In the world of public relations (PR) - simple is always better.
I was called in today to sit in on a client workshop. In a nutshell, we met with a client who offered an online management system to monitor staff health and well being to ultimately help people be healthier, happier and function better in their roles. The workshop consisted of my supervisor, the client and I sitting down for three hours and discussing what it was the client wanted out of Spoke PR.
To start with a bit of fun, Luke placed his phone on record and asked the CEO to sell his business in thirty seconds. The CEO confidently answered the question. He clearly had a lot to say but wasn’t able to articulate his business so simply. Although businesses are usually complex, in reality you only get a short amount of time with the people who matter. So, they turn to PR for a reason; and in this case it was to change the way their business was being perceived by potential clients.
One of the things we are constantly taught in PR is the need for consistent messaging. So, I found this exercise extremely useful as it brought across the whole point of PR in one hit. The client needed PR to formulate a clear and succinct message that could resonate with their target audience across the right platforms and ultimately - to sell the company in thirty seconds.
The second part of the workshop focused on discovering the client’s point of difference. It was interesting to watch the conversation start with a lot self affirmation. The client talked heavily about the services they offered, the benefits it brought and why it was legitimate. However, Luke kept bringing up one simple point - but how does that relate to who you’re talking to?
In the realm of PR, we deal with people. As future public relations practitioners we need to understand not only who the target audience is but understand how they work, what makes them tick and what do they care about? Otherwise, how else do we expect to engage them?
For the client, the target audiences were CEO’s of corporate advisories and professional services. The conversation shifted from self affirmation to “we can help you leave a legacy”. As the workshop went on, we began simplify all parts of the business. This included their key messages, their key target markets, what outcomes they wanted and how we could use existing PR techniques with a combination of new tactics to achieve their goals.
It was both riveting and validating to watch a real life client experience unfold before my eyes using key techniques and PR theory I had learnt throughout my degree. For example, we spoke about possible evaluation methods for online engagement. The use of the google analytics software came up as suggestion. In addition, Luke talked about producing quarterly PR & media activity reports which would show their ROI using measures like advertising equivalency. This semester I’ve been taking the PR planning and evaluation unit so it was really great to see it all link up.
Today, there was a clear message throughout the workshop - keep it simple. In PR, if we keep the foundation simple we can build a multitude of campaigns, strategies and tactics to drive a consistent message. Through this, we have the power to change attitude and behaviours in a strategic manner.
I was called in today to sit in on a client workshop. In a nutshell, we met with a client who offered an online management system to monitor staff health and well being to ultimately help people be healthier, happier and function better in their roles. The workshop consisted of my supervisor, the client and I sitting down for three hours and discussing what it was the client wanted out of Spoke PR.
To start with a bit of fun, Luke placed his phone on record and asked the CEO to sell his business in thirty seconds. The CEO confidently answered the question. He clearly had a lot to say but wasn’t able to articulate his business so simply. Although businesses are usually complex, in reality you only get a short amount of time with the people who matter. So, they turn to PR for a reason; and in this case it was to change the way their business was being perceived by potential clients.
One of the things we are constantly taught in PR is the need for consistent messaging. So, I found this exercise extremely useful as it brought across the whole point of PR in one hit. The client needed PR to formulate a clear and succinct message that could resonate with their target audience across the right platforms and ultimately - to sell the company in thirty seconds.
The second part of the workshop focused on discovering the client’s point of difference. It was interesting to watch the conversation start with a lot self affirmation. The client talked heavily about the services they offered, the benefits it brought and why it was legitimate. However, Luke kept bringing up one simple point - but how does that relate to who you’re talking to?
In the realm of PR, we deal with people. As future public relations practitioners we need to understand not only who the target audience is but understand how they work, what makes them tick and what do they care about? Otherwise, how else do we expect to engage them?
For the client, the target audiences were CEO’s of corporate advisories and professional services. The conversation shifted from self affirmation to “we can help you leave a legacy”. As the workshop went on, we began simplify all parts of the business. This included their key messages, their key target markets, what outcomes they wanted and how we could use existing PR techniques with a combination of new tactics to achieve their goals.
It was both riveting and validating to watch a real life client experience unfold before my eyes using key techniques and PR theory I had learnt throughout my degree. For example, we spoke about possible evaluation methods for online engagement. The use of the google analytics software came up as suggestion. In addition, Luke talked about producing quarterly PR & media activity reports which would show their ROI using measures like advertising equivalency. This semester I’ve been taking the PR planning and evaluation unit so it was really great to see it all link up.
Today, there was a clear message throughout the workshop - keep it simple. In PR, if we keep the foundation simple we can build a multitude of campaigns, strategies and tactics to drive a consistent message. Through this, we have the power to change attitude and behaviours in a strategic manner.
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