When speaking with prospects and new clients in the retail technology industry who have previously worked with a PR agency, we regularly hear that the agency didn’t understand what they did. Often the agency either specialized in B2B technology or in retail, but not both. This is why it’s important to specifically find a retail tech PR agency.
Our friend and advisor Karl Sakas explains this well. He says, “If you needed heart surgery, you wouldn’t hire a general surgeon. If your insurance was good enough, you wouldn’t hire a cardiac surgeon, either. You’d hire a cardiac surgeon who’s done your exact procedure 500 times before. When they have a choice, people tend to hire a specialist.”
With that logic in mind, we recommend that if you’re a retail technology company – whether you provide solutions for the supply chain, eCommerce, payments, or even a vertical specific technologies for grocers or apparel – you work with a retail tech PR agency to drive brand awareness and support your marketings goals.
Here are just a couple of reasons why.
Expertise in retail AND tech
It’s easy enough to find a B2B tech PR agency. A quick Google search retrieves thousands of results.
However, it’s a lot harder to find a PR agency that specializes in BOTH retail and B2B technology. But why should it matter? Simply put, a general B2B tech PR agency is trying to be all things to all people. Meanwhile, a retail tech PR agency knows your industry just as well as you do, if not better.
So, what does that mean? For Ketner Group, that means we live and breathe retail tech. When onboarding a new client, it’s easy for us to understand what the client does and to translate that into terms that retailers and brands understand.
This is especially important if you’re hiring an agency to do content development. If an agency is doing nothing but reading and writing about the industry that you serve, it’s easy to pick up your company’s tone of voice and style to create content that resonates with your target audience – retailers and brands.
Established relationships with retail tech influencers
Beyond having expertise in retail and technology, a retail tech PR agency has established relationships with key influencers in the space. This is particularly important for media and analyst relations.
When working with a specialized agency, it cuts down on onboarding time and the time it takes to gain media coverage. We don’t have to spend exorbitant amounts of time researching and building media lists from scratch. We use our proprietary media lists to customize and build a database of targets for each client.
With most of our new clients, Ketner Group Communications sees media mentions within the first month by leveraging our existing connections with media contacts in the space.
Same goes for analyst relations. We have established relationships with key industry analysts and are able to quickly set up introductory analyst briefings with the analysts who cover your space. Additionally, we help cut through the red tape (i.e. sales people) that solution providers often encounter when handling analyst relations in house.
Start working with a retail tech PR agency today
So, you’re convinced – it’s time to engage with a retail tech PR agency. Look no further.
Ketner Group Communications has specialized in retail tech PR for over 20 years. Our deep understanding of the industry makes us experts in retail tech content development and brings with it established relationships with key retail tech influencers – both media and analysts.
Ketner Group speaks your language and knows your target audience. Get in touch today to find out how we can help you drive brand awareness and support your marketing goals.
Ketner Group has worked with dozens of B2B technology startups, and we often see familiar patterns in how they approach PR and media relations.
Startups naturally spend their first few years building their technology and team and ensuring the success of early customers. However, as a company wins significant customers, receives additional funding or begins seeking investment, PR ultimately becomes a priority.
Media relations is often the starting point for creating a larger communications program and engaging with a PR agency.
Why is this element of public relations so important? Here are several reasons why.
Media relations helps companies hone their story
Storytelling is at the heart of media relations. After all, media relations involves telling your company story in order to convince an editor to write about your solutions, which in turn can influence prospective buyers.
Stories must be easily understood, believable and persuasive. That’s why we always recommend that startups evaluate their company messaging and value proposition before engaging in media relations, to ensure they’re accurately communicating their story.
PR agencies like Ketner Group can provide the expertise you need to help you get ready to tell your story to the world.
Media relations demonstrates market acceptance
The very nature of startups is disruption—taking a fresh look at solving business problems with new, innovative technology. But how does the technology work, and what benefits does it really deliver?
Media relations is a critical way to validate your technology, as it gives you the chance to tell stories about your vision for the industry, the challenges your solutions address, and how customers are using your products. Because these stories are told by outside media, they gain credibility.
It boosts your market profile
Over time, editors and writers will turn to your company as a resource for articles and reports, creating more opportunities for media coverage and boosting your company’s overall presence. A well-honed media relations program can give you a competitive marketing advantage, too.
A key index of media relations performance is share of voice, which represents a company’s share of earned media coverage in a given month. By “owning the conversation” through a larger share of voice than competitors, companies can increase their marketing presence and punch above their weight class.
We use Cision as our preferred PR platform, and its share of voice reporting provides valuable metrics for measuring the effectiveness of media relations.
It supports fundraising
As startups raise funding, media relations can help attract the interest of investors and provide an important source of validation. Articles and press releases about customers are particularly important, as they provide external proof that goes beyond your investor deck.
It influences lead generation and sales
Clients often ask the question, “will media relations help generate leads?” As my colleague Mariana wrote in a recent blog, the purpose of media relations isn’t lead-generation, but it can help influence lead-gen and sales when considered as part of a well-rounded communications program. We’ve seen plenty of examples of this.
When one of our clients announced a major implementation of the company’s solution by a well-known top 10 retailer, the CEO quickly began hearing back from other retailers the company had been courting. In this case, one highly visible customer win opened doors for our client.
Companies want to know what technologies the leaders in their industries are adopting, and it can ultimately help influence their purchase decisions.
Media relations supports your exit strategy
A retail analyst friend used to introduce us to tech startups by telling them if they work with Ketner Group, they’ll get acquired. If only it was that easy!
Over the years many of our startup clients have undergone successful acquisitions, and we’re proud to have played a supporting role. Media coverage and share of voice can help attract the attention of would-be acquirers. When one of our retail software clients was acquired, the press release referenced an industry awards program that boosted our client’s reputation and visibility in the market. That program was one of the key elements of our PR program.
Media relations is a key strategy to supporting your startup overall
Media relations plays a vital role in your PR strategy. However, media relations should never exist in a silo, as it is only one facet of public relations.
As you consider establishing a media relations program, be sure to evaluate all your other communications channels, too—website, social media, content, blogs, paid media—in order to make sure you have a well-rounded program that’s firing on all cylinders.
That way, your startup will get the most out of its investment in media relations and every other communication channel.
Need help with media relations?
We’re experts in media relations, so if you’re ready to kick start a media relations program or just want to make sure you’re on the right track, we can help.
For the first KG Connects of the year, we were delighted to have Tameka Vasquez — strategist, educator and futurist — join Catherine Seeds to discuss the importance of being what Tameka calls, “stewards to the future.”
In her day job, Tameka serves as a global marketing leader at Genpact. She also just recently jumped back into the world of academia as an assistant professor at St. John’s University in New York. She started her work in futurism because, as she describes, “everything in the world is just made up, and we have the power to make up something else.”
Read a summary of the webinar below, or if you’d like, watch the full webinar on-demand through Zoom.
What is a steward to the future?
Tameka often uses the phrase, “steward to the future.” To her, it’s a literal phrase.
She explained that a steward is a person who takes care of passengers on planes or cruise ships during their trip. The same concept applies to marketing, according to her, marketers need to think, “how do we use [marketing] to navigate people from the point of where they are today to the future?”
A futuristic remix on the four Ps of marketing
Most marketers know the four Ps of marketing — place, price, product and promotion — as well as how important this is for organizations. However, in future-work, Tameka takes a different approach to this classic method.
She puts forth the following:
Possible: what is something that can reasonably happen?
Plausible: what is feasible given what we know right now?
Probable: what is likely to happen?
Preferred: what fits expectations and ambitions?
She stated the importance of these future four P’s, especially for marketers, because, “there is a high degree of uncertainty and there are a lot of contextual instances where you have to apply these four p’s.”
Applying futuristic thinking to marketing plans
As part of her work as a futurist, Tameka has to think, “What does it mean when we say the future?” She continued, “that could be 2021, it could be 2030. Whatever that marker of time is, you can then decide what the story that you want to tell about the future is. How do we use the attention that we have in the moment to give people a view of the future?”
Using 2020 as an example, she described how we needed to meet the moment by educating people on COVID-19 best practices while also thinking about how current events allow individuals and organizations to reimagine what the future could be.
“If 2030 was a time where certain things were possible, 2020 probably accelerated that path where we now need to think about those things far more intentionally,” she explained.
Getting comfortable with discomfort
The future means change, and change is very uncomfortable for many. Especially when those changes run counter to organizational planning. Tameka says that while strategic planning is never really going to go away, we can factor change into our planning easier than we could in the past.
She said that, “we have the capability to be social listeners in a way that we just hadn’t historically. While you’re in this space of planning, you also need to be in a space of listening.”
When it comes to meeting business goals, Tameka explained that it’s still possible to apply futurist thinking. The trick is to focus on KPIs while, “making slight pivots. The plan doesn’t get thrown out the window, you’re slightly shifting.”
Learning more about futurism
Futurist thinking isn’t the easiest to jump into. Tameka’s preferred method for learning is to look at what brands are doing beyond the product or service.
“I really want people to look at how certain companies have captured the moment and how they’ve used the sentiment of the time to better position themselves,” Tameka said.
She used the example of how Twitter has been able to respond to the moment where trust and transparency are critical. She said that Twitter has been creating features that improve transparency, such as flagging questionable information. This does two key things simultaneously: it demonstrates Twitter is rising to the moment while also showing what a future of transparency might look like.
Tameka also shared some great beginner resources:
Prescient2050: Free resources that will help get you started learning and using the tools of strategic foresight and shaping your future.
Brookings Events: A nonprofit that conducts in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems.
Futures Festival: An event that highlights principles of inclusion, plurality, and collective participation as a means to how we can move toward challenging the status quo and move toward preferable shared futures.
Join us for our March webinar to discuss B2B content!
KG Connects is moving to a bimonthly schedule for 2021. Join us in March for a discussion on how to create B2B content that puts Netflix to shame. Sign up for free.
This month for our KG Connects webinar series, we dove headfirst into the power that communication holds in helping businesses become more diverse and inclusive with Kia Jarmon.
Kia is an entrepreneurial solutionist who intersects communication, culture, crisis, and community, most specifically through her leadership with MEPR Agency – a boutique communications and community engagement agency founded in 2006.
Defining diversity, inclusion and accessibility
To begin, Kia defined concepts that are essential to driving change.
While diversity is about differences, inclusion is about experience. Inclusion involves fostering an environment that is safe and welcoming regardless of experience.
When moving from diversity to inclusion, what’s often missing is equity. Before establishing true inclusivity, historic wrongs need to be made right. Policies and processes of change must be underway in order for a community to advance.
How do companies start diversity initiatives?
When working to achieve diversity and inclusivity, there must be commitment from leadership in order to enact change. Then, companies must look externally to an expert that can help point out blind spots, and operationalize and implement practices.
It’s important to recognize visible things that are missing from an organization – whether the answers are a who or a what. For example, when employees had to work virtually because of COVID-19, many companies didn’t assess the access employees had to the right technology and connectivity.
What’s more, knowing that conversations around diversity and inclusion will be difficult, it’s helpful to start small. Consider this moment as a time to adapt, and truly listen.
Establishing goals
As communicators and marketers, setting goals is second nature. For diversity and inclusion efforts, businesses should look at goals in two ways: visually and anecdotally, which might not be measurable. Trust is a metric that’s hard to quantify, but absolutely important to the process.
Start with a conversation – Discuss the internal and external climate with employees. Whether this is as a one-on-one or in a large group, as formal training or a book club, current events constantly affect the work environment.
Ensure goals are embedded into strategic plan – Goals that involve diversity and inclusion should be embedded within the company’s growth plans. If it’s not written down and assigned, it won’t be managed, measured and achieved.
Be explicit – Lay out how you want your teams to look, and ensure that they are reflective of the communities you serve. Remove “cultural fit” from your hiring vocabulary, and instead focus on “cultural add.” Often, it’s not an issue about finding diverse talent, but keeping them.
Work together to re-evaluate company values – Discuss as a whole how the business moves from conversation to putting efforts into practice. Ensure you’re held accountable. The processes often takes a long time, as you’re reevaluating company values.
Developing external communications
Lastly, Kia pointed out what’s lacking in inclusive external communications. Media needs better visuals that accurately capture our society. Share images of what might not be considered “traditional,” such as a nonbinary person or someone with a prosthetic, and ensure you’re using actual voices. Most importantly, these efforts must be authentic and true.
When looking to understand other communities, Google is your best friend, as it can provide information into classes and resources that may even be provided locally. Nielsen and Pew can also serve as great data sources.
Next up: A peek inside the New York Fashion Tech Lab
Technology and innovation is critical to the fashion industry. In October, we’ll host Jackie Trebilcock for a look inside the New York Fashion Tech Lab and how it empowers women-led tech companies. We hope you’ll join us! You can register here.
90 million Americans regularly consume podcasts. And B2B podcasts are an increasingly key part of that.
Listeners tend to be educated, affluent and loyal – the exact audience most B2B brands want to reach.
That’s why we were fascinated to talk with Clark Buckner, co-founder and partner of podcast consulting agency Relationary Marketing, for our July 2020 KG Connects webinar. He gave us the scoop on why B2B podcasting works so well and shed light on his five-step process for how to develop a great B2B webinar.
Does B2B podcasting work?
Yes, B2B podcasting works well for three reasons:
Podcasts are intimate – When you listen to a podcast, it’s a real human speaking directly to you about something they’re passionate about and you’re interested in. It establishes a sense of shared experience that supports the idea of an established relationship.
Podcasts are accessible – In the car, at work and especially streaming from smartphone on any number of apps, podcasts are a versatile medium for sharing and consuming high-quality content.
Podcasts are passively consumed – While listenership has taken a small hit during pandemic as fewer people commuted, they’re still popular to consume while doing other things like going for walks, doing a workout or cooking dinner. Really, any time away from a screen provides both a captive and passive audience for podcasts.
How do I start a B2B podcast?
Clark uses a tried-and-true formula when helping his clients launch a great B2B podcast:
Content design
Invite/preparation
Recording
Production
Publishing
When viewed in a list, it’s easy to assume that each stage should be given equal consideration.
That’s not a wise approach.
Brands considering a podcast have intrinsic challenges. It’s labor intensive and rare to have all the right technology and skills internally to produce a great podcast.
It’s now easier and more affordable for agencies and brands to work with a company like Relationary than to do it alone. But first, they need to master step one – content design.
What’s the first step of launching a B2B podcast?
The first step of launching a B2B podcast is content design. A lot of companies get caught up worrying about technology or guests or who will host it… all undoubtedly important questions, but not the first thing to worry about.
Clark recommends focusing exclusively on five elements of content design before stressing the small stuff.
Goals – What does success look like for your podcast? Be specific about one or two goals that a podcast can uniquely achieve for you. Brand awareness, lead generation or helping existing customers get the most out of your platform are all good options. Given that you’d need 10,000 regular listeners to even consider selling ads, B2B podcasting is about relationships. Sell the mission and a belief in your team and company as trustworthy and capable partners.
Target audience – Most B2B companies have highly targeted audiences. Will everyone in your consumer base pay attention to or be motivated by a podcast? Will prospects at different stages of the funnel be more interested that others? Once you know what the goal of the podcast is, you can define the audience and figure out what matters to them most.
Episode structure – Will you do one-on-one interviews between a company employee and a guest? Will you have an independent podcaster lead these conversations instead? Or do you plan to only interview internal experts? You could also develop a narrative structure and tell stories of great case studies or have people you’ve helped record themselves telling a story. Options are limitless, but pick one that will work for you and stick with it.
Episode frequency and length – How many interesting conversations can you really lead? How much time will you dedicate to the podcast and how much time do you expect your audience to give? Think of podcasts like a TV show, with seasons. Figure out each season’s episodes ahead of time and stick with a standard cadence and episode length. You can always change it up for season two.
Title/marketing – Like any form of branded content, podcasts need to be promoted to attract attention. Figure out how you’ll recruit listeners and what kind of resources are available to bring in new listeners. Podcasts are far easier to produce than ever before, but without additional promotional effort on top of it, you’ll be sitting on great content with no listeners.
How do you go from plan to production?
With this foundation, it’s relatively easy to go through the rest of the steps as long as you have access to the right network, skillsets and technology.
Step 2: Prep
Figure out who you’re going to have on your podcast and how you’ll prep them to lead a conversation that serves your company’s goals. It’s great when your guests are the kind of experts who can talk at length about a number of interesting ideas. It’s your job to let them know what you need from them, and have a plan for keeping them on track.
Step 3: Record
Unsurprisingly, the environment you record in matters. Surprisingly, the tech doesn’t matter that much. It’s far more important to have a great environment. It’s better to use basic headphones that come with a phone and be in a quiet, confined space than use an expensive mic in an open space such as a kitchen.
Case in point: Clark usually has an office to record in, but working from home during the pandemic, he uses his closet.
Step 4: Produce (i.e. edit)
You’ll never get commercial grade quality from the raw footage you record. To polish the final product, work with a partner or invest in technology that offers sound editing and also content editing.
Don’t over-edit. You want it to sound human. Breathing sounds may feel awkward at first, but it’s elements like this that give podcasting it’s personal touch and relationship power.
Step 5: Publish
At this stage, most brands will send the final product off to their marketing team, creative directors or communications agency to help promote the material and drum up interest.
Like we said before, if people don’t know the content exists, they can’t listen and become loyal brand fans and customers.
Let’s talk about podcasts
If you’re interested in launching a B2B podcast or getting more visibility for one you already produce, we’d love to help you do it. Check out Clark’s full presentation or shoot us an email to set up a free 30-minute consultation.
2020 PR planning was derailed for many companies far too early this year. The global pandemic forced companies to scrap carefully laid business and marketing plans and adjust at lightning speed to constantly changing conditions. We’re now at the mid-point of 2020, and the question is: what comes next for marketers?
Despite the ravages of the coronavirus, we’re seeing some signs of optimism among our clients. They are focused on the future and have moved quickly to pivot their products and services to meet the uncertainties of the post-pandemic world. Companies are rethinking business models, looking for new opportunities to help their customers succeed, and aligning their marketing and PR plans accordingly.
So, how can you take your bearings and set a new marketing course for the remainder of the year?
Here are some initiatives that are a must for every company and marketer.
Re-examine your brand proposition.
COVID-19 put a pause on business as usual, but many companies are using this time to re-examine their brand proposition and the value they bring to their customers. Companies are asking if their value proposition in the pre-pandemic world still makes sense as we face the uncertainties of a “new normal” that is still taking shape.
For the B2B technology companies we work with, the challenges their customers face are sharply different now. How can their solutions help companies in a world that’s constantly shifting, and how should their messaging change to reflect that?
Forward-looking companies are taking time to re-examine their 2020 PR planning.
This process includes:
Re-evaluating messaging across channels – making sure that their messaging around products and services remains relevant;
Conducting research that helps them understand trend changes;
Rolling out new messages through PR initiatives, website relaunches, social media and owned content.
Innovate fearlessly.
If there was ever a time to roll out new strategies, this is it.
Some changes will be born out of necessity—the overnight rise of virtual conferences and trade shows, for example. There is also increased emphasis on content marketing, social media and earned media.
We’ve quickly made changes here at Ketner Group, too.
When business-as-usual ground to a halt in March, we launched a new webinar series, “KG Connects”. In doing so, we built a new avenue to help clients, partners and other companies explore fresh marketing ideas. It also helped us reach new audiences and showcase our expertise.
At the same time, we started monthly office hours for clients only. The private setting promotes candid conversation about their unique PR and marketing challenges. We’ve used this time to build closer relationships with our clients, and they’ve reacted positively.
Focus on the fundamentals.
Innovation is critical, but don’t lose sight of the fundamental PR and marketing activities that are important to your brand.
This is not the time to go dark on press announcements and corporate communications. These initiatives are essential for securing the media coverage you need to get the attention of customers, prospects and investors.
Remember all that budget you had earmarked for events later this year? If at all possible, use it—don’t lose it.
The cancellation of SXSW early this year was just the first of a wave of event cancellations in 2020. Many events planned for early 2021 will likely be rescheduled, too. You can reallocate that budget into marketing initiatives that will keep up your visibility. We’re actively working with our clients to help them do that, and we’d be glad to offer our strategic advice.
The key thing to keep in mind for marketing now is simple: don’t stop.
Your customers and prospects are looking to you to provide expert guidance in turbulent times. So, it’s critical to communicate with them through carefully planned and executed campaigns. Take this opportunity to re-examine your brand, innovate with new ideas and keep up your PR presence.
These are the kinds of challenges that can bring out the best in our companies and marketing efforts. With these initiatives, your updated 2020 PR planning will help you showcase that.
It’s quite possible that chief marketing officers (CMOs) have had to answer the following question countless times; “do we need a media relations program?”
Spoiler alert… the answer is yes!
In addition to creating thought leadership and external awareness, a media relations strategy helps feed top of the funnel marketing initiatives. As well, a robust media relations program provides the sales team with additional ammunition throughout the sales cycle.
However, CMOs and heads of marketing hold the secret ingredient
to make a media relations program succeed – driving the relationship.
A symbiotic relationship
During my time as an agency-side PR professional, the best agency-client relationships and most successful media programs I’ve seen have had a CMO at the wheel.
CMOs provide a holistic awareness of what is going on throughout their organization and understand the type of information that is most helpful for their customers and prospects. As such, CMOs can serve as the ideal conduit for information to flow between internal and external audiences.
Developing a strong media relations program requires knowing how your company serves customer needs and how industry trends affect the market. There’s no better person to lead that than the CMO.
Making the connection
As you position your company for media interviews, keep in mind that the CMO can serve as a primary spokesperson for the reasons discussed above. In the past, some of my clients have flagged concerns about having the CMO take interviews.
However, given their leadership over corporate and product messaging as well as customer needs, CMOs have proven themselves to consistently offer unique and valuable data and context during media interviews.
During every media interview, CMOs should look to create a personal relationship with each media contact. It’s no secret that reporters have to move at the speed of light to cover breaking news. They need a portfolio of sources they can tap to gather a balanced perspective of what the breaking news means for a particular community.
As CMOs connect with new media contacts this is a time to share the particular topics they can offer expertise on and available to discuss as news evolves.
After the interview, we often recommend that the CMO connect with the reporter. The best way is on social media, discussing recent stories, current industry trends or even funny discussions taking place in the Twittersphere. Just as CMOs do with customers, it’s about building a relationship with the media to stay top of mind.
A CMO’s media relations strategy during COVID-19
From a media relations perspective, today’s environment demands increased responsibility in the type of information we share externally.
CMOs need to take the personal media connections they’ve made and analyze how their company can further serve reporters’ needs in an efficient and responsible manner.
It’s about asking what kind of information is needed and useful for the reporter, as well as for their customer base. As well, CMOs also have the responsibility to work with their communications team and PR agency not only to align timing for company announcements with other marketing campaigns but to ensure the media and public will be receptive to the forthcoming announcement.
It’s critical to have all stakeholders and experts on hand to evaluate what is appropriate to announce and what should be put on temporary hold in the current climate.
We all hold a responsibility to limit misinformation and provide helpful commentary. CMOs across organizations can serve as guardians, conveying information that is helpful and informational in a time of crisis.
Strengthening the CMO-driven media relations program
As CMOs continue to get more comfortable with their media relations programs they can succeed by serving as conduits of information, fostering a personal relationship with media contacts and serving as guardians against the spread of misinformation.
Marketing and media relations go hand-in-hand, creating new paths of growth for a company and a powerful asset for brand building. The secret ingredient to making these programs work together lies with the CMO.
When it comes to tracking relevant industry news as a PR pro, it’s important to read press releases in addition to what the media is already actively covering. By using an RSS feed (maybe that’s very 2000s of me), I receive the news from the source rather than reading it second hand in the media. This is helpful for a number of reasons. It keeps us ahead of rapid response opportunities for our clients and new business ideas for Ketner Group. Perhaps even more importantly, by reviewing hundreds of releases a day, I’ve learned a lot about the when and why of press releases.
Since early March when the COVID-19 pandemic became a reality in the U.S., I’ve seen the number of press releases in my newsfeed drop considerably. But for good reason. A lot of the news we’d normally announce simply isn’t important at the moment. During normal times, there are a handful of categories that press releases fall into. While press releases aren’t altogether obsolete now, there are several additional considerations that should be taken. We’ll explore all of this below.
When and Why: Customer Stories
PR professionals, particularly in B2B, often argue that customer news is the most important. Customer stories validate a vendor’s product offering and provide real-world case studies – both for the media and an organization’s broader sales efforts. You can announce customer news at two stages of the relationship. First, upon signature (a customer win) and second, once results are achieved.
Unfortunately, customer releases are also probably the most difficult to procure for most B2B clients. Customer PR and marketing teams are often hesitant to sign on to a release. Internal customer stakeholders don’t always see the value or they’re afraid of giving away trade secrets to competitors. However, customers are more likely to participate in media activities if there’s a financial incentive. Given that these stories are so helpful for replenishing the pipeline, sales teams should make an effort to negotiate these incentives during the contract and renewal process.
Considerations for Now. If your industry is operating more or less as it normally does, there’s likely no harm in doing a customer release right now. But, your media targets may be stretched and not have the bandwidth to cover the news.
On the other hand, if your industry has been largely disrupted by the pandemic and its effects, customer releases are pretty much off-limits. The exception is if the customer news is directly tied to the crisis. In that case, customer stories are incredibly valuable and the media are eager for this content.
When and Why: Product Releases and Updates
In general, product releases or updates aren’t meant to drive a huge amount of media coverage. Don’t worry, a few opportunities exist to drive mentions. The exception of course is if you have a truly revolutionary new offering. While that is rarely the case, it’s important to make product news available to your customers, prospects and investors.
When it comes to product news specifically, turn to the analyst community. Use paid analyst relationships when you can to vet your messaging and ensure the offering resonates with your target audience. If you don’t have a paid relationship, pre-brief analysts before the news is public. Friendlies might still offer valuable feedback that can help you tweak your final messaging.
Like any release, customer validation is key when it comes to product news. Again, this can be negotiated. Ask beta users to provide a quote in exchange for early access to the product. If a customer quote is off the table, anonymize any benefits or improvements from those tests or aggregate the results from a collection of customers.
Considerations for Now. Unless there is a direct application to help users manage the current situation, product releases probably don’t make sense right now. But, like customer releases, with a relevant angle, the media might be interested.
When and Why: Company News
Company news comes in a variety of forms. A leadership change, a new service offering, an upcoming event, a strategic partnership or an office opening. Like product news, company news doesn’t usually drive significant media mentions. But it’s important to make your stakeholders aware of this news.
In general, it’s important to get this news out both over the wire, on your website, to analysts and to any media friendlies who cover this type of news. Unless you represent a Fortune 500 company, you don’t need to pitch top-tier media. Don’t waste your time or theirs.
Considerations for Now. At Ketner Group, we recommend that you post this news on your websites and distribute over the wire. That way it’s on your website so customers and prospects are ensured it’s “business as usual.” By distributing it over the wire, media have access if they desire. However, we don’t recommend directly pitching the news to media. Reporter’s inboxes are overloaded and editors are directing their teams to focus only on timely coverage related to the crisis.
When and Why: Unique Research
Proprietary research. It’s the holy grail. It’s the gift that keeps giving.
For PR professionals and media alike, unique research (done well, of course) is the biggest blessing a client or solution provider can provide. At Ketner Group, we can’t sing the praises of good research enough. While it often requires a significant upfront investment, the payoff will be worth it.
A robust research study can be divided into multiple releases – not to mention multiple bylines, thought leadership pitches, social media posts, email campaigns and more. Plan to repeat the research on a quarterly or annual basis, if you can.
Considerations for Now. If you completed your research during “normal times,” you might be in bit of a pickle at the moment. But look for ways you can tie in the current situation. For example, our clients RSR and Symphony RetailAI completed a joint supply chain study just before the crisis set in.
Initially, we thought we’d need to wait on the news. However, we were able to find a tie in, identifying how “retail winners” were prepared for the current situation and others could learn from them. As a result, the news generated considerable interest and coverage. Now is also a good time for real-time research focusing on the current situation. If you have the time and budget for research now, we highly recommend proceeding.
The Nevers
While the above might not encompass all types of releases, it’s a good overview. There are also times and situations when press releases simply don’t make sense. One scenario I see way too often is a release that’s distributed over the wire that simply quotes an executive’s opinion about a particular trend or piece of news. This is a waste of money! Trust me, I’m the only one seeing it.
A short release costs roughly $400 to put over the wire. There are much better ways to get your opinions out; namely, blogs, bylines, pitching reporters directly offering the perspective for a story idea and rapid response (AKA newsjacking) pitching.
Final Press Release Considerations
In general, if you’re considering whether or not a press release is necessary, ask yourself a few questions. First, is it newsworthy? Will the media cover this news? If not, is this the best way to disseminate the news to my intended audience? Would a blog or a social post be more appropriate? And especially right now when resources are stretched, is the time and cost needed to write and distribute the release worth the return?
If you don’t know the answer to these questions, ask your PR partner. A good PR partner will always ensure that your time and money are well spent when it comes to press releases.
The world is changing more quickly and more dramatically than most of us have experienced in our lifetime. The coronavirus will fundamentally alter our lives. It is a lot to wrap your head around.
At the same time, most of us are antsy to identify ways we can move forward. We want to keep doing what we love: creating unique campaigns, communicating with customers, driving a business forward.
To help you move forward, we’ve identified three simple steps:
Feel: Begin at the Beginning
Before you can take action, you must understand your situation. That’s why I believe the very first thing we must do is feel. We must commit the time to wrapping our heads around the present, learning how our environments are shifting, feeling the impact COVID-19 is having on our business, our community and ourselves.
What is frustrating about this step is that, for many of us, the feeling phase may last much longer than we’d like. But because a global pandemic is a new experience for all of us, there is a lot of new information to take in, which takes time. Think of this period like you would a marketing campaign, your very first step is often to collect a lot of data. Feeling is that collection period.
Reflect: Identify the Marketing Work
Once you have taken the time required to understand your situation through feeling, you’re able to move into a period of reflection. The reflection period is all about evaluating the situation to develop a strategy for action.
As B2B marketers, our essential question is what action can I take to help sell? Unfortunately, in times like these the old-standby-style answers are not always correct anymore. Reflecting must entail identifying what actions you can take to help sell in this new environment. Consider what you need today to support a sale in the short term and the long term. You can begin by asking yourself the following questions:
How is my sales cycle changing? Is my company’s sales cycle increasing or decreasing? Does it require different types of engagement? The virus could be shifting your cycle in ways you don’t imagine. Understanding how it’s changing will help you identify what you need to support it.
To support the shifting sales cycle, what resources do I need? Identify what prospects need at this moment. Do they need help grasping the new retail environment? Maybe you can support them with a byline article. Do they need advice on creating better digital experiences? Maybe you could offer a free consultation via email.
What do people need when it comes to communication? The methods you use to communicate may need to change. If you use marketing automation, evaluate campaigns to ensure they empathetically address the situation. If you can, it may be even more effective to create tailored communication for each contact, calling some or waiting to contact others.
No matter what, you can’t go wrong by being compassionate. Asking empathetic questions and offering ways you can help will help us all identify a path forward.
Create: Develop Campaigns and Prepare for the Future
Once you have reflected on how things are changing, you’ll have the information you need to create new marketing efforts. Your sales process is likely changing. The volume and readiness of the pipeline may be altered, but your actual cycle may be decreasing or increasing as well.
If your sales cycle is decreasing, you’ll want to focus on crafting action-oriented campaigns that can help convert prospects quickly. Dive into your data to identify which campaigns were the most effective at converting and dial those up. If an email campaign promoting an ebook has worked particularly well in the past, invest in that campaign. Just make sure the messaging has been updated to more compassionately address the current situation. If an ad on LinkedIn has shown success, maybe it’s time to re-active it, again updating the content and creative in light of the coronavirus.
If your sales cycle is lengthening because of COVID-19, it may be the right time to hunker down and invest time into big projects that will set you up for future success. Events and awards may have been rescheduled but there are things you can control.
We’ve seen that long-form content is the backbone of B2B tech communications. Now is an opportune time to sit down and write. As a general rule, it’s good to have two to four long-form pieces of content (whether a whitepaper, eBook or research report) released per year. These can inspire blog posts, social media posts, ads, print collateral, webinars, articles, proactive pitching and even press releases. Overall, we see them help generate leads, illustrate your expertise and inspire new or ongoing campaigns.
Similarly, this could be a good time to invest in a time-intensive project such as a rebrand, website update, newsletter launch or persona refresh.
Don’t Stop Engaging With the World
Now is our time to rediscover the world. As we feel the impact of the coronavirus on our environments, it can be very challenging to identify a path forward. But by remembering to feel first and then reflect, we’ll be able to identify steps we can take to create our new environment.
You do not have to go through this transition alone. If you are ever looking for perspective, advice or a compassionate ear, we are here to help. We’re in this together. We have your back.
Interested in learning more about our thoughts on storytelling? We always love to chat about the topic over a cup of coffee. So don’t be shy, just reach out.
Read the Transcript
Kirsty
Goodlett: I want to start with Brittney. I am curious to hear from you. Why is
storytelling important?
Brittney Oliver:
Storytelling is so important, especially to me because I feel like it gives
everyone an opportunity to share their truth, right? We all have our own, all
our story that deserves to be shared. And I see the impact impacted needs,
especially for under represented communities, right? So if you’re a minority
business owner, having your stories old can do understory. For example, I have
a colleague whose book came out this week. When she received her book deal her
publishing house was kind of nervous because she didn’t have a large social
media following. They really want to make sure that she could sell this book
and the book, it’s called, The Memo, and it’s about women of color and
workplace. It’s a great topic but it’s always hard to pitch opportunities or
stories around people of color, right? It really is. So her publisher’s
feedback really meant some of these are hurting. So I wrote about her for Fast
Company. Once that article went live, her publisher gave her a date for her
book to be released. That’s how much a story being published can make an impact
to someone’s life.
Kirsty
Goodlett: So I want to jump off of that point and pass it over to Nicole.
Nicole, I’m curious to hear from you how you see storytelling being important
to businesses. Because Brittney’s example is such a great example of like
someone who’s clearly making money from writing, but we also have sometimes a
harder time telling stories about companies. So why is story telling important
for businesses?
Nicole
Delger: Storytelling gives people to talk about your company and you know,
share pride in the things they find. There are so many different things that we
can invest in or bring into our lives and it’s harder to be discerning some
times as a consumer. So when I think about storytelling, I always put my
consumer hat on. What are the brands that I like, what are the stories that I
rally around? How are they interesting? And I think it’s important for
companies down on what their story is so that people will talk about them. I
love your example, Brittney. I just saw another one in the news yesterday in
the Shelbyville Times about Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey. Have you seen this
one? I thought that was so beautiful and it is inspired by a slave that taught
Jack Daniels how to distill whiskey. And they are saying, this is the Godfather
ofTennessee whiskey. And I think that is really exciting for people who are
entrepreneurial, who are wanting to make something meaningful, wanting to
create a brand that’s meaningful to go out and find these stories and be
inspired by these stories to create something new. So I think it’s made from an
entrepreneurial perspective. And so typing into your own story or the story
that you want to tell it from a creative business.
Kirsty
Goodlett: So, what do you do then if you don’t have that? So, like how does
storytelling money vary then between business to business or business to
consumer? And what do you do from a toolkit perspective to think differently
about those different types of companies or services?
Nicole
Delger: Yeah, I mean not to immediately pitch hiring someone. I think it’s not
necessarily about hiring communications. company to tell your story. It’s about
having conversations with people and starting to look outside yourself, get
outside your business, get perspective on what might be interesting. For a
story, you might not recognize these really interesting people. I remember
Catherine talking about that person that you work with…
Kirsty
Goodlett: Yeah, that’s great. That’s a great leeway. Right. Catherine, can you
speak to this example or maybe some others that you’ve seen when it comes to
finding ways to tell stories about businesses?
Catherine
Seeds: Sure. I think with our clients, we work with B2B technology companies,
so we’re always looking into why we’d be interested in stories about the
products and the services that our clients are providing. And that’s what their
marketing is for, of course, but we want to dig deeper. All of us here are
storytellers in some way. So you want to take deeper. And what I love to do,
what we love doing for our clients is figuring out what has inspired the
executive and founder of the company to start that company. In my experience, a
lot of CEOs and founders don’t give themselves enough credit for the
inspiration for their own companies. One of our clients, we sat down with the
CEO and founder to get the backstory. He is from Germany. He went through his
story about how when he was 16, he worked in the salt mines and how he
remembered the sweat coming down his face, working in the mines, the salt
mines. He remembered how his superiors would check on him to make sure that he
was okay. And he remembered that and he carried that with him. When he started
his own company he decided he was always going to treat everyone the same, no
matter what level and that was because of his background in the salt mines. So
we put together a pitch to the media and we’ve got some interest in that, which
is great because CEO stories are always interesting to tell. You want to tell
those stories about the products and services and how they’re affecting end
users but we want to go further, we want to dig deeper into telling more
interesting, more human inspired stories for our clients.
Kirsty Goodlett:
Yeah. So that leads me to a good question for Kelley. When we were preparing
for this panel we were talking about, how do you identify interesting stories?
Kelley you had some interesting things to say about that. You remarked that
when you consider stories, you say, is this interesting to me? So can you speak
to that a little bit?
Kelley
Griggs: So that’s sort of the question I would ask. I would ask, hey, we are
seeking stories about startups. We happen to be seeking stories about startups
in the south. That’s like a pretty specific topic. And one of the reasons why
we were doing that was because we were looking for the types of things that
other people might relate to, both in business and in life. So, I think that
one really, really important part of telling your story is just asking
yourself, is this an interesting and would it be interesting to somebody else
if they were to read it? And what is really the, the hook of the story? If you
think about the hook of your story or you know, the reason why you love it so
much and emphasize that hook, I think that others are more likely to grab on to
whatever you’re talking about. They have to work on, you have to work on that
hook. So that’s really, you know, that’s really subjective. Everybody would
think a little bit differently and your story is not for everyone. So, I do
think though, as a journalist that something I would always think about if someone
was pitching me a story is, you know, is this interesting to my audience? And
that went back to my topic about startups in the south.
Kirsty
Goodlett: That’s a good point. So as a journalist who chooses which stories to
write about, can you speak to tips about someone may pitch you to get written
about.
Kelley
Griggs: Sure and I think, I think Brittney and I will have different
perspectives because when you’re, when you’re pitching to me, I have my topic,
I have startups in the south and that’s what I’m really looking for. And those
stories are very, very interesting to me because I’m telling you a human story,
I’m telling the story that a lot of people around here might relate to. I’m
telling a very different story than stories in Silicon Valley. So my stories
might have more grittiness to them. They might have more culture in the way
that we might understand it in our area of the country. They might not be so
much about scale and getting investment from, you know, getting millions and
millions of dollars. They’re not going to be the story of Silicon Valley.
They’re gonna be the story of what I’m used to. But, but my blog is about a
beginner, you know, a founder who’s just started a company, who is in the area
of maybe Nashville or Atlanta or Raleigh or global or Memphis. And I might be
your first person that you’ve reached out to. I think I’m way more likely to be
the first or second or third person you reach out to and say, Hey, I think I’m
writing to pitch somebody a story. So, people are out there starting
businesses. I’d love to hear from you.
Kirsty
Goodlett: And what do they say to you?
Kelley
Griggs: They usually say something like, Hey, uh, I just started a company.
This is what it’s called. Here’s the website. I think my story’s really
interesting. I wouldlove to talk to you about it. And that’s how we start a
conversation. You know, there are little things, like details like time and
getting our schedules right. Then usually I am willing to speak with most
people as long as it’s in my topic area; most people who reach out to me as
long as they’re legitimate.
Kirsty
Goodlett: Brittney, would you say that that’s true for you? Like what does it
take for you to get pitched and to write about it?
Brittney
Oliver: So I just want to let you know some of the outlets that I contribute
to. So I work where I contribute to the career money, entrepreneurial segments
for Fast Company, Essence, Nashville lifestyles, and other one line
publications. So I have a national reach, so I’m not limited to a region. But
to what you’re speaking, you need to pitch it within someone’s vertical, right?
So if your topic is on business or entrepreneurial endeavors or innovation at
your company, you want to target that specific staff writer or contributor for
that particular vertical in your immunity. You want to target the beauty
writer, right? So those are some of the tips that you would need when you’re
pitching yourself. Also, people don’t realize that you’re so much more than
your bio. You’re so much more than your bio. Really dig deep to different
angles to pitch yourself. You’ll never know when your experience, your life
experience will intrigue somebody. So for example, if you run a company, a
cheese company, right? But you have this really interesting background and how
you grew up and somehow it impacted the way you run your business. That’s
something that made it yourself. Is your company 50% minority? That’s something
that’s interesting because right now DNI topics are important and trending. So
also think about trending topics in your industry as well. What’s trending?
What is some leading data around your industry that you could leave with when
you’re pitching publicists? I mean, when you’re pitching publications, those
are things that are interesting. Lead with numbers, the data doesn’t lie. It
really backs up your story.
Kirsty
Goodlett: Yeah. So that leads to a great comment I think from Catherine. So,
Catherine, we have done a number of stories where we use data as a way to pitch
B2B, which sometimes has difficulty finding a human element. So as Brittney
said, that could be another way in. So I’d love for you to share some more
insight about how data can be used to help provide pickup.
Catherine
Seeds: Right. The clients that we’re working with, we’re always looking for data,
whether that’s data with your own customer base or if you’ve gone out and done
some consumer surveys or research studies. You know, folks like Brittney and
other trade or business media are gonna be interested in that as well as a good
customer story. We have an interesting use case about how we were able to use
data very successfully in Kirsty you can keep me honest on this one since you
were on the team. We have a company in Austin, they’re an ad tech company. We
worked in collaboration with them to put together a consumer study around
Amazon Prime Day. We were looking at things like, you know, from a consumer
standpoint, you know, what are they shopping for during Amazon Prime Day? Have
they shopped before? What are they going to be shopping for this year? So we
kind of looked at that. It was focused all on Amazon Prime Day. We got really
lucky because we have really great data. We also had really great luck from a
timing standpoint because the day that we released our was the day that Amazon
had announced the date of their official Prime Day. So we have all this amazing
data out there. And what we found in that data was that Amazon Prime Day is
like the next big holiday shopping event, like back-to-school or any other sort
of micro-holiday. So, we have some really great data, but we also had really
great timing and our team had been pitching top tier and trade media, up until
that day. So the stars aligned in PR world that doesn’t happen very often. And
so we’re really glad that it did and we were able to get some awesome media
coverage: Bloomberg, Market Watch, Ad Week, and all the trade and ad tech
trades. Am I missing anything, Kirsty?
Kirsty
Goodlett: No, that’s good.
Catherine
Seeds: Okay good. So from a success standpoint, it was a good day for us at
Ketner Group when that happened and the client, obviously was very happy. And I
know that the team is still being able to use some of that data moving forward.
Kirsty
Goodlett: Yeah. The other thing that I’ll add to that, which is interesting
from a story perspective is the one thing that was like the hook for the media
was Amazon Prime Day is the new back to school holiday, right? Like that’s an
interesting hook. But additionally Adlucent is an ad tech company, so we were
able to say, okay, it’s the new holiday and what are you doing about it? Right?
Like, are you making sure that your advertising is prepared in order to meet
this holiday? So that’s another example of how the data is great for getting
and securing that trade or that top tier pickup. But then from a business
perspective, you want to consider, okay, the data’s going to get me in and then
what do I do once I’m in, right? What’s my story after that? So in terms of
that logistics stuff, Nicole, I’m curious to hear from you regarding what
things you need to consider about stories that you might not expect. One thing
with you in particular, and knowing your background, how do you take a story
and integrate a brand identity. How do you take that and translate it into
different platforms.
Nicole
Delger: Yeah, so I do marketing and communications, but my main client right
now is a pencil factory, a hundred year old pencil factory. And I’m now all
about pencils. I have a bunch in my bag if you want one from Musgrave Pencil
factory there in Shelbyville. So I mentioned that because if you don’t know
about the pencil industry, they’re notoriously secretive. So when they came on
and wanted to rebrand, they were a hundred year old company and nobody knew
anything about them. So it was of like, oh my gosh, I have this like chest of
things to just uncover. And I think the thing that’s surprising is they have
such a great story. They have so many vintage things. I didn’t have to tell it
all at once. It didn’t have to just go out there with this really long piece of
coverage. I can find a vintage advertising pencil and take an awesome photo of
it and find a business that it was advertising 50 years ago and tag them and
tell a little story. So especially if you have a company where you feel like
there’s so much to tell and share, it’s okay in your storytelling to tell
little nuggets, and little Easter eggs along the way and know that over time
you’re building that brand identity, you’re building that larger narrative. It
doesn’t all have to happen at once. And starting to know when you’re talking to
people, what details you can leave out just as much as what details should you
put in for whatever that exchange might be. And so I think you can find one
story on Instagram through a visual platform. Or another story if you’re doing
the longer piece of media, what you might talk about regarding your CEO, and
you don’t have to get into that, all that other stuff. And so really thinking,
matching the media, matching the story with it.
Nicole
Delger: So something else that we were discussing earlier that was something
that came up that we wouldn’t expect so much was that Brittney talked about
thinking about SEO and what stories people want to hear. So can you speak to
your experience, Brittney, regarding from the publication side. What are
publications thinking about that would be surprising to companies?
Brittney
Oliver: So everything is about clicks, right? A lot of people blame Buzzfeed
for the way the media is, but it’s true. It’s about clicks. Let’s, it’s
click-baity, right? How are we going to drive traffic? Everyone wants that
traffic. And so when you’re thinking about telling your story, think about
things that are trending, right? For example, I feel like this is the month of
Serena Williams. And the reason why I say that is, one, it’s tennis month,
right? Today’s the US Open. So anything tennis relating related is going to
pick up some traffic, right? Then she’s someone who advocates equal pay. And
that’s been a big topic this month, women’s equality day is today actually. So
she is someone who’s trending, circulating. If you have a story idea in those
little pockets you’re going to drive SEO. So tell that story, if it is sports,
or you know, Serena Williams related, you can tie her in somehow. Any of those
things. Think about those holidays that are coming up, the holidays that you
were talking about. Those things attract SEO. So when you’re pitching, really
think about that because that’s what media companies are looking for.
Kirsty
Goodlett: The other thing that I found surprising when we were meeting earlier
was that companies aren’t always ready to tell their stories. So, Nicole and
Brittney, you were both talking about what to do as you keep telling stories.
Kelly, I’m curious to hear from you, when do you know that you have a story to
tell in the first place?
Kelley
Griggs: So some of you might be wondering like, Hey, I am just getting started.
I don’t have any customers yet or I don’t have, you know, my business is less
than a year old or the things that I want to share with the world just
happened. And obviously it depends on your personal preferences and
circumstances, but, I will say you wouldn’t believe how many pitches I get that
are pre-revenue, like barely have a put together a pitch deck, they just want
to reach out to me and like get on my radar. I don’t want to give advice
because I don’t know if bloggers find that annoying or if they if they like it.
I don’t really know. I only know how I feel and I’m just naturally curious and
I like stories. So if you were to send me the pitch deck, even if I were to to
turn you away. Or even if I said like, hey, this isn’t ready yet or I would
really like to see, you know, some other things. Come back to me again. You
should still send them to me because odds are I’m interested because I’m
interested in startups because I truly like starting businesses and I like
talking about it and I thoroughly enjoy that world.
Kirsty
Goodlett: What do you put in the pitch deck?
Kelley
Griggs: So if you have a deck…something that should be included in the deck
is your information, what your business is, where your website is, what it
does, you know, the 32nd elevator pitch of who your competitors are. What is
your revenue plan, if you haven’t made money yet, ..if you do have customers, I
would like to know that you have customers. But remember, you have to be
careful with what you share with me because I am a writer and I will want to
write about things. So if there’s something that you just don’t want to share,
you don’t have to share it even if I ask for it. So just always remember,
remember that.
Kirsty
Goodlett: Is it a PowerPoint typically or a pdf?
Kelley
Griggs: It’s usually a pdf. Sometimes it’s like on a different website, but
sometimes it’s just an attached pdf like in keynote or it could be PowerPoint.
I get a wide range. Some of them are very well polished, they look like they’ve
been in front of investors, others are like done with them in PowerPoint. And I
think all this is to say that some of my favorite startup stories in Nashville
are people that you may have heard of now like ** for example, like they have
raised millions of dollars. Now they’re an instrument that, uh, you can put
your phone into and you can play any instrument using their device. Some fans
in Nashville have used the ** on stage and they’ve now gotten to the point
where they’re probably written in big publications more often than I would
write about them. But you know, when they just started out in Nashville, like
somebody had to find them. So I wrote about them a long, long, long time ago.
Another Nashville startup, there’s one that does lawn care. It’s almost like an
Uber for lawn care. Um, they started very young. When they started out, they
pitched me with like, I think just like maybe a one sheeter or a pitch deck or
something very light. And I had to sort of go out and keep following them and
dig for those stories. So I don’t know all this to say that I really like to
encourage people to just get started. I’m probably a little bit more
approachable. Like I don’t think that other media should or will give you
feedback like I do. And I try to keep it non-biased and according to my own
rules of my blog. But I will say that I would love to hear your stories in
general.
Kirsty
Goodlett: So now we’ve heard about about what’s happening now. Catherine, I’m
curious about your perspective regarding how storytelling is evolving. Like
what do you see in terms of new ways that people are telling stories like
podcasts or social media? And also what are you seeing staying the same?
Catherine
Seeds: So we are spending a lot more time looking at podcasts. I don’t know if
there’s any podcasters in the audience but we are starting to put you guys on
our media list because our clients are asking for that. It’s another new
interesting medium to, for our clients to tell their stories and also to share
on social media platforms inside. So we are really taking a close look at
podcasting. They’re more and more popping up every day especially in Austin. There’s,
there’s a ton of podcasts, a startup focused podcasts in Austin. Social media:
social media has always been there for us, but we’re really, um, trying to
build better relationships with the media that we work with on social media.
And not in an annoying way, but you know, if they are tweeting about something,
you know, or if they wrote an article about something interesting that had
nothing to do with any of our clients we might want to say, oh, that’s really
interesting or share that. It always goes back to developing really great
relationships with the media that you’re working with. Social media is a really
great, great way of doing that. And so we’ve been able to really kind of deepen
our relationships with the key media and also we get, you know, first insights
into people that are moving around. So someone that may be at Fast Company and
has moved on to Bloomberg and this and that, so we’re able to keep tabs of
what’s going on in there to help us tell better stories and tell the stories of
the right people.
Brittney
Oliver: I just want to say that’s, that’s the most organic way to build a
relationship with someone who is a journalist, what you’re doing. And for me
personally, I don’t like pitch decks or pdf. If you can’t send like a quick one
paragraph blurb, then it’s probably a no go for me. But the most organic
relationships that I’ve built are the people who usually get features from me.
Like if you come to support me at an event and you need to spend a moment of
time with me afterward. And you tell me something interesting. I keep that in
mind. I’m also always listening to podcasts. If I hear someone on there and I
think, oh, that was really unique. I’m going to reach out to them for an
opportunity. So journalists are looking everywhere for the next story. So if
you don’t have, you know, an Essence or a Fast Company, that is fine. That
blog, that news letter, that podcast is another way that someone can be seen.
Catherine
Seeds: I was just going to say one more thing. As far as things staying the
same and we kind of touched on it a little bit, but building the relationships
with the media is so important, no matter how you’re communicating. You know,
with you guys building those relationships and not, you know, just coming to
them when, when you need something. We found that we have better luck and I’m
sure you guys, you all are communicators, you find better luck in getting
things that you would want for your client or for yourself if you have that
relationship. It’s a two way street. So I really encourage you all to do what
you can to develop those relationships, whether it’s again, you know, talking
with them on social media, going to the events that they’re going to. We go to
a lot of trade shows for our clients and it’s a really great way to get face to
face. But again, all of this ties back to like, how can I help our clients or
my company tell a better story? And it really is ties back to developing really
good relationships.
Kirsty
Goodlett: Awesome. Thank you. I’m going to switch gears here. and pick up on
the Austin Nashville theme for the event. So, Kelly, I’m curious to hear from
you how you see storytelling supporting the growth of Nashville.
Kelley
Griggs: That’s a great question. Look, we’ve been growing as a city far before
I came to Nashville. So I feel as a writer, like I am an observer and I’m only
telling the part of the story that I know how to tell. The part that I see in
the world. Back when I moved to Nashville in 2012, that happened to coincide
with the tech scene starting to grow really rapidly. Some of that was due to
local and regional investments. Some of that was due to accelerators starting
up. So that was due to coming off the flood and the last recession. People were
getting really comfortable and some of it was due to the success and the
stories that people heard from other places in the U.S. So, you know, when I
think about growth and where, where we go from here, I think there’s so much
opportunity. Part of the thing I get excited about when I’m telling a story is
that we are all part of it. If you’re here in Nashville right now. And I will
add that location really shouldn’t matter if you’re on the Internet, that
you’re in the conversation, so that kind of goes against like my, my regional
focus. But, in reality, you know, we all exist no matter where we are. And
since, you know, people are more interested in things like remote work and
longer maternity and paternity leaves and different people are interested in
different benefits that might apply. And that is really exciting for people who
live in places like Nashville. I think that is a very important emerging story.
So for us here, you know, starting a business, I don’t know, to me it’s never
been more exciting. But I would say that every year, since I’ve lived here, you
know, since I moved here in 2012. And I think the most important thing that I
see is that we are in charge of our own story. And that doesn’t have to be the
same as other places. It can be really our own brand and it can come from our
own place and it can come from our own history and our own experiences. And it
should be that way because we have our own identity.
Kirsty
Goodlett: Yeah. So that leads to a nice pass off to Catherine from Austin. So,
Catherine, I’m curious to hear from you how you’ve seen storytelling support
the growth of Austin.
Catherine
Seeds: Well, I mean, I’m sure you all know it’s a huge tech hub, much like
Nashville is and is becoming. And it’s been that way since the 80s. I mean, um,
Dell computers started there, Twitter, got its start at South by Southwest. I
mean there’s a ton of really cool startup stories in Austin. And I think from a
storytelling standpoint, if like when we’re talking to companies and pitching
our clients, especially those that are based in Austin, that comes with a
certain cache. Oh, I’m from Austin! Or that comes from Austin! Oh, that’s cool.
Oh, I love Austin. Yeah, it’s the same thing with Nashville and we’re so glad
to be here because I feel like there is a lot of similarities between the two
cities. Because, again, you say, Oh, I’m from Nashville, I’m starting a company
in Nashville.. Oh, that’s cool. I’ve heard great things about Nashville. You
know, it doesn’t really change so much of like how we tell the story, but I
feel like it does kind of give us a differentiation when we’re pitching for
business because a lot of our clients that we’re working with are either global
or across the U.S. and so for them having someone in a tech hub like Austin or
Nashville is important to them.
Kirsty
Goodlett: Great. So the other thing that is true about this panel is that we’re
all women. So, Nicole, I would love to hear from you regarding why it’s
important for us to discuss diversity and inclusion as it pertains to the
future of storytelling.
Nicole
Delger: Absolutely. You know, stories are how we make sense of the world. It’s
how we cooperate. It’s how we work together. I don’t know if has anybody read
the book Sapiens, it is a fantastic book. And you know, his whole thesis is
essentially, you know, we’re an animal and the reason that we were able to be
the dominant animal is our ability to work together, to cooperate and to tell
stories. So when we talk about the importance of inclusivity and whether it’s
women or people of color or people who have been disenfranchised, when they
don’t have the ability to tell the story and to shape the narrative then they
don’t have the opportunity to create the world that we all want to live in that
is different than the narrative that we’ve been told for hundreds of years,
thousands of years, by whoever was in charge at that given time. I think that’s
really interesting. We have to make sure that a lot of voices get to shape and
get to tell their stories so that we can create a better world for everybody.
Kirsty
Goodlett: So then Brittney, I’m curious to hear your response to that same
question. Where do you see diversity inclusion being important to the future of
storytelling?
Brittney
Oliver: It’s important because it’s impactful. Like I said earlier, it really
makes a difference for a minority owned businesses when your story is told. And
so I want to give a, a quick story about just my experience moving back to
Nashville. So I lived in New York for seven years and diversity and inclusion
is such a big topic in New York. It’s something that everyone’s talking about.
All the companies are really trying to make changes. But when I came back home
a year ago, I noticed that conversation wasn’t happening here. It wasn’t loud,
people weren’t really making noise. And when I looked at the publications here,
I didn’t see a lot of black owned businesses featured in the publications. I
kind of made it a priority to be that vessel for those black owned businesses
and for minority businesses. So for example, Ashley is here today,. She has a
website called Urbanite and she really highlights a lot of the businesses that
are left out in those major publications here in Nashville. And because I’m a
subscriber to her newsletter, I came across Nicole, who is the owner of
Clarity, which is a candle shop. And I loved her story. I pitched her to
Nashville Lifestyles and she’s in the current business, women in business
issue. That’s something that was important to me to see more diversity in that
magazine and to see more diversity just throughout Nashville, but it’s so it
will change her business being featured in that and it will change other
people’s businesses. And so diversity inclusion, really being able to tell
those stories is impactful. There’s a Nashville mother and daughter team, Mixtroz,
well, they just moved but I featured them in Essence. I featured them in
Dssence and they were really close to hitting the million dollar mark raising
money. After essence, they hit that mark the next week. You know, so you can
leverage those things. That’s how much your story being featured being featured
in major publications as a minority can help. And so when people say no, it
doesn’t matter if you have press or not, it does. It really makes an impact.
Nicole
Delger: I love what you’re doing. The voice you’re bringing because we talk
about how Nashville is booming and we want to make sure that it’s booming for
everybody, that everybody is, you know, because there’s so much industry coming
in here, like tech, and I love that you’re telling those stories and you have
that forum because it’s so critical at this key time for Nashville, for
everybody to get that lift.
Brittney
Oliver: Yeah. Nationwide, nationwide, the numbers don’t lie. You know, we’re an
all women panel, but in business and major companies, you don’t see women on
the C-suite like that, right? So telling those stories are important. It really
can change the game. It starts to challenge what’s happening in corporate
America, right? And it starts to make people see different things about what they’re
doing. And so the numbers don’t lie. You want to be impactful. We want to make
change in our culture, in our communities. So definitely diversity and
inclusion is a big deal.
Austin
