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Communicating effectively with your audience
- 2. Communicating effectively with your audience The Young Foundation workshop 19th January, 2pm to 5pm
- 3. Introducing PR Claremont & marketing Communications • Founded in November 2008 • Member of PRCA and Consultancy Management Standard (CMS) accredited • Experts in public and voluntary sector campaigns • Winners of the PR Week Specialist Agency of the year 2014
- 4. Simon Francis Extensive experience of leading award-winning multi-disciplinary campaigns like Apprenticeship Week and Tomorrow’s Engineers Week. Delivered social media training to a host of NGOs, government departments and charities and was media director at the WorldSkills London 2011 event. Currently vice-chair of PRCA’s Not-for- profit Group and a trustee of the Association of Colleges. @si_francis
- 5. Emma PrinceA PR Consultant with over five years media relations experience Worked in-house in charity press offices including the Alzheimer’s Society and National Deaf Children’s Society Worked in-house in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs press office @Emma__Prince
- 6. This afternoon’s agenda 14:10 – 14:25 Section one – What is effective communication? 14:25 – 14:40 section two – identifying your audience 14:50 – 15:40 section three - assembling your story 15:40 – 15:50 break 15:50 – 16:30 Section four – targeting the media 16:30 – 16:45 section five – joining the online conversation 16:45 – 17:00 Summary
- 11. Exercise
- 12. Online tools • Google alerts • Twitter • LinkedIn • Topsy • Meetup • Facebook
- 13. Assembling your story Section three
- 14. Exercise
- 15. • The news hook • What is your story? • Media materials
- 16. What is your story • The launch of a new community project in x area • New shocking statistics which back up the need for your project • A milestone - x project has helped x number of mums with post natal depression • A request for funding – x organisation is calling on xx to help raise vital funds for xx project
- 17. The news hook • A related awareness week or national day • Political debate or policy initiative • A major event or conference • Anything where you can establish relevance!
- 18. Exercise
- 19. Media materials Press releases: • What do I say? • How do I say it?
- 20. Media materials The Press Release - summary • Short form key info • Who, why, what, where and when? • Quote • Contact details and additional info
- 21. Media materials Additional collateral • Case studies • Spokespeople • Worked examples • Statistics • Videos, infographics, images • Resources
- 23. Prepare your materials What to remember Find your hook Know your story
- 24. 10 minute Break
- 25. Targeting the media Section four
- 27. Who to target?
- 28. Google alerts Social media Finding journalists
- 29. Exercise
- 31. • Initial email • Exclusivity • Your follow-up • Recycling your coverage
- 32. An option, yes. A must, no. Exclusivity
- 33. Your initial email The subject line:
- 34. Your initial email The story in a few lines: “This is [your name] of [organisation]. Hope you’re good. We’re about to launch a new project in [area] which aims to [who you’re helping and how] Happy to give first refusal. Drop me a note or call me on [your mobile] and I’ll forward the info. BTW: liked your [refer to a recent story]”
- 35. Your follow-up Don’t forget to follow up!
- 36. Recycling your coverage • Tell anyone that will be impressed! • The importance of social media
- 37. WHAT TO REMEMBER Story in the subject lin Follow-up = 24-hours Tell the world
- 38. Exercise
- 39. Joining the conversation Section five
- 40. Joining the conversation • Twitter • LinkedIn • Online news Articles • Blogs • Meetup • Vine • Tumblr
- 41. Words Data Images Video & audio (A little) money Using social media to enhance stories
- 42. IN SUMMARY • Your message needs to be to the point • Spend time researching your audience • Create strong media tools • Identify your target media • Prepare a strong pitch • Get involved in the conversation
- 43. "If I was down to my last dollar, I'd spend it on public relations.“ Bill Gates
- 44. ANY QUESTIONSSign up to Claremail on the Claremont website @Claremontcomms @Si_Francis @Emma__Prince
Editor's Notes
- SIMON
- SIMON
- EMMA
- SIMON
- 15 MINUTES IN TOTAL SIMON Talk a bit about what effective communications is – identifying your objectives, getting your message across to the right people to reach your objectives. Explain that in 10-15 mins or so we will be asking them to think about their objectives, and who their audience is. Ask them to: Introduce themselves : A bit about what they’re trying to do : What do they want to get out of today
- EMMA You may have seen that the NSPCC has recently launched a new campaign ‘Be Share Aware’. This is a great example of a message being communicated effectively. Here is one of the tools the NSPCC has used to communicate their message. Show the NSPCC video as an example of effective communication. Ask them to think about why the film is an example of effective communication, bearing in mind the main audience is parents of children aged 8-12. Short Sharable Creates conversation Tells a story Funny but delivers a serious message The objective and action they want people to take is clear – ensure your children are being careful what they’re sharing Their primary audience is parents of children 8-12 so that they can ensure they pass the message on to their children, yet the film they have created is relevant to children of that age. The campaign name is catchy and gets to the point in three words. Immediately you know what NSPCC are trying to say. The video provides a tool for parents to start a conversation with their child
- EMMA Later on we will talk a bit more about how to put your story together and other tools you need to make your story stand out. The video is just one tool the NSPCC have used to communicate their ‘Be share aware’ campaign but as you can see they have generated a lot of media coverage and this isn’t just a result of the video. Other tools included statistics gained through partnering with Mumsnet and asking 500 parents to review 48 websites and apps regularly used by young people – you don’t just have to get stats through survey companies, you can gather data in other ways too.
- EMMA 15 MINUTES Decide on a clear objective for wanting to communicate that message Is it to raise awareness of what you’re doing to the people you want to help, is It to encourage people to invest in your project, or is it something else. Once you know what you want to achieve through communicating your message you can identify your audience. QAIt may be that throughout your project you may want to reach different audiences, for example the City Safe Campaign aims to help young people at risk of violence – but these people wouldn’t be your audience for funding for your project. So once you have decided on your objective you need to identify who exactly are the people that can help you achieve that…
- Exercise (5 minutes) – So based on what we’ve just talk about I’d like you all to have a think about: What your objective is And Who you are trying to reach to achieve that objective We’ll then go through your answers.
- Unfortunately we don’t have enough time today to go through how you find out what your audience is talking about but here are a few tools you can use to achieve this. Using key words related to your projects you can use the tools to search for the people / news articles / blogs / Tweets / Journalists / organisations Searching online using key words is one of the main ways you can find the people who will be interested in what you’re doing. Key words can include but are not limited to: Topics People Organisations You can set up google alerts so that you receive notifications when news stories featuring those words appear (as well as flagging up publications that might be interested in your story this could also help you identify journalists that might be interested.) You can search on Twitter for people talking about your subject or for # which will also help you find the people talking about your subject of interest LinkedIn gives you the option to follow organisations that might be interested in your work or alternatively to join groups with similar interests Topsy is a tool that you can enter your search term into and it will pull up articles, blogs, twitter posts and so on that are talking about those issues Meetup is an online tool that again you can enter your search term into and it will provide you with groups of people with an interest in that topic within whatever mile radius you choose. So for example you could search ‘mums within five miles of London’ and it will provide a list of groups in your area, you can then see If any of them are of interest and find out when they’re next meeting. Alternatively you can set up your own group and invite people you find in the other groups to it. Facebook also has a search option so that you can find groups of people/events
- 50 MINUTES IN TOTAL SIMON So you’ve set your objectives and identified your audience. The next step is thinking about how you tell your story to meet that objective
- 5-10 MINUTES In threes pick a 2 or 3 stories from one of the publications on the table and think about how you would summarise what the story is in 10 seconds. THEN – make a list of the elements that make the story interesting. Later in the session we will talk about the different collateral you need to get your message across
- When it comes to assembling your own story the three things you need to do are: Identify what your story is Identify the news hook (so why is this of interest now, what’s new etc.) Package together the other elements you need to make your story interesting
- So what’s the story? What have you done that’s of interest to the people you need to reach?
- Be prepared! Know the calendar around your single issue: Youth employment, parenting, criminal justice, social justice, disadvantaged young people Politics and policy: is there a policy debate about your issue? Perhaps around the mental health of pregnant women, or disadvantaged young people – NOTE ELECTION PERIOD Any opportunity to establish relevance is a news hook. You can use this hook to shoehorn some information about what you do. Often a news story will be a result of you identifying a news hook AND something your organisation has done.
- 5 MINUTES - Spot the mistake! Read the press release hand out and identify as many reasons as you can as to why this is a bad example of a press release 5 mins Discuss in pairs THEN hand out the good one to demonstrate what a good release would look like – the next slides go on to talk about creating a strong press release
- The press release consists of all the building blocks needed to write up your story. A journalist should see the story jump off the page. Aim to get the whole thing on a single page. In terms of what you say, keep it pared down and simple. You’re probably not going to be the front page splash so no need to write at great length. Remember: Who What When Why Where & How The who: That’s your organisation The what: What you’re doing that’s news. The when: When you did it or are going to do it. The why: What difference will it make? The where: Is it area specific? The how: Tell me how it works? Tip: Make “The why” your key message and say it as a quote from you. That way the journalist will have to include it in the story unless they have time to phone you for a fresh quote. If your story involves other people, i.e. young offenders, make sure you also get a quote from a young offender on the need for your project, and always get this approved by them. And always include your contact details including your mobile phone.
- Journalists want to read something short and accessible. It’s all they will read. This is your press release. Many journalists will only read the first line, so make sure you summarise the essence of your story in the first line. Look at your media materials in thirds: One third: the press release you produce for each new story. Two-thirds: supporting content
- Your additional material doesn’t need to be sent with your press release or initial approach but it is a good idea to let the journalist know what is available to them. For them to write about this – you need to make it as easy as possible for them to visualise how this would look in the publication. They would need to source quotes, images and potentially do other research to support and substantiate what you are saying – the more of this you can have to hand, the easier their job will be and the more likely they will be to use it.
- As you will be crowdfunding to fund your project case studies are crucial to your story. They bring your message to life by demonstrating the need for your project and what the money will do. If your story is about a project that will benefit people in some way most journalists will need to speak to someone related. So try and pull together a list of people whose story you could tell and who are happy to share there story.
- EMMA 40 MINUTES So now you have assembled your story, agreed your objectives and target audience the next step is to actually target the media.
- You’ll already be aware that there are many different types of media. You've got print, online and broadcast and each of these are broken down into national, regional, trade and consumer. But on top of that we now have social media and bloggers. You’ll also be aware that all media has a reach – Daily circulation of The Sun: 2.2 million copies. Mail Online is thought to be the world’s most visited newspaper website having previously notched up over 50 million unique visitors a month. BUT - Print and even online news sites are just part of a media strategy. Social media is redefining the landscape. It’s bypassing journalists as new influencers take on the role of messenger. Plus – in an age of celebrity and influencers, some social media targets can reach as wide (or wider) audience than traditional media So you are not 100% dependent on some very busy national newspaper journalist deciding whether you’re newsworthy or not on a given day.
- It can seem a daunting task to start reaching out to media and creating your first “strategy” but in reality you can start small and keep it simple. You don’t need to be speaking to every journalist, social media influencer or stakeholder about everything you do – you need to narrow it down to the media that will reach your audience. For example if your audience is new parents, you’re very unlikely to find them reading Yours or Saga magazine. If your audience is the general community in the Hackney area, you need to be looking at what local papers cover that area.
- So how might you go about finding out who’s writing about the issues related to your project. In the same way you can use tools to find out what your audience are talking about and where they are having those conversations, you can also find journalists who might have previously written about the issues you’re interested in. Now you can set up media alerts for the key words for your story. Once you have identified a particular journalist you could set up a google alert for them so you can follow what they’re writing about. Follow all your target journalists on twitter. It’s important to consume what is being written if you want to add to it yourself so do read articles related to your area of work. As well as your traditional and online media there may also be smaller publications, for example an organisation’s newsletter, which could be key to reaching your specific audience. So don’t dis-count these either. These will often reach more of your audience than a big newspaper.
- (5 minutes) - Exercise – Thinking about your audience identify five media outlets you would target with your story, they can be national, local, online or through a particular organisation.
- So you’ve identified your target media. How do you go about telling them your story?
- In this section we’ll cover exclusivity, that first contact with a journalist, your follow up and how to use your coverage
- Depending on who your target media are you could offer exclusivity on your story. You don’t have to do this but if there is one particular publication you would be really keen to get in it might be worth offering your story exclusively. It’s worth noting that you don’t have to offer the whole story as an exclusive, you could offer a particular statistic exclusively, or a case study. Giving you an example from Claremont, we often give PR Week our stories 2 hours before the other media like the Drum and Gorkana (which is a media relations database). This is because PR Week want to be the first ones to send out the information in their updates. Once that two hours has passed we always sent it on to other media but we have given PR Week a headstart, it does mean that sometimes the other media might not cover the story but PR Week is our primary target.
- So you have identified your target media and decided whether you’re going to offer an exclusive or not, now how do you go about contacting a journalist. If you don’t already have the contact details of your journalist, ring the publication and ask for the email address of the journalist you want to contact. Explain you have a story you’d like to run by them. Journalists are incredibly busy and always working to deadline. Speak to any journalist and they’ll say they get upwards of 100 emails every day. Therefore they appreciates any measures taken by the sender to highlight the story without him having to wade through an entire press release. The subject line needs to sum up the key aspect of your story. And if it is for a regional journalist it’s important it includes the location so they know it is relevant to them. You can also use twitter to let your know target journo you have something for them.
- Friendly tone. Keep it short! It will be appreciated. Enter in your calendar a reminder to contact the journalist in 24-hour’s time.
- It’s always worth following up the next day, I’d suggest doing this by phone so you can find out if they are aware of the story and if they need anything further. All you’re trying to do is elicit a response. If you email - and don’t hear anything back within a couple of hours - move on to your next journalist.
- A decent piece of media coverage could open the door to that meeting you’ve been trying to secure with a would-be funder. Send out the link in personal emails to those you need to impress. It’s an excellent excuse to make contact. And obvious stuff: spread the link via Twitter, Linked-In and Facebook.
- (10 minutes) - Exercise – Pick one of the media targets you identified earlier and draft a pitch email
- SIMON So you have identified and found your audience, your influencers and your journalists. Now how do you join the conversation and get them to notice you.
- As a campaigner it is important you are on some of the most popular social media channels, such as Twitter and Facebook. It’s time consuming at first but once you have created profiles for each it is just a case of monitoring and posting. So how could you use the different channels to reach your audience? Twitter – Retweet, Tweet, Reply to tweets, tweet journalists about relevant coverage LinkedIn – Join groups, create groups Online articles – Comment, share on Facebook/Twitter Set up a blog – share your blogs on Twitter/Facebook Other people’s blogs – comment on them, share them Meetup – Create a group, arrange meet ups, attend meet ups Vine – If you have a smart phone create Vines (6 second videos) and share them on your social media channels Tumblr – ASK SIMON
- Words: Write for web, SEO, Twitter Cue, Social media cheat sheet Data: Infographics, Infogram, Fusion Images: Meta tagging, picture desks, flickr / social media [link to Paul] Video & Audio: Record the news, clip from radio day (or do on your phone – AudioBoo), Vine, Keek Money: Promoted posts / LinkedIn Ads
- EMMA Keep your message simple and to the point. If you overcomplicate it you will struggle to engage people’s interest Don’t underestimate the value of knowing your audience, the media they read, the online channels they’re on and the conversations they are having Put together a strong press release, ensuring you get to the point in the first few sentences. Provide a package for the journalist, case studies, expert spokespeople (this can be you), statistics if you have them, images, video Know your media – not just who they are – but get acquainted with them and make sure they know who you are! Journalists are busy people. Makesure your email is the one they open with a killer subject line relevant to them and a pitch that gets to the point, you can provide further information once you know they’re interested. Get noticed online, comment on articles of interest, follow, retweet and reply to potential influencers, join relevant groups
- Before I go – here’s a quote from a fellow entrepreneur who knew his stuff. Thanks and any questions?