Sara Hailan Full Fat

PR Interview with Sara Hailan, head of digital at Full Fat

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‘I love the creativity of digital – it’s constantly evolving,’ says Full Fat’s Sara Hailan. Recently promoted to head of digital, Sara oversees the division dedicated to online, which has grown from a team of one to a full department.

With the evolution of the PR industry speeding up as the needs of the world change, we catch up with Sara to talk about the benefits of digital, the importance of inclusive campaigns and how to go beyond ‘tick box’ exercises to keep pushing PR forward.

What are you most looking forward to getting stuck into in your new role?
Lots of exciting briefs and new biz! With the digital landscape forever changing, it’s important we always have our finger on the pulse. Reviewing our services will also be a key focus this year as we expand our offering.

Having originally started at Full Fat over two years ago, what do you love most about working with the team there?
It’s by far the most progressive place I’ve worked. Everyone has a lot of autonomy and gets a say in what they want to work on. It’s also really sociable, with an expansive employee programme and lots of wellness and culture experiences. Plus, I sit on the DEI committee which I’m super passionate about, as is the rest of the agency. We’re big on feedback, personal growth and continuously improving in order to make Full Fat the best agency to work at.

How did you originally get into comms, and what keeps you in the industry?
I kickstarted my career post-university as a lifestyle journalist freelancing at titles like Time Out and VICE. I’d always loved writing, so I knew I wanted to work in the comms sector.

I initially fell into PR as my sister worked in it and thought I might quite like it, too. After a few years of working my way up to a senior manager position on big brands at leading agencies, I realised digital was where my heart was at. I love the creativity, the fact it’s constantly evolving, and steering conversation and human behaviour online, which is where we, as consumers, spend most of our time these days. I moved over into digital and haven’t looked back since!

You will also be working on the agency’s DEI Committee – do you think the comms and creative industries are doing enough on DEI?
Definitely not. Unfortunately, many companies merely see DEI as a tick box exercise in a bid to seem ‘woke’. I’m really proud of our commitments which we take seriously and underpin everything we do – from campaigns and clients, to suppliers, recruitment and social activities. The problem is creative industries continue to be dominated by straight white men, which obviously isn’t representative. I would love to see the industry support students and grads from diverse backgrounds to ensure everyone is given an equal opportunity regardless of their background.

Full Fat works with trans-inclusivity charity Not A Phase – how do you ensure that Full Fat’s creative work, across all the brands it works with, is inclusive and representative of marginalised communities?
Not A Phase is just one of the brilliant charities we’ve worked with so far as part of our pro-bono initiative. We have also worked with Compliments of the House (food surplus), I Like Networking (creative mentorship) and The Vavengers (female genital mutilation/cutting).

We ensure that everything we do – whether it’s the media titles we’re pitching to, or influencers we’re working with – are representative of our DEI values and that marginalised communities are always considered and included. We also organise regular training sessions with external experts to ensure we’re always educating ourselves on topics relating to DEI e.g. The Other Box, Deafblind UK.

What are the big trends you see coming up in your sectors over the next few years?
Increased consumer demand for authenticity, especially in influencer marketing. Purpose-led content and brand activations online – people want to know that the brands they love stand for something and align with their values. The creation of more 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection to compete with the metaverse. Augmented reality becoming more commonplace.

How do you form and develop connections with C-suites? Any advice for professionals/teams finding that difficult?
Keep an eye on what they’re up to and show how you can add value to their company. Network, connect with people on LinkedIn and always be personable in your approach. Create a wishlist of brands you’d love to work with then approach and build relationships with their CEOs. Sometimes it takes a few goes, but you’ll hear back eventually!

How much has the measurement and metrics Full Fat uses to gauge success changed since the start of the pandemic?
While we still measure metrics in a similar fashion dependant on brand objectives (e.g. reach, engagement, sentiment, ROI, sales), what’s really important is keeping on top of consumer conversation online, which is where social listening comes into play.

The landscape is changing so much and we’re facing price hikes across the board, so it’s important whatever we’re marketing, especially when it comes to sales driving, is sensitive and relatable in order to be successful.

What are the benefits of a purely digitally-focused team?
Digital is a beast that is forever changing. A purely digitally-focused team is necessary to keep on top of every aspect, whether that’s new social media guidelines, paid advertising testing or the latest content trends. Frequent re-strategising is essential to ensure we’re delivering what our target audiences want to see and keeping up with the times.

What would be your dream campaign to work on?
Twitter’s recent campaign where they took over billboards and infiltrated social feeds, posting celebrities’ historic tweets where they manifested their dreams and it came true. So very inspirational for all ages!

For more from Full Fat PR, check out our previous post on getting through Blue Monday and other tough times at the office for details of the agency’s charity work and other ways to keep motivation high.

For tailored, qualitative metrics on the success of your agency or brand’s campaigns, try Vuelio Insights and our Media Monitoring services.

If digital PR is also a focus for you in your work, book a demo with our sister brand Pulsar to find out more about its social listening solutions.

Earth Day 2022 COP26 comms

Earth Day 2022 – did COP26 comms make a change?

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This year’s Earth Day has a lot to live up to. Coming after the highly-anticipated and high-pressure COP26, today brings opportunity for those who made big promises in October 2021 to hold themselves to account. Did the global event make real change to how organisations operate and communicate their purpose to the public?

One impact COP26 made in the minds of those paying attention to its message of climate change was the installation of a growing impatience; a need for accountability from those with the power and influence to drive action.

‘COP26 and many other political events within the last six months have highlighted the public’s growing lack of tolerance for hypocrisy,’ says Propel Technology’s lead communications consultant Claire Dumbreck.

‘For many, COP26 will be remembered for the rich elite jamming up Prestwick Airport with their private jets and then preaching to the masses about how they should give things up for the greater good.’

Perception of the global event – the success of which was predicted by Sir Vince Cable beforehand to be 60:40: ‘my heart is with the 60%; my head with the 40%’ – wasn’t 100% positive. While its failures ultimately fall on political promises that were short of expectations, the PR and comms sector had a part, too:

‘Some businesses and comms teams could have been more considered in their approaches – there were a lot of campaigns with fairly (very) loose connections to COP26!’ believes One Nine Nine managing director Barnaby Patchett.

‘The issue here was that the press was flooded with transparent attempts to ‘cash in’ on COP26 – with no real connection to the goals and aims of the conference. The best campaigns were underpinned with a clear, authentic link to COP26, from organisations making tangible, significant progress on sustainability.’

Consumers and stakeholders increasingly expect integrity from organisations, not greenwashing, and PR and comms teams are being tasked with the practicalities of that responsibility.

‘As an industry, comms was both part of the post-COP26 climate change discussion and has since had to respond to it,’ says senior PR consultant Katy Barney, who heads up Ambitious PR’s ESG & Sustainability PR services.

‘Agency-side, this has meant more clients coming to us and asking for advice on how to communicate around sustainability, meaning an imperative to upskill rapidly and get to grips with the issues.’

Accessibility of language around climate change is a must-have skill for PRs in the wake of COP26, but as an industry we’re not quite there yet, according to research conducted by the Hanover Group Strategy & Insights unit, which targeted the general public in the UK and Ireland, and business leaders across Europe:

‘Only 1 in 4 people (25%) were comfortable defining “net zero” and much less so with terms like “carbon trading” and “climate refugees”,’ says Hanover Group’s strategy & insights director Teodora Coste.

‘23% were uncomfortable defining any of the terms most often used at COP26.’

The obfuscating and grand-standing that reverberated around October’s summit isn’t necessary, or useful, for building climate considerations into campaign work. For Earth Day 2022, here are more practical steps:

‘Wind the sanctimoniousness right down!’ says Claire Dumbreck. ‘Address any perception of “us and them” before more scepticism takes hold. Demonstrate genuine short-term human benefits of acting with the environment in mind (beyond the luxury of just feeling good about it).’

‘Start at home and focus on reducing your own carbon emissions and environmental impacts,’ says Lexington’s director and head of responsible business Andrew Wilson. ‘Do you really need to fly to that client meeting? Second, be critical friends to clients, provide constructive challenge on their own operations. Do agencies have the in-house expertise to advise on Net Zero strategies and approaches to reduce environmental impacts? Third, work with brands to produce communications that help to change consumer attitudes and bring about a shift in behaviour.’

Ultimately, use your skill as a PR; if you’re part of the comms industry, you already have the tools to get the message out there:

‘Zero and environmental change are so much more than a single-issue topic – there are lots of opportunities for PR teams to get creative,’ says Katy Barney.

‘There will always be another story or angle if you’re committed to making change.’

For more on climate change and how the communications sector can help make a difference, check out this post on what PR and comms teams should know about sustainability, a reflection on the success of COP26 from the Vuelio political team, and this guest post from Sir Vince Cable featuring his predictions ahead of the summit. 

 

Communicating the new immediacy of finance

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Since the pantelegraph in the 1860s, technology has radically transformed how people access and engage with the financial services industry.

Products are available today that make complex financial transactions such as investments, mortgages, and pensions more immediate and accessible than ever before.

The new immediacy has been enabled by technology in financial services

Natalie Orringe has written this white paper for Vuelio, Communicating the new immediacy of finance, including interviews with different experts, to talk about the challenges communication professionals face and how to adapt and ensure that financial services brands can realise the potential of technology to build stronger relationships with investors and consumers alike.

Check it out by filling in the form below.

Channel 4

Media Response and Controversy Behind Channel 4’s Privatisation

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The Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries announced that the Government is privatising Channel 4 in response to increasing pressures from streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon. Dorries believes a change of ownership will grant Channel 4 the ‘freedom to flourish’ and allow it to ‘thrive as a public service broadcaster long into the future’ (via Twitter, 04.04.22).

In the week that followed the announcement on 4 April, we tracked broad, large-scale media coverage as well as a sample of articles from 280 journalists across 356 UK-based publications. 104 international publications also reported on the growing spectrum of controversy arising from this decision.

Mutual Consensus Across UK and international Media

UK and international media reaction

Opinions towards the sale were relatively mutual between the UK and international coverage, with an almost even split between negative and neutral sentiment. As Conservative MPs expressed their shared concerns, The Telegraph commented on the rarity of such widely-shared agreement across the media and political parties, describing it as ‘very odd’ (The Telegraph, 07.04.22). With multiple layers of controversy embedded in the decision, very few have attempted to outline a positive response.

Trending areas of controversy

Trending categories

Among the 4,186 headlines that emerged in the UK in the five days that followed, three focus areas gained significant attention in the media: representation, revenge and job loss.

In a sample taken from the top international, national and business news sources, over half referenced the concerns of ‘cultural vandalism’ that may occur from likely foreign ownership. Dorothy Byrne, former head of news and current affairs at Channel 4, has had a particularly strong voice in this area; 75 journalists across the UK quoted her extensive opinions on the matter.

Byrne exemplified her concerns in stating: ‘We would no longer, for example, hear “gay people in Glasgow” on the channel. Mass [global] audiences don’t want to hear the perspective of the nations and regions of Britain particularly’ (iNews, 05.04.22).

Similarly, Kirstie Allsopp has also held the spotlight for her opinions as an established Channel 4 presenter. Several UK news articles embedded her viral tweet, which concluded that ‘Profit will be king and the passion & inclusion of Channel 4 will be lost’ (BBC News, 06.04.22).

Many journalists have also opted to outline the chronological timeline of Channel 4, referencing Margaret Thatcher’s goals to serve the ‘underrepresented voices’ (The Guardian, 06.04.22). The topic is by far the most popular for reach among the public, with one trending article titled ‘Hands off Channel 4 – it helped me embrace my sexuality’ (The Independent, 06.04.22).

An act of revenge for Brexit bias?

With a strong adoption by US media, 27.5% of the sample focused on speculations that the sale is an act of ‘revenge’ due to Channel 4’s loaded commentary and ‘bias’ in coverage against both Brexit and Boris Johnson (Sky News, 05.04.22). Back in 2019, Channel 4 made the news for replacing Johnson with a melting block of ice during a debate he was unable to attend (referencing his lack of response to the climate emergency). This led to a “threat” from the Conservatives, who said they would review Channel 4’s broadcasting remit if they won the election (The Guardian, 28.11.19).

With this decision now confirmed, 770 publications quoted Conservative MP Julian Knight (also chair of the influential Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee), who initiated the concerns that this could be an act of strategic retaliation. He said the Government’s decision to push ahead represents ‘a big risk” with uncertain benefits (Sky News, 05.04.22).

Impact of privatisation on Scottish production companies

Scottish production companies have also been highlighted as an area of emphasised loss by UK media, particularly in the job sector. Since 2007, Channel 4 has played an ‘important role’ in the ‘growing success of the screen sector in Scotland’, including £200 million for Scottish-based productions and support for 400 jobs (The National, 04.04.22).

Following Armando Iannucci’s opinion piece in The Guardian on April 6th, 557 media outlets across the country reported on his views. He is a prominent Scottish writer and producer with an established relationship to Channel 4. Iannucci tweeted ‘Why do they want to make the UK’s great TV industry worse? Why? It makes no business, economic or even patriotic sense’ (Sky News, 05.04.22).

The ‘Red Meat’ Agenda

In an interview with Times Radio, the aforementioned Dorothy Byrne also accused Boris Johnson of ‘throwing red meat to right-wing voters’ (The Independent, 05.04.22). Since the discussion, this has been a trending phrase in 127 media outlets across the UK and United States.

Huffington Post further added that this will please the PM’s ‘Brexiteer base’, who have expressed a growing displeasure for the ‘pro-Remain, left-of-centre’ news coverage by Channel 4 (Huffington Post, 05.04.22).

Over 300 news sources shared excerpts from Health Secretary Sajid Javid’s interview with LBC Radio, who expressed his joy for the sale. Javid was often quoted saying the sale will ‘set it free’ to ‘compete in what is a fast-changing landscape’ (The Independent, 06.04.22). Additionally, Dan Wootton, the GB News presenter known for his opposition to left-wing views, took to social media to share his optimism for the sale:

Dan Wootton tweet

Valuation and loss

Two days after the announcement, BBC News shared the estimation that Channel 4 is worth between £600m and £1.5bn—which has since been quoted 60 times across several UK sources (BBC News, 05.04.22).

Aside from the impact on Scottish employment, The Guardian reported that analysts believe the company would face 40% to 50% cuts to its £660 million programming budget – which, in turn, could lead to cuts to content (Metro.co.uk, 04.04.22).

Key facts of the study
• Over 4,186 articles were analysed from 3 – 8 April, with a focus on UK media and occasional focus on the international response.
• The analysis was a blend of Vuelio Media Monitoring and Analysis, enriched by the Vuelio Insights team.
• When discussing controversies embedded in the privatisation of Channel 4, a sample of coverage was studied in depth in order to provide reliable and trust-worthy insights from the top international, national and business news sources.

Want to understand more about this story and data, or find out how the Vuelio Insights team can support you? Get in touch.

Is the food and drink sector ready for HFSS restrictions

Is the food and drink sector ready for upcoming HFSS regulations?

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If asked to hum your favourite advertising jingles, how many of them would be for food and drink products that would likely fall foul of the Government’s upcoming restrictions on HFSS ads?

For those in comms in the food and drink sector, the rules on HFSS (foods High in Fat, Sugar and Salt) coming into place in October will change work drastically. The advertising landscape in the UK will be completely different. Those old mainstays of traditional TV advertising that are yoghurt, chocolate and spreadable cheese adverts featuring happy celebrities will be gone, and with them, the UK obesity crisis. At least, that’s the thinking laid out in the Government’s ‘Introducing a total online advertising restriction for products high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS)’ consultation findings.

‘While the evidence is not conclusive, it’s possible that restricting HFSS advertising exposure could […] influence adult purchases and consumption […] Further restrictions on HFSS advertising could therefore help reduce overconsumption and generate significant additional health benefits,’ say the Government’s conclusions.

Whether or not this will work to help people (and the companies they buy from) make ‘healthier’ choices, or draw criticism equal to that received by recent mandates on calorie inclusion in menus across England, change is coming. What this means in practice – a 9pm watershed on television for HFSS adverts and a complete ban on digital HFSS advertising from 22 October 2022.

Considering the impact these restrictions will have – potentially ‘the most significant in-store changes seen in decades,’ according to Barclays analyst James Anstead – are food and drink comms practioners ready?

There’s a lot of opportunity here. That 9pm watershed and the restrictions on HFSS paid-for ads online doesn’t explicitly include earned media. That means for HFSS brands and clients, the comms function potentially becomes much more valuable. But with that opportunity comes responsibility to share the right message, with the right people.

‘Being part of the discussion is key to getting your voice heard,’ says Vhari Russell, managing director at The Food Marketing Experts.

‘We’ve been working hard to drive collaborations to increase the following for the brands we work with and increase the data they have to enable them to sell directly to consumers. It is about ensuring all the bases are covered in terms of driving traffic to store, both online and bricks and mortar, and then creating standout to establish a brand of choice positioning.

‘Grow your tribe, so that you have a key and engaged customer base that will champion products outside of advertising. Working with influencers is critical to a brand’s success, however, you need to ensure you comply with best practice.’

One organisation that moved ahead of the regulations was TfL, whose policy on junk food advertising has been estimated to have decreased weekly junk food purchases by 1,000 calories. But which other companies are already approaching the regulations in the right way?

‘Dr Wills – we loved their campaign to help drive sales in Tesco to keep their listings,’ says Vhari. ‘Pip & Nut, too – many of the team now subscribe to get their nut butter deliveries since the pandemic.

‘TfL has already reported a significant change, and I think it is a great opportunity for brands to get creative and return to grassroots tactics. The guidelines have been put in place to help the nation eat better and make healthier choices. For brands that are high in salt and sugar, it is key to communicate in an honest and engaging way. Very few brands state you should eat their product all day every day, so it’s about consciously conveying the occasions to consume.’

With the cost of living crisis in the UK impacting purchasing decisions, and food High in Fat, Sugar and Salt often a cheaper and more convenient choice, HFSS products will continue to have a place on shelves.

PR teams working in the food and drink sector have an opportunity to make a difference with their campaigns, just as brands do with their approach – comms can help consumers mix HFSS foods into as balanced a lifestyle as they can manage within their means.

‘Brands need to drive the occasions when their products fit into the customer’s life so that they remain in the basket week in week out,’ says Vhari. ‘When consumers’ budgets are being hit harder it is vital that brands share the purpose, values, and credentials to retain customer loyalty.

‘I think that disruptive marketing combined with engaging and mouth-watering content is here to stay.’

For more on food and drink, check out these 10 top UK food bloggers. To track how the media is covering HFSS restrictions, try Vuelio’s Media Monitoring services – book a demo here. 

Rob Baney

PR Interview: Rob Baney, senior sport & brand communications executive for The Playbook

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One of Vuelio’s main objectives is to help comms professionals and teams streamline processes to allow them to focus their time and efforts on key priorities and projects. In a highly demanding industry, it’s not solely a case of time management that creates a successful environment but a line-up of multiple factors. We caught up with Rob Baney, senior sport & brand communications executive at The Playbook, a leading communications agency working with a range of global brands, to discuss life as an agency PR professional in 2022.

What have you been working on lately?

It’s been a busy start to 2022 at The Playbook… A couple of highlights: helping NFL UK fans celebrate Super Bowl the British way, including Greg James’ hilarious Superb Owl segment on Radio 1 with The NFL Show pundits Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora – nothing beats British humour. And heading out to Abu Dhabi in January to support the DP World Tour on the ground with local comms for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, where Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny swapped Warner Bros. World for the first Rolex Series event of the year.

Has this project been typical of the last 6-12 months?

In the past 12 months, I wouldn’t say anything has been ‘typical’ – projects have changed, and continually change… I felt like I became an expert on UK covid testing and entry requirements ahead of a LaLigaTV press trip to Barcelona last autumn, but that’s all redundant now. Since the turn of the year and even in the past month I’d say it’s become more ‘normal’ and its exciting to be doing events again. One good example of this was our Sunday with LaLiga where we packed out the Sports Bar & Grill for an ElClasico watch party – it was great to see the passions of fans back in person.

How important is maintaining a good work/outside-work balance for employee wellbeing?

It’s vital. I recently managed to get away to the Cheltenham Festival for a couple of days and had a great time. I went to university in Cheltenham and I always enjoy going back there to catch up with old mates. There are few better places than Cheltenham in race week.

I’d say a good work/life balance is now more important than ever, with everything work-related being an app click away. When you enjoy your work, checking emails and Teams can actually get quite addictive, so it’s very important to force yourself to switch off. Although you might trick yourself otherwise, you do need the break.

How has the pandemic impacted your work?

It’s impacted us massively. In all aspects of our job. Obviously, there were times where in-person activations weren’t feasible and while virtual calls served a purpose, there are some opportunities that are far more effective face-to-face, so we’ve had to adapt throughout to service our clients. Having said that, it’s also streamlined a lot of processes and there are a lot of benefits to Zoom (aside from the Hawaiian beach backgrounds).

As we look ahead to the rest of 2022, what trends do you see coming up?

The world is already opening up, and physical activations will come back in full. But it’s virtually we’ll see the most innovation. We recently had a workshop with an expert on all things Crypto, NFTs and the Metaverse. And it’s the latter of these I see real potential for brands activating in this year… Lots have already jumped in to the ‘Metaverse’ and I expect more and more to do the same. I’m no way the expert but the way I try to explain it to friends is it’s like a hybrid of The Sims, Rollercoaster Tycoon & GTA (without the crime); creating your own The Sims-like dream world like, building your entertainment offering Rollercoaster Tycoon-style, and then having you and your mates explore this world in the best clothes and with the coolest car, like your character in GTA. Pardon the pun, but there’s literally a whole other world out there…

How do you plan to handle extra demand as business grows?

We’re an agile agency and we’ve got a wider group who can support immediate needs. We take pride in our very successful always-on internship programme where we give on-the-job training to anyone with a willingness to learn, no experience or degree needed. We often have exciting projects come in and have a whole roster of experienced and trusted freelancers to call upon. When we need someone senior in permanent role, we have a thorough recruitment process to choose through the talented applicants. We are always on the lookout for the best talent.

Within your specific role, what have been your major learnings over the last few years?

One of our core values at The Playbook is to ‘Never Settle’ and I think this is something I consider on a daily basis. There’s a lot of excellent projects we work on, but I’m always thinking: how could we make it better, could we have been more efficient, was the messaging strong enough, could we have had better imagery. There’s lots of different ways to tell a story, and our job is always to tell that in the most compelling way possible.

What are the greatest day-to-day challenges for agency PRs? 

Time – isn’t it for everyone? Managing your time is so important, we’re always working to tight deadlines, so you need to have a good handle on your time and your colleague’s time so we can achieve everything we want.

With such a large and varied client base, how do you manage multiple relationships and campaigns?

It sounds cheesy but communication is key. If we’ve got an event on for one client on a certain day and we’ve a clash with another client deadline, then being upfront and honest is the best approach. They trust us to do our job, and they know we have other clients to service.

PR is playing a more important role in the wider conversation around ESG and CSR – how will this impact your clients?

If there are compelling and interesting ESG or CSR stories to tell, then we’ll be the first to consult our clients and help tell them in the best way possible. I can’t stress enough the importance of doing something purposeful, without this it’s opening yourself up for criticism. Brands should want to help society, and without getting to deep, in a capitalist world where profits rule, there’s plenty of value for clients to put resources towards helping people.

How are client strategies changing with regards to the current climate?

Usually I’d say strategies are often based off performance, so if performances are strong the strategy will remain similar but ‘let’s do that bigger and better’. Having said that, I’ve noticed a lot more clients including influencer activation in their briefs. Previously, this was always a proactive suggestion from PRs, and some clients didn’t have the capacity to truly consider how content creators could fit in to their existing strategies and help them achieve their business objectives. It’s refreshing that influencers are central to business strategy, and it’s good to see the agile influencer tool we’ve developed over several years getting more and more use. As the influencer space continues to morph and change with creators becoming established outlets our tool anticipates this, so we can identify the best creators for different projects, and we continue to grow relationships in this space to help us forge the strongest content and achieve the client’s desired outcomes.

And finally… there have been some mixed England performances out in the West Indies over the last few weeks. What do you think is the most important change that needs to be made to ensure the team are capable of regaining The Ashes next year?

Fundamentally, we need a team that’s going to bat for time (the runs will come), which they have in the West Indies, albeit on flat pitches. We need to learn to grit it out when the going gets tough… too often has that batting order folded like a pack of cards. I never thought two of the world’s all-time best Test bowlers in Broad and Anderson were the issue, but that’s a debate for another day. If we’re to regain the Ashes, we need four or five established batters to support Root, and if a quality spinner were to emerge, that would be the icing on the cake.

Connect with Rob Baney via Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 

Omkar Khot sits in Vuelio’s new business team, specialising in PR & Public Affairs across enterprises. Connect here. 

For more on trends in PR and comms this year, check out our round-up of insight from industry thought leaders to help with your content and campaign planning. 

How business comms can help fight fake news

How business comms can help with the fight against fake news

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This is a guest post from Laura Morelli, UK Head of media at Semrush.

Trust is rapidly becoming a vanishing commodity. So says this year’s Edelman Trust Barometer, a long running gauge of belief in government, media and other prominent societal markers. The decline in media trust in particular is especially striking, dropping 13 percentage points over the last year to just over one in five people believing in the credibility of media brands.

The survey cites a widespread and growing concern about the dissemination of fake news and false information as reasons for this shift. Despite major media outlets investing significantly in fact checking functions and seeking to redress the inaccurate spread of information, it seems the public feels this isn’t enough to stem the tide. Of course, if media outlets cannot address these concerns, public trust in their output may never recover.

Businesses face the same challenge. While few would expect corporate entities to hold impartial views, consumer purchase power rests increasingly in their ability to demonstrate a matching set of values. The same study found that some 52% of people in the UK buy or advocate for brands which mirror their values, a metric rooted in belief that those values are being translated into positive action.

Communications professionals are then placed into a similar situation as the media – how to keep their narratives rooted in fact. This is particularly key when targeting younger demographics who have grown up under the shadow of fake news and risk essentially being trained to question all information from sources, both official and otherwise. We live in a time where we will continue to see a flood of opinion, false theories and fake news spread so easily online. According to new research from Semrush, UK online searches for ‘fake news’ regularly occur an average of over 12,000 times per month. We are also seeing the wider public become increasingly aware of what they are consuming. The term ‘How to spot a fake news story’ increased by 50% over the last 4 years. Searches for ‘fake news examples’ are up by 60% during the same period.

While fake news is insidious, one of the best tools to fight its spread is clear and irrefutable proof points and sources. Indicators of online misinformation or disinformation are often discovered in poor, single source references, or unsubstantiated platforms. Fake news counts on time poor readers being unwilling (potentially because the content plays into their own beliefs or opinions) or unable to sense check efficiently. This is also why reputable news organisations have invested so significantly in data journalism – a technique which comms providers should highly encourage.

Businesses may not recognise that they have access to a bigger data toolkit now than ever before to help substantiate their claims. While citations about business efficiencies and product efficacy must come from within R&D departments and internal data, there are well known external sources on offer for building consumer confidences. The internet is one of the most powerful research tools ever, and just a peek into search data can lend greater insights into consumer motivations, trends, and opinions. This can not only be used strategically to support business direction and decision making, but tactically to support content marketing initiatives too.

Fake news and misinformation online may be hard to stop – but it’s not impossible to keep fighting. And the tools you use to do so may just help improve consumer perceptions of your business and its purpose still further. Trust may seem at times to be a vanishing commodity, but savvy businesses can stop the slide, and potentially boost their brands in the process. It is increasingly essential that businesses deploy similar journalistic rigour to their branded storytelling. This is just as applicable to citing reputable sources and using data to shape narratives as much as it is for gaining those backlinks.

For more on the impact comms can have on the fight against fake news, check out this guest post from Sidekick PR’s Charlotte Dimond on how PR can stop the spread of misinformation. and well as our previous ResponseSource webinar with Polis, FactCheckNI and The Ferret, Facts, fakes and fast news. 

This is how journalists want you to reply to their requests

PRs: this is how journalists want you to help with their requests

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Answering requests from journalists for comment, launch details or products for review should be pretty easy, right?

A myriad of media professionals from across the UK media send requests straight through to the inboxes of relevant PRs with the Journalists Enquiry Service every day. That means plenty of opportunities to get it right, but taking even one chance on sending something irrelevant can result in a very annoyed journalist. Are you replying with what journos are actually asking for?

Find out more about the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service and book a demo here.

To make sure your replies are relevant, here are dos and don’ts from three journalists writing for national, regional, consumer and trade titles regularly using the service:

Samantha Brick, freelance journalist for titles including the Daily Mail and The Sun…
Do: ‘Email is best for getting in touch, WhatsApp okay in an emergency/deadline.’

Don’t: ‘Phone out of the blue (I usually have interviews lined up in the day).’

Useful PRs? ‘Specialist PRs who work in the wellness/spiritual world are fantastic. They send case studies and information that I can – and do – use and that’s because they read what I write.’

One more thing: ‘Most PRs who get in touch with me have a good idea of what I do and offer only appropriate press releases, profiles of individuals – thanks!’

A freelance journalist and columnist for consumer magazines…
Do: ‘Read the request in full and answer the request itself rather than just sending something over. Be as specific as possible in your response. “I have a couple of experts; shall I send over” probably won’t receive a response if I have asked for experts in the request… just send the suggestions from the get-go with information about what you have sent is relevant to what I am working on. Sometimes journalist receive so many responses that there really isn’t time to respond to vague or irrelevant emails.’

Don’t: ‘Follow up super quickly… I understand why you do this, but usually it takes time to get back to people especially as journalists have to speak to editors, etc, and figure out which suggestions from the enquiry work best. Also, please do not send stuff that is irrelevant to the query unless there is a REALLY good reason for it.’

Useful PRs? ‘They explain who they are, who they are working for, why what they are sending is relevant and information on what a potential interviewee will speak about or even some quotes to use… or what they can provide. Very simple and easy.’

One more thing: ‘Even if you have a journalist’s number do not call them or text them without their permission. Not okay!’

An interiors journalist writing for the Metro…
Do: ‘Read the callout! Often there are specific requests and details that don’t work if not in the reply. A specific pic, detail, etc. Maybe 30% of replies I get aren’t relevant or fit at all. When there is 100 replies to go through, this can mean half hour wasted.

‘Make sure the person is available, too. It can be a bit chicken-and-egg but often I get replies from people where, say, I’m looking for someone who has bought a first home. After a week of back-and-forth they tell me actually that person doesn’t want to talk property…

‘Have everything ready, if poss. If I need a great pic to go with it, if this takes two weeks to source it might fall to the bottom of the pile!’

Don’t: ‘Send tenuously linked (or not linked at all) ideas. I’m looking for a sportsperson for interview so sending a press release on a new nutri bar doesn’t really help me.’

Useful PRs? ‘Anyone who doesn’t need to check with a dozen people to get a green light, then put five people to oversee a zoom call. I like it when PRs show confidence in their clients and work with me to get it all out the way as soon as poss. As a freelancer, you don’t get paid for endlessly chasing.’

One more thing… ‘RS is a great service and without it and all the PRs signed up I’m not sure how I would do my job tbh, so keep up the great work!’

Want to get the most out of the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service? Here is more advice on how to respond to requests from journalists as well as reasons to try the service before searching #JournoRequest on Twitter.

Email marketing trends

Email marketing: Top industry trends for 2022

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This is a guest post from April Mullen, director of brand and content marketing at SparkPost.

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to marketing, especially in email. In order to keep ahead of fierce competition, it is vital that brands are on top of changes within the industry. Failing to adhere to new practices can damage brand trust and reputation and risk losing subscribers.

Generating more sophisticated email content can help increase customer engagement. This, in turn, leads to better deliverability, more conversions, and a stronger community for your brand.

With these challenges in mind, here are some key trends for this year, and how marketers can stay ahead of the curve.

1) Email design: the balance between engagement and accessibility
On the one hand, emails need to stand out with bold, engaging designs. But at the same time, they need to be easy to engage with. Are these two key email trends compatible? Sure! They just require marketers to be a little more thoughtful about how they construct their communications.

Dark mode: Over the past couple of years more and more marketers have been experimenting with dark mode in their emails. They are responding to consumers who like the option for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it’s easier on the eyes – especially in low light reading environments. Secondly, low brightness means more battery life can be preserved on mobile devices, and lastly some people just prefer it that way.

Dark mode should be treated like an email necessity, not an afterthought. If your designers are worried that it might limit their creativity, they needn’t be. In many ways it has the opposite effect. More thought goes into logos, brand colours, and layouts when considering dark mode.

Accessibility: It’s a golden rule of email marketing that messages should be able to be read by everyone no matter where they are, what device they are using or what their ability level is. But there is still some catching-up for marketers to do to achieve this. Not complying with accessibility can cause brand reputation challenges.

15% of the world’s population experience some form of disability. Why should they be prevented from interacting with your emails for the sake of a few lines of code and thoughtful design? Ensuring that minimum font sizes are used and that the text is properly aligned, among other tweaks, to meet accessibility requirements in 2022.

Emojis: Everyone loves a good emoji and for the most part, they work well in email – adding a sense of fun that is universally understood.
In 2021 more marketers began using emojis in email subject lines and headlines in a rather careless way. Some forgot that if emojis replace actual words, the overall message won’t make sense if images are blocked or won’t load.

The key, if you are going to use emojis in your subject line, header or in the main body of the text (which is good for mobile viewers as copy space is often limited), is to test and test again for effectiveness before you press send.

GIFs: A properly executed GIF in a marketing email can be a very powerful way of expressing brand values in a light-hearted way. But they must be used in the right way and within the right context.

Marketers need to ensure that GIFs used:
– Aren’t too flashy or overwhelming by having smooth transitions between each frame
– Include a static fallback just in case the GIF doesn’t load
– Always include ALT text for screen readers

2) Privacy changes continue to rock the boat
Privacy continues to be a hot topic for email senders, especially marketers. As the demand for relevant and personalised email increases in 2022, the barriers to collecting the actionable data necessary to meet that demand will increase as well. The loss of third-party cookies and new features, such as Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection, are likely only the beginnings of a paradigm shift that will continue to drive marketers to rethink data collection and usage practices.

Loss of third-party cookies: Third-party tracking involves data that’s not owned by the website you’re on – and it’s used after you leave. Let’s say you’re on Currys and look at a Camera, and then you go to John Lewis and see that same camera in an ad in your sidebar. That’s a third-party cookie tracking your internet habits. Firefox and Safari no longer support third-party tracking, and Google has announced they’ll follow suit with plans to sunset third-party cookies in 2022. The demise of third-party cookies puts a tailwind behind channels that leverage first-party data – email being the most pervasive channel using first-party data. We should all be gearing up for more investment in email and SMS because owned data is about to be more valuable than ever.

Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP): Back in June 2021, Apple announced MMP would be coming to their Mail app on all compatible Apple devices. According to Apple, “Mail Privacy Protection stops senders from using invisible pixels to collect information about the user. It prevents senders from knowing when they open an email and masks their IP address, so it can’t be linked to other online activity or used to determine their location.”

At a very high-level, since MPP will prefetch all images in an email, senders will need to be aware of the following:
– Open rates will be inflated
– Open times will be random and unreliable
– Device information will be unavailable
– User location will be approximated

As 2022 progresses, upwards of 50% of open data will become unreliable and no longer useful as a success metric. This means that marketers will need to take a more holistic approach to measuring the success of email programs. Below are some example alternative success metrics that senders can use:
– Clicks
– Conversion
– Engagement from other channels, such as your mobile apps

3) Generating personalised content with limited resources
Creating an engaging, interesting and personalised email can be a challenge especially if a marketer is limited in terms of time and resources. There are however a few shortcuts that they can employ to speed the process up.

Personalisation: Personalised content used to be the icing on the top of the cake in email marketing. In 2022 it is arguably the whole cake. With brands having to contend with privacy changes across the marketing spectrum there is more and more pressure to build personal relationships with customers and delivering bespoke emails is a highly effective way of achieving this.

Ultimately, brands that employ personalisation in a responsible way that truly drives value to customers and isn’t self-serving to the brand, will have happy customers.

Agile content: This is when marketers use feeds to pull in content such as product listings, job advertisements, properties, recent news directly from an organisation’s external source/website, etc.

Images, links, and copy can all be added in a few clicks without the marketer having to resort to additional technology to be able to do this.

4) Email production: the final step
Email production can involve a lot of different people within a company, often working remotely and invariably focusing on their own specific niche. Fortunately, there are tools that simplify the process while simultaneously unlocking the creativity of email teams.
Email Design Systems: The days of constantly creating an email from scratch will soon be gone forever. Email Design Systems are essentially modular templates that have been pre-coded. They enable marketers to deliver marketing emails quickly as automation means that there are fewer elements for them to be concerned about.

Email Design Systems enable:
– Seamless collaboration between everyone involved in email
– Fewer risks – e.g. less typos, more consistent branding, etc.
– Email campaigns that are quicker to produce and get to market
– More time to invest in better quality code, which means better quality email

BIMI: Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) is an initiative that was launched in 2019 that enables brands to send out emails with their logo appearing next to the email in the inbox.

BIMI is bound to be embraced by more and more companies this year for a number of reasons:
– Design: it helps emails stand out in an inbox
– Authentication: BIMI incentivises brands to adopt proper email authentication – DMARC in particular – when sending mass messages to consumers. Senders who put in the effort to implement DMARC are rewarded with the display of their logo
– Protection Implementing – BIMI protects brands against spoofing and phishing as customers can more easily recognise that the messages are legitimate

In our recent Benchmark survey, we asked which email innovations email marketers are considering adopting this year? BIMI was one of the main responses with 28% saying they are contemplating using it.

It’s never been more important to stay ahead of trends
Design, content and process are year-on-year major focuses for email marketers, but more so this year as privacy updates occur, changes to ways of working continue to take hold and brands fight to retain once loyal customers. If you haven’t got your design, content or process right, you can be sure that your email marketing will see an effect.

Ensure you’re targeting the right people for your campaigns with Vuelio’s Media Database and Monitoring.

Want more on email marketing and trends in PR and comms this year? Read this previous guest post from SparkPost company Taxi for Email on building strong foundations for a successful email campaign and this round-up of insight from industry thought leaders on what you need to plan for in 2022.

International Women's Day 2022 in PR and comms

UK PR and comms industry celebrates International Women’s Day 2022

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Is International Women’s Day still necessary to acknowledge in PR in 2022? While the workforce that makes up the PR and communications industry in the UK is mainly female, our sector is not fully equal across the board on gender quite yet…

Because while we’re on the subject of Boards – they’re still mostly led by men. Balancing home life and work – a necessary consideration for many women; not always for their male counterparts – has been even harder for many because of the pandemic and unconscious (and occasionally conscious) bias continues to impact career success. Where gender intersects with race, class and sexuality, the inequality built into our industry becomes even more difficult to overcome.

Yes – International Women’s Day is still important to recognise and celebrate, even in a sector that may seem to outsiders like it’s getting it right. So, happy IWD to all women; here are just come of the events and initiatives happening across PR and comms today to mark the occasion.

Recharging
M&F Health is giving its entire agency a day off in honour of International Women’s Day, encouraging staff to book a doctor’s appointment, take an exercise class or use the time to reflect and recharge.

‘74% of our agency are women and working in health and wellbeing as we do every day, makes us especially aware of the importance of taking care of our own health,’ says James Hollaway, M&F Health owner and managing director.

Inspiration for the move – the agency’s client Organon, which will also be giving its 10,000 employees a day off to prioritise their health, or the health of the women in their lives.

Educating
Over at performance marketing agency Journey Further, 160 members of staff across all three office locations will have access to a full-day event focusing on the three pillars of inspiration, education and celebration.

‘It’s important that the day is not only actionable, but also relevant to our staff,’ says PR director Beth Nunnington.

‘To ensure we are covering topics that will make the most impact, we spoke to a diverse group of women across the business, plus heads of departments, to gather feedback about which topics they would like us to put a spotlight on. Our day will include internal speakers, third party speakers, and existing content, such as Ted Talks and roundtable discussions. We’ll continue to drive this action all year round, not just on 8 March.’

Celebrating changemakers
With local London charities, the Charities Aid Foundation will be taking part in a Statue Walk with the Charities Aid Foundation, aiming to draw attention to how much work there is still to do to raise awareness about women’s equality and accelerate gender parity across the world, while celebrating women who have left their marks on history.

International Women's Day walk

‘International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the achievements of women and efforts towards making the world a more balanced place,’ says CAF Bank CEO and leader of the IWD Statue Walk Initiative Alison Taylor.

‘This day also marks a timely call to action following two years of a pandemic during which women’s employment has fallen and inequalities involving childcare and unpaid labour have become more evident.’

Supporting with sports
Fourth Day has sponsored the Stockport Vikings Pumas U8s and U13s girls football teams – which play in the South Manchester Girls Football League and Cheshire Girls Football League.

The daughters of two members of the Fourth Day team play for Stockport Vikings Pumas, with one of the team, account manager Caroline Fletcher, also coaching the U8s.

U8s Pumas

Nikki Scrivener, co-founder of Fourth Day said: ‘Working with technology clients we still see lots of areas where women are under-represented. The same is true in football, so we can see obvious comparisons. But there are brilliant signs of change everywhere. IWD is a chance for everyone to celebrate this change and show that we are still striving for more.’

Keeping the conversation going
Vhari Russell and her team at The Food Marketing Experts are passionate about gender equality and will be weaving this into the way they work for 8 March and beyond.

Vhari said: ‘As a business we are part of a number of mentoring programs in which we have the opportunity to share and guide business owners and will be using this opportunity to help women in business thrive. We will be sharing blogs about women in the food industry that have bucked the norm and driven huge growth in their sectors. We’ll be sharing views and content for the whole of March, as it is important to keep the conversation going.’

For more on equality in comms, check out our accessmatters session with Melissa Lawrence about the Taylor Bennett Foundation as well as our interview Advita Patel about the work of A Leader Like Me.

For connecting with journalists writing about these issues, try the Journalist Enquiry Service to receive requests from them directly to your inbox, or get to know the writers covering your sector with Vuelio’s Media Database and Monitoring solutions.

How to support and showcase sustainability in 2022

How to support and showcase sustainability in 2022

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This is a guest post by Sarah Salord, company director at GEC PR.

Sustainability was firmly placed in the spotlight last year thanks to high-profile events such as COP26 and the G20 Summit, and as a result we are all becoming more aware of the impact our actions have on the environment and natural resources.

Consumers are becoming increasingly discerning about the products they’re purchasing and the way they are travelling. The word ‘sustainable’ is now much more than a slogan or catchphrase – it’s a key influence in the consumer purchasing process.

With shoppers now looking more closely at the businesses they buy from, it’s more important than ever for brands to showcase how they as a business and individuals, are incorporating and supporting sustainable practices.

GEC PR works with several clients with a strong sustainable story to tell, and it’s something we as an agency have pushed more to the forefront of our PR and marketing activity during the last year. Here’s how you can do the same:

1. Understand that journalists are now expecting press trips to be carbon-balanced or to have an element of sustainable travel
For example, dropping off and collecting travellers from the airport (also known as ‘Kiss and Fly’) has more of a negative environmental impact when compared with pre-booking airport parking. Therefore, we alert journalists to the benefits of airport parking through carbon-balanced companies such as our client Airport Parking & Hotels (APH.com) which can be one of the most environmentally-friendly and affordable methods of travelling to the airport, ensuring a minimum number of journeys and less time spent on the road.

2. Ensure your client’s long-standing responsibility to sustainable practices is shouted louder than ever
If a client has a strong sustainable story to tell, then place this at the forefront of the communication content plan and strategy. For example, what commitments has the brand pledged to social, environment and economic sustainability for the year ahead and what investments have been made to reduce its environmental impact or avoiding it completely?

3. Adapt your communications strategy where necessary
A key learning during the last few years has been the need to be adaptable and flexible when it comes to creating and managing a communications plan. Find out what big sustainable stories or new developments are taking place for the year ahead, and tie this in with topical content ideas. Also keep it flexible if a big news announcement drops suddenly which provides a platform or hook to shout about the client.

Responsible tourism is one sector during the last few years which has become increasingly important to media, and as an agency specialising in working with travel and lifestyle clients, we have ensured our client’s brand stories reflect this and will continue to do so. The conversation around sustainability will continue to grow and new trends will emerge, and as communication specialists, this brings more opportunities for creativity.

Want to know what travel media professionals  find useful from PRs? Check out our feature on how to pitch to travel journalists, featuring insight from those working across national, consumer and trade publications. 

For more on trends to watch out for in travel comms, download our white paper PR & Media Travel Trends 2021. 

Comms as part of business strategy and planning

Comms: an integral part of decision-making and strategic planning for business

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Kicked off by the pandemic, 2020-2021 presented some of the greatest challenges to businesses this century. As 2022 brings additional topics and issues to contend with, comms leaders are at the heart of an important phase.

At this year’s Corporate Communications Conference, comms leaders from brands including Virgin Media O2, Shell, Kellogg’s and BT provided insight and advice on key short and long-term issues and reflected on how the past 24 months rapidly altered roles and strategies.

The importance of comms in business decisions

Many organisations with executive teams that included comms leaders, departments and data as part of their strategic decision making from the start of the pandemic, saw reputation levels remain steady (even increasing in some cases) and operations continue to function well. The importance of insights that comms can bring, notably the perceptions of the organisation from the media, industry influencers, political sphere, customers and the wider public is high, yet utilising this information to shape key corporate decisions hasn’t always been accepted practice.

Naturally, many executive leadership teams consulted their finance and legal departments early into the pandemic, but including comms in the process allowed businesses to understand the reality of the human impact of the situation and provide a greater level of authenticity in their messaging. As the industry continues to evolve it will be interesting to see how the dynamic between exec teams and comms leaders will develop, as we move away from pandemic-oriented strategies and into prioritising ESG-centred comms.

Sustainability comms and the role of businesses in future

In an era of heightened change in social activism, political change and environmental issues, comms from an ESG perspective needs to be part of every businesses’ strategy. In ESG comms, the wider public are as much a part of the debate as internal stakeholders, including investors and shareholders, as well as staff. Actions versus communications was a key message from the conference, highlighting the real challenge businesses face to ensure what they are talking about doing in relation to sustainability aligns with the reality of their actions.

With ESG comms, businesses have a chance to boost reputation and distribute key business values, particularly as the purpose of business in society changes. There is a growing need for corporations to consider how they position themselves on social issues as well as topics that can be seen to sit outside of their direct business interests.

What does this mean for comms leaders?

As we look ahead in this decade, one of the real challenges for Comms departments will be determining the role of their organisations in society and working with executive teams to balance the voices of their staff and stakeholders with the wider demands in an ever-changing social, economic and political climate”

Find out more about the trends to plan for in 2022 in PR and communications in our round-up of insight from industry thought leaders.

Want more on stakeholder management and engagement? Find out how Vuelio can help.

Statistics on four-day working week in comms

‘Yes’ to four-day working week say a third of comms leaders

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Three out of ten (29%) decision makers in the UK communications sector are seriously considering the move to a four-day working week, according to the latest UK Confidence Tracker from PRCA and ICCO.

A further 8% of comms leaders – a mix of CEOs, directors and heads of department – polled for the study carried out by Question & Retain have already adopted the working structure. This positive message for fans of the model reinforces a recent PRCA MENA study that found UAE professionals believe they work more efficiently under the new four and a half day working week adopted in UAE.

The quarterly Confidence Tracker from PRCA and ICCO tracks market confidence across the worldwide public relations industry. This year shows a boost in confidence and investment within the sector, as over two-thirds (72%) of in-house teams and PR agencies are hiring. In an increase of 3% from the last tracker update in October of last year, around nine in ten (87%) feel ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ about the future of their business.

‘The data from our latest Global Confidence Tracker is very encouraging,’ believes PRCA director general and ICCO chief executive Francis Ingham.

‘Market confidence around the world is now higher than at any point since the beginning of the pandemic and the growing confidence is reflected in the number of organisations hiring. The four-day working week is an interesting proposition for agencies and in-house teams, many of whom are looking for creative ways to attract and retain the most talented professionals. The model won’t work for everyone but there are clear benefits for those willing to embrace change.’

The full PRCA and ICCO Confidence Tracker results for this quarter can be downloaded here.

Previous tracker findings from May 2020 can be found here, as can this update from March 2021.

For more about the work of Question & Retain, check out this guest post from its founder and CEO Annabel Dunstan on the benefits of working from home and the difference it has made to her team.

CIPR Communicating in a Crisis

CIPR celebrates the value of PR with publication of ‘Communicating in a Crisis’

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The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is showcasing the strategic value of PR to organisations with the release of its new guide ‘Communicating in a Crisis’.

21 case studies – entries from the 2021 CIPR Excellence Awards’ Best COVID Response category – detail the way organisations utilised public relations to manage crisis and includes tips for businesses on making the most of their own PR teams.

The award-winning case studies featured include:

– King’s College London & ZOE (Giving scientists real-time data to fight COVID-19
– NHS in the North East and North Cumbria (The Great North NHS Comms Network
– Lloyds Banking Group (Helping Britain Recover)
– Scouts #TheGreatIndoors (The Scouts’ response to COVID-19)
– AstraZeneca (Emerging strong from the pandemic)
– Liberty Communications Limited (Tech for good – hacking for humanity)
– Ascenti (Using health and wellbeing to support staff returning to work after lockdown)
– University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (Communications: a critical role in an effective response

Examples of valuable work done by the featured comms teams include their fight against misinformation, uniting remote teams, vaccine rollout support, and adapting to a changing economic environment.

‘The breadth of case studies in this guide demonstrates how public relations enables organisations to confidently communicate through difficult times,’ said CIPR President Rachel Roberts.

‘This guide demonstrates the versatility of public relations and how irrespective of the challenge faced by organisations, communications consistently acts as the bridge to enable organisations to inform and reassure their stakeholders. This guide will act as a great resource for all PR professionals as they scenario plan for the future and is a welcome addition to our industry knowledge resource.’

CIPR’s Alastair McCapra said:

‘PR professionals have shown what can be achieved in the midst of an overwhelming crisis. Now, however, the world has shifted again. We [had] all believed that COVID-19 was something that would leave scars but something that as a society we would be able to put behind us and return to normal. From the vantage point of early 2022, perspectives are now shifting on this.

‘COVID-19 has taught the world many lessons, one of the lasting ones must be that the resilience and power of communications professionals should never be doubted.’

The full ‘Communicating in a Crisis’ report from CIPR can be downloaded here on the website.

For more on managing communications effectively during difficult times, read this guest post from Onyx Health’s managing director Karen Winterhalter on learning the lessons from the COVID-19 crisis.

Why PRs should work with marketing

PRs – here are seven reasons to team-up with marketing

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Trends in the integration of marketing and public relations, our latest whitepaper by Stephen Waddington, features insight from thought leaders across the two functions… though, are the two really separate?

Download Trends in the integration of marketing and public relations here.

The crossover between the sectors has been under debate for at least 50 years and this conversation will likely continue as they further evolve. Here are seven takes on why close connections between comms and marketing is a positive for businesses and brands.

1) Success is the ultimate aim, not separation
‘Senior professionals in traditionally structured companies love to create silos. In commercial life, caring about definitions or silos is usually in inverse proportion to the importance of the task’ – Tony Langham, executive chair and co-founder of Lansons.

2) Close connection means the creation of good ideas
‘You need to be comfortable in asking for support from other operational functions, where they have expertise, as good ideas can come from anywhere. Openness and respect are also the key to having a collaborative working environment. You can spot the brands where marketing and PR are tightly integrated and work well together side by side. Especially when there is a crisis situation or a brand needs to respond quickly’ – Lexie Jenkins, senior press officer & publicist at Costa Coffee.

3) Collaboration opens up opportunities across teams
‘Ideas can come from anywhere […] That’s a tremendous opportunity for the communication team. It unlocks resources that it might not otherwise have been able to access’ – Suman Hughes, director of communications, UK for Mastercard.

4) Marketing and comms already share goals
‘Brand and product messaging are fundamental to both marketing and communications. They lie at the heart of how an organisation differentiates itself and engages with its markets’ – Ruth Jones, founder and managing director of 3THINKRS.

5) Social media management flows directly into sales
‘A modern crisis typically starts with an issue on social media. Monitoring provides an early warning signal. The social media team often acts as a first responder on customer services issues and matters that might otherwise escalate into a crisis to internal operational teams’ – Tamara Littleton, founder and CEO of The Social Element.

6) Marketing measurements can proof the efficacy of public relations
‘Clicks, comments and downloads can all be analysed as part of a customer journey. We can connect digital earned media with actions such as behaviour change and sales’ – said Shayoni Lynn, founder and CEO of Lynn PR.

7) Want to target influencers and editors? You may have them within your marketing team already…
‘We used to have a stakeholder group of 20 to 30 editors that we worked with around the world. Now social media has meant that everyone is now an editor’ – James Andrew, executive director – communications & PR at Group Lotus.

The global pandemic has underlined the importance of comms and marketing teams for the overall success of businesses and brands in communicating to their audiences and client-bases. When teams are under increased pressure to perform and prove their worth, the finding of efficiencies and quick wins are even more important. While there are definitely differences and lines between comms and marketing, closer collaboration can mean stronger campaigns, content planning and crisis management.

Not particularly close with your marketing department/team/in-house expert? Maybe it’s time to set up a virtual brainstorming session over coffee.

For more interesting statistics and facts on the integration of marketing and public relations, download the full white paper here.

For keeping track of your campaigns and client wins, try Vuelio’s Stakeholder Management and Insights services.

B2B PR Strategy

12 ways to maximise your B2B PR strategy

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B2B PR doesn’t often grab the headlines, especially when it is compared to what is seen (incorrectly) as more creative consumer communications. But the benefits of good PR for business to business activities are plentiful, and clear to everyone working in this industry both in-house and in agency.

To gather the best expert advice for anyone putting together a B2B public relations strategy, we submitted an enquiry through the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service. The response was enormous, and very clear – B2B PR is valuable and for many businesses, vital to their success.

James Murray, client services manager at Definition Agency spelled it out quite simply: ‘PR is about building brand awareness so organisations feel comfortable aligning themselves with you. After all, brand trust is an important part of the buying decision.’

Trust is at the heart of every relationship, and relationships are what PR are all about. As Claire Lamb, director at B2B agency Skout said: ‘A B2B relationship marketing renaissance is coming. Companies need to get human interaction back into their businesses. And remember, people don’t want to be sold to, they want to be helped.’

While some of this advice may prove valuable for all PR, B2B requires special attention. Sarah Carpin, head of PR for Spike explained: ‘Effective B2B coverage, whether it be coverage for brands looking to increase their wholesale client base, or to position themselves as respected and trusted brands within their sector, needs specialist management. B2B PR also covers things like non-competing brand collaborations and charity partnerships, providing client support at trade shows and conferences; hosting customer networking events; submitting award entries and supplying relevant content for LinkedIn, blogs and email newsletters.’

Without further ado, here are 12 tips to improve your B2B PR strategy:

Think about your business strategy
‘A well-thought out, strategically driven media relations programme that’s closely aligned with your business goals will deliver impact, credibility and authenticity, drive loyalty and communicate values. You want the reaction from your customers that they see you “all over everywhere”. If you’re front of mind, you’ll be first on the call list.’ – Felicity Read, managing director, Leapfrog PR

‘It all begins with your objectives – tell us what they are, and we’ll deliver a holistic strategy which is measurable. That’s because we may love words, but we’re big fans of data too. Every decision we make and piece of content we write, all loops back to those long-term ambitions.’ – Katie Mallinson, founder and MD at Scriba PR

‘As a business, pretty much everything you do is public relations so connecting your business strategy with your PR strategy will help you create impactful campaigns that communicate the right messages to the right people at the right time. It will also make you aware of new opportunities while keeping you ahead of the competition.’ – Anastasia Psarra, account director, Cerub PR

Connect through thought leadership
‘When crafting a B2B PR strategy, it’s important not to forget that people buy from people. B2B PR provides an invaluable opportunity for businesses to authentically connect with their target customers through thought-leadership.’ – Julia Clements Roche, Write Thought Communications

‘Thought leadership remains crucial to B2B PR strategies, as it helps to build trust, credibility and influences brand perception and purchasing decisions. To make an impact, thought leadership needs to be original and deliver real value and expertise to the intended audience.’ – Gemma Eccleston, associate director at PR Agency One

‘A strong thought leadership led public relations campaign helps businesses to get heard above the background noise and create brand awareness that amplifies other marketing campaign elements, while also providing critical ‘air cover’ to the sales campaign.’ – Ashley Carr, founder and managing director, at Neo PR

Build up internal profiles and personal brands
‘Contributing articles, making yourself available for comment and securing interview and podcast opportunities will all help to build your organisation as a trusted source of information and opinion and hopefully someone that other companies will want to consider doing business with.’ – The PR Team at Progeny

‘Newsrooms are shrinking, content is increasing digitally and editors are looking for vendor neutral thought leadership bylines on an ongoing basis. If you have subject matter experts on your team, you are missing a huge PR opportunity if you are not writing and having your PR agency place these articles with your target media.’ – Joanne Hogue, partner at Smart Connections PR

‘Think about smaller-scale, but potentially more effective, comment opportunities around industry news and trends. Although the client may not have a huge pull to their name, and may not get featured in nationals, don’t forget to send these insider comments to lesser-known, but still extremely valuable, industry-relevant blogs.’ – Lydia German, marketing and outreach coordinator at Tao Digital Marketing

Think digitally
‘Join things up. B2B can provide fundamental support to other marketing functions, such as lead gen and SEO, so make sure you fully leverage the opportunities available.’ – Louise Findlay-Wilson, funder and managing director of Energy PR

‘Not only does digital PR help with building brand awareness, but it can also be used to increase the overall domain rating of your website, drive traffic to specific product pages and help to rank above your competitors for certain terms.’ – Chloe Deans, PR and content manager at Access Mintsoft

‘Over 70% of B2B purchase decisions start with a search, according to Google. Allow PR to do what it can do best – leverage relationships, create link-worthy PR stories and earn coverage with links.’ – Proactive PR, which specialises in B2B technology PR

Make your content work for you
‘PR is not an isolated tool – amplification is a core part of any PR strategy. Simply sending out a press release or a thought-leadership article is not enough. It deserves more. So, make sure you’re using your other assets – your blog, social, email – to amplify that message to your core audience. Make your content work as hard for you as possible.’ – Tom Bestwick, content marketing and PR consultant at Hallam

Keep it simple
‘Make your copy to the point, jargon free and easy to understand. If the journo has spent three years writing for Coil Winding Intl and then moves to Mobile Europe as feature editor, they are not going to understand the importance of the 5G frequency spectrum for connecting to multiple IOT devices in the first few months. Guide them.’ – Mark Casey, founder and CEO of Dais Comms

‘Simplicity is at the heart of B2B PR. Not simplistic ideas or lazy thinking, but the ability to make complex and nuanced information understandable. Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.’ – Lynsey Barry, co-founder of B2B PR agency Five not 10

Provide context in your content
‘We’ve found that a greater focus on macroeconomic data helps. Adding more background to communications can help clients make sense of what’s happening in the wider world and how the service/product you are marketing resonates in context. We’ve been focusing on this over the past year and saw an almost 50% increase in coverage in 2021 as a result of this and other actions.’ – Leor Franks, business development & marketing director at Kingsley Napley LLP

Be creative and collaborate
‘Reach out to other brands who aren’t direct competitors but whose service offering can interlink with yours. At the very least, propose a blog post exchange. Or go bigger with a podcast/webinar!’ – Heather Wilkinson, content manager, Addition

‘There are now various mainstream examples of B2B brands being as creative, if not more, as their B2C counterparts. The likes of Slack, Salesforce and NICE are all investing huge sums in ad space that would historically be reserved for B2C brands, often with big name celebrity endorsements. So, you shouldn’t feel restricted in your creativity as a B2B brand.’ – Lee Simpson, account director at Fourth Day PR

Uncover opportunities in your data
‘If content is king, data is queen. Many B2B companies are already sitting on a wealth of useful data that can be used for PR. Highlighting product/service trends, regional variations or industry insights within a particular targeted sector is usually really appreciated by journalists and has the resulting effect of positioning the organisation involved as an expert on the subject.’ – Ali Cort, client services director, Browser Media

‘Data is your friend: Make the most of the research and the data team. Find out what they can pull from customer experience or from the back end of the site and see if there is a story within it.’ – Jodie Harris, head of digital PR at www.BlueArray.co.uk

Maximise your social channels
‘Social media can be your biggest asset. A little bit can go an awful long way to drive additional reach and engagement with a brand, if you get your strategy right. Don’t let clients tell you their audience isn’t on social – they just haven’t found them yet.’ – Louise Watson-Dowell, PR & digital strategy director at Definition

Understand your audiences
‘Really understanding your audience — PR at Degreed is about building our authority as a market leader. We cannot achieve this if we aren’t hyper-focused on the major opportunities and pain points facing our target market today. Our PR outreach is global, so instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, we tailor everything to each region including our angles, research, experts, and even our timings.’ – Jade Emmons PR manager at Degreed

‘Know your verticals – B2B brands often have very specific sectors they’re selling into and the message and offering may change wildly from sector to sector. As a PR professional, you must be able to adapt the message and adapt your pitch to secure coverage in a range of publications, across different verticals.’ – David Clare, head of PR at B2B tech marketing agency Fox Agency

Adapt for a sectorised approach
‘In the property sector, the best B2B results often come from integrated corporate and consumer campaigns, with audiences sourcing news and information from a range of sources.

‘Whether developers, agents, funds, charities or other, all organisations working in real estate need to earn trust from their stakeholders to achieve their objectives – if you’re considering whether to grant planning permission or invest millions, that market-wide reputation really matters to seal the deal. That means B2B PR in the property sector needs to ensure you’re building authenticity in your brand, in everything that you do, whether it’s how you show up in your audience’s LinkedIn feed and your share of voice in the investor circuit to what is being said about you or your projects in the weekend papers they read, by an influencer they trust or by your customers.’ – Laura Leggetter, one of SEC Newgate UK’s heads of communications

For more information on how Vuelio can help your B2B public relations and marketing, find out more here.

Want to try out the Journalist Enquiry Service for yourself? Start contributing relevant data, expert comment, product news and much more to the UK media – book a demo.

Trends in the integration of marketing and public relations

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Stephen Waddington has written this white paper for Vuelio to investigate trends in the integration of marketing and public relations. It’s a debate that’s been ongoing for more than 50 years.

A paper in The Journal of Marketing in 1978 suggested that alignment of the two functions drove better business outcomes. It’s a discussion that will undoubtedly continue for the next 50 years.

We spoke to the leaders of marketing and public relations functions working in agencies and in-house to understand the opportunity for the integration of marketing and public relations.

Download this white paper to learn:

  • Why customer needs should lead the discussion, always
  • The role of ABM in PR and marketing integration
  • The crossovers in community and influencer management
  • Why measurement matters, more than ever
Brand personality

How to showcase your brand’s personality

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This is a guest post from EverBold marketing executive Orla McCormack.

If you asked a marketing director or public relations manager what is meant by the term ‘brand personality’ twenty years ago, you may have got a response along the lines of, ‘What did you put in your coffee this morning?’

Nowadays, you are more likely to come across a human being lacking in personality traits rather than a brand that lacks them. Brand personality is a central focus for all marketing and public relations efforts of any brand looking to stand out among the crowd.

Here are some tips on how you can best portray the personality of a brand within a competitive sector, using the car insurance industry as an example.

Identifying and defining your brand personality
Just as an individual’s personality affects how others view them, your brand personality will determine how your customers view your brand. Therefore, it’s important that you strategically outline the traits of your brand’s personality from the get-go, rather than leaving the development of the brand personality to chance. So, the first thing you should ask yourself is simply, ‘Who are you?’ and ‘What are your core goals?’

Look: Brand appearance
Sectors like insurance can be perceived as quite boring and mundane – a task that requires lots of paperwork. But with the right brand appearance, it could be aligned with the liberation of being able to travel anywhere we like, alongside the security of knowing you’re covered. For our work with MissQuote.ie, for example, we use fun, bright and bold colours – orange, pink and white.

Sound: Brand voice
The next thing to identify is the tone of voice of the brand; in other words, how do we want to be heard? The voice of your brand contributes significantly to the perception of the brand personality. Should your tone of voice be formal or casual? Serious or funny? Traditional or on trend?

Once you have decided the tone of your brand’s voice, it is critical to keep the sound of your voice consistent – consistency is essentially the only way to build a recognisable and memorable voice.

Action: Brand behavior
Once you have established the appearance and voice of your brand, you need to start emulating this defined sound and look within the behaviour of your brand. The brand behaviour is demonstrated through the way in which your brand interacts with real customers. Essentially, you need to show that your brand can walk the walk. Engaging with your community online and offline through the content you post on social media, sponsorships and online interactions are all fantastic ways to engage with the brand’s community.

It’s vital to ensure that the content you are posting to your social media channels is emulating the brand’s personality; this could be funny, yet relevant memes, question polls and compelling blogs. You should also put real effort into replying to messages, comments and posts from social media followers, with all comments consistently relaying the brand voice.

Those working in the marketing, comms or public relations departments of any company, big or small, that operate within a competitive industry will appreciate how difficult it can be to get your brand to stand out among the rest. Consumers are more likely to trust and engage with a brand that resembles traits of their own personality. Therefore, it is important to really focus on the target market of the brand when defining your brand personality. Ultimately, it’s better to have a defined personality rather than one that is undefined and unheard, even if it means you won’t catch every fish in the pond.

For ensuring your brand is finding the right audience, book a demo of Vuelio’s monitoring, insights and media database solutions.

Want more on brand personality? Here are 3 tips for keeping your brand consistent across social media platforms , top tips for finding an effective tone of voice for your online brand and how to pick the right ambassador for your brand.

BBC

PR needs the BBC

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Dead cat or party policy, the very real threat to end the BBC licence fee announced by culture secretary Nadine Dorries – before she partially backtracked – should be a concern to all in PR.

The announced two-year freeze to the BBC licence fee will impact its output, and director general Tim Davie has said ‘everything’s on the agenda’, including news and programming. While commentary on the small amount of money the freeze is saving each household – compared to the costs of rising energy bills or tax changes – suggests this move was politically motivated during ‘partygate’, the conversation around BBC reform and its replacement has been present in Westminster for many years.

Jessica Morgan, owner of Carnsight Communications, believes the end of the BBC ‘Would be devastating for so many.’ She added: ‘We are so lucky to have a quality national broadcaster in the BBC and I’ve benefited from it so much, both professionally and personally.’

The BBC is by no means perfect, questions continue to be raised on its editorial position on certain subjects, and its funding model is not as progressive as public broadcasters in some neighbouring countries. But it has the biggest audience, its output and content streams are vast and, though it is often criticised for not achieving it, the corporation is required to be impartial and deliver content without commercial association.

This is one of the reasons the BBC gets such a hard time in much of the press – in a digital age, it has become one of the news sector’s biggest competitors and it is not reliant on consumer payment to justify its content.

But for PR and comms professionals, this should be seen as one of its virtues.

Jessica said: ‘It’s still incredibly discerning – you always have to have a very strong angle to be featured, and I think that’s fantastic. No commercial tie ups ever come into it, certainly within the UK, and I think that makes the content all the more powerful.’

PR rightly focuses on the increasing threat of mis and disinformation, audience trust and journalistic independence. The BBC, despite its flaws, generally manages these issues to a high standard and trust in the organisation remains high. Securing PR coverage with the BBC means your story has passed quality control and will have a greater impact on your target audience.

And if your target audience is niche, which organisation is better able to serve them appropriate content than the BBC? Not needing consumer payment for content cuts both ways in this respect. All things to all people is usually a terrible approach – and the BBC has at times wildly missed the mark – but it is required to serve as much of the population as possible, often giving unique or underrepresented communities a greater platform.

Media strategist and How to make your company famous author Jon Card points to niche audiences as something that would be lost if the licence fee was scrapped: ‘The BBC produces such a broad range of content any reduction in its output would spell bad news for people in comms and PR.

‘It covers a lot of areas which are either quite niche or the public interest. I very much doubt the commercial sector would fill these voids if it stopped doing that.’

The BBC is under threat but 2027 is still a long way off and PR and communications is well placed to support and campaign for improvements to the BBC now, so it can benefit from the BBC of the future.

As Jon concluded: ‘Overall, we are better off for it and anyone working in media would miss it.’

Vuelio media monitoring covers BBC news and programming as well as every other media outlet and publisher.

Promoting finance products with non-money influencers

Why non-money influencers may be best placed to promote financial services

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This is a guest post from award-winning parenting blogger Jo Middleton, Slummy Single Mummy.

As a financial organisation, you want to get your brand in front of as many people as possible, so you go to the money influencers, right?

Yes. And also no.

While niche money blogs and social media accounts have a wealth of experience in writing about finances, there are lots of benefits to thinking more widely about the influencers you ask to talk about your product or service.

Not convinced? Here are just a few reasons why non-money influencers may be best placed to promote financial services.

They make financial information accessible

When your day-to-day is all ISAs and defined benefits, it can be hard to step outside of that and create financial content that’s genuinely accessible and engaging. Financial inclusion is hugely important though, and one way to make sure that you reach traditionally marginalised groups, such as women, people living with a disability or people living in poverty, is to speak to them directly, through influencers who actually represent them and their circumstances.

If you want to reach a particular community, find that person who they can connect with, who can talk about you in a simple and authentic way.

They often have untapped expertise

Don’t assume that just because an influencer chooses to talk about fashion, food or travel, that they don’t have any financial value to add. For example, I happen to have an economics degree and I trained as an actuary – you probably wouldn’t get that from my Slummy Single Mummy blog name.

Donna, who writes the parenting blog What The Redhead Said, is another great example. Her experience as a family blogger, combined with her financial background, means she can talk in a relatable way but with the back up of expert knowledge.

‘I’m a family lifestyle blogger,’ says Donna, ‘but I also used to be a bank manager. I know all the banking jargon, from ISAs and TESSAs to SVRs and early redemption charges. I know that typical people don’t understand all the terms, though – they like to know about a wide range of topics but they want to hear about it in a way that they can understand. As family bloggers, we’re friendly and approachable and our followers know that if they don’t understand something, they can ask and we’ll explain.’

They can share relatable, personal experiences

Financial products aren’t always the aspirational savings and investment type services – sometimes we need to talk about the difficult subjects like debt or tools for managing a low income. In these cases what readers often need is a relatable story, a connection with a ‘normal’ person who can say ‘this happened to me, this is what I found useful.’

Nyxie writes Nyxie’s Nook, a mental health and wellness blog, which includes content around personal finance, often aimed at people on low income or experiencing debt.

‘Whether or not we like it, money and finances are always in our lives,’ says Nyxie. ‘Some people shy away from the topic, but talking about money and debt normalises it and can make it feel more manageable. I write about money from my personal experience and that makes it more relatable at the same time as bringing a fresh perspective. I hope that people reading my blog can think “Okay, she’s been through this too, it’s not just me” and feel empowered to work through difficult financial situations with more confidence.’

They can give a financial product or service context

Let’s say you’re trying to sell a savings product. Yes, you may have a decent interest rate and some cool product features, but what’s really motivating that potential customer to save? What’s the context?

Thinking about the customer in a broader context can help you connect with the influencers who might reach them, whatever their niche. For example, a single woman in her 20s who is saving for a dream travel experience is much more likely to follow young travel influencers than a money blog. A couple saving for their first home are following the crafters, the DIY and the interiors influencers.

‘Financial content always gets a reaction,’ says John, a well-established parent blogger at Dad Blog UK, ‘because everyone has an interest in financial services. In the early years you’re buying nappies and buggies, in the tween years you’re maybe looking at getting your child their first phone, then at secondary school you have to buy laptops.’

Every purchase of a financial product or service has a context, and influencers can really help you tap into this.

While there is still value in working with money influencers, we hope this article has shown you that thinking outside the box and expanding your pool of partners could have a positive impact on your next influencer outreach campaign.

Ready to find relevant influencers for your next finance campaign? Find them on the Vuelio Media Database – book a demo here.