Public Relations

3 Ways Destination-Based Businesses Stay Relevant During the Quarantine

Jessica Shock Leave a comment

While neighbors and state officials alike ask citizens to “stay home,” destination-based businesses have had no other option than to close their doors. From theme parks to museums, it’s clear the tourism and hospitality industry is taking a hit amid country-wide quarantine closures.

If you happen to work for one, there’s no doubt you and your team have had to get a little creative to remain in the public eye. Here are three of the best things we’ve seen destination-based businesses do to stay relevant.

1. Rouse Your Crowd with Remote Offerings

Just because your doors (or gates, or nature trails) are closed doesn’t mean you can’t reward your fans for being fans. However, the physical items you may be used to handing out as they walk on-site won’t work during a pandemic.

The Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure theme park in Lenwade, England has understood that from the very beginning. Since closing their park in March, Roarr! has offered a slew of virtual offerings, including an online Design a Dinosaur competition, a free downloadable activity book (complete with a handwashing guide) and — something unique to the remote life we’re all suddenly living — Roarr-some video conference backgrounds for your endless Zoom meetings.

While you don’t have to go as above and beyond as Roarr!, you certainly can’t go wrong with sprucing up some HD photos from the last marketing shoot to share as a fun background.

2. Rebound with Virtual Content

Whether you’ve already secured thousands of followers on social or are using the quarantine as an excuse to start a Facebook page, now is your chance to wow with virtual content. But you can’t just post a picture and hope it goes viral. Rather, you have to engage with your audience.

Zoos and aquariums do this incredibly well by focusing on their animals. They understand that the critters are the main attraction and are happy to restrategize their content to keep them in the spotlight. Take the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, for example. They host a weekly Home Safari Facebook Lives event every day at 3 p.m. for fans to get a behind-the-scenes look at their animals. Plus, they share the final video on their feed afterward with a note about donations.

To help get your team on board, host an online meeting and share what you think your audience misses most. Give them examples of what your local competition is up to, and what unique content your own destination can create.

3. Regularly Update Your Fans

Last but not least, keep your audience updated. That could be an email to the list of passholders you’ve been building for years, a social post to the followers you’ve amassed online or even a website pop-up to the people behind the pageviews on your website.

For the Field Museum in Chicago, that means posting a red banner on their website that reads, “For the safety of our community, the Museum is closed until further notice.” It’s even got a hyperlink tacked on the end that leads to a new Updates on Coronavirus webpage outlining their response as a museum (available in both English and Spanish).

Whatever you do, make sure to keep your audience in the loop so they know 1) what you’re doing to keep your destination safe, and 2) when they can expect a reopening. Even if you don’t have a set date, simply posting a note that you have no plans to open within the next month can soothe your more die-hard inquisitors. Plus, putting the information out there for such easy consumption could also grab the attention of a local reporter trying to report on the state of their area.

And there you have it! Three of the best ways destination-based businesses have stayed relevant during the pandemic — even if their destination is closed.

Should You Do a Woke Campaign or Not?

Caitlyn Crenshaw Leave a comment

Social media has an undeniable power to communicate, connect and inspire. For brands, social media is also a way to engage with, listen to and understand your audience for more effective campaigns.

Take Nike. One of the most recognizable brands in the world and no stranger to controversial campaigns, now called woke campaigns, that provoke social debates. In 2018, the brand decided to align a major campaign with Colin Kaepernick’s protest on social justice.

While most would find socially- or politically-charged campaigns to be a risky move, Nike had the upper hand – audience insight. Knowing that its target audience tends to be more liberal and socially conscientious, Nike found this campaign to be a risk worth taking.

Even within this very polarized social environment, if you know your target audience, and if you know your message is going to jibe well with your target audience, there is a greater chance that your PR campaign can really help your business.

I have researched Nike’s recent campaign, specifically focusing on how Nike’s target audience behaved on Twitter compared to the general U.S. public based on the six days of big Twitter data when most social conversations took place. While the campaign was not without negative pushback, the overall sentiment from the target audience was more positive than that of their target publics, and successfully positioned their brand at the center of social discussion. In sum, my study suggests that Nike had successfully energized its target audience, and later Nike reported on their increased sales in the initially troubled North America market.

Public relations practitioners should, however, weigh the risks and benefits before launching campaigns, especially those built around social issues.

As long as your target audience is getting the message and they are excited about your campaign, then it could eventually help your business and help your reputation and image.

Source: What does Corporate Social Advocacy (CSA) do for a brand? Twitter Analysis of Nike’s Kaepernick Campaign Case. Lee & Rim (2018).
5555555[1]YoungAh Lee is the director of the public relations graduate program with a diverse educational and professional background. Her research focuses on investigating the impact of strategic communication with an emphasis on reputation management and social media. Her approach to public relations emphasizes the role of reputation, believing that businesses best succeed when they align their communication and business goals. Recently, she has turned her focus to social network analysis to have a more theory-driven understanding of rich social media data while developing media analytics curriculum.

 

 

Ball State University was founded in 1918 and is located in Muncie, Indiana, 55 miles northeast of Indianapolis. At more than 22,500 students, enrollment for the 2017–18 academic year is Ball State’s largest ever. Students come from all Indiana counties, all 50 states and 68 countries. Ball State’s seven academic colleges offer 190 undergraduate majors, 130 undergraduate minors 140 graduate programs and 200 study abroad programs. Ball State students, faculty and staff are empowered in a culture that believes in them and demands they believe in themselves. Three of every four Ball State graduates choose to live, work and play in Indiana. Alumni hold leadership positions in businesses and communities across the state and the nation. Ball State has been named one of the best universities in the Midwest by The Princeton Review for more than a decade.

Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe: Newsletters worth committing to

Caitlyn Crenshaw Leave a comment

Video may have killed the radio star, but the increasing number of daily, weekly and bi-weekly newsletters out there are certainly keeping e-mail alive and well. It seems like every outlet and influencer has a new newsletter available every day. On one side, as PR pros, each newsletter can feel like one more thing to keep track of when it comes to your clients and brands. On the other side, it also presents new opportunities to find possible placements, stay keen to what’s being discussed across industries, the markets and society at large.

For example, one of my former clients was in the fast-casual dining space and was relevant across corporate, financial, foodie, mom, fitness and pop culture outlets. It turned out that newsletters were a really great way to read what’s happening with competitors, the industry and general news in one foul swoop. Some were really niche, while others were as common as theSkimm. Throughout this monitoring experience, I also subscribed to several newsletters just for fun, which have come in handy during networking events and helped me in my personal life outside the office.

I don’t necessarily read *every* newsletter thoroughly *every* day, but am able to get a nice variety of content, be it professional or more social. Here are some of my go-tos:

The Business Newsletters

  • The Skimm – the OG morning brief that sounds like your friend is sharing the news
  • The Morning Brew – a newer brief that focuses a little more on in-depth and market news
  • The Broadsheet – Fortune’s women-focused news update
  • Fortune CEO Daily – Fortune’s daily news brief with great perspective from Alan Murray
  • Fortune RaceAhead – Fortune’s diversity-oriented news update (Ellen McGirt’s Friday Haikus are unmatched)
  • WSJ’s CMO Today – Good outlook on industry happenings, especially on the business/corporate side of Advertising, PR and marketing
  • Marketplace – Quick hits of daily market/business headlines (Also accompanies a podcast. Very 2019.)
  • FastCompany’s Daily News – More tech/innovation-focused daily update
  • The Hustle – Like a hipster version of FastCo’s Daily News/theSkimm, with a slightly more obscure set of topics
  • PRSA’s Issues & Trends – A great benefit of PRSA membership, the daily trends shows clips of hot campaigns and topics across the industry

The Miscellaneous-but-Interesting/Productive Newsletters

  • Quartz Obsession – Dives into one topic/product/company a day. My favorites so far have been “Burrito” and “The Post-It”
  • Finimize – Non-intimidating financial news in a quick/easy to understand read
  • SheSpends – Think “Money Diaries” meets your personal finance professor, in a cool template with a relatable approach for young pro women
  • FastCompany’s Work Smart – a weekly guide with quick tips for being more efficient at work
  • Now I Know –  A good way to learn something new every day (and great fodder for small talk)

The “Just For Fun” Newsletters

  • Links I Would Gchat You if We Were Friends – a compilation of good reads from the week that you’d want to read and share
  • The Newsette – Aesthetically pleasing Instagram accounts, daily routines of successful women and some fun fashion items/tips
  • Girls Night In – I look forward to this every Friday. (Seriously.) It shares great reads for 20-somethings, thoughts on self care and “things to put in the group text”
  • NYT’s Smarter Living – This weekly newsletter provides helpful takes on a variety of topics

It’s hard to sift through the amount of content available to us every day and week, but these have added value, whether at the office, for my professional development, or my personal benefit. Consider which outlets would be helpful and beneficial for you, your clients and your team.

Pro tip: I have a rule set in Microsoft Outlook to automatically filter newsletters into a specific folder so my inbox itself is free and I can find/skim the newsletters in one place. If you aren’t using Outlook, you can also use Unroll.me to receive all of your newsletters/subscriptions in one email instead of ~20.

What newsletters are your go-tos? Let us know!

Sarah G. Dougherty is a member of PRSA and PRSA New York. Following a stint on the agency side, she is on the external communications team at a Fortune 100 company. Sarah is a former member of the PRSSA National Committee and a graduate of The University of Alabama. Follow her on Twitter @sarahgdougherty.

Three Ways to Get Involved With Your Local PRSA Chapter

Caitlyn Crenshaw Leave a comment

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Graduation is around the corner and the job search is on! But what happens after you secure your first gig? It is important to stay involved in professional organizations like PRSA even after graduation for continued professional development and networking. Here are three ways that you can get involved in your local PRSA chapter:

  1. ALL ABOARD!

A great way to get involved with your local chapter is to join the board. This allows you to plan the best year yet for the local chapter. Whether you want to be the historian or happy hour coordinator (like me), you are in a space where you can contribute ideas on programming and network closely with like-minded individuals.

  1. Be Hands On

If you’re not ready to be a board member yet, volunteering is a great way to start getting involved. There are fundraising events, award ceremonies and networking mixers that need planning and support. Contact your local chapter to see how you can play a part.

  1. Show Up!

Beth Lamb, Chief Marketing Officer at Ronald McDonald House Fort Worth (TX) said “it can be very easy to get involved with your local chapter, and the easiest way is to simply attend chapter programming. Get to know your fellow members and leadership board through the various events. If you are ready to serve the chapter, ask. Boards always love to know who is ready and willing to fill committee chairs. If your schedule does not allow you to do more than attend programs, offer your ideas on luncheon topics or event programming.”

PRSA is a great way to enrich your professional life through networking and career development. “Plus, your involvement, no matter the level, is important to your growth and the growth of your local chapter,” said Lamb. Find your local chapter today at PRSA. 

By – Jade Fails

Jade Fails is a Baylor University public relations graduate. She is currently the Marketing Administrator at The Shops at Clearfork in Fort Worth, TX. 

Pro Bono Work: Professional Development for a Good Cause

Ayanna Warrington Leave a comment

By Elizabeth McGlone

My pro bono work for nonprofits started with a rejection letter.

I had applied for a position at a PR agency but wasn’t selected. I was disappointed but also determined to learn from the experience. My first step was to get advice about how to become a better job candidate for future opportunities. A contact at that same PR agency suggested

pro bono work as a great way to build my own skillsets while also helping an organization that was probably short-handed when it came to PR.

It was one of those, “Why didn’t I think of that?” moments.

Finding the right organization.

I began researching nonprofits in my area that do work for causes I am passionate about. One non-profit in particular stood out to me, National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, Indiana, and with my top choice in mind, I reached out to the organization.

NAMI was thrilled that I was interested in doing pro bono work for them! In fact, my point of contact had been a PR volunteer who later transitioned into a full-time role in their communications department.

Getting the right experience.

In my first conversations with NAMI, I made it clear that I was looking for an opportunity to gain experience in areas of PR that I hadn’t previously had exposure to, namely media relations.

Fortunately, this fit with NAMI’s needs and my timing was perfect. Their annual mental health and criminal justice summit was approaching and they needed help writing promotional content and getting media coverage.

The summit has since concluded, but it was incredibly satisfying to see the results of my hard work. I was tasked with finding media coverage of the event and secured a local reporter who published an article on the mental health program discussed in the workshop. This is publicity and attention that the program may not have received otherwise.

Working through the challenges.

Although my pro bono work for NAMI was extremely rewarding, it hasn’t been without its obstacles.

One of the biggest challenges was nurturing the relationship with NAMI and meeting the deadlines and goals that I set for myself. This wasn’t easy with a full-time job, other volunteer commitments, and my own hobbies that I also had to balance. NAMI’s employees also had their own responsibilities and it was my responsibility to maintain open lines of communication. I had to be proactive and persistent, providing updates on my tasks and asking for new ones. Each week I blocked out time on my calendar to work on NAMI-related items so I could make steady progress and meet deadlines.

Overall, my experience was enjoyable and invaluable to my professional development. It is fulfilling to know that my expertise is helping a cause I am passionate about, and it’s exciting to watch my skillsets grow. I’m excited to see how this opportunity grows and changes, and also what other opportunities the future holds.

What do you do to volunteer your PR services to nonprofits? What is most important to you when you look for a volunteer opportunity?

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Elizabeth McGlone a native Hoosier and a Digital Marketing Coordinator at Pinnacle Solutions Incorporated. She is an active member of the PRSA Hoosier Chapter, serves as a committee member of the Professional Development Special Events/Networking Committee, and is a co-chair for the New Pros Committee. In her spare time, Elizabeth does pro bono PR work for local nonprofits, including NAMI and Phi Beta Kappa Alpha Association of Indiana, and also enjoys biking and backpacking. You can connect with her on LinkedIn here.