Public Relations

Do your monthly reviews include public relations dashboards?

Rae Hostetler · Sep 17, 2018 ·

Public relations and communications plans take focus and consistency. Many business leaders work in companies with in-house marketing/communications professionals or own companies with outsourced marketing communications teams in place. Each month, these leaders review spreadsheets, P&Ls, balance sheets and other reports to be sure the business is financially healthy. Do those reports include marketing/communications dashboards? After all, isn’t it the marketing/communications that’s driving branding, new business, consumer purchases–your cash flow?

Some say public relations is intangible. With the advent of Google Analytics, email newsletters and social media, I disagree. And even before these tools were available, communications could be measured via qualitative and quantitative surveys, if not bumps in sales. A well planned and consistent strategy includes goals. And those goals should align to regular monthly marketing/communications dashboards. Before starting a dashboard consider these questions:

1) Do we have a public relations or marketing/communications plan?
Without a plan, it’s hard to determine what you’re measuring. A strategic plan has goals with tactics that align to what your team is trying to achieve. That drives your measurements. Maybe you want to lower your cost per click in your pay per click campaign while driving more consumer calls/emails. Tracking starting with a baseline and then reviewing monthly reports allows you to see if the campaign works.

2) How many people participate in your plan/tactics and who’s the lead?
We have clients with robust advertising, social media, and Internet presence. Our team acts as the conduit to not only plan the public relations and communications, we oversee the overall message, strategy and goals. Each month, we pull together a dashboard to tell the client how each tactic is performing. That means we’re reporting items such as: are campaign landing pages tracking new consumers, are those consumers using coupons, do consumers from pay per click campaigns produce calls/clicks. We’re also watching Google analytics. If we ask customers to write blogs or create content, we know that’s their time. We want to be sure it’s well invested. Is anyone reading the content? When emails are sent on behalf of a sales team, are they opened and read?

3) What happens if a tactic is not working?
Public relations and marketing/communications professionals know if a tactic isn’t producing then it shouldn’t be repeated. Sending out news releases and no one is picking them up? Spending time loading social media posts and no one is engaging? Ask why and analyze whether or not to continue.

4) What happens if something is working?
Pat yourself on the back. Then consider doing more of it and investing more time/budget.

Finally remember tracking public relations and marketing/communications work to creating dashboards isn’t a tool to bring someone to task for poor performance. It’s a tool to see results and re calibrate as needed to ensure dollars are invested well for ROI now and in the future. That’s why you measure twice and continue cutting and adding to find the perfect plan for your business.

Reflections on teamwork from a public relations professional

Rae Hostetler · Aug 27, 2018 ·

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about teamwork. What’s it really mean? How does a team of people come together to become highly functioning? Two experiences this week sparked me to write this blog as I continue thinking about it and how it pertains to my daily work with great clients throughout central Indiana.

1) Strengths complement strengths: My son just started his freshman year of college. He’s at a very small engineering school in Indiana that focuses on academics, yes, but also leadership skills. Last night he was telling me about orientation week. During one activity, dorm floor teams had a race. Sounds fun, right? He didn’t tell me about the part where he and others raced and cheered. Instead he told me about how he and his roommate stood at a wall that his teammates were supposed to go over. He and the roomie helped each person to success over the wall. Wise choice from two just-starting-out college freshman. Why them? First they’re football players–strong guys. Second, they know the value of team work after years on the football field. While I thought wow, I’m so proud, it’s occurred to me what they did is second nature–help your teammate by using your strength, literally. How have you helped a teammate today, or better yet, let a teammate help you? Sometimes the latter is harder since we have to step back and recognize someone else is better at something.

2) Please and thank you: Last week I sat through a client meeting that focused on culture and mood. Basically it was about how we treat each other in the workplace. Are you happy to see people? How do you greet each other? Are you curious and appreciative? Or do you get defensive when someone questions you and your work? Saying please, thank you and how are you today are the easiest tasks of anyone’s day, yet it often doesn’t happen enough. Have you thanked someone today? It could make their day.

During the course of the business day, we can often forget that helping a teammate, trusting a teammate can actually help us saying thanks with a smile is the first step to develop a highly functioning team. Our team says we act as an extension of our client’s internal staff. We’re part of your team. And we mean it. We bring strength to your team to complement your organization. And when we’re invited in, we appreciate the relationship as we learn, grow and deliver together–as a highly functioning team.

Public relations measurement

Rae Hostetler · Aug 8, 2018 ·

Let’s face it, public relations measurement isn’t fun or exciting. Creating dashboards, reviewing data and figuring out the why behind the metrics is great if you’re an analyzer who likes to dig into the data. Yet it’s probably one of the most important areas where we as business leaders and owners need to focus.

In public relations, I’ve heard it said that programs and projects cannot be measured. Not true. A well organized and thought out plan includes a lead up to the expected metrics. And honestly, I can be a bit of a data geek when I dive into Google Analytics or review details on an email newsletter campaign.

Often, we meet with prospects who want to get straight to the tactic. Their expectations are high. They want their news release to hit the mark and generate article after article. Others want a social media program, yet when we ask what’s the message and goal, they aren’t sure. This is why it’s important to have a plan with realistic measurement tools embedded.

Think of it like this. If you build a house, you don’t jump in picking flooring, countertops, paint, backsplashes and all of the other selections that make the home look nice and impress the guest. You think big picture: where’s the lot, what’s the home’s floor plan, what’s the timeline, how much will it cost and more?

So ask: what’s the lead up to your public relations plan and what’s your expectation. What are you measuring? If you’re not sure if it’s realistic, consult a public relations professional.

While thinking through measurements for this blog, I did what most professionals do—searched Google. Most of what I read was a refresher, but overall it made me think this: PR professionals have been trying to unravel the measurement mystery for decades. Most of our clients want to keep it simple, and those clients range from top global companies to local non-profits.

In 2010, the Barcelona Principles were adopted by PR professionals during a conference in none other than Barcelona. This is a set of seven principles that provide the first overarching framework for effective public relations (PR) and communication measurement.

Goal setting and measurement are fundamental to communications and PR: Your public relations project or program should have goals that are measurable. Think about how you’ll measure.

Measuring communication outcomes is recommended vs. only measuring outputs: You are printing 1,000 postcards and mailing them. How many leads do you want? How many clients?

The effect on organizational performance can and should be measured where possible: Maybe your company has a fantastic community relations program. How does that impact your employee retention, for example?

Measurement and evaluation require both qualitative and quantitative methods: Surveys are great, but face to face interviews or focus groups allow people to speak and share ideas. You can really get to the why with qualitative research.

Advertising Value Equivalents are not the value of the communication: Yes. Nothing more to add here.

Social media can and should be measured: While this seems like a no brainer, consider these principles were created in 2010. Facebook and Twitter were four to six years old, respectively.

Measurement and evaluation should be transparent, consistent and valid: Consider the ethics and integrity of the data and evaluation. Also consider how it will be shared.

Measurement takes planning, organization, time and commitment. It’s done in partnership with clients. And when it’s done well you don’t just feel the impact, you see it in data, dashboards and reports. And for us, that’s the fun part–impacting a client business by meeting their goals and objectives.

Reporters value public relations professionals

Rae Hostetler · May 17, 2018 ·

Just like bell bottom jeans, public relations and communications trends tend to come and go. One thread remains consistent quality communications planning and execution.

I’ve been working in the communications field for about 30 years. When I worked as a journalist reporting the news, I relied on the AP wire, good information from sources, well-written and informative news releases and background information to bring the news to our listeners and viewers.

Over the decades working in public relations, I’ve seen the advent of the Intranet, blogs, websites, social media, texting, emails and more for communications tools. A recent study impresses on me that regardless of the communications tool, it’s the message and quality information that continues to be appreciated by journalists.

According to a 2018 Cision study: 78 percent of American journalists surveyed say that ensuring content is 100 percent accurate is the most important element to their stories in 2018.

Some say there’s a benefit to the fake news phenomenon.

21 percent saying that’s increasing the importance of journalistic standards.
9 percent said that it’s improving the popularity of trusted and established media brands.

When everything else in the media industry is being disrupted, journalists continue to trust press releases for high quality, authentic and relative information. And reports say relationships with public relations professionals are more valuable now than ever before with:

63 percent saying news announcements and press releases are what they want from PR contacts.
44 percent saying press releases are the most trustworthy source of brand-related information.

To read the full study, click here.

What is an independent PR Practitioner . . . really?

Rae Hostetler · May 9, 2018 ·

Some 15 years ago when I decided to venture into the world of independent work (it was called freelance then) people thought I was crazy. At that time, only a few of us in Indianapolis were working independently. There were large downtown PR agencies filled with my business associates/friends I’d made over the years. Then there were PR professionals in Indianapolis working for businesses, government, sporting teams and non-profits.

Today, the independents seem to outnumber the agencies. We’ve found each other. We partner and work on projects together. We use our creativity to tap each other’s skills and get great results. If that’s not enough benefit to the client consider this:

Customization: Every client is different. That means their marketing communications needs are unique. Finding the right professionals to execute what a client needs is often easier for a well-networked independent. We can find the resources and make things happen effectively, efficiently and within budget.

Expertise: Most independents have expertise in a wide range of public relations and marketing/communications. If we don’t do it, we know someone who knows how to do it well.

Budget: Most of us have low to no overhead. I often joke my office is my duffle bag that carries my MAC and my padfolio. Like most independents, a day in the office is a rare day. We’re out meeting with clients, prospects, networking and generally getting things done. We know no work means no pay—and that’s motivational for us while beneficial to clients since we deliver.

So here’s to my independent public relations professionals in Indianapolis and throughout Indiana. Let’s keep up the good work and our successes on behalf of our clients.