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.

Cision’s Five Truths of Modern Media Targeting

If you subscribe to HARO (Help a Reporter Out) queries, you’re likely familiar with the format of these email alerts. If you are not, welcome to the world of HARO – a great database for journalists and PR professionals with a number of sources for upcoming stories and opportunities to secure media coverage for clients.

HARO emails are sent several times a day and are broken into different industry categories. Under each category are lists of the titles and topics in need of resources. However, above the categories and at the top of every email, HARO publishes news and/or tips and tricks for marketing and PR professionals.

In a recent email blast, HARO featured Cision’s free white paper, “The Five Truths of Modern Media Targeting,” which addresses the common challenges associated with conducting influencer outreach.

For example, did you know that “80 percent of influencers complain about irrelevant pitches they receive?” Cision’s white paper addresses this mix-up and shares five tips for how to effectively leverage influencer campaigns.

Design your targeting strategy with your clients in mind. This may seem like a no-brainer, however, it’s a good reminder to take a customer-centric approach when creating a list of target influencers. Many PR professionals will go after the big dogs like The Washington Post or Wall Street Journal, but it’s more important to consider the outlets with which your customer is reading and engaging. Identifying the individuals, news, trade and social channels your clients are already interested in will better inform your strategy for creating a brand-influencer campaign. At Communiqué PR we achieve this by taking time to learn a company’s objectives and target audiences; taking this strategic approach accurately leads into the next step of creating a media list.
Find relevant influencers using more than just Google. Although Google is a great tool to discover influencers’ topics of interest and areas of past coverage, it should be one step in the influencer vetting process. Taking time to consult other database tools will help quickly filter the right influencers with which to engage. For example, Cision’s influencer profiles contain links to their recent articles and their social media accounts to provide transparency into their “sphere of influence.” A best practice I use is to start with a Cision or IT Database search, and then verify my findings using Google to determine if this influencer is still covering the topic.
Understand the messages your target influencers want to hear. A major element in identifying the correct influencers lies in understanding the topics and trends they cover and that their readers care about. By taking the time to learn past areas of coverage and even the voice of their reporting, PR professionals will quickly be able to determine if the influencer is a fit. If they do seem like the right influencer, take time to craft and individualize the campaign so it will not only resonate with the influencer, but also provide them with the information they need to serve their readership. Types of items to research before drafting your message include, but are not limited to, past articles they’ve written, topics of interest, audience demographics and the their preferred time and contact method.
Personalize pitches and reduce the volume of outreach. This shouldn’t be breaking news to any PR professional. Tailoring pitches goes in hand with tip no. 3, however, in addition to connecting influencers with the right messages and experts, it’s also important to minimize the number of individuals to whom you are sending pitches. If you followed step no. 3, you’re influencer press list should not have 100 contacts in it. Keep campaigns small, meaningful and targeted. You’ll receive more results, improve brand perception and, most importantly, inform rather than overwhelm.
Bigger isn’t always better. Often PR professionals and clients view unique visitors per month (UVM) and reach as the most important metrics when evaluating and selecting influencers to target. Depending on the company size, product availability and topic of your campaign, an influencer with readers who value your campaign topic will be more beneficial than a high-visibility influencer with a larger readership. Cision’s “Digital Reach” approach takes a step further than UVM and analyzes the level of engagement influencers have with their audiences. This is executed by measuring how often content from the influencer is shared via social media channels and linked with other websites. Assessing these types of influencer data will help uncover the impact niche influencers can provide to the business, as well as inform conversations to secure your clients buy-in.

If you’re still in need of resources, check out these two blog posts on influencer programs to help drive value with your strategies and prevent your brand from conducting off-topic outreach.

How to Build a Successful Influencer Relations Program

PR & Brand Advocates: Who’s Who in Brand Advocacy?

A Place for Mom’s Walkability Findings

On July 26, 2017, A Place for Mom, the nation’s largest senior living referral service, released detailed findings from its Senior Living Preferences Survey. The findings, which are relevant to seniors, their families and friends, developers and urban planners, revealed some surprising trends in senior housing and care.

A Place for Mom found one preference of seniors is to live in walkable neighborhoods, a trend more often ascribed to millennials. Other findings from the survey included:

Walkability is not just for active seniors. A strong preference for walkability is most common among senior apartment consumers (53 percent), but over a third of independent-living consumers (38 percent) and over a quarter of assisted-living consumers (26 percent) show a strong preference for walkability.

Walkability is not just for city slickers. Consumers in both urban and rural areas prefer walkable communities. To the extent that differences in preferences exist, walkability is most important to consumers who prefer urban centers. Yet more than half of consumers who prefer suburbs, as well as a third or more of consumers who want to live in a small town or rural area, also strongly prefer walkability.

Regardless of care needs, the top three most important neighborhood features are low crime rate, close proximity to hospitals, and close proximity to family. Over 90 percent of consumers in each senior housing and care category prefer a neighborhood with low crime; same for proximity to a hospital.

You can read the full press release here: Will 75 Million Baby Boomers’ Desire for Walkability Impact City Planning?

To support the announcement, we connected with a number of A Place for Mom’s community partners to capture their feedback about their senior living residents desires. They were able to corroborate APFM’s findings with insight into occupancy rates and other information. We then reached out to a number of highly relevant national business and industry press to share the news, generate interest, and secure coverage. Our efforts resulted in nine original articles.

Following is a summary of the coverage around the news:

Seniors want walkability, too, survey says – Curbed, 7/25/2017
Walkability May Be Key For Future Senior Living Developments – Senior Housing News, 7/26/2107
Developers: Keep Grandma In Mind – M Report, 7/26/2017
Walkable Areas Are Getting More Competition – Realtor, 7/26/2017
Seniors want walkability, too, survey says – Builder, 7/26/2017
Survey: Older Americans Value Walkable Neighborhoods – Professional Builder, 7/26/2017
Walkable location a surprising draw for assisted living prospects – McKnight’s Senior Living, 7/26/2017
What We’re Reading: Walkability to Serve Seniors and Their Communities – National Center for Mobility Management, 7/27/2017
Not just millennials: Baby boomers want walkable neighborhoods too, study says, – Boston Agent Magazine, 7/28/2017 (the same article is posted on Chicago Agent Magazine)

We want to congratulate A Place for Mom on its research, and are excited to see what it will uncover next. As the largest provider of referral services in North America, it has a wealth of interesting data and the company’s data scientist is continually examining it to discover new trends and to see how community partners can transform the senior living experience. Be sure to check out www.APlaceforMom.com.

Can You Hear Me Now? 7 Best Practices for Phone Interviews

From interns to account managers alike, scheduling and facilitating an interview can be a daunting (and butterfly-worthy) process. Recently, I had the opportunity to conduct my first interview with a business professional to gain supplemental information for an article I am writing. After a couple of minor miscommunications with my interviewee, I quickly learned that there is a definite right and wrong way to schedule interviews.

In order to be respectful of everyone participating, I have put together a list of important tips for scheduling and conducting an interview:

1. If you haven’t already, sign up for a free account with Freeconferencecall.com. Free Conference Call is a service that provides you (the host) with a unique dial-in number. At the time of the interview, you and the interviewee will call the dial-in, submit the access code and be joined in on the same call. If it is okay with your interviewee, you can even record the call so the content of the interview is easily retrievable as you write your article.

Pro tip #1: Create a new Outlook signature with the dial-in number and access code so you can easily insert it into emails.

Pro tip #2: Don’t share your dial-in number with anyone who will be using it as a host. If you are conducting a phone interview and someone else accidentally dials in, it is a breach of the interviewee’s confidentiality.

2. If you and a colleague are facilitating the interview together, compare calendars on Outlook to ensure there is a mutually available time. Imagine: You and the interviewee finally find a time for the interview, and once agreed upon, you realize it conflicts with your colleague’s calendar. Avoid this common mistake by always comparing the two internal calendars before suggesting a time to the interviewee. This will not only save time, but significantly reduce frustration from all parties.

3. Don’t waste time by sending unnecessary emails back-and-forth such as: “How about this time?” “That doesn’t work, how about now?” “No, that doesn’t work for me.” Instead, pick a time that works for you (and your colleague – see above), block it off on your calendar so you don’t get double booked, and send an email to your interviewee with your suggested time. Right away, send a calendar invite. Even if the time doesn’t work, the calendar invite ensures that at least something is on their calendar, pending acceptance.

4. Send a follow-up email the day before the scheduled interview to (1) remind the interviewee in case he/she forgot and (2) to make sure they are still available/to see if the call needs to be rescheduled.

5. Have a list of questions prepared so you are in control of the interview and can steer it in the direction that will help you acquire the specific content you need.

Pro tip: A useful question to ask during every interview is, “Is there any information you want to share that I haven’t asked about?” Nine times out of 10 they’ll tell you a vital piece of information that you would not have previously thought to ask about.

6. Dial-in to the interview at least a minute before it is supposed to start. You want to be the one greeting your interviewee, not the other way around. Once connected, thank them and give them an estimate of the length of the interview so you can make sure there are no conflicting commitments. It is also important to have them state their name, title and to explain what they do for their company.

7. Don’t be afraid to let conversation flow naturally. Yes, it is important to get your prepared questions answered, but it is equally as important to make the small bits of small talk that will establish a relationship with the interviewee. You never know what kind of opportunity a new connection could present!

Overall, embrace the butterflies! Speaking with someone new is naturally nerve-wracking, but it is important to realize that the interviewee is probably significantly more nervous than you! If you are interested in reading further on this topic, check out these great articles from the CPR blog: TV Interviews Best Practices, Best Practices: Skype Interviews and Preparing for the Broadcast Interview.

Happy interviewing!

Figuring Out AP Style

If you work in PR, there is a 99-percent chance you have written in AP Style, considering it is the leading writing and usage style guide for both reporters and public-facing corporate communication. When I first started interning at Communique, I had never even heard about AP Style and I certainly didn’t know any of the rules. After my first few writing assignment came back covered in red ink, I decided it was time to learn. If you are new to AP Style, here are some tips and tricks to get you up to speed.

Your journey to AP Style mastery starts where all great journeys start – Google. You may be wondering why I’m not telling you to start with the actual AP Stylebook, The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2017, since it is the best resource out there. That is a great question and the stylebook is definitely the best resource, but it is also 611 pages and the first 312 read like a dictionary. To save time, and your sanity, it is much easier to find a few beginner guides that will keep you from making any major faux pas, like not spelling out percent or using the wrong state abbreviation. Below are a few resources you can use to get started:

Then you can use the style guide to look up more nitpicky rules, like understanding the distinction between a mistress and a companion, or if cyberattack is the correct term to use for stolen data. Curious if there is a hyphen in your word? It is probably in the style guide. Wondering if you can abbreviate the International Monetary Fund? There’s an entry for it. Whatever your question, the stylebook probably has an answer.

Another great way to pick up AP Style is by reading articles written in newspapers and magazines that use it. The more you read, the more comfortable you will become with the syntax and the easier it will be for you to emulate. You’ll start to notice how dates are written and which numbers are spelled out, or you’ll at least recognize that there is a rule around a topic that you need to look up.

Reading articles is also a great way to pick up on rules that aren’t explicitly in the stylebook, particularly if they are related to a niche industry or if it’s a new word. A new stylebook comes out every year with a section specifically for new content. For example, this year it is livestreaming, one word, and VR is an acceptable alternative for virtual reality, but AR is not acceptable for augmented reality. If you haven’t seen the updates for the 2017 guide, check out this article – AP Stylebook Updates: Singular ‘They’ Now Acceptable’.

When you do have time, reading through the style guide is a good idea, especially if you are going to be using AP style often. Even if you don’t remember every rule, and you definitely won’t, it will give you a better understanding of which words, phrases and other English quirks have rules, making them easier to reference in the future. The stylebook also has dedicated sections that explain the guidelines for a certain industry or topic: broadcast, business, data journalism, fashion, food, religion and sports. These sections are great to read over if you spend a lot of time focusing on one of those topics or specifically work in broadcast or data journalism.

There are also sections dedicated to explaining punctuation and social media rules. The basic guidelines for punctuation? Use common sense. If the punctuation doesn’t help make your point clearer then it doesn’t need to be there. However, if you struggle with colons and commas like I do, reading through that section is a big help.

Even after my enthusiastic commitment to learning everything AP, my work still comes back with some suggestions, and that is important to remember. No matter how good you are, you should always have someone else do a quick edit. You could read through your work 100 times and still miss something that will make you smack your forehead when it’s pointed out. Learning AP Style isn’t hard, it just takes some getting used to.

Learnings From Hosting a Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Rickreall Dairy

A couple of weeks ago, I headed south to Salem, Ore., to assist in hosting a farm tour at Rickreall Dairy, a farmer-owner of our client, dairy co-op Darigold. While the time away from the office, interacting with the cows and enjoying the fresh air, feels like an adult field trip, there is a lot of planning that goes into hosting this event and making it successful.

Last year, we hosted a tour at a farm in Washington state that highlighted the most important part of Darigold’s story: the farmer-owners. After this event, we realized that no one could illustrate the passion and dedication that goes into producing high quality and operating a sustainable and responsible dairy better than the farmers themselves.

The goal of this event was to invite media to tour the farm and speak directly with the farmer to understand the daily operations of a dairy—everything from the cow nutrition plan and milking the cows to nutrient management systems and sustainability practices. We viewed this as an excellent opportunity to show journalists and consumers how milk is produced, as well as build positive sentiment with the farmers at the heart of Darigold.

Having hosted an event similar to this before, we had a general understanding of what was ahead of us, but as with any campaign, event or activity, it is always important to analyze the results and understand what went well, what could have gone better, and what we should keep in mind for next time. After debriefing this year’s tour, we want to share our key takeaways from the event:

Plan around a news hook. As we began to plan the event several months ago, one of the first steps was to identify a farm that would be able to host a tour. During the decision-making process we considered a variety of items, including the farmer’s comfort level with hosting visitors and speaking to media, the story of the farm and farmer, and the location. As we considered each of our requirements, we had a number of farms on our list, but when we received the good news that Rickreall Dairy had won the Outstanding Dairy Farm Sustainability Award, making it the first the dairy in Oregon to do so, it was clear which farm would host the tour. The recent honor would provide us with an intriguing news hook that would likely encourage greater attendance—and it did, with six reporters from five different publications attending the event.
Beware of Fridays during the summer. As we all know, summer is a hard time to track down anyone, journalists included. People are on vacation throughout the summer, but especially on Fridays. Once we began pitching, we received a decent number of responses. Unfortunately, they weren’t exactly what we were hoping for. Many people were on vacation for the Friday we planned the tour. However, we were able to work with them, as well as managing editors or assignment editors, to identify alternative contacts that were available to attend the tour. In the future, mid-week days would likely lead to fewer conflicts in availability.
Pitch broadcast media closer to the date. In order to ensure the tour was on calendars early, and for the point made above, we reached out to all media well ahead of the event. While I think this was helpful because the event was on journalists’ radar early on, we likely could have waited a bit longer to pitch broadcast. As you likely know, broadcast does not begin planning the programming for the day until the morning of that particular day. While we knew this point when we began media outreach, a specific outreach plan became clearer after speaking with a number of newsrooms. We started outreach about three and a half weeks in advance of the tour. I would still allow that time for print media, however, with broadcast, I would send an email detailing the event about two weeks before. A week before the event, I would conduct follow-up outreach via phone and email to the newsroom and assignment editor to ensure the event is on the calendar. Next, plan to follow up with the assignment editors after the newsroom’s morning planning meeting to determine if your event is one that they plan to attend that day.
Leverage social media to make the most of the event. As you can assume, hosting this event takes a lot of time and coordination, not only on the PR team’s part, but also from the farmer, so it is very important to make the most of the event. Social media is a great way to continue amplifying the event and the resulting coverage. While I walked along the tour with the farmer and journalists, I took pictures of the farm and of the farmer interacting with the media. Once we wrapped up the tour, I was immediately developing posts to accompany the images to share over the farm’s Facebook page. Once the posts were live Facebook, we worked with Darigold’s social-media team to share the posts from their Facebook handle. In addition to this, as the coverage has published, we’ve shared each piece from the social media handles to continue widening the reach of the tour.

Overall the event was a great success, leading to four pieces thus far and with more to come. I look forward to next summer’s tour!

Rickreall Dairy wins national sustainability award—The Statesman Journal, 7/28/17
Oregon Dairy honored for its sustainable practices—Capital Press, 8/1/17
Rickreall Dairy wins innovation award for sustainable practices, happy cows—KATU, 8/2/17
Rickreall Dairy Earns ‘Sustainability’ Award—Polk County Itemizer-Observer, 8/2/17

Win Forever: The Pete Carroll Method on How to Live, Work and Play Like a Champion

My goal for this summer was much different than previous summers. Growing up, summers were for being a kid, hanging out with friends, and working summer jobs for some extra cash. However, the older I am getting the more I am trying to prepare myself for the dreaded real world that we hear so much about.

This summer would be different. I planned to work as an intern at Communiqué PR, work my normal job at a restaurant, and read. For those who know me, the last goal seems like a gag, I know, but I really wanted to read one book a month, giving myself an obtainable goal all summer. For someone who usually doesn’t read unless it’s a textbook, about sports, or my Twitter timeline, one book a month seemed like a daunting task.

I decided first on Pete Carroll’s book, “Win Forever: Live, Work, and Play Like a Champion.” This piqued my interest initially, because Pete Carroll is the head coach of my favorite team, the Seattle Seahawks. His charisma and positivity, along with his competitive edge, helped him become who he is today. I wanted to learn more on how he is able to maintain success while remaining true to himself, and see how his lessons might be applied to the professional world. Here are the main points that stood out to me:

Having “Drive” or “A Chip on your Shoulder”

Carroll expresses how important it is to have “drive” or that “chip on the shoulder.” For him, it was not being physically gifted enough to play football to his full potential until later in life. Then it was being cut from his only shot at professional football. And later, it was being fired and having to start over, time and time again. But this didn’t stop him, as each failed attempt became a stronger motivation to make the next opportunity work.
The same can be said for the professional world. The chances of having no setbacks in your career are slim. Transforming setbacks into opportunities to better yourself allows one to be more prepared for what may come next. Use the setbacks as reasons to work harder and smarter. Every day is a chance to get better, no matter the situation. For me, seeing my writing being edited over and over again was frustrating, until I realized that in the end, each new attempt was me trying to out-do myself. Once I came to terms with this fact, writing and working as a whole has become much more enjoyable.

Always Compete

Competition drives the world on and off the field, and Pete Carroll is a testament to that. The core philosophy of his coaching style is competition. That competitive drive, through trial and error, is how he got to where he is: one of the most decorated college coaches of all time, and Super Bowl champion coach in the NFL. Anytime you become complacent and stop working hard, you are susceptible to losing your job. Often times in sports, you are replaceable, not because you are less talented, but because the person replacing you was a harder worker and made the most of his or her opportunity.
The same goes in the professional world. I will be graduating from college soon, and with more and more people going to college and boosting their resumes, the opportunity to find a career grows more difficult. This is great though, because I know that I can’t slack off, and it requires my best effort each and every day. In the office, work does not come to those who sit and wait. Whether it’s looking for new clients, or retaining current ones, those who are motivated to compete with themselves and others in the field will always be successful.

Having Fun

As much as Carroll stresses competition and improving yourself and others, having fun is just as important of a factor. Most people would agree that work is much more enjoyable when they can have fun and work. It is one of the things that Carroll is distinctly known for, highlighted by the fact he brought in a deejay for the long summer days of training camp with the Seahawks.

Likewise, here at Communiqué PR, the environment is fun. The days can be long, typing away at various projects, or sitting in on conference calls. But everyone has a great attitude, and we all look forward to our team barbeques and outings. It offers a time for the office to come together and step away from the stress of a job that is constantly changing. A work environment filled with driven people who enjoy the day-in-day-out grind truly has changed my perception of what it means to work in the office.

Concluding Thoughts and Recommendations

After reading Carroll’s book, I have a new respect and perspective on what it means to work the 9-to-5, 40-hours per-week-job. Growing up as an athlete, I wanted to win at virtually everything. Luckily, I still feel that I have that drive to better myself. By accepting my mistakes and allowing myself to learn from them, I try to never let a possible learning moment go by the wayside. I try to push myself each and every day, trying to become the first person in my family to graduate from college. If you can find that internal or external motivation, and use it your advantage, anything is possible.

Overall, I thought this book was a good read. Although there were no real secrets to success, like other books claim, Carroll doesn’t shy away from advice. Throughout each chapter, there are unique ideas and different perspectives on how to become successful. As the reader, I found it interesting to learn much more about someone who made the most of each opportunity, in almost every aspect of life. Whether you’re a football fan or not, I think that anyone can use this book to realize that each day is a new opportunity, and to always compete. In the end, as Carroll says, “All you should ever strive for is to be the best you can be … and that is the essence of what it means to Win Forever.”
I would recommend this book to any professional looking for creative ways to achieve success. Potentially, younger people who read this book may find it motivating, and could use the tips and ideas to become leaders in and outside the class room or office. For sports fans and non-sport fans alike, this book offers an inside perspective on how to make the most of yourself, and consequently, those with whom you surround yourself.

Insights for Leaders Navigating Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.