Reflections to Begin 2016…

 

By Grant Wright, CEO

Twitter: @Grant_Wright 

In the media, sometimes truth is distorted. I don’t mean journalists lie, although that can happen. But I do mean that some aspect of the truth can be emphasized more than others, leaving an unbalanced impression of a situation.

PR pros are typically engaged to emphasize the good for client partners, and occasionally we’re called upon to mitigate the bad. All this message shaping extends in a broader sense to what society consumes every day in the form of “news.” Personally, and professionally, I think the state of journalism in America is abysmal. For example, when CNN provides “breaking news” that is not fact but instead speculation from an unnamed source, it should be called neither “breaking” nor “news.” It’s definitely not quality journalism.

In aggregate, the penchant for the negative – if it bleeds, it leads – is at an all-time high. Were an alien to visit America and listen only to major news outlets for a week or even a day, he/she/it would probably conclude that America is a dangerous place where little good happens and humanity mostly cares about Donald Trump and the Kardashians.

But I think there’s a much brighter reality to the current state of affairs than the news has far too many people believing. In 2015, there were dozens of good things that happened we heard much too little about, or their significance was lost in the din of negative media bombardment. Just a few examples of many are:

Decreased Poverty

Global poverty continued to fall – the World Bank announced that for the fist time ever, fewer than 10% of the global population now lives in abject poverty. Just 25 years ago, one-third of humanity lived with barely enough to subsist. We’ve of course much further to go, but the good news trend is clear and profound.

Environment

Almost 200 countries, including China, signed an unprecedented climate accord. There is finally global, cohesive recognition that humanity cannot continue on the current course of planetary abuse and expect to hand the planet to future generations the way we found it. Yes, Earth has a natural assimilative capacity to soak up carbon, but it’s not infinite. That 2015 was the year we finally seem to be coming to our senses is something to feel good about.

Technology

Tons of advancements! Just one in 2015 is that humankind took close-up, high-def pictures of a planetary body only 1,400 miles wide but more than three billion miles from Earth! We flew a craft to Pluto, didn’t forget to take the lens cap off and beamed photos billions of miles back across space. But I think the biggest tech accomplishment is the aggregate of technology continuing to flow information ever more freely around the globe. It’s increasingly difficult for dictators to fool their citizens, and humanity to ignore the plight of millions of refugees from man-made and natural disasters.

Much More

Whether it’s the country of Paula designating a new marine reserve the size of California, Myanmar/Burma finally holding elections, violent crime in the USA continuing to decrease (35% less than 20 years ago), Ebola being defeated in Africa, same-sex couples in America finally having the right to marry or the U.S. women’s national soccer team winning the World Cup with a record-breaking 27 million American TV viewers… a great deal of good happened in 2015.

It is these positive developments of 2015 I reflect on, and why I’m optimistic for 2016.

Sure, more bad things will happen, messages will continue to be shaped and the media will continue to obsess the negative. But this doesn’t mean there won’t be a concurrent reality of extraordinarily good things happening, too.

Information transparency will continue around the globe, we’ll be one year closer to self-driving cars and ending the 36,000+ deaths on American roads each year, technologies like 3D printing will spawn exciting new industries and there will be more breathtaking scientific discoveries.

At (W)right On, our continuing growth is founded in our willingness to embrace change with gusto, leadership and optimism. I can’t wait to dive into new opportunities this year and continue to do our part to help leave the world just a little better of a place than when we inherited it. How about you?

10 Feelings Anyone Who Works in PR Will Relate To

 

By Erica Gadbois, Communications Strategist

  1. That feeling when… you nail the lead paragraph of a contributed article and it all just flows from there.

kanye

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. That feeling when… your favorite reporter comes through, yet again.

ron burgundy

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. That feeling when… you’re in back-to-back meetings and realize the office is out of coffee.

gaga (002)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. That feeling when… the reporter at the other end of a great HARO opportunity says they’ve had too many responses.

britney

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. That feeling when… you’re out in the field all day and your cellphone gives you a low battery notice.

lauren conrad

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. That feeling when… you and your client partner have the same great idea at a meeting.

samantha jones

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. That feeling when… you handle a crisis comms situation perfectly.

scandal handled

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. That feeling when… you’re in annual planning meetings with your client partners.

oprah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. That feeling when… you can’t stop your mind from wanting to correct every PR fail you witness.

miley

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. That feeling when… you try explaining to your friends and family what you do from day to day.

Bowie

The WOC Guide to Effective PR Measurement & Evaluation

PR Measurement

 

By Molly Borchers, Sr. Communications Strategist

For decades, public relations practitioners have struggled to prove our worth. To complicate matters further, our field is getting more and more convoluted. Today, a single tweet from a Kardashian could be worth more than an entire advertising budget.

Many companies put such a focus on ROI based on the dollar amount, yet there is often forgotten value outside of that box, such as keeping competitors out of news, publicizing positive versus negative content and developing a relationship with the community. Measurement just isn’t as cut and dry as it used to be.

The number-one reason that (good) PR measurement is so important is because we can deliver better and more effective communications to help our client partners achieve goals when we have the right data and insights. Not only does it prove the value, but it enables the practitioner to optimize their strategy and be more successful in the future.

For example, we recently found in one of our campaigns that broadcast TV had been reaching more people and driving more positive coverage than print and online outlets. With that data, we were able to make a strategic recommendation to the client partner to increase their PR support of the popular program and other stories that target local TV news stations, creating a bigger positive impact on public perception.

That’s why it was our 2015 resolution to invest in training on measurement. Here is a look into our process.

The Barcelona Principles

In 2010, a group of PR industry leaders gathered in Barcelona at an AMEC conference and developed the Barcelona Principles. There hadn’t previously been any industry-wide measurement standards or guidelines, and too many practitioners were still using Advertising Value Equivalency (AVEs). For those who don’t know, the AVE is an outdated approach to valuing editorial coverage that was developed in the mid 20th century. AVE is what your editorial coverage would cost if it were advertising space. Many folks like it because it actually puts a dollar value to PR results, but it’s now widely accepted that the metric is inaccurate. Here’s a post that explains a few of its flaws.

The Barcelona Principles were developed to fill the need of an accurate, universal standard of measurement.

These principles contain seven general guidelines for practitioners to implement:

  1. Importance of goal-setting and measurement
  2. Measuring the effect on outcomes is preferred to measuring outputs
  3. The effect on business results can and should be measured where possible
  4. Media measurement requires quantity and quality
  5. AVEs are not the value of public relations
  6. Social media can and should be measured
  7. Transparency and replicability are paramount to sound measurement

For a detailed explanation of each principle, take a look at this post.

Measurement Starts with Planning

There’s a reason why goal-setting is first in the Barcelona Principles: effective evaluation starts with effective objective setting. We cannot measure what we cannot benchmark. At its simplest, PR evaluation is simply checking that the objectives set have been met.

As a best practice, WOC begins any client partner program by defining “SMART” objectives – specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-based. Our programs are then measured based on those objectives, and strategies are developed in a way that takes people through the communications funnel.funnel

Starting with awareness – “I have heard about that company,” to knowledge – “I know a little bit about that company or brand,” to interest – “I would like to know even more,” to preference – “I will consider them above their competitors for a purchase,” – to action – “I am making a purchase.” One may also argue that there is a level beyond action that we should be striving for – advocacy. This is the development of brand evangelists who will support your brand for life.

Earned Metrics Framework

With the Barcelona Principles and Communications Funnel in mind, WOC takes our goals and objectives and develops an “earned metrics framework” to identify possible metrics for individual PR programs. They are not intended to be the definitive rules of measurement and therefore do not include every possible metric.

Here’s an example:example

The matrix was constructed to reflect the simplified process of how PR works:

  •  Public Relations Activity – Metrics reflecting the process of producing or disseminating the desired messages (or inputs)
  • Intermediary Effect – Metrics reflecting the third party dissemination of the messages to the target audience (or outputs)
  • Target Audience Effect – Metrics showing that the target audience has received the communications and any resulting action-driven outcomes (or outcomes)

In the chart above, the communications function is on the horizontal axis, the phases are on the vertical axis and the goal is to get down to the bottom right corner because measuring the effect on outcomes is preferred to measuring outputs.

Let’s delve into how this can be applied:

  • Start with your inputs or activities – this may be pitching magazines, writing contributed articles or coordinating a speaking engagement
  • Next, look at the intermediary effect – these metrics all correlate with the media in which stories are placed and have to do with “outputs” as we typically know them
  • Finally, we’re looking at the targeted audience effect or the outcomes. Once we get this row through the communications funnel, we’ve reached our goal, whether that may be leads generated, sales, market share, customer loyalty and so on

Taking Action

All this information would be useless if we didn’t put it in action. Here are some first steps to implement these measurement best practices into your campaign:

  • Adopt an Earned Metrics Framework in annual planning to determine what metrics to measure and set up your media tracking to reflect these metrics
  • Discuss outcome goals with client partners
  • Create SMART objectives
  • Start talking to client partners about measuring sentiment and share of voice, if appropriate
  • Track links and integrate campaigns with Google Analytics
  • For B2C companies, plot PR volume spikes against sales data
  • Do what makes sense for your client partners – think in terms of outcomes rather than outputs

5 Conflicting Traits for Public Relations Success

 juggling-work

 

By: Julie Wright

If you’ve been in the field of public relations for a while, you’ll recognize some of these head-scratching contradictions. What other profession asks people to combine such opposing character traits and skillsets? PR pros are a weird and wonderful mash-up of qualities, and I, for one, wouldn’t have it any other way. I’d love to know – what would you add to this list?

  1. Be a good storyteller and an even better listener

Do you spin a good yarn? Enthrall your audience? Perfect! But no one ever learned anything by talking (Donald Trump). So to really be a good PR practitioner, you need exceptional listening skills. That can mean listening to stakeholders so that you know what really interests them, or it can mean listening for what is not being said. Since the stories we tell are not fictional, being a good listener means being as focused on the facts and as accurate as the journalist you will pitch. Truly, you can’t be a great storyteller until you’ve become a great listener.

  1. Bring a contagious enthusiasm to your subject and a perfect poker face

We can’t bore our audiences into caring about our clients’ stories, so infecting them with our own excitement and interest is key. But there are times when it’s not possible to tell the whole story. Exciting but confidential news could be a pending acquisition, a killer new product feature about to launch, a new hire—but if the information is not ripe for publication, the perfect spokesperson also has to do the job of a police officer doing crowd control: “Nothing to look at, folks. Move on.” Otherwise, they could spark speculation, unproductive rumor mongering and a media frenzy.

  1. You’ve got to see the big picture while also getting the details right

Strategy has to be your North Star. Why are we doing this? What are we aiming to achieve? Great. Now execute that plan to perfection—juggling approvals from AWOL client decision makers, managing a timeline and budget, keeping the spokespeople on message and ensuring the right stakeholders are reached via the right platforms at the right time. Yes, we can also pat our heads and rub our bellies simultaneously.

  1. Can I trust you to be discreet? Oh, and can you be shamelessly promotional, too?

Sign the NDA. Respect client confidentiality. Protect their brand and image as if they were your own. And then, on a dime, turn on the loudspeaker, load up the emails and start working the phones and working the room. It’s an unsettling juxtaposition. When you’re more often measured by how successfully you spread a message, it can feel very uncomfortable to be sidelined or silenced. However, it all comes down to trust. Can your client count on you to protect their image as diligently as you promote it?

  1. Right brain business smarts!  And left brain creative genius!

You need to be as comfortable in the boardroom or corner office as you are in a beanbag chair brainstorming campaign ideas. Can you take that business speak and make it as interesting and engaging as possible? It’s the creative thinking that brings it to life – a campaign with a fun hook or a visual that helps tell the story. Call it “creative license.”

If you’ve got both business savvy and creative chops, you’ve got what it takes to crush it in the rewarding, fast-paced world of public relations today.

Branding & Pop Culture

Pop Culture branding image

By Erica Schlesinger, Communications Strategist

Jay-Z. Lady Gaga. Kim Kardashian. These names may or may not make you cringe, but one thing they have down to a T is their presence in pop culture, making you aware of exactly who they are. With longstanding stints in the public eye, these celebrities have established a recognizable, trademark presence and personal brand down to a science. Even if you’re not looking to make yourself the next rap-repreneuer, eccentric musical goddess or love-to-hate pop culture fixture, this group delivers some great takeaways that can inform developing and innovating branding and messaging in just about any industry.

Jay-Z

Jay said it himself: “I’m not a businessman; I’m a business, man.” This guy has his hand in more projects than most people manage in a lifetime – besides his obvious source of primary income as a rapper, he owns record labels, liquor brands, nightclubs and more. The backbone of his brand is elevating himself as a high-class jack of all trades, but with a twist – it’s not his businesses that make him, but the other way around.

What he can teach you: Build yourself or your brand up to be the authority, the reigning expert. Identify areas where you can position yourself as a thought leader, early adopter or innovator and capitalize on them. If you’re like Jay and can truly master a number of empires, by all means, do it and do it proud. However, it’s far better to be absolutely stellar at one thing than to be just ok at many – that will build a reputable, strong presence within your industry or with your customers.

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga is a chameleon when it comes to her style du jour – who could forget her infamous meat dress? – but her brand has been consistent from the start. She lives the old Oscar Wilde adage, “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” Gaga uses her quirkiness and willingness to dance to the beat of a slightly different drummer to stay on people’s radars, as well as her passionate devotion to human rights causes.

What she can teach you: It is important to build your own brand of weird – it may not even be weird in the literal sense, but just how you set yourself apart from your competitors. What makes you different from them and why? It also never hurts to attach yourself to a cause, whether it’s fighting for better content marketing or making sure your organization spends time giving back. Just one thing – if it’s the latter, please be genuine. There’s nothing worse than using a philanthropic cause just to look good.

Kim Kardashian

Ms. Kardashian cultivates a wide-eyed, vapid persona that makes her seem… well, dumb. But you know what? I’d bet you the whole Kardashian-Jenner and West fortune she’s not.  Think back a decade. No one knew who Kim Kardashian was. And although she may not have burst onto the scene in the most flattering light, she definitely rose above it and has built herself an empire. Sure, she’s famous for simply being famous, but she’s effectively leveraged that to build businesses and amass a fortune that is nothing to sneeze at.

What she can teach you: You can make a comeback. People make mistakes, and these people run companies and develop brands. Maybe a new logo didn’t sit well with diehard fans or a social media manager made a snafu on Twitter. Acknowledge your error, listen to your audience and put a plan in motion to make it right. It always helps if you can laugh at yourself a bit, too – the humanity will be appreciated. Plus, if you’re on the radar for doing something not-so-great, a well-executed new strategy will be even sweeter once carried out.

What other celebrities do you think have PR and branding down? Let us know at @wrightoncomm.

Meet the Team: Kara – Communications Coordinator

Headshot_KaraWe’re giving you the inside scoop on the entire WOC team with our “Meet the Team” series. This month, the spotlight is on our new Communications Coordinator, Kara DeMent.

Kara is known for her “out of the box” thinking and passion for the media industry. As Communications Coordinator, she supports (W)right On’s land development, energy, utility, technology, B-to-B, professional services, hospitality and non-profit clients. Before joining (W)right On, Kara served as a PR Assistant at a boutique PR firm and supported communications for the Orlando Magic and LA Clippers. She graduated from California State University, San Bernardino with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications with an emphasis in PR and Mass Communications. As a California native, she enjoys the beach, Disneyland trips, crafting, and being outdoors.

What would you be doing if you weren’t at your current job?

I would be looking for my current job! Haha

What’s one word you would use to describe yourself?

Ambitious

Fill in the blank. “If you really knew me, you’d know ____.”

If you really knew me, you’d know that I have this dream of becoming a New York City Rockette and performing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

What super power would you like to have?

I would love the power of having super strength.

What would a “perfect” day look like to you?

A perfect day would be going to brunch (I love mimosas) and going to a sporting event. Preferably, a Clippers game J

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in the past year?

To be patient and know that things will happen when they’re meant to.

Best vacation you’ve had?

A family trip to Walt Disney World, followed by a cruise to the Bahamas!

What’s your most embarrassing moment at work?

There was one time I spilt coffee on Deandre Jordan before a press conference. He was cool about it, but I about died. Haha

Favorite quote?

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” –Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would be cast as you?

Jennifer Lawrence, for sure!

What’s your drink of choice?

Jack and coke.

If you were stuck on an island and could only choose 5 CDs, what would they be?

Usher 8701, Matchbox Twenty Yourself or Someone Like You, NSYNC, Bing Crosby Christmas CD, Brittney Spears (not sure which one though), and Journey’s Escape CD.

Fill in the blank. “People would be surprised if they knew___.”

People would be surprised if they knew that I have a weird obsession with everything supernatural and Harry Potter. I own a wand from Harry Potter Land.

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

I feel like I have a lot, but the one that really gets me is when people don’t say thank you.

What tv show/movie is your guilty pleasure?

I have a lot of these too, but if I had to choose one Vampire Diaries would have to be it.

What’s one thing you can’t live without?

Disneyland. Haha

Favorite line from a movie?

One of my favorites, “SANTA, I know him!” – Buddy, ELF

Do you have an office nickname? What is it?

No.

What’s the best/worst gift you have ever received?

The best gift I’ve received would have to be my Mustang. I love that car.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I enjoy sporting events, hiking, crafting (specifically painting), brunching, Disneyland, being with my friends and family, and Netflix.