PR Insight

Insights From PR360

Returning to the office (well home office at least) after spending the last two days in Brighton at PR Week’s PR 360 Event – I thought I would share some reflections from the event and what the key players in the world of PR were talking about.   

As the industry navigates its way through some pretty choppy waters in terms of the economic climate – taking inflation into account the entire industry was flat year on year for the first time in many years -  technological advancements (AI) and shifting media landscapes are forcing PR practitioners to re-evalutate PR’s role in the marketing mix. 

I think there were four key topics that came up in discussions – time and again –  

Changes to traditional mainstream media - fewer journalists with less time on their hands is changing the dynamic between the PR industry and the media. 

The changing role of influencers (or “earnfluencers” hat tip to our friends at Porter Novelli for that one) in PR – and their increasing importance in a social first world. 

The threats and opportunities of AI – will AI sound the death knell for the PR industry or be a catalyst for a new era of PR? 

The importance of creativity – Some fascinating insights from both brands and agencies on how they seek to maximise creativity in PR. 

The Changing Media Landscape: Navigating Through the Digital-first Terrain 

The significant reduction in journalist numbers in mainstream media, the move to digital first publishing and the continued rise of social media revolutionizes the media landscape, blurring the lines between traditional and new media channels.  

Getting through to journalists is now tougher than ever. It's crucial to have strong relationships with the media and a clear understanding of the current needs of jounalists in this changing environment – traditional approaches are no longer working. 

In this new world, the PR industry is having to re-imagine their approach to media, whilst continuing to craft compelling narratives that resonate across diverse media platforms. 

The continued democratisation of content creation is empowering individuals and influencers to wield significant influence, challenging traditional gatekeepers and reshaping brand-consumer dynamics.  

But there was a sense that PR is re-evaluating the role of influencers and there was a feeling that a more nuanced approach is required – rather than just chasing large but potentially irrelevant influencers with large followings – a more strategic and targeted approach was required.   

There was also a sense that the audience for this social content is becoming more aware and averse to being force-fed commercial content.     

The Role of AI in PR and Media: Balancing Threats and Opportunities 

I don’t think there was one session where Artificial Intelligence (AI) was not discussed - AI emerges as a double-edged sword in the world of PR. On one front, AI-powered tools can help to streamline processes, automate mundane tasks, and augment data analysis, even help with creativity - empowering PRs to delve deeper into audience insights and craft targeted strategies.  

However, the spectre of job displacement looms large, as AI threatens to automate routine tasks, compelling professionals to upskill and adapt to remain relevant in an increasingly AI-driven landscape. 

- 

PR Reinvented: Creativity as the Catalyst for Innovation 

Amidst this evolving landscape,  there were some strong voices calling upon the industry to re-establish itself as a cornerstone of the marketing mix, transcending its traditional role and embracing creativity as the catalyst for innovation. I really enjoyed a fascinating presentation by Caroline Fisher, Communications Director at ASICS on the importance of finding new creative ways to tell the same story – talking about the power of great storytelling,  to captivate audiences and forge emotional connections that endure beyond fleeting impressions – and importantly drive sales and affect purchasing decisions. 

Embracing the Future: Navigating Uncertainty with Agility and Adaptability 

As the UK PR industry traverses uncharted territories, practitioners are confronted by a landscape fraught with uncertainty and disruption. Yet, amidst the challenges lie unprecedented opportunities for innovation, growth, and reinvention. By embracing AI as an enabler of creativity, harnessing the transformative power of influencers, and championing a culture of innovation, the UK PR industry can chart a course toward a future where storytelling reigns supreme, relationships are paramount, and creativity knows no bounds. 

It feels like now is the time to re-imagine PR. 

---

by James Pinniger

How quizzes can provide meaningful metrics for PR

Quizzes are a powerful tool for marketing campaigns as they can educate, engage and create a connection with your audience while giving meaningful insight and data for marketers. Adding quizzes and interactives to your campaign can be the difference between your creative idea really driving compelling results, and it falling flat. At 72Point, we’ve noticed a 60% increase in our clients opting for quizzes over the last year, and here’s why…

The interactive nature of a quiz allows participants to test themselves on a topic and learn new insights in a fun and engaging manner. Unlike other forms of content such as reading or watching videos, quizzes provide instant feedback and require active participation, creating a uniquely engaging experience that keeps them mentally involved in the content. Gamification elements can also be incorporated for a sense of achievement such as leaderboards or user scores, both of which can encourage social interaction via sharing of their results or challenging other players.

In addition to being engaging, quizzes also offer valuable insights to marketers and brands through either anonymous data tracking such as utilising Google Tags to understand actions being taken, or voluntary data collection such as email capture to view quiz results.

We believe that 4 key components should be considered when building an effective quiz: awareness, engagement, a strong Call to Action (CTA) and effective data tracking.

From our experience of creating quizzes for nearly 100 different brands including Ordnance Survey, Oddbox, Plum & Readly these are our top tips on maximising the results of your next quiz.

Awareness

Once a quiz has been created awareness needs to be generated to drive traffic and users to take the quiz. There are multiple channels in which a quiz can be shared such as media outreach, social, organic and email marketing.

At 72Point we can gain awareness of a quiz through a news release. The quiz can either be embedded within the news article or hosted on the clients website and linked to within the copy, this approach can also have SEO benefits. Social is another highly effective route to gain awareness either through organic or paid campaigns. Sharing the quiz on social allows you to better target your audience, and reach users who are more likely to be interested in the quiz topic.

Through an effective paid social ad campaign and news generation activity, our client Osome was able to achieve 10,000 quiz views, 7600 quiz completions and 2,000 CRM leads.

“For our Side Hustle Test they helped create an engaging and shareable campaign which drove 10,000s hits to our website. It was terrific and we’re still dining out on it to this day.”

Paul Afshar, Marketing Director, Osome

Engagement

Once you have successfully generated enough awareness of the quiz amongst your target audience, the next step is to ensure a high level of participation and engagement.

We can measure the engagement of a quiz in several ways including time spent completing the quiz (dwell time) as well as monitoring at which point users drop off. Using this insight the quiz can be optimised. From our experience a quiz of around 6-10 questions performs best as people don’t lose interest and abandon the quiz while providing sufficient engagement for the quiz to be rewarding to complete. This of course depends on the topic of the quiz and how targeted it is to an audience, however for broad appeal this is a good guide to stick to.

Over the last 6 months our quizzes have had an average of 5.6k completions and a dwell time of 2m38s with over half (55%) completing the full quiz. That’s roughly 246 hours of user engagement per quiz.

Visuals such as illustrations, animated GIFs or video can add additional interest and make the quiz more engaging. Keeping questions and answers concise also improves completion rates and retention.

Data

One of the advantages of creating a quiz is the whole wealth of data available which can add meaningful insight to PR campaign reporting. Examples of data available are views, completions, dwell time, answers for specific questions, average scores and more.

Anonymous data can be used to inform additional activity or insight into topics that require further education such as learning what questions in the quiz were most incorrectly answered.

Voluntary data collection or ‘first party data’ is highly valuable data collected directly from your audience. Within a quiz this could be gathered via a form prior to viewing quiz results. This is likely to impact overall quiz completion rates so it is worth considering the main objectives for the quiz.

Data such as knowing the participants quiz score or outcome can be utilised in tailored marketing responses to build stronger, relevant customer relationships.

Call to Action

At the end of a quiz there should be a clear CTA. Depending on your goals it can vary to include email signups, links to webpages or social sharing.

For a lead generation quiz the CTA would encourage participants to provide their email and other data. An educational quiz may provide additional information via a ‘learn more’ button. A quiz used to identify the best product suited to the user may include links to purchase. Regardless of the CTA, it is important that it is relevant and provides value to the user.

For Mr. Fothergill’s we created a “What type of gardener are you?” quiz which asked for participants email address data in return for their quiz results and the incentive of free seeds. The quiz achieved an incredible 4,000 email leads for the client.

Summary

In summary, quizzes are a highly effective tool for creating brand awareness, while their interactivity and instant feedback invites engagement and can offer a personalised experience. At 72Point, we specialise in deploying a variety of tactics, including news and social distribution, to maximise the impact of our quizzes and content. The amount of data collected from our activity means we have a vast amount of insight on what works, and what doesn’t and means we are well placed to work with clients, consider all of the above, and create standout campaigns.

For more information on our content marketing services, request a ratecard below:

---

by Matt Harvey

Creative Hits & Misses

---

by Geo Craig

Influencer Marketing: What's It All About?

 

Celebrity endorsements have always been used to create excitement around a brand. But the prevalence of social media has welcomed a world of bloggers, content creators and influencers. Brands are noticing this, and now these people are taking over our timelines with #ads and are, in their own way, a whole new type of celebrity.

Influencer marketing involves businesses collaborating with popular, relevant influencers and micro-influencers within their niche to propel their brand’s message. By forming a partnership, the influencer will agree to share the brand through a strategy of reviews, social posts, promotional discount codes, and gifted products, usually on their social media channels.

Unlike celebrity endorsements, influencer marketing does more than just attach the face of a celebrity to a product. Although the strategies tend to overlap, a distinguishing factor separating celebrity endorsements and influencer marketing is that influencers are often real-life consumers themselves, with their passion for certain topics empowering them to influence the decisions of their followers. For example, the perfectly-sculpted fitness blogger who regularly posts their training regime is likely to be asked to advertise for a sportswear brand. The influencer’s followers will trust their recommendation and will probably use their unique promotional code to get discount when they buy the advertised product.

To keep in-line with the brand’s message and build an audience of trusting consumers, it is important to work with a suitable influencer - it wouldn’t make much sense for a food blogger to promote a new make-up product.

Think about Justin Bieber and the #MyCalvins campaign (sorry to bring my celebrity crush into this). Bieber isn’t an underwear expert and doesn’t need to be an underwear expert to recommend Calvin Klein, his fame is enough to drive an interest in the product.

Influencers, however, will often have an area that they specialise in, meaning their followers and themselves share a common interest, so when they endorse or recommend a product their followers are likely to take interest. To keep in-line with the brand’s message and build an audience of trusting consumers, it is important to work with a suitable influencer - it wouldn’t make much sense for a food blogger to promote a new make-up product if they want to appear authentic.

These social media celebs, who could range from a following from just a few thousand, up to several million, are highly regarded by their followers and share a strong rapport and relationship with them. By leveraging the voice of an influencer, a brand can build trust with their target audience by using the influencer to become part of an ongoing conversation across their social channels. With many influencers being bloggers, Youtubers, and models, this means a brand can constantly be provided with new posts, videos, edits and engaging and creative visuals. Influencers are constantly active, and constantly promoting themselves and the brands they partner with, and that’s the great power of social media – it is always ‘on’.

Brands should be using influencer marketing; it has proven to be a positive strategy to create noise and stand out among other businesses online. It is important in this world to have a presence on social media to not get left behind. These influencers can help to build large and engaged followings by driving traffic to social accounts, resulting in more potential consumers. We shouldn’t overlook the power of the Insta-famous!

---

by Drench Design

Just Give Me The Recipe

---

by Drench Design