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.
We recently started working with RPI, Inc., a leader in make-on-demand private label personalized products, such as photo books, greeting cards and stationery products, for mass and specialty retailers. As we began our engagement, it was fascinating to learn more about mass customization (the ability for a consumer to tailor a product’s appearance, features or content to their own liking), and how retailers are responding positively to this rising trend.
Over the past 30 years, RPI has pioneered the mass customization industry by leveraging its consumer insight, creative product development expertise, and developing the technology to manufacturer the highest quality personalized products for their customers. Most recently, the company acquired the assets of Paro Group, a respected manufacturing and fulfillment company headquartered in the Netherlands, with the goal of creating a stronger mass customization platform to meet the ever-changing needs of its customers.
In the weeks leading up to the announcement, our first priority was to collaborate closely with executives at RPI and Paro Group to identify their key messages and develop the corresponding materials to communicate the significance of this acquisition to media, their employees and customers. Once developed and finalized, we conducted outreach to a select group of influential media to pre-brief them before publicly distributing the announcement.
As a result of our efforts, RPI garnered coverage among leading publishing and print industry publications as well as business media outlets. Some of those recent articles include:
- Print Week: Seattle-based RPI looks to Europe for expansion
- What They Think: RPI’s Bellamy Comments on Acquisition of Netherlands-based Paro Group BV
- The Manufacturer: RPI acquires Dutch subsidiary of JP Media Group
- PMA Magazine: RPI acquires Paro Group in the Netherlands
- 6Sight Report: Photo Book printer RPI acquires Paro Group
We have enjoyed working with RPI to learn more about the mass customized industry and to support its PR activities. On a personal level, I have often been a “creator” of personalized holiday greeting cards and party invitations, and found it fascinating to see how these products are produced and manufactured at RPI’s facility in South Seattle. I look forward to seeing what innovative new products RPI will create as result of this acquisition – the possibilities are endless!
Changes in executive leadership can be an exciting time for a company. Change often signals a continuation of momentum or the start of a new direction. These announcements are also interesting to media, who get to know executives in their given industries over time through numerous briefings and product announcements.
Recently, Opscode, the leader in a burgeoning IT industry segment called cloud infrastructure automation, appointed Mitch Hill, formerly of cloud computing giant Avanade, as CEO, and asked us to help with his introduction. To ensure this announcement was a success, we reached out to key journalists and analysts to alert them to the transition and provide them the opportunity to interview Hill, as well as former CEO and now Chief Community Officer Jesse Robbins.
We also ensured that we were leveraging social media properly for this announcement. Specifically, we suggested Jesse Robbins develop a blog post for Opscode’s website explaining the transition and his new role with the company. This also served to continue generating excitement around the transition.
The news was well-received, with most reporters recognizing that leadership transitions such as this are often a natural part of a start-up’s growth. We saw coverage in print editions of local newspapers and on online news sites, as well as several national industry publications. Below is a summary of coverage:
- Brier Dudley’s Seattle Times’ Blog, Aug. 9, 2011, “Opscode names Mitch Hill CEO”
- Data Center Knowledge, Aug. 9, 2011, “Mitch Hill Takes Helm as CEO of Opscode”
- Dow Jones’ VentureWire e-newsletter, Aug. 9, 2011, “Mitch Hill Takes Top Spot At Opscode”
- Geekwire, Aug. 9, 2011, “Ex-Avanade boss Mitch Hill jumps back into the startup world, joins Opscode as CEO”
- GovConExecutive, Aug. 9, 2011, “Opscode, Inc. Names Mitch Hill to Succeed Jesse Robbins as Company CEO”
- Northwest Innovation, Aug. 9, 2011, “Opscode Names New CEO”
- Puget Sound Business Journal, August 9, 2011, “DocuSign, Opscode name new CEOs”
- TechFlash, Aug. 9, 2011, “Opscode taps tech executive Mitch Hill as new CEO”
- Xconomy, Aug. 9, 2011, “Former Avanade Chief Takes the Helm at Cloud-Services Startup Opscode”
If your company is getting ready to announce a leadership transition, be sure to plan properly and allow the media enough time to digest the news. This will ensure that you have enough time to work out any of their questions or concerns, and that the proper messages will shine through.
There are many uses for social media sites such as Twitter, and regardless of your objectives, gaining influence, followers and social connections will help you get there. Rarely does an organization create a Twitter account with no hope of being found or followed. One of the key ways to have your Twitter handle found and followed is to improve the SEO value of your Twitter account. However, increasing your SEO is not just about the number of followers or tweets you have, there are other items to consider in maintaining a successful Twitter account.
I read an interesting article on this topic from MarketingProfs, “How to Improve the SEO Value of Your Twitter Account,” written by Daniel Rosenhaus. It offers seven suggestions, and I was surprised by some of the things that can actually hurt your SEO value. Consider this:
- Find your target demographic. Focusing in on a target demographic will help your social connections appear relevant. Randomizing your tweet topic can actually hurt your influence because it makes it difficult for people to find you and determine if they want to follow you. For example, if you are a fitness enthusiast and often Tweet about the latest workout or diet, you will likely rank high for people interested in fitness. Also, according to MarketingProfs, you should be sure to follow people that are also relevant to your interests, “by following and being followed by relevant Twitter accounts, you increase your account’s influence, ranking, and SEO power.”
- Write a bio to attract the right followers. So now that you know who you want to attract, how do you do it? You do this by writing a bio that appeals to your target audience. This will increase your chance of being followed by the people that have similar interests. It can also be helpful to include keywords in your bio that people interested in a particular topic might search for. For example, if you are passionate about fitness and that is your focus, include that in your bio. This will be helpful when people search Twitter for “fitness” and encourage them to follow you for more info on the topic.
- Use Twitter lists. Twitter lists help you organize people you are interested in following and monitoring based on categories. You can also set these lists to public view, which will allow others to see themselves on your lists as well as see the lists you’ve created. By creating lists, you are helping your own SEO and that of the people you find most influential, which can in turn increase your followers. MarketingProfs recommends naming your lists using simple key words that are easy to search for. For example, you could have a list for fitness trainers, fitness gear and events.
- Do an audit of the people you follow. Just like spring cleaning, updating your phone contacts and deleting Facebook friends that are no longer current, be sure to take care of your Twitter account. Following people is not always a good thing in terms of SEO. If you follow more people than are following you, that is a ding against your SEO potential. Lopsided numbers can hurt you, “because to the search engines it looks like you benefit from others more than they benefit from you.” Make sure you are following relevant people that are likely to reciprocate the follow.
- Follow accounts that everyone in your industry follows. Twitter makes suggestions to people about who to follow partially based on whom the person follows and who they in turn follow. If you want the suggestions to really work for you, follow big names for a particular industry. Using the fitness example, following Nike or a well-known trainer can be helpful. It will likely be difficult to get a reciprocal follow, but it will be a good source of content and help lend credibility to your Twitter account.
- Eliminate the Twitter spam following you. Twitter spam is not only an annoyance, but can be detrimental to building the influence of your Twitter account. On the surface it looks nice to have those extra followers, but it can damage your social network and hurt your SEO. Search engines will often penalize accounts with spam links. If a large number of your followers are spam, your true followers will likely unfollow you and you can lose credibility. MarketingProfs recommends watching for Twitter accounts with no picture, bio, or tweets and those accounts that are only tweeting about their company’s products and services (i.e. broadcasting but not engaging with others). Typically from our Communiqué PR handle we don’t block followers that match this description, we only block those that tweet spam, so this was an interesting perspective.
- Shorten your links. There are several free services that shorten links and allow you to see how many clicks your links get, such as http://bitly.com. By using free services like this, you can accumulate statistics on who clicks through your links and this information is helpful when you are trying to determine what content your followers find relevant.
By following these helpful suggestions, your organization can be positioned as an influential part of the Twitter community. However, it is also important to keep current. Some of these tips require attention on a regular basis. A well run Twitter account can help your organization be seen as an industry influencer. For PR purposes, this can help position you and your organization as a potential resource for stories.
For more information about the power of social media and if your company should invest, read our previous post on “Should Every Business Invest in Social Media?”
Several weeks ago I was perusing the Puget Sound Business Journal and came across an article by Lynn Parker titled, “How to lead effectively and not just manage.” The headline immediately caught my attention, and as I read the article, which was orientated toward people running small businesses, I could not help but think how applicable the points are for leaders of PR or marketing departments.
Lynn asserts that good management is, “the act of keeping your head down and making sure things run smoothly. Leading, on the other head, is looking out…and doing something about what you see.”
She goes on to share five tips and explains that leaders anticipate what might happen and plan for it. Leaders engage team members and solicit ideas from them. Leaders innovate looking for new ways to solve problems, they ask their customers questions and they talk with their peers.
Clearly, strong account managers or PR department leads need to exhibit these leadership skills and abilities as they can anticipate changes in their industry, understand the competitive landscape, internalize customers’ needs and wants, develop plans and motivate and mobilize their teams.
If you have a few minutes and are in a marketing or public relations leadership role, I’d encourage you to read this article. It can be found here on the Puget Sound Business Journal’s website.
A couple months ago I came across a really interesting read in The New York Times that posed a thought provoking question: should every business invest in social media? My initial reaction was, of course! While the level of investment should definitely vary depending on an organization’s size, goals, and about a million other variables, social media has been a proven, powerful platform to engage with your target audiences, increase brand recognition and convey key messages. Based on those benefits, why wouldn’t you want to hop on the social media bandwagon? However, after reflecting on the question further, I started to think, does it really make sense for everyone.
The New York Times used a great example of an off-site airport parking lot that took great care to make their social media presence known. Really? Is social media necessary to boost the success of an airport parking lot? Before you automatically dive in to social media, The New York Times shares some common myths to help you better evaluate whether it’s worth the investment.
Myth 1: It’s Free Advertising -There’s a widely held perception that social media is free. But doing it right requires good strategy and an investment of staff time, giveaways and/or advertising to build and keep a following. Most small companies have limited budgets and should evaluate social media with the same rigor they would other marketing tools. Tending the social media garden takes lots of time. And, time is money, whether you do it yourself or pay someone to do it. It’s like saying it’s free to install your own kitchen cabinets. It’s not.
Myth 2: Every Business Should Invest in Social Media – All businesses can use more awareness, and social media can certainly help shore up customer loyalty. If your target audience is on Facebook and Twitter, you should be too. But, if you’re selling services people rarely need, is this a good investment? It sometimes surprises me when I see funeral homes on social media. Is this the kind of organization I really want to engage with? Do people have the time and energy to follow a company that’s not relevant to their daily lives?
Myth 3: Everyone Will Really Like Us – There are several organizational Facebook pages where companies really beseech others to “like” them. This can make consumers question the company and why they should consider a relationship with them. Most people have only a few moments to engage with a brand each day on the social web. Reward them by making it a positive part of their day to help drive people to your page and keep them engaged. It’s essential to offer something of value. This could be coupons, freebies, contests, specials or articles of interest. Also remember that consumers also have a personal brand to maintain and every company someone “likes” on Facebook or “follows” on Twitter is out there for their universe to see. For example, at Communiqué PR, we often “like” our clients or new business prospects to show our support. However, ever since a colleague “liked” a potential client that happens to be in the fertility business, she’s been fielding all sorts of questions from friends and family on whether she’s trying for a baby.
Even though it seems as though everyone’s hopped on the social media train (and primarily for good reason), don’t climb aboard solely because everyone else is doing it. Make sure to thoroughly consider whether the investment can truly help your business and whether you have the time and resources to invest in a truly effective way.
What do Rovio’s Angry Birds, one of the world’s hottest and most popular entertainment and media brands, have in common with SwaddleDesigns®, an award-winning, Seattle-based baby product company? Beyond the common characteristics of loving and protecting their offspring, SwaddleDesigns and Rovio recently announced their definitive agreement granting SwaddleDesigns licensing and merchandising rights to produce Angry Birds Baby products.
To delight the millions of Angry Birds fans around the world, SwaddleDesigns recently introduced multiple best-selling and award-winning products featuring the fun, playful and loveable Angry Birds characters. Communiqué PR had the opportunity to help SwaddleDesigns and Rovio raise awareness around the new retail partnership, generate visibility into how the partnership fits into Rovio’s overall merchandising strategy, and drive pre-sales of Angry Birds Baby products (which, by the way, fans who place a pre-order in the value of $50 or more, will receive a free, adorable Angry Birds Plush toy.)
In the weeks leading up to the Angry Birds Baby product launch, we collaborated closely with SwaddleDesigns and Rovio to build out a PR strategy, identify key messages and develop corresponding story angles and media materials.
As a result of our efforts and partnership, SwaddleDesigns and Rovio garnered more than 20 media placements across top-tier tech trades, business publications, gaming outlets and parenting sites. Of note, Communiqué PR was able to secure an exclusive story with Reuters, which successfully shaped and helped to ignite the incoming news cycle. In-line with our strategy, the majority of coverage highlighted Rovio’s success in the retail space and its partnership with SwaddleDesigns, and showcased images of the Angry Bird Baby products with a link for readers to place pre-sale orders.
Below are a few additional coverage highlights:
- Mashable: Angry Birds Now Appearing on a Baby Near You
- Babble.com: The Angry Birds Are Coming… to Your Layette Set!
- Kotaku: Babies are Already Angry, Might As Well Put Birds on Them
- CNET: Angry Birds cute baby products
- MomFinds: Angry Birds Baby Line
- CBS News: Angry Birds cute baby products
- Geekwire.com: Snuggle up with an Angry Birds blankie
It was so much fun working with SwaddleDesigns and Rovio to support their PR activities. Who doesn’t love Angry Birds and babies? So, it just makes sense to combine the two! I think we can all expect great things in the future from both of these innovative companies.