Building and maintaining profile is a big part of what we do in PR. You may work with a media darling where securing earned coverage comes easy, however you will inevitably be asked to build profile for a client from scratch. In this blog post we explore the steps involved in creating a profile building campaign.
Step 1: Determine your target audience: What are their interests? What are their media consumption habits? Where do they get their news? What are their leisure activities? The point is that you really need to get to know your customer, their behaviours and habits. These insights are the foundation for building a successful campaign. Step 2: Establish what is unique to the target audience: Understand how to appeal to the customer on an emotional level. One way to do this is to host a brainstorm and challenge one another on your assumptions. What motivates and inspires your customer will eventually surface – keep going until you’ve got it. Step 3: Develop the story: Your message must be credible, newsworthy, and on brand. Your end goal is to highlight the client’s competitive differentiators. Weave your narrative into the current conversation in a way that stands out. Step 4: Build your communication strategy: Leverage the information you’ve gathered from steps 1, 2 and 3 and establish an approach and tactics that will resonate. For example, if you know the customer spends most of their time on social media, be sure to include a video element as part of the execution. Or if you know the customer has kids, be sure to include kid-friendly activations. Make sure to build in an evaluation process so you can measure your success. Step 5: Identify all communities of influence and tailor your message accordingly: Keep your message consistent but tailor it to each audience and platform (i.e., Instagram, Tick Tok, YouTube, podcasts, traditional media, and newsletters). Change your tone according to where, when and to whom your message is being delivered. Step 6: Build a timeline for engagement: Consider the news cycle, your stakeholders and what is taking place culturally. Finding a way to embed your message in the fabric of the zeitgeist is necessary to gain traction in mainstream media. Step 7: Listen, refine, respond and reuse: The first day or two of your campaign will offer important insights; be flexible and willing to adapt as necessary based on what you learn. Our world, planet earth, is in chaos. From inflation and interest rates to insolvent banks, to earthquakes and war, it’s hard to imagine any reporter really cares about the story your client is expecting you to secure. What makes it even more frustrating is when you open The Globe and Mail and learn that Gwyneth Paltrow’s ski collision trial is considered front page news.
While leveraging a celebrity is an effective way to gain attention, often a client’s budget doesn’t allow for a celebrity. So how do you break through and deliver? You simply need to follow a couple tried-and-true steps. 1) Determine if there is a way that you can integrate your client’s news into the existing news cycle in an authentic way. Key word here is authentic, don’t try and make it fit. 2) Research every possible angle and stress test your approach with a colleague, or if you have solid relationships with key reporters connect with them for their POV – you can leave out your client’s name and key details if the news is still embargoed. People love giving advice, just make sure you ask for it sparingly and always reciprocate when they come calling. 3) Ensure you’re targeting the right reporter. I can’t stress how important this final step is. Finding the right reporter to pitch is probably the most important of all steps – research the reporters past articles, twitter page, LinkedIn and Instagram, any platform where they share public information so that you can be sure your pitch is going to resonate. While these steps might sound obvious to a seasoned PR person, the reality is that they take time and often get skipped when deadlines are quickly approaching. Don’t let time, or lack thereof, allow you to be sloppy. Follow these steps, and of course ensure your pitch is newsworthy, and you will be 90 per cent more effective in securing that meaningful piece of coverage. There is no doubt Everything Everywhere All at Once was a clear winner this awards season. It brought home the most awards, and the most prestigious awards too. But how?
I saw the film in the theatre – it was the first film to get me into the cinema post pandemic. Unfortunately, not even 10 minutes in I wanted to leave. In fact, I wanted to walk out several times but stuck through it, mask and all, until the very end. When the credits finally started to roll, I mused to my boyfriend that it was the last time he was picking the film. Suffice to say neither of us liked the film and our attention moved quickly away from it after leaving the theatre. That said, I wasn't at all surprised when it won big this past awards season. How could a film that I disliked so much, be so incredibly popular? The film addressed key elements that allowed it to become part of the zeitgeist. 1. Hype: The film was hyped and profiled everywhere when it was first released. You couldn’t leave your house or pick up your phone without hearing about it. 2. Diversity: The film included a diverse list of actors, most of whom no one knew, save Jamie Lee Curtis. In selecting actors without a name it opened the film up to a larger audience and allowed the story to be the focus. 3. Topical: The film addressed a topic that is everywhere right now – the metaverse. When you have a combination of these elements lining up in the way the film did, like any story, it is sure to become something that people will want to digest and discuss, and that is what it takes in today’s market to become a part of the conversation – beyond having something that people are interested in – Everything Everywhere All at Once is a film that people want to talk about, and when you create something that people want to talk about, you win. |
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