Zeus Goes Back to School
The Zeus PR team have had a busy few months out and about with our education clients, supporting their events and capturing those all-important press shots. We love being in the right place at the right time to gather the information and material we need to propel our client’s message into the limelight. Melissa, our account executive, recently attended the Abbey College Manchester awards ceremony at the prestigious Raddisson Blu Edwardian in central Manchester to assist with photography for the event, speak with attendees and collate information for the media. It’s not only big events that we assist or clients with, we regularly visit the schools to capture a range of different activities. Our account manager has been enjoying her time at Beech Hall School photographing their events such as Wellbeing Day, Musical Soiree and also Grandparents’ Day.
Always on hand to snap up photo opportunities, the Zeus team know what it takes to capture a great press shot. We’ve shared our top-tips below:
- Ensure the photo is relevant to the story and include any appropriate props. For
example, if a group of pupils have won an award capture an image of them holding a
trophy/certificate, rather than staff members.
- For group shots in particular, composition is key. Spacing and direction are equally
as important, get the group to be equally spaced and close together. ‘Get that close
you’re uncomfortable’ is a phrase we are often heard shouting.
- A cluttered background is a cluttered photo. Are there people walking around or
standing in the background? Are there any unsightly signs or displays? Does it look
messy? The people in the shot should be the focus of the image and not
overpowered by whatever is going on behind them.
- A lovely bright shot is more appealing to the press than one taken in a dark room.
Try to capture imagery outdoors or in rooms with lots of natural light.
- We’re not suggesting that you hold up huge signs advertising your business, product
or service, but some subtle advertising can work well. Small touches such as
wearing a branded uniform can discreetly raise awareness of the brand.
- It’s important that your photo is of a high quality. It might seem obvious but ensure
that the camera is held straight and still, and then remember to share the image in its
original file size.
If you would like to generate awareness of your school or college with specifically targeted education PR and marketing, get in touch! We would love to hear from you.
Growing your Web Traffic with Digital PR
Many of our clients, especially the smaller, ambitious brands we work with, are increasingly turning to digital PR as a means of improving their Google ranking.
Quite simply put - Google loves organic high-quality backlinks from authentic and highly credible websites and online publications. This is great news for companies that don't have an endless budget for Google Adwords.
With the rapid growth of digital publications, and online influencers (bloggers), there are a multitude of high netting channels to target in your quest for ranking more highly than your competitors, and a whole host of ways you can achieve a presence on their sites.
Here are some examples of how we help clients secure valuable placement, and hence backlinks from the digital media sites and influencers:-
- Produce concise and well written news releases for issue to the relevant digital media - carefully crafted and written for the target demographic in mind. Business, lifestyle or special interest.... These are then sent with strong imagery to the editors or influencers
- Promotions - offering 'the chance to win' for a subscriber, or special offers with a backlink to your site for further information (or even better create a special landing page on your website for the specific promotion). Or set up a special voucher code
- Offer key bloggers an opportunity to review for free your product or service, in return for a write up and a link to your website
- Run a press event or blogger event - allowing for some 'theatre' that promotes an aspect of your business for attendees to film - we recently held an event for Turtle Wax, allowing attendees to get their cars very mucky on a Landrover off-road experience, which made for great filming opportunities!
- If you have an expertise in an area, whether an accountant's firm, car repair business, upholstering or veterinary practice, offer a complimentary advice feature in the form of a feature in return for a brand reference and link back to your website
- Enlist the support of a high profile celebrity, who has a huge social media following, to support your brand presence at an event, product launch or a corporate event.
We are always excited to speak to brands about how we can support their Google optimisation - please feel free to get in touch if you would like to arrange a meeting!
PR Terms you Need to Know
Are you embarking on a new career in public relations?
It is a busy, exciting and constantly evolving environment, so it’s important to keep up to date with new phrases and key terms that you will hear around the office.
Understanding these terms is the first step to building your confidence as you attend interviews, or start your new role.
Key PR terms:
Advertorial – Copy that has been paid for its insertion, usually with images.
Boilerplate – A short description of the company at the end of a press release, it is there to describe the ‘who’ and ‘what’ within release
Byline – A byline credits the author of the feature as their name gets published, usually with the date under the title of the article that they or their PR agency has written on their behalf
B2B – This means business to business, where clients use PR to communicate with tools that focus on reaching business audiences via trade magazines, business news pages, business related exhibitions, business digital networks such as LinkedIn, corporate networking groups, etc
B2C – This means business to consumer, where clients raise awareness of their product or services via consumer channels such as national newspapers, lifestyle magazines (or special interest media if you are targeting a very specific demographic), broadcast channels, consumer exhibitions, or the popular social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc
Copy – The words that make up a feature or a news story
Editorial – Copy that generally is placed by the print or digital title free of charge as it offers something of value to its readership, so its deemed good news and feature content (the backbone of most PR agencies)
Exclusive – An item of news that is given to one publication before any other. It cannot be shared with other publications until it has been published by the first media outlet. ‘Exclusives’ can often be associated with celebrity news
Embargo – An embargo is a request that the information provided cannot be published until a specific date and time, due to the sensitive nature of the story. Of course some publications have been known to break an embargo in the past - so if a piece of news is highly sensitive, its always best to consider if this is the best route, or are you best releasing the news when its safe to do so
Forward Features – Forward feature lists are a schedule of topics that a publication will cover throughout the year. Knowing this information gives you a head start; you can inform a magazine editor about a story or client which is relevant to their upcoming articles
Long Leads / Short Leads – Publications are often categorised as to whether they are 'long lead' or 'short lead'. This refers to how far in advance they work - so Long Lead publications such as monthly magazines can typically work 4-6 months in advance, where as with the the weekly magazines 5-8 weeks is more the norm.
Owned Media – Content created by your client or their PR agency, this includes company blogs, company website and social media posts
Photocall – A photo opportunity styled to attract press interest at a specific venue, time and date. Issued in advance to news and photodesks with further information on what is being publicised
Page proof – This is the edited version of how the piece will appear. If you are running a magazine promotion for instance your would normally expect to see a page proof once it has been laid out by the editorial team. This allows you to make any changes prior to the publication going to to print or being published online
Press Cuttings – Media coverage that has been placed by PR professionals – this can be across a wide variety of publications, from local to national publications
Press Pack – A pack which includes press releases, photos, videos and fact sheets about a client, service or product, these are often sent out by PR professionals to journalists at events and exhibitions or before a product launches
Press Release – This is a news story distributed to a range of media, which can include anything from the announcement of a new product on the market to a record-breaking company turnover
Trade Media or 'Verticals' – This relates to the sector press in any given industry so the food industry for example have their own set of business related print and digital press - such as The Grocer, Grocery Trader, etc
This is just the beginning of the many key terms used by PR professionals every day, and it will help you understand the inner workings of the industry.
Top-Tips for Securing Strong Education Coverage
Carefully targeted education PR and marketing can greatly help to raise awareness, driving pupil recruitment in an ever-competitive market place. With many state schools producing results equally as good as independent schools, the choice of education provider between private and state is no longer as black and white. Similarly, the competition is heating up between state schools, offering parents increased choice. It now all comes down to who shouts the loudest.
Promoting a school or colleges key achievements whilst relaying the core values, is an integral part of the media relations work that we do. It is these USPs that we build into campaigns to generate engagement across a number of platforms including local press, glossy lifestyle magazines, blogs, social media and broadcast. Whether you want to strengthen your reputation, demonstrate your expertise or expand into a new market, it can come at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing and advertising.
We have put together some top-tips for securing strong editorial coverage in the education sector.
Think about your Story
The press receives an influx of varying new pieces on a daily basis, with any one journalist receiving up to 1,00 emails a day so, it’s always important to make your story stand out. Focusing on unique initiatives and achievements works well, but these do not always come about so, when they don’t write about key events throughout the year. Whilst your small bake-sale may not be a top-priority for the weekly newspaper, tagging the story onto topical events such as Mother’s Day or Christmas can be successful.
Focus on key education topics too, other schools and colleges will be shouting about their GCSE or A-Level results and World Book Day costumes so ensure that you’re included in the media round-ups.
Personalised Press Targeting
When issuing a press release personalisation is key – address the journalist directly, build a working relationship with them.
Think about the publication which you are sending the press release to. It’s key to consider editorial lead times - if you’re issuing a Father’s Day fundraising story to a glossy, local lifestyle magazine that you know has quarterly issues, perhaps suggest to the editor that the story may be more suited to feature online.
Branching Out
Supporting schools around the country we know just how easy it is to travel and so, parents and pupils will do this for a quality education too.
We always recommend to our education clients to extend out of their target catchment area with localised press releases. If you are hosting an art competition or talent show don’t just shout about it in the school’s local press and national education titles, extend your reach to a new area and tell the winning pupils local press too.
Safeguarding
The welfare and safety of children in schools is paramount and understandably, parents may not want their children’s name, age or address featured in the press. An easy way to overcome any safeguarding issues is to use images with more than six pupils in the shot, this way the journalists will not need to name each individual child.
Additional Coverage
We like to get our clients talking! When it comes to current events such as result’s day and exam season, contact local TV and radio stations offering expert opinion on revision tips and next steps. These ideas can also be put forward for thought leadership pieces in national education publications.
If you need any help raising awareness of your school and college with specifically targeted education PR and marketing, get in touch!
Maximising your Social Media Strategy
Social media is probably the most important tool in the modern era to grow your business and expand your reach. According to Pew Research Centre, with a global population of over 7 billion people, there are 3.03 billion active social media users. With the click of a button, you can instantly interact with thousands or even millions of people worldwide on behalf of your business.
Let’s consider 5 key ways in which social media can maximise your business.
Influencer marketing to help public relations
One particular way to enhance your company’s PR is to integrate influencer marketing. This is definitely one of the most influential tools a business can use when their main aim is to sell their product or service to the consumer.
Influencers can be anyone from a celebrity with a high amount of social media followers, a person who has a lot of sway in your particular industry or anyone relevant with a substantial number of followers that can capture the consumer’s imagination.
Small to averagely sized influencers, in terms of following and status will commonly accept the product or service free of charge, in exchange for an honest and hopefully positive review. Smaller sized influencers can potentially be more resourceful to use than a massive celebrity personality, as they can be quite enthusiastic and driven to also make a name for themselves in partnership with a brand.
However, particularly with emerging and established celebrities they will look to charge companies to post on their personal social media feeds. This can be quite a difficult option for a brand starting out with limited funding; however, for already largely recognised brands it can often benefit their company’s perceived status dependant on the reputation of the particular celebrity and their relevance to the target audience.
If your company can make a coup of an influencer, it can really kick-start a following on social media and be used to add fuel to the tank of your business’ journey.
There has however been some controversy about paid endorsements of social media tweets. An example most recently was when a hit soap banned their star actors from posting any type of endorsement from businesses.
Therefore, some key public figures may be off limits due to more commitments or sanctions, so it is important for a business to find the right name to align with. A common theme amongst celebrities is that they will be asked by a commission regulations board to Hashtag #spon for sponsor or #promo for promotion. In the age of the savvy consumer, this does not necessarily have the desired effects, as tweets look staged and manufactured just for a paid promotion, limiting the authenticity of the post.
Consumer protection company Trust In Advertising INC recently sent celebrity Kylie Jenner a legal letter, threatening to report the icon to the US Federal Trade Commission about “deceptive marketing techniques’’, after the star had discretely placed products on show in her pictures. Truth In Advertising told Jenner that any marketing posts must be marked with #spon or #promo.
Be sure to have social media incorporated into your press releases
This is probably one of the most simple but effective methods for increasing your brand’s reach to the consumer. Are you a business that publishes a standard press release and waits for the media to make contact? When delivering news or making a statement via a press release on the company’s website, it is a necessity to have your social media linked in so that the press release can be shared and distributed by media outlets and users. Even better, using social media itself to publish press releases is a great way to make sure your posts can be shared immediately by the masses.
Responding to negative press
Social media is a breeding ground for the consumer to voice their opinions, both good and bad. When a consumer or stakeholder has a complaint about your business on social media, it is within your best interest to respond to the issue and try to resolve any problems before they escalate. Sometimes a user may not directly mention your business profile to voice their concern, so it would be beneficial to have a member of the team using the search tool on each particular social media platform to vet and respond to all negative press.
In order to keep the negative publicised messages about your business to a minimum, it would be highly recommended to ask the user with the problem to send you a direct message, in order to resolve the matter discreetly, and most importantly, ‘offline’. This would hopefully stop more than one negative message being posted in the public eye at once.
Use social media campaigns to increase brand awareness
A social media campaign can gain you massive recognition if you target a vast enough market. If we look at an example from charity ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) Research who started the #IceBucketChallenge campaign. In order to increase awareness of the disease and raise money, people would throw a bucket of ice-cold water over themselves and then donate to the cause. With celebrities like Justin Bieber participating, the campaign was a massive success and raised over $100m dollars, as well as receiving 1.3 million mentions on social media in just 24 hours after Bieber completed the challenge. With the right campaign and target audience, the outcome can be phenomenal.
Interact with journalists on social media
Journalists have great power and a massive say in how a business is perceived in the public eye. By interacting and keeping journalists on your side will, in turn, allow your business to thrive. Journalists have the authority to publish both good and bad stories on your brand, so it is essential to open up honest dialogue with the media. If any social media posts created by your brand are relevant to a news outlet or journalist, you should tag their profile handle, so they can retweet or share the post with their followers. A key tip when building an online relationship with the press would be to keep the conversation genuine, informal and not robotic-like. It is essential to go above and beyond your professional side when trying to form strong humane bonds with the media. By making positive relations with the press can only benefit how your business is viewed upon.
Good luck and get social!
Social Media Evolvement: What Will 2018 Bring?
As the end of the year approaches, it’s time to start looking forward to 2018 and how social media will continue to evolve.
Social media is a fast-moving platform, that is ever changing and developing. Just this year, Twitter doubled its 140-character limit to 280, whilst Facebook created the ability to upload stories to your profile.
With some of the most popular social media channels making significant changes to their platforms, what else can we expect from 2018?
Video
Even though it has been around for a while, video content on Facebook and Twitter continues to rise in popularity. One element that is expected in 2018 is the use of subtitles, which will encourage users to watch anytime, anywhere, even in a public place. It is important to develop video content which can be viewed this way to engage a wider audience.
Short-Lived Content
In today’s society, time is short and speed is key when trying to get messages across using social media. This year, we have seen Facebook and Instagram following in Snapchats footsteps and introduced video stories which allow short video clips to be viewed for a limited period of time.
Instagram stories are popular amongst young people and will continue to increase in popularity in 2018 as other audiences start using the social media site. This means if you want to start connecting with Instagram users, your brand must invest time in creating stories.
Influencer Marketing
Using social media influencers is big business and it has exploded in recent years and looks like it will continue in 2018. However, the key trend for next year will be moving towards authenticity, rather than working with the ‘biggest’ influencers or celebrities. It will be far more beneficial working with influencers that want to endorse your product than someone with a larger following who has no interest. This is because the audience can distinguish when a celebrity is being genuine with the product.
Rethinking Twitter
Twitter has failed to grow followers significantly this year, with Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn acquiring more year on year. Twitter is the slowest of all the major platforms, despite making key changes such as increasing its character limit. In 2018, Twitter needs to make big changes to stay relevant and interesting to users.
Following these social media trends will ensure audience engagement with your brand.
We look forward to seeing any new editions to the social media world for the new year. If you need any help with your business’ social media pages, just get in touch!
Top Tips to Secure Media Coverage
PR can be an enjoyable and rewarding job. Sending press releases to the media is an important element that needs to be done to gain media coverage for clients.
We’ve put together a few top tips for selling-in to the press and how to maintain relationships with journalists.
Research
Before contacting the press, research the person you need to speak to and which department they are in. This is a great way to minimise the time you spend on the phone and maximise your chances of getting through to the right contact.
The publication that you are contacting has to have a reason to cover your news story or product, so make sure that it is relevant to the title you are selling-in to. Don’t contact the business press if your news story has nothing to do with business!
Short and Sweet
Journalists are inundated with press releases on a daily basis so whether you are pitching via the phone or email, it is important to keep it concise as the phone call will probably only last between 30 seconds to a minute. They will know if a story is relevant to their publication within a few sentences, so include keywords and a brief outline.
Don’t forget when sending further information by email to include your contact information so they can get back to you if they have any questions.
Be Patient
Once you have sent an email to a journalist, it can sometimes take a while for them to get back to you. Don’t phone them back half an hour later, they probably haven’t seen it yet! Follow it up the next day or two days after to make sure they received the information and any attached images. This follow up will give the journalist a reminder if they haven’t had a chance to look through the release but also will ensure you have done everything to get potential coverage for a client.
Building Relationships with Journalists
Part of working in the PR industry involves working with journalists so building relationships with them is useful. Having a list of contacts that you have consistently spoken to can put you in a good position to secure coverage for your clients.
How to gain more followers on social media!
Gaining followers on social media can be difficult, especially if it is for a client who is new to the Twittersphere and Facebook world. Increasing their follower base can be a great advantage as it can expose them to new customers and help establish them as a well-known brand.
Here are a few quick pointers that we have put together to help you gain followers for all social media accounts.
Consistency
Tweeting or posting a couple times a day lets your audience know that you are active on social media, which will make them more inclined to follow you. New and old customers want to be updated with news on the regular, so this is a great way to do it.
Make sure you engage with your followers by simply retweeting or replying to any mentions or queries. This shows potential followers and customers that you are making the effort to connect with your audience and that you are available to assist or respond to them instantly.
Actively Find and Follow Others
A good way to increase your followers is to actively find other accounts that are related to the target demographic. You should follow and engage with as many accounts as possible. This again lets them know that the service exists on social media platforms. Even if they don’t follow back, engaging with them will increase exposure and if people like what is being posted, they will follow.
Timing of Posts
When possible, try to tweet during peak times or when Twitter activity is high as this will give your posts greater visibility. We recommend middays and evenings as most people will be either on a break or have finished work. It is also worth noting to avoid tweeting and posting too much, this can drive people away from your account if they are not interested in the content.
Hold Competitions and Giveaways
Offer freebies or rewards for followers, this will give people an incentive to follow the account if they are interested in the prize. If you hold competitions, make sure that sharing and liking the Facebook page or following the Twitter account is a requirement for entry, as this will boost the account's activity and followers.
Make People Aware
Don’t be shy about linking your social media accounts everywhere. Link it to your blog, email signature, website and anywhere else you have an online presence. This will let people know that you actively engage with social media.
Share the media coverage that your client has been featured in and tag the publication. This is a way to show appreciation for the feature but also it highlights your latest news and shows that there is something interesting to take notice of.
If you need help with your business’ social media profiles, then just get in touch!
What makes a great press release
A press release is one of the key elements to any public relations strategy. They are a standardised way to communicate with journalists and usually entail details regarding product releases, event announcements and other newsworthy items a company produces.
Creating a great press release often helps to secure a magazine feature, which in turn will attract new customers. However, considering journalists are bomb-barded with potential stories and pitches on a daily basis, it is crucial to make sure yours stands out from the crowd.
Headline
A headline is the first thing that people see, whether it be a magazine article, book or leaflet. Therefore, it is no different when a journalist reads a press release, if it doesn’t catch their attention it is unlikely that they will read the rest of the piece. The headline needs to pull the journalist in, so make sure it is engaging as well as accurate.
Content
Another important aspect of a press release is, of course, the content. What you write about must be of interest to the journalist in some way, otherwise, they may not take any notice. Make sure the topic is newsworthy, this doesn’t mean that you should only send out press releases that would make the front page of a newspaper. It means that the topic needs to be current, it is either happening now or is about to happen. There is no point publicising an event that has been and gone.
The overall tone of a press release should not come across as promotional. It isn’t an advert to sell a product or an event to a journalist. It is a way of informing them about the company or brands latest exciting news and to provide them with the information they need to write a newsworthy story.
As well as keeping the content relevant, it needs to be straight to the point. Journalists are busy people, they don’t have time to read every single press release they receive. Therefore, make sure that the first couple of sentences of the release inform them on the message you want to get across. Then the rest of the paragraphs should be information supporting this.
Quotes
Adding quotes to a press release adds a human element to it, whether it be a comment from someone in the company or close to the product. They provide insight and opinion and they should sound like a real person has said them. Journalists will want to pull key parts from the press release to use in their own stories and including quotes gives them something extra to use in addition to the information provided.
Contact Information
It may seem obvious but it can be a common mistake to forget to include contact information for journalists to follow up with. If this happens, it looks unprofessional and you may lose the secure space in that title as the journalist will not know who to contact if they want more information. Whether it is you or someone else at the company who is the point of contact, be sure to include an email address and phone number.
Why you should embrace social media
Social media has become a worldwide phenomenon since the outburst of Web 2.0; it changed the way that people used the internet. Users now look online to share and connect with others around the world. Businesses may have been reluctant to this new wave of technology in the beginning; however, they are now jumping on the social media bandwagon and taking full advantage of the marketing opportunities it offers.
The list of benefits social media can offer goes on and on, so to make it easier for you, we have summed up just a few of the key advantages.
Increasing brand awareness –
Social media is one of the most cost-effective marketing methods that can be used by any brand, not only is it (mostly) free, but it gives you the opportunity to reach a wider audience and increase your brands visibility.
Engage with others, by simply ‘liking’ or ‘sharing’ content. This instantly gets your brand name recognised by others. Once they begin to share your content, you are opening up to a whole new network of potential clients. Your boundaries are limitless.
Engagement and building consumer loyalty –
One major beneficiary of social media, is the ability to engage with your consumers. When a brand is commenting, liking and sharing, it personifies the brand as consumers tend to prefer to communicate with people rather can businesses.
Developing a loyal customer base is a vital component for any business and by engaging with your consumers you are showing you care about customer service, which in turn generates loyalty.
Provide a better customer service experience –
Consumers now look to social media to find out information about a business and by having social media accounts for your brand, you are giving customers the opportunity to contact you instantly. People expect fast response times and social media enables you to respond to them 24/7.
#Hashtags –
With the world of social media, along came the hashtag. This can be one of the most useful tools to incorporate into your social media strategy, if used correctly. By providing a relevant hashtag to your post it will send your message further, it can be seen by thousands of people across the world in a matter of seconds.
Gain marketplace insight –
What better way to find out what your consumers want than by directly talking to them? Through social media you can communicate with your target audience and monitor their interests and opinions. All social media platforms give you the chance to see what is ‘trending’, allowing you to understand what people are currently interested in, how can you get involved and get a step ahead of your competitors.
Find out what your competitors are doing –
One quick and easy way to find out how your main competition is doing, is to check their social media. All businesses tend to share their latest venture on their social media site, giving you a heads-up on what is happening.
Drive traffic to your website –
All of your social media accounts link to your website, so anything you post can persuade a potential customer to view your site. If you are using social media to promote products/services, attach a link to the post so your followers can be directed to the website, making a better user experience overall.