SearchLove Boston 2016 | Britt Klontz | Incorporate 'Pr Thinking' Into Your Content Initiatives
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For the most successful digital initiatives, 90% of the work is completed before the campaign actually launches, but what should that work be? Britt will show a "behind the scenes" look at successful campaigns, to emphasize the value of incorporating "PR thinking" all the way from the conception of an idea to the execution. This session will focus on the value of media relations and how you can create PR-shaped content that is not only tailored to your brand's message, but also designed to catch the attention of journalists and their captive audiences.
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SearchLove Boston 2016 | Britt Klontz | Incorporate 'Pr Thinking' Into Your Content Initiatives
- 1. Incorporate ‘PR Thinking’ Into Your Content Initiatives Britt Klontz | PR Consultant | @Britt_Klontz SearchLove Boston 2016
- 3. client wants infographic content team creates infographic infographic is created PROMOTE!
- 16. Tailored the pitch accordingly
- 18. proof that I did my homework Hi Erica, I wanted to touch base with you and quickly introduce myself because my team and I create infographics on a variety of topics, many revolving around social media/tech- related issues, and I’d like to offer our latest piece as an exclusive to Mashable. It’s called ‘Crafting the Perfect Modern Resume’ and gives tips on how to make a successful resume that is social, interactive and creative. I noticed you have posted a couple ‘How-To’ articles on resume writing and I figured it would be a perfect match for you, especially because it also urges the reader to use social media to their advantage. I’ve attached the draft of the infographic to this email. Please remember that it is just a draft and we are still working on the piece. If you have any feedback, comments or suggestions on how to make it better, please feel free to let me know - we’d be more than happy to tailor it to your wishes. Hope you enjoy & I look forward to hearing back from you :) Many Thanks, Britt
- 19. showed relevancy Hi Erica, I wanted to touch base with you and quickly introduce myself because my team and I create infographics on a variety of topics, many revolving around social media/tech- related issues, and I’d like to offer our latest piece as an exclusive to Mashable. It’s called ‘Crafting the Perfect Modern Resume’ and gives tips on how to make a successful resume that is social. interactive and creative. I noticed you have posted a couple ‘How-To’ articles on resume writing and I figured it would be a perfect match for you, especially because it also urges the reader to use social media to their advantage. I’ve attached the draft of the infographic to this email. Please remember that it is just a draft and we are still working on the piece. If you have any feedback, comments or suggestions on how to make it better, please feel free to let me know - we’d be more than happy to tailor it to your wishes. Hope you enjoy & I look forward to hearing back from you :) Many Thanks, Britt
- 20. offered the ability to customize Hi Erica, I wanted to touch base with you and quickly introduce myself because my team and I create infographics on a variety of topics, many revolving around social media/tech- related issues, and I’d like to offer our latest piece as an exclusive to Mashable. It’s called ‘Crafting the Perfect Modern Resume’ and gives tips on how to make a successful resume that is social, interactive and creative. I noticed you have posted a couple ‘How-To’ articles on resume writing and I figured it would be a perfect match for you, especially because it also urges the reader to use social media to their advantage. I’ve attached the draft of the infographic to this email. Please remember that it is just a draft and we are still working on the piece. If you have any feedback, comments or suggestions on how to make it better, please feel free to let me know - we’d be more than happy to tailor it to your wishes. Hope you enjoy & I look forward to hearing back from you :) Many Thanks, Britt
- 25. What Won The Pitch: 1. Research 2. Relevance 3. Responsiveness
- 26. MAGICAL TIME MACHINE CUPCAKE
- 27. determine client’s needs (beyond infographics) PROMOTE! set goals & KPIs persona research content creationcontent strategy outlet research promotions strategy media list building relationship building pre-pitching
- 28. Baking PR Into Your Content Initiatives
- 29. - 1 - A compelling hook is key
- 30. Find an effective hook that is going to capture the mind of your target audience.
- 33. The Most Instagrammed Fashion Brands
- 34. The Key Components to Success 1. Hook 2. Content 3. Execution
- 35. What’s the hook?
- 36. Most Followers….
- 37. Um, What?!
- 39. AGAIN?!
- 40. Nike Tops the List of the Most Instagrammed Fashion Brands
- 41. Hello Kitty Outranks Legendary Fashion Brands on Instagram
- 42. Two Sportswear Brands Compete for the Most Instagram Followers
- 47. A “good hook” is the equivalent to sprinkles on a cupcake - content just isn’t “eye-catching” without it.
- 48. - 2 - Make it newsworthy
- 49. If you want to be in the media, become media-worthy.
- 57. explicit about it being “for” TC
- 58. right into the “timeliness” factor Hi Josh, To put into perspective how large the recent Facebook acquisition really is, my team and I are creating a data visualization that showcases the last 15 years of acquisitions of 5 major tech companies, including Facebook. It isn't completely finished just yet (we're updating it to include the WhatsApp acquisition), but I can send along the final version as soon as it is if you think your readers at TechCrunch might find it interesting. Here's where you can preview the draft: http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/hungry-tech/ My favorite part is that the user is able to filter the type of acquisition and are also able to go directly to the source of the information. If you think your readers would find it interesting, I'd be happy to send along the final version, as well as an embed code that will allow you to host the entire piece on TechCrunch. Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to check it out, looking forward to connecting with you either way! Cheers, Britt
- 59. a preview hints at “exclusivity” Hi Josh, To put into perspective how large the recent Facebook acquisition really is, my team and I are creating a data visualization that showcases the last 15 years of acquisitions of 5 major tech companies, including Facebook. It isn't completely finished just yet (we're updating it to include the WhatsApp acquisition), but I can send along the final version as soon as it is if you think your readers at TechCrunch might find it interesting. Here's where you can preview the draft: http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/hungry-tech/ My favorite part is that the user is able to filter the type of acquisition and are also able to go directly to the source of the information. If you think your readers would find it interesting, I'd be happy to send along the final version, as well as an embed code that will allow you to host the entire piece on TechCrunch. Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to check it out, looking forward to connecting with you either way! Cheers, Britt
- 60. option to host directly on TC Hi Josh, To put into perspective how large the recent Facebook acquisition really is, my team and I are creating a data visualization that showcases the last 15 years of acquisitions of 5 major tech companies, including Facebook. It isn't completely finished just yet (we're updating it to include the WhatsApp acquisition), but I can send along the final version as soon as it is if you think your readers at TechCrunch might find it interesting. Here's where you can preview the draft: http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/hungry-tech/ My favorite part is that the user is able to filter the type of acquisition and are also able to go directly to the source of the information. If you think your readers would find it interesting, I'd be happy to send along the final version, as well as an embed code that will allow you to host the entire piece on TechCrunch. Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to check it out, looking forward to connecting with you either way! Cheers, Britt
- 65. The term “exclusive” can have different meanings...always clarify.
- 66. “For reference, we almost never publish infographics or the like from third-parties but are making an exception because this is so cool and informative.” - Josh Constine TechCrunch EIC
- 70. Sometimes “newsworthiness” happens serendipitously, and you get lucky. Other times, you can manufacture it.
- 75. - 3 - Make the journalist’s job “easy”
- 76. The Struggle is REAL (for journalists)
- 78. Fast deadlines
- 80. The increasing importance of multimedia gives content marketers an opportunity to help journalists do their jobs.
- 83. Concept & content The View From Here Commission and curate a shareable series of photos which illustrate the contrasting views from windows throughout the world and the stories of the people who live there Content Ask people around the world to take a photo of the view from their bedroom window Give them instructions on how to take the shot Ask pertinent questions to draw out stories about what they think and feel when they look out their window
- 84. Related content Where children sleep: comparisons from around the world
- 85. Related content Humans of New York: great short stories about the people in the photos
- 93. Choice overload?
- 99. MOBILE
- 100. Media outlets are investing in responsive web design and journalists are expected to create content accordingly.
- 101. The Struggle IS REAL (for journalists)
- 103. Javascript…?
- 104. HTML…?
- 105. CSS…?
- 106. Responsive design…?!
- 107. CONTENT MARKETING IS MOBILE MARKETING Source: Recent B2B Distilled campaign
- 110. - 4 - Pre-pitch to key influencers
- 111. Pre-pitch key influencers whose target audiences are exactly the demographic you’d want to get in front of.
- 116. pitched as a “preview” Hi Julee, We're soon releasing an interactive chart depicting the most popular fashion brands on Instagram. I'd like to share what we have so far with you in case you think the HuffPost Fashion readers, particularly any Insta-obsessed ones, might find it neat. Its purpose is to showcase fashion brands with the most followers, as well as those with the most hashtag mentions. Turns out, Nike takes the top spot for both. But, you might be surprised with the other brands that rank - Hello Kitty beat out fashion legends like Michael Kors and Guess with over 8 million hashtag mentions! Here's where you can see a preview (please don't share, this is a draft): http://test.distilled.net/macys/instagram/ Thanks so much for taking time to check it out. Really excited to hear your thoughts, Julee! Cheers, Britt
- 117. highlighted relevant angles Hi Julee, We're soon releasing an interactive chart depicting the most popular fashion brands on Instagram. I'd like to share what we have so far with you in case you think the HuffPost Fashion readers, particularly any Insta-obsessed ones, might find it neat. Its purpose is to showcase fashion brands with the most followers, as well as those with the most hashtag mentions. Turns out, Nike takes the top spot for both. But, you might be surprised with the other brands that rank - Hello Kitty beat out fashion legends like Michael Kors and Guess with over 8 million hashtag mentions! Here's where you can see a preview (please don't share, this is a draft): http://test.distilled.net/macys/instagram/ Thanks so much for taking time to check it out. Really excited to hear your thoughts, Julee! Cheers, Britt
- 118. test link OR screenshot will work Hi Julee, We're soon releasing an interactive chart depicting the most popular fashion brands on Instagram. I'd like to share what we have so far with you in case you think the HuffPost Fashion readers, particularly any Insta-obsessed ones, might find it neat. Its purpose is to showcase fashion brands with the most followers, as well as those with the most hashtag mentions. Turns out, Nike takes the top spot for both. But, you might be surprised with the other brands that rank - Hello Kitty beat out fashion legends like Michael Kors and Guess with over 8 million hashtag mentions! Here's where you can see a preview (please don't share, this is a draft): http://test.distilled.net/macys/instagram/ Thanks so much for taking time to check it out. Really excited to hear your thoughts, Julee! Cheers, Britt
- 121. Look for coverage opportunities that have the potential to create a “domino effect.”
- 138. A successful campaign consists of a PR strategy in which 90% of the PR-based tasks are completed BEFORE launch.
- 139. 1. Determining the hook is key 2. Look for ways to make content timely 3. Create multifaceted content, and make it easy for the journalist to share 4. Pre-pitch your content to influencers whose readers are your target audience 4 key strategies:
Editor's Notes
- I’m Britt Klontz and I run the promotional campaigns that we do at Distilled - and my presentation is going to mainly discuss the PR-focused strategies we implement while creating and promoting the content-based campaigns we run for our clients.
- I like to say my career in digital marketing and PR all began with a cupcake. Back in 2011, I was working part time at a cupcake shop while going to college. It was a mom and pop small business and the owners were husband and wife, and their son and daughter had just opened a small boutique internet marketing agency. I found out that they were looking for an intern. I was super curious about digital marketing, so in between selling cupcakes and studying, I joined their team as a promotions intern.
- One of their more popular services was creating infographics for their clients. They had an amazing content team that created them and, luckily for me, they were really creating some awesome pieces (or what could be considered really awesome for 2011) But when it came time to promote, they hadn’t really experimented with this portion of the process and that is why they needed an intern.
- This was one of the first infographics I was given to promote. It was on behalf of a technical university in Colorado and it was all about creating a digital resume. What were the best font and typefaces to use, how to create online or infographic resumes….
- As you can see, it was very 2011 - more of like an infoarticle of sorts, super cartoony...but it was really awesome at the time.
- It was a very long piece.
- They told me to work to get it placed, or covered, on top-level publications in the tech space and they specifically said they would be thrilled if I could get it covered on Mashable. Now, the next few steps I took are ones that i still go through to this day, 5 years later, as a digital PR professional
- I’m pretty sure at that time I had NO idea what Mashable was, so the obvious first thing i did was go to the site to check it out to see why they thought it was such a good fit.
- Just to refresh everyone’s memory, here’s what Mashable looked like back in 2011. I saw, of course, articles on the topic of digital media, social media,a section particularly for how to articles, and could see why this would be a great fit.
- Once i was confident with that, I began to look into the best person to reach out to, or who the expert was on the topic of online resumes.
- I noticed a woman named Erica had written a few articles related to the topic….here’s one that she wrote about how to optimize your linkedin profile.
- And I came across this one on how to setup an online resume and I thought - this is too easy, this is perfect.
- But, I still wasn’t sure of the best way to contact her. Remember, I had NEVER done this before. Having never taken a class in PR, let alone Internet marketing, I had no idea if i should call, or email….if I did email, should I send her a press release?
- Lucky for me, after doing some more sleuthing I found that Erica had her own blog and had recently written EXACTLY how she likes to be pitched. Although this was written in 2011, all of these points are still extremely applicable and effective. She talks about not sending blanket pitches and making sure your email is relevant to what they write about. Keeping your pitches succinct or short and to the point. And making sure you explicitly state why it is a good fit for their coverage or beat. This is how I learned the basics for setting up an email pitch, and all of it still applies today.
- Now, the hard part - tailoring the pitch. Taking all of that info I gleaned from her blog post, I began writing my first email pitch.
- This is the email I ended up sending..now, there are definitely a few things I would change about this pitch today….but there are a few key themes that I still make sure to apply to my email pitches today.
- In her blog post, she says the sexiest word in PR language is “exclusive.” When I receive an email with the word “exclusive” in the subject line, my eyes light up and I click with glee to see what could be in store for my next piece. Since we hadn’t yet released this infogrpahic, I received permision from the client to offer it to mashable as an exclusive and mentioned it straight away in my email. This was proof that I did my homework and really took the time to get to know about not only her column and what she writes about, but how she likes to be pitched.
- To further showcase that i truly did my homework, I then addressed the relevancy and mentioned that I had noticed she posted similar pieces. I also stressed the fact that the piece urges its readers to use social media to showcase their personal brand, which very much speaks to the Mashable readership.
- I also offered the ability to have us customize or change anything she wanted us to.
- I pressed send and I waited…….. And likely stress ate and had a cupcake or two in the meantime….
- Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long, Erica got back to me shortly after, thanked me for the exclusive and requested quite a few changes as well as the opportunity to co-brand with Mashable.
- Needless to say, I was super excited. I ran over to my boss and practically fell over - I didn’t think they’d believe I had setup a placement on Mashable.
- We hustled to get these changes done ASAP and worked with Erica to have this covered on Mashable.
- Now, let’s examine what won that pitch: Research - i took the time to confirm that not only the outlet was a great fit for this piece, but I hand selected who i pitched based on their previous coverage and interests. Relevance - the information was directly relevant to her previous coverage and the interest of Mashable readers We offered the opportunity to make changes and were quick to do so.
- I wanted to share that story with you to really show you that the basic foundation of good PR hasn’t changed drastically. We’ve just gotten more strategic with our content strategy (I think). Now, let’s fast forward to 2016 and what I’m up to at Distilled.
- At Distilled, PR-focused strategies are incorporated throughout every step of content marketing process. We determine what will really move the needle for the client, we set goals and KPIs, we do persona research and create content strategies from this research, and then we create said content and THEN promote. But while persona research is going on, our PR team is contributing outlet research based on audience demographics. In conjunction with the content strategy, we’re putting together a PR strategy and once we put the piece into production, we immediately start out list building, we start building relationships with key influencers, and we begin pre-pitching before the piece is even live. As you can see, a good chunk of the time I spend promoting a campaign goes into the process before the piece is even live.
- Now, the fun part, I want to dive into a few of my favorite PR-focused strategies that we’ve put into place at Distilled to increase our chances of creating a successful piece of content.
- First and foremost, I of course want to stress the importance of a good hook or story. I know, so cliche, but it really is important!
- One of my favorite examples of how a hook, or a good story (or stories!), makes of breaks a piece is a visualization we put together on behalf of Macy’s last year. Macy’s came to Distilled last year to help spread brand awareness around their new ecommerce platform, m by Macy's. It’s a whole new shopping experience built to be more personalized than macys.com
- In particular, they wanted to gain high-quality coverage in major online fashion publications that are frequently read by fashion-focused readers between the ages of 18 & 35.
- After doing some brainstorming, we were most into an idea we had that would scrape Instagram’s API data and visualize the most instagrammed fashion brands.
- REMOVE? In theory, the idea sounded neat. But, we still weren’t entirely sure about “the why” behind collecting all of this data - what are we going to pitch to fashion influencers and journos in the space? We couldn’t just say “hey, we collected this data, isn’t it neat” - there had to be a hook or something interesting that they can grab from it and craft into a story. At Distilled, we like to think of infographics & data visualizations being made up of 3 components: the content, the execution and the hook. The content: which is the data, or copy The execution: how you display the content The hook: or, the story. These 3 components are not discreet units, they work together. The hook is the most important element, though. You can check out Hannah Smith’s, Distilled’s content strategist, ‘Hooks and Red Herrings’ presentation for more on this….
- But the biggest takeaway that I’d like you to think about now is that you shouldn’t ever just create an infographic or a creative piece for the sake of creating something - even if you have a really cool idea and an awesome way to visualize or format it. The hook is the most important element - this is what evokes the emotional response.
- The only way to determine if there was a good hook or story with this idea was to pull the data and see. We first pulled data around the fashion brands with the most followers….
- The only way to determine if there was a good hook or story with this idea was to pull the data and see. We first pulled data around the fashion brands with the most followers….
- The other data we wanted to reveal were the brands who had the most # mentions on Instagram
- The other data we wanted to reveal were the brands who had the most # mentions on Instagram
- Once we have the angles, we start compiling the headlines.. We use these exact headlines to pitch to journalists and they come in really handy when we need an eye-catching subject line.
- SO we had our hook, and we moved forward with creating it. The final product ended up looking like this.
- It launched and one of the first publications to pick it up was Huffington Post Style.
- At the end of the campaign, we had successfully gained coverage on over 90 publications, of which many of those were top-tier fashion publications.
- Another strategy we like to think about while brainstorming ideas, or even while we’re creating the piece itself, is how can we make this timely? Or newsworthy?
- If you’ve taken a look at our case studies or have seen presentations from my fellow Distilled colleagues, you’ve no doubt heard about the work we’ve done for Simply Business. They’re a UK client who supplies business insurance to small businesses.
- Back in 2014, our POC wanted us to create a piece of content that would gain coverage in top tier tech publications that focus on startup news, such as TC, VB and Mashable.
- Since acquisitins are a popular topic in this niche, we decided to create something that showcased the acquisition strategies of the top 5 companies over the last 15 yrs. This is what we had come up with...
- Then, right before we were about to launch the piece, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for a record $19billion. I noticed TechCrunch was covering this acquisition nonstop - particularly Josh Constine, who is now the editor, was writing all sorts of articles on the topic. Here’s one about his theories on why they dropped so much money on the whatsapp acquisition
- And another posted later that day on more about the strategy behind the acquisition
- And here’s one he wrote about how he believed FB could supercharge whatsapp.
- I knew I had to share what we were working on with Josh, so i sent him this pitch, even though our team was still working on adding the new acquisition, but I really wanted to share it with him sooner rather than later, while this news was still really hot. Let’s break down the pre-pitch real fast.
- I knew I had to share what we were working on with Josh, so i sent him this pitch, even though our team was still working on adding the new acquisition, but I really wanted to share it with him sooner rather than later, while this news was still really hot. Let’s break down the pre-pitch real fast.
- Then I went right into what made this piece so newsworthy and how this piece really visualizes how epic this recent acquisition by Facebook was, as compared to other tech acquisitions.
- Since it wasn’t technically updated and live yet, I showed him where he could get a sneak preview of the draft we were working on.
- What I think was also key was that I told him he will be able to host the entire piece on TechCrunch - that way, readers won’t be directed away from his article to view it on TC.
- He got back to me within minutes and wanted the piece as an exclusive, promising to publish it in a prime slot the next morning.
- He also said he would be happy to give credit to SBiz numerous times. Amazing!
- So we hustled and added the WhatsApp acquisition and I sent Josh the iframe embed code so that he could test out hosting the entire thing on techcrunch. As you can see, once we added the whatsapp acquisition it really made the piece very newsworthy.
- The iframe code worked well and looked great on TC, but then he clarified what he meant by the exclusive. Specifically, he wanted to be able to be the only person to be hosting this piece on the Internet for at least a month.
- This brings up a really good point. All journalists have different meanings when they use the word “Exclusivity” - always clarify the timelines.
- Our client was paying for us to promote the piece once it launched, so I had to negotiate with Josh and find a happy balance. I ended up negotiating that we’d hold off on pitching the piece for a week. Josh pushed back and emailed me this - “for reference, we almost never publish READ….” I used this quote to help explain to the client that we should really let TC have this exclusivity for that time period because this is a rare opportunity and, had the piece not been so timely, I prob wouldn’t be having this convo with Josh.
- After approval from the client, Tech Crunch released the visualizaton. As promised, Josh gave due credit to Sbiz numerous times in the article. Funny enough, readers will still going to SBiz site to see the piece and Sbiz’ site actually broke because of all the traffic!
- Another funny thing also happened - other top tier tech and business publications were picking this piece up. Here’s an example from Fortune mag and what was cool about this was that they were giving due credit to Sbiz and TechCrunch - sweet! I didn’t even have to pitch this guy!
- In this example, sometimes “timeliness” happens serendipitously, and you get lucky. Other times, you can manufacture timeliness.
- Here’s one of my favorite examples of how we manufactured timeliness on behalf of a client. We created this piece for JustPark, a web app that assists you with finding a place ot park your car. At the time, there was a lot of coverage happening around the upcoming new season of Top Gear, especially since they had 4times the budget to work with. So we put this visualization together that showcased all of the cool stunts they could potentially put together with this new large budget.
- We pitched entertainment reporters who were covering this topic,here’s an example of a piece of coverage my colleague lined up in The Week.
- Here’s a screenshot of how he included it in the article. Since it was just a quick mention within an article, and not the entire focus of it, he incorporated this embed code that we created giving journos the option to embed a portion of it in the article itself.
- To help make this piece not only more appealing to share, but also easier to share, we created this embed code so that people can host a portion of the piece directly within the article itself.
- And that example is actually a great transition for how to make the journos job easy.
- Now, let’s quickly step out of the world of content marketing and put ourselves in the mind of a reporter or journalist. The struggle is real for them right now -
- They’re dealing with shrinking newsrooms
- Their editors are putting them up against fast turnaround times for the stories they create - and want them to put out more and more every day.
- They’re facing an increasing demand for multimedia. Not only are they expected to write the article, but they’re also expected to include supplemental multimedia for everyone - like supporting graphics, images and video.
- I personally believe though, that the ….
- As content marketers, it is our job to create these multimedia assets to help tell a story. Here’s one of my favorite examples of how we created multi-faced content for journalists to use, and also made it super easy for them to share. Somfy, a manufacturer of the motors that are used for motorized blinds, awnings and shutters, came to Distilled and wanted us to build a creative piece that would help increase their brand awareness, landing coverage on top-tier publications.
- We did persona research on Somfy’s customers and discovered that, beyond home decor and smart home tech, they enjoy traveling. So we took an audience-centric approach to come up with the ideas for this campaign and decided to strategize content ideas that would naturally tie in the Somfy brand to the interests of their audiences.
- We came up with the idea to create a photo series called ‘ The View From Here’ in which we would commission photographers around the world to take a photo of the view from their home, during both the night and day, and a story telling how they feel about it.
- It was inspired by content such as this photo series that compared the bedrooms of children around the world
- And the popularity of Humans of New York
- This is what the piece ended up looking like
- As you scroll through you see each view and how it changes from day/night
- And the stories pop up - it is like a scrolling parallax of sorts. Not only was the imagery beautiful, but the stories captured the raw emotions and feelings that people have about their view - both good and bad.
- I pre-pitched the piece to the travel editor at USA today to see if he’d be interested. As I kind of predicted, he wanted to use some of the photos and stories to create a slideshow and then link to the actual peice itself so his readers could check it out in its entirety if they wanted to.
- So we took an few hours to organize all these photos and stories in a public dropbox folder so that this editor, and other journalists, could go in and hand pick their favorite stories and photos to include in a slideshow or even a listical format.
- Here’s the USA today coverage, and as you can see he chose 36 of his favorite photos to highlight in his coverage.
- Because there we so many photos to choose from, however, we did have some concerns. Studies have shown that the more decisions -- simple or complex -- you are subjected to, the less mental energy and willpower you have left at the end of the day.
- So, to potentially prevent journalists from becoming overhwelmed with the number of ways they could present the story, we chose our favorites and we linked to a separate page from the piece containing embed codes for our personal favorite images + stories.
- While pitching this piece, I explicitly told journalists that they could choose from the dropbox folder, and that we’ve gathered our favorites if they’d just like to consider those.
- Bustle was another publication that covered the piece
- And they decided to use the embed codes we created…...
- ..again, definitely worth the extra time it took to create this additional embed code page.
- Mobile also presents another “roadblock” for journalists.
- Putting ourselves back into the mindset of a journalist real fast - again - the struggle is real.
- Not only does increase mobile usage mean that they’re trying to write for people with shortened attention spans,
- Journalists and reporters also need to know what the heck javascrip is
- And HTML
- AND CSS
- They need to create content w/ responsive design in mind.
- This is where, as content marketers, we can really take advantage of the situation.
- And because we design content w/ mobile marketing in mind, remember to use this to your advantage and let them know that your work not only looks great on desktop
- But it is optimized for tablets and smartphones, too
- The final PR strategy that we bake into our content marketing process is that we pre-pitch our content to key influencers who we want to work with once we’re ready to launch the campaign
- I can’t stress to you enough how important this aspect has been to the overall success of most of our campaigns. The key to pre-pitching, though, is not to spray and pray. The key is to pre-pitch to key influencers whose target audience are exactly the demographic you’d want to get in front of.
- Remember this piece that we built for Macy’s visualizing the Most Instagrammed Fashion brands? While the creative team was busy creating the piece, I was busy building my media list and selecting which outlets would be the most ideal to launch with.
- Julee Wilson, the Senior Fashion Editor, caught my eye because she consistently wrote on the intersection of Instagram and fashion often for HUffPost Style. Here’s one that she put out showcasing all the fabulous bloggers to follow during NYFW
- And only a few days apart, here’s another oen she wrote about the stylish instagram moms that she follows - so I figured she was an active user of Instagram
- That theory was confgirmed when I investigated a bit further and checked out her Instagram page. Bingo!
- So I sent a pre-pitch her way - and here’s what that looked like…. First, I told her that we were still working on this piece and I pitched it as a preview.
- Then I dove write into explaining WHY i thought she’d like this piece - so quickly discussing the angles that I thought were most relevant ot her coverage -
- And finally, I pointed her in the idrection of where she could view the draft. If you don’t have a test link, a screenshot would work just fine.
- She got back to me letting me know that she was interested and that is how it ended up going live on HuffPost STyle once we launched.
- Anotherstrategy to think about when selecting influencers that you want to pre-pitch, is to look for coverage opportunities that have the potential to create a “domino effect”
- I immediately thought of pre-pitching this piece to well iconic fashion and lifestlyle publications that have an online presence, like vogue, allure and
- While prospecting for the Macy’s piece, I thought it might be worth pre-pitching the piece to a journalist at Allure. Then, I came across this weekly column that their social media editor releases on the Daily Beatuy Reporter column and noticed an interesting trend…
- Fashionista was an oultet that she consistently pulled stories from….
- Here’s another one from earlier in 2015
- And TWO fashionista stories had been pulled in this instance, and this really wasn’t uncommon.
- So I thought...hmmm. Maybe there is a way to hack the system by forgetting about these iconic fashion publications and reaching out to these online-based fashion outlets.
- As I continued my research, I noticed Fashionista stories were consistently referenced across other fashion verticles. Frock Advisor puts out a weekly roundup of their favorite fashion stories
- And they also aren’t shy about referencing Fashionista content, here they are again referenced twice.
- Another plus was that I noticed that Fashionista content was syndicated by MSN news.
- So in my mind, it made perfect sense to pre-pitch Fashionista
- I worked with the senior editor there, who loved the piece, and she published it a few days after the HuffPost Style coveage
- And as predicted, it was syndicated on MSN
- Frock Advisor included it in their weekly roundup
- AND Allure followed suite, too
- Hopefully, after all that, I’ve now convinced you that a successful campaign consists of a PR strategy in which 90% of the PR-Based tasks are completed before the piece actually launches.
- Mobile compatibility and the concept of multimedia journalism are dominating the world of journalism. From will: just talk about this slide
- If you don’t do some work before it actually launches, you’re going to look like this poor kid.