Rae Hostetler

Build a public relations plan that stays the course

July 16, 2023 By Rae Hostetler

Public Relations Plan It happens regularly. A team is in the midst of executing a plan and suddenly someone walks through the door with a new idea. They read and article about a new trend. Sounds great. But it can feel deflating and even overwhelming to the professionals working on executing a public relations program.

Yes, public relations plans need to flex and change based on the current business environment. Yet jumping on trends without a solid understanding how the communications tool works can feel like adding one more thing to the to-do list instead of a strategic move.

Remain nimble/flexible with a plan
What is your public relations plan for the year? It’s important to have one in place and to continue moving forward. The plan will change if someone leaves the company and capacity gets tighter or your industry has a major announcement. There’s a difference between checking in and adapting and completely changing course. If a new communications trend falls into the mix, let the team talk it through to determine how it would strategically benefit the goals in the plan.

Keep it simple
A Forbes article from January ranks simple #1. I 110% agree. Simplicity is the essence of good taste. The essence of any public relations plan is keeping it simple, easy and manageable. The age of digital has created the perception that PR is a complex system that feels hard to navigate. It doesn’t have to be hard if you don’t want it that way. Bottom line, if everyone on the team doesn’t understand what you’re doing and why, then it might be time to step back and figure out why.

Set goals
What are three things you want to do this year and how will goals be accountable? I say three because I truly believe focusing well on a few initiatives at one time is the best way to succeed. Perhaps your website hasn’t been updated to work for your business in years. Think about the steps and time involved to make that right in a year’s time. Consider what you want that website to do for your business and how it will be measured (the goal).

Know your audience
Most business owners and leaders know their audience: internally employees, externally prospects, customers and so on. It’s critically important to think like your audience is thinking. If you’re running a global business, consider this. A McKinsey study shows people around the world have very different mindsets related to returning to “normal” activities. Here’s the contrast among those who reported, “I’m already doing them:”

81% in China
36% in America
18% in Mexico

Qualitatively speaking, during a recent local business meeting, a group was asked if they wanted to move Zoom meetings to in person. The trend is going back to the office, right? The business professionals preferred to stay online. They like the time earned back in their day. It is important to them.

Know the message
If your company doesn’t have a document that outlines the message, you should. We consider this document similar to logo colors and use. The message is part of your brand standard guidelines. Review it with this lens:

An Ernst & Young survey shows that 59% of surveyed consumers are more likely to shop locally in the long term. Is your business local or selling local goods? Should it be in the message?
A Consumer Index Report by Suzy Consumer Insights shares that 65% of consumers are more likely to support a brand that cares about the same social issues they do. What’s your community relations program and do you share it?

Know your tactics
Externally study after study shows it takes a person four to seven times to hear from you to recognize and remember your business. What are those four to seven tactics? Tactics include (but are not limited to) social media, media relations, business conferences, websites, SEO, PPC, speaking engagements and on and one. Think about how they could change in the future. For example, sending a mailer to a business several years ago when everyone was working at home didn’t make sense. Yet sending that mailer now might be a great idea.

Consider how the message gets communicated within the workplace or at home offices. Employees trust their managers. Are managers prepared to continue sharing critical company news as the year unfolds? Are they trained to deliver the message, and more importantly, do they know the message?

Share your public relations plan
Working quickly or without pulling in key team members sometimes means we inadvertently skip critical steps, including sharing information with or getting input from the right people. Remember to share your public relations plan with the professionals in your workplace who need to know. For example, public relations can impact the sales team generating leads. Does the director of sales know the plan and buy into it?

Are you missing the mark: Does your brand message align with your actions?

June 28, 2023 By Rae Hostetler

After a few bad customer service experiences recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the question: do company messages match customer experiences? In a conversation with a friend just days ago, she said, “You’re sensitive to it because of what you do.” Am I?

I took time this week to Google the question. Data shows, I’m not alone. According to a Microsoft study called State of Global Customer Service Report that polled 5,000 people from Brazil, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States customer service can make or break a company.

96% of those responding say customer service is important in their choice of loyalty to a brand.
More importantly, people will stop doing business with you because of poor service.
Of U.S. respondents, 59% said they will stop doing business with a brand when there’s bad service.
And 80% of respondents believe it takes some or even too much effort to resolve their customer service issues.

Your brand isn’t created with carefully chosen PMS colors for logos and marketing materials. It’s not derived during a two-hour meeting where a marketing team brainstorms. And it’s not created by someone sitting in their office thinking up creative words to explain what you do. The brand comes from your customers’ experiences.

You may be reading this begging, do tell, what were those bad customer service experiences that got you thinking? Truth be told, a few happened with small companies, while others were with globally branded businesses. Some were minor irritations and others were so frustrating that I have to add an exclamation point to this sentence!

Minor irritation: Just last week, I contacted a company locally for a quote to work on our landscaping. The voicemail said to go to their website and complete the form. I did. No one called me. This week a quote landed in my email. Just me or was that weird. How does this company even know what I want or need? Their slogan: “We take pride in your outside.” I guess they do since they didn’t come inside to talk with me.

Each week we read about airlines delayed due to weather or maintenance. Fliers get frustrated when there’s not much communication to help them understand what’s happening. Airlines do what’s required by FAA law (so says my pilot friend). But their slogans all say, “Making Traveling a Pleasure” (Delta) or “In a world full of no, we’re a plane full of yes.” (Southwest) The stories we read don’t reflect how airlines are making travel gone wrong a pleasure or giving us a yes. In the past two weeks Delta left customers stranded for 8 and then 18 hours. That’s not a traveling pleasure.

Major irritation: I called Southwest requesting an easy fix to a booking (please add my middle name) and can you double check the update doesn’t move me from early boarding (which has happened to me twice with a booking change)? The agent wouldn’t let me speak but continued to tell me it won’t happen, no worries and here’s why. After asking several times to speak to her manager, she put me on hold for way too long. The manager called me to apologize and make the edit and double check the booking. If the agent had only known they’re a “plane full of yes!”

After suffering horrible publicity in recent years, United finally figured it out. We took a trip overseas on United in June. Of course, the flight was overbooked. But instead of coming on board and telling someone you have to go, they offered a large sum of cash before we boarded. If I recall the offer was $5,000 per person. A small price to pay to avoid negative publicity and unhappy customers. United’s slogan: “Connecting People. Uniting the World.” On this occasion they connected us passengers because we were all talking about the offer!

So how does a company do it right? I’m going to brag on a client. Larry Howald owns and operates Howald Heating, Air Conditioning and Plumbing. He is truly committed to customer service. They have a published promise that we’ve incorporated into their company message.

Check it out.

Last year, we were curious if the team was hitting the mark. The customer team welcomes feedback to continuously improve, so we asked the customer. Turns out 95% of them said they’re highly satisfied with the service they get from the client. There were some issues uncovered in that 5%, and the client proactively worked on improving those items. Best of all, the client wants to do another customer survey to ensure they continue hitting the mark and that means their brand is reflected in their service.

If you’re reading this thinking, I can’t tell you what my customers would say about my company, but also thinking—I should know! Let’s talk. Email me or call, 317-733-8700, ext. 1. We help clients “communicate their image” through promotions, publicity, emarketing and more. And we have a proven process that supports finding out what your clients think to develop an authentic company message and strategic public relations plan.

Public relations planning… by the numbers

May 11, 2023 By Rae Hostetler

We’ve had a lot of great conversations with business owners thinking about how to approach building a public relations and marketing program. Some have ideas and staff doing a great job working to execute. Others have ideas but no staff to do it. Still some don’t know where to start.

A common thread in these conversations are the questions we’re asked about a model for communications/marketing. I’d call it a best practice or rule of thumb that comes down to these numbers:

1) Have one plan. It can change. But work from one and just one as a team. Maybe you try something PR Planning that doesn’t work. Change the plan by removing it. We all get busy. If there’s a tactic you’d like to try but don’t have time this month, shift the idea. Keep the plan on paper and electronically for everyone to see/review and change.

3) Do three things well. Many times people come to the table to brainstorm ideas and the list gets long really fast. Review that list and think about three things your team can do—well. What will generate the most revenue and where can the team focus efforts. This is very strategic and should be the start of your plan.

5) Allocate budget. Rule of thumb is 5% of revenue (not net) should be allocated to marketing/communications. More if your company wants to grow. Budget for marketing/communications.

7) Be consistent. It takes 4 to 7 times for someone to hear and see your message for them to remember you and potentially take action. What feels like over communication is often just that—communicating your image.

Search Engine Optimization tips and tricks

February 20, 2023 By Rae Hostetler

Business owners and leaders often find themselves overseeing and/or managing the business website. Often what sounds like a complicated task, can be made simple by knowing the basics of Search Engine Optimization. Here and a few tips and tricks we’ve learned over the years by managing SEO for client websites.

Know your keywords
Similar to any business-related project, research is a good first step. What are the keywords Google searchers use to find your business, industry or non-profit? Put a list together and then use those keywords.

Feed Google and other engines content
Search engines use your website content to index pages. Feeding the right keywords and phrases is critical to being found. Google and other search engines are looking for keywords in a few places: the webpage title/tab, keyword (alt-tags) on photos/images on the pages, copy on the website pages and SEO programming in the website.

Blog, blog, blog
Adding blogs to the website gives search engines fresh content. It allows you to feed search engines those business critical keywords and phrases.

Refresh content
Update the photos on website pages, review page content to freshen keywords, double check key words continue to be relevant. Bottom line, websites are living, breathing marketing and communications tools for your business. It’s not about setting it and forgetting it. It’s about continuous improvement to make a website work for your business.

Consider Pay Per Click
Depending on your industry, sometimes competing for keywords to get you placed can be tough. Adding pay per click into the promotional mix can help to elevate your page placement. We’ve worked with clients who tried to DIY their pay per click, which is not a go-it-alone task. We recommend partnering with a professional to ensure the set up is correct from the start.

Why pitching a reporter is like making a sale

May 20, 2022 By Rae Hostetler

Indianapolis PR Company Public relations has several areas of practice. While the P in PR does not stand for press (it stands for public or audiences an organization needs to reach) reporters are often one group a client needs to reach to earn stories in the paper or on television news.

At the start of my professional career, I worked as a reporter. That experience has stayed with me for decades as my public relations career progressed. I’ve been inside a newsroom and part of the daily news cycle. I’ve heard from public relations professionals who were trying to place and share their stories on air. We call it being “pitched.”

If you’ve worked with a public relations professional, you’ve probably heard the term “pitch a reporter.” Easily defined, a pitch is about selling what’s newsworthy to get a reporter to write a story or create a package for the evening news. And yes, in the prior sentence I used the word selling strategically because placing a story is much like making a sale. Here’s why the two concepts are similar:

1) Build a credible relationship. Sales people know: cold calling is tough. The person on the other end of the email, call or text doesn’t know who you are or what you can offer. Once you meet with a company rep and build a relationship, earning and maintaining credibility is everything. Working with a reporter is similar. They’re all on deadline, have a certain need to fill and are moving quickly to build out the newscast. The daily news cycle is like a supply chain that must come together to deliver a final product. The key to building a credible relationship is getting a reporter what’s needed as soon as possible and keeping the process as easy as possible for them. And be sure the story you’re selling is really a news story.

2) Offer a quality product. Pitching a story means having a credible newsworthy angle. News stories aren’t about you, your product or service. A business professional once told me they weren’t happy with a local publication because the reporters wouldn’t write a story about him. I suggested he consider these questions: is your idea timely and trending to current information; is the idea you’re selling localized; is it a human interest story; is it relevant to appeal to the public?

3) Follow up. When a sales person is trying to get through the door to meet and greet a company representative, they follow up. Reporters expect the follow up. Many say they get too many emails. They see an idea and it moves down into the email box or it’s saved for later. A reminder: be sure to make the follow up professional.

4) Get the specs. When a customer places an order, there’s a process and most likely it includes questions on the specs before the order ships. If a reporter contacts you about the story pitch or another story, you get to ask questions to know the angle of the story and how you fit. For example, I’ve worked with reporters doing stories on national research and looking for a local comment. Knowing that information in advance and getting the research allows the client to think through their response before the interview.

5) Be ready when the order comes in. Given the current state of public health, many reporters have limited contact with the public. In “normal times” a reporter and/or photographer could show up at your door step to get what they needed for a story. Now they need photos, video and talking points supplied to them for the story. If you’re pitching the story, talking points and back up data should be at your fingertips and supplied to the reporter to use. And be ready. Today we had a successful story pitch. The reporter contacted us around 10 a.m. for a noon interview to build out a story for 5 p.m.

6) It’s ok to hear no. In sales, I’ve always been told to “beg for the no.” It keeps the pipeline filled with true prospects. The same applies to working with reporters. If they don’t want to do the story, that’s ok. There are others who do. Focus efforts on those professionals. I’ve heard stories from reporters about people who won’t accept the no. Refer back to number one above. When you have the credible relationship, it’s so much easier to make the pitch and close the sale not just today but for the next story idea that you have well into the future.