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.
A PR professional who fails to educate themselves about a client’s industry is like a ship captain with no map; you will find yourself going nowhere or steering in the wrong direction. Becoming an expert in your clients’ fields helps you see how you can add value. Understanding their industry will help you reach target audiences and help clients to stand out from their competitors.
I have been working on an insurance-related campaign for a client, and to ensure a deeper understanding of their wants and needs, I have been learning about the insurance industry. While immersing myself in a new industry, I have found five helpful tips to help get acclimated your client’s space.
Conduct a SWOT Analysis
Do not underestimate the power of a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. According to Indeed.com, a SWOT analysis not only provides insights, but can help you better understand where a company stands amongst its competitors.
When conducting a SWOT analysis, do not just think broadly. Hone in on your client’s specific industry and where they stand within. While analyzing your client, you will become more familiar with their industry as you recognize where they shine and falter.
When conducting this research, ask yourself:
- How does my client compare to competitors?
- What sets my client apart?
- What current industry trends apply to my client?
- How can they demonstrate thought leadership relating to industry news?
Brainstorm how your client’s SWOT can power future PR deliverables by identifying strengths, tactically improving weaknesses, utilizing opportunities and preparing for threats.
Read Industry-Related Topics Daily
Dedicate an hour a day to reading industry news. This is an easy way to become more knowledgeable about the industry and familiar with key terminology, market dynamics and customer demands.
Reading in regular, small bites helps you to not get overwhelmed. An hour a day will keep news at the forefront of your mind and allow you to review a wider variety of industry information. Lookout for competitor coverage, staying up to date on news from competitors will allow you to inform your client of what they should be focusing on to stay competitive. A daily reading practice also helps you identify newsjacking opportunities and relevant pitch topics/article ideas.
Stay Current with Industry Trends
Along with regularly reading industry content, pay attention to trends. For instance, insurance industry trends around insurtechs, digitization and customer experience are greatly impacting companies.
Seeing trends helps you understand the challenges your client may face, the changes they might need to make and the practices that might be successful.
Staying up to date on industry trends also helps you generate ideas for articles. How are you supposed to present your client as a thought leader if they are not commenting and sharing their opinion on the latest industry news cycles? Keeping up to speed with trends will help you strategically place your client within industry conversations.
Pinpoint Top Publications within the Industry
Returning to our ship analogy, what’s the point of crossing the sea without a destination? Industry publications serve as your landmarks, providing a sense of direction for article topics, audiences and publications.
Industry-specific publications, commonly referred to as trade publications, will provide insight into popular industry coverage, what competitors are talking about and information from some of the top thought leaders in that space. This lays out valuable industry information and reminds you of what publications you want your client featured in.
To find these publications, look online for posts that describe and rank these trade publications. You can also search these manually, differentiating the publications by their domain authority, audience reach and unique monthly visitors.
Familiarize Yourself with Industry Terminology
Effectively communicating with clients means understanding the language of their industries. This includes lingo, acronyms, phrases, jargon and other commonly used terminology. It may be challenging to pick up on this at first, but take note of any unfamiliar language and then research its meaning. PR practitioners are writing professionals; if you can’t speak and write like an industry insider, your work suffers.
When I began my work within the insurance industry (one in which I had no previous experience), I found myself confused by some of my client’s terms. So I took the time to research them, never assuming I knew something I was unsure of. By building my industry-specific vocabulary, I am better equipped to tailor pitches to trade publications using their own language, making me a vital asset to my client.
Becoming knowledgeable in your client’s industry can be research intensive and time consuming. It’s also necessary to produce meaningful results. Don’t leave your client lost at sea; take the time to understand their industry.
With conferences back in action, many companies are investing significant time and resources to participate in events again. As such, it’s important to do everything you can to maximize your organization’s presence.
Conferences are a great opportunity to network, meet with potential customers, and build thought leadership through speaking engagements. While most attendees are industry colleagues, journalists often attend these events to learn about growing trends and developments. In-person meetings with reporters are somewhat rare, but a great opportunity to build rapport and establish a relationship.
As you prepare to attend industry events, consider the following to make the most of the media’s presence:
Work closely with the conference organizers and sign up for updates. The attendee list for conferences can change up until mere days before an event. Contact conference organizers several months in advance to get a sense of the current press list and follow up closer to the event to ensure you have an up-to-date list. Additionally, the closer you get to an event, the busier the organizers will be. Be sure to sign up for mailing lists to receive important updates.
Check in directly with friendlies. Reporters may not be able to commit to attending until just before an event. Alternatively, sometimes their plans to attend fall through, but they may send a colleague in their place. If you have relationships with reporters, check in with them directly to make sure you don’t miss an opportunity to connect.
Offer specific topics of conversation. Reporters will likely be inundated with in-person meeting requests, so it’s important to highlight the value of a meeting with an executive. Just like any other pitch, consider the following questions: Why would the reporter want to talk to your client? What insight can they provide? Offer specific points of conversation and take the opportunity to ask the reporter what they’re most interested in learning about.
Arrange the logistics in advance. Conference attendees will be busy during the event itself, so it is critical to arrange all details in advance of the conference. Work with journalists and executives to establish a clear meeting point and exchange phone numbers so they can easily connect.
If you’re making an announcement at the event, offer it under embargo. Reporters are swamped during conferences. During the event itself, they are trying to attend as many panels and keynotes as possible as well as meet with industry leaders. To try to ease their workload, provide them with advance access to the news and interview before the conference. This will allow them to draft their article before the conference and increase the likelihood of coverage, especially since you’ll likely be competing with other announcements.
Conferences offer an excellent place to build relationships with influential media and share important news. It’s critical to plan ahead to make the most of their presence at the event. Keep these recommendations in mind the next time you or your client attend and industry conference.
On July 8, 2022, actor Tony Sirico suddenly passed away at the age of 79. Although his professional career spanned decades, most recognize Sirico for his award-winning performance as Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri in The Sopranos.
As a high-ranking member of the DiMeo Crime Family, Paulie had his fair share of arrogant, funny and down-right ruthless moments on The Sopranos. However, underneath his tough exterior and well-manicured fingernails, Paulie displayed many solid characteristics and traits that relate to the public relations world.
In fact, for communications and PR professionals alike, Paulie’s screen-time on The Sopranos provided four essential lessons we can apply to effective PR strategies – authenticity, consistency, awareness and competitiveness.
Authenticity
Although he was one of the most controversial characters on The Sopranos, Paulie never strayed away from who he truly was. As one of the right-hand men to Tony Soprano, Paulie was incredibly good at conveying a tough guy exterior to seal deals and get work done. However, underneath the surface, he cared deeply about how others viewed him.
Throughout the shady and colorful characters that cycled in and out of The Sopranos’ six seasons, Paulie never wandered from the person viewers met in the pilot episode. In fact, early on in the HBO series, Paulie was established as one of the top earners in the DiMeo Crime Family due to his impulsive and ruthless ability to complete jobs no matter the consequences.
However, deep down, all Paulie truly wanted was to earn Tony’s approval, a power struggle presented throughout the entire TV series. In fact, Paulie once said it best to Christopher Molisonti, “I’m here to tell you one thing – you ever go whining to the Big Man again about [stuff] between you and me, we’ll have a problem, my friend.”
Paulie’s multi-dimensional personality allowed viewers to connect with him – whether positively or negatively – from the beginning, making him one of the most beloved (and detested) characters in the entire series.
Paulie’s persona on The Sopranos is an excellent reminder to PR professionals looking to incorporate authenticity into their communications strategies. Most audiences can detect inauthenticity from a mile away. In fact, while an overwhelming 92% of brands believe most or all of their content resonates as authentic with consumers, 51% of customers say less than half of brands create content they identify as authentic.
When companies create genuinely authentic content, they can forge a deeper connection with customers and encourage brand loyalty, all of which boost sales and lead to business wins. Customers are more likely to support businesses that have clear messaging and branding that resonate with them, making it imperative that companies establish authentic PR strategies and positioning to instill trust within their target audiences.
A few ways to achieve this include:
- Share your expertise: Audiences always desire expert advice before purchasing a product or service. Companies can share their wisdom through many platforms – videos, blogs, websites, social media, etc. – to help make their brand more authentic and foster brand loyalty.
- Incorporate stories that connect: Audiences appreciate true stories that resonate with their personal experiences. As a result, companies should avoid sharing only marketing and promotional messaging. When businesses share unique and authentic stories on topics such as their hardships and goals to improve the world, they can connect with customers at a deeper emotional level and enhance brand loyalty.
- Back up stance with action: What you do is as important as what you say. One of the best ways to establish authenticity is transparency. If you can’t back up your messaging or claims with actions, it’s nearly impossible to establish an authentic relationship with audiences.
Consistency
From his white shoes to his immaculate slicked-back hair, Paulie was one of the most identifiable and consistent Sopranos characters. His behavioral habits – including his extensive grooming routine and obsessive cleanliness – were established in the very first episode and carried on until the series finale, allowing for consistent character development that made him more believable and relatable to viewers.
For example, Paulie was one of the main sources of comic relief throughout The Sopranos. Whenever a scene was dark or a situation heavy, viewers could always count on Paulie to crack a few jokes (even if it was at the expense of a friend). In fact, his comedic streak is how he got his nickname “Paulie Walnuts” after he accidentally hijacked a walnut truck, thinking it was full of valuable electronics.
In PR, consistency is critical for effective messaging and company positioning. In fact, research shows that companies that are consistent when presenting their branding and messaging can increase revenue opportunities by 23%.
Across all media platforms, PR assets and materials, a company’s voice and branding must be consistent, so target audiences can establish a dependable and trustworthy connection. In addition, consistent messaging creates certainty and aligned communications with partners and stakeholders, improving an organization’s overall reputation.
A few ways to achieve consistency in PR strategies include:
- Images and colors: Visuals are a powerful way to help audiences identify branding. Choose a few dominant colors and images and incorporate them throughout all visual assets to strengthen brand recognition.
- Frequency: Establish a timeline or schedule to ensure materials such as social media posts, newsletters, emails, and other forms of content are going out consistently to customers to establish strong connections.
- Repurpose content: Reusing content can reinforce a company’s message while repetitiously introducing a brand to target audiences with minimal lift. The more often audiences see similar brand messaging, images and content, the more likely they will be able to identify and connect with it.
Awareness
In any situation, Paulie was always aware of what was happening around him. As a result, he was a good businessman that always looked two or three steps ahead and anticipated what might happen next. This trait likely contributed to why – spoiler alert – Paulie was one of the few original characters never to be killed off.
Through his awareness, Paulie could deeply understand who he was working with, what business deals he needed to make, and how he could protect himself. For example, almost every member of Tony Soprano’s inner circle ended up dead by the time the hit series wrapped, apart from Silvio Dante, who ended up in a coma, and Paulie.
This impressive outcome proves just how aware Paulie was of his surroundings. In an environment where individuals were taken out for the most trivial reasons, Paulie stood back and observed everything developing around him, enabling him to avoid dangerous situations and make strategic moves that benefitted his life (literally) and the DiMeo Crime Family.
In PR, companies must be aware of the changes happening in the industry, what their target audiences want most and who they are going into business with. This will allow them to strategize the next steps to take their business to the next level and help avoid unforeseen setbacks. It will also prevent companies from targeting audiences that aren’t the right fit or ineffectively offering services and products irrelevant to their customer base.
Some awareness missteps to avoid include:
- Mirroring competitors: Although it’s tempting to follow competitors’ successful PR strategies, it could actually have a negative impact and come off as inauthentic. Researching why competitors’ techniques were successful and applying them to original PR strategies will help develop effective, unique and long-lasting company branding and messaging.
- Lacking inclusivity: 70% of Gen Z consumers are more trusting of companies that represent diversity in content and messaging. Incorporating diverse perspectives and inclusive representation in company PR strategies and content will allow branding and messaging to reach a wider audience, leading to increased business success and client relationships.
- Excluding offline media opportunities: Although social media and online platforms can be incredibly impactful for company awareness, businesses need to secure varying media opportunities outside the internet to achieve peak awareness, such as speaking engagements, print publication features and award nominations, to name a few.
Competitiveness
As one of Tony Soprano’s most trusted friends and colleagues, Paulie always strived to secure new business opportunities and keep their crime family at the top of the pack. He achieved this by strategizing and observing what competitors were doing and determining how his family could win more deals and offer what others couldn’t.
For example, in season five, Paulie got into a heated dispute with Michele La Manna over their rival landscaping businesses. After the two resort to violence and attack each other’s gardeners, Paulie and the DiMeo family begin to scheme ways to eliminate the competing business. Eventually, Tony Soprano “sets up” Michele La Manna, so he ends up back in prison, allowing Paulie to carry on with his landscaping business, helping to line his pockets and funnel additional resources into the family.
Now, of course, companies should not partake in this type of calculated behavior to get ahead in their own industries. However, as we’ve learned from Paulie, to remain competitive in constantly changing markets, companies must always observe how the industry and competitors are evolving and how they can match and surpass competitors with their own offerings.
This can be achieved through various opportunities such as:
- Contribute expert articles: Writing thought leadership pieces can establish executives as experts in their field, allowing prospective and current customers to identify companies as being more credible and reliable against competitors.
- Utilize speaking opportunities: Webinar and conference speaking opportunities can generate company awareness, build a company’s credibility, and establish executives as thought leaders and industry experts, giving organizations an edge over competitors.
- Observe competitors: An effective way to see what competitors are doing is by monitoring their social media and online presence. This will allow companies to understand who their competitors are, what they are doing, what types of media coverage they’re achieving, and what strategies should or should not be incorporated into PR plans.
Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri’s legacy
No matter how you look at it, Tony Sirico’s portrayal of Paulie Gualtieri offers many valuable lessons for the PR industry. Although the series finale of The Sopranos aired over 15 years ago, the show’s impact and the characters that came with it still have a lasting effect on old fans and new viewers discovering it for the first time.
If Paulie has taught us anything since the day the pilot episode aired, it’s that authenticity, consistency, awareness and competitiveness can go a long way when you’re a mobster in New Jersey or putting together an effective PR strategy.
Gated content has grown in popularity, with 80% of B2B content marketing assets classified as gated and is an effective inbound marketing tactic. For background, gated content is online content that requires individuals to fill out a form to access the resource. The submission form acts as a gate, and instead of paying for the content, you submit your name, email address and often other high-level details about your job and company.
To Gate or Not to Gate?
The type of content companies develop in their gated strategies varies; however, they are most often eBooks, white papers, webinars and research. Content like blogs, infographics, case studies and press releases are best to remain “ungated.”
As mentioned above, gated content is not the same as paid content. These materials support different strategies and even objectives. For example, lead generation is a primary goal of gated content. This type of content provides companies with contacts interested in what the business offers. While not all submission forms result in viable leads, they can turn into longer-term partners or customers. Paid content generates incremental revenue but does not open the same line of potential long-term revenue.
Pros and Cons of Gated Content
If you’ve done your research, you’ll know there are pros and cons to gated content. Before diving headfirst into gated content, it’s essential to understand your audience and your objectives. For example, if boosting SEO is a core objective, it’s best to invest in blogging and other SEO best practices. While gated content is an effective inbound marketing tool, there is no substantial SEO benefit because people are not as likely to link to gated content, and it doesn’t appear on search engine results.
However, if lead generation is a core goal, and it is the most important objective for 91% of marketers, gated content might be the way to go. It’s also worth noting that gated content has promising conversion rates when companies promote the gated content materials on the website, social media and other landing pages.
How to Kick off Gated Content Efforts
Content development can be a hefty undertaking for marketing departments. At Communiqué PR, we oversee content development for a variety of clients and found it highly effective to merge PR with these content development understandings. We work as an extension of our clients’ marketing teams to set content strategies that align with their objectives. Moreover, evolving those strategies as objectives change.
As a team of writers integrated with our clients’ messages, products and industry, we’ve helped kick off gated content strategies on their behalf. After we have a solid understanding of any new objectives or audiences for these materials, a helpful first step is to map out the topics and identify which types of content (e.g., eBook, white paper, webinar, etc.) would be best for the topic at hand. Then, you can evaluate existing content to determine what topics would be best to leverage for gated content resources. For example, if you have a blog post that defines your core solutions, consider developing an eBook or white paper that discusses use cases and industry examples of your solutions in action. If your customers are interested in that blog topic, they can go to the gated resource for more insight.
We’ve found blending PR and gated content development efforts to be extremely helpful for our team and clients. Having the crossover of writing can help ensure message pull through and consistency.
For more information or help kicking off gated content efforts, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@communiquepr.com.
Fonts pack more power than many people may realize. Typography can provoke psychological reactions that create a feeling of trustworthiness, friendliness or aspiration in the reader. But to understand exactly what we are talking about, we need to look at a few quick definitions from 99designs:
“Typefaces are the design or style of the letterforms; Fonts are the size or style version; Points are what most fonts are measured in.”
These three elements of a text can tell a rich story. So, let’s explore a few of them, starting with the Roman Empire:
- Trajan – In 1989, Carol Twombly created Trajan, the oldest known typeface still in use, for Adobe’s software. She based its design on Trajan’s Column, which depicts the Roman emperor’s achievements and his back-to-back wars against the Dacians. Different key scenes spiral up the pillar using carved images and Twombly used the writing atop the column as inspiration for the modern typeface.
Archaeologists believe that the column, while based on historical events, is an interpretation of the events rather than the whole truth. The Roman armies are shown only as a positive force for order, and not conquest. - Blackletter – Before the 12th century in Europe, writing was done solely by hand. But in 1439, Johannes Gutenberg started developing the first European printing Gutenberg’s is not the first movable type created—that distinction belongs to Bi Sheng’s printing system, developed in China around 1040 AD. But Gutenberg’s press sparked a print revolution. For the first time, the average person had access to typography. While books’ high cost made them inaccessible for many, items like pamphlets were much more affordable. This broadened information sharing in previously unthinkable ways. However, the sheer blackness of Blackletter made it challenging to read, leading to the creation of more legible Roman-type fonts.
- Latin Condensed – While this typeface may not be as well-known as Times New Roman, its footprint is all over late-1800s American newspapers. During Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidential campaign, the New York Times altered the font, creating a “skinny S” for the “Eisenhower Says” slogan. This was done to keep the headline on a single column line, creating a tighter, cleaner-looking headline.
- Comic Sans – This font is famous for being constantly maligned, albeit somewhat unfairly. Vincent Connare created Comic Sans in 1994 by using comics like Watchmen as the design template. Due to its initial overuse, many readers and designers have grown to despise the typeface, deriding it as divisive, unprofessional and child-like. However, I would argue that Comic Sans has merits when used in the proper context. When the typeface debuted, early computers could not display it correctly due to resolution and smoothing issues. But technology has caught up to Comic Sans. Now, Garamond, a typeface considered one of the best fonts by graphic designers, has a worse readability than Comic Sans. While computer resolution has vastly improved, internet websites still must design for every internet-connected device. Until all monitors, tablets, laptops, and phones have resolutions closer to physical paper, web designers should consider resolution when choosing typefaces.
Each font and typeface have its own cultural impact, lending to its importance in human history. Take a look at your own preferred font—you never know what story may be hidden behind the type.
For more information about fonts and reading, see these articles:
A marcom audit – the comprehensive review of the existing marketing plan, business and communication objectives, the strategies and activities being executed, the results secured, and the competitive market landscape – is a fundamental step in developing or updating your marketing strategy.
This type of audit assesses the resources a company leverages, the messages reaching its target audiences, and insight into what is working and what isn’t. The marcom assessment can also help a company evaluate how it’s progressing its story arc, what its competitors are messaging about, and how the business or market has changed. These learnings can inform the marcom budget, resources, and strategies moving forward.
Below are the suggested steps to guide a marketing or marcom audit.
- Define the scope of the audit. Will the audit include branding and perception surveys? What programs are included in the company’s existing marcom activities (e.g., website, social media, events, direct marketing, public relations, analyst relations, etc.)? Who are the existing decision-makers and individuals overseeing strategies?
- Review existing plans and materials. By reviewing the overarching marketing plan, messaging, and supporting materials, you revisit the foundation and marketing approach that the company established. This insight is helpful to compare against results and how the company measures success to determine if the existing or previous plans were successful.
- Interview existing stakeholders. This should include internal stakeholders as well as vendors and partners that help execute marketing activities. Sample questions, as shared in a recent Forbes Communication Council article, include:
- What are the business objectives and challenges?
- What is the impression of the current comms program?
- What does success look like?
- Who do you compete against?
These interviews may illustrate changes in the business since the existing plan was established and can help inform future planning.
- Gather data. For example, for external communications, it can be helpful to develop a share of voice to understand quantitative and qualitative results vis a vis key competitors. The qualitative review will provide insight into message pull-through and what your competitors are messaging to the market. For each segment of your marketing plan, you will want to secure metrics to evaluate the impact of the activities being executed.
- Develop a SWOT. Based on the information secured through the prior steps in the audit, identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the organization. You will want to focus on mitigating the weaknesses and threats and making the most of the strengths and opportunities.
- Collate findings and outline recommendations in a report. This report will guide your marketing plan and activities moving forward. The company can use this analysis to advocate for additional resources or access to different resources.
We have found these audits are extremely helpful when we start working with a new client, so we are well positioned to recommend the most effective strategies to help achieve that organization’s business objectives. We also execute similar reviews or audits as we prepare to develop the next year’s communications plan.
For more information or help conducting an audit, please contact us at info@communiquepr.com.