• The Anatomy of PR Success

    Often in this business, you find yourself so far down in the weeds that determining what’s working well isn’t obvious. The smarter agencies have measurable metrics – something championed here at Matter since our inception eleven years ago – that ensure programs stay on track and achieve the results sought after by our clients. That being said, here are a number of ways that you can tell if your PR program is a success:
    First, your program moves the business needle – directly or indirectly. Your team develops spot-on messaging that resonates with all identified key audiences, and when they execute, the program generates the media results (a legitimate buzz!) that creates quantifiable business results. You may measure it in leads generated or deals closed, but in any case you know well that what your team is doing is directly contributing to achieving business objectives.

    Second, your PR program is a success when it has a multi-channel approach to delivering key messages. If you are complementing tried-and-true strategies and tactics with new opportunities for earned placement, then you are aligned with the direction of your category. Now is the time for comprehensive and visually robust programs that tell a story visually by way of videos, infographics, icons, logos and so on. Your initiative is a success if your PR team looks broadly at the charge, and goes to market with engaging and creative content.

    Third, your PR program is a success if efforts dedicated to social media channels result in thoughtful and highly interactive discussions that better position your entity. While volume in “opt-in” fans and followers remains so important, the dialogue on channels that advance the sought-after positioning of your product, company or brand marks broader communication success. Social channels present a wealth of opportunity for better positioning, and the contributions of other interested parties can be the most credible boost to the effort.

    Fourth, your PR program is a success if the results generated directly address the needs of the internal stakeholders, and they have what they need to achieve their objectives. Each group within the client organization has a slightly different charge and in most cases, all of those groups or individuals are in some way supported by PR and social media. If your program is generating the types of results that help them do their jobs better – content that can be repackaged for marketing; media coverage that supports sales; insightful social media that contributes directly to product management – then the program is a success.

    Finally, your PR program is a success if you have generated the results that earn you a seat at the senior management decision-making table. That’s where PR belongs. When done well, it’s a driver and a direct contributor to the business goals of any organization. Your PR program is a success if it is smart and strategic, and it is respected internally for supporting the wider organization’s objectives and helping the entity achieve business milestones.

    What else should you look for when determining if your PR program is a success?

    Scott Signore

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  • Switching to Public Relations (The Dark Side)

    Switching to Public Relations (The Dark Side)

    By Emily Quirk

    After 14 years in journalism, I made the switch to public relations in 2013. My colleagues harangued me with the typical mockery: “so, you’re going to the dark side” and “now we’ll be getting lame pitches from you too?”

    Part of me felt guilty over the decision. I had put blood, sweat and tears into my journalistic craft. I put in my share of 12- to 14-hour days, endured constant ridicule from the “Good Ol’ Boys Network of New England” as a young female journalist (often referred to as “Lois Lane”), slept with the police scanner at my bedside, and spent months investigating a news story only for it to end up on the cutting room floor. Journalism was my life. The adrenaline rush of getting the scoop or printing your best piece of writing was like nothing else.

    Another part of me felt elated to finally have those days behind me. I was burned out. Done. I was at the end of my theoretical rope with being treated as though my life outside of the newsroom was less important. I was on call 24/7!

    It became especially difficult to be journalist first and mom second during the first two years of my daughter Meghan’s life. Often during those early days I wouldn’t see her before I left for the newsroom in the morning and she’d be asleep by the time I came home at night. The news doesn’t care that there’s a beautiful baby waiting for me at home. Murders, fires and other breaking news doesn’t stop at 5 p.m. You stay on the story until the press crew is screaming for the last page at close to midnight. When Meghan still hadn’t said “mama” by 18 months, I knew something in the work/life balance was off.

    I can now honestly look back on my switch to the “dark side” and say it was the best move I ever made. I can now afford to eat more than Ramen noodles at every meal and feel just as fulfilled in my career as a public relations professional as I did as a journalist. When you take a moment to think about it there are quite a few similarities between the two professions:

    Similarities

    • The need for impeccable writing skills
    • A nose for news – knowing what’s trending in your “beat” or PR niche (I’m an NPR news junkie)
    • Jack of all trades – The importance of knowing a little bit about a lot of things is equally important in journalism as PR. With a variety of stories on a variety of topics – anthrax, hepatitis C, No Child Left Behind, gun laws – you better learn and learn quickly. The same applies to PR with a variety of different clients in hi-tech, medical, nonprofit, startup, retail.
    • Knowing the pieces of the puzzle, the “ingredients” for a good story
    • Adhering to deadlines and working around breaking news
    • Communication skills – Just as any successful journalist must build strong relationships and go-to sources within their beat, so do PR professionals.

    The journalism industry wouldn’t exist without PR professionals and PR wouldn’t exist without journalists. We may be annoyed with one another from time to time and thankful for one another from time to time. And that’s OK. Knowing the day-to-day life of the journalist on the other end of my pitch, can only help me become a better PR professional.

    Emily Quirk

  • Never Content With Content Distribution

    As our creative team is in the process of producing a satellite media tour that’s reaching no less than 25 national media outlets today – from the studio here at our office – the increased importance of solid distribution channels is on my mind. It should be on yours, too.

    As our business has evolved over the past decade, the quantity of channels for disseminating key messages has grown exponentially, and it’s more important than ever for leading PR and social media agencies to make an array of distribution resources available to their clients.

    While “pushing” a press release over a distribution service like Businesswire or Thompson Reuters may still satisfy financial company regulators, it’s merely a drop in the bucket for exposure value. It’s a commodity. Table stakes. Fuel for the SEO fire.

    The seemingly endless list of well-defined social media channels that reach key audiences – eyeballs, people! – have created such an opportunity for communications professionals to make an even greater business impact. Managing these channels and a corresponding crowd of “opt-ins” is now what pays a valuable return. And, the opportunity to manage multiple social channels that prioritize various media formats – copy/text, images and video – presents even greater opportunities for PR firms like ours.

    So, we’ve added satellite media tours to our list of core services, enabling brands to reach millions of people in key markets in the span of a few hours. We work with an array of influencers in digital media to disseminate our clients’ content to their respective readerships. The key is to produce content that actually has value – content that can improve somebody’s life or make their business operate more productively.

    And we’re just getting started. Seemingly every day a new channel opens up – be it a new social platform or content syndication tool. And we evaluate as many as we can to stay one step ahead of the curve. It’s been said that the most dangerous sentence in the English language is, “We’ve always done it this way.”

    I agree, because in the digital era of paid/earned/owned media, what’s true today will be history tomorrow. Smart PR agencies know they must continually evolve or perish.

    Drop me a line if content distribution is on your mind, too.

    Scott Signore

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  • Baseball needs a PR shake up

    With baseball’s Opening Week upon us it’s a good time to take a deeper look into America’s pastime. Without some change, Baseball is in jeopardy of becoming a game of America’s past. The sport is extremely successful from a monetary stand point. Television contracts and players’ salaries have never been higher. However money doesn’t cure everything, and if the MLB doesn’t make some changes their place in American culture is going to be much different in 25 years.

    The problem is America’s youth is just not as interested in the game as they once were. In 2014 there is a lot competing for the attention of a 15 year-old. The Internet has changed everything and almost every industry has changed right with it. However baseball doesn’t seem too eager to change.  The MLB was the last of the major sport to adopt instant replay, and the use of social media.

    Baseball is a family game that is often passed on from parent to child. If the MLB can’t hook young people, what will the viewership look like by the time the current high school students of America are parents, or even grandparents? I know this is a long way down the road, but I think the current MLB executives are too busy counting the money from their TV contracts to see a big problem in front of them.

    What the MLB needs to regain the younger market is the execution of a strong PR Plan.

    Step 1- Shorten the games: The current state of technology allows for action packed video games right from your phone. You would be hard pressed to find 10 minutes of out the day when a high school student doesn’t have their face glued to a phone or computer. Yet an MLB game can run four hours long with slow gaps of boredom in between. Little things like a pitcher “shot clock,” and not allowing batters to step out of the batter’s box would make a huge difference.

    Step 2-Shorten the season: Do we need 162 games to determine who should make the playoffs? The answer is obviously no. Even the most hardcore of baseball fans still run into the dog days of August thinking “when are the playoffs, coming?” The season should be cut down by 20 or 30 games, and the playoffs and World Series should be moved up. This would also solve the problem of playing World Series games in 34 degree weather in the likes of Boston and New York.

    Step 3- Figure out the Internet: I will admit the MLB is getting a lot better in this regard. Not too long ago the MLB had a laughable presence on the web. It was easier finding video of George Washington than it was to find the clip of Carlton Fisk’s 1975 game 6 home run. This was especially frustrating when you could type in “Jordan shot on Elho,” and find MJ ending the Cavs 1989 season in less than :30 seconds. The MLB is definitely getting better in this regard, and more and more content is available every day, but they have a lot of catching up to do from their dark start on the web. America’s youth watches TV, shops, plays video games, and reads all on the internet. The MLB needs to perfect their model (Like the NBA has) to ensure their reaching the younger demographic.

    Step 4- Complacency is a bad thing: As mentioned the money associated with the game in 2014 in astronomical, but this can’t cover up for the bigger issues at hand. Contracts run out, and there is no guarantee that the next television contract will be bigger. The owners and executives can’t just assume the money and popularity will always be there, because it won’t. Their massive television contract doesn’t change the fact that the MLB had zero games in the top 50 viewed sporting events of 2013. The brain trust at the MLB can’t be complacent with recent success; they need to stay ahead of the game and reach the younger generation.

    Step 5- Fix the All-Star Game: This is a quick one, although I appreciate the effort of trying to spice things up making the All-Star Game “matter,” its terrible idea. Go back to the old days of a meaningless exhibition. If we’re going to have 162 games, could we let those decided home field in the World Series, not a glorified scrimmage.

    MLB Executives and owners may be printing money in 2014, but if they don’t keep their eyes on the prize by 2034 they may be in serious trouble.

    Matter

  • PR: Is Proximity Relative?

    As the newest team member at Matter Communications in Portland, OR, I take time to reflect on the words of one of the most influential voices of my generation to help make my transition as seamless as possible:

    “When opportunity knocks, you better let him in. Sit him on down and try to be his friend.”

    I’ve taken Coolio’s words to heart during my first month with Matter and the weeks leading up to my start date. Yes, Coolio AND the Space Jam soundtrack referenced in my first Matter Chatter.  I stick by my “most influential” claim. #noregrets.

    Throughout my career, I’ve been a part of numerous PR campaigns ranging from basic US-based media relations to global product launches and reviews. I’ve worked in agencies on the east and west coasts and have come across opportunities with clients down the street and half way around the world.

    Many times, potential clients, who are not necessarily within driving range of the office, will question the reliability or ability of an agency to meet their needs. Are time zones really that big of an issue? Of course, it may be inconvenient to be in our Portland office on a call at 6AM, but if the work is done satisfactory and in a timely manner, should that be an issue?

    Whether we like to admit it, a PR professional is on call at all times. In this day and age of constant connectivity, do the miles really make a difference? Will a potential client in the Bay Area pass over the most qualified or affordable agency if they’re not in San Francisco? Will a Seattle company be more content with an agency headquartered in Newburyport, MA who has an office down I-5 in Portland?

    Matter is the second bi-coastal agency on my resume and I’ve seen the time zone bias play on numerous occasions. But with that, I’ve also been on a 7AM call with European contacts. The work gets done, clients are happy and we’ll occasionally get a good night’s rest!

    When it’s all said and done, I think the experience, willingness to adjust and success of a company should be the ultimate measure of a deal. Hey, there’s always a seat on the red eye if the clients back east want to thank you for your work in person!

    There are so many opportunities out there to increase the success of your campaign, but to a PR professional “home” is wherever you can connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot. We can make it happen on the road during a trade show, in the office or on the couch at midnight. If the opportunity to develop a communications plan for a company outside of your city limits arises, reinforce the quality of work rather than your ability to take them out to lunch!

    Seth Buchwalter, Senior Account Executive, Portland, OR

    Matter

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