What I Learned as the PR Manager for a High School Newspaper

KPBy Katie Page

Katie Page has spent the last two summers as (W)right On’s summer intern. As you can see from the post below, she is a rock star and is now a freshman at Chapman University, studying for her B.A. in Public Relations and Advertising.

I am a storyteller. It is my passion, my biggest weakness and my greatest strength. So when I was asked to write a blog post for (W)right On Communications about my time as the PR Manager for the Torrey Pines High School newspaper, the Falconer, I was both elated and terrified.

PR is about telling a story, but the people reading this are well aware of that. When I sat down to write this story, my mind became a blank slate, and not the kind that offers infinite possibilities. I couldn’t find the words to express what I’d done for the Falconer in regards to PR. Did I have examples of the results of the tactics I implemented? Sure. Did I have words of wisdom to share about what I’d learned during my time as PR Manager? I suppose. But it all seemed dry and worthless to professionals like yourselves. So after weeks of hitting delete, I decided that I’d tell you this story in a way that reflected not only what I’ve taken away from my PR experiences, but also who I am.

I will admit that I have several stereotypical teenage tendencies, like excessively checking social media. So believe me when I say that nothing epitomizes teenage interest like the never-ending stream of trends on social media. Therefore, if one wants their attention, social media is the most logical method of getting it.

falconsAs the Falconer’s former PR Manager, I was charged with growing subscriptions and grabbing the short attention spans of my youthful peers. The first few months on the job weren’t exceedingly notable, but then I realized that I was missing the storytelling aspect of PR. If I wanted the stories that filled the inky pages to leap out and grab the student body, then I was going to have to use social media to tell the Falconer’s story before its articles had the chance.

In an effort to attack the challenge from all fronts simultaneously, I broke down our viewers into interest-based categories: news/entertainment and sports. To capture the sports fans’ attention, I revamped the Falconer’s Twitter feed. Each game, tournament, match or meet would be tweeted about and contain the opponent, score and an event highlight. This way, the dedicated sports fans could read about the event without having to leave the comfort of their couch, where they were most likely watching the professional version of the same sport. These constant updates served as reminders to our athletically inclined followers that we were always there for them, and that we gave them just enough information to stay in the loop. Thus, when the paper came out every month, those fans couldn’t get enough of the sports coverage we had to offer.

In order to engage those who lacked an interest in athletics, I beefed up the Facebook posts that advertised each issue’s release. Every post had a breakdown of each section’s highlights in an effort to draw in the type of readers who weren’t satisfied with a blurb of information, but rather wanted to know it all. Previously, the post reached as many Facebook friends the PR Manager had, as he or she was the one who made the post, but I wanted to broaden its reach, so I had every staff member share the post and click the box indicating their attendance. This expanded the post’s views from roughly 400 people to well over a thousand.

grandmaEven students who didn’t attend TPHS were aware of the upcoming issue and its intriguing focal points. And Aunt Debbie who lived in a small town in Minnesota could read the post’s excerpt of the news section and feel compelled to have Johnny send her a copy of the paper, or better yet, send her a subscription form.

I did my best to create a new story for a newspaper, something already filled with diverse and meaningful stories. It seemed ridiculous, but it worked. Circulation increased and I walked away with priceless knowledge and a new career aspiration.

 

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To Do Good, Communicate Well: Public Relations Tips for Non-Profits

non profit

By Molly Borchers, Senior Communications Strategist

One of the things I love most about my job is meeting great people doing great things for the San Diego community. I have the privilege of supporting the community relations department for one of my client partners, which means I help them spotlight the great work of compassionate organizations like Ocean Discovery Institute, Jacobs and Cushman San Diego Food Bank, Workshops for Warriors and many others.

Nonprofit-word-cloudAfter moving here from Ohio, I was struck by the beauty of San Diego’s beaches, bays, palm trees, rivers, canyons, mountains and deserts. With a little time, I was equally in awe of the people who are so deeply connected to their tight-knit communities, of all the passionate innovators who live here, of just how much people love this town.

As of 2014, there were 9,364 501(c)(3) non-profits in San Diego County. That’s a lot of people doing a lot of good. But a major problem for these organizations is that they often don’t have the time or the funding to toot their own horns.

It’s critical for non-profits to raise visibility in order to get funding and fulfill their missions. Here are five communications and public relations tips for non-profits who think they don’t have the bandwidth or budget to promote themselves:

  1. Map out a plan: At the beginning of each year, make it a priority to develop your non-profit’s communications road map. There may not be a lot of time or resources available, but try to carve out space for one promotional activity each month and set calendar alerts to stay accountable.

An example of what that could look like? Perhaps in January, you write and distribute a press release about a fundraising event you’re having. In February, send out a targeted media pitch on the topic you’re trying to generate awareness for. In March, apply for a major speaking opportunity. And so on. By making sure you have at least one activity a month, you sustain the communications momentum with the least time investment possible.

  1. Leverage strategic partnerships: I don’t have to wax poetic about the value of building your network. Once your network is in place, though, leverage the help of strategic partners to support your communications efforts.
    1. If your non-profit has received a corporate grant, ask that organization if they’d also be willing to support you with promotion.
    2. Try meeting people in the communications/PR field. You never know what counsel or advice they’d be willing to give.
    3. Collaborate with other non-profits with similar missions to see if you can pool resources.
  1. Don’t ignore free tools like blogs and social media: I’ve spoken with non-profit leaders who view social media as a low-priority, time-sucking task. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Organizations of all types have three communications channels: paid (advertising), earned (media coverage) and owned (websites, blogs, social media, newsletters). Only one of those is truly free.

Why eschew free platforms where you have the opportunity to both control the message and engage directly with potential donors and volunteers? My tip: find 1-2 hours to develop a strategic social media and blog plan. Then, hire an eager college intern to help execute. They can schedule most social media posts in advance via HootSuite or Buffer. Blogging brings excellent SEO benefits and can help elevate your website to the first page in Google. By using an intern to help, you’re helping them build their portfolio (doing yet another service to the community) without taxing your regular staff resources.

  1. PR measurementBe intentional with measurement: Often, communicators confuse output with outcome. For example, an output is “number of media mentions” or “speaking opportunities secured.” However, an outcome would measure the impact of that effort. Did your communications efforts increase volunteer inquiries or donations? That’s where the measurement gets juicy.

I recommend measuring a bit of both. Perhaps set a goal for number of media placements and then measure them on a graph against website visits, number of volunteer inquiries and donations, then see how the promotion efforts correlate with your desired outcomes.

  1. Ask for help: Don’t be afraid to ask the experts for a little help. There are several communications agencies who offer services priced to be very friendly to non-profit budgets. Sometimes there is even an opportunity to receive pro-bono work, depending on your relationship with the agency.

Work for or volunteer for a non-profit? If you think we can be of assistance, let’s connect. Email me at mborchers [at] wrightoncomm.com. Engaging in highly targeted, measurable social media, PR, multimedia programs can help you achieve your mission.

 

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Going Up? Why Elevator Pitches are a Brand Essential

giphyelf

Erica Schlesinger, Communications Strategist

We’ve all been there – grasping for the right words when someone says, “tell me about your business.” Worrying about sounding unique, professional, cool, innovative and established in one fell swoop can seem like a daunting task. The good news? It doesn’t have to be.

This, friends, is why we – individual professionals and brands alike – need to master the art of the elevator pitch. This statement, so named because it can ideally be uttered in the length of an average elevator ride, provides a simple and standardized way to communicate your brand’s perspective, values and accolades to networking connections, potential clients and investors… you name it.

Here at (W)right On, we have our own agency elevator pitch, which we all use quite a bit:

(W)right On Communications is a full-spectrum communications agency, with capabilities in PR, branding, design, development, content marketing and more. We work with an array of local and national client partners in industries including hospitality, healthcare, nonprofit, land development, technology, energy and professional services on projects ranging from media relations and social media to video production and Web design. As an agency, we excel at helping interesting people doing interesting things share their expertise with the world.

Of course, this isn’t a script – we each add our own flair and flavor to make it authentic. But the message remains the same. We tell our client partners, particularly those who engage with the public a lot, that having a solid elevator pitch is a key component of a solid brand.

It’s like a logo or a website – your calling card and first impression to the business world. And everyone likes to make a good first impression, right?

An elevator pitch can really follow the five Ws of journalism – who, what, when, where and why. You need to translate who you are, what you specialize in, who you work with and your core ethos or mission effectively and concisely.

WOC’s communicators are always game to drum up a new elevator pitch. However, if you’re a DIY kind of person, take a look at some pointers from other business-savvy folks via Business News Daily.

 

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5 Tips to Design for the Web

web design

By Keely Smith, Design & Multimedia Specialist

In an age of information overload, it’s vital to communicate visually and effectively. Presenting information on the Internet in a way that is easily digestible for any viewer can be a challenge, but here are five tips that will make any Web designer’s life a little bit easier:

  1. Create intuitive navigation

Navigation is a crucial element for keeping people on your site, and a viewer should be able to locate key information within the first 10 seconds.

Primary navigation is typically displayed horizontally toward the top of the page, while secondary navigation is often included in dropdown menus for subsequent pages. Pay attention to the titles – it should be clear to a visitor what they will see when navigating to another page.

  1.  De-clutter

Iorganizet’s very easy to be overloaded with images, a danger for anyone trying to communicate visually. When confronted with too many images on a website (graphics, photos, slideshows, animated gifs, bright buttons), it is overwhelming for anyone visiting.

Our brains stop processing information when presented with too many options. Simplify and consolidate your information. It will pay off!

  1. Use white space

I often come across sites that are jam-packed with information, making it difficult to navigate and find what I’m looking for.

Don’t be afraid of white space. The entire page doesn’t need to be loaded with graphics, pictures, buttons and calls-to-action. Having white space will help create hierarchy within a webpage. Allow your design to breathe! See examples here.

  1. Be intentional with color

nature paletteColor is a major player in the overall aesthetic of a website. It’s important to ask what colors are appropriate, consistent and complementary to your brand. Subdued color palletes, like those often seen on corporate sites, tend to render a clean and modern appearance, while personal portfolios or small business sites allow more freedom to experiment with brighter colors.

Remember that color can attract or defer viewers from certain information, so use it intentionally. Having a hard time picking a color pallete? Use photographs of nature to sample colors in Photoshop or resources like Adobe Kuler to find inspiration or download color themes.

  1. Pay attention to detail

Although elements such as rollover functionalities should be one of the finishing touches when designing a website, they should not be forgotten. Hover effects like change in color, text, dimming and highlighting are effective ways to add some interest to the overall functionality of your site. Visitors will be prompted to click on additional pages, keeping them on your site longer.

Designing websites is a complex process that requires experience and fundamental Web knowledge. If you’re new to the practice it may be frustrating at first, yet the end product is always rewarding!

If designing for the web sounds too technical, let us know. Our graphic designers are happy to work with you to produce a site you love.

 

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The Never-Ending Question: What is PR?

PR

By Julie Wright, President

Sometimes I wish I were a doctor, police officer or bartender so that when asked what I do for a living, my answer wouldn’t produce that awkward pause followed by, “So what is PR exactly?”

A LinkedIn poll found PR Manager to be the seventh most misunderstood position in the workforce. (Fun fact: The poll asked parents to explain what their son or daughter does for a living, and 42 percent of respondents said they couldn’t accurately describe the PR profession. I’m not sure my parents really know what I do, either).

Unexpected NumbersApparently, public relations is a tough concept for many people to grasp. In a way, it falls in the grey area of other practices, such as marketing, advertising and journalism.

Sometimes our tasks overlap and we may take care of a brand’s marketing. Many PR practitioners have writing abilities on par with the best journalists. Yet public relations has its own arena and should not be lumped together with other professions.

For the hundreds of people that are bound to ask you, “PR? What’s that?,” PRSSA developed this crowdsourced definition:

“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

For a more down-to-earth explanation, you might just say:

“I achieve media coverage for our client partners as well as maintain relationships for them.”

Similar to a marketing professional, we want to improve our clients’ images, yet PR has an entirely different approach. We invest our time in the relationships that make a difference and use these to best help the brand. In helping earn our clients media coverage, we create awareness and hopefully interest from potential customers, donors, investors and others. We’re able to preserve and heighten our clients’ reputations by communicating where their target audiences are.

Sometimes our goals are the same as an advertising campaign’s, but rather than paying to put our clients’ messages out, we earn people’s attention by being exciting, fresh, unique or relevant to their interests.

Sometimes our goals are the opposite of an ad campaign and we’re helping our clients manage unwanted attention. When things go wrong, contrary to popular belief and pulp fiction, we don’t cover things up, but instead attempt to explain the issue in a transparent and ethical way.

Today, we’re not just earning attention and managing reputations through media exposure and special events, but through clever, strategic social media and content creation programs.

Although PR is a very misunderstood profession, it’s an essential part of business for brands to survive and thrive.

 

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Best Practices for Tech Startup PR

By Molly Borchers, Sr. Communications Strategist

Since the start of 2009, venture capital firms have deployed more than $31.5 billion across 3,308 deals into Silicon Valley-based tech startups. Here in San Diego, VCs invested more than $270 million in the first quarter of 2015 alone.

Startups are innovating at a fever pitch, but with so many new companies hitting the market, getting noticed can be a challenge. It’s hard to compete with the next Uber. There’s a lot of noise out there and attention spans are short. Also, journalists are increasingly being bombarded with pitches, making it hard to sort out the substance from the fluff.

That’s exactly why tech startups need good PR.megaphone

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist (or genius programmer) to know that positive media coverage can introduce your company to new customers. But it also enhances your credibility, making investors more confident in the promise of your product or service.

That’s why at (W)right On, we always advise tech startups to invest in PR before anything else. But many times, especially with new, early stage tech startups, there isn’t an outlined budget for marketing. Or, the startup founders are too busy to dedicate the time and resources toward a successful PR program.

You don’t have to be as grandiose as Steve Jobs and captivate the world at MacWorld to get media coverage, but a successful launch or program does require creativity. Here are a few best practices that we’ve learned over the years for getting PR for your startup:

A splashy launch is worth its weight in gold:launch

Your product is out of beta, the bugs are worked out, and you’ve nailed your messaging, value proposition and competitive differentiation. Now it’s time to let the world know you exist! The old adage, “if you build it, they will come” no longer applies. No offense to Kevin Costner and “Field of Dreams,” but it just doesn’t work that way anymore.

We recommend that tech startups hire a PR firm to develop a killer launch strategy to get in the media and in front of customers. Yes, it is an investment, but it’s one that will pay for itself if done correctly.

Depending on the startup and their customers, we’ve done everything from influencer targeting, giveaways, press conferences (in-person and digital), launch parties, desksides (one-on-one meetings with journalists) and more.

It takes creativity to get noticed:

Say you’ve already launched. Maybe the company has been around for a year or more. Things are going well, but you could stand to get more buzz. The most important thing we tell our clients is that an old product won’t continue to get press unless the company does something creative to earn it. Tech journalists tend to cover:

  • Company launches
  • New products/product launches
  • Data/trends/statistics
  • Helpful infographics
  • Important partnerships
  • Case studies
  • News coming from top companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc.

If you don’t have any “news,” case studies or product launches in the queue, then you’re going to need to get creative to get attention. Often for clients who have this dilemma, we’ll develop a thought leadership campaign where we’ll draft a series of topical articles and shop them to various magazines and blogs in the target market. Or, we’ll design an infographic, develop a creative stunt or commission a survey to earn media attention.

Form relationships with media contacts:

Your PR firm has scored you a media interview. At first you think, “awesome, this is going to be great!” Then, the next thought might be, “oh sh*t, I hope I don’t screw this up.”

First, we always encourage that our tech startup spokespeople get media training if they’re not already experienced in that area. This gives said spokespeople the confidence to know they are not going to look like a complete wanker to the journalist.

Next, remember that every media interview is an opportunity to form a relationship with someone new. You’re not simply adding that journalist to your Rolodex, but potentially meeting someone who could become an advocate for your company. When you form genuine relationships with the media, they will often look to you as a source for stories (yay, more press!) and perhaps they’ll be more benevolent (within the limits of their job) if crisis strikes.

So keep in touch with the journalist. Comment on their articles. Follow and RT them on Twitter. Send them articles you think they might want to read, or email feedback about the things they write themselves. Be open and transparent (not defensive) during the interview process. Take them out to lunch or drinks with your PR rep on a quarterly basis to learn more about what they’re working on.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but we’ve seen firsthand how good PR can help tech startups standout from the competition, get in front of new customers and impress investors.

Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments!