Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
Google recently began implementing a new update to its search algorithm known as Panda 4.0. Google created this update in order to help remove “thin content,” or low-quality search results, from its search rankings. Low-quality to Google means duplicating content, key word stuffing, content that’s not useful, or poor engagement metrics, such as low time on site or high bounce rates. Panda 4.0 will sit on top of the previous Google algorithms, but this one will filter through results to uncover these low-quality pieces. With this new algorithm in place, there will be some PR implications that will be important for PR pros to note as they seek traffic and visibility for their clients.
Barry Schwartz, founder of SERoundtable.com and news editor at SearchEngineLand.com, found that major wire services have experienced a large decrease in visibility and traffic to their sites. On Search Engine Roundtable he reported PRWeb, PR Newswire, BusinessWire and PRLog are all losing between 60 and 85 percent of their SEO visibility, the results of which appear to have come right after the Panda 4.0 update.
These numbers prove the importance of Google’s update and the need for PR pros to take action. Carrie Morgan of B2C has some tips for PR pros to help mitigate the effects that may be felt by the launch of Panda 4.0.
First, watch carefully for duplicate content. Panda will penalize content that is too similar to past content, so it is important, now more than ever, to create fresh and creative pieces.
Morgan also emphasizes the importance of never publishing blog posts that you find on other sites. Duplicating content, once again, will be penalized. Instead, summarize the article and include quotes, putting an original spin on the piece.
Another suggestion is to create long content opposed to short content. Longer pieces allow for better understanding of the content and will help Google have more to work with when it comes to their search engine quality ratings, which determines where your piece will be placed in the search results.
Finally, writings should be focused on quality and not quantity. Instead of trying to push as much as possible onto the Internet in the hopes of more hits, focus on creating quality pieces. Quality pieces will be rewarded with Panda 4.0.
Google’s desire is for websites to produce high-quality and relevant information that is worthwhile reading for users. Panda 4.0, they feel, will help create the best user experience by preventing low-quality information from ranking well in search results. It essentially creates a quality scoring of the content. Therefore, PR pros should focus on assisting their clients in creating fresh, high-quality and helpful content. Higher search result rankings should follow.
Who are your most trusted media sources? A recent survey by Cision and PR News overwhelmingly found that print media and their online equivalents are still the go-to outlets for PR pros.
That’s probably not very surprising, but it is telling that despite shrinking newsrooms, changes in journalism and our increasingly social media-driven world, tried-and-true news outlets are still held in high regard. Noticeably missing from the list of trusted media sources was broadcast media.
The survey, which gauged PR and marketing pros on their view of the social media landscape, also found that less than half of those polled had successfully pitched media via social media. This seems to correlate with the results of another survey which found that email and phone are the top methods preferred by journalists to receive pitches.
For more findings from the survey, check out the infographic below.
Credit: Cision and PR News.
There have been many articles written about Zappos branding strategy and brand promise. The company has a reputation of repeat business and customer loyalty due to word of mouth about its fantastic customer service. Just take a look at this 2010 article, “Branding Through Customer Service, From Delivering Happiness: A Path to Passion, Profits and Purpose,” by Tony Hsieh.
In this piece, Hsieh, Zappos CEO, explains Zappos’ philosophy as well as how that philosophy has shaped its policies around shipping costs, marketing and buzz building, and measuring the lifetime value of customers. For instance, Zappos’ policy of offering free shipping both ways to customers in the U.S. is rooted in the belief that customers’ experience should be easy and risk-free. In fact, they want it to be as easy and risk-free as possible.
It is one thing to read an article about claims a company makes about customer service and it is another to experience the service firsthand. I have recently had one of those exceptional Zappos experiences. Since this experience truly demonstrates how Zappos employees live its brand and are empowered to do what is right for the brand, I feel compelled to share it.
A couple of weeks ago my sister and I were going through my mother’s belongings. It has been an emotional process because she passed away from complications from a brain tumor in April. During our last day of going through her closet, we came across a pair of beautiful Born Beryl boots that we had ordered from Zappos. I had purchased the boots for my Mom in December on her credit card, but she had never even taken them out of their box.
Unaware of Zappos generous 365-day return policy, I called to see if I could send back the boots and have her money refunded. I also was uncertain how the refund would work as we had closed her credit card. The people with Zappos were fantastic. They explained the process and encouraged me to make the return, but they did not just stop there.
Zappos customer service reps took the situation one-step further. A couple of days later, I received an email from my father. He had arrived home to a beautiful bouquet of flowers with a note from Tamika T & The Zappos.com Family.
I can tell you that we (my father, sister and I) very much appreciated this gesture. It absolutely created a positive emotional association with the brand, and our likelihood of ordering from the company will go up. Not only that, but we have told many people about this experience as well as tweeted and blogged about it.
More companies would be smart to follow Zappos lead when it comes to branding – and I would add buzz building – via customer service.
In today’s highly competitive tech industry, it’s just not enough to have a great idea or a winning design concept – one needs to have the resources to turn that spark of creativity into a thriving company. Established entrepreneurs understand the need to weigh the costs and benefits associated with adopting different financial strategies like bootstrapping to keep overhead costs down versus taking on investment funding from angels or venture capital (VC) firms. While there are advantages and trade-offs to both models, generally speaking, companies with a larger working capital may have more options and resources at their disposal to invest in product development, attracting top talent, and making a larger PR splash.
We at Communiqué have extensive experience working with clients of all shapes and sizes, from Facebook Engineering in Seattle, Alaska Airlines, Seattle Children’s Hospital and Smartsheet to companies carving out entirely new markets like Spaceflight and AnswerDash. For our portfolio of clients who work with VC firms, building strong relationships with the communications contact within these firms is of paramount importance to help align PR strategies, compare media notes and collaborate on what has worked traditionally to help get the word out.
Throughout my years as a communications professional, journalist and marketing executive, I’ve had the pleasure of working with prominent VC’s from Manhattan to Sand Hill Road including Warburg Pincus, Mayfield, Madrona, Cascadia Capital, Ignition, Emergence Capital, Canaan Partners, Storm Ventures and many more. My experiences have never been short of spectacular since these firms typically go the extra mile to help mentor emerging companies and navigate them toward maturation and successful exit.
Recently Communiqué had a representative from one of Seattle’s most prominent VC firms Madrona Venture Group into our office for a brown bag lunch and general discussion about how the investment process works and the best ways for us as an agency to partner with them on behalf of their portfolio companies. PR agencies and VC firms have common goals – both desire to promote their clients through driving just the right media attention that highlights value proposition, customers and differentiation that can, in turn, positively influence perception and company valuation.
VC should also be thought of as trusted advisors and in some cases, as clients themselves since they often have a vested interest in the ongoing success of their portfolio companies as shareholders of the companies they represent. The communications contacts within VC firms often have a great collection of stories, advice and personal relationships with journalists that they can help leverage across their companies. In short, they want companies to succeed so there’s a clear incentive for PR professionals, VCs, agencies and internal communications teams to collaborate and help build a company’s brand.
As an entrepreneur, be sure to help foster and encourage these relationships since it allows your company to tap into the years of collective experiences. After all, this approach furthers our philosophy as a leading tech PR agency in Seattle – that together we can achieve great things on behalf of our clients through demonstrating industry knowledge, having the right connections and implementing PR strategies that truly make an impact.
It’s that time of the year again—last week, the Associated Press (AP) released the 2014 edition of its AP Stylebook, better known to many as the journalist’s bible. If you work at all with media, you’re undoubtedly well aware of the book’s unique style and grammar rules. As PR pros, we likewise abide by the book to maintain consistency and make things easier for the journalists with whom we work.
Now, I’ve personally always been a fan of following proper grammar, style and spelling (or at least trying). They’re a reflection of our use of language and the roadmap for how we express ourselves. Abiding by a style guide in particular makes sure we’re consistent and not misunderstood—critically important in a field like PR, where successful communications makes up the very core.
However, this year, the AP seems to be easing up on some of its most notorious rules. All hell broke loose in March, for example, when the AP announced it would now accept the use of “over” in place of “more than.” Many journalists took to Twitter to express their frustrations. Others applauded the AP’s loosening up on what some see as overly strict or archaic rules. In any case, the change sparked an interesting debate around the fluidity of language—how much should we sacrifice “proper” grammar and style for the sake of modernity and ease of use?
Whatever side of the fence you’re on, this year’s stylebook updates are a reflection of our evolving culture and the trends that are sweeping society. In addition to the aforementioned rule change, the latest guide features a slew of new and updated sections, entries and terms in areas like culture, religion, food and social media, revealing the themes that matter most and are on people’s minds today. PR pros, take note—some of the most significant updates to the 2014 stylebook include:
- A comprehensive religion section with 208 new or updated entries from a variety of religions, including terms like megachurch, Zionism and Advent, as well as a detailed description of Easter
- New and updated diet, drink and food entries such as mixologist (i.e., “cocktail crafter”), Buffalo wings, aioli, Chobani (for the American Greek yogurt) and vegan vs. vegetarian
- Social media terms like Emoji, Snapchat, selfie and bitcoin
- Pop culture and politics entries including the addition of actress Lupita Nyong’o, comedian Louis C.K., songstress Sara Bareilles, “Frozen” star Idina Menzel and various notable politicians
- New science and medical terms such as HPV, MERS, in vitro fertilization and polar vortex
- Sports updates and figures including NFL draft picks Johnny Manziel and Jadeveon Clowney, as well as the recognition of football as the preferred international term for soccer
Other notable updates include terms like LGBT and (sic) as well as the AP’s controversial revision to the use of state names in stories. For a complete list of updated entries, be sure to pick up a copy of the updated AP Stylebook.
For more on why AP Style matters, check out our blog post, “Understanding AP Style and Its Importance.”
Looking back on my first six months in the PR industry, one of the most important skills I’ve learned is how to manage everything on my plate. Working at a PR agency requires exceptional time management and precise organization to stay on top of every client’s needs, and it only took dropping the ball on a project once for me to realize I needed a better strategy.
I turned to the master of organizational productivity, David Allen, to help get myself organized. His book “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity,” offers applicable advice about how to manage everything on your to-do list and is definitely worth a read if you’re a young professional or simply seeking a more organized life.
Following are the tips from David that I found most helpful and how I applied them to PR.
Categorize your work into phases
At the heart of David’s productivity system is a flow chart for categorizing mental work. When a new task arises he recommends asking yourself a series of questions to determine the appropriate next step. I’ve found it very helpful for managing my mental workload.
Get everything out of your head
Our brains are designed for fast decision-making, not storage. Trying to mentally track too many things at once is a major source of stress and you’ll inevitably forget something. Find a system that works for you to track every little task you need to get done. The key is creating a system that is always at your fingertips so you’ll check it constantly throughout the day.
For some, putting pen to paper every morning is the best way to track their to-do list. Personally, I think PR has too many moving parts, deadlines and follow-ups to simply use a hand-written to-do list. For example, if I need to follow up with a reporter a week from now, I don’t want to continue writing “Follow up with Tom on June 2” on my list every day, but if I let it fall off the list I might forget.
Instead I use an app called Wunderlist. It allows me to quickly add action items to my list and then sort them by due date. That way the things I need to do first are always at the top. If my list becomes too long I can narrow the view so I only see my daily tasks. I can also set reminders for certain tasks and make a task repeat on a regular basis. To top it all off, it’s accessible on my smartphone and desktop so my list is always on hand.
If Wunderlist isn’t your style there are plenty of other productivity apps out there. Forbes published a list of the best to-do list apps for 2014 that provides some fantastic alternatives.
Break down projects into tasks
Many projects are too big to accomplish in one sitting and including giant, looming projects on your to-do list will become incredibly overwhelming. For example, if your client has a big announcement coming up, writing “plan funding announcement” on your to-do list won’t be helpful, it will be overwhelming. It’s more effective to treat it as a project and break it into smaller tasks like “develop a timeline,” “identify media targets,” “draft a press release.”
Employ the two-minute rule
If a task will take less than two minutes, do it now! It’s much more efficient to simply get it done so you don’t have to think about it. Adding a multitude of small tasks to your to-do list will increase your stress and make it appear as though you have more work than you actually have. If you need to send a quick email to a client, just do it.
Developing a system to manage your workload takes time and experimentation. What other tricks have you found to be helpful for managing productivity in PR?