It’s a terrible cliche to say we spend so much time working on work that we neglect to blog about it. While I think it’s more of a utilitarian excuse*, I also believe it’s the curse of any successful, small PR agency. More than a decade ago, before we started Seedling, I remember being a part of big agencies with blog schedules. When your turn came around you were responsible for spewing something insanely creative and pitchy that week. It was either a client highlight, like a proud Mom brag, or something about the industry that a potential client likely wouldn’t know.
It’s funny how time passes, some things change and some things don’t (https://www.seedling-communications.com/seedling-communications-pr-advertising-austin-news/2016/3/29/big-brands-need-little-agencies). This week I was thinking about how far we’ve come since we established Seedling as an agency in 2010. One of the benefits of living through COVID has been reminiscing about “normal” life and then talking about the future. When we talk about Seedling, we gush over past clients, big projects, our achievements and the lessons we’ve learned. We have so many stories, but one that makes me think introspectively is how much the industry has changed, not just Seedling. It’s a bit ironic that the industry changes oftentimes as quick as the news. I suppose most industries change, but oftentimes it feels like this one is a revolving door.
Doing PR ten ago years, or even 20 years ago when my career began, was radically different day to day. What was newsworthy 10 or 20 years ago wouldn’t be newsworthy now, and what was newsworthy today may not have been news worthy before.
For example, two decades ago big brands communicated with customers through commercials and earnings calls. The amount of times we were exposed to a brand, even one we love, was far less than today. Brands relied on word of mouth and brand recognition.
Today it’s possible to see your favorite brand multiple times before you even get out of bed. That was unheard of in the late 90s. No one was checking email on their phone, in bed, clicking on sales like, “30% off today only!” or “free shipping for orders over $50!” before sunrise. And, absolutely no one was holding their phone moments before starting their day scrolling social media with another sponsored reminder that the deal ends today. Back then, the newsworthy items weren’t the sales or the reminder content, they were less frequent and higher impact pieces. Brands didn’t have to change their messaging daily, they had to come out with really excellent content to reach the masses a few times a year and then trust that their ambassadors would model purchasing behavior and tell all their friends (face to face, without a mask on).
With so many channels for communicating and among all the segmented audiences its created, brands now have to not only target the right audience, they have to find them and keep them happy or else face the dread of them unsubscribing or unfollowing their content. There’s still a formula, but it’s much more intricate and there’s a lot more pivoting required. Take it from these brands, https://mention.com/en/blog/social-customer-service/, they are doing so much, and doing it so well.
When a brand loses a customer, the process of reengaging them is more difficult than it used to be. Now they have to find the customer, because with all the marketing noise it’s possible the customer won’t find them.
So it brings us to the question of what is newsworthy? Everyday we work to find the balance for the brands we support. Relevancy on one side of the coin and aesthetics on the other. Why? Because newsworthiness isn’t just content anymore. It has to be engaging too. Layers of engagement, breaking through the clutter, but not too much or you’ll oversaturate your audience.
PR is more multifaceted than ever before, it’s not just delivering the written word in a press release and sending it to an inbox. It’s putting out content, in multiple places, in lots of different ways so that your audiences see, hear and read what you’re talking about. Why? Because that’s what we’ve grown accustomed to. Think about the type of news you absorb. Think about what reaches you and makes you engage. And then think about if that type of interaction makes sense for your customers, clients and donors. Once you figure out how to attract clients, then you have to work on what would be newsworthy to them. It’s not going to be the same for everyone. Some audiences want to be interacted with and some simply want your highlights. What is newsworthy doesn’t follow the same pattern it used to, so it’s a balance you have to strike in order to keep your readers, followers and viewers captive.
*Brands have to do more than just talk about themselves, they have to engage with their audiences. And that’s the utilitarian reason why realized is why we don’t blog much. We simply don’t just write about our projects, we live them. We love them. We champion them. It may have been three years since our last blog post, but we’ve been busy doing the hard work that our clients deserve.
2020 has been anything but ordinary, so we thought we’d end it with the unordinary. With a big post. And maybe, just maybe, the new normal for us in 2021 will be connecting with others here. Not only to gain more followers for our brand, but because we enjoy it. And, that’s a good enough reason for anything beneficial, whether it’s newsworthy or not.
To wrap it up with a bow, like all the pretty presents under your tree, I want to ask you a rhetorical question. As a brand, what do you want to do to be relevant and newsworthy next year? What do you want to fill your head with as a consumer? What do you want to influence you as a human? Those are the messages we hope find you and the ones we hope you follow. Merry Christmas and good riddance to 2020. May your life be fuller and more joyful than ever before in the year ahead. And, may your brands grow with the type of customers you dream of.
As always, we’re here if you need us.