It has been a tremendous first half of the year for Bluetext across many fronts. We have won many exciting new projects, landed some very interesting clients, added some awesome staff, and taken on and won against some stiff competition.

In the last three weeks alone we were named public sector PR agency of record for two of the most recognized technology companies in the country, one on each coast.

For each of these two companies, the public sector is a critical market for their growth as each has technology that is in high demand across the Government. Interestingly, each company has a corporate agency which provided little support across the public sector, and each indicated that their agency did not focus on or “get” the public sector.

We get the public sector. We know how to effectively market and communicate in this market. And we know how to craft a PR campaign that is impactful to make noise and move the needle. Here are five recommendations to consider when thinking about your public sector PR program:
1. Get Creative. Product announcements don’t garner much coverage unless you are a massive company or it is a major breakthrough. But leveraging a trend in the market to talk about how your product can drive mission effectiveness can be a subtle but smart way to let your audience know about your new product or solution.

2. Government-ize the message. Take the product and solution announcements coming out of corporate and look at the messages that will resonate in this market. We know the public sector buyer is unique, therefore the message needs to be relevant and directed.

3. Make Your Content Consumable. Create listicles and snackables that can be shared easily across a wide variety of mediums.

4. Be Present and Relevant. Make sure your thought leaders are trained and ready to deliver a strong message. Many companies are competing for limited ink. The right PR team and the right message can go a long way.

5. Find the References. Sure, it is hard to get a Government customer to speak with a reporter about how they are using your technology. But if you approach them in a more subtle way to jointly pursue an award or speaking opportunity it can provide a great way to put your customers in the spotlight and begin the process of finding out how reference-able they really are.

If the public sector is an important market for your company and you are not garnering the right type of attention give us a call. We would love to talk about how we can deliver a campaign with impact…that is what we do best.

Top PR agencies know that words really do matter. That’s why crafting pitches that will grab a reporter’s attention but not disappoint, confuse or otherwise lose their interest is essential to a successful campaign. Unfortunately, concise writing that doesn’t rely on using the same old tired phrases but still gets noticed seems to be a lost art in the public relations realm. At Bluetext, we’re careful to make sure that we always keep our writing fresh, clever, accurate, and to the point – without resorting to jargon. Here are eight over-used PR terms that are so tired that it’s time to retire them.

• “Unicorn.” A unicorn in tech PR parlance is the next billion-dollar start-up that’s just waiting to be discovered. Of course, every startup thinks it is the next unicorn. By throwing this term into the pitch mix, you’re sending a clear sign of unreal expectations or hyping a company far beyond its real story. True unicorns don’t need to be labeled as such.
• “Synergy.” We never were really sure what this dog of a word meant. It seems just like more marketing babble rather that a true description of how organizations (or even individuals) can create more value when working together than on their own.
• “So,…” This is a big faux pas and is not allowed out of the shop here at Bluetext. Starting a sentence with “So” is simply sloppy writing. Your argument should speak for itself, and your reader should be able to figure that out without being instructed to do so.
• “Arguably,…” Following on the heels of “So,” this is another one of our forbidden words. As a writer and editor, I see the reason as part logic, part annoyance. Anything that can be argued is arguable, so using the term doesn’t add anything, except for annoying me.
• “Circle Back.” Ok, I’m guilty of this one and pledge to police myself better. A reporter already gets that you are “circling back” because you do so in the email. Telling them again doesn’t make it more likely that they will respond. Let the pitch do the convincing rather than the extraneous words.
• “Honestly.” One of my least favorites. Using this term is a signal that everything else you’ve written hasn’t been honest. Not good.
• “Thrilled.” As in, “We’re thrilled to announce our client’s latest product/service/new hire/etc.” Really? That’s not an emotion I typically associate with client announcements. It gets less thrilling every time a reporter sees that word.
• “Stakeholder.” I’m also guilty of overusing this term. Technically speaking, a stakeholder is someone who owns stock in a company. Today everyone is a stakeholder if they even have a minimal relationship to the company. Calling someone a stakeholder doesn’t really mean anything. Just use a more precise term, like the customer, employee, partner or vendor.

If PR professionals can dial back on these tired PR terms, they’ll be forced to write more concisely with less confusion, and have more success with their pitches.

Looking to boost your public relations results?  Contact us.

It has been years, maybe decades, since one person has consistently dominated the news cycle for such an extended period of time as is the case right now with President Donald Trump. South By Southwest, which is currently underway, used to be about the tech startups…and the music…and the films…and the parties. And in some ways it still is about all of those things, but there is no denying that politics is the pervasive theme running through panels and speeches this year.

SXSW 2017 is a microcosm for the broader media conversation right now, which has major ramifications for PR and marketing professionals seeking to cut through the noise – or become a part of it. No matter if your client is a technology provider, non-profit, government contractor or retailer brand, the Trump-dominated news cycle is sucking everything else into it with Death Star-like ferocity.

Outlets that typically have a broader coverage mandate – such as CNBC, Fortune, and BusinessWeek – have re-oriented around the broad Trump effect and thus narrowing opportunities for coverage outside of this theme. For PR professionals, this poses a challenge: how to maintain a steady drumbeat of press impact for clients when the slice of air time or ink is shrinking, while at the same time navigating the thorniness of commenting on political matters.

Pick your spots

There have been multiple examples the past few months of executives taking a strong public stand – on both sides of the election outcome – with wildly varied results. If an executive is passionate about making a public statement, PR counsel must analyze all the potential outcomes, what is to be gained or lost, and advise on where a positive impact can be achieved.

Everything is a corporate statement

We’ve all see the popular disclaimer: “The views expressed by this author do not reflect the views of…” There is technically a difference between making a personal statement and a corporate statement, but at the end of the day it is not a true separation of church and state. If customers and citizens don’t like an executive’s political statement, some will focus their ire directly on the individual, but others will look to hit where it will hurt the most: the bottom line. Whether it’s boycotts or social media campaigns, executives weighing into political conversations must understand the business risks.

Power – and comfort – in numbers

There can be power in numbers, and when like-minded organizations come together to make a political statement the impact can prove more significant and lasting. At the same time, executives may feel more comfortable as part of a broader industry effort – either leading it or simply as a participant. As part of a group, executives may lose their ability to fully control the message, but they may be more comfortable with a collaborative effort that leaves them less exposed at a personal level.

While the aforementioned tips are useful for clients open to entering the political fray, most clients will have no interest in doing so – which means that agencies must get resourceful and creative. One PR flack recently noted a reporter’s response when pitching a client to him: “I’m up to my eyeballs in Trump, so not right now.” And this was not even a political reporter. So what’s unusual is not that politics is dominating a news cycle, but how long this domination has endured. This is going to require additional research on what reporters are writing on to try and find any possible entrée to media coverage. It’s going to demand more creativity to think beyond what has traditionally worked in the past. It’s going to require more nimbleness to react quickly to breaking news that may offer an opportunity to weigh in.

The bottom line is that PR professionals can’t operate in a vacuum, tone-deaf to current events. Whether its constructing a panel for SXSW or future events that you know will lean towards politically-angled topics, or pitching story angles to reporters that may have an editorial mandate to connect their beat (be it tech, fashion, manufacturing, etc.) to various political policy decisions or changes in the law.

Well…given the polarizing nature of the 2016 presidential election, it’s a fair bet that families will spend as much time on Thanksgiving “talking turkey” as they will devouring it. The phrase “talking turkey” has an interesting history, with some tracing it back to colonial times to describe when colonists and Indians would barter over wild turkeys.

Since then, the phrase has been primarily associated with stating something frankly and matter-of-factly. I’m sure there will be plenty of frank comments at the Thanksgiving dinner table about how a Donald Trump presidency will impact the stock market. The energy sector. Foreign relations. The economy. How about the cupcake industry? Ok, so Red Velvet cupcake sales will probably not be materially affected by a new president, but you get my point: When a seismic news event occurs, an avalanche of commentary soon follows on how, in this case, a Trump presidency will impact every nook and cranny of society.

Rather than speculate in those areas, the focus of this post will be to view Trump’s victory through a publicity lens. Is there a “teachable moment” for the marketing and public relations industry given the uniqueness of how Trump used his brand and marketed himself? What does his victory say about the value of the estimated millions upon millions of dollars in “free” earned media coverage national and local media lavished upon him for several months, reducing his need to spend on traditional TV, radio, print and online advertising?

Depending on which way you bend politically, each person will no doubt have their own opinion on why Trump won. Either way, ad and marketing agencies across the country are re-evaluating what they know and thought they knew about consumers in the wake of the election results. An article in today’s Wall Street Journal cites how ad giant McCann Worldgroup assembled top execs to dissect what Trump’s victory means from an advertising perspective. The broader article theme postulates on whether brands have overlooked the same rural voters who fell under the big data and polling radar to propel Trump in key battleground states.

The uniqueness of the presidential campaign offers some insights for marketing, advertising and PR agencies wondering if consumer behavior will match voter behavior in the coming months and years.

Modesty doesn’t always sell

Imagining how and why Trump’s message resonated with so many people harkens me to a person watching infomercials at 3am. Deep down, you know that the BackMassage 3000 can’t possibly cure your back pain in five minutes or less, but its three o’clock in the goddamn morning. You’re tired, and everything else you’ve tried hasn’t worked, so why not give it a chance?

Trump as a brand was not modest about what he thought he could accomplish during the campaign, and the results suggest many voters responded favorably to his ambitious promises. Perhaps some knew deep down that he wasn’t going to be able to deliver on all of it, but like the BackMassage 3000, it sounded bigger and bolder than anything they heard before.

Jargon can obscure the brand promise

As an acronym, keep it simple stupid (KISS) has been applied to endless use cases, from politics to sports to sales. KISS traces back to a U.S. Navy design principle in the 1960s, and has served as a reminder to avoid adding unnecessary complexity. Trump kept his messages very simple; and these messages were either embraced or reviled by voters because the messages were easy to understand. Brands often complicate the product message with jargon that may be technically accurate, but falls flat when it comes to establishing a connection with everyday users.

It pays to be memorable

And then there was one. The Republican party began the 2016 presidential campaign with 17 candidates. My bet is that if voters were asked to describe 1-2 unique ideas that the other candidates had – whether it was Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, Rick Perry or Jeb Bush – they’d be scratching their heads for quite some time.

Think about the commoditization of budget to mid-level hotel chains, who typically offered similar rooms, at similar prices, with similar amenities. How does a traveler pick one over the other? It can often come down to creating some calling card that is memorable. For Hampton Inn, it was the Belgian waffles at the free breakfast buffet. Guests remembered the Belgian Waffles, and returned to Hampton Inn just for the breakfast.

Trump marketed campaign promises that were very, very different from other candidates, which made these promises memorable and, by default, Trump memorable with voters struggling to figure out how each of the 17 candidates was difference from one another.

You can’t build a brand overnight

One of the most overlooked but critical elements of Trump’s success is that he had spent decades building an oversized brand that could be immediately activated for his campaign. This was critical, because while 17 candidates on the GOP sides sounds like a lot, many ran out of time and money to develop brand awareness – not only around who they were but what they represent. For every Jeb Bush and Chris Christie entering the fray with baseline brand awareness, there was a Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, Scott Walker and Jim Gilmore – folks known inside the beltway but certainly not to most Americans. Trump came in with an established brand known to probably most every single voter, and the media fed this brand throughout the campaign with free publicity that negated his need to advertise heavily or introduce himself to voters.

Big data has its limits

Marketers and advertisers are stepped in big data today, but the previously referenced WSJ article makes another good point: Big data may not be telling them everything they need to know, and if this data skips over important source blocks such as rural voters, then it is by default flawed data. Finally, if the data misses key demographic segments, brands might make assumptions about who their customers aspire to be. Rural voters may not aspire to have the latest iPhone that celebrities and athletes use, but may just want reliable phone and data service that can be hard to come by in rural areas.

Will Donald make sales of Red Velvet cupcakes great again? Only time will tell.

If you are a CMO or executive at a DC-area organization seeking to hire a digital marketing firm, do you Google search for “Top DC digital marketing firms” or “Top digital marketing firms?” Maybe you don’t use a search engine at all, but that’s a conversation for another day.

The point is that for many organizations, there is significant perceived value in having a marketing agency that is “local” – whether it’s a b2b marketing agency, b2g marketing agency or b2c marketing agency. The true value of engaging with the best “local” marketing firm as opposed to just the best marketing firm period is a more nuanced consideration that depends on the specific needs of your organization. To help with that decision, I’ve assembled five key questions to ask yourself before deciding if your marketing partner should be local:

How much value do you place on face time?

CMOs must be honest with themselves upfront about how important it is to have your marketing agency team available for in-person meetings. This should be a factor in the pre-hire evaluation phase – how big a factor is up to the CMO. It can be practically and economically unreasonable to expect a non-local marketing agency to show up on short notice, but it is also true that getting together in-person can foster improved team chemistry and allow for easier oversight.

How specialized are your marketing requirements?

As is the case with any product or service, the laws of supply and demand apply. If your organization is based in Cleveland, there will certainly be sufficient marketing agencies to choose from. But how niche is your product/service or vertical market you serve? Perhaps you need an agency with experience marketing consumer-facing ride-sharing startups, or software for the healthcare industry. All of the sudden, the list of credible b2b marketing agencies or b2c marketing agencies with this type of experience in Cleveland shrinks. It is a tradeoff for CMOs, and based on your specialized your needs are, a non-local marketing agency may be necessary to provide the expertise your organization requires.

Does your marketing agency need knowledge of the local market?

Your local market, for various reasons, may be critical to initial or long-term growth. One of the reasons that leading technology brands turn to Bluetext for b2g marketing and b2g public relations is that we’ve developed unique expertise understanding what makes this market tic and the messages required to reach and influence decision makers.

That’s just one example though; it could be that your local market is a critical early engine for customer growth, or that you need an agency that has strong relationships with local broadcast, print and online media. Even the most skilled national marketing and pr agencies will require time to ramp up in better understanding some local markets.

Do you have the right technology to manage virtual teams?

If you already work with other vendors that are virtual, then you may have the necessary technologies, tools and processes in place to effectively communicate and mange a virtual marketing agency. These tools range from conferencing and collaboration to messaging, presence, video and project management, and it is important to lock in on a set of tools that can be used across all vendors – rather than continuing to add a patchwork of standalone apps that end up complicating rather than aiding vendor communication.

There is evidence that technology vendors recognize the need for more integration. Our own client BroadSoft delivers truly integrated business communications in response to the avalanche of apps and tools that marketing departments can now choose from.

Consider these factors when deciding if a local digital marketing and public relations agency is the best move for your organization. And to learn more about Bluetext, click here:

PR is not a sinking ship. It’s still an essential element in your marketing mix, especially in the crowded real estate market. But is your PR program delivering the results you need to meet your revenue goals?

Let Bluetext do a free PR assessment to see if:

• Your outreach is delivering the results you need
• You are gaining ground in the market
• You’re getting the coverage that will drive your growth

Our Share of Voice assessment can let you know if you are hitting on all cylinders, or if your program needs a shot of high-test to get it in gear.

Sign up for a FREE PR Assessment here!

PR is not a sinking ship. It’s still an essential element in your marketing mix, especially in the crowded government market. Is your PR program delivering the results you need to meet your revenue goals?

Let Bluetext do a Free PR assessment to see if:

• Your outreach is delivering the results you need
• You are gaining ground in the market
• You’re getting the coverage that will drive your growth

Our Share of Voice assessment can let you know if you are hitting on all cylinders, or if your program needs a shot of high-test to get it in gear.

Sign up for a FREE Government PR Assessment here!

In the competitive real estate market, what makes your brand different from your competitors?

Sometimes it takes market research to identify what makes you unique and what’s really important to your target customers. Fill out the form to download Bluetext’s Market Research Primer so you can understand how to:

• Leverage research to craft a market message
• Develop a positioning strategy
• Stand out from the crowd

To download the Market Research Primer, click here!

PR is not a sinking ship. It’s still an essential element in your marketing mix, especially in the crowded professional services market. But is your PR program delivering the results you need to meet your revenue goals?

Let Bluetext do a free PR assessment to see if:

• Your outreach is delivering the results you need
• You are gaining ground in the market
• You’re getting the coverage that will drive your growth

Our Share of Voice assessment can let you know if you are hitting on all cylinders, or if your program needs a shot of high-test to get it in gear.

Sign up for our FREE PR Assessment here!

With roughly one month until Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits the theaters, I’ve decided to channel my inner Obi Wan Kenobi for the latest edition of “these are not the softball questions your CEO was looking for.”

The CEO in question here is Jerry Strizke, head of outdoor gear and clothing store REI, who became just the latest executive to fall victim to Reddit’s Ask Me Anything (AMA) series. The Reddit AMAs are pretty much as the name implies – actors, politicians, executives, athletes and everyday individuals – can try to set up a Q&A with Reddit members, with the only requirement being that members can ask any question they want (within guidelines of course). The topics range from an actor’s movie career to a guy driving furniture down to Fort Worth, Texas, and as you might guess, the topic and guest strongly correlate with the number of Redditors who join.

REI CEO Jerry Strizke was probably feeling pretty confident ahead of his November 10^th AMA. After all, he had received mostly widespread plaudits for the decision to close REI on Black Friday and still pay employees despite what would be a negative hit on revenues. Riding that wave of good publicity, the decision was made to pull the trigger on the Reddit AMA, despite the long list of others who exited the series bloodied, battered and beaten (see: Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman, Ann Coulter who, like Admiral Ackbar, realized too late that, “it’s a trap!”)

Sure enough, the bio posted for Strizke to kickoff the Reddit AMA oozed with confidence:

Hi Reddit. I’m Jerry Strizke, CEO of REI. You might have heard about us recently when we announced that we would be closing all of our stores on Black Friday this year. We’re paying our 12,000 employees to take the day off and we’re encouraging them to opt out of the Black Friday madness and spend the day outdoors with loved ones. I have my team here helping me answer questions, so go easy on me. I’m new to Reddit and have already learned the hard way that /r/Trees isn’t about the great outdoors. Ask me anything!

Ask they did, and while some certainly addressed the store closing, the most upvoted comment was for an employee who painted a negative picture of working for REI and that if you don’t sell enough memberships, it’s bad news as that is the overwhelming metric that matters. That commenter was far from the only one to rail about working conditions.

Reddit AMAs, Twitter chats and other free-flowing forums that allow executives to interact directly with a large number of people hold appeal for numerous reasons, ranging from a desire to make the CEO seem more accessible to a genuine desire to shift from one-way communications to a two-way dialogue. For any business considering a CEO Twitter Chat, Reddit AMA or similar forum, there are a handful of strategies to consider:

• Reaching an unreachable audience – The controversial guests who appeared on The Jon Stewart Show who succeeded are the ones who fully understood what they were getting into. The ones who knew they were going to take their hits, could be good-natured about it, and still effectively get their messages across. There may be times when the audience you are trying to reach is difficult to access via traditional public relations, marketing, advertising and social media. If the target audience is critical to your business as a CEO or career success as an actor, then a case can be made to evaluate these higher risk opportunities.
• Weigh risks vs. rewards – What is the goal of a Reddit AMA, or Twitter chat? They must be clearly defined, and the marketing/social team must put significant efforts into preparation and execution – without making it look like an overly rehearsed, staged event. Think carefully about what the best-case scenario payoff is, relative to the viral risks of hosting a Twitter chat or AMA gone wrong.
• Be wary of CEO hubris – Even if you lay out the challenges of a series such as AMA, many CEOs will feel that it won’t happen to them. That they can be funny and witty and disarm even the most hostile questions. If you view these types of opportunities as something to “win” or “lose”, you will lose. The goal should be to communicate desired messages and understand that not everyone will respond favorably.
• You can’t cherry pick questions – Some of the most universally panned AMAs and Twitter chats have as much about what the interviewee didn’t say as it was about what they said. Ignoring tough questions or failing to answer many questions at all can draw even more scorn then giving bad answers, because it will be apparent the CEO and handlers are trying to tightly control the session and use it purely as a marketing vehicle.