Monthly Archives: April 2024

7 Spring Cleaning Tips for Your PR Strategy

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For many of us springtime is a call to begin spring cleaning. But it’s not just our homes that could use a good scrubbing and organizing — it’s also the perfect time for brands to give their public relations strategy a thorough refresh. Revamping your PR tactics can breathe new life into your brand’s image, boost your overall visibility in the market and provide a clean slate to begin again better.

To do so, consider these seven essential PR spring cleaning tips:

  1. Dust off your messaging: Clearing away dust bunnies from neglected corners in the home is as important as sweeping away outdated or inconsistent messaging from your PR materials. Review your press releases, boilerplates, website content and social media profiles to ensure they reflect your current brand identity and messaging. Consistency is key. Make sure your messaging is clear, cohesive and aligned with your brand values.
  2. Declutter your media lists: Like sorting through cluttered closets, take the time to clean up your media lists. Remove outdated contacts that no longer fit and categorize your list by relevant beats or interests. This ensures you’re targeting the right journalists and publications with your pitches, which increases the likelihood of securing valuable media coverage.
  3. Polish your relationships: It’s important to cultivate strong connections with journalists and influencers in your industry to keep the shine on your brand for others to see. Reach out to key media contacts to ask what they are looking for, offer valuable insights or simply update them on industry topics and trends your subject matter experts can speak to. Doing so keeps you and your organization on the radar of important journalists while also letting them know they have potential sources for topics of interest to them. Polishing these relationships means more opportunities down the line.
  4. Freshen your content: It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do to change the look and feel of any room in your home. Similarly, spring is the perfect time to consider how to give your PR content a makeover to breathe new life into its value and impact. Consider creating visually appealing infographics, engaging but brief videos or interactive webinars to capture the attention of your target audience. Diversifying your strategy can help you stand out in a crowded digital landscape.
  5. Organize your editorial calendar: A well-organized editorial calendar, like an organized pantry or closet, means you will not only be able to put your hands on what you need and plan for what you don’t yet have, it ensures you can remove items that lack priority in your PR efforts. Map out upcoming events for the next three to six months as well as product launches and any industry milestones to ensure timely and relevant opportunities for news coverage. Having a structured plan in place can help you stay focused and maximize your PR efforts throughout the year.
  6. Scrub your online presence: Spring cleaning is largely about removing dirt, grime and unnecessary clutter in the home. For organizations, this is an opportunity to clean up your brand’s online presence. Audit your social media profiles, review your website and any online directories that describe your organization to ensure they accurately reflect your current brand image. Respond promptly to online reviews and address any negative feedback with professionalism and transparency.
  7. Plant seeds for growth: Finally, like planting seeds in your garden, invest in long term growth opportunities for your brand’s PR strategy. Look for ways to position your organization as a thought leader in your industry through speaking engagements, guest blogging, meet-and-greets with reporters at conferences or participation in industry events and panel discussions. Planting these seeds of expertise can help you cultivate a strong reputation and attract new opportunities for media coverage and broader brand exposure.

Incorporating these spring cleaning-inspired tips into your PR strategy will help ensure your brand remains fresh, relevant and impactful in the eyes of your target audiences and the media. Just as a clean and organized your home brings a sense of renewal, a well-maintained and refreshed PR strategy can provide renewed energy and purpose to that strategy, creating further opportunities for success.

Communications that Matter: Raising Awareness around Distracted Driving During #DDAM

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April marks Distracted Driving Awareness Month, which has been a top priority for those working with fleets or auto insurance for the past few decades, and for good reason. In fact, in 2022 alone, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 3,308 deaths from distracted driving. While awareness is rising, continued communications and solid messaging will be key in continuing to curb distracted driving.

As a leading voice to both commercial and personal auto policyholders, insurers play a valuable role in promoting safe driving practices and keeping our roadways safe. Reducing the number of incidents, injuries and fatalities remains the primary mission of many insurers who are combating this issue. There is also a business case to be made for reducing the number of potential claims an insurer may face by encouraging safe driving habits. Many insurers have made an impact with creative campaigns that not only get attention but drive change.

Examining Successful Distracted Driving Awareness Efforts

A campaign should account for various factors including the type of audience and what materials will be most successful in reaching that audience. Below are a few successful campaigns to consider as a guide:

  • Tapping into Emotion: The Travelers Institute has targeted and addressed distracted driving since 2017 through their Every Second Matters® campaign.

What sets Travelers’ campaign apart is their tailored messaging. A successful campaign needs to reach many audiences. This campaign has detailed resources and data that showcase the types of distractions drivers may encounter, how these distractions can manifest into unsafe driving behaviors and what an accident could cost.

A good campaign is designed to connect with a range of audiences. A new generation is getting behind the wheel, and insurers need to reach them as well. Every Second Matters targets young drivers through an awareness campaign acknowledging the victims of distracted driving. This campaign looks at the unfinished stories of distracted driving victims. Emotionally appealing to the next generation may be a more successful tactic for reaching this audience than a data-based approach.

Annually, Nationwide conducts a survey observing driver behaviors and identifying concerning trends. The findings from this survey are then aggregated in a press release which Nationwide distributes over the newswire and promotes over social media. Data from their latest survey was just released and showcases how distracted driving continues to persist as a major threat.

These insurers have found success with their distracted driving messaging because they developed detailed and informative materials that reached and addressed a wide range of audiences. In addition to considering the audience, a powerful campaign will provide a wide range of resources and tools, such as data, examples and case studies and more.

The Elements of a Good Campaign

What are the key elements of a strong campaign to raise public awareness? Implementing the right tactical approach is essential. A press release distributed the right way is an effective method to get the word out that your business is running a campaign, so people know where to look for resources. Both digital and physical articles and brochures are ideal materials to start with. Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Company (PLM), for example, offers an entire section of their website dedicated to downloadable auto safety materials, including distracted driving.

Other tactics vary based on the campaign. In some cases, an advertising campaign may be a good tactic to reach the widest range of people. The Ad Council has seen success with this type of work on distracted driving in recent years, as their advertisements have showcased the dangers and cost of distracted driving. An op-ed piece can be a great tool for expressing concerns about a public safety issue more freely and with as much detail as needed. When dealing with a timelier issue, newsjacking and keeping an eye on breaking news stories can be an effective tactic as well. 

Business owners, insurers in this case, have the power to guide change on major public safety issues like distracted driving but need the right tools to do so. A well-planned campaign with the right tactics to address the general public is key. Taking the time to consider your audience and what types of messaging you include can be the key to a good public safety campaign.

Understanding the Medium: Tips for Navigating the Changes to Social Media

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No matter where you turn, social media issues are in the headlines.

Just recently, former President Trump’s Truth Social platform had its IPO, legislation to ban TikTok in the United States has stalled in the Senate, and the Supreme Court has expressed concerns related to free speech and state-level social media legislation. On the consumer side, according to TechCrunch, in 2022, TikTok’s monthly active users grew an average of 12% year-over-year per quarter, but this figure fell to 3% year-over-year per quarter in 2023.” Setting aside the politics and social concerns related to these headlines, the social media landscape is actively changing, and businesses will need to reassess how they utilize social media.

Understanding how the social media landscape is changing will require individual users and businesses alike to acknowledge the changes already been made. We are well past the days of Facebook’s monopoly on the social media market, and even traditional influencer relationships have changed with the growth of platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Now, businesses and users are seeing signs that these platforms are under attack, and some are asking if they will go the same route as Vine in 2017, when it was bought by Twitter (now X), and essentially shut down. Looking to the future, there are a few things that social media users of all levels should keep in mind.

Short-form content will remain dominant

While platforms are changing, the content has followed a similar trend — users want short, easy-to-digest content they can share and react to in a streamlined way. This means that even if TikTok is banned in the U.S., or bought by a different owner, other contenders will jump into the vacuum left in TikTok’s wake. Channels like Instagram and X continue to invest in video content, and that content will continue to be short as each brand’s content feeds continue to compete for attention.

Strategy is a must have

When choosing what platform to use, it’s important to consider how consumers interact with it, and how those audiences will then share and consume future content. Is a user looking to reach local business owners or C-level executives? For the former, community platforms like Facebook may still have a place in strategy, while the latter is more likely to capture engagement on LinkedIn. Understanding audiences and their media consumption habits will help users create a sustainable, long-term plan for engagement that makes a difference, despite ongoing changes or regulatory considerations. Reference the Twitter/X evolution as an example of how not thinking through these strategies can impact your long-term social media plans.

Names fade, but content remains king

Like many businesses, the names and identities of those at the top of the industry can change quickly. Facebook knocked Myspace off its throne at the onset of modern social media, and X has taken leaps away from the identity and goals it had as Twitter. While the names on the door may change, the user’s need to engage with relevant content remains constant. Now, as new platforms rise and identities change again, users are looking for the next big thing. While we don’t know what social media’s next big players might be, we can be sure there will be an emphasis on content that can be easily consumed, shared and analyzed.

As the role of social media in shaping politics and opinions has rapidly grown, businesses and individual users should pay attention to how the platforms are changing and being regulated. While it is impossible to predict every change that may come to a platform, social media users can be prepared by having a strategy and recognizing the kinds of quality content that remain popular on a given platform. By developing and sharing good content, users will remain at the top of social media home pages, regardless any changes to the platforms.