The Basics of an Integrated Campaign

Ashleigh Mavros Leave a comment

DIGITAL ARTSIntegrated marketing campaigns are tricky to perfect, but if properly executed the results can be rewarding for your brand or company. To execute a successful campaign, there’s several aspects that need to properly implemented; budget, content, tools, events, social, emails, advertising, sales, and media… just to name a few.

With so much content and “noise” out there, what is the best way to get your voice heard? When creating an integrated marketing campaign remember these key things to help guide you.

1. Research. So you want to create an integrated marketing campaign – now what? Doing your research is the first step to help guide your entire strategy from gauging what has previously been successful to what content will most effectively relay your messaging.

2. Consistency. This goes further than determining what hashtag you’re going to use and making sure you’re using the proper logo. The proper look and feel needs to be established, followed by key messaging as its support to guide the campaign.

3. Clear & Concise. Speaking of messaging, having a well-defined voice is a must for making sure you are getting your message across. Simplistic, well thought-out messaging that conveys your strategic goals and objectives for the campaign to be executed properly must be in place. With so many ways to share content, you want to also make sure that what you’re creating can be repurposed for additional forms of sharing and integration to drive results.

4. Audience. So, who are you targeting your campaign to? Defining your audience helps to create the messaging and how to best promote the content. Thinking on a global scale is not an easy task, and as much as we would all like for our target audience to be “everyone”, research can help determine what demographics you should be targeting.

5. Content. You know what you want to say and who to say it to, so now you have to decide what kind of content to produce that will be most successful. Is it a commercial? An event? Online? Create the most effective content based on who and how you want to engage audiences – and it may be a combination of a variety of platforms.

6. Measurement. How are you keeping track of how your campaign is doing? Tracking results not only helps you establish what is successful, but also what is not working for you. Did you reach your original goals? Proper analytics are key to ensuring how you are achieving this success.

What other components do you implement for an integrated campaign? 

Marcy McMillanMarcy McMillan is the Marketing Communications & Events Coordinator for York University’s Campus Services and Business Operations department. When she’s not working, you can find Marcy discovering new restaurants in downtown Toronto, attending and writing about events or spending some time at the public library. Find her on Twitter @marcy113 or visit her site.

Five Ways to Keep Integrated PR Consistent

Stephanie Vermillion 1 Comment

Five Ways to Keep Integrated PR ConsistentWith integrated marketing communications, the focus is usually on which platform you’re using or how you’re adapting to industry changes. But despite all the integrated PR news and happenings, one traditional, important staple remains true:

All messages should be consistent and relevant at all times. (Click to tweet!)

Messages should be reinforced consistently across all communications function – be it a post on Facebook or a press release about a new hire.

In addition to messages being consistent, you should also make sure they’re understandable. The best integrated communications messaging is concise enough that all stakeholders understand the brand.

As a new pro, you’ll impress supervisors if you can understand the fundamentals behind this new PR world. Here are some integrated marketing tips to help you get in the know on this important subject.

Messaging

Everyone in an organization, be it a CEO or intern, must be on the same page on the five Ws: who, what, when, where, and why. This will ensure the outgoing messages are concise and understandable.

If you’re starting a new job but want to comprehend your company’s five Ws, answer each question specifically about your company, ask your supervisor to review your answers, then post them on your wall. The more you integrate yourself into the company – and test your knowledge – the more likely you are to be called on for important tasks.

Photo Filters

Taylor Swift may win at social media by using each platform differently, but this doesn’t always work for everyone. For nearly every business, brand uniformity on all channels is important.

The content doesn’t always have to be the same, but little things like using the same filters for each platform ensure consistency.

Some see the world in Valencia and others view it in Lo-Fi. The brand should have a noticeable aesthetic. For example, Conscious Magazine is a winner in my opinion for having beautifully curated social media accounts. They can be found @cmagazine on Twitter and Instagram.

Hashtags

As an organization, there should be a hashtag that links your conversations together across all social media channels. Hashtags help us discover content curated internally and from members of target audiences.

Color Schemes

A company should choose theme colors to be used across all platforms that are on-brand and consistent. Colors have meaning and subconsciously communicate with the audience, so it’s no coincidence that the leading fast food restaurants all use red, yellow, and green in their color schemes.

Why? Red triggers stimulation, appetite, hunger, and garners attention. Yellow communicates feelings of happiness and friendliness. Green sends a message of nature and relaxation.

When creating assets like images and logos, organizations should use that chosen color scheme across all communications functions.

Planning

As a PR pro, I know nothing can come to proper fruition without planning. The most successful pros – and companies they work for – are always two steps ahead and have a plan for every situation. There should be a planning around National Holidays, potential crises, upcoming company and client announcements, editorial calendars, etc.

Public relations is constantly evolving because of new technology and convergence. Transparency is integral to combating negative stereotypes people have of the industry. And, in order to be transparent, all the functions of communications (public relations, marketing, and advertising) need to correctly reinforce a company’s open, cohesive and honest message clearly across all channels.

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Tiffany WooTiffany Woo is an Account Coordinator at NRPR Group, which is a public relations and social media marketing agency in Beverly Hills, CA. She has a goal of becoming one of the public relations industry’s top practitioners. Find her on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

How to create an editorial content calendar

Stephanie Vermillion Leave a comment

How to create an editorial content calendarCreating and maintaining an editorial calendar should be an integral part of any PR or marketing strategy.

But, with the ever-growing number of networks to share branded content with our audiences, keeping a well-curated editorial calendar is a daunting task. Here are a few tried-and-true ways you can simplify the process.

Creating your editorial calendar

The first steps in creating an editorial calendar that works for you are outlining the social networks to be used and the brands/blogs/etc. that you need to manage, as well as the depth of detail you need. Knowing these items will determine which services will work best for you.

If you only need to see a schedule of posts, using a traditional calendar app like Google calendar will work perfectly. You can create separate calendars for each blog or brand and color code it all to easily see when something needs to be done. Using a calendar app will also allow you to block out time for development and strategic planning.

If you prefer to see your posting schedule as a breakdown of the process behind creating and posting your content, a service like Trello may be the way to go. With Trello, you can create multiple boards for each step of your editorial process and add cards with topics, ideas or post titles as needed. Cards can be labeled with colors, assigned due dates and shifted from board to board as the piece moves through the editorial process. Drafts of posts can also be attached to the cards.

Using your editorial calendar

Once you’ve decided which type of editorial calendar you need, it’s time to fill it with your topics and ideas. A good content marketing plan is part coming up with great ideas and part actually getting the ideas posted on time. (Click to Tweet!)

Creativity and productivity often come in bursts, so it’s important to let the ideas flow, but to not run wild with posting everything at once, since consistency is almost as important as great content.

Once your editorial calendar is full of fantastic ideas and your content creation is underway, you need to plan how to get it noticed by your audience. As you’d guess, social media is a key component of this strategy.

Using a social media scheduling app, like Buffer, Hootsuite or TweetDeck, depending on your needs. Including which networks you plan to post on for each topic in your editorial calendar is a great way to keep your efforts on track and organized.

Setting aside a chunk of time each week dedicated to scheduling your social media for the week will also make being consistent so much easier. Planning is half the battle, after all!

What are your favorite tools for editorial planning? Please share in the comments below!

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Robyn Rudish-LaningRobyn Rudish-Laning is a graduate of Duquesne University, with a bachelor’s in Public Relations, a master’s in Media Arts and Technology, and currently works as a PR Associate with Pretty Living PR, a boutique firm based in Pittsburgh. Find her on LinkedIn or Twitter or read her PR-focused blog

Visual Dos and Don’ts: A Guide to Optimizing Images for PR Success

Stephanie Vermillion Leave a comment

A guide to optimizing images for PR successWe, in general, are drawn to what is visually appealing. Take a look at your Facebook or Twitter feed, and I will bet that nine times out of 10 as you’re scrolling down, skimming the content and taking in the highlights, your attention will be captured by a captivating image.

With this in mind, it’s more important than ever for us as PR pros to develop eye-catching and memorable visuals for the clients we represent on social media. Here are some dos and don’ts to consider for your integrated marketing communications plan.

Visual Dos

  • Do add an image to every blog post. This goes back to what we we’ve already said; images and visuals capture our attention. Leverage this to draw viewers in and engage.
  • Do include multiple images in blog posts when possible. This will help break up the content, especially if your content tends to be a bit lengthy. But don’t go overboard. Be sure to complement your content with the visual assets – not destroy it.
  • Do use photographs when available; avoid a static one-color background. This might be self-explanatory – but consider the two visuals below. Which one is more likely to grab your attention?

Visual Dos and Don'ts2

Visual Dos and Don'ts

  • Do sign up for free stock photo services (and attribute when and where necessary). There is a plethora of services out there to take advantage of including Unsplash, Death to the Stock Photo, Gratisography and more.
  • Bonus: Do consider placing the company or brand’s logo in the visual, when applicable. You can also take this a step further and place it in the same location e.g., the bottom left-hand corner of the visual, so viewers can easily distinguish your content as they scroll through their feeds.

Don’ts

  • Don’t use images that include 20 percent more text on Facebook. Use the platform’s useful text overlay tool as guidance.
  • Don’t use copyrighted photos – ever. Just like you were taught to never steal as a young child or to plagiarize in your college courses, don’t use or rather “steal” a photo when you don’t own the rights.
  • Don’t make your design too busy. As the old adage goes: KISS, Keep it simple, stupid. You want to avoid overwhelming your viewers with clutter and too much noise.
  • Don’t forget to adapt image sizes based on social media channel dimensions. Cut-off text in the preview image is not a good look for anyone, let alone your client. Reference this infographic from Constant Contact for sizes of various visual components on the top platforms.

Do you have helpful tips or tools that you to create attention-grabbing images to leverage your content? I’d love to hear from you! Please share with me on Twitter using @shandihuber, and #NPPRSA.

 

Shandi HuberShandi Huber is a senior account executive at Wordsworth Communications, a public relations agency in Cincinnati, Ohio. An enthusiast for all social media platforms, you can often find her pinning her dream closet on Pinterest or posting photos of her new puppy on Instagram. Connect with Shandi on LinkedIn and Twitter (@shandihuber).  

March 2015 #NPPRSA Twitter Chat Highlights: Preparing for a Crisis

Ashleigh Mavros 1 Comment

Twitter Chat 3-18 SquareWe’d like to thank everyone who participated in the March #NPPRSA Twitter chat as we discussed crisis communications–how to prepare and how to react.  We would especially like to thank Jonathan Bernstein, President of Bernstein Crisis Management.

Join us again on April 15 for our next #NPPRSA chat and stay up-to-date with PRSA New Professionals on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.

Review highlights of the chat below. What did you learn from the March chat? How can you prepare for your brand’s vulnerabilities before a crisis? What can you do to minimize damage once a crisis hits?

 

You can receive FREE New Professionals Section membership for PRSA throughout March!

Lauren Headshot 1.3MBLauren Rosenbaum is the PRSA New Professionals Social Media Co-Chair and Co-Founder of Soversity, a public relations and digital marketing company. You can connect with her on Google+, LinkedIn or Twitter.