to explore.

 

Who is your favourite brand and why?

My favourite brand at the moment would have to be Myprotein. I like everything about the brand from the simplicity of their logo, branding and product design, to the quality and diversity of their products.

 

What’s your top tip for someone who wants to get into the PR industry?

I would recommend gaining as much experience as you possibly can! I have found it incredibly useful and insightful learning from everyone here at Whiteoaks, so finding a placement or work experience opportunity is a great place to start.

 

How do you unwind after a day in the office?

A day in the office is always followed by a gym session or game of 6-a-side football, followed by an episode or two of Suits.

 

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

My taste in music is all about variety! I am tone deaf but that wouldn’t stop me singing my heart out to anything from The Smiths, to The 1975, to Eminem. However, when there is work to be done, nothing makes me more productive than Harry Potter or Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks (Don’t knock it until you try it!).

 

If you could be any character in any film, what would you be

Great question! One of my all-time favourite films is Dodgeball so I would have to say Peter LaFluer as we are both witty and have similarly terrible filing systems!

 

What’s your ideal getaway location?

If it’s for a few days I would have to say the Lake District where I’d go for long walks with the dog followed by a pub lunch in front of the fire. If it’s for a week or two it would have to be somewhere tropical so I can top up the tan.

 

What’s your go-to party trick?

I have never been beaten in a drinking race. I hold the Fishponds Town F.C record for the 5 halves challenge (half pints of Guinness, Bitter, Cider, Lager and Lemonade) with a time of 32 seconds. If anyone wants to challenge me I can usually be found in the Wheatsheaf at 4.30 on a Friday evening. Can you tell I’m a student?

 

And finally, cheesy chips?

Only on the weekend.

At one point or another, it’s likely all businesses will face some sort of disaster, be it large or small. But don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom – as long as there’s a crisis communications strategy in place, organisations can be ready to ride the storm, whatever that may be.

However, if companies don’t follow certain rules and prepare, then any crisis may be a recipe for disaster. Ryanair, for example, is the latest brand we love to hate. It’s fair to say the airline may not have dealt with its flight cancellation debacle in the appropriate way. The airline’s boss, Michael O’Leary, recently admitted the airline messed up in its scheduling of staff holidays, forcing it to cancel two per cent of its flights through to the end of October, impacting up to 400,000 passengers.

It was quite clear that this wasn’t a well-handled media story – O’Leary failed to appear in front of the media for at least a few days, which is one of the most important rules when it comes to handling a crisis. Business leaders must take action and be responsible, and avoid trying to cover up the crisis – this will only worsen the damage. Instead, they must take control of the situation by owning up, reacting immediately and responding to feedback. Getting in front of the media is key, whether that be through a press release or posts on social media, or a good old-fashioned press conference. Customers are more willing to forgive the brand if they hold their hands up to their mistake.

It’s also vital that brands tell their customers the bad news all in one go, rather than ‘warn’ them about the news they are going to find out. Ryanair made the mistake of telling their customers that thousands of flights were to be cancelled, but didn’t tell them exactly when. It’s vital that businesses are in a position to tell their customers the full story straight away, and how they are going to handle it.

The Ryanair scenario was bad as it affected such a large number of customers. In the B2B space, however, in might not be vocal consumers affected, but it’s still just important to make those businesses’ customers aware of what is going on as they still have the power to kick up a fuss and ultimately affect your reputation and bottom line.

The worst thing a brand can do is completely ignore the fact that a firestorm may well light on social media following the disaster, especially the smaller businesses that aren’t as active on Twitter as others. Just because they may not be active on social does not mean their customers won’t kick up a fuss here — this applies especially to the B2B space. Therefore, they should continue to monitor it and plan a response, if need be.

When it’s all over, businesses can then take the time to discuss what learnings have come from handling this crisis, and think about how they are going to handle any ongoing negative publicity. Post-crisis communications strategies should present a careful tone – positive but also proving to customers they’re listening.

If businesses make sure they follow the above rules and make sure they’re prepared, they’ll avoid the risk of not only financial loss, but significant brand damage and also run the risk of alienating business partners.

International PR can prove to be a tangled web for tech companies, particularly with the lines spun by many multinational agencies that look to bamboozle and confuse rather than offer clarity.

We see things differently; international PR is really rather simple. What you need are the right boots on the ground, and a consistency of experience anywhere in the world.

It is in this regard that the Whiteoaks International Network excels. We are a partnership of over 70 likeminded, owner-managed agencies that understand the local media market, the tactics and channels that will generate most impact, and – importantly – any cultural sensitivities that must be taken into account. A one-size-fits-all approach simply fails in this regard. Above all else, the client lacks flexibility. There are countless occasions we speak with prospects who are locked into global contracts, unable to free themselves to scale up investment in certain regions, or to take a fresh approach with new activities.

The assumed trade off with the Whiteoaks International Network, then, is that you lose a single experience, creating a headache for already stretched marketing teams. A core pillar of our network, however, is that when agencies engage on an international account, they budget in the same way, report in the same way and are committed to measurement in the same way.

This guarantees a best-of-both approach; local knowledge and expertise with one look-and-feel to international PR.

Content is a classic example. It will always remain hugely important for content and messaging – at a high level – to be managed centrally by head office. This, of course, makes perfect sense. How else will you build a powerful and consistent image for your brand if it is being portrayed numerous ways in numerous regions? Take a global research project as an example. While an active and relatively contained media market like the UK might put forward a roundtable press event to launch the results, on the assumption most target media will have a London base, this tactic simply won’t work in more dispersed areas such as the US or Asia. As we said before, a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work. Towing the line and trotting out the same tactics will not yield results. It is here that the Network and its flexible approach pays dividends.

There are a host of major multinational tech companies benefitting from this approach, taking away what has proved for many to be a painful process. The continued success of the Whiteoaks International Network lies in its ability to offer clients freedom, flexibility and, above all, expert PR consultants across the globe.

Traditionally, when considering how best to design and deliver impactful multi-territory PR campaigns, there have been two predominant models:

• The Multinational ‘One Agency’ Model – typically offered by large multi-national PR consultancies
• The Local Best of Breed Model – either with or without a lead agency

Both are popular and widely used, however, both also have a mixture of advantages and disadvantages:

With the large multinational approach, clients benefit from the ability to access the primary point of contact (lead agency), fully integrated planning, budgeting, implementation and ‘like-for-like’ reporting/evaluation methodologies.  However, this has to be balanced against the inevitable differences in the quality of the PR team in different regions across the world and a lack of flexibility to change.

The local best-of-breed model is effectively the opposite of this. Clients benefit from having the flexibility to make changes, thereby ensuring that they have the best possible solution in place in each individual country. They may suffer, however, from a lack of consistency in terms of strategies and approaches and more labour-intensive and unwieldy administrative processes.

The good news is that at Whiteoaks we have developed a ‘third way’ of managing international PR campaigns for our clients which, we believe, cherry picks the best elements within each of the traditional models and combines them into one solution, while at the same time eliminating the disadvantages inherent in each original method.

This new model, which we call International Performance Management (IPM), sees Whiteoaks adopt a lead-agency role where clients receive all the benefits they would expect from a large multinational in terms of global reach and resources; fully integrated and centralised planning; budgeting; implementation; reporting and quality control processes; a single point of contact; and a consistent service experience.  However, it also has the flexibility to leverage ‘best-of breed’ agencies in countries and/or use our local WIN Group partners where required, or where it is the most appropriate solution in a particular territory. The local agencies’ exposure to risk/accountability drives performance and clients also have the option to change non-performing agencies should they wish.

IPM provides a range of compelling benefits. It is about creating a system that allows the client to track and manage the performance of PR agencies across all territories; measure and increase return on PR investment (RoPR); achieve transparency and clarity; and gain an understanding of how each agency is performing with the help of reports which measure against key criteria.  Clients also receive feedback and recommendations based on levels of agency performance and the opportunity to select (and replace where necessary) the right agencies in the right country.

This all sounds good in theory, but how does it work in practice for a client using the IPM approach?

From the outset of the relationship, Whiteoaks works with the internal client team to set a benchmark for agency performance across the board and to familiarise itself with any existing areas of concern or poor performance.  This is then communicated to the agencies so that all parties have a clear understanding of the expectation levels.

Each individual agency’s performance is then tracked on an ongoing basis against pre-agreed targets (both activity levels and results), reported to the client’s regional team on a quarterly basis and supported by replacement strategies for under-performing countries where applicable.

Underperforming agencies are replaced with partners from the Whiteoaks International Network or, if appropriate, alternate third party agencies (these would typically be recruited via a traditional search and select process led by Whiteoaks).  In doing so, the client retains its best-performing local agencies and adopts new ones to fulfil any shortfalls across the region.

So when implementing international PR campaigns, we urge clients to  move away from using a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and/or thinking of it primarily as a management/coordination function.  Instead, we provide a model that leverages all the best elements of the two traditional approaches (while eradicating the negatives) and focuses on driving higher performance levels which, ultimately, provides better return on investment for clients investing in PR across multiple territories.

James Kelliher, CEO

Tell Us Your B2B Tech Story

It’s true. Writing good copy, words that excite, provoke, fuel the imagination and trigger deep thought, is an art. It is the perfect combination of style, language and relevance that forms a narrative designed to sell, persuade, inform or delight. This applies to any piece of written content, from a 140 character tweet or an email, to a thought leadership article or a 4000-word whitepaper.

Of course there is no magic formula; there is a hefty dose of instinct, skill and inspiration that goes into the process. Writing impactful copy is not like baking a cake where just having the right ingredients and following instructions almost always guarantees a good result.

However, there are a few basic elements that writers of great copy get right.

 All about the basics

Today, in a world dominated by social media and the instant gratification generation it is easy to forget one of these fundamentals: good grammar, supported by its companions spelling and punctuation. This is especially important in the B2B environment where you are far less likely to get away with using emojis. Of course this doesn’t mean you need to use old-fashioned words or adhere to grammar rules from the 1950s because language is a living thing that adapts and evolves over time; no, it simply means that in a professional environment it’s good to start with the right foundation.

Know your audience

As consumers we’re bombarded with millions of messages each day, with every word fighting for our attention and time. In the B2B arena the same is true. As a result, you need to spend time understanding your audience, the challenges they face, what appeals to their interests and also what types of content will appeal to them in order the make sure the content is actually read, the message heard. Once your audience is identified and understood, it’s down to your goal.

Define your intent

The aim of written communications in PR, marketing or advertising is to convey a message. Sounds simple, right? Often the purpose of the piece can get lost, making the rest of the elements a little murky and the outcome underwhelming. At the outset of writing, be sure of what you’re actually trying to achieve. Great copy sets out a narrative that the reader wants to follow, is compelled to follow. And that doesn’t just apply to long form copy, but to tweets, posts and blogs, too.

This goes hand in hand with relevance; often we’re a little blinded by what we want to say that we lose track of what audiences want and need to hear. Great copy resonates because it’s appropriate; it is addressing a need, desire or opinion that is relevant to your audience. And it’s not just the content, but the way that it’s written. Clear, concise language, short sentences, avoiding jargon or words you would not normally use in conversation.

It may seem like there are too many things to consider, why aim for great when mediocre will do? The truth is, there is no shortage of content in the media, online and in the social sphere. The immediacy of 21st century life means you can easily write something, anything and get it out there with a simple click of button. The true value of great copy is that it lives in this instant world surrounded by hundreds of thousands of competing messages, but stands out because the writer got the fundamentals right.

Susan Richter, Head of Content

Deliver Integrated Campaigns

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