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.
Heading into the final quarter of 2020, many of us continue navigating the familiar challenges of this trying year. Many businesses are relying on remote workforces for the foreseeable future. Teachers and students are pivoting to online learning and virtual engagement. Collectively, we are still acclimating to our new normal.
Like many others in neighboring industries, PR professionals find themselves operating in a landscape that continues to transform before our eyes. We’re learning that what traditionally has worked may no longer apply. Agility, persistence, poise and creative thinking are traits that many of us rely on now more than ever before.
As PR pros work toward driving brand awareness for clients and securing editorial placements, we sadly do so amid shrinking newsrooms. There have been countless impacts to the community of journalists that we’ve built relationships with and critically rely on for news coverage. Getting information out and reaching readers has become more difficult, leaving those of us in PR to rethink our approach.
Recently, this article from PR Daily explored three common challenges PR pros face and offered tips for how to address these challenges. Here are a few helpful takeaways from that article.
Scrutinize news pitches appropriately
As PR pros, our job is to help clients identify what topics will draw the most interest from journalists and news media. Not everything that we wish to promote may come across as newsworthy. Sometimes, PR pros have to work with clients on refining a pitch angle so that it is juicy and meaningful to our target audience.
To do so, the article lists a few important questions to ask that can help refine a story angle. These include:
- How is your news relevant to the community?
- What is the human element?
- Is there data to support this news?
- Do you have an expert that can speak to the situation?
If you’re unable to find a news hook after asking these questions, more digging is needed, or this news will need to be tabled for the time being. After all, you may not want to invest too much time into an idea that isn’t likely to succeed.
Define and manage expectations
With so much change occurring across the media landscape, managing and aligning on expectations with your client is critically important. Carefully considering pitches is a must because news outlets are approaching their coverage with a higher degree of scrutiny.
Additionally, the news cycle operates rapidly, with some stories getting bumped and pitches being placed on the backburner. Make sure clients are aware of this, as well as any changes that are happening with media outlets with whom you regularly work. Remember, your PR role is to serve as a trusted adviser to your client when working with media and driving brand awareness.
Reach out to the right contacts
Journalists are bombarded with news right now, especially those working in shorthanded newsrooms. Make sure that you’re pitching to the right journalists whose coverage beats align with your news story. It might help to have a developed article ready to go to save the journalist time from having to write it up themselves. Many outlets welcome contributed content, and this may help secure coverage.
Consider sponsored opportunities
Everyone wants to see their story published in top-tier news outlets, but these days, nothing is a given. If a client wants to ensure coverage, it might make the most sense to publish it on their own social channels or pursue sponsored content opportunities.
By leveraging owned channels, you’ll be able to sidestep the process of selling media on your news story and see the article publish sooner. This content can be re-marketed later as you see fit. Or, if reaching the audience of a top-tier publication is your objective, sponsored content programs are available. Native advertising tools – such as Outbrain and Taboola – can help your content reach these outlets.
PR pros – like many other folks – have certainly learned new ways to demonstrate agility and problem-solving skills this year. Necessity truly is the mother of invention. Hopefully, with these helpful tips, we’ll not only learn new ways of solving problems, but also learn how to achieve new goals as we close out the year.
It has been nearly eight months since employees began working remotely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies have announced they will continue to support remote work until the summer or fall of 2021. While others are considering integrating remote work into their long-term business model. This means many employees are stuck in their homes with the task of transforming a temporary workspace into a permanent solution. For those of us who feel stagnant in our home offices, below are steps we can take to improve our environment for a long-term remote work plan.
Think about ergonomics
It is necessary that your chair, desk and computer are set up in a manner that is most comfortable for you. Websites like Inc. have posted articles detailing the best ways to improve your desk to be more ergonomically correct. This means sitting in a chair that allows your feet to rest on the ground and which supports your spine. It also means adjusting your desk height so your elbows can gently rest at a 90-degree angle. Your computer monitor should be positioned at eye level and adjusted to a screen brightness and text size which is most comfortable for you.
Declutter
Take a few minutes each day to clean your office of old papers, coffee mugs, and lunch plates. It is easy for us to collect souvenirs of previous workdays, especially without the physical presence of others pressuring us to keep our space tidy. Spending a few minutes each day to clean up our office and put stationary away may also clear up space in our heads.
Make your office comfortable for YOU
Home offices provide a unique opportunity for you to customize your workspace without needing to negotiate with coworkers nearby. Position your desk near a window and open the blinds to access the natural light. Additionally, try out an essential oils mister or scented candle to help aid in your focus and relaxation during the workday.
Get closer to nature
Reconnecting with nature, whether indoors or outdoors, has positive impacts on our work performance. According to a 10-year research project conducted by psychologists at Exeter University, looking at an indoor plant or greenery around your office can give you up to a 15 percent boost in productivity. Similarly, a 2015 study found that active interaction with indoor plants can reduce physiological and psychological stress. Buying and nurturing houseplants is not only a fun quarantine activity but may provide benefits to your job performance too.
Focus on color
Color has an incredible impact on our feelings and emotions. Reconsider the colors of the stationery on your desk or the color of paint on your walls to positively impact your work performance. For example, incorporating green into your office could boost productivity and creative thinking. Additionally, painting office walls blue may help you focus better, as discovered in a 2018 study of university study rooms and residence halls.
These are small changes that can make a lasting improvement in your performance. For those of us unsure of how much longer this will last, or who are preparing for remote work for the long haul; taking the time to customize your home office will bring lasting benefits. Implementing any of these changes will inspire and energize you during this unique time. If anything, the pandemic has emphasized the importance of taking care of ourselves physically, emotionally, and also at work.
Image credit: LeoStella
Manufacturing a satellite used to take several years and require multi-million-dollar budgets. Today it is a different story.
The space industry has gone through a radical transformation. The evolution of technology and a culture of agility has enabled companies such as LeoStella to develop satellites at a fraction of the cost, in a matter of months.
LeoStella opened its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility last year in Tukwila, Wash., near Seattle. Since that time, the LeoStella team has manufactured two satellites that are already on orbit and has produced several additional satellites ready for delivery. The company is now on pace to produce two satellites per month.
As the economics of space have become more affordable, there has been a wave of innovation and an increased demand for satellites. Companies are utilizing space for communication, security, monitoring, intelligence and a variety of other initiatives. These companies are looking to LeoStella and others to deliver the satellites and support services to harness space for their needs. Reinforcing that point, LeoStella was selected by Loft Orbital to manufacture a number of satellites for several upcoming Loft Orbital missions. Loft offers space Infrastructure-as-a-Service.
Design and production has continued at LeoStella despite the pandemic, in fact, the company is adding to its team and has been recognized as one of the top companies to work for in Washington State by Seattle Business magazine.
Below are just a few of the recent articles mentioning the company:
- SpaceNews, “BlackSky launching two satellites on June Starlink mission,” June 5, 2020
- GeekWire, “LeoStella confirms delivery of BlackSky’s Earth observation satellites for SpaceX launch,” June 22, 2020
- Via Satellite, “LeoStella Delivers First Two Satellites to BlackSky,” June 22, 2020
- SatNews, “Loft Orbital’s Contracts with LeoStella to Build Several Smallsats,” July 21, 2020
- Via Satellite, “LeoStella Contracted for More Loft Orbital Satellite Buses,” July 21, 2020
- Space Daily, “Loft Orbital selects LeoStella to supply satellites for Space Infrastructure-as-a-Service,” July 23, 2020
- The Seattle Times, “Satellite imaging firm BlackSky is growing and hiring in Seattle,” Aug. 18, 2020
Seattle Business, “100 Best Companies To Work For,” Sept. 24, 2020 - GeekWire, “BlackSky will add sharper focus and night vision to future Earth-watching satellites,” Sept. 24, 2020
- SpaceNews, “BlackSky to add high-resolution satellites in 2022, signs deal with U.S. Army,” Sept. 24, 2020
- Via Satellite, “BlackSky Next-Generation Monitoring Satellites Will Have 50cm Resolution,” Sept. 24, 2020
We are excited about the momentum in the industry and at LeoStella. Stay tuned for more news from the company.
Earlier this year, we shared a blog post that outlined some of our projections and insight about the growing virtual trade show and webinar market caused by the global pandemic. Since May, there has been a spike in the presence and planning of global virtual trade shows and on-demand webinars.
Webinars have always been a popular way to virtually connect global audiences and share timely topics within networks. However, like virtual trade shows, the pandemic caused a major uptick in webinars as businesses looked for ways to continue driving engagement and sales in the absence of large meetings and networking opportunities.
If your company invests marketing resources in webinar development and distribution, there are many ways to leverage the content to secure earned media and maintain engagement with current and prospective customers. Below are a few ways to promote webinars before and after they are pushed out to audiences.
Before the Webinar Launch Date
Prior to the webinar going live, it can be beneficial to distribute a press release, media alert or email that tees up the webinar. Developing and distributing press releases can be a great way to share the webinar topic in a concise format and with a widespread, but relevant group of individuals.
Of course, some news outlets will not cover enterprise webinars, but many niche trade outlets will repost press releases or publish articles that highlight the webinar topic and registration link, as the topic directly impacts their readers.
However, when developing these materials, it is important to explain why audiences should care about the webinar, as well as how the topics covered impact the industry at large, not just the company at hand. This approach and combination of information will help generate excitement about the webinar, while also driving registrations.
If distributing a press release via a wire service does not align with your marketing budget, you can simply distribute it via email. There is the potential for less exposure due to a wire service’s broad distribution channels, but this approach can still yield earned interview requests and coverage about the impact of the topics presented in the webinar.
After the Webinar
Many organizations could find themselves with a plethora of sales collateral including webinars, white papers or research that they are unsure what to do with. Deadlines and external pressures to develop and distribute this content could have prevented the ability to leverage these materials in pitching when they first were developed. Have no fear, this is still an opportunity to leverage this content for earned media.
Depending on the timeliness of the topic, marketing teams could revisit these webinars and determine how the topics shared impact the current industry landscape. For example, does the webinar cover an emerging technology that has now seen a resurgence. Is the webinar a Q&A with an industry analyst or influencer from the company? Is the topic evergreen and does it impact the industry or the economy at large? If the answer was “yes” to any of these questions, there is a way to leverage the content into a campaign and potentially secure earned editorial coverage.
Below are three types of webinar topics with ideas on how they can be leveraged to bring these three questions to life.
- Emerging technology. One way to leverage this type of webinar content for earned media is to distribute a proactive pitch and offer the journalist an interview or contributed article about how the emerging technology is resurfacing and impacting the industry. Just be sure to offer your spokesperson’s insight from the webinar and new learnings from the evolution of the technology. One of the most important elements of this outreach will be to make sure you are targeting the right media contacts. If they haven’t published trend stories in the past, it is best to select another target.
- Expert Q&A. Depending on the experts and the content of their remarks, there may be an opportunity to offer reporters interviews or a written Q&A developed from the webinar. The resulting articles would help build thought leadership while also sharing insight into the topics at hand.
- Evergreen topics. Although these topics can sometimes be a harder sell to media, it can be beneficial to research recent news, regulatory changes or relevant updates that may have made this topic more relevant and topical. If so, there could be an opportunity to revamp this content for newsjacking or proactive pitching. The resulting article would also help increase thought leadership for the company and spokesperson by providing them with a chance to comment on a current trend.
Webinars are extremely useful for sales initiatives and can be equally valuable to strengthen or shape PR campaigns. By leveraging webinars in the proactive pitch angles suggested above, companies can secure earned editorial coverage, drive interest and registrations in the webinar, while also building thought leadership and brand awareness, which are two of the leading communication objectives we see on corporate radars.
For PR professionals, identifying targets, aiming messaging, and directing distribution towards a particular audience is well within the skillset, but one key element of the content usually lands outside of the PR department – imagery.
Visuals, graphics and videos tend to be under the purview of the marketing, product or advertising team. Understandably, these visual assets are often created to highlight the most popular features or uses of the brand. However, those images may not resonate with niche audiences or match the messaging intended for those particular audiences. For example, the main users of crayons are children, but an artist who uses crayons as their main medium may not feel represented by the imagery of a child using the product.
Thoughtful and targeted visuals attach emotions to your content, and can often make your message easier to remember, like an image or video of an adult using crayons to create art is more likely to be remembered by an adult crayon artist.
To develop targeted visuals, first identify your goal audience in terms of their demographics, their relationships with others, any pre-existing relationship with the brand, and how they spend their time. Based on your research, create personas that represent the features of your data and establish a story arc around their interaction with the brand. The imagery should be created based on these elements, representing the personas in their lives and their experiences with the brand. These visuals will be more representative of the brand, the audience, and the relationship between the two.
There are many tools you can use when developing imagery, and this BusinessWire blog post has a good selection for PR professionals. These are some of my favorites:
- Canva, to help you develop posters and graphics
- Panopto Express, to easily record audio, video and the content of your screen
- Animaker, to create animations and videos
- Adobe Creative Cloud, a more complex but highly capable range of tools for many types of visuals
You can also create targeted imagery without taking the pictures or editing the graphics yourself. Communicate the personas, their stories, and the importance of their representation with whoever already handles the imagery. Or hire a creative agency to provide you with content, from raw images to finished visuals. Blend techniques and tools to find a balance between time, cost, and quality satisfactory to your organization.
Once you have imagery that matches your messaging and your understanding of the target, aim the package at the intended audiences. Authentic and contextual imagery with a good caption is more likely to be used by earned media, and unique images with SEO-based names allow you and your audience to find resultant coverage more easily. These images will better represent the experiences of your audience, celebrate niche markets, and generate new conversations.
Is your inspiration and motivational drive lacking this morning? Maintaining a positive and determined mentality while confined to working at home with the world in unrest can seem impossible.
Recently, I came across an article published by Forbes that stuck with me, as it succinctly summarized five key “power skills” to focus on during the pandemic. Reading this article, I felt inspired to reflect on my daily routine and consider how I could integrate these practices into my life.
Below are five inspiring takeaways from the Forbes’ piece. I hope learning more about these tips and tricks helps you find new motivation in your personal and professional life. Couple these “power” tips with a cup of coffee every morning and you’ll be on your way to excelling in your career.
Achieve Everything with Excellence
Taking on more than you can handle will leave you feeling stretched too thin. In addition, overcommitting usually does more harm than good and won’t position you to achieve long-lasting success. Instead, strategize and make certain you have the time required to deliver excellent work. This will enable you to deliver more valuable results and feel proud of the high-quality materials and projects you create.
One method I’d recommend implementing immediately to properly schedule your days is “timeboxing.” Check out Megan’s post, “The Art of Timeboxing: How Budgeting Time Can Boost Productivity,” to see how you can visually represent your schedule and plan your workload for the week.
Be Your Own Advocate
So, you’ve done an excellent job but haven’t received the recognition you deserve? Although acknowledgment at work won’t always appear in the form of a gold star, it’s important to recognize your own self-worth and advocate for yourself.
If you want to excel in your career, learn how to verbally advocate for your goals and the hard work you’ve put forth to achieve them. It can be hard to let go of preconceived notions that we sound arrogant or obnoxious when we advocate for ourselves, but once you do people will start acknowledging you for your personal drive and success. This can turn into a chain reaction across your team, establishing a work culture built on supporting and celebrating the growth of others.
You can take this a step further by communicating the different areas in which you want to gain expertise and how those around you might support you through, for instance, classes, reading or new assignments. Next time you’re in a meeting with your manager, come prepared with a few skills that you’d like to improve.
Grow Your Network and Connect
It’s crucial to build your personal network in today’s society. Eighty percent of jobs are filled through personal and professional connections. Spend time seeking out meaningful connections with co-workers and those who hold similar interests with you. It will not only be fun and educational but allow you to participate in relationships that can be mutually beneficial.
One easy way to grow your network with like-minded individuals is to look on LinkedIn, search for those in your area of expertise who have similar interests, and connect. With more than 610 million members, you’re bound to find someone who is looking for a mutually beneficial relationship in the same field. Having the skills and confidence to build and remain strongly connected within your network isn’t easy, but it will help you gain outside perspective and mentorship while opening new doors.
Embrace a Helpful Mindset to Support Your Team
All too often we can find ourselves limited to a self-centered lifestyle. Broadening the horizon to see how your skills, abilities and time can support others will take your career to a whole new level. Try to make it a habit each day to listen to the challenges your team is facing and consider how you can help find solutions. While you don’t want to stretch yourself out too thin – as I spoke to in the first tip – always think about how you can support your team. In turn, you’ll boost your confidence and direct your attention to challenges that allow you to build a problem-solving reputation.
Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
As the wise Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Although it can be easy to stay in your comfort zone and cruise through each day, not learning will hold you back and affect the trajectory of your career. Instead, spend time each day to determine what you’ll do to get out of your zone and into the uncomfortable.
Whether it’s asking for a new project or learning a new technology, be willing to become a student and learn new skills. Check out the thousands of online classes available on Coursera or edX to advance your career. It’s in the challenging moments when true growth and development occurs.
While adopting these five tips won’t automatically have your manager knocking at the door with a promotion in hand, it will move your career forward. By being consistent and thoughtful with your actions, you’ll begin to improve your work, develop new skills and advance your career. Life is never predictable but focusing on continual self-improvement will pay off in the long run and pave the way towards a successful career.