Michelle Han
December 18, 2014 | 04:43:46
Welcoming in the New Year provides a great chance to take stock of things and set some goals and refresh your public relations. Whether it’s tech PR, consumer, or B2B, we resolve to do better in 2015 with the following resolutions.
Get visual. If you haven’t already jumped on this trend, now is the time. Infographics, images, short videos and other visual content are more important than ever in today’s Instagram-dominated landscape.
Go onsite. Speaking of the visual experience, there’s something about visiting the physical site (if there is one) central to a company’s work to spark creative ideas for communications. We recently visited a client’s manufacturing plant for a broadcast story and came away with a fresh perspective on the company, and a pocket full of new story ideas.
Build your expert database. When media opportunities arise, time is of the essence, and you want to be able to call upon some standout expert voices quickly. Work on strengthening relationships with expert sources, and aim to build new ones; doing so also builds you a reputation among journalists for being able to deliver.
Focus on quality content. As content marketing becomes more standard, audiences are getting more savvy, and selective. Boilerplate, promotional, or uninteresting content simply won’t do. Focus on developing material that’s authentic, unique, helpful, relevant, and increasingly, interactive.
Try something new. It’s great to have certain go-to skills and tactics, but everyone wins when you go out on a limb with a creative new idea to drum up more interest for your company or brand. For example, rather than pulling together the usual conference calendar and speaking gigs, why not offer to produce an on- or off-site branded activity for attendees that will draw attention to the company and its culture?
Keep it simple. This is more challenging than we often think. When projects or ideas become so complex and multifaceted, the desired outcome gets muddled, making it harder to know when the goal is met. We take a page from Greg McKeown’s NY Times bestseller, Essentialism, for this one (which, by the way, has great visual illustrations of key points).