How to win new business with online PR & social media

Agenda

1. Tactics & tools– Social media outreach (blogs, Twitter, social networks, forums, podcasts)

– Video

– Widgets

– SEO PR

2. Measurement & evaluation to demonstrate ROI

3. Overview of potential packaged services– Creative campaigns

– Amplification

– Online press office

– SEO PR

4. New business development– Lead generation

– Qualification

– Pitching

– Budgeting & pricing

My background

My background

My background

Brands

Agencies

My background

My background

Tactics & tools

Blogs

Overview

• Matured - blogging has now matured

as a phenomenon to cross all

consumer interest areas

• Extensive - vibrant communities can

be found collecting around vast

ranges of topics

• Culture - blogger outreach carries

with it different expectancies in with it different expectancies in

regards to form of communications

than traditional media

Consumer

B2B

Technology

Finance

Healthcare

Regional

Regional

Opportunity

• ‘Link etiquette’ of the blogging world encourages quick viral

dissemination of well-targeted stories and engaging content

• SEO - this ‘link etiquette’ is also responsible for blogs faring extremely

well in search returns – ranking highly in Google– As a result, blog posts can be extremely visible and influential

– Impacting consumer opinion

– Driving mainstream coverage

• Brand advocates - the highly focused nature of blogs – with bloggers • Brand advocates - the highly focused nature of blogs – with bloggers

becoming passionate opinion formers on very specific topics – offers

distinct opportunity to encourage strong advocates of a product or service

Case study - Beck’s Canvas

Case study - Beck’s Canvas

Key Outputs

• Over 120 pieces of online coverage

achieved

• 40,148,733 unique users

• £257,000 equivalent online media

value

• ROI – 9:1• ROI – 9:1

Blogger events

Overview

• Blogger events can be run in a very similar way to media events

• These can either be run in tandem with mainstream media events or

independently

• Successful blogger events tend to adopt very tailored methods of syncing

specific elements of an event to bloggers’ personal tastes

Opportunity

• With bloggers currently not invited

to a large number of events, they

offer a powerful means by which

to build strong relationships and

brand advocates

• Face-to-face time allows impact to

be made far beyond that possible

during normal email during normal email

communications

• Following blogger events,

bloggers frequently post detailed

and well-branded reviews and

posts

Case study - Panasonic

Case study – Panasonic

• 52 pieces of coverage

• Equivalent Advertising Value of

£91,800

• 94% of sites mention Panasonic

• 71% of sites link to

NextGenerationTalent.co.uk

• 42% of sites linked to or embedded

videos

Case study - Smirnoff

• Popular London ‘Blogger Meet-

up’ event sponsored by Smirnoff

• Two Smirnoff ‘mixologists’

placed at bar

• Profile book designed with

detailed background information

on all of the blogger invitees

• Special cocktail design for each

blogger: for example Fake

Plastic Noodles received a

cocktail infused with twisted

lemon skins for noodles

Twitter

Overview

• UK lead - over the past year Twitter has

grown hugely in the UK to overtake the

US in terms of take-up

• Extensive - the similarity to texts and the

brief, quick nature of posts have

resonated strongly with UK consumers,

now spanning many demographic groups

and interest areasand interest areas

• Complements blogging - Twitter now

has found a place alongside blogging,

where it is used to share quick views and

opinions. Blogging instead is used for

more detailed descriptions and analysis

Regional

Opportunity

• Influential hubs - the culture of people on Twitter ‘following’ others that

they find interesting has created a number of very influential hubs

• ‘Twitter Elite’ now hold considerable sway, with their posts being seen by

thousands of people instantly

• Viral - the medium, like blogging, also lends itself extremely well to quick

dissemination of news. If a person following a Twitter user likes a post,

they can ‘ReTweet’ further increasing the audience base that the

message reachesmessage reaches

Case study - Zappos

How?

• Full Twitter engagement campaign using only Twitter

• CEO Tweets regularly personally and professionally

• Sponsor ‘Follower building’ competitionscompetitions

• Twitter micro-site

Results?

• Over 106,000 followers

• 442 employee Tweeple

• Increase in buzz

• Return on sales

Social networks

• Targeted ads – displays ads solely on users meeting the demographic

profile requested

• Partner campaigns - special pages are designed to hold communities

around specific topics

• Traditional PR activity - Facebook is a notoriously hard environment to

engage directly with consumer as a result of its closed nature (you have to

be friends with someone to see their full details)

Facebook groups • Facebook groups - the most accessible way to engage with communities

of people on Facebook– either by setting one up or through engagement

in groups already existing

Case study – Road to V

Case study – O2

• Drop in users - MySpace’s user base in

recent years has dropped significantly as

a result of the rise of Facebook and Bebo

• Music - the profile now of MySpace

users is now very music-focused

• Targeted ads - much like on Facebook,

targeted ads can be run on MySpace, set

to appear only on profile pages of users to appear only on profile pages of users

that fit within a certain demographic

profile

• Open - MySpace is based on a far more

open environment than Facebook, and

therefore enables far more extensive

engagement

Case study – Road to V

• What is it?

– Photo storage and photo sharing community

• How does it work?

– Users upload photos, tag them and/or submit them to groupsgroups

• Importance of tagging

– Allows search functionality

– SEO visibility through Google and Google Image

• DIY - an open social network platform that allows you to easily create your own social network

• Flexibility - this can be designed to focus upon any topic imaginable

• Numbers - currently over 1 million individual networks have been created individual networks have been created on Ning – by companies and individuals alike

• Functionality - Ning easily incorporates all of the features commonly available today on social networks – including multimedia content, and easy sharing of opinion and views

Opportunity

• Control- Ning offers complete control over who can join a social network and what they can do when they are part of it

• Moderation - constraints can thus be placed on the age of thus be placed on the age of participants

• Targeted - opportunity to create niche networks that are designed to complement other marketing initiatives

Social bookmarking

• Distribution - A powerful way for stories to disseminate online

• Tags - Users ‘tag’ stories they find interesting

• Easy access - The URL for the story is saved on the web, the story is saved on the web, for easy future finding (online bookmarking)

Social bookmarking

• Online influence - Very popular with news hungry web geeks

• Community - People follow friends ‘feeds’, and are kept up-to-date with stories they find stories they find interesting

• Comments – People comment and share views on stories

• Traffic – can be a major source of traffic to websites online

Social bookmarking

• User-generated news website

• No editor

• Ranking of stories decided by community

• A central group of a 1000 or so users 1000 or so users command great influence

• Major traffic driver online

• SEO boost

Forums

Overview

• Well-established - forum communities were the first form of social media to take-off on the web

• Community - completely driven by community posts

• ‘Forum Master’ - oversees content moderation

• Threads - are either initiated by the Forum Master or by the user community

Consumer research – very popular with consumers when • Consumer research – very popular with consumers when researching complex topics or making purchasing decisions

• Opinion-formers –most forums provide information on the activity of its users:

– Number of posts

– Number of threads

Opportunity & constraints

• Seeding – in the not too distant past, forums were a popular medium for viral marketers

• Legal constrictions – changes in European law two years ago, however, severely curtailed this activity, making it illegal to act under false pretence when illegal to act under false pretence when marketing online

• Forum thread sponsorship – The main opportunity for active forum engagement is by contacting a Forum Webmaster to organise a sponsored thread

Podcasts

Overview

• Podcasts are very much a social media equivalent to radio

– Blogs:journalism

– Podcasts:radio

• RSS technology utilised to download straight to your iPod

– Lead to podcasts being consumer on the go at times convenient to the listener

• Podcasts can now be found covering all interest areas and industry sectors

Opportunity

• Opportunity exists to pitch in stories and content just as with radio

– Interviews

– Guest speaker slots

• As it is still a relatively new medium, podcast producers medium, podcast producers do not receive as many approaches from PRs –leading to increased opportunity

Video

Overview

• Engagement - video offers tremendous opportunity to engage audience groups online

• Media thirst – traditional media sites are constantly trying to compete with the BBC’s extensive libraries of contentextensive libraries of content

• PR opportunity – creates opportunity for high-profile story placement

• Creative extension –opportunity to add further depth to a story

Video-sharing

• Large and varied – more than just YouTube. Sites such as Dailymotion, Videojug, Metacafe, Blinkx and many others also have large communities

• Easy sharing – ‘embedded players’ are now offered by all players’ are now offered by all video-sharing sites making it easy to pass content to journalists

• Viral spread – it is also very easy for consumers to share video content – meaning videos can spread very quickly online (e.g. recent London fire)

Communities

• Social networks – more than just

video posting

• Shared interests – people connect

to other users who like similar

content, or post videos they like

• Channels – YouTube channels

create audience bases that are create audience bases that are

informed when new content is

uploaded

• Comments – people post comments

and views on videos. Star ratings are

a powerful determination of ranking

in YouTube and whether it achieves

the all-important feature on the front-

page

Video production

• Affordable quality – the explosion of video consumption online has brought with it a reduction in the expectancy of video quality and resolution

• Script writer – finding a good script writer is a very valuable exercise. Substantially reduces expensive to and fro

• Production – hiring a video producers is extremely important –more often that not they will manage the whole project, including more often that not they will manage the whole project, including editing

• Budget – costs can be in the hundreds, depending on the scope of work

• Length – it is best if videos do not shoot past 1 minute in length online – further reducing production costs

Video seeding

• Audience reach – do use other video-sharing sites in addition to YouTube. You can easily find extensive lists of them online

• Relevance – particularly ensure your video is posted on sites with relevant focus and audience bases

• Web tools – there are a number of tools that can • Web tools – there are a number of tools that can be used to post a video simultaneously to many video-sharing sites at once – massively reducing admin time (e.g. http://heyspread.com/)

• Monitoring – such sites also enable easy reporting of total views and comment activity across the video-sharing sites used

SEO

• SEO – when posting videos on video-sharing sites, you have complete control over the copy and content that runs alongside the video

• Keywords – by researching appropriate keywords, it is possible to ensure the video ranks well in relevant search engine returns relevant search engine returns

• URL links – use of relevant URLs and ‘anchor text’ ensures that popular videos provide an SEO boost to your website

• Traffic – Popular sites such as YouTube can be key drivers of traffic online

Moderation

• Hugely active sites such as YouTube so attract a large number of ‘spammers’ – people posting inappropriate links and content in comments to capture people’s attention

• Popular videos can also attract abusive comment as a means to scandalise and shock

• When it is your own video post, it is possible to • When it is your own video post, it is possible to control the following:

– Removal of inappropriate comments

– Complete removal of ability to comment

Case study – Virgin Mobile

Case study – Virgin Mobile

Key Outputs

•• 105 pieces of online coverage105 pieces of online coverage

•• Over 20 million impressionsOver 20 million impressions

•• Over 95% of placements mentioned Over 95% of placements mentioned

Virgin MobileVirgin Mobile

•• Over 89% of placements linked to or Over 89% of placements linked to or

embedded the 30 Peas videoembedded the 30 Peas videoembedded the 30 Peas videoembedded the 30 Peas video

•• Over 87% linked to Over 87% linked to

virginmobilepeople.com/30pvirginmobilepeople.com/30p

Case study – Ramada Encore

Case study – Ramada Encore

Key Outputs

• 12 pieces of national online

coverage

• 78 actively generated pieces

of coverage across

influential blog titles

• Stimulated over 20 million

impressions

Widgets

Overview

• Interactive web tools that can be ‘embedded’ on websites and downloaded to desktops

• Engagement – great means by which to actively engage consumers

• Rich information – powerful way to display rich and varied informationdisplay rich and varied information

• Content – work for all means of different content, from video to games

• Stand-out – as this is still a a largely unexplored area by the PR industry generally, substantial opportunity exists to catch online influencers’ attention

Case study – BBC 5Live

Measurement & evaluation

Social media metrics

• Unique user statistics in social media are impossible to acquire across the board

• A blogger will have to provide information personally

• Therefore, does not support • Therefore, does not support overall campaign measurement

• Different social media platforms require different metrics

Social media metrics

• Blogs

• Number of actively generated posts

• Number of virally generated posts

• Tone of posts

• Key messages

• BlogScore• BlogScore

• Number of comments

• URL links

• ‘Anchor text’

Social media metrics

• Twitter

• Number of actively generated Tweets

• Number of Retweets

• Tone of posts

• Key messages

• TwitterScore• TwitterScore

• URL links

Social media metrics

• Forums

• ForumScore

• Tone

• Key messaging

• Podcasts

• Number of listeners• Number of listeners

• Tone

• Key messaging

Social media metrics

• Video

• Number of views

• Stars

• Favourites

• Comments

– Tone– Tone

• Social networks

• Members/ friends

• Level of active engagement

– Comments

– Uploads

Search engine impact

• Ranking of actively generated posts in search returns

• Assess ranking of negative articles in search returns

• Pre and post activity keyword search returns analysed

• Work with SEO agency/online • Work with SEO agency/online marketing department• Online PR/social media campaigning

will not be the only influence on

search returns

• Note the Google PageRank of coverage generated

Traffic

Utilise web analytics to track the following:

1. Site visits encouraged as a direct result of online PR activity

2. Uplift in traffic levels2. Uplift in traffic levels

3. Conversion of traffic to sales (or other important marketing metrics, for example sign-up)

Packaged services

Objectives

Raising brand awareness online

Increasing the number of links from quality

websites

Search engine ranking boost

Website trafficIncreasing customer acquisition & sales

Online PR tactics

Audience mapping Online media promotionBlogger outreach

• Content pitching

• Guest blog posts

• Blogger events

Twitter promotion

• Client Twitter feed set-up

• Post drafting

• Twitter feed promotion

Social network promotion

• Facebook groups

• MySpace profile recruitment

• Niche networks

• Ning

Social bookmarking Forums

• Thread sponsorship

Podcasts

• Production

• Interview pitching

Video production

• Script writing

• Filming & production

• Editing

Video promotion

• Search engine optimisation

• Seeding

SEO PR

• Press release optimisation

• Syndication

• Measurement & reporting

Widgets

• Production

• Promotion

Online monitoring Online PR measurement

• Online media buying value

• Search engine visibility

• Web analytics

• Social media metrics

Creative campaigns

Creative development

• At the core of social media strategy is

traditional PR– Must be new

– Must be sufficiently interesting for someone

to want to take their own personal time to talk

about it

– Relevance is highly important

• Simplicity is vital• Simplicity is vital– Online influencers are extremely time poor

– Key messaging must come through instantly

• Attention-grabbing works– Humour

– Innovation

– Risqué (great example is Diesel 30 year

anniversary campaign)

Story development

• Get to the core of the story– Describe it in one sentence

• Build associations from this base

• Relevance is key

• Focus first on this before considering appropriate social media platforms

– Platforms should fall naturally from creative concept– Platforms should fall naturally from creative concept

• Think BIG– Creative implementation online is far, far cheaper that offline

– There are some very competitively priced development suppliers out there

Use the full palette

• Never before have so many tools been available, so easily, to PRs

• Bring the story to life as much as possible

• The further you go the stronger the message, the reach, the impactimpact

• Video is enormously powerful

Two-way

• The key feature that differentiates social media from traditional media is its facility for two-way dialogue

• This brings with it a number of important advantages:

– More powerful engagement– More powerful engagement

• Improved recall

– Active involvement

– Participative for both parties

• Make this principle core to a social media campaign

Competition mechanics

• Incentivise people to participate

• Make prizes relevant to resonate

• Competitions have long been a core strand of consumer PR campaignsconsumer PR campaigns

– Social media offers far more

flexible, creative mechanics

• You have to think why would some get involved?

Case study – Hotel Chocolat

Language & tone

• ‘PR speak’ just does not work– Avoid exaggeration – people can spot it, and do not need to put up with it

– Is it really ‘the world’s leading’?

• Be human– Chatty, simple language works best

– Avoid jargon at all costs

• Be friendly• Be friendly– Relationships can be formed very quickly online

• Be open– People are largely very understanding. If issues arise be up-front and open

and maintain dialogue

• Transparency– Always state your intention

– Always state who you are representing

Mechanicals

• Make it easy to share– URL links

– Social media ‘share’

buttons

• Be mindful of people’s inboxes

– Make full use of online – Make full use of online

tools and sharing sites to

distribute content

– YouSendIt

Amplification

Overview

• Extend – online PR can work very well as a means to ‘amplify’ or add further depth to a planned PR/marketing/advertising campaign

• Advertising – ‘amplification’ is very much a buzz term in the ad world. Represents a means by which to take the core ad message out to a wider audience base

• Media fragmentation – the fragmentation of consumer media • Media fragmentation – the fragmentation of consumer media has made it impossible for advertising to reach as large groups of people as before

• Word-of-mouth – at its core lies the ability to stimulate word-of-mouth and viral spread of key marketing messages

• Social media – the two-way, personal nature of the medium perfectly complements the prime objective of any advertising initiative

Implementation

• Core messaging –creative scope is focused upon taking campaign messaging and applying them to the online medium

• Interaction & depth – tools such as video and widgets enable softer elements to enable softer elements to be added to a campaign –increasing levels of engagement

• Assets – content produced to-date as part of the campaign can prove extremely valuable

Implementation - timeline

• Anticipation – one core focus for amplification strategy is building momentum ahead of a campaign launch

– Early glimpses of assets

– Smaller campaigns to support – Smaller campaigns to support

major push

• Extension – an additional focus commonly is then extending interest and intrigue past the main launch dates

– Interactive elements

– Competitions

Opportunity

• Extend current client PR campaigns – opportunity to pitch in amplification projects onto current client campaigns

• Extend other client marketing initiatives – opportunity to begin further supporting other agency initiatives

• Slot in aside current retained PR agencies – opportunity to get to the client table without a full re-pitch. A foot in the door

• Partnerships – scope to partner with advertising and media • Partnerships – scope to partner with advertising and media agencies

Case study – Sony Bravia

Case study – Sony Bravia

Case study – Beck’s

Case study – Beck’s

Case study – Beck’s

Case study – Beck’s

Online press office

Online monitoring

• Many options – there are now a large number of monitoring services on offer

• Consultancy – value for clients is in the consultancy offered in addition to raw stats:

– Flagging crises before flaring

– Prioritisation of articles for reaction

– Insight to inform PR planning and campaign – Insight to inform PR planning and campaign

creative

Managing comments

• Commenting is a necessary element of the two-way nature of social media

• Once you start the dialogue, it is important to remain involved– Reply to comments

– Engage in conversation

• However, the more impersonal nature of online communications can cause people to sometimes be more offensivecan cause people to sometimes be more offensive

– Keep a watchful eye for inappropriate comment or spam

• If this occurs on your uploaded content or site, this can be mitigated with removal as necessary

– Ensure this is an appropriate action

• YouTube allows comments to be disabled

Managing comments - prioritisation

• The proliferation of sites and commentators can be mind boggling and very difficult to manage

• Priority is key

• Not all sites similar sway

• Some comment at best will only • Some comment at best will only require a watchful eye to check if it spreads further

– In such circumstances, engaging is

a waste of resources and may only

fuel the fire

SEO PR

SEO PR

• Google is very much the window through which people access everything online

• Online PR and social media outreach directly impact:

1. Brand website rankings

2. Journalist and consumer endorsement rankingsrankings

• Online PR and social media outreach can also be utilised to minimise the impact of damaging articles ranking highly

– Hotel Chocolat example

Implementation - keywords

• Keywords – keyword phrases are selected that are most important to the client for driving relevant traffic to their website

• Input – first check if client has list of priority keywords. Their online marketing department will online marketing department will definitely have focus areas

• Keyword generation –otherwise, there are numerous free, or paid-for, keyword generator tools

• Focus – build focused list of up to five keywords to focus upon

Implementation - drafting

• Careful drafting – PR collateral is fused subtly with keyword phrases

• Extend use – opportunity to extend use of press releases and other collateral already being produced for a client

• Focused content – otherwise, focused collateral can be created focused collateral can be created around keyword areas

• Anchor links – appropriate URL links to the client site are placed behind keywords

• Link choice – work with online marketing department to select most appropriate URLs

Implementation - syndication

• Syndication wires – PR collateral is posted on SEO PR wires (PRWeb, Source Wire, Real Wire)

• Mechanical costs – Each post costs around £100 (varies across wires)

• Targeted – collateral is syndicated across sites relevant to the content and across sites relevant to the content and keywords

• Link creation – each syndicated piece of coverage contains keywords and URL links to clients site

Online PR support

• Dual benefit – more traditional online PR activity also has a direct impact on search

• Top web real estate – achieving coverage on high ranking sites, such as BBC Online & Guardian Online, which includes URL links, creates substantial SEO boosts for a client

• PR-dependent – PR is the only mechanism by which to achieve thisachieve this

• Relevant content – PR-generated articles linking to a client are likely to include relevant keyword phrases, further increasing effects

New business development

Competitor landscape

Overview

• Online PR has been very late to develop as a PR/marketing discipline

• With the advent of the Internet, most forms of marketing quickly developed an online equivalent

– Print advertising: online display advertising

– Direct mail: email marketing

– Classified advertising: search marketing– Classified advertising: search marketing

– Marketing: online marketing

• In comparison, ‘online PR’ has only come to prominence in the last two

years

• The rise of social media created the stimulus for this, but there has been

considerable opportunity for years

Opportunity

• Transition - the past two years have seen a transition where ‘online PR’ is now seen as an important element of the marketing/PR mix

• Widespread awareness – interest and need for online PR services now spans all industry sectors and vertical markets

– Consumer– Consumer

– B2B

– Finance

– Healthcare

– Public Affairs

– Technology

New competition

• Online PR sits squarely between PR and Online Marketing as a discipline

• As a result, Online PR is garnering interest from a number of other marketing sectors:sectors:

– Search agencies

– Digital agencies

– Media agencies

PR agencies

Overview

• Slow adoption – the PR industry has been slow to realise the opportunity Online PR represents

• There were a few early adopters

• Some industry sectors have • Some industry sectors have voiced demand for Online PR & social media services earlier than others

• Varied – as a result Online PR skills are extremely varied across the PR agency market

Online PR specialists

• Arrival on scene – As a result of the opportunity gap and market needs, a number of digital specialists have arrived on the market

• Focused entirely online

• Positioning – there are noticeable differences in how each is positioned – highlighting the tremendous opportunity for differentiation and specialismdifferentiation and specialism

• Take-outs – interesting lessons to be taken from each

Online PR specialists

Sister agencies

• A fashion of late has been creation of ‘sister agencies’ –individually branded Online PR agencies that are financially tied to a large PR agency

• This approach offers a number of advantages:– Appropriate marketing positioning

– More coherent communication of an agency’s digital expertise

– Portfolio of brands to operate across to fuel initial growth– Portfolio of brands to operate across to fuel initial growth

– Sharing of staff resource across agencies

– Useful ‘conflict vehicle’

• Potential challenges include: – Focused pocket of Online PR expertise created, but not across

agency as a whole

– Viable in the long-term?

Sister agency brands

Integrated offerings

• Popular – the approach that has been adopted by most over the past year has been a drive to integrate Online PR within the current agency structure

• Recruitment – Spike in creation of dedicated positions such as ‘social media strategist’ & ‘head of online PR’ over past year

– Hot demand for PRs with hands on experience– Hot demand for PRs with hands on experience

• This approach offers a number of advantages:– Easier set-up

– Easier integration with current agency set-up

– Faster education of all staff

– Solid long-term strategy

• Challenges include:– Harder to differentiate and clearly position online expertise

Digital agencies

Overview

• Business fit – online PR represents a natural business growth area for digital agencies

• Closing the loop – online PR is a natural tool by which to publicise sites designed and promoted by digital agencies

• Client demand – the majority of web design and online marketing briefs are now including, or even focusing upon, social media elementssocial media elements

• Tech heads – the combined technical and online marketing specialism of digital agencies means they have been well positioned to grasp early the opportunity presented by social media

Positioning

• Recruitment – digital agencies too have been hiring people to fill dedicated social media positions

• Advertising focus – however, as digital agencies’ background in marketing is largely advertising based, these new positions tending to take form of ‘social media planners’

• Social media to digital agencies is less a PR tool and • Social media to digital agencies is less a PR tool and instead a new medium for buying very targeted ad space

• This is changing - efforts are being made to step fully into online PR

Active digital agencies

Media agencies

Overview

• Causing a stir – media agencies have been raising concern within the PR industry of late, as a result of some high profile online PR campaign wins

• Natural fit – responsible for strategically planning where a brand focuses its efforts in the media space, such agencies are well positioning to recommend how social media should fit into the mixfit into the mix

• Amplification – growing demand from brands for ‘amplification’ of advertising campaigns within social media has further strengthened media agencies’ position

Positioning

• Advertising focus – as with digital agencies, media agencies’ background has led them to approach social media in terms of buying advertising space, rather than engaging with PR communications

• Shift – however, the realisation of the online PR budgets on offer, and the opportunity to diversify their business, is leading agencies to also now offer fully fledged online PR leading agencies to also now offer fully fledged online PR services

Active media agencies

Search agencies

Overview

• Dual focus - search marketing agencies’ services can be split into two categories: SEO and PPC

• SEO – SEO services are focused on optimising a client’s website and then planning and implementing a ‘link building strategy’

• Commodity – much link building work is becoming commoditisedcommoditised

• High value links – the most high value links that can be achieved are influential media and social media sites, which cannot be purchased

• Business fit – online PR offers search agencies a means by which to differentiate and offer higher value services

Positioning

• SEO – search agencies’ approach to online PR is entirely SEO-based

• Solid technology understanding – search agencies are highly competent at explaining the technical basis for online PR work, and measuring its impact

• Creativity – where they lack is on the creative side, developing PR campaigns that stand-outdeveloping PR campaigns that stand-out

• PR skills – previously, another difficult area for them has been in mastering core PR skills, in particular, quality editorial production and PR communications

• Recruitment – there is now a noted recruitment drive across the search agency market for more traditional PR practitioners

Active search agencies

Lead generation

Current client portfolio

• Easy wins – prior to starting an external new business drive, make sure you have maximised all opportunities across your current client portfolio

• Case studies – relevant case studies are hugely valuable in building credibility and proving ROI

• Strategic approach – work with relevant account directors to ensure all opportunities are maximisedto ensure all opportunities are maximised

• Revenue generation – Great opportunity to achieve incremental increases in retainer fees, or sell-in additional projects

Client marketing toolkit

• Introductory meetings – secure opportunities with relevant decision-makers to showcase your digital services

• Introductions to other contacts – request introductions to other untapped contacts within client organisation (e.g. online marketing)

• Other agencies – speak with other agencies to determine current projects they are working on and where there might current projects they are working on and where there might be fit for online PR support

• Training – offer training sessions to client PR team, to aid them getting up to speed with social media. Very useful tool if there is an education gap

• Discounted test campaign – As last resort, potential to run discounted activity as means of building case study portfolio

New business targets

• Dual focus - New business development in the Online PR/social media space benefits from the fact that there are two routes to market:

– PR• PR Directors/ Communications Directors/ Head of PR

• PR Managers

– Online marketing• Marketing Director• Marketing Director

• Online Marketing Director

• Online Marketing Manager

• E-commerce Manager

• Social Media Manager

• Characteristics and business needs of each do vary

PR decision-makers

• Early steps – the majority of in-house PR teams at an early, experimental stage in regards to social media adoption

• Non-tech background – in-house PR teams have shared the same difficulties that the PR industry has whole has experienced in recognising and adopting social media servicesservices

• External pressure – PR Managers are finding themselves under pressure from other company departments to ‘solve’ the social media ‘dilemma’

• Complexity – for some, the complex nature of social media is a headache, but still one that needs treatment

• Industry recognition – for ambitious others, online PR offers a fast track way to gain profile

Online marketing decision-makers

• ROI – online marketing departments are extremely results driven. Almost all activity is closely measured by its effect on the bottom line

• Another channel – for online marketing managers, online PR represents an additional medium to reach customers

• First foray into PR – most will have no PR experience. This has a tremendous impact on how you present online PR. Often, understanding of how PR operates can be very PR. Often, understanding of how PR operates can be very mistaken. It is vital to stress the PR basics

• Tech heads – on the other side, online marketing managers are very tech savvy, and will be quick to focus upon SEO benefits and the more technical aspects of campaigns

• Imbalance – Online marketing teams tend to hold far larger budgets than the respective PR team

•

Lead generation

• Opportunity – as this is still a new area, there is far more scope and higher success rates when calling contacts directly

• Electric marketing – monthly list of new starters. Majority keen to leave their mark quickly: online PR/social media represents untapped area where they can demonstrate their expertisetheir expertise

• Salesforce – flexible CRM system, which aids keeping on top of calls

• Media scanning – PR Week/Gorkana PR are very valuable sources for lead generation. If you do not have resource support, Pearlfinders offers a purchase solution

• Linkedin – another useful source for relevant contacts

Networking

• ‘How to conferences’ – there are a proliferation of one-day events on offer to aid PRs get to grips with online PR. These are often highly frequented by brands, who are keen to make more moves into this space

• Evening meet-ups – there are a large number of social media and blogger meet-ups…enough to soak up your life! Choose wisely, as many are not suited to new business. Choose wisely, as many are not suited to new business. Some, however, are very valuable

• Social networking – there is an extremely active network of PRs blogging, on Twitter, and across a number of social networks sites (e.g. P2PPR)

Marketing support

• Marketing support can help hugely in supporting your new business initiatives and increasing the number of people you can reach

• Website – make sure your agency website properly positions your digital services. Closely assess your competitors positioning and ensure you stand-out

• PPC – Google ads can be very inexpensive in vertical b2b • PPC – Google ads can be very inexpensive in vertical b2b sectors such as PR, but very effective in establishing qualified leads

• Case studies – make sure you have professionally designed pdfs showcasing your digital credentials and experience

Qualification

Qualification

• Non-competitive – Dedicated online PR briefs have a far higher propensity to be non-competitive

• Response – rather than brands taking briefs to market, often they are created in response to an approach from an agency

• This brings both opportunity and challenges with it

Qualification

• Establish certainty of brief – it is vital to ensure that the brief is not speculative in scope

• First contact – make sure to establish experience levels across team at first meeting

• Objectives – clearly establish business reasons for a campaign. If these exist there is far higher chance it is an opportunity that it can convertopportunity that it can convert

• Budget – make sure to get budget up-front. In-house teams often do not have sufficient experience to effectively budget digital activity. This makes it very difficult to price effectively. Make sure to get a ballpark area at the least

Smoke and mirrors

• Hype – the sudden surge in interest in online PR has brought with it a large amount of buzz and hype

• Caution – some of this is due; much is not. When qualifying briefs, make sure to consider fully the rationale for activity and the scope of work

• Long-term relationships – plan for long-term relationships when responding to briefs. ROI is keywhen responding to briefs. ROI is key

Pitching

Language & tone

• Over-complification – there has been a trend across the industry of over-use of jargon and tech phrases

– Brands are looking for clarity

– Demystify to win

– Simplicity is key

• Do not forget the basics: – At its core, ‘online PR’ is based on the same principles of ‘traditional – At its core, ‘online PR’ is based on the same principles of ‘traditional

PR’ – only the medium has shifted slightly

Bring to life

• Examples – showcase examples of previous similar campaigns (whether your agency’s or another’s). It is vital that the client can clearly see how the campaign will work

• Visual – use visual explanations where possible to explain more complicated elements of campaigns

• Design – invest in design support to highlight how campaign will look and feelcampaign will look and feel

Budgeting & pricing

• Speciality area – online PR is currently a very in-demand skill-set and service area

• Rate card – it might be worth considering a separate rate card, at least initially for online PR work, particularly for projects

• Online marketing – bear in mind that online marketing budgets tend to be larger in scope than PRbudgets tend to be larger in scope than PR

• Third party costs – there is significant scope to shop around for third party suppliers to gain very competitive prices. Look to agree a fixed cost with client and see what margin you can gain from there

• Web design build – shop outside of London