Archive

Online killed the radio star? Apparently not

27-Nov-09 16:35

 

I was interested to read a recent report which detailed the most influential media. Expecting to read that online would be right up there at the top, it was a bit of a surprise to find that it was actually radio that was deemed to have the most clout.

The poll of 1,000 opinion leaders found that radio had more impact than any other media on corporate reputation.

 

The Thought Leadership Index 100 found television in second place, print media in third with online way down in fourth. With online advertising soaring, I was surprised to see it ranked behind other traditional forms of media which are seeing a decline.

At Ascent PR, we build relationships with a variety of media on our client's behalf and radio is one of these channels we use for delivering these messages. As we see the popularity of online PR rise and the need for brands to engage with social media, it seems the impact of the good old wireless should not be forgotten.

Liz

Twitter chatter

25-Nov-09 15:42

I had a conversation with my colleague, @Betty85, the other day about the tools we now use to communicate over the internet. It's so easy to keep in touch with people - you can just send them a message on Facebook or send them a tweet over Twitter. I'm a natural born talker and still like to use the phone, but using social networks saves so much time and what could have been achieved with a long conversation, can now be achieved with a simple message - just type and send. In PR, we use social media to keep up to speed about what's going on in the press particularly as generating client coverage is often time specific.

So what does social media mean for businesses? Can you use these networks to your advantage?

Without a doubt! Just as we use Facebook and Twitter for our personal use, so can organisations for business use. Look to social networks as a way of engaging with your audience as it's a quick and easy way to keep in touch with contacts and introduce yourself to customers or people you want to start a relationship with. If Facebook and Twitter seem a little to informal, use networks like LinkedIn instead. It is a little daunting getting yourself out there, so if you don't want to talk to anyone just yet, use these sites to find out what people are talking about in the industry and more importantly, if anyone has mentioned your brand. You then have the option to respond.

If you're thinking about using social media remember to:
• Be human - use a dialogue that encourages people to connect with you. This may mean using more informal language
• Upload a profile picture or logo - this literally gives a face to your messages which people often prefer
• Build a personality - your messages reflect your brand, so be friendly and open
• Be consistent - don't send random messages as this confuses people about who you are and what you're about

And most importantly.........don't be afraid to respond and engage with people.

One last thing to note is that social media is constantly evolving so you need to keep up to speed with it. A discussion held by the Said Business School in Oxford, which invited leading experts to talk about what's next for social media (as reported on the The Guardian's Digital Content Blog), highlights this. What perhaps is important to recognise is that social media is growing and if you don't use it, you run the risk of being left behind.

@TallBirdDana

Seeing stars

12-Nov-09 14:28

In a world that is obsessed with celebrity, it seems that more and more businesses are hooking on to the idea that a famous person can generate brand awareness and raise their company profile. So, what is it about celebs that fascinates us so much? Why do we think a product will perform better if we see a superstar endorsing it? How can you make it work?

Some believe that familiarity breeds trust, therefore the more we see a celeb endorsing a product, the more we believe what they say about it. However, merely tagging a famous face to your brand cannot guarantee success. A famous body needs to be used as part of a well planned strategic marketing campaign acting as the brand's spokesperson to certify what the brand claims to do.

In PR, we continually look for ways to increase our clients' brands and with celebrity comes visibility and increased media attention. The personality of the celebrity must match the brand values and more importantly, must appeal to the target audience. Unfortunately, there is the risk that a celebrity will do or say something that will embarrass and damage the brand name, however with careful preparation, this can be avoided.

Here are a few tips to use to avoid any embarrassing blunders:
• Use the right celebrity for your brand - using a celebrity doesn't always mean using an ‘A-lister'. Think about using local celebrities as they can often create more of a stir among your audience
• Find a news hook that links the celebrity to your campaign and product - find out what's going on the news and what celebrities have been doing
• Create simple messages that the celebrity understands and can deliver - simple and clear messages avoids any confusion
• Provide a full brief - prepping your chosen celebrity ensures that they fully understand what you are trying to achieve
• Prepare your celebrity for talking to the press - media train your celebrity so that they can answer any tricky questions thrown their way

Dana

Twitter: business tool or business fool?

12-Nov-09 12:38

Twitter's everywhere at the moment. You can't open a newspaper, listen to the radio or turn on the TV without some clever clogs banging on about the cool kid of social media. Even celebrities like Stephen Fry, Jamie Oliver and Katie Price are in on the action.

But, when it comes to Twitter as a business tool, opinions are divided. In today's Times, a letter was published from Paul Stallard of Berkeley PR - Ascent PR's sister company, defending Twitter's use as an effective business tool and platform for succinct communication.

The sceptics among us would no doubt argue that allowing employees access to such social media sites is asking for trouble - namely in the form of reduced productivity and poorly judged ‘Tweets'. I mean the last thing any business wants is an employee tweeting excessively about the previous night's drunken antics or moaning about their workload and bringing shame on the corporate image.

But managed in the right way, Twitter can open many doors and provide an engaging and interactive face for a business, promoting better customer perception and service. Equally, with online media expanding at a rate of knots, now's the time to embrace online PR and the opportunity to raise your business profile, within Twitter's thriving journalist community alone, is vast.

To make sure your business doesn't get left behind, jump on the Twitter band wagon - drag your employees along with you, set some objectives and guidelines, and enjoy the ride!

 

 

Beth

 

Women in business

04-Nov-09 16:11

Dan Martin, editor of businesszone.co.uk, posed an interesting question on his Twitter profile earlier which has gone on to cause a bit of a stir amongst his female followers. The question? Is it fair for female business owners to be referred to by the media (or those after the media's attention) as Lipstick Entrepreneurs? This came following research, published today by Avon & The Federation of Small Businesses, which claims the recession is acting as a catalyst for the growth of female-owned start up businesses.

So is this a harmless, gimmicky way to grab the media's attention or is it, in a week where the unrelenting existence of the gender pay gap has also been hitting the headlines, a sign of a patriarchal culture that refuses to take businesswomen seriously?

Now, none of the Ascent gang professes to be on a par with Germaine Greer when it comes to the feminism debate, but as women most of us concluded that the terms Lipstick entrepreneur and Mumtrepreneur leave a bit of a foul taste in the mouth. Worse still, they detract from and devalue the hard work, intelligence and motivation that goes into setting up any business.

Yes, it's important to celebrate women in business; often (but not always) they have more obstacles to overcome and plates to spin. But there's recognising and celebrating women's contribution to the business world and then there's the allegorical pat on the bottom - and this terminology definitely falls into the latter category.

Ascent PR has worked with many start-up, entrepreneurial and innovate businesses over the years - many of which have been owned and run successfully by women. They've all been very different from each other but the one thing they've had in common is that they didn't get to where they are now by worrying about whether or not the shade of lipstick they're wearing matches their shoes!

 

Beth