This week's PR tips, insights, and musings
This week's newsletter covers a range of areas relating to PR. We'll start with a fun general election story about a man who is running as an independent MP and has a novel idea to win support for his campaign (spoiler: it involves cake!).
Then we'll assassinate the ridiculous use of demographic labels that businesses and brands insist on using to categorise their target audiences. Not only do they miss the mark, but they're extraordinary wasters of PR budgets and are potential reputation killers.
Employer branding also comes under the spotlight. Recruitment has been one of the biggest challenges that most if not all businesses have experienced over the last 12 months, but issuing the rallying call for potential employees to 'Join our family' is one sure-fire way to p**s people off and hurt your reputation as an employer of choice.
This week's video focuses on the one thing that this agency leader has long been waiting for: economic growth. It's coming, it really is, but the question is whether your organisation is ready for the uptick in demand for your products and services or is simply sat patiently in the green room waiting to be invited onto the stage when the light come on and the cameras are rolling.
Our final insight this week covers one of the most powerful yet underused brand and bottom line builders: the humble piece to camera video. As an agency, Clearly practices what it preaches and in this piece we explain why we have been filming piece to camera (PTC) videos for four years and share with you the results that we have garnered - there is no point us banging on about the great services we provide if we don't do and benefit from them ourselves. I'm 90%+ sure you'll be convinced by what you read to adopt PTC as a primary PR tactic for your business after reading this!
Put the kettle on and let's get started.
General election: Let them eat cake
That's the promise made by the independent candidate for Bradford West. The BBC and ITV reported last week that Muhammed Ali Islam shared a video on TikTok to say:
"All of you would have known that if you voted for me in the local elections then you would have got your free Matilda cake.
"Now if you vote for me in the general election, you might again get your free Matilda cake."
You might not know, but when I founded Clearly in January 2014 I wanted to call it 'Cake Communications' given my love for that most fine delicacy. Alas, there was already a PR firm by that name and instead Clearly was adopted. I love this by Mr Islam - it's quirky, real, and really got people warming to him.
The downside is that it is also in breach of electoral policy. That aside, it showed that politics does still have some characters. Take a look at the post, which has since been deleted from TikTok:
Audience labels: Who do you think you’re talking to?
Before you write a piece of content, send out a press release, or hit the ‘record’ button on that next piece to camera video or podcast, be sure that you know who your target audience is.
That may sound obvious, yet it baffles me the number of businesses we come across at the most mighty Clearly who continue to use antiquated ‘labels’ when planning their PR and content marketing campaigns.
It baffles me because such labels are utter bollocks. Here’s why.
If you were born between 1981 or 1995, you are a Millennial. Let’s suppose you were born in 1981 – you’d be 43 years old this year. If you were born in 1995, well, you can work that out for yourself (OK, I’ll do it for you – you’d be 29 this year). So, that’s a difference of 14 years, which isn’t so bad.
Fast forward to the next demographic – Gen Z. Those people who fall under this label were born between 1996 (making them 28 years old this year) and 2010 (14 years old this year). Again, the age gap between them is just 14 years but bugger me it’s HUGE when you consider the life stages of those aged 14 and those aged 28.
How many 28 year olds wish to be communicated to by your organisation in the same way as a 14 year old would? The answer is none of them.
Think of it like this: A 14 year old is in their first year of GCSEs, lives at home, has a parent or guardian who does all their washing, ironing, and cooking, and probably gives them pocket money. They may never have had a romantic encounter yet.
Then there is a 28 year old who may have graduated from university. Since then, they could have been active in the workforce for the last seven years, promoted once, are married with a wee babee and already paying a mortgage on their own home.
Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z etc are all meaningless labels used by marketers to simplify their promotional efforts. To get a greater return on your PR and marketing investment, you need to understand your target audience and their needs.
Armed with that insight, you should then focus your messaging on addressing the issues, desires, interests, pains and challenges they have rather than taking the scattergun approach that will fail – and it will fail – to hit the right spot and waste much of your budget.
Employer branding: You're not a 'family'!
Want to know the fastest way to kill your attractiveness as an employer of choice stone dead? Describe your workplace culture as a ‘family.’
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You’ve seen the ads, you may even have been one of those running them with the call to action of ‘Join our family.’ If this applies to you, then stop. STOP! Right now.
Your organisation is a team that has been hired to perform a role for the greater good of the organisation. It is a community, a fraternity, a collective of people all working together in line with the organisation’s overarching goals.
I’ve hired people in the past who have come from broken families or simply didn't particularly get on all that well with them, so don’t try to position yourself as a 'family' that they might wish to join. Your company is not a family, and people aren’t looking for a new one either.
'Sell' your organisation for what it can offer people. The best companies focus on how they support the individual needs, motivations, and aspirations of the people who work for them. In other words, they address the what's-in-it-for-me-if-I-work-for-your-organisation' question.
The brilliant organisational psychologist and writer Adam Grant talks about this with Airbnb CEO Brian Cheksy in a recent TED interview. Cheksy said:
“[W]e used to refer to ourselves as a family, and then we did have to fire people or they'd have to leave the company… you don't fire members of your family.” [Watch online on Spotify]. ?
Grant has published a number of books that I would highly recommend:
Full list is available on his website here.
Video: There's an election coming (you may have noticed). So too is growth. Are you ready?
History has shown time and again that the UK economy always enjoys positive growth during election years, and forecasts suggest that this year will be no different. But are you ready to take advantage of the expected increase in demand for the products or servics that your company produces?
Watch video now by clicking image below (3 mins):
Smile for the camera: PR's biggest brand and bottom(line) builder?
Podcasts are booming, yet video content is arguably a greater and more powerful brand builder. It is personally engaging and, perhaps more importantly, they are a great lead generator. I can make this case because Clearly PR has built its brand and won new business through the video content we create for ourselves. Read how we do this on the Clearly website.
Here's what you will learn:
Take a look by clicking the image below:
These services may be helpful to your business:
Get in touch
Contact me anytime either via a DM on this platform, through the Clearly contact page, or via direct email at [email protected]