6 Essential Public Relations Projects for Corporate Communications and Marketing

Rumor has it that the economic recovery has begun, so it’s time for another addition of “Invest in the Upswing”.  I know, I know –when a marketer tells you to start marketing more, hold onto your wallet.

On the other hand, who in corporate communications and marketing doesn’t want to raise the bar in PR and marketing? Perhaps more urgently, who doesn’t want to have an answer when an executive reads an in-flight magazine article about ‘the next big thing’…and wonders what you’re doing about it?

So here’s my list of 6 essential PR projects for corporate communications and marketing. If you have time, put them on your list; if you don’t, this is what I do, and I’m happy to help.

1. Make web analytics part of your PR and marketing ROI reporting. I recently spoke to an industry association and asked the group, “who here watches web traffic stats?” Not a single hand went up.  This may be the single biggest missed opportunity for PR and marketing professionals. Track communications activity to web traffic and you’ve started a link in the chain toward sales leads, sales and truly meaningful ROI measures.   (Or, you’ll find out that your programs aren’t working – and change your strategy).
2. Start a Competitive Intelligence Report. What are people saying about you and the competition in the media? On blogs and comments? On Twitter? On industry forums?  Set up a daily monitoring and a daily or weekly digest – less if there’s not much out there.  Share it online with the people who need to know.  For free, I’d start with Google Reader and news alerts, or set up a custom, shareable homepage with feeds from multiple sources.  Or you can pay folks like Radian6 for all the bells and whistles.
3. Establish a Social Media Policy. Two reasons.  First, you need to protect company interests.  Second, you’re missing an opportunity to unleash your employees into their own networks to get the word out about what you do.  More thoughts on this here.
4. Meet the Media. Get on the phone or on a plane and get to know better the folks who buy ink (and pixels) by the barrel. Traditional media relations is far from dead – even if you don’t care if your company sees print, media coverage gets you an online audience, contributes to SEO, and gives you a link to share with personal and sales contacts, on the corporate website and blog, and across social networks – all of which deepens awareness and relationships.
5. Add Sharing to Your Website. You put the time into writing, formatting and designing web content.  Don’t you want people to share it? Don’t you want RSS users to get your updates in their reader? Or offer email and text alerts? Don’t you want to make it easy for bloggers to bookmark, vote up or share your news releases, video, customer story, new promotion or photo essay?  Here’s a list to get you started…add: RSS, Digg, ShareThis.
6. Be the Media. Once you’ve added sharing, you need something to share. “Be the media” means building awareness, interest, loyalty and word-of-mouth (or pixel) by creating content online that people want to read, view and share. It means “pulling” people to you via strategies that connect what you put online with the people you want to reach.  And it means thinking every day about what you want your “audience to do” and how you can help get them there.  More thoughts on this here.

As always, we never do these things just to do them  — we do them because they move our organizations toward their goals.

Have more? What’s on your list? As always, I’m here to help. 

Hey Freelance PR Consultant: How’s it Going?

I ran into a some of my old clients at the coffee shop today.  Like many others who haven’t seen me in some time, they asked me “How’s it going?” A loaded question — when you’re running your own business, you want to answer that question with what can be an elusive combination of confidence, competence and openness to new opportunities.

It also struck me that there’s no reason why the blog can’t answer the “how’s it going” question for me once in awhile.  And so, with your indulgence, a bit about me today.  Here’s how it’s going:

I started Kadet Communications in September 2007.  Since then, I’ve engaged with a diverse set of clients:  a systems integrator, a private school, a large technology company, a local restaurant run by a ‘star chef’, an industry association, and an Internet startup.

When I started out, most of my business came from contracting back with my old employer.  That business has been completely replaced.  Looking ahead, I’d love to add one or two good client relationships to the mix.

Projects have included:

• Designing and executing a research-based brand re-positioning program to help a company better describe itself in marketing and sales.  Based on the new positioning, rewrote advertising and marketing copy, and developed a new navigation strategy for their website re-design.
• Coaching an organization in how to overcome negative internal  perceptions, creating strategies, messages and vehicles for presenting positive stories about the organization’s future; and placed a positive story in the local daily newspaper.
• Writing new brand guidelines to express an established company’s new, more focused marketing strategies.
• During a time when public opinion has begun to align against them, counseling an industry association on communications strategy and set up meetings with media opinion leaders.
• Playing a key role in a start-up venture’s efforts to define a new brand, describe a complex business model and develop a successful communications and marketing strategy.

My work has, amazingly, been just the type of work I wanted when I went on my own:  Helping clients with complex stories to tell those stories better. Delivering them solid, workable, creative and effective communications, branding and social media strategies.  And doing more storytelling — both for clients and here on this blog.

I’ve benefited from the kind referrals of friends, family and colleagues.  I’m having fun, meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends and colleagues.  What more can you ask for out of work?

Comments, referrals, questions and advice are most welcome!