Greentarget

Greentarget

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Amid this unprecedented crisis, reporters crave access and new stories to tell. Individuals — patients, healthcare workers, nonprofit leaders, small business owners or any number of people in need — have the stories those reporters are looking for. Yet many think connecting with reporters is some mystical process that only people “in the know” can master.

We’re providing some resources for nonprofits and others who want to get their COVID-19 story heard — but may not know where to start. Below you will find our video presentation around the media relations process to help you and/or your organization:

  • Find the right reporters to reach out to — and write pitches that get their attention
  • Create compelling op-eds, blog posts and other content
  • Design social campaigns that gather and build momentum
COVID-19 Webinar PresentationDownload

We have also put together a convenient one-sheet to pass around to your teams:

How to Share Your COVID-19 Story with the Media Download

Any questions? Feel free to email Joe Eichner, leader of Greentarget’s Community Investment initiative, at jeichner@greentarget.com.

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Podcast listenership, at least for now, is another victim of the coronavirus pandemic. But a time will come when daily commutes are once again prime time for podcasts – and smart organizations can use the current moment to strengthen their audio storytelling efforts.

In fact, some difficulties imposed on the working world by COVID-19 provide opportunities for organizations to shine (or, at least, regroup) when it comes to podcasting. Here’s a quick list of our recommendations.

Effectively Plan Content Around the Story of the Moment

For podcasts that have been around for a while, now is the time to look back through the archives and resurface episodes that might be particularly resonant amid the pandemic – perhaps about topics like telemedicine or the consolidation of rural hospitals. It’s a good idea to do a bit of recasting or updating to explain the rerelease, but that can be done without changing much of the original content.

Other pieces of audio content produced by your organization, notably webinars about COVID-19, might work for your podcast series. Under normal circumstances, audio quality could make that a nonstarter. But given the need to get compelling information to key audiences, an edited version of a webinar might work well, or well enough.

In fact, audio that’s a little rougher around the edges than normal might be appropriate right now, and to a point, listeners will understand.

Be Willing to Reconsider Format – at Least Temporarily

Given how quickly things are moving amid COVID-19, throwing out your podcast rulebook might make sense – at least to a point. For instance, series typically try to produce episodes of similar lengths, often around the time of the average American commute (25 minutes). But, as noted, fewer listeners are commuting, so consider shorter episodes to keep up with breaking news and points of view..

And while multitasking is common for podcast listening, it likely is even more so now, particularly for busy working parents. That means techniques that we always advise for hosts – flagging key points, summarizing when appropriate – are more helpful. Releasing full transcripts of episodes, which is always a good idea, could help listeners catch up on their favorite podcasts in front of their laptops instead of on the train.

The Benefits of (Effective) Remote Recording

If you’re a regular podcast listener, you know that recordings are often conducted with participants in multiple locations. But it probably happens more than you realize. Smart podcast producers combine high-end software, insightful guidance for participants and professional editors to create episodes that are near studio quality – even when the studio is a web browser.

In addition to the best practices listed above, in our experience we’ve found preparation is key – making sure hosts and guests know what they need (a quiet room, a strong internet connection, etc.) well before the “tape” starts rolling.

And who knows? Maybe guests who were pipedreams six weeks ago can be convinced to record a quick interview now that they’re stuck at home. Certainly, booking podcast guests has become generally easier, and with much of the world getting a crash course in communicating over Zoom or Teams, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would find the requirements of a remote podcast recording daunting.

Time to Regroup?

Finally, with listenership down, now might be the time for a series to regroup and plan for calmer days, especially for series with niche focuses that have nothing or little to do with COVID-19. That process starts by looking at downloads and other analytics to assess content focuses and distribution strategies. Other feedback, like reviews on iTunes, might be extremely valuable.

Podcasts have steadily grown in popularity for years, and they were especially impactful for busy decision-makers. That can still be the case amid COVID-19 – and it will definitely be the case when some semblance of normalcy returns.

Make good use of this current pause and your audience will come back even hungrier for your perspectives and guidance.

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To rise above the noise, just be quiet.

We’re all inundated with screaming headlines, relentless statistics and endless so-called thought leadership. Most of it, particularly the thought leadership, is shoved in our faces with little thought for what we need to know, what’s worrying us, or what questions we wish someone would answer.

Outside of global pandemics, we like to say that true thought leadership, the kind of content that builds authority, has four attributes: relevance, urgency, novelty and utility. But at this point we’ll assume that anything you’re publishing related to COVID-19 is relevant (the crisis effects everybody) and urgent (it’s a crisis). The insights that will rise above the noise during the crisis are the ones that are new and useful. 

Learning From Crises Past

To a degree it’s always been that way. I was a college reporter in the days and weeks after 9/11, and an editor around the 2008 financial crisis, and I still remember the urgency we all felt to go find novel stories our readers needed to hear.

Of course, we were always looking for those stories. And on an intellectual level we understood that our reporting and editorial judgment mattered. But in the wake of global calamity, with lives and livelihoods in the balance, that understanding became visceral. You could feel the weight of the crisis in the almost-desperate search for stories that nobody else had told, in the ferocity of the conversations about what our readers needed to know.  

And the only way to get at those new and useful stories was to go talk to people. And more importantly, to listen.

How to Listen Today

There are a bunch of different ways to listen, and now is a good time to employ them all. The first, most obvious and most literal is calling clients, prospects and others who’re in the audience you want to reach and just asking them what’s keeping them up at night, what questions they’re asking, what problems have them perplexed.

My guess is most practitioners are already doing that. We recently worked with an attorney to publish a smart perspective on the coming battles between businesses and their insurance companies – an article she could only write because she’d been listening to her clients.

But as valuable as that kind of listening can be, we have to tread carefully as well. We risk producing insights that are too narrow – the last person you talked to doesn’t necessarily have the same problems and questions as their peers the world over.

So it also makes sense to listen in the aggregate, using data tools to see what your audiences want to know. SEO data can help you home in on utility by telling you what questions the audience is asking. Media-research tools can show you what’s already been said, so you know where the novelty lies.

If you don’t have the tools, or don’t know how to use them, a simple Google search on the topic you want to write about can tell you how much has already been said, who’s said it and how well. If the first page of search results reveals a litany of others saying what you wanted to say, your choices are either to advance the conversation or move on and start a different one.

In the first few weeks of the COVID-19 crisis (which already feels like nine months ago), it may have made sense to just run and gun with your content, to get the insights flowing quickly, knowing your clients and prospects were desperate for information.

Now that just about everybody has done that, the flow of insights has turned into a raging, deafening river of noise. The worst thing any of us can in our communications is add to that noise.

But if we can just be still for a few moments and listen to the people we’re trying to reach, we can find out what information they need, what would help them get through this. If we can provide it, they’ll have no trouble hearing us above the noise.

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Just like you, we are actively monitoring the COVID-19 global pandemic. Our team has quickly acclimated to a new way of working while staying locked on addressing our clients’ most pressing needs. Here you will find a toolkit of resources that may prove useful as you grapple with the unprecedented challenges we’re all facing.

A New Research Method for a Changing World

Without the ability to bring a group of experts together and amid the chaos of the abrupt work-from-home transition, we needed a new approach to help corporate America reduce employee burnout, attract talent and build healthier organizations.

Adapting to Remote Work? Your Company’s Values May Be the Reason Why

COVID-19 and the subsequent stay-at-home orders brought confusion and frustration, but it also taught us that even as businesses evolve, corporate values should always ring true – both inside and outside the office.   

How an Improvisational Mindset Helps You Communicate in a Crisis

If these latest crises have shown us anything it’s that there’s no one way to plan for everything. Instead, the sudden lockdown and the pressure organizations felt to respond to recent events underscore why today’s communicators need an improvisational mindset

The Problem with Client Alerts – and How to Fix Them

Most GCs don’t find client alerts useful. Making them better may be easier than you think.

Actionable Research During Times Of Uncertainty

In our latest video installment, we explore a few different nimble and flexible approaches to research that help professional services organizations demonstrate true subject matter authority and drive door opening conversations for client development during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

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For Authorities With Unique Expertise, It’s Time to Engage

Authorities are back. And not just the kind who order you to stay home and wash your hands a lot. I’m talking about true subject matter authorities – those experts who have the knowledge and experience to help us make sense of what’s happening.

Podcasting Strategies During Shelter In Place

Podcast listenership, at least for now, is another victim of the coronavirus pandemic. But a time will come when daily commutes are once again prime time for podcasts — and smart organizations can use the current moment to strengthen their audio storytelling efforts.

Reality of Work From Home Offers Opportunities in Research

Maintaining a willingness to explore creative approaches to research in a time of unprecedented constraints can empower your organization to emerge from this period in a position of strength.

Journalists Become Essential in a Crisis – But COVID-19 May Cost Them Their Jobs

While journalism has never been more important, the media business has rarely been so unstable, as publishers begin to feel the impact of an economy on lockdown.

WEBINAR: Resources for Nonprofits (& Others) Who Want to Tell Their COVID-19 Story

Amid this unprecedented crisis, reporters crave access and new stories to tell. Yet many think connecting with reporters is some mystical process that only people “in the know” can master.

The Eight Hats of Crisis Leadership

Through formal and informal conversations, we’ve discovered that a leader must play not one but several different roles in a leadership position, if they want to inspire lieutenants to do their best work.

Remember: This Is a Health and Human Crisis Above All

As we navigate one of the most fluid and uncertain health and economic crises of our lifetime, firm leaders face a multitude of issues around their most precious commodity: their talent. While every situation is different, so too are the considerations for reducing professional and staff-related costs and the process for communicating those decisions.

Want Your Voice to Stand Out in a Crisis? Be Still and Listen

If we can just be still for a few moments and listen to the people we’re trying to reach, we can find out what information they need and what would help them get through this. If we can provide that, they’ll have no trouble hearing us above the noise.

Smarter Conversations: Writing With Authority

In the age of information overload, connecting with an audience requires knowing exactly what they want – and how to give it to them.

Download Our Guide to Writing With AuthorityDownload

What We’re Seeing: Insights on the COVID-19 Marketing Communications Landscape

How can PR/Marketing maintain demand for services NOW and drive demand for services LATER? Guided by these questions, what are the best paths forward to navigate the COVID-19 crisis?

Leading a Professional Services Organization Through Uncertainty

Professional services leaders are facing unique communications challenges and opportunities during this uncertain time.

Scenario Planning for Business Leaders Amid COVID-19

For business leaders and communications professionals working through the COVID-19 crisis, scenario planning has never been more important. But it’s also not all that difficult.

As our insights evolve along with the COVID-19 crisis, we’ve also gathered some relevant perspectives from our archives:

Why Data-Driven Content Strategy Matters to Professional Services

Given the pandemic information overload and uncertainty ahead, how do we find out what clients and key audiences are really looking for? Where do they need the most help right now?

Research Reports Are Valuable — If You Can Find Them

Research is more valuable and trusted than ever. “The sudden outbreak of COVID-19, a disease caused by a new coronavirus, is proving to the world every day the important role research plays in the response to global health emergencies.” — STAT

Beyond the Buzzword: How to Create Actual Thought Leadership

How do you get your authority position to stand out during times of rampant noise?

What the C-Suite Wants: Useful Content, Curated

What is the C-suite really looking to get out of their COVID-19 content? What do they need most from content right now?

How Credible Sources, Education and Innovation Can Curb Fake News

We believe that true authorities have a responsibility to participate skillfully in the ongoing conversation. With audiences heavily relying on outside information during these uncertain times, it’s imperative to communicate in an effort to combat disinformation.

We’re here to help and would welcome a chat to discuss what we’re learning as this extraordinary situation unfolds.

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A few weeks ago, our copy editor, Stephanie, walked into my office and handed me a piece of paper. “Want this?” she asked. Assuming I didn’t, I took it from her. But before I could drop it in the recycling bin I took a quick peek and…oh! An award! We won! (Kind of.)

Turns out the Content Marketing Institute named ThinkSet a finalist for Best Digital Publication in its 2019 awards. Not long after, ThinkSet also earned an honorable mention in the Ragan’s PR Daily Content Marketing Awards in the Electronic Publications or E-Newsletter Category.

ThinkSet is our client BRG’s magazine; we’re its editors. We plan, manage and edit all ThinkSet stories, and produce all the podcasts, in collaboration with BRG’s design, marketing and internal editing teams. Along with the marketing team, including Phil Rowley, the Chief Revenue Officer, we identify the story ideas that will showcase BRG’s smartest, most original, most advanced thinking. Our job is to use our editorial experience and know-how to help turn the firm’s best ideas into stories, or podcasts, that will connect with business leaders.

Happily, BRG is loaded with ideas. That enables us to produce stories like this one, describing the role business leaders and investors must play in combatting opioids. Or this one, which mines the PC and smartphone revolutions to reveal what the advent of autonomous vehicles could mean for the automotive business. Or this column about how big employers were driving innovation in healthcare long before Amazon got in the game.

Articles like that arm BRG’s team with powerful business development tools. Our media-relations team amplifies the impact, sharing the stories with reporters to demonstrate the authors know their stuff. That’s led to BRG consultants getting quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The American Lawyer, among many others.  

We didn’t win the CMI award – it went to this amazing graphic novel instead. No argument there, and we were in good company among the finalists. Qantas Airways and Volkswagen (that one’s in German) also made the list.

The recognition is gratifying because, alongside the BRG team, we’ve worked hard to make ThinkSet a compelling, valuable business magazine. Maintaining a weekly publishing schedule takes a lot of effort and producing a quality magazine takes a lot of talent, commitment and creativity. The BRG team brings it all, every week. We’d like to think we do too.

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College students angling for a job in PR can basically forget about their resumes – nobody cares about them anymore.

So says Ron Culp, professional director of DePaul University’s Graduate Public Relations and Advertising Program (PRAD). According to Culp, prospective employers are more likely to find his students through LinkedIn. “That’s why it’s crucial to update your profile and make sure you’ve got your 500-plus connections,” he says.

Culp dished this advice during a recent Q&A session about the evolving media landscape at Greentarget’s Chicago office. The veteran PR pro – Culp led media relations at Sara Lee Corporation and Sears, among other places – dropped by as part of our speaker series.

While piling up more than 500 LinkedIn connections might seem daunting, Culp says the significance they have for college students is indicative of the many ways the industry has changed in recent years.

Case in point, PRAD, which Culp joined early this decade, has moved from a traditional textbook-driven program to one that prioritizes real-world experience. About 80 percent of the PRAD faculty previously had full-time jobs in advertising or public relations and guest speakers appear regularly, so the students get first-hand insights into how the public relations world works outside of academia.

“For most of my classes, I take my students to corporations and agencies in person,” Culp says. “We’ll sit down and brainstorm with the agency – maybe they’ve got an idea they’d like to kick around that they’d like some good millennial perspective on.”

“For many of the students, it’s the first time they really see what their career progression might be. Invariably, someone will say, ‘That – I want that job.’”

As they shift away from textbooks, Culp instead asks students to find and share real-world examples that reflect particular lessons (which he provides in advance). He then has his students share those examples online and discuss them.

Culp also shared his observations about how students are consuming news. “They get everything from their mobile – and they’re very selective about what they read,” he says. He added that traditional media still resonates though and that knowing your audience has never been more important.

After content has been created and published, it becomes more important than ever to drive engagement – for news organizations and businesses alike. “If you have a client base that understands what you’re trying to do, you can maximize coverage by building an influencer program,” Culp says. “People used to think they didn’t have the resources, but now they’re realizing how easy it is to do.”

One thing that has remained constant: Culp says students are still primarily interested in working for an agency and less interested in working in-house. “Most students want to work at the big agencies in town,” he says. “But there are 465 agencies in Chicago, so I say, don’t necessarily feel like you have to work at one of the big 10.”

We ended the conversation by asking Culp what we at Greentarget could do, particularly in our internship program, to make sure we’re as welcoming to the next generation of PR practitioners as possible. Culp’s advice, which he directed to the industry as a whole: Prioritize inclusion and diversity.

“Forty percent of my students are diverse students – they are concerned that they’re being set up for failure because they’re not being managed well,” he says. “We need to create programs to make sure that everyone feels comfortable and can see themselves in an agency.”

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