As someone who’s worked in the PR field for more than 20 years, I’m often amazed at the ever-changing and expanding menu of communications strategies used to pitch and promote clients.  Amidst blogging, social media strategies, trade wires, and email blasts — all immediate avenues for reaching target audiences — I have to stop and remind myself that faster is not always better.  

My colleagues and I embrace and practice the latest and greatest PR tools. But no matter how advanced the technology, we know the message itself can be substantially more meaningful if we dig a little deeper. By this I mean taking the time for some good old-fashioned listening.  Sitting back and tuning in to what the client has to say provides the opportunity to grab hold of a seemingly fleeting yet innovative idea, or, the chance to identify a potential trend at its earliest stages.  This is often what leads to successful PR campaigns and press hits. 

Whether it’s a first-time presentation, a weekly input call, or a working lunch, good listening skills lead to effective communications, which will lead to exceptional ideas, which then lead to results.  From my experience I’ve learned the power of listening can:

• Reaffirm to clients how much I value what they have to say
• Help develop ongoing and meaningful dialogue
• Help develop relevant questions about topics I previously didn’t consider
• Help tap into hidden intellectual resources and talent I didn’t know existed
• Help me better understand what the clients’ needs are

When I first started working in PR I used a fax machine to distribute releases. Today, a news release can reach a global audience in a millisecond. One thing hasn’t changed. Putting up the antennae and taking good mental notes. While working as a reporter, I learned that every person, every small business, every large corporation has a story. And while it’s the quarterly reports and Fortune 500 lists that make for good financial news, it’s the story behind the people that make for impression-building news. It’s still my job to be an investigative reporter and discover that news. 

To unearth the buried treasure, I know to pay close attention to what the client is saying. Then, like a reporter, ask a few questions, sit back, and listen again. I’m always amazed at what I discover. Namely… invaluable golden nuggets of information that could have easily passed me by if I was too busy talking.

A client recently commented that they really appreciated the PR counsel they were receiving and the direction that the account was going.  We decided to use the positive feedback as an opportunity to take a closer look at why that account was so successful and determine if all the same elements were in place with other clients. We came to the conclusion that there were many factors at work.  The account was particularly successful because in addition to understanding the media and its various permutations, we had really become attuned to understanding our client’s culture and goals. 

Once reminding ourselves that one size doesn’t fit all, we continued to look at each component of our other accounts.  Good PR counsel requires not only a solid understanding of the marketing mix but also how the pieces fit together.  Knowing when, how and where to create and deliver messages is critical to gaining visibility and market share for any organization.  Using a combination of traditional print media, Internet news portals, news aggregators, blogs, podcasts, and other emerging new media we continue to develop PR campaigns that will produce visibility and reinforce our clients’ value proposition.

New Media is something our public relations team at CCA talks about every day. We’ve looked at our PR accounts and continue to research and make recommendations for how our PR clients can incorporate blogs and other social media into their public relations, media relations, and SEO programs. They are a great way to engage in discussions with potential customers and other partners who have an interest in a particular company, and provide quality information without the “sell sell sell” mantra of other marketing vehicles.

Surprisingly, we haven’t been asked by a client for their company to be covered by a particular Blog or Blogger, though we continue to introduce them to effective ways of communicating on the web. PR clients do ask to be covered in the press by specific top-tier trades, regional newspapers and other traditional media outlets.

So, while new media is important, it is often up to the public relations account team to continue educating clients on the benefits of new media and how it can enhance their company’s PR efforts. We’ve had a lot of success with those clients willing to broaden their PR horizons, and extend their message to new media outlets as they grow in importance and popularity.

 

“The place was packed,” was how Bob Hughes described the September Open House for the Boston Fencing Club. “People were lined up and down the entrance hall to sign up for classes…a definite first.” CCA provides the 149-year old club with expert design and marketing services and it works. “The vast majority of the attendees were from the direct mail campaign CCA did for us,” Hughes said. “Many, many thanks for all your help.

Thirty years after the idea first came along, the concept of “the medium is the message” is more relevant than ever. If you don’t know what this concept is, look it up and you’ll learn something. If you’re familiar with this idea, which medium is delivering more of the “message” these days?

Back when I lived in New York, I’d see an escaped child’s balloon bouncing against the ceiling of Grand Central Station every now and then. The ad guy in me would look at it and think: if I could attach a message to a few balloons and control their altitude so they’d hover just over people’s heads, I’d have a pretty noticeable billboard-especially during rush hour. Flash forward to 2007 and a company called gearfactor has come up with a very cool riff on the idea. www.gearfactor.com.hk

Quark or InDesign?

Trying to do PR in a marketing vacuum can be very challenging. Being at an agency and working with clients that combine their branding, marketing programs, web strategy, and advertising together with their communications strategy, I am able to see firsthand how all the marketing processes can fit together and build on one another towards a common goal. It makes a world of difference. I am now a firm believer that a public relations campaign that includes other aspects of marketing will help maximize its effectiveness. Plus it’s fun to work on “both sides of the house” so to speak. Public Relations is so much more than just pitching traditional media. Creating a brand identity and maintaining it in the press is just as important. Sitting in as creative briefs are being prepared, and watching the client pick logos and banner ads gives you a much better sense of the direction the CEO is trying to take the brand. For instance, perhaps pitching a quirky consumer pub isn’t quite right if the company is trying to create a more serious, old school image. This kind of information is not as readily available when the marketing is being handled by numerous firms. Teaming up with media buyers is also a great way to maximize outreach potential. Advertorials are a great way to leverage messaging. PR pros and media gurus can split up demographics and make sure each target vertical has a little bit of editorial, and a little bit of paid media. Again, this kind of planning and strategy is much more difficult when two or more firms are being used in the overall marketing campaign.

Whether it is a television commercial from a pharmaceutical company touting a small pill, or a print ad for a large metropolitan hospital, the health care industry is out to capture your business. The pharmaceutical companies send their messages directly to consumers promoting either over-the-counter or prescription drugs. Hospitals, on the other hand, get their patients principally from referrals made by their associated physician. Hospitals compete…for patients…and physicians. Hospital advertising targets individuals to get them to ask their doctors about specific treatments. At the same time, it tells physicians about services they offer and what a great place their hospital is. The goal is to get the physician to be an affiliate and refer his or her patients to that hospital.

There is a third, more subtle goal, to promote the hospital in such a manner that physicians and staff will be proud to say they work there. This helps morale and recruitment.

CCA was named to Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in America. This list, which is an extension of Inc. magazine’s annual Inc. 500 list, catches many businesses that are too big to grow at the pace required to make the Inc. 500, as well as a host of smaller firms. Taken as a whole, these companies represent the backbone if the U.S. economy.

CCA, which grew nearly 40% in the last three years, continues to expand its client base through its success in adapting marketing and public relations programs to the new content-driven web era. CCA provides a level of service and service integration not typically found at traditional advertising and marketing agencies. The agency provides unparalled expertise in developing marketing and public relations strategy for its clients.

The agency was also recently ranked the 5th Largest Advertising & Public Relations firm in the Worcester Business Journal’s Annual Book of Lists, (July 16, 2007). The listing includes companies in Central Massachusetts and the MetroWest areas.