Public Relations

Who are you marketing to–yourself or your prospects?

May 24, 2011 By Rae Hostetler

A client wants a new brand/image/facelift. They hire professionals (either employees or consultants) to give them an honest opinion and guide them so they look great with a solid message—the foundation of their marketing program. Once they see and read the brand graphics and message, respectively, they want to go back to where they were. They resist the advice they’re paying to hear. The reason: they say people recognize their colors, fonts, logos and more. But do they?

Change is hard, but the fact is company owners that want to build a brand might be missing their target market. They might be marketing to themselves, not their target audience. Here are tips to avoid influencing yourself … and instead influencing your audience to buy:

1. Get other’s opinions.

Sometimes you get so close to the brand, you forget what’s important and have a hard time deciding on logos, graphics and language. Stop and ask people you trust for their opinion. Most of the time, there’s consensus. That certainly makes the decision a lot easier and helps to discover if the current brand/logo still resonates with your buyers.

2. Watch your language.

We all have our own industry language. Do the people you’re trying to influence to buy from you understand what you’re saying or are you talking a different language? Are you talking to yourself? You’d be surprised.

3. Trust that the people around you want you to win, too.

Wringing your hands and thinking it over for weeks on end as professional colleagues and consultants work to move marketing forward and create ROI simply delays the process to increase sales—the net effect of marketing. TRUST. Everyone is on the same team. They all want to win. They all want to see ROI.

4. Clean out the clutter.

Resist the urge to tell every detail of your story to make the sale. It can become overwhelming for the reader/listener. Clean out the clutter. Get to the emotion and tell your story—simply. Hit the high points for the prospective buyer and tell more details as you go.

5. Listen to the professionals.

Marketing communications employees and consultants are being paid to give sound advice. Listen to their opinions and recommendations.

Public Relations isn’t just about talking to reporters…

April 24, 2011 By Rae Hostetler

I posted this blog several months ago. This week I heard several people working outside the field of public relations refer to the profession as a job that simply scores press for clients. If it were only so simple! I thought I’d pull this blog out… dust it off and hopefully change a few perceptions.

I’ve worked in the public relations business for more than 15 years providing local, regional and national services. Before that I was a journalist working in radio/television news. When I made the leap to pr, I came to learn that too many business professionals think the profession is only about working with reporters. They think the “P” stand for press. Truth is that’s just a small part of what we do.

The “P” in pr is for public, or audiences you need to talk to about your business, non-profit or brand. Like others in my business, we work enhance the reputation and image of a company’s brand through word and deed. How? We create a strategic plan that outlines business goals and then addresses audiences. This list is often long and should be inclusive. Reporters are just one audience on that list.

So who else is included in a public relations plan? Here’s one list recently created for client:

Employees
Sub contractors as preferred partners
Vendors
Clients
Past clients
Prospect clients
Reporters

A great public relations strategy creates a company story and communication tools that start from inside any company. That means employees should always be the first to know. They are, after all, first on this list. How many times do you hear people talking about how they read about what’s happening at their company from the Internet or newspaper—the press?

Does that create good-will among employees? Heck no!

The press should be the last to know… your publics come first… your employees, customers and anyone closest to your brand, business and revenue should always be first on your line of communication.

Airplane Communications; Reach me on the beach

April 4, 2011 By Rae Hostetler

Just back from a week on the beach. Sun, sand and old fashion advertising via airplanes.

There’s so much hype these days about social media and the Internet. I thought it was great to see bi-planes with slogans and ads trailing behind for restaurants and attractions throughout the day. It was a great reminder as I sat in my beach chair, toes in the sand, soaking up some much needed sun—don’t forget traditional marketing methods!

There are great companies specializing in website design and management, social media gurus (An associate here in Indianapolis chuckles at that phrase since social media is so new: “Who can be a guru?” he asks.), and web-specific experts. Here’s the question, are these company consultants thinking about traditional communications in tandem with these tactics?

If they are not, find someone who is. Here’s why!

We’re currently working with a client on a rebranding that includes a major website overhaul. During a planning meeting, prior to aforementioned beach vacation, we were discussing their website, photography, messaging and more. I intentionally asked the question: How do you plan to communicate these changes to your internal staff. The client hadn’t even considered the idea. As an owner the first concern was asking for ideas/approval. No… not approval, but these employees should know there’s a new brand, website and marketing initiative. They should get to ask questions and buy-in. After all they represent the company. How will we do it. The old fashioned way… These employees will be pulled into the company rebranding using traditional communications—a meeting with donuts.

Further the plan we’re developing doesn’t just use web communications. It also uses traditional public relations: media relations, client communications and more.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the web and social media. But when it comes to promoting business—traditional tools should NOT be excluded from your strategy. Keeping employees, clients, partners, prospects involved and updated means communicating through a variety of means and methods.

That bi-plane flying by was a great reminder. I don’t carry my phone or my laptop to the beach. How would I have found some of those great restaurants and attractions without that airplane advertising!? I’m sure the businesses advertising would appreciate hearing it worked, too!

The more things change… the more they stay the same

February 10, 2011 By Rae Hostetler

Social media is changing the way we communicate. That’s a fact.

News releases are dead. That’s an opinion.

After reading pr and press pundits thoughts on this statement over the last year, I decided it was time to ask my reporter friends here in Indianapolis. I really want to know so I can give advice to clients that’s sound and based on what people working in newsrooms want. So in December I created a poll that I sent out to them. Among the questions , “When you read this statement, what do you think: News Releases Are Dead.” The answer option was opened ended. Here’s what they said.

I disagree with it.
It doesn’t mean anything to me.
Uh, no, they’re not.
News releases aren’t dead; they can be great tips.
Paper news releases are in essence dead. Nowadays reporters rely on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and other sites to get news tips on stories.

While the delivery mechanisms and communication systems have changed from mail to email over the last 15 years and more reporters want tips via social media, here’s the reality of the news release straight from the reporter: 100% of my 13 reporter friends still use news releases for story leads, tips, general news of the day. These professionals are still looking for the same things I looked for when I did my stint in a newsroom way back in the 1990s…. is it local, is there a trend, how does it impact my audience.

Bottom line, make the release relevant and follow up with more information that you know the reporters want… you’ll score ink whether it’s in newsprint or online!

Input on this topic is welcome.

Words make your brand

January 11, 2011 By Rae Hostetler

I confess! I’m a geek. I read promotional materials, FAQs, website copy and more. I like to see how people write and couple words together for maximum effect and impact for their brand. Do they really say who they are or do they use buzz words? Alliteration is one of my favorite devices to use in writing… for those scratching their heads that’s when you put words together that start or end with the same letters. It makes an elegant effect.

Anyway… because I like reading various words and copy, I tend to notice words and phrases that are overused. One of my favorite pet peeves is the word… solution. Everyone has one… and apparently every company thinks we have a problem they can solve with theirs. For every person I tell about this phenomenon, they come back to me within days and say, “Wow. You were right. Everyone’s got a solution.”

I also don’t like words and phrases that are under delivered, which could go one of two ways.

1) You’re talking to yourself. Too many business owners write their own copy for letters, brochures and other promotional stuff. They end of writing in their own jargon… often customers and prospects don’t understand what they’re reading and why they should care.

Look around my website. It’s designed to make fun of the words the public relations profession uses. We talk about “pitching” the media. That means selling them a story idea. Not throwing a ball for them to hit. And yes, I do find myself using that word in client meetings. YIKES.

2) Your words represent the real company. There are many business owners who work hard to write their own promotional materials, but realize they don’t know what to say. So they make it up. Problem is when customers are asked if their statements are really true… they find out the truth– maybe not. The word use PR people use there… authentic. Is your brand authentic to your customer? On the flip side some business leaders are humble and don’t want to talk about their expertise and/or successes. It’s ok to talk about yourself.

So what’s the “solution” to these problems? If you’re a non-PR person reading this blog… it’s called messaging. Us PR people are great at helping companies through research methods to determine what’s real and what’s not. It’s so important to weave a real story and run it through every piece of communication the same way. It’s just like using your logo and company colors the same way and place on every piece of marketing material printed. It’s the words that help communicate your image as much as the graphic image. And that’s why I love words!