Public Relations Archives • The Hoyt Organization

The Different Types of Public Relations

Public relations is fundamental in today’s business world for companies and brands seeking strategic communication.

Good PR promotes brand awareness and garners media attention. It also aids in the development of trust between businesses and society.

Public relations enables businesses to maintain positive relationships with stakeholders, their target audience, and the public. It also helps companies manage unfavorable views and safeguard their societal image. Because of this, it’s a crucial tool for any organization to help navigate the modern working world.

7 Different Types Of Public Relations

Depending on what information your business would like to convey, there are several different types of public relations to choose from. Let’s look at seven of the most common types of Public Relations.

Media Relations

A key component of PR is media relations. This involves establishing and preserving connections with media professionals. For example, journalists, editors, and broadcasters.

To ensure your business receives the media coverage it wants, you need to find an enticing perspective for your story. You want to make it interesting so that a reporter will want to pursue it.

A smart PR planner will be skilled at crafting exceptional press releases, securing interviews with well-known presenters at opportune times, and planning press conferences.

The aim of media relations is to get favorable press for your business or brand. It also helps get the word out about what you’re trying to advertise to the broader public.

In essence, you want to use the media to promote your company, product, or breaking news at no financial cost.

The media is an effective tool to gain exposure and reach a big audience. So, it’s crucial to establish and keep up positive ties with the press.

Strategic Communications

Strategic communications aim to develop, control, and disseminate information to accomplish defined objectives.

This type of PR is employed to advance a cause, a service, or a product.

What differentiates strategic communications from more general public relations is that it goes beyond the conventional techniques of media relations, events, and crisis communications.

Strategic communications are effective in swaying public opinion and forging bonds with important audiences and key industry players.

Community PR

In community PR, the goal is to improve interactions between your company and the immediate public you serve.

Through community outreach and engagement initiatives, community public relations aims to increase understanding and confidence in your organization.

Organizational transparency and sensitivity to community demands are more crucial than ever before. Through community connections, businesses can forge close bonds with their customers. At the same time, they contribute to the creation of a better-functioning world.

Crisis Communications

In times of disaster, crisis communications defend and safeguard a person, brand, or organization.

Any situation that could endanger the reputation of a person or company is considered a crisis.

Through effective crisis communications, organizations are able to manage the narrative surrounding a crisis. The goal is to communicate reliable and up-to-date information to the public to show what actions are being taken to remedy the crisis.

Situations that may require crisis communications include:

Catastrophic events
Cyber attacks
Company controversies
Defective products
Any other incident that has the potential to harm a reputation

Internal PR

Communication within a company is the main emphasis of internal public relations.

Internal PR is necessary to ensure that each individual within an organization is clued into the company messaging. It keeps everyone up to date on internal affairs or new product launches, not yet known to the public.

Internal public relations can also help ensure a cohesive front when there is an external crisis being publicized. Internal PR communication must be clear and succinct for every stakeholder to understand the situation and the effects thereof.

Public Affairs

Public affairs are the planned handling of a company’s relationships with persons in positions of influence who can affect consumer opinion or government policy. It can refer to community relations, media relations, or even government lobbying.

This type of PR is crucial for large industries whose work affects the public. It assists an organization in gaining influence with the government or other important large public structures to advance a particular industry’s power.

Public affairs enable businesses to not only control and shape how they are perceived but also increase support for their policy goals.

Social Media PR

Social media PR is great for promoting new products and company news around the globe within minutes of posting.

Businesses can increase their brand recognition, legitimacy, and customer engagement by interacting with their target audience on social media.

Social media platforms are useful tools for PR professionals to:

Sway public opinion
Interact with influencers
Communicate with journalists
Comment on breaking news stories
Connect with customers directly

Conclusion

A company’s or brand’s reputation can be successfully enhanced by good use of PR. Effective public relations increase a company’s visibility and enhance its reputation. It also fosters trust and understanding between a company and the general public.

Nick Luvera

Tips To Help Leaders Train Remote Employees

The Covid-19 pandemic spurred numerous companies to implement work-from-home policies. Today, these policies are still extremely popular, with lots of employees preferring more flexible work arrangements.

However, remote work does come with certain challenges. Training remote employees so they are set up for success can seem daunting at first. To help with this, we’ve listed tried and tested training tips below that will help to equip employees in record time.

5 Tips For Leaders Training Remote Employees

Create A Customized Training System

Every company is unique. So your remote onboarding process should cater to your personal company requirements.

No one knows what needs to be taught and communicated to new employees better than you do. With this knowledge in hand, structure your training program so that it covers all of the company’s bases in one swoop.

Custom videos or worksheets that explain the inner workings of each department are ideal. After the training material has been worked through, you can quiz new employees on what they’ve learned.

By doing this, you can ensure that each new employee knows who is responsible for what, how each department functions, and how they will be contributing to the team.

This is not to say that one-on-one remote training sessions should be entirely discarded. You can always schedule further training sessions depending on how technical or detailed your onboarding requirements are.

Set Up A Fixed Training Schedule And Budget

If you’d like your training process to be more extensive, then it’s best to set up a fixed training schedule. Frequent communication and consistency are essential to ensure that your onboarding process is truly effective and adhered to.

This might mean that you allocate one day each week to training new employees. Alternatively, you can schedule regular check-in sessions where you answer any questions that your trainees may have.

Keep in mind that your training process doesn’t have to come to an end once new employees are settled in. Many companies have an allocated training budget that encourages employees to undertake external courses.

Lifelong learning not only ensures higher quality work but also allows each employee to invest in their own career. By empowering your employees to take charge of their own professional growth, you can create a more robust team that’s up to date with the latest industry trends.

Schedule Regular Follow Up Sessions

When implementing any new training regime in your company, it’s important to schedule regular feedback sessions. This not only encourages your team to communicate any problems they may have but will also help to keep you up to date with their progress.

Establishing a set structure for these sessions is best. It will give everyone the opportunity to voice their concerns, tips, or advice regarding new training.

Be sure to practice active listening and prompt your employees to share what they’ve learned, as it will benefit the entire team.

Try to keep follow-up sessions to the point and productive. When it comes to feedback, be mindful of your team’s workflow and be adaptable to your staff’s needs.

Follow-up sessions can be extremely beneficial if everyone commits to understanding and bettering the training material at hand.

Set Clear Training Deadlines

Whether you have a hybrid setup or are fully remote, there are certain times of the year when your team will be busier than usual.

By having clear training deadlines set in place, everyone will know what’s expected of them. This will also empower your employees to take accountability for their schedules and not push their training aside.

To help your team meet their training deadlines, it may be beneficial to allocate a certain number of hours per week solely to training. This way, each employee will have the time he or she needs to make the most of the courses or training material at hand.

Be sure to celebrate every training milestone your employees achieve. You can gift dedicated employees with a coupon or arrange a small online celebration. Whatever you decide to do, make sure your team feels seen and rewarded for their hard work.

Make Training Fun

Training may be hard work, but it can also be loads of fun, too. To motivate your team to take new learning material seriously, you can incentivize employees through competitions or gift cards.

For example, you can give a day off to the first employee that completes his or her training and passes the training exam with flying colors. Alternatively, split your employees into two groups and let the winning team decide your next team-building exercise.

By injecting your training program with a little bit of fun, you can encourage team bonding while working remotely. In addition, it incentivizes everyone to take their learning seriously.

In Summary

Training employees in a remote working environment doesn’t have to be hard. Set clear training deadlines and schedule regular feedback sessions to monitor progress and keep employees on track. Also make training fun by adding in competitive elements or small incentives. This can help keep your remote employees engaged and motivated!

Nick Luvera

How To Use QR Codes in Public Relations Campaigns

The QR code system was invented in 1994, and its original purpose was to track vehicles during manufacturing. But it has come a long way since then. QR codes are now used across industries and are a convenient way for potential customers to access information about products and services.

People are using their mobile devices more and more to interact with the world around them. As virtually every mobile phone can scan these codes, they are a useful tool for communication and marketing. So take advantage of the QR marketing trend and you will reach more of these mobile users.

If you are considering the use of QR codes for your PR campaigns, check out our short guide below. We look at what a QR code is, how it works, and what QR codes have to offer in public relations campaigns.

What Is A QR Code?

A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode that uses four encoding modes for storing data. These coding modes are:

Numeric
Alpha-numeric
Byte/Binary (two-symbol data system)
Kanji (Japanese symbols that represent whole words)

Together, these allow a QR code to store any text as well as an image. The “QR” stands for Quick Response.

There are different types of QR codes, used for specific functions. These include product or contact information, links to social media platforms and websites, and many other uses.

How Does A QR Code Work?

A modern QR code consists of seven different elements, each with a unique purpose. Collectively, they form a “pattern” that is scanned with a QR code reader or the camera on a smartphone.

Simply aiming a camera or QR code reader towards this code allows instant access to embedded information.

Who Can Use QR Codes?

The beauty of QR codes is that they are so simple to use. Anyone can use them and there is no need for any technical know-how.

Most modern mobile devices can scan QR codes. And with the download of a QR scanner app, older smartphones can be used to enjoy this feature, too.

How To Use QR Codes In Your PR Campaigns

There are many benefits to using QR codes for your business. And one of these is the simplification of your PR campaigns. Let’s examine the top four reasons you should be using QR codes for your business’ marketing and PR.

Direct People To Your Website

Even small and micro businesses usually have a website. Make it easy for your customers to find yours by turning your URL into a QR code. They will simply need to scan the code and it will take them to your site immediately!

You can direct people to your website straight from your product packaging, informational leaflet, or print media. This will significantly increase your web traffic and is an effective method for promoting your business. You can choose to lead them to your home page, sign-up page, or anywhere you think most effective.

Access To Your Contact Information

There is no longer a need for printed business cards with a long list of contact details on them. Use a QR code as a business card. This will allow new users access to your contact details, without having to go online to look for this information.

It can include your phone numbers, email addresses, and social media handles. Some QR codes can even allow users to dial the number directly once they have scanned it with their mobile phone.

Lead Customers To Your Social Media

Social media has become a very powerful digital marketing tool for businesses across every industry. You more than likely have at least one social media account where you engage with your target market. But don’t leave this to chance.

Lead interested customers right to your social media pages from any other platform. Whether you are on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, or Twitter, you can use QR codes to lead users to your socials where they can follow you.

Sending Messages

Enable people with product and service-related queries to send you messages. You can introduce a QR code to your business premises, email campaigns, newsletters, or product packaging. A quick scan of this code will enable customers and prospects to contact you. This is a highly efficient way to encourage any feedback and questions that people may have.

But you can also send messages highlighting promotions and new product lines or value-added services, in this way. Once the user scans the QR code, the message becomes available to them. This will take your existing SMS and email marketing to new heights.

Conclusion

QR codes can be used in many ways to streamline your public relations needs. From product information on packaging to directing traffic to your online platforms, QR codes offer great value to any business and provide more opportunities to connect with your target audience.

Leeza Hoyt

An Overlooked and Undervalued PR Tip

Originally published by Anne Buchanan on PRGN: https://prgn.com/author/annebuchanan/

The strongest PR tip I have to offer is neither glamorous nor original – but it has stood the test of time. Become a regular consumer of news.

consuming news — Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Make it a practice to read at least one daily newspaper every day. Regularly listen to news on the radio. I am an ardent fan of NPR. Watch the evening news.

You don’t have to give up Google alerts; they certainly have their purpose. But do not let alerts replace regular consumption of the news.

PR now encompasses a variety of story-sharing tactics ranging from TikTok videos to speeches. But the Holy Grail of PR remains earned media coverage. It is difficult to trump a timely placement in a respected media outlet. Earned media is viewed with higher credibility and has the added benefit of enhancing SEO.

That’s why becoming a regular student of the media is so valuable.

If you make news consumption a regular habit, I guarantee you will enjoy the following:

Your mind will begin to churn with ideas for your organization or your clients. When I finish reading a paper, I often have multiple story ideas for clients.
This is one of the best ways to find stories to “news hijack” your company or clients into.
You will become a better writer.
You will learn what constitutes a good story.
You’ll gain an appreciation for “news hierarchy,” especially if you hold a paper in your hands and notice where stories are slotted in the paper.
You will develop a deeper sense of which reporters like which stories. This goes beyond the beat information you will find in a media database.
You’ll be able to counsel your leadership or clients better because you understand the media better.
You will be able to converse easily on a wide range of topics.
You’ll stand out from the competition. Few take the time these days to truly consume the news.

Yes, it’s a pretty basic PR tip suggestion. But it’s one you can implement today and start seeing immediate dividends.

Leeza Hoyt

What Is ESG And Why Is It Important?

Consumers are no longer satisfied with superficial marketing messages that try to motivate the purchase of high-quality products and services.

Since the pandemic, the criteria for acceptable business practices have changed for the better. In other words, if you want to be successful, you have to take your company’s environmental and social impact into account.

Conscious consumerism is on the rise. So adopting Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) measures are now more important than ever to ensure longevity in the business world.

Below, we discuss what ESG is and why it’s important for your business.

What Is ESG?

ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance criteria. These are used to measure or assess a company’s overall impact on the world.

The ‘E’ in ESG looks at how many resources your business needs on an annual basis and determines the impact your company has on the environment. This can include things like your business’s carbon footprint, water usage, and energy consumption.

The social criteria, or ‘S’ in ESG, look at how your company interacts with local communities. It also assesses your company’s internal policies in relation to diversity, including labor policies.

Governance (G) has to do with your company’s internal practices that determine your decision-making processes and legal compliance.

When ESG is really prioritized it can help to:

boost company growth
attract talented employees
reduce company costs
facilitate a sense of trust amongst consumers

Why Is It Important For All Businesses?

Smaller businesses are more prone to thinking that ESG may not apply to them. However, this isn’t the case. You don’t have to run a large business for people to pay attention to how you are conducting your affairs.

In fact, small businesses that are mindful of ESG from an early stage may grow quicker compared to companies that aren’t.

You can bolster company integrity, employee wellbeing, and customer relations while reducing company costs by adopting ESG measures, no matter the size of your business.

Company Integrity

Company integrity is all about delivering on what you promised and holding true to what your company stands for.

Nowadays, people are more interested in the story behind your brand and your company ideals. Buyers want to know that they are spending their money on companies that are aligned with their values.

No product or service is truly unique. What truly sets a company apart is the ideals or values that it’s grounded in. By caring about more than your monthly profits and actually contributing to environmental or social causes, you are giving buyers even more reasons to support you.

Employee Wellbeing

Ensuring the well-being of your employees starts with practicing active listening. By being in tune with your employees’ needs, you will not only retain top talent but will also have a more productive team.

As the company owner, social responsibility should start with you. It will then slowly filter down to every department so that it is truly ingrained in the company culture.

Yes, social responsibility is all about benefiting society. But, without ensuring employee wellbeing, you can’t expect to make a lasting, genuine impact on customers, stakeholders, or your local community.

Customer Relations

As a business owner, you may be wondering why you should care about what your customers feel. However, if done right, positive customer relations could be your brand’s greatest ally.

When you make your customers feel valued and appreciated they are more likely to support you on a regular basis. They can also act as brand ambassadors.

It’s all about using special moments to connect with your customer. Whether you send a memorable e-card to a customer on his or her birthday, or whether it’s providing more autonomy throughout the customer journey, there are numerous ways to forge a connection with both old and new customers.

Reduces Costs

A recent study revealed that the cost of ignoring ESG initiatives may be too high.

Companies that scored high when it comes to implementing ESG protocols reported lower capital costs, lower equity costs, and lower overall debt compared to companies with poor ESG scores.

These decreased costs are due, in part, to lower litigation, regulatory, and environmental risks, which are commonly associated with companies with high ESG scores.

In short, ESG is not just nice to have but is strategically imperative if you want to boost company profits. Without it, you run the risk of putting out fires that you never intended to create with money you never intended to spend.

Conclusion

If you want to truly stand out in the sea of companies that offer similar products or services to yours, then now is the time to invest in ESG measures.

Not only does it tell potential stakeholders and customers what your company is all about, but it also gives you the opportunity to make a bigger positive impact on both the environment and local communities.

Leeza Hoyt

DE&I Writing Tips For B2B Communications

If your company is serious about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), then your B2B writing style and overall marketing strategy should reflect it.

DEI shouldn’t be viewed as the latest fad. Instead, industry leaders should recognize how inclusivity and diversity of voice can benefit company growth.

Research shows that more diverse businesses boast above-average profitability. Why is this? Because inclusivity, diversity, and equity have been shown to promote innovation, and creativity and attract talented individuals.

If you are ready to show your clients that you value inclusion, equity, and diversity in the workplace, you’ve come to the right place. Here are four writing tips on how to style your DE&I-focused B2B communications.

4 Writing Tips For DE&I-Focused B2B Communications

Engage Your ENTIRE Audience

To grab the attention of your brand’s entire audience, you should first know who you are writing to. Invest time and effort into establishing your brand’s customer personas.

After you have that finalized, further divide each customer persona into subgroups that take the underrepresented and marginalized into consideration.

Yes, you can use AI to sift through large amounts of customer data to help you with this. Just know that your AI system may not be free of bias and discriminatory decisions. Your learning strategy shouldn’t be wholly dependent on AI. Instead, do some of the heavy digging yourself.

This can be a brilliant exercise for your entire marketing team to unravel which underrepresented groups of people are not currently being catered to. The more time you invest in uncovering more sensitive ways to approach these types of clients, the more compelling, thoughtful, and useful your company’s content will be.

Cover The Right Topics

At the beginning of each month, it’s important to plan a content calendar that reflects how important diversity, equity, and inclusion are to your company.

What you write about should speak to more than only one ethnicity, gender, and age group. It’s also a great idea to write about special company events that celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This is best done in a team setting where various people can give their opinion and help shape your company’s monthly content ideas. If more than three pairs of eyes look your content calendar over, there’ll be fewer chances of excluding minority people groups.

To point you in the right direction, here are a couple of things that will help you create effective business content for a wide spectrum of clients:

Employ a diverse writing team.
Create language guidelines that promote inclusivity, equity, and diversity for your writing team.
Create content that is accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Cover a wide variety of topics that incorporates stories about a diverse range of people.
Create a company culture where everyone feels comfortable speaking their mind.

Choose Diverse Images

By knowing exactly who your clients are, and who you’re trying to reach through your content, you can better connect with future clients through the correct use of imagery.

Stock photo websites are a gem when it comes to sourcing diverse depictions of people in everyday situations. To show your readers that you really understand them and their needs on a personal level, you should represent them in your marketing material whenever you can.

If your clients can relate to what they’re seeing, they will be more inclined to read your newsletters, white papers, blogs, or case studies.

However, keep in mind that visually impaired individuals also want to know what each photo portrays on your website. Be sure to implement web accessibility best practices when describing images with the Alt Text tag to accommodate them.

Build DE&I Into Your Brand And Team

Yes, DE&I should be reflected in the content you put out into the world. However, if your bid to support diversity, inclusion, and equity stops there, do you really mean it? These values can’t just be sprinkled about here and there. They need to be built into your brand.

Any B2B content you send to clients should reflect the brand values that your team already lives and breathes. DE&I shouldn’t be an afterthought. It should be woven into everything your brand does.

For a company that serves other companies, this means you will need to practice active listening to really understand your clients’ needs. You should also invest in potential stakeholders that have different backgrounds, beliefs, religions, values, and ethnicities.

By hiring a diverse group of employees, you can also gain priceless perspectives on your brand and business initiatives. This will help build DE&I into your brand, team, and company culture.

Conclusion

When it comes down to it, everybody wants to feel seen and heard – even in the business world. By making it clear that every single one of your clients matter, your brand will always be one step ahead of the competition.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion should be top of mind in regard to all business and marketing decisions, especially when it comes to brand content.

Leeza Hoyt

How To Achieve Earned Media Success

Achieving earned media success can be tricky! Earned media refers to brand promotion through organic means which can be in the form of a news article, blog, review, or a mention on social media.

The reason why there’s so much hype surrounding earned media is because of its effectiveness in forging connections between a brand and its customers.

Earned media success indicates that you have a relatable, authentic brand that people are genuinely interested in.

6 Tips For Earned Media Success

Below, we’ve outlined 6 tips to ensure earned media success.

Take A Stance

For your brand to be successful in generating earned media, you have to know what your brand is all about. What does your brand stand for? Can you define your brand’s personality and your brand values?

By defining what your brand is all about, you will be better equipped to decide what content your brand should put out there.

Remember, you can’t please everyone and you shouldn’t want to. The more authentic your brand is, the more attention it will garner for all the right reasons.

The key is to know what your brand is all about and to stick to your guns. Don’t be scared to have opinions and don’t be scared to take a stance on important topics.

Create Pillar Content

Now that you know what your brand stands for, it’s time to target your brand’s target audience. How do you do that? By creating pillar content that speaks directly to them.

Pillar content centers around writing an informative and substantive piece of content on a specific topic. The key is to take a big idea or topic and cover it in its entirety. Then, you can create other content explaining the different subtopics in more detail and link it all together.

The initial creation of original content can be time-intensive, but it’s so worth it because it can be used over and over again in different formats. If done right, this will allow you to reach your intended audience and forge a connection with potential buyers.

Search Engine Optimization

Now that you’ve invested in great content that resonates with your readers, it’s time to get your content in front of as many eyes as possible. Implementing search engine optimization is crucial if you want to target the right reader.

By using priority keywords, anchor text, and linking to and from high-ranking websites, you can make your content more discoverable for the masses.

Invest In Thought Leadership

As previously mentioned, you should not be afraid to have an opinion. In fact, your brand should act as a guiding light that people can look to. You want to be heard and seen so you can stay top-of-mind when people are in need of the products and services you offer.

By being a thought leader, people are also more likely to trust in what you are selling. Customers will more easily respect you and listen to you if they trust you.

Thought leadership allows you to speak your mind on everything that is going on in your industry. This is both a great responsibility and a fantastic opportunity to earn your customer’s loyalty through your unique expertise.

Nurture Your Customer Relationships

Be sure to create a safe space where people can comment on your content. This not only fosters more engagement but helps to build your brand’s online community.

If your fans spend hours reading, commenting, and engaging in conversations, then show them some appreciation by replying.

If you are wondering why you should care about what customers feel, then consider the following: It’s not about faking a connection, it’s about saying thank you. Yes, replying online takes up time, but it makes your followers feel seen and heard. That connection cannot be bought.

Don’t bombard your audience with your own thoughts and leave no space for discussions. By hearing what your audience has to say and practicing active listening, you will also be much more in tune with what type of content they want.

Be Patient

Seeing a return on earned media investment can take time. In fact, it could take years. But the payoff is so worth it. If you are an impatient person, then you might want to hand over the reins to someone else in this department. But whatever you do, don’t give up.

Being consistent, keeping an eye on online trends, and understanding search intent will get you very far, especially if you are willing to speak up about what you believe in.

You have to understand that earned media can take your brand places that no paid method can reach. Organic buzz is authentic and helps to turn ordinary people into brand advocates – free of charge.

Conclusion

Earned media success may seem like a gigantic mountain that feels too steep to climb. This needn’t be the case. By implementing these six tips, you will soon be on your way to reaching more people, while earning brand engagement and increased sales.

Leeza Hoyt

How Empowering Your Team Makes You A Better Leader

If you are in the race to build a successful company, then empowering your team should be a top priority. In fact, this is essential if you want to be a more engaging leader.

This means you should respect each employee enough to entrust them with more autonomy, responsibility, and accountability. In other words, after you’ve given your team the tools they need to thrive in the workplace, you should loosen the reins so they can take ownership of their accomplishments.

Below, we’ve outlined how you can empower your team and how your entire company can benefit from this practice.

The Importance Of Empowering Your Team

Empowerment opens the lines of communication within any organization. If you make it clear from the get-go that your office door is always open, then your team will know that they can come to you for help.

This means that when a task gets assigned, your team will have the opportunity to figure out the ins and outs of the entire process for themselves. However, if they see that something isn’t working optimally, they can always report back to you for guidance.

This setup will not only help you to practice active listening and be a more approachable leader, but will also help to solve any major problems in its initial stages.

Secondly, it can be empowering for your team to have a go at solving problems themselves before they ask for help. If your team manages on their own, they will gain self-confidence. This will help them learn to trust their own instincts and skillset.

As a result, you can build a work-force of confident, capable, and satisfied employees, which benefits your company.

How Empowering Your Team Makes You A Better Leader

There are numerous ways that you can become a better leader by empowering your team. Firstly, leaders who empower their teams create a closely knitted team. This can fuel the long-term success of your business.

Secondly, by involving your team and seeing them as equals, you can prevent micromanaging. As a result, you will create a more confident team structure. This will also allow for the consideration of more opinions and can open your company up to new, out-of-the-box ideas.

Thirdly, if you want to encourage problem-solving, and have a high-performing team then you will have to reward critical thinking and innovation. However, your team will only feel inspired to be innovative if they are given the opportunity to see their ideas come to life.

If you are committed to empowering your team, then you will be viewed as the gatekeeper that always opens the door to new opportunities. Instead of tiptoeing around you, your employees will have the freedom to share their success and greatest ideas with you.

If your team fails, they will feel safe knowing that they have your understanding and support which will give them the courage to try again. In essence, this is the golden standard that all leaders should be aiming for if they want their company to be successful.

4 Tips To Empower Your Team

Give Your Employees a Well-Defined End Goal

The aim should always be to paint a clear picture of the end destination. However, do not dictate how your team should get there.

Give your employees what they need to do their work, but be sure to also give them free rein when it comes to brainstorming and problem-solving.

A simple project management tool can help your employees to stay organized at work.

Define Employee Roles and Responsibilities

For everyone to work harmoniously, there should be no confusion regarding job roles or responsibilities. Everyone should know who makes the decisions, who delegates tasks, and who is responsible for what.

By not assigning clear task roles, important decisions could end up being delayed.

Upskill Your Team Before Tasks Are Assigned

You can save a lot of time and prevent frustration within your team by giving your employees the skills and tools they need before you ask them to tackle difficult tasks.

Whether your team needs to sharpen up their problem-solving skills, decision-making skills, or technical skills, be sure to fully equip each employee for the tasks at hand.

Lead by Example

Sometimes, a company has to undergo a culture shift for employees to truly feel empowered. The best way to show your team that you are serious about empowering them is to model the mindsets and behaviors that you are trying to instill.

For this to happen, leaders should rework performance management, company structures, or training processes where needed.

In Summary

These four steps may not seem like extraordinary measures to empower your employees. But, when implemented correctly, they could change the entire way your team operates.

The goal should always be to award highly capable employees who have earned your trust with more opportunities to shine.

Leeza Hoyt

Why You Should Care About What Customers Feel

Long gone are the days when a company could simply open its doors on a busy street and expect tons of sales.

For a business to be successful in 2022, one truly has to connect with your customers on a deeper level in order for them to choose and support your brand.

But how exactly do you do this? And why should you care about your customers’ feelings and thoughts? We discuss all you need to know regarding a brand’s emotional connection to its customer base below.

Why You Need To Form An Emotional Identity With Your Customers

Before we jump into the best ways to form an emotional connection with your customers, it is important to understand why emotional connections are vital to being successful.

With so many different products and services to choose from, customers are constantly weighing one brand against another. When considering purchasing your products, customers are asking themselves why they should choose you.

And why should they? This is, in fact, a very valid question. Out of all the brands that are constantly bombarding them with offers, deals, and sales, why should they settle on what your brand promises?

To stand out from the crowd, your brand has to go the extra mile. Customers may not recall what exactly they bought from your store a year from now. However, they will never forget how your brand made them feel.

Emotional branding is critical if you want to develop brand loyalty. Brand loyalty can be defined as a long-term commitment that a customer has towards a brand. When brand loyalty is high, higher sales numbers usually follow.

Emotional branding can help to refine your brand’s personality and highlights common interests or values that are shared by a brand and its customers. When done right, emotional branding can render your brand irreplaceable and make your buyers feel both seen and heard.

3 Tips For Establishing Your Brand’s Emotional Identity

Be Original

There are probably a million other companies that also offer what you sell, but none of them should look or sound like you. This is how you maintain your brand’s originality and truly stand out from the crowd.

If your brand was a real person, who would he or she be? What would the characteristics be of your brand and why would people want to hang out with your business? What does your brand care about and why? These are just some of the questions that you’ll need to consider when first creating your brand personality.

However, the most important step is to define how your brand communicates with your audience. In order to be original and to stay true to your brand personality, what you say and how you say it should line up with who you say you are.

Remember, you want to authentically connect with each customer in an intuitively human way that stays true to your unique brand personality. If there is a disconnect between what your brand silently promises and how you communicate with your customers, it will lead to confusion.

Identify Your Customers’ Emotional Motivators

After establishing an original brand personality, it’s time to look at what motivates your buyers. By understanding what motivates your target audience on an emotional level, it will be easier to nurture an emotional connection.

Each target group may have different emotional motivators, which means you will have to adapt your communication angle depending on who you are trying to connect with.

For example, some customers are more concerned with being perceived as special or unique. Knowing this, your marketing efforts should be highly personalized, and your team should be ready to immediately assist these types of customers whenever they need it.

Just don’t forget to always stay true to your brand’s image. The goal is to establish where your buyer’s emotional needs line up with what you can authentically offer. It won’t be sustainable for your brand to cater to the emotional motivators of a customer if meeting those needs doesn’t align with your brand personality.

Tell Great Stories

Storytelling is in every person’s DNA and has helped humans to communicate, connect, educate, share experiences and unite since the dawn of time. From a marketing standpoint, storytelling can help you to forge a deeper connection with your target audience.

In fact, lots of big brands use storytelling to construct brand traditions, build trust, make their brand more memorable, and communicate what their brand is all about.

In Summary

By establishing your brand personality, you’ll be able to connect with your target audience in a meaningful way. This will enable you to show every customer that you truly care about each interaction they have with your brand.

By embracing your brand’s value proposition, identifying what your customers care about, and crafting great branding stories, you can make each buyer feel special.

Leeza Hoyt

Media Relations Strategies For Law Firms

The legal industry in the U.S. is very competitive. It can be challenging for new law firms to stand out among the crowd.

This is where tried and tested media relations strategies come into play. You can build trust with prospective clients by raising your firm’s visibility, showcasing your success rate, and tying your brand to high-profile cases.

To help you out, we’ve outlined four top media relations strategies for law firms below.

Four Media Relations Strategies For Law Firms

1. Reach Out To Media Publications

No matter what area of law you specialize in, it is essential to proactively reach out to various media houses. Bloggers and journalists from esteemed publications can portray you as a thought leader in your respective field. They will also be able to share your firm’s valuable insights regarding everyday matters.

Whether that means writing a monthly opinion piece for a national magazine, or providing a quote in a local newspaper, every bit of positive brand awareness counts. You might even want to take it a step further and do on-camera interviews. These allow people to put a face to a name and form a real connection with your firm.

Many law firms are wary of media attention because they don’t want to comment on cases they are actively involved in. Because of this, they miss out on all the excellent advantages that positive media coverage can bring their firm’s way. Instead of fearing media publicity, think of it as a tool that can help you to benefit both your firm and your local community.

Your firm can provide helpful tips for law students, talk about the do’s and don’ts when it comes to drawing up contracts, or simply give great insight into other high-profile cases. The important thing is to decide what you are comfortable talking about and create a media strategy that will guarantee positive brand exposure.

2. Put Someone In Charge Of Your Firm’s Marketing

If you have an established firm, then you are probably receiving quite a few media inquiries on a monthly basis. If you are struggling to stay on top of all the media opportunities heading your way, it’s probably best to appoint an experienced PR firm, like The Hoyt Organization. Not only will a PR firm be able to identify the best media opportunities, but they will also be able to prepare and coordinate interviews.

This is also true when it comes to speaking engagements. Talking about a specific legal topic that you specialize in will allow you to demonstrate your expertise and help to establish your firm’s credibility. An experienced PR firm can help identify relevant speaking opportunities and take care of all the administrative arrangements.

When it comes down to it, having an extra set of hands around to take care of your marketing affairs will allow you to do what you do best.

3. Display Your Firm’s Achievements and Ratings Online

If your firm has won legal awards or has garnered top-level ratings from previous clients, then it is time to put them on full display. Legal industry awards and high ratings can really help in establishing your firm’s credibility and, in doing so, get more clients to knock on your door.

In today’s digital age, most prospective clients research a law firm before contacting them. This is why it is so crucial to proudly display your awards or other achievements online. If you haven’t yet submitted any cases for award consideration, now is the time to apply. It may be a time-consuming process, but with an established PR company at your side, you won’t have to worry about any of the clerical duties.

This is also relevant when it comes to your firm’s online ratings. You have to make sure that your firm is listed on multiple websites, search engines, and other online locations so people can voice their opinions about your firm. Not only will this bolster confidence in your firm’s capabilities, but it will also boost your website’s overall SEO rating, which will make you more discoverable online.

4. Proactively Manage Crises

Whether your law firm is just starting out or has been in business for years, any business can fall victim to a PR crisis. Whether it is a negative review on a search listing or a high-profile case that could harm your firm’s image, you need a mitigation strategy for any potential crisis.

The best solution is to appoint an experienced PR firm to deal with any hiccups before they happen. This will not only give you peace of mind but will also allow you to protect your firm’s reputation should the worst come to pass.

In Summary

Becoming a great lawyer takes years of dedication and commitment. Don’t let your law firm’s accomplishments go unnoticed by failing to implement stellar media relations strategies.

Getting your firm noticed by prospective clients can be easier than expected, especially if you have the right PR firm to help you out. Connect with The Hoyt Organization today.

Leeza Hoyt

Persuade Public Opinion With The Right Attitude

Public opinion can make or break your company’s brand. So how exactly can you persuade public opinion to better understand your company? The answer lies in having the right attitude.

How you treat your customers and how you handle both the highs and lows that your company experiences say a lot about the kind of company culture you have.

Below, we explore what public opinion is and how having the right attitude can influence how your customers engage with and perceive your brand.

Public Opinion and Brand Perception

Public opinion can be defined as the view of a sum of individuals on a specific issue. Public opinions regarding a particular business can be formed in multiple ways. Word of mouth, brand interactions, or witnessing how a brand treats its customers can all influence the public opinion of that brand’s target demographic.

Ultimately, public opinion affects how a brand is perceived. Brand perception has to do with what customers believe a product or service represents. Notice that brand perception has very little to do with what you say about your brand. Rather, the emphasis is placed on what your customers think or feel.

Why do public opinion and brand perception play such a critical role in any company’s success? Well, if you have a very negative brand perception that’s fueled by public opinion, then conventional marketing practices won’t get you very far. Even if you shout your company’s honorable values from the rooftops, it will do little to sway public opinion.

So, how can you create a positive brand perception? It all starts with your brand’s attitude.

How Your Brand’s Attitude Affects Public Opinion

A brand’s attitude can radically affect public opinion. It all comes down to confidence and what you sell and how you sell it. You can boost confidence in your brand in a myriad of ways. Below, we touch on the four pillars that support brand confidence so that you can sway public opinion in the right way.

Social Validation

People want to fit in, and because of this, they tend to follow the crowd. According to research, people generally become more certain of what they believe in when they think that others share their opinion. This is known as the attitude consensus effect and is the reason why some things become popular and other things don’t.

This could be beneficial to your brand if your customers already hold a desired opinion towards your products or services. You should then aim to reinforce those positive opinions regarding your brand by showing that it is widely shared.

Of course, you can also show that your brand is well-loved by posting online reviews and surveys on your website and social media channels. When it comes to sales, you should always try to reinforce any endorsements – whether it’s towards your products or services or your brand as a whole.

Repetition

There is a well-known rule in marketing that any message you send out generally has to reach your target audience seven times before it becomes effective. However, repetition is also very effective when it comes to people expressing their own opinions.

Not only does it increase people’s own certainty regarding their stance on something, but it increases their willingness to promote, defend, or act on it.

Marketing teams should use this to their full advantage and encourage stakeholders, customers, and even employees to express their positive opinions about your brand. You can even reward people for doing so, which will give them that extra motivation to speak their minds.

Easy to Understand

Research shows that if you can easily form an opinion on something, the more confident you will be that your opinion is valid. Therefore, it is important for brands to simplify the marketing material they present to their demographic audience.

Easy-to-read fonts and simplified graphics can easily persuade your customers. In turn, your customers will be more certain of the validity of the message you are trying to convey.

In other words, don’t overcomplicate what you are trying to say. Instead, focus on making it as easy as possible for your target market to understand what you are trying to convey. Sometimes, less is more.

Defending What You Believe In

In general, people tend to defend what they believe in. According to research, people also feel more certain of their opinions after defending them.

When people already like your brand, then it won’t take much for them to come to your defense. The trick lies in giving them the opportunity to do just that. It can be as easy as asking the right questions on your social media platforms and letting your customers do all the talking for you.

Creating these opportunities where your customer base can defend your brand can help you to effectively build confidence, support, and loyalty towards your company.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to persuading public opinion with the right company attitude, you have to get your loyal customers on board. Authentic public opinion holds the most votes in the marketing world, which is why you should create opportunities for your brand’s followers to speak up.

Leeza Hoyt

What You Need to Know About PR as a Tech Startup Company

As a tech startup company, there are certain mistakes you cannot afford to make. One of these is underestimating the importance of establishing your brand on the media landscape. A winning public relations strategy can be (and often is) the difference between success and failure.

With only 56% of startups making it through to their fifth year, don’t make the same avoidable mistakes as many companies have before you. How your company is portrayed to the public is incredibly important. As such, you need to adopt a PR strategy for your business that is structured and thought out.

Below, we outline the most important things you need to know about your tech startup’s relationship with the public.

5 Things To Know About PR As A Tech Startup Company

These tips should help you navigate how to choose a PR strategy for your company.

Start Small

Remember: you are a business, not a celebrity. More is not always better when it comes to attention from the press.

Going out guns blazing in the press without a media strategy can be detrimental to your brand. Make sure you have a carefully staged plan for your release in the media. First impressions are important so make sure you control yours.

In the early stages, you want to make sure your social media channels and website are ready to go with the image you want to portray of your business. By the time you increase your media coverage, your website and social media should be developed to the point where you look professional and attractive to customers.

Focus on Your Customers

What do your customers need or want from your business? Focus on that. While a good PR strategy should lead you to investors, it should not be the target of your PR strategy.

Investors are important and they will come. Don’t lose sight of the people who will keep your company relevant. Take the time to engage with your customers or potential customers across every platform.

Interacting with customers is part of creating a brand that people trust. Listen to their criticisms and praise. At the end of the day, you are building your product for them.

Build Friendships Not Connections

The ultimate goal is to have great connections with media outlets. This is a goal that requires a lot of work and effort, but it is very important. Connections with the media are invaluable for your business.

Instead of approaching every outlet asking them for a mention, start by engaging with the media on their various platforms. Reply to their posts or comment on them. Start slowly building relationships with different outlets by getting them to notice you.

If you are in this for the long run, you will need media personnel on your side. The establishment of relationships with journalists is only going to benefit you. You should start founding these relationships as early as you can.

Choose the Right Journalists and Media Outlets

It is easy to identify the biggest names in the media and try to get mentioned by them. But, a better strategy for startups is to identify and narrow down your target market and then choose your media outlet.

If you know your target audience well enough, you will know which channels are best to reach them. It may not sound as glamorous as being mentioned by the big tech media outlets, but it may be the best source of leads for future customers or investors. You will also have a better chance of being mentioned by less mainstream channels.

Keep Your Messages Consistent

Consistency is really important when it comes to public relations. Your PR strategy needs to account for both short-term and long-term strategies. The long-term strategies need to focus on building relationships and establishing a presence in the media.

If the messages put out from your tech startup brand on various platforms are consistent, it is easier for people to understand what you’re all about. It helps consumers and investors see the value in what you are doing.

It may seem tedious and slow, but the more people hear about a brand, the more trustworthy it becomes. This comes from a long, consistent journey in the media. If you keep putting your brand out there, people are going to get curious and see what you’re offering.

Conclusion

Presence in the media for companies today is vital for success. While you may want to hit the ground running in the media, there is great value in sticking to an incremental yet methodical PR strategy.

Focus on your long-term media goals and ensure you really build relationships with various media channels. These small steps will pay off in the long run when you have a well-developed and trustworthy brand.

Leeza Hoyt

Public Relations Planning Tips For The Holiday Season

The holiday season is almost upon us which means it is nearly time to take a well-deserved break. But just because you are planning on taking things slow, it doesn’t mean your business should do the same.

Now is the time to start planning ahead so your brand can continue to benefit from effective holiday PR campaigns during the holiday season and beyond.

Below are some tips on how to make the most of your PR strategy during the holiday season.

5 Top PR Planning Tips For The Festive Season

Launch a Charitable Campaign

If you really want to grab the media’s attention, then a charitable campaign is the way to go. Charitable campaigns not only tie in nicely with a corporate social responsibility mandate. They also give you the opportunity to mingle with other stakeholders.

By choosing a charitable campaign that your company really believes in, you can do some good while ensuring positive media coverage for your brand. This will allow you to incorporate the holiday, feel-good theme into your campaign which will guarantee ample brand awareness.

Keep The Content Flowing

The holiday season usually has lots going on with lots of events to attend and many family and friends to visit. Even though people tend to be quite busy during this time, most of them actually frequent social media platforms more over the holiday season.

This means it is the perfect time to capitalize on increased user activity by ensuring that your content calendar is packed to the brim!

By planning ahead and preparing lots of content for all your social media platforms you can effectively increase user engagement.

Make sure everything goes to plan by scheduling your content on each platform ahead of time. This way, you can sit back and relax while the content keeps streaming in on all your social media platforms.

Remember to update your cover photos, background photos, and your company’s profile picture on each platform. This will help you to reflect the festive spirit of the holiday season.

Create Relatable Campaigns That Appeals To All Customers

The holiday season is a celebratory time that shouldn’t exclude any cultures, religions, or alternative ways of life. Instead, you should aim to celebrate all the differences within your customer demographic.

Be sure to post content that will appeal to the various segments of your customer base. One way to do this is to let your employees help get your company’s festive message out there.

If you have a large company that employs a large variety of people, then each of them can share a holiday greeting with your customer base. Each greeting can be representative of that specific employee’s heritage, culture, nationality, or native language.

This way, your customers will be able to see that your company really values them. A campaign like this one will also be able to establish your company as an international employer. Spread the festive cheer and be sure to involve as many customer demographics as you can while doing so!

Invest in New Holiday Packaging

Whether you have an online shop or your products are typically found on store shelves, new packaging is a sure-fire way to grab anyone’s attention. This holiday season is the perfect time to add some festive cheer to your packaging’s design, so go all out!

You can pair your new packaging with a marketing campaign that features recipes and different angles to highlight your brand’s features and benefits.

You can also consider collaborating with another brand to increase the exposure of your new packaging. Try to pick a brand that will truly complement what your brand brings to the table. This way, both companies can come out victorious.

Go Big With a Holiday Giveaway

Competitions attract lots of attention, both online and in-store. By launching a massive giveaway during the holiday season, customers are even more likely to interact with your brand’s social media pages.

Everybody is looking for that perfect gift to give to loved ones, so be part of the solution and help your customer base to tick off items on their to-buy list.

The best thing about online giveaways is the conditions you can set for people to enter the competition. You can ask them to subscribe to your company’s newsletter, to like and follow your social media pages, or simply to interact with your social posts. You can also advertise in media outlets to spread the word about your giveaway even further.

By launching a holiday giveaway, you will ensure a win-win situation for both your company and your loyal customer base.

In Summary

The holiday season is the perfect time to maximize your brand’s reach and capitalize on user engagement. Whether you want to launch a competition, invest in new cheerful packaging, or give back through a charitable campaign, now is the perfect time to start plan

Leeza Hoyt

7 Things Everyone Should Know About PR Professionals

Any public relations firm in Los Angeles will tell you that PR professionals wear many hats. The PR industry combines best marketing practices with strategic communication, editorial, and brand management skills.

A great PR firm can help to build brand credibility, increase sales and improve customer and client relationships. Most people have some idea of what PR professionals actually do. However, there is still some confusion regarding their skillset.

To shine a brighter light on this topic, here’s a list of seven things everyone should know about PR.

7 Important Things You Should Know About PR

PR And Advertising Are Not The Same Thing

People often contact PR agencies with the idea that PR professionals can meet all their advertising needs. Although there are some things that PR and advertising have in common, they are not the same thing.

Where advertising normally utilizes only paid media, PR typically focuses on more organic positive interactions between customers and your brand. In other words, PR focuses more on building trust with your audience. However, both advertising and PR base their promotional approach on thorough market research.

The Skills of PR Professionals

An experienced Los Angeles public relations agency will largely focus on maximizing earned media opportunities.

Aside from writing press releases, newspaper articles, or thought leadership content, a PR professional will also be able to research target markets and personas and create compelling pitches.

They are experts at organizing appearances at social events, writing public speeches, and managing public company crises. Lastly, PR professionals can also track and analyze the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and adjust where needed.

Should Public Relations Experts Use Social Media?

While social media alone cannot offer your brand everything that a PR expert can, it is still an invaluable tool for connecting with your target audience.

Where possible, PR experts should use social media as an amplifier to broadcast your brand story. It is one of the best channels through which you can communicate with your audience in a clear, fun, and relatable way.

Most public relations firms in Los Angeles are experts when it comes to leveraging each social media platform to its full advantage. An experienced PR professional will be able to tailor content so that it captivates your audience on every social media platform.

PR Is Rooted In Strong Values

All public relations firms in Los Angeles are required to act ethically and according to strong moral values. They need to understand your company’s vision and values so they can strategically communicate with your target audience.

Not only are PR professionals required to win the trust of your customers. They should also earn your trust by being open and honest about your brand and communication strategy. This helps to prevent any future crisis from getting worse and creates the necessary room for your brand to grow and flourish.

PR Is All About Building Positive Relationships

A PR expert’s main job is to develop and maintain meaningful relationships with existing and potential customers, clients, and other key stakeholders.

By fostering these relationships, a PR expert can help you to effectively grow your company. It will also help to open the door to new marketing opportunities. In turn, this helps to boost your brand awareness and company credibility.

PR Can Benefit All Industries

Unlike other forms of marketing, PR has the potential to benefit all industries. This is because PR helps to boost brand credibility and influence the perception that customers have of your company. An experienced PR firm is also an invaluable asset during a PR crisis.

No matter your industry, your brand perception can make or break your company. As such, investing in PR is always a good idea when wanting to stay ahead of the competition.

PR Campaigns Is Measurable

We all want to know that the resources and time we invest in our marketing and brand awareness campaigns are worth it. The good news is that a PR expert will be able to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns with online tools.

In turn, this will give them the information they need to adjust their marketing efforts where needed. This means that you won’t be guessing when it comes to reaching your target audience. Rather, you can be more strategic and feel more confident that your campaigns will leave a lasting, positive impression.

Conclusion

There is a lot to know about public relations agencies and how they can go about getting your brand the recognition it deserves. By measuring their success, building positive relationships, basing their communication approach on strong ethical values, and incorporating tried and tested advertising tactics, there is little that PR experts can’t do.

To elevate your brand’s reputation to higher levels, consider hiring an experienced PR firm to help you out.

Leeza Hoyt

Practice Active Listening

The goal of any PR firm is to help clients craft messaging and then clearly communicate. But what is the most important way to prepare empathetic, and relatable communication? Active listening.

By really listening to what your clients’ target markets are saying, you can effectively position brands into market segments.

In this article, we will dive into what active listening entails and how it helps you to better understand what your client base truly needs.

What Is Active Listening?

When it comes down to it, active listening requires you to be genuinely interested in the everyday concerns, wants, and needs of your target audience.

It enables you to look at your brand from another vantage point and objectively analyze your shortcomings. More importantly, it also enables you to truly understand what your audience thinks about your brand and why.

This allows you to weigh the opinions of others against what your business stands for and then respond in a relatable, meaningful way.

All brands have a story to tell. The question is, do you truly know your target market? Or do you have preconceived notions that cause your brand story to fall on deaf ears?

How Does a Company Practice Active Listening?

As companies grow, it might be tempting to gear your communication style to achieve monetary goals. While this isn’t wrong, it is still important to follow these next steps. This helps to ensure that you stay in touch with your target market on an emotional, practical, and intellectual level.

Invest in industry research. By keeping up with the evolution of your target market, you can tweak your communication style to provide solutions for their current problems.
View dissatisfied customers or clients as opportunities to learn and gain invaluable information.
Proactively work to prevent or resolve mistakes rather than denying their existence.
Make every customer feel heard by opening yourself up to honest critique. Apologize where it’s needed and create open lines of communication within your company.

Why Does It Matter In Public Relations?

By actively listening, a PR firm can help a company to confirm its approach to its target market. In the long run, this can help a business to examine a situation from multiple perspectives.

Active listening can also help PR firms to come up with proactive local media relations campaigns. This can aid your brand in taking control over the narrative and allow you to tell your brand’s story in a compelling, authentic way.

Active listening can help your PR team in strengthening your existing messaging, identifying communication misunderstandings, and even inspire new product ideas or identify an entirely new customer base

The Advantages of Active Listening In PR

There are plenty of advantages that active listening can offer your company. With the help of an experienced PR firm that knows how to correctly apply the principles of active listening, your company can benefit in the following ways:

Better understand the communication style of your target audience.
Better understand the fears, hopes, and dreams of your target audience.
Create a communication strategy that will resonate with your customer base.
Keep you up to date with trends or fads that your customer base finds appealing.
Help you to objectively analyze the shortcomings of your company.
Help you to lead your audience towards a solution that will benefit both them and your company.
Be proactive when it comes to communication misunderstandings.
Help to minimize the financial losses arising from lawsuits.
Clearly communicate your brand’s story and message.
Help you to structure thought leadership articles that your audience wants to read.
Help you to identify new customer bases or inspire new product development.

When it comes down to it, actively listening starts with empathy. If you can successfully place yourself in your customers’ shoes, you have a better chance of understanding what they need.

The idea of really listening and opening yourself up to criticism can be daunting. However, it can also help you to build a more successful company. When you put it all in perspective, it’s a rather simple practice for ensuring future success.

Final Thoughts

By hiring a Public Relations firm to help you actively listen to your target audience, you can create a more relatable, empathetic, and meaningful brand. With so much digital noise bombarding customers on a daily basis, this is a sure-fire way to stand out above your competition.

Make sure your brand is heard by taking the time to listen to what your customers have to say.

Leeza Hoyt

How Can PR Help My Architectural Firm?

Architects are great at drawing up building plans, but most aren’t experts at marketing their own firms. This is where PR comes in. Highly specialized PR firms can help you to stand out from the Architectural crowd.

Not only are they essential to getting new clients, but they can also help boost brand credibility and authority. In this article, we list the top five ways that PR can help your architectural firm.

1. Find Common Ground With Your Clients

Why should potential clients hire your architectural firm to design their next building? With so many other architectural firms out there, it can be hard to land your next client. The trick lies in finding common ground with potential clients. There are many ways to do this, but one primary way is by relaying your brand values through your marketing endeavors.

Every leadership piece, networking opportunity, influencer connection, or social media post gives you an opportunity to tell your brand’s story. By knowing what your company values are, potential clients can find common ground with your brand. This means you’ll attract clients that believe what you believe, and want what you want.

Not only does this make working together much easier, but it also helps to cultivate trust. If your clients really trust you, it will open the door for future collaborations.

2. Strengthen Your Community Ties

Your brand’s reputation can either hinder or boost the success of your company. One thing that an experienced PR firm will be able to help with is strengthening your community relationships.

It is essential to form new connections and build new ties within your local market. This can be done by designing a building for charity, getting involved in local architectural groups, or helping other causes related to your firm.

The more active you are in your community, the more you’ll cement your brand presence. Public relations can also help you to form new relationships with influencers that speak to the community. This will enable you to get your brand message across, establish authority, and make new connections.

3. Enhance Your Online Presence

Building a brand in this digital age can be both extremely rewarding and taxing. Nurturing your online presence is a full-time job and can be difficult to manage without any help.

PR agencies will be able to support your online endeavors and guide you in the right direction. Should things go south and disaster strikes, they can also step in and preserve your company image.

Social media, website SEO, advertorials, press releases, and other digital content all play a vital role in establishing a positive company image. The importance of instant client communication that’s both authentic and professional cannot be overlooked. All of this forms part of marketing communications, which is one of the roles that PR professionals excel in.

To really give your online presence a boost, you should also have great connections with publicists and online journalists. This way, you can share your content on other online platforms and link back to your website. This will ensure a better SEO ranking for your website and increase your overall monthly website traffic.

4. Generating New Leads

Getting new leads that actually turn into clients is not as easy as it once was. Back in the day, traditional advertising proved to be extremely successful in growing your business.

Now, people – especially millennials – are distrustful of obvious advertising methods. Instead, they prefer authentic recommendations. This doesn’t mean that traditional marketing can’t be successful, it just all depends on your target market.

The recommended approach now is to make use of a myriad of advertising avenues to guarantee success. Effective PR can help your architectural business to thrive by tapping into every available advertising resource.

PR professionals are also trained to communicate both authentically and effectively. In other words, by making use of a PR firm, your brand message is more likely to resonate with your target audience.

5. Boosting Your Credibility

If well-known and respected traditional or online media titles start publishing articles that promote your brand, it will help to boost brand credibility. Not every architectural firm gets the opportunity to be featured in high-end publications. In other words, if you were chosen among a sea of companies, then you are definitely worth mentioning.

Readers of these prized publications know that only the top companies get featured. This is why getting published on the right platform is such a big deal. With a great PR team at your side, this is a definite possibility.

As more and more people read and hear positive things about your architectural firm, more business will come your way.

Final Thoughts

Getting the right marketing guidance is essential if you want to build a thriving architectural brand that will last for years to come. By investing in an experienced PR firm, you can acquire more leads, build credibility, and enhance your brand’s online presence.

Leeza Hoyt

5 Tips To Grab Major Public Relations Media Attention

In order for your brand to get the recognition it deserves, you’ll have to get creative. Media outlets, journalists, and news agencies won’t just give anyone the time of day. They are looking for the next big story that will really be worth their time. Below, we will be looking at five tips that will ensure lots of public relations media attention.

5 Expert PR Tips For Attracting Media Attention

Mingle With The Right Crowd

Networking opportunities can take up a lot of time, but if done right, then it is definitely time well spent. Of course, if you hired an experienced PR firm, then you might not have to attend events on a regular basis. However, the point can also be argued that one can never have too many mutually beneficial connections.

When attending conferences, there are usually multiple opportunities to rub shoulders with journalists, influencers, academics in your field of work, and other speakers. Not only will this allow you to tell your company story, but you might just meet someone that can help introduce your brand to future clients.

Events are especially important to attend or even host when your company is launching a new product, feature, or after reaching an important milestone. The bigger your contact list is, the more people you can invite. If the right people show up, then your event will definitely make front-page news.

Remember to always have a great photographer on standby so you can make the most of each event. The more quality event coverage you have, the better you can supply journalists with all they need to make your event the talk of the town.

Use Social Media To Build Connections

One thing PR firms are really great at is initiating communications with customers and media members on social media. However, if you or your brand are really well-known, then you can certainly also give it a whirl.

Whether you are looking for traditional media coverage or digital media coverage, it can be hard to get a journalist’s undivided attention. This is where social media can help you out. Twitter and Facebook allow you to casually meet people by simply initiating a conversation.

Granted, you may have to comment, retweet, share, and like a few posts before you get a reaction. But, consistency usually pays off in the long haul. Building a solid relationship online takes time. However, if you are successful, your company could get more media attention and you could be one media connection richer.

Research Your Story Ideas

Before pitching a story to a media house or news agency, it is important to do your research. You should know the ins and outs of your topic, industry, target audience, competitive landscape, and who you should pitch your story to. With great PR support, this entire process is usually quick, thorough, and fun!

Your brand should have a third-party analysis, along with plenty of factual information like stats and data to support your story idea. By knowing what has already been published in recent months, you can ensure that your pitch or story angle is unique.

It is also a good idea to comment on industry trends and give a new perspective on a specific topic. This way, your brand voice stays relevant and you’ll have a greater chance of being published in multiple outlets.

Word Of Mouth

Word of mouth can be a pretty powerful tool, especially if the right people start talking about your company. Who exactly can create that kind of buzz? Influencers!

By collaborating with industry influencers, you can build brand credibility. If a relevant or popular influencer backs your company, their entire audience base will know your brand’s name. If they like what they see, the word will definitely spread.

By connecting with influencers that are compatible with your brand, you could indirectly be targeting future customers.

Focus On Creating Engaging Content

Your audience has questions, and you could be the one that they look to for guidance. That is, if you are creating engaging, high-quality content that answers all of their questions. Content will always be king!

It could be a blog, company website, advertising or social media post. The important thing is that all your content is shareable and that you have a click-worthy heading.

If your audience likes what you write, they will automatically share it with everyone. In other words, great content can turn your audience into brand ambassadors. Oftentimes, this is exactly how something ends up going viral.

You don’t necessarily have to engage on all the social media platforms available to you to get your content out there. Choose the ones that make the most sense to your brand and that will generate the most brand loyalty.

In a Nutshell

The great thing about grabbing public relations media attention is that you don’t have to do it alone. If this process seems a bit daunting to you, then you can always turn to a professional PR firm to help you out.

Leeza Hoyt

Building Your Healthcare Brand With Public Relations Strategies

Need a more strategic approach to growing your healthcare brand? By investing in an experienced and reputable PR firm, you can really zero in on your customers’ wants and needs.

By communicating in a clear, relatable way, your brand can build patient trust and increase customer satisfaction. In this article, we are focusing on different public relations strategies that can help to put your healthcare brand on the map.

Why Healthcare Brands Need PR

Most healthcare brands are promising the world to potential customers. But, do these healthcare providers really care about each individual’s physical health? And if they do, how will they be able to convince you of that?

People are being flooded with marketing material on a day-to-day basis. So, it’s crucial that your brand’s message stands out and is both clear and personable.

Building a trusted, well-known brand doesn’t just happen overnight. It requires strategic planning in order to capitalize on each opportunity that comes your way.

This is where reliable PR firms really shine. They can help your healthcare brand to establish thought leadership by ensuring your brand stays in the spotlight on a multitude of traditional and digital platforms. PR firms have plenty of publishing tools at their disposal. However, knowing when and how to use those tools is the actual key to success.

Of course, you could try to juggle all of these marketing responsibilities yourself. But remember that mistakes in the marketing world can be costly. Luckily, with a PR professional at your side, you can address complaints head-on and keep your brand’s name clean.

How do PR firms accomplish all this and what strategies do they rely on the most to build a successful brand? Well, we have more than one tip hidden up our sleeves!

4 PR Tips For Building Your Healthcare Brand

Personalize Customer Communication

Truly understanding your audience is key when you want every communication opportunity to be effective. PR firms will establish who the ideal customers are that you are trying to reach and then research their wants and needs.

A well-informed, strategic communication approach almost guarantees resonating and relatable interactions with potential customers.

Furthermore, PR firms can also help their clients to personalize their communication approach by developing a key messaging platform. Of course, this is done after they’ve identified the most effective ways to reach your target audience.

Proactively Protect and Boost Your Brand’s Reputation

The healthcare industry is definitely not without its hurdles. An experienced PR firm can protect your brand by being proactive when it comes to crisis management. How do they do this? Simply put, PR professionals are always on the lookout when it comes to negative reviews, new healthcare trends, or regulatory changes.

By constantly researching and staying in the loop, we can help to advise your next steps. By knowing what lies on the horizon, you can plan an expert response or be prepared for any industry changes. Knowledge is power, and in this case, it’s definitely true.

Seeing that healthcare organizations are particularly vulnerable to crisis situations, an experienced PR firm will definitely be able to help you navigate any stormy weather.

Increase The Reach Of Your Brand’s Publicity

A great PR firm will have the right industry-specific connections on hand to optimize any publicity opportunity that your brand lands. PR professionals have extensive digital PR strategies in place that extend the reach of coverage opportunities. This means you will likely be able to reach more people than you would when trying to build a name for yourself on your own.

From organizing third parties to share your content online or get other well-known businesses to link back to your website, there are plenty of ways PR firms can put the spotlight on your brand.

This doesn’t just pertain to digital marketing though. PR professionals can also arrange the strategic publication of thought leadership articles so you can maximize your brand’s reach.

Establish a Publishing Strategy

Ever wondered what people really want to read about in your industry? PR professionals know the answer to this question and can help with the layout of articles so you hit all the right notes. This can be geared towards thought leadership, or simply stating your opinion regarding a new trend or healthcare topic.

The bottom line is that health-orientated individuals want to know what the industry experts are thinking.

With the guidance of a PR expert, your brand can become a very relevant voice in the healthcare industry. The great news is that PR experts will not only help you with the layout of your article but will also get it published at the optimum time.

In Conclusion

By investing in a solid PR firm, you can better build your healthcare brand with effective strategies that will help you to stand out from the crowd.

Leeza Hoyt

How The Hoyt Organization Can Assist Residential Brokerage Firms

Attract People Outside Your Geographical Area

Selling homes to existing clients is one thing, but getting new clients on a regular basis is another venture entirely. Real estate brokers don’t always have time to do some of the public relations heavy lifting necessary to stay competitive.

By hiring an expert PR firm that can guarantee more exposure for your business, you can focus on more important tasks.

If you have big listings that will appeal more to people outside your local geographical area, the Hoyt Organization can help you out. By leveraging social media, traditional publishing outlets, and other advertising avenues, we can get a more diverse pool of clients to come knocking on your door.

Get New Clients

Some residential brokerage firms are struggling to find new clients. The Covid-19 pandemic may cause people to think twice before buying or selling right now. So how can the Hoyt Organization assist you in finding new clients?

The key lies in convincing new clients that your organization is better positioned to meet all their needs.

Our PR experts can help to build your brand to do just that. By communicating with new clients on their level, you are more likely to pique their interest.

What do your client base and potential clients want and need right now at this moment in time? And what is the best way to help them get it? Our experts have years of experience under their belts and can help your residential brokerage firm to figure it out.

Make Sure Your Realtor Events Are Well Attended

As a brokerage firm, you have to make sure that events regarding new launches, events, or listings are well-attended. However, keeping everyone in the loop with what’s going on can sometimes feel like a full-time job.

How can the Hoyt Organization assist with this? We know exactly what media coverage you need and where you will get the most traction.

Furthermore, we can also arrange for photographers and experienced media professionals at each event. This way, you can rest assured that your new listings are getting the best exposure. If more people know about your events, then more people are likely to attend them.

Attract The Right Buyers

Any interest is great for business, right? Well, not always.

If you have a multi-million dollar listing, but you are constantly attracting the wrong buyers, then it’s not exactly a win-win situation.

The Hoyt Organization can help your brokerage firm to cater to the right demographic for each new listing. This means you will actually save on advertising costs because you’re refining your advertising strategy.

Sometimes, it is more about working smarter than working harder. With the Hoyt Organization, we can focus on getting you the right leads, so you can close the deal.

Get More Online Traffic

A lot of the time, a brokerage firm may not garner the attention it deserves simply because people don’t know enough about the company. How can you fix this? By giving people the answers they are already searching for.

By implementing proper SEO techniques, content marketing, Google ads and other paid marketing techniques, you can increase your online traffic.

Why is this a good thing? Essentially, it means you can give everyone all the information they are looking for in one place. This will not only save your brokerage time but will also allow you to meet people where they are at in their buyer journey so that you can know exactly what they need and when.

Make The Most Of All Communication Opportunities

Whether you need to manage a crisis, or you have a press release to attend, you have to know how to communicate properly and clearly. The Hoyt Organization can help you to stay on top of all your engagements, press releases, and functions.

Knowing what to say is just as important as how you say it. At the Hoyt Organization, we can help you to navigate sensitive situations with ease. We understand that retaining your existing clients can be just as important as getting new ones.

In Conclusion

As a residential brokerage firm, you have a lot on your plate. However, with the Hoyt Organization’s PR expertise, you can focus on what’s important to you.

We specialize in communication and marketing strategies and can help you reach new clientele. If you want to get the exposure that your brokerage firm deserves, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Leeza Hoyt

Using Data and Analytics To Increase Brand Awareness

Data analytics tools have become an increasingly important instrument in a brand’s arsenal. With such a wealth of data online, it would be a waste to not leverage it fully. Effective analysis can give brands the edge they need to reach their target audience.

So, let’s talk about some techniques companies can use to increase their brand awareness online.

5 Ways to Boost Brand Awareness With Data and Analytics

Manage Social Media Channels

Utilizing your social media pages is a great way to boost awareness. Not only do these platforms have enormous reach, but they also provide a wealth of built-in data and analytical tools. These tools enable you to track metrics, such as engagement and reach, so that you can gain deeper insights into your audience and how they interact with your brand.

However, platforms attract different demographics. Consider how Instagram’s user base differs in age from LinkedIn’s and how that affects the way they interact with you.

Collating data helps to identify which audiences are interacting with your company. In turn, this information can be used to find the channels that work best with the content you’re producing.

Boost Email Marketing Performance

It may seem outdated, but email marketing is still one of the most effective channels of communication. This is because practically everyone in the world has an email address that they use regularly.

The problem many companies face is that it can be difficult to measure the success of their email campaigns. Data from email service providers, like Mailchimp for instance, can help with this problem. They give companies the tools they need to properly track customer engagement metrics and set KPIs.

How many people are opening your emails? How often are your newsletters being reported as spam? What is your click-through rate?

Being able to answer these questions allows you to fine-tune your email campaigns. This way, you can ensure you provide relevant, interesting content to your target audience or audience segments. As a result, your brand will become more recognizable to your target audience thus boosting your brand awareness.

Focus On Personalization

Personalization has become increasingly important over the last decade. Customers are more likely now than ever before to switch brand loyalty when personalization is done effectively.

You can use analytical tools to understand the needs of individual consumers and automate advertising to target them specifically.

This practice has proven itself in the e-commerce and streaming industries. Brands like Amazon and Netflix have perfected curating individual content feeds based on a consumer’s behavior.

So, with effective personalization, you can boost your brand image among your target audience.

Create and Curate Effective Content

One of the many challenges facing marketers planning out new campaigns is deciding on the direction, tone, and positioning of the marketing content. Fortunately, data can help lead the way.

For example, companies can gather information through surveys or by measuring various metrics, such as traffic to their web pages. This helps to illuminate what kind of content their audience is looking for.

Using this information will help you understand your customer’s needs and how you can address them with your content. In doing so, you make your content and website more discoverable – thereby boosting your brand awareness and credibility.

Detailed Reporting

Data is nothing more than a long string of numbers that on their own don’t mean much. It needs to be interpreted using analytical tools to form usable information. This then provides you with the metrics you need to measure performance.

Another advantage of broad-spectrum data analysis is that it provides businesses with a holistic view of their performance. You can see where exactly your strengths and weaknesses lie.

By analyzing reports generated through analytics tools, like Google Analytics, you can easily evaluate your online presence. This will enable you to see where you can improve your brand awareness strategy.

Using Data to Boost Brand Awareness

So we know all the areas that data can be used in to boost awareness, but knowing exactly what to do with all that data is just as much of a challenge.

The first step in this process is planning. Before starting any PR campaign or measuring performance metrics, you need to know what your goals are. Knowing beforehand what the intended outcome of a campaign is will inform which metrics you keep track of.

For example, if you want to boost your share of media coverage, you need to use data to tell you where you currently stand. Then you can set reasonable KPIs for your campaign, and use the same analytics to tell you how you performed.

Final Thoughts

In this digital age, brand awareness is crucial as it establishes trust and credibility with consumers. If you want your brand to perform well, and more importantly, outperform your competition, use data analytics to drive you forward!

Leeza Hoyt

How To Improve Your Brand With Networking and Pitches

When it comes to improving your brand, we cannot emphasize the importance of building solid business relationships and delivering great pitches enough. This rings true for businesses in all sectors and niches. In order to be successful in your sector, you have to be willing to establish and maintain healthy connections. This is where good networking and pitching skills are essential.

Here are some networking and pitching techniques that can help improve your brand.

Learn To Truly Listen

To perfect your networking skills, you have to get to know the people and culture of the company that you want to approach. After all, you are doing business with people. So, you have to know how to make someone feel at ease and form a connection with them. People will sometimes forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

Making people feel truly heard is very important. This shows that you are not just interested in what they can give you, but that you prioritize their story above their success. How does one do this? By asking the right questions.

Instead of waiting for someone to finish their sentence so you can reply and shove your business card in their hand, listen intently to what they have to say. Base follow-up questions on what that person said. Truly try to understand why they do what they do, what you have in common, and how you can benefit them.

This approach will not only help you to network more efficiently but will also allow you to turn your pitches into in-depth conversations, rather than awkward monologues. Once you have business acquaintances that feel heard, understood, and valued, your pitches will come naturally and have a much higher success rate.

Be The Solution, Not The Problem

A lot of companies use networking events as opportunities to find solutions. Don’t be that person that views potential connections as your next meal ticket. Instead, always give more than you take. Try to offer value and solutions to other companies and prioritize them above yourself. Know their story before you dive into yours.

People crave authentic connections. By always asking for favors but not being open to helping others, you will actually frighten potential business partners away and be counterproductive. So, don’t start your conversation with business matters. Instead, start by getting to know the person standing in front of you.

Yes, at the end of the day you also want more publicity for your own brand. However, by being a resource to other companies and business contacts, media coverage will be a natural byproduct. So don’t force it but rather just do your part, be authentic, and wait for the free publicity to come to you.

Invest In The Right People

By knowing who your client base is and what connections you still need to form to get your clients where they want to go, you can fortify relationships with the right outlets and influencers. In contrast to popular belief, trying to reach and work with everyone in your industry is simply not a practical way to build and maintain lasting professional relationships.

Instead, you should buckle down your efforts and only focus on a select couple of outlets and businesses that you really want to collaborate with. Making sure that you collaborate with people and businesses who have the right target audience. This will have a stronger impact than if you choose collaborators based on the size of their reach.

By tightening your circle, you will also have more time on your hands to focus on the work and maintain the professional relationships you already have. Remember, it is important to not spread your networking efforts too thin if you cannot maintain extra relationships.

The Perfect Pitch

The secret to the perfect pitch is that you have to ditch the traditional pitching format. Apart from being able to properly introduce yourself and show how you have benefitted your clients, your pitch should be less about the work and more about portraying your passion and evoking curiosity.

How does one do that exactly? Start by telling your company’s unique story. What led you to start your business in the first place? Mention the success that your clients or customers have achieved thanks to your help.

This will let people know that you really love what you do and that you view your clients’ success as your own. Furthermore, they will also be wondering how you managed these successes, which will lead to more questions. Before you know it, an exciting conversation will ensue – which is exactly what you want!

The Takeaway

When it comes to networking and delivering that perfect pitch, people crave authenticity. If you want to stand out from the crowd, really listen to what they have to say. Remember to aim for a meaningful conversation rather than pitching an unsolicited idea. This will help you to strengthen your brand as you will come across as more authentic and trustworthy.

Leeza Hoyt

5 Technologies That Will Change How You Do Public Relations

Technology is evolving all the time and affecting all of the industries that rely on it. The world of PR is no exception.

Anticipating how technology will evolve in the years to come and how to leverage various technologies in your PR strategy is crucial if you want your brand to stay relevant. Below are 5 technologies that will change how you approach public relations. These should be on the frontline of your strategy if you want to stay ahead of the competition.

Social Networks

Social media’s growing popularity has been one of the primary tools that PR professionals use worldwide. There are no inclinations of it changing anytime soon.

With some platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, experiencing some declines in recent years, the gap has been filled with new giants, like Snapchat, Reddit, and LinkedIn. However, the distribution channels of these platforms have evolved over the past decade and so have the PR departments that rely on them.

In general, there has been a major shift from organic to paid content. This means PR professionals have to regularly revise their budgets allocated to paid media.

The rise of social media messaging tools has given the PR industry a whole new channel to reach potential customers. This trend will likely become a crucial PR strategy as 62% of millennials feel more loyal to brands that message them on social media.

In addition, PR professionals have started using social media as a way to monitor brand reputation and news. Social platforms are an effective way of connecting and communicating with your audience. As such, monitoring social media helps PR professionals to get an idea of what people think about a brand so that they can adjust their strategy accordingly.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technology that aims to mimic what humans do, think, and say. It is anticipated that AI will have infiltrated every industry and aspect of society in 30 years’ time. This means that the PR world will also need to adapt and probably use AI for various purposes.

For example, you could use AI to leverage millions of gigabytes of data in real-time to write insightful copy and target audiences in a much more sophisticated way – without human assistance.

Analyzing Information

The rise of AI is deeply intertwined with the development of big data. Big data refers to the minefield of structured and unstructured information that is available for organizations to comb through for valuable insights.

For companies to intimately know their audience’s needs, wants and preferences, they will need to use AI tools to comb through large amounts of data and provide highly targeted content to users.

Since PR relies heavily on expertly crafted communication, this ability will become quite crucial in any PR strategy. Today, big tech companies, like Facebook, are already doing this. They target users through ads and content that are tied to their likes and dislikes. However, in a few years’ time, we will likely see this trend in PR around the world.

Email

Compared to other platforms, email has seen little innovation in recent years. However, certain future advancements will keep this platform relevant.

In the next few years, we can expect increasing personalization and targeting through the use of big data. This will enable PR professionals to send highly targeted emails to potential leads and recurring customers.

Email will also become more interactive, featuring highly clickable elements, which will boost engagement. Increased automation is also on the horizon, with greater leveraging of information and natural language processing.

This will take much of the monotonous work off of the hands of PR professionals. It will allow them to focus their energies on problem-solving tactics and industry analyses.

Video Content

Since the emergence of Web 2.0, video content has ruled on the majority of social media platforms. According to research, 60% of millennials prefer to watch a video rather than read a newsletter. Additionally, 56% of consumers believe that if a company has a website, it should have a video.

Many businesses and organizations have had immense success communicating via video, particularly by producing video news releases (VNRs) and brand journalism videos.

With live streaming also gaining popularity, audiences now have the opportunity to tune into events as they are happening. They can experience raw, unfiltered imagery of the topics they are interested in.

So, for PR professionals to stay relevant, they will have to leverage these cutting-edge technologies. This will help them to accurately communicate their organization’s PR content more effectively.

In Conclusion

If PR professionals want to continue in their quest to reach and retain customers, they will have to form their strategy around the technologies available to them. This also entails keeping up with the evolution of the tech industry and using innovative ways to tell your brand’s story.

Nick Luvera

Why You Need A Boutique Public Relations Agency

When building a credible brand, you will find that just having an impressive content and social media strategy won’t isn’t enough. In order to stand out, you will need experienced boutique public relations agency.

What makes us different compared to larger advertising agencies? We explore it all in this post.

What Is A Boutique PR Agency?

Boutique PR agencies are usually smaller and more flexible compared to larger agencies. The advantage is greater personal attention and ability to make adjustments on the fly when necessary. Like their larger competitors, boutique PR agencies craft strategic messaging for public consumption. There are endless executable tactics including targeting specific audiences through earned media, like broadcasting, news coverage, interviews, paid advertising and much more in an effort to shape public opinion and brand awareness.

Services That A Boutique Public Relations Agency Offers

Each boutique PR agency usually has ample experience in certain industries. This means they specialize in getting certain brands and companies noticed. The industries can range from real estate, healthcare, non-profit organizations, or construction and more.

Smaller agencies are often times better equipped compared to larger PR agencies because of their diverse experience. Additionally, they tend to offer each of their brands a more hands-on approach.

To be more specific, boutique PR agencies usually offer the following services:

1) Media Training and Representation

PR agencies are fully equipped to help identify spokespeople and train them how to give persuasive and articulate media interviews that convey key messages accurately. This is a really crucial skill to cultivate. It equips brand ambassadors with the right skills so that can take your company to the next level.

2) Content Publishing

In order to create a credible reputation for your company, you need to invest time and effort in communicating with your customers. A boutique PR agency can help with that and draft thought leadership articles and op-eds. Through these, you can convey important information to those that matter on a continual basis. Additionally, PR agencies can also help to get these articles published in relevant media outlets.

3) Community Relations

PR agencies can help to get your brand involved with the community and secure opportunities for the sponsorship or support of non-profit organizations. This helps to create more brand awareness and builds goodwill with your target audience.

4) Media Analysis

By researching what your perceptions customers or target audience might already have of your company or organization, you can better identify areas for improvement.

Boutique PR agencies can help find negative publicity or social media perceptions that are harmful to your brand. Then, they can address the issues head-on before they become a nightmare.

In short, boutique PR agencies can help businesses with:

Improving public opinion.
Guidance on the best communications avenues when it comes to reaching new clients.
Boost brand awareness by implementing effective communication strategies.

The Benefits Of Hiring A Boutique PR Agency

As already stated, Boutique PR agencies usually have fewer employees, but have experienced and seasoned leaders that have quite literally experienced it all. Having thought leaders with extensive experience, who are also your point of contact, has tremendous value.

Additionally, you will also get to work with professionals who truly know best. They know the best ways to boost brand awareness and manage the public perceptions of your company.

The services offered by boutique PR agencies are also more personalized. This is because you can choose an agency that specializes in your industry.

To sum it up, a smaller firm can give special focus to pinpointing specific ways to meet your goals. They won’t use the same umbrella strategy that they use for all clients. In the end, you have to ask yourself if your brand deserves lots of individualized attention or not.

Are you happy with using a communication strategy created for another company? Or would you prefer to have one specifically tailored for your business? If the latter is the case, then hiring a boutique PR agency is the right call for you.

Final Thoughts

Boutique PR agencies are the way to go if you are serious about creating a brand that will stand the test of time. Not only will you get to learn from experienced professionals, but you will also get more personalized services.

Leeza Hoyt

Social Media Series: How to Leverage Your Instagram Business Account

With social networks continuing to change the way people act and make decisions, business leaders need to determine how best to connect with their customers and shape their perceptions. Hootsuite claims, “If you’re not taking advantage of social, you’re missing out on a fast, inexpensive, and effective way to reach almost half the world’s population.” In this blog post, we will be sharing ways to leverage your Instagram business account to not only raise brand awareness but also increase engagement.

1. Optimize Your Bio

Your bio is one of the first things users see on your page. It is a snapshot that relays the most important information someone should know about you. It sets the brands tone by quickly highlighting who you are, what you do and how to get in touch with you. Strategic marketers may even include a call-to-action (CTA) to entice followers to focus their attention on the next action you want them to take. This CTA is generally a “link in bio” which is a clickable URL that your visitors will use to visit what is your most important online space. This could be your website, a product page, your blog post or podcast. By using a service like Linktree, you can put a URL in your bio so users can access relevant links. The Hoyt Organization, for example, uses Linktree to include links to agency blog posts. Crafting an Instagram bio may sound tedious, but it is crucial for establishing your brand presence.

2. Post Regularly

To keep your followers engaged, you should create a social media schedule. Determining your social media schedule is critical for strategically planning the content you’ll create and share. Whether that means you post once, twice, or even three times a week, you should be consistent. This will help your followers learn when to expect fresh content. The Hoyt Organization sticks to a regular posting schedule by highlighting an agency blog post every Wednesday. That way, The Hoyt Organization’s followers know when to expect a new blog post in their feed. If you only have time to post once a week, that is perfectly acceptable. Just make sure your post brings value to your followers and keeps them coming back to your page for more.

3. Share Quality Content

Posting quality content is equally as important as posting on a regular basis. You have to create posts that resonate with your target audience, as this will ensure that they interact with your content. For this reason, you should keep your target audience in mind when crafting posts. You should also create a visual aesthetic for your page with consistent colors and filters so that followers will recognize your brand. Tools like Planoly allow you to engage in “aesthetic planning,” which involves uploading photos and videos to see how they look in a particular order before actually posting them. You can learn more about what Planoly has to offer by reading our blog post,The Next “It” Tool: Planoly.

We hope these tips help you leverage your Instagram business account. If you would like to learn more ways to reach your customers through Instagram, feel free to send us a message.

Stay tuned for our next blog post on how to leverage your Twitter account.

The Hoyt Organization

Expanding One of the Nation’s Top Four Residential Brokerage Firms into the West

From “For Sale” signs across NYC’s Upper Eastside to celebrity agents on TV’s famed “Million Dollar Listing,” the Douglas Elliman (DE) name is linked to highly sought-after agents and extremely coveted listings. Synonymous with real estate dominance on the East Coast, the residential brokerage firm wanted to head west and do the same. The firm tapped THO to join the team because of our deep experience in real estate public relations and make this happen.

The Challenge

THO needed to leverage Douglas Elliman’s East Coast reputation to firmly establish, and quickly grow, roots in the West. The goal: expand its reputation and recruit and retain the top agents in both Colorado and California to bring listings and clients to their roster.

The Solution

Attracting and retaining top talent in the industry became the primary focus of the THO-constructed public relations program. The plan was designed to elevate the brand using success stories, agent profiles, and firm-differentiating highlights, making it ‘the place to be’ for successful, results-driven agents.

THO implemented a multi-pronged approach focusing on People, Property & Platform using the following strategies:

Promote existing, significantly outstanding listings with historical, architectural, or celebrity notoriety;
Leverage senior level market expertise to establish DE executives as credible, knowledgeable and seasoned real estate experts;
Focus on highlighting the firm’s core value propositions, directly connecting the firm to agents possibly seeking a new home; and
Maximize community engagement at high-profile events like Jazz Aspen Snowmass, Evening on the Beach and other Elliman Arts initiatives to accentuate their community involvement.

Results

THO’s initial launch into the market resulted in more than 400 million impressions for Douglas Elliman in nationally prominent outlets such as The Wall St. Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, Bloomberg Pursuits, Architectural Digest and more. This program solidified the firm’s reputation as one of the top brokerage firms in both local and national markets.

THO secured profiles and interviews which allowed Douglas Elliman agents to speak to both their actual listings, and their expertise in key neighborhoods. Beyond agent interviews and specific listings, THO promoted numerous notable properties and high-dollar Douglas Elliman transactions, one of which was the sale of a $90 million Holmby Hills estate, the second highest residential sale in LA at the time. THO also garnered significant coverage surrounding Douglas Elliman’s quarterly market reports for the Los Angeles and Aspen regions, guaranteeing the brokerage’s role as a top industry resource.

Takeaways

In well-established markets where numerous brokerages are entrenched in a high-stakes real estate scene, a newcomer could get lost in the shuffle. These few, but important steps can help ensure success:

Develop a brand’s unified voice
Engage and support internal and external company stakeholders
Establish consistent methods for sharing market knowledge and expertise

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