Lessons from PRFest on keeping PR sustainable

Lessons from PRFest on keeping PR sustainable

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This year’s PRFest took ‘The Sustainable Future of the PR and Communications Industry’ as its key focus, but if you thought ‘sustainability’ = environmental issues only, think again:

‘By sustainable I don’t just mean environment and sustainability practice,’ said PRFest founder Laura Sutherland in her introduction to the five-day virtual festival. ‘I mean: how can we stay relevant? How can we thrive?

‘I would like our industry to start thinking positively, so we can start planning for the future; recognising change and embracing it, rather than running away from it.’

To catch up on sessions focusing on social innovation, upskilling, underrepresented voices and more with speakers from across the industry, passes to the recorded webinars are available here. For a taster, here are some of the insights from day one’s session: ‘How will PR pros need to adapt and what are the learnings from COVID?’

1) Think local
‘Stupidly, I used to think that if there’s a national message being put out, while we might not like the creative, we should accept it – why would we try to recreate it? The pandemic has made me change my view. Local organisations know their people best; messages do have to be tailored to very specific communities. You really understand how important local knowledge and local insight is, now – localism really does work.’
Zander Mills, corporate communication manager for South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

2) Get to know your audiences
‘The understanding of community has had to get so much deeper. We’ve worked on vaccine hesitancy in Hackney, why some of our communities don’t trust the NHS – when you listen to black women talk about the enormous disproportionality in terms of maternal death during pregnancy and childbirth, how can you expert them to trust vaccinations?

‘Another example: we consulted our behaviour and insights team on connecting with the members of our community who aren’t technically-savvy. We ended up calling them on their landlines, and that’s something we wouldn’t have considered doing before. Community insight has helped us connect with different people in different ways. It will help us to be better communicators for years to come.’
Polly Cziok, strategic director, engagement, culture, and organisational development for the London Borough of Hackney

3) Turn your camera on (yes, really)
‘It’s great being able to IM people on my team. I found digital transition hard at first; I didn’t know if I should IM particular things; I didn’t want to bother my manager. But people made themselves available, and that made me make sure I was as helpful as possible to my colleagues, too. I felt closer to my team, even though I was further away. But for that to happen, I had to put in effort. Putting my camera on in meetings, speaking up. People can be very anti putting their cameras on, but you can read body language, people can see that you’re authentic with what you’re saying.’
Naomi MG Smith, account executive for Westco Communications

Watch all the recorded sessions from this year’s PRFest with a catch-up pass, available here.

You can also read more about the aims of this year’s PRFest from founder Laura Sutherland and get more tips on sustainability in our write up of this year’s CIPR conference Climate Change and the Role of PR.

Corporate Purpose Summit

‘Comms always thrives in a crisis’: Helen Dunne on the upcoming Corporate Purpose Summit

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The CorpComms’ three-day Corporate Purpose Summit starts on 29 June and we’re delighted to be partnering with the event to offer a number of tickets to our network at no charge.

To secure a place (one ticket per person), fill in the form here – but first, read on to find out more about the event’s packed schedule and roster of speakers from brands including Marks & Spencer, Aviva and Penguin Random House UK.

‘I have had an idea for a summit for some time,’ says CorpComms editor and event organiser Helen Dunne. ‘Corporate purpose is a subject that really intrigues me, because it is so multi-faceted. Most corporates now acknowledge that their stakeholders, including ESG investors, want them to do more than simply make money. The events of the past year have also exacerbated that.’

Speaking at the summit to share best practice, as well as their successes and the challenges of the last year, will be:

• Gillian McGill, former global internal and social communications director, Aviva
• Matt Carter, founder of Message House
• Maeve Atkins, external communications manager, Budweiser Brewing Group
• Rupert Gowrley, director of corporate affairs, Bupa Group
• Victoria McKenzie Gould, director of corporate communications, Marks & Spencer
• Miguel Veiga-Pestana, head of corporate affairs and chief sustainability officer, Reckitt
• Greg Dawson, director of corporate affairs, DS Smith
• Yasmin Diamond, executive vice president global corporate affairs, IHG Hotels & Resorts
• Greg Sage, director of corporate affairs, Greene King
• Rebecca Sinclar, MD, audiences, brand and communications, Penguin Random House UK
• Hilary Berg, responsible business adviser, Iceland Foods
• George Ames, director of client services, Forster Communications
• Christine Crofts, founder of Kinetic Internal Communications
• Danielle Jones-Hunte, head of employee advocacy, global, BP
• Katja Hall, chief corporate affairs and marketing officer, Capita
• Rosemary McGinness, chief people officer, Weir Group
• Innis Scott, head of engagement, Weir Group
• Esme Knight, head of corporate affairs, Costa Coffee
• Kerry Parkin, director global communications, Zip
• Asad Dhunna, founder of The Unmistakables
• Matt Bell, director of corporate affairs, Grosvenor Group
• Pia Huusfelt, business leader for IKEA global innovation, Inka Group
• Steve Butterworth, chief executive, Neighbourly
• Amanda Powell-Smith, chief executive, Forster Communications
• Nigel Prideaux, director of corporate affairs, NatWest Group
• Roger Barker, director of policy and corporate governance, Institute of Directors
• Matt Young, co-founder, Apella Advisers

Securing such an impressive line-up of experts for an event is tough any year, but in 2021? Even tougher, says Helen:

‘We’ve had many false starts along the way. I don’t envy people who put on summits full-time! But luckily, I have managed to secure a fabulous list of speakers through their kindness and also with the help of my sponsors, Message House and Forster Communications.’

While the full impact of the pandemic on the communication industry and the audiences it serves is yet to be seen, there have undoubtedly been opportunities alongside the new pressure points:

‘Comms always thrives in a crisis,’ believes Helen. ‘Internal comms really stepped out from the shadows during the pandemic as companies put their people first, which meant that, ironically as they were often in remote mode, in many companies employee engagement levels were at record highs. There is a new respect in many organisations for their internal comms people, and I’d like to think that will continue.

‘If purpose is currently on your ‘to do; list, the summit should spark inspiration. But there is something for everybody – including discussions on diversity and inclusion, inclusive capitalism, brand activism, sustainability and even how purpose strengthens the position of the corporate affairs director.

For whether the lessons learned regarding purpose-driven communications and corporate responsibility will last, Helen isn’t certain. But being ready for what comes next will be vital:

‘Inevitably, as business returns to normal, old practices will come back into play. But I think where comms has been integral to the corporate response to the crisis, it will be hard to go back.’

Find out more about the Corporate Purpose Summit and secure your place here on the CorpComms website.

PRCA Equity & Inclusion Council

PRCA renames Diversity Network as the Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council (EIAC)

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The PRCA has renamed its Diversity Network to the Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council (EIAC) to better reflect its aims to set benchmarks on Equity & Inclusion for the industry at large and build inclusivity through greater visible representation of the society PR serves.

Mark Webb Podcast

The group will continue to encourage the growth of inclusive cultures in PR, launching monthly podcast Disability@thetable. Hosted by Mark Webb, the podcast will feature guests, best practice advice and the sharing of stories. Potential guest speakers and sponsors are invited to get in touch and more information can be found in Webb’s blog here.

EIAC Chair Sudha Singh said of the rebrand and new projects:

‘For the longest time organisations have been focusing on diversity as a way to correct institutional and historic inequalities. Referring to people as diverse actually ‘others’ those who don’t belong to the dominant groups. So, diversity had to go. We have also seen that this approach has not really worked, the pace of change has been glacial.

‘COVID-19 and BLM last year provided a springboard to accelerate action for changing the status quo. We want to use this momentum to help bring meaningful change within our industry. We want organisations to focus on the equity inspired designs for bringing about that change – to creating equitable workplaces where talented people can thrive, no matter where they come from, what they look like. And this will require organisations to actually identify the problem areas and it is not helpful if you are determined to treat everyone equally. Inclusion of course is an outcome and has diversity at its core – do people feel valued, can they bring their true self to work? What is their experience of the workplace? Do they belong?

‘As an industry which has been striving for a seat at the table we should be able to speak from a position of knowledge and authenticity. That can only happen if we as an industry stop being tokenistic and become more intentional about our journey to equity and inclusion.’

Find out more about the EIAC’s mission, governance and key priorities here.

For more on the PRCA’s ongoing work to increase and support inclusion in the PR and comms industry, read our interviews with PRCA Race and Ethnicity Equiry Board members Barbara Phillips and Emmanuel Ofosu-Appiah.

Five reasons to work with freelance journalists on your PR campaigns

5 reasons to build better relationships with freelance journalists for your PR campaigns

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Should freelancers be at the top of your list for building meaningful – and useful – connections with the media? Yes, and here are five reasons why, from our latest webinar with Journo Resources’ Jem Collins and Faima Bakar, and Freelancing for Journalists’ Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson…

Watch the full Building better relationships between PRs and journalists webinar or read our write up with more advice from the event here.

1) Most freelance journalists are already au fait with, and effective at, working remotely
Switching to remote working had its difficulties in the PR and media industries as calls to offices weren’t always diverted to homes and inboxes were flooded with more emails than ever, just for starters. One community who already knew how to manage working from home effectively? Freelancers:

‘With people working from home who weren’t used to it during the first lockdown, the amount of requests for calls and catch ups with me really went through the roof,’ said Jem. ‘There was a month or two that was Call Central, so it’s good to see people have settled more into hybrid working. I’ve always worked from home and already had quite a good comms system set up.’

2) Your working relationship with a freelance journalist can be more intimate than with a staffer…
…in the most professional meaning of that word. Staff news teams may find relevant press releases useful to write up, but a freelancer will want exclusivity and something deeper.

‘It really is a different relationship that you’ll have with freelancers,’ said Lily. ‘Exclusivity is key. I want something that nobody else has. An exclusive case study, or you can work with me to do an exclusive report from some data you’ve been able to gather.

‘It’s about building a unique relationship with an individual. It’s more of an intimate relationship that you have with a freelancer.’

3) A freelancer may have more freedom to collaborate closely with you on content
‘The relationships I have with PRs that work will be those that come to me with something specific and they want my advice as well,’ said Emma. ‘Like, “I’ve got this info, where do you think this might fit?” It can be more of a back and forth between us.

‘Those PRs will also note when I tweet when I’m doing a particular feature, or send out an enquiry via the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service, and understand that commissioning process. If I’m interested in your story, I will pitch it, but I don’t have the power to just publish that information. Understand our beat and how commissioning works for us.’

4) Want a different take on your research/data/survey results? A freelancer will be able to think of a new angle
If you have some intriguing data and think you’ve come up with all the possible angles that might be of interest to the media and its readership, think again:

‘As a freelancer, I keep getting those generic press releases, but I’m interested in unique and interesting case studies, even if you’re pitching them to in-house staff,’ said Faima.

‘If you have commissioned research – get in touch with me. I might be able to pull out a line and build a whole feature around it. I’ve managed to pitch a piece based on research like that to Stylist. If it’s research that’s relevant to the journalist; go for it.’

5) Freelancers potentially have a broader reach than staffers working for one publication
While staffers are often limited to certain topics, times and formats, freelancers can be writing on a variety of subjects, to different deadlines, for many different outlets:

‘I’m normally working several weeks ahead, but for a magazine, it would be two or three months in advance. If it’s for Metro, it might be a month in advance. It does depend, so that’s why I’d advise building a connection with freelancers,’ said Lily.

‘They’re working for lots of different publications. It might be print, websites, magazines – lots of different audiences.’

‘Understand how each freelancer works, because we all do it very differently.’

For more on working with freelancers, watch the full webinar here, check out these tips for making the most out of the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service and here is more advice on pitching to freelancers effectively. 

Building better relationships between PRs and journalists

How to build better relationships between PRs and journalists with Journo Resources and Freelancing for Journalists

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We teamed up with Journo Resources and Freelancing for Journalists for our latest virtual event Building better relationships between PRs and journalists to find out how better connections can make working life a little easier for both sides of the equation.

Watch Building better relationships between PRs and journalists here.

Sharing wisdom with our mixed PR (mainly PR – 90%) and journalist audience was Journo Resources founder Jem Collins and senior staff writer Faima Baker and Freelancing for Journalists co-founders Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson.

Each regularly freelance, with the combined panel covering topics as diverse as lifestyle, healthcare, human rights, religion, culture, race, medicine and personal finance. Despite the vast differences in subject, each shared common experiences of working with PRs and how the industry can better serve them in their work.

Not everything has to be a video call
‘I noticed this – if you set up an interview, now PRs are saying to you want to do a video call rather than a phone call,’ said Lily. ‘Zoom is great for this kind of thing, but I prefer doing interviews over phone, for example, because I’m not going to have eye contact with the other person – I’ll be taking notes. We don’t have to do everything as a video call.’

Keep your email signature and Contact Us pages up-to-date
‘Contacting PRs and their clients became harder when working from home, at first – I was in the habit of Googling a client and then calling them,’ said Faima.

‘It was harder to get through to people – I was someone who’d meet up with PRs; I like that face-to-face interaction. I’ve had less contact with PRs since the start of the pandemic, but some have been really good with putting their mobile number on their website.’

Approach freelancers differently than you would staffers
‘It really is a different relationship that you’ll have with freelancers,’ said Lily. ‘My top tip for working with us is that exclusivity is key. We don’t want the release you’ve sent to every single news desk – there’s nothing we can pitch. It’s different if we’re covering a news shift.’

‘It’s not useful to me if I’ve been sent the same thing everyone else has seen,’ said Jem.

‘There’s a big difference between ringing a newsroom, one person on a team, and ringing one person working alone and disrupting them. I’m very guarded with my mobile number because 90% of the time I’m called, it’s to remind me of a press release that isn’t relevant to me, as a freelancer.’

Work with journalists on the ‘smaller’ publications to get a chance at the ‘bigger’ ones in future
‘Be as willing to work with a freelancer on a smaller publication as you would on a larger one,’ said Jem.
‘I’ve found that sometimes PRs won’t want to give something to me because I’m not working on a national for that piece. But PRs that are happy to reply to something smaller are great, and the value in that for the PR is you’ll be the first person the journalist will go to for something bigger.

Connect with journalists by responding to requests
‘I’d really like to emphasise, from my point-of-view, how to build a relationship – it’s not about you coming to me, it’s about you responding to me – that’s where I build relationships,’ advised Lily.

‘If I send out a request via the Responsesource Journalist Enquiry Service or tweet with the #JournoRequest hashtag, I will be more likely to come back to you next time if you reply to me with a relevant expert or relevant content. I’ll be much more likely to work with you and your client.

‘That’s where a relationship starts – with a response. It won’t happen from you emailing me. It’s the same with freelancing – cold-calling editors is hard, responding with what they need is better.’

Give journalists what they’re actually requesting
‘Every good relationship I have with a PR started with them responding to me,’ said Emma. ‘They found a case study, or they knew of some new tech. I’m more likely to have a chat over what I find useful if you’re helped me out. ‘You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ kind of thing.

‘Respond to what has been sent out in the request, exactly. Don’t use it as an opportunity to jump to something else. That sounds super simple, but I do get ‘I don’t have this, but I do have this’ responses. Make sure you do have what I’m looking for – no tangential jump. And be timely – I use the Journalist Enquiry Service when I’m under a deadline; jump on relevant requests quickly.’

Brief your clients fully before offering an interview
‘It’s so important to make sure that if you sent a press release offering case studies, make sure they’re available,’ said Faima.

Lily agreed: ‘It’s really frustrating if case studies and spokespeople haven’t been briefed properly. I understand that things are really busy but if it’s going to work everybody needs to be onboard.’

Watch the full virtual event here for more insight on connecting with journalists as a PR and here are more tips on providing media professionals with the kind of content they’re looking for with the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service.

pr and journlists event

Building better relationships between PRs and journalists

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The past twelve months have presented many challenges for both PRs and journalists but one thing that has been a particular struggle is being able to network and build lasting and useful relationships with one another.

To help bridge this gap we partnered with Journo Resources and Freelancing for Journalists to discuss what the past year has been like for journalists and how they managed to build relationships with PRs. We also had a live discussion, so you could ask your burning questions to our panel of experts or share your own tips for working with PRs.

Joining us were: Jem Collins, director and editor at Journo Resources, Faima Bakar, freelance journalist and senior staff writer at Journo Resources, Lily Canter, freelance consumer journalist and Emma Wilkinson, health and medicine freelance journalist.

This was an opportunity for both PRs and journalists to come together for an hour of lively discussion and conversation and hopefully create a few more contacts!

Fill in the form below to watch the webinar. 

5 tips on improving SEO for your PR and communications campaigns

5 tips for getting started with SEO for your PR and communications campaigns

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If the mysteries and minutia of SEO have so far alluded you, or you know a little but the latest Google update fills you with a sense of dread; worry not. SEO aficionado Judith Lewis has put together the PR best practices for SEO guide to share what you need to know about Search Engine Optimisation in PR and comms.

Here are five starter tips from the guide to get you on your way to fully-optimised and high-ranking content:

1) Know your SEO vernacular
SEO has three main disciplines. ‘Technical SEO’ is what optimises the code of a website to enable search engines to assess and rank. ‘On-Page SEO’ is your content – what you can see, but also occasionally what you can’t, such as the title tag. ‘Off-Page SEO’ relates to links and citations – the parts that affect webpage ranking, but aren’t on the webpage itself.

2) Learn your SEO-related acronyms, too
One commonly-used acronym you’ll hear when delving into all-things SEO is ‘E-A-T’: Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Google uses each of these elements to determine the right ranking for content. Things that can help the ‘E-A-T’-able-ness of your content – an Expert author, Authority when it comes to links and relevance, and indications of Trust, such as contact information and an About page.

3) Google needs speed
Working with a slow website? Page speed is a known factor among those 200 or so used by Google to decide ranking in searches, so if your agency, company or client website is slow, that will impact its search visibility. May’s updates to Google included the addition of a factor called Page Experience, meaning slow sites will have more difficulty with ranking now than ever. Speed things up – chase up your contacts on your dev/IT team, or start out with Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool yourself to find out what will make your website faster.

4) Remember that your words are still very important (alongside the links)
Just as each social media platform has a unique – and complicated – algorithm, so too do search engines. Google, for example, has more than 200 factors making up its own algorithm, which can be intimidating to think about when starting to put together content you want as many relevant people to find, and engage with, as possible. Reassuringly, the words you use, as well as links, are most important in those factors. According to available data, each account for around 40% of the ranking factors.

5) Those words you write need to be as natural-sounding as possible – no SEO-robo-speak
It’s tempting when you first get started with optimising online content to stuff your copy with keywords in the hope it will place higher in search results, but that’s very passé, very early-2000s, and very much not liked by Google in 2021. Yes, keywords are part of what attracts visitors to a certain webpage and at least one mention of a keyword will help content to be discovered. But writing naturally is how to woo the complicated but sophisticated language and grammar algorithms Google utilises these days – good writers will automatically use words that are semantically-related and create content that search engines, and readers, will rank highly.

Want more on SEO? Download the SEO best practice guide for PR by Judith Lewis or watch the webinar.

Judith Lewis SEO PR webinar

The latest Google update – what PR professionals need to know

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Remember when Google used a cute animal like Panda or Penguin to signify that it was changing its algorithm?

Sadly, those gentler days are behind us, but Google still announces a core update around four times a year. These are significant changes that Google makes to its ranking algorithm that affects a large number of indexed web pages.

Knowing when Google announces core updates and what those updates are is important for PR professionals because of the potential impact on the visibility of your website, or your clients’ websites in the search engine.

This was just one of the areas of SEO that search expert Judith Lewis covered in our recent webinar to support the publication of our free SEO best practice guide for PR.

Here’s a summary of some of the questions about SEO and PR that Judith answered:

What is the latest Google core update and what do PRs need to know about it?
“The Google core update focuses a lot on expertise, authority and trust (EAT) which is explained fully in the guide. We also link to the guidelines that Google’s human quality raters use.

It’s a complex area that’s all about how you demonstrate EAT to Google. Google is tweaking those dials and really bumping up the emphasis that it’s placing on demonstrated expertise and authoritativeness, which is finding mentions about you on other sites.

So PR is all about establishing EAT and the latest Google update is actually increasing its valuing of EAT.

There are two more updates coming, so this will change over time. and I’ve seen that clients of mine are fluctuating, they’re going up, they’re going down, it’s like a roller coaster! So right now the algorithm update does still seem to be finding its level balance. I’m seeing more US search results in the UK, so I’m thinking it’s still rolling out, but this core update is really focused on quality.

Later this month is a long announced update to website speed.

Basically if your website is not fast and it does not pass ‘core vitals’, you will lose out to other people who do. So Google will rate you against your competitors in the search results, and you will go down, if competitors websites are faster and more efficient at delivering web experience to people.

‘Core vitals’ is later this month, and then in July we have another core update coming. So, this one was about more about quality, and the next two are going to be about landing page experience, and then more on quality.”

What are the differences between ‘follow’ and ‘no follow links’?
Do ‘no follow links’ in online coverage and do they have any impact on search engine visibility?
‘No follow’ and ‘follow ‘are technical attributions that are put on a link, and it’s a little bit more code techie, but don’t be put off by it, it’s a checkbox in WordPress. So if you’re working with bloggers or influencers, they can select the Checkmark, and that will make all of their links on their blog nofollow.

What does that mean? Well, it tells Google, not to pass any points from the origin page to the destination page.

However, from a human point of view, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a follow or nofollow, it is still a link. And that enables someone to go from where they are to where your clients information, or your information is.

I obviously would prefer a follow link, because it helps with search ranking. But I will accept the follow or nofollow link, because we’re pushing our clients or our company’s information and details out there and so any link is good because it draws the readers back to our websites.

If you don’t get a link in coverage, do citations or mentions of your brand or organisation help with SEO and search visibility?

It does help.

A citation – where there’s no link but a mention – is incredibly important for Google, because the more of those that you get, the more the increase of perception that Google has that there is something important about that company or that organisation going on.

It increases the words around the company and increases the relevance of that company name to those to those pieces of content. What’s happening is Google is seeing the word that is a brand and it recognises the brand usually because it’s usually in a URL or something similar and then it looks at the words around that citation. It looks at these words around the brand and increases the relevance of those words for that brand.

Google is already recalculating what that brand is possibly relevant for now. It doesn’t have as big an impact as when we get a link – a link is, is the key – but it does increase Google’s perceived relevance of those keywords of the brand and how popular the brand is.

Update ‘Vince’, many years ago was all about brand and rewarding brands. So the better that you can establish a brand, the better it is and citations are part of that because not everybody gives you a link.

If everybody gives you a link it looks artificial. If some people don’t then it looks much more natural and Google is more likely to trust it. Therefore if you get a citations with no link, it’s good, and it does help people.

Do shares on social media and closed or private social networks/communities like Facebook Groups or Guild have any impact on SEO or search engine visibility?

I think the problem is that people’s perception of links is that all links help Google rankings, but in my opinion, all links help people – and that’s the most important thing.

In closed ecosystems like Facebook and Guild links don’t necessarily impact on Google’s rankings but when someone is talking a lot about something, and links are being shared a lot, whether they’re shared through Guild, WhatsApp, Facebook or Instagram, they will reach a critical point after which people will start to blog and write about them.

And journalists may pick up on this ambient noise, and publish something with either a nofollow or a follow link.

When that happens, then Google will possibly increase the ranking of that page, because we’re increasing the perceived relevance of that page to that topic. Even though a nofollow link says to not pass any points, it still helps Google contextualise what a target page is about.

If Google was struggling up to that point, and then somebody blogs, even if it’s a nofollow link, then it will instantly help Google understand it better – and that means that it could increase in rankings, simply because Google understands more.

Here’s the video and the Q&A with Judith is from 43:17 seconds.

Want to add SEO to your PR and communications strategy or to get the very latest SEO tips specifically designed for PR practitioners?

Download our free educational SEO best practice guide for PR. 

Vuelio has the world’s most comprehensive media database, providing up to date contact details and preferences of >1million journalists and content creators. Learn more about this essential tool for successful coverage generation and linkbuilding by requesting a demo. 

seo for pr webinar

SEO best practice guide for PR

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With more agencies, businesses and organisations developing digital-led PR strategies, many practitioners understand the importance of generating coverage in online media. This requires more than a basic understanding of SEO but there are very few resources created specifically for the sector.

This webinar, SEO best practices for PR, covers the key points in our recent guide and we were joined by the author herself, Judith Lewis, search marketing expert at DeCabbit Consultancy.

Watch the webinar to learn:

  • How Google works
  • How to align your PR & SEO strategy
  • The essential tools you need for success
  • Mastering keywords, content and on-page essentials

Fill in the form below to watch the webinar. 

Lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis

Learning the lessons from the COVID-19 crisis

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This is a guest post from Onyx Health managing director Karen Winterhalter.

Karen Winterhalter Onyx Health

Over the past 15 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the communication landscape in a way that few would have predicted.

As a healthcare PR agency, we’ve seen some of the challenges of getting out the right messages during a global health crisis first-hand. As we reflect on a period of seismic change for the sector, there are important lessons to learn about the way healthcare information is communicated and consumed.

1. Getting in the headlines when COVID-19 is the only game in town
The news cycle has become the COVID-19 cycle. Research by Populous shows that content related to COVID-19 made up 87% of news consumption at the peak of the crisis.

Getting stories to cut through in a news cycle clogged up by COVID-19 is no mean feat. Stories that would normally be big news could easily get overshadowed amid the melee. Moreover, many journalists experienced COVID-19 fatigue and grew weary of an inbox full of pseudo stories with tenuous links to the pandemic.

So, to get in the headlines, you need to focus on your PR fundamentals. The power of relationships, news values and authenticity, are crucial to get your message to cut through during the pandemic.

It’s about asking yourself what makes something newsworthy; you need something distinctive and eye-catching to get a journalist’s attention during the current climate.

Applying a COVID-19 lens to your media content is really important, as news coverage is filtered and perceived through this global news story. However, this must strike a difficult balance between adapting to the changing nature of the news cycle, without being cynical and jumping on the bandwagon to get coverage. Authenticity is the key to success and making sure your content hits the mark.

2. Fake news and information inequality
One of the most disturbing features of the pandemic is how quickly conspiracy theories and fake news spread like wildfire across social media. Whether its Bill Gates, 5G or China’s Wuhan lab leak, the growing mountain of misinformation created an uneasy sense that it was all a hoax, and the public were being lied to.

At a time when the Government needed the public to follow the COVID-19 restrictions, practice social distancing, and wear masks, this had serious implications for public health and the spread of the virus.

The NHS did some vitally important work with global tech giants Google, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to help lead the counterattack against fake news. This involved a series of targeted measures, including search algorithms to put NHS guidance at the top of the rankings, blue ticks for verified NHS sources and the suspension of rogue accounts spreading misinformation.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport recently launched a campaign to tackle vaccine misinformation, using a series of shareable videos and images on social media to create viral content to combat the anti-vaxxers.

Tackling fake news and information inequality is an ongoing challenge that we have yet to solve. As healthcare communicators, we have a duty to uphold the highest standards when it comes to healthcare information, challenging misleading content and promoting official sources.

3. The power of an emotional message
One of the most striking features of the COVID-19 crisis is the ability of emotionally driven messaging to deliver behaviour change.

The Government’s lockdown messaging got off to a strong start with ‘Stay at Home. Protect the NHS. Save Lives’. These were clear, hard-hitting, and effective, prompting one of the most unprecedented acts of civil obedience in our peacetime history. People were left no doubt what they needed to do and why.

As the lockdown restrictions relaxed, the Government’s carefully crafted messaging unravelled. The new message ‘Stay Alert’ seemed vague and unclear. Grouping a multitude of potential behavioural responses under a single phrase lacked the same emotionally resonant call-to-action.

Learning from past mistakes, the Government’s ‘look them in the eyes’ campaign created hard-hitting TV adverts, asking viewers to think about the impact their actions might have on NHS staff and COVID-19 patients. It included a series of harrowing images of exhausted NHS staff and emaciated COVID-19 patients receiving oxygen, harnessing the power of COVID-19’s human cost to influence public behaviour.

Analysis by Britain Thinks suggests that 73% of the British public were following the rules at the height of the crisis in an extraordinary act of mass collective action. So, while delivering behaviour change isn’t easy, it is possible. Getting the public to follow the rules was a complicated task, but adopting the right communication tactics can make it happen.

For more on COVID-19’s impact on public relations, clients and consumers, download our white paper Engagement with health comms during COVID-19. 

Find out more about the work of Onyx Health by reading our previous interview with Karen Winterhalter and collaborator Jeff Winton of JWA on building healthy UK and US relations.  

Growing a collaborative and positive culture within remote teams

How Clarity grew a collaborative and positive culture within remote teams

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This is a guest post by Clarity PR’s managing director, UK and president, EMEA Rachel Gilley.

Rachel Gilley Clarity PR

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent rush to establish a 100% working from home model, has elevated the importance of wellbeing for individuals within organisations. Business leaders have had to adapt and evolve their workforces to ensure they provide both a safe and stimulating employee experience.

At Clarity, we are proud that we’ve been able to not only retain our employees but indeed grow our team significantly across 2020 and early 2021, with nine new staff onboarded remotely in our UK office alone during that time.

As a company that has always had a collaborative workplace, adept at working across geographically dispersed teams, we recognised the importance of continuing to build social ties while remote working became the norm. In a time where the word ‘Zoom’ could instill fear in the strongest of us, we have successfully leveraged the appropriate technology platforms while implementing new initiatives all with the aim of building a stronger employee experience than even pre pandemic.

Here are some of the initiatives we put in place to ensure we continued to build and nurture a winning company culture, at a time when there were no rule books or guidance for how best to succeed.

Nurturing our existing culture

Clarity’s positive culture is one of our most powerful competitive advantages and our transition to fully remote working during Covid has been testament to that fact. The technology sector we service has been particularly robust, representing brands who saw their businesses accelerate as they supported the world to manage the pandemic. But it hasn’t all been plain sailing and the agency’s existing culture – collaborative, kind, supportive – was essential in enabling us to continue to deliver on our aspirations, especially when the relentlessness of home working kicked in.

The flexible working policies and unlimited paid holiday benefits we offer have been vital in ensuring our team got the rest and recuperation they needed. Early on, we recognised we were going to have to push our teams to take time away from screens and the constant cycle of virtual calls and encouraged all employees to not only clock off on time (and yes, we were checking!), to put lunch slots in their calendars forcing them time out during the day and to book time off to avoid burnout. We might not be jetting off somewhere exotic, but we recognised that closing the laptop was extremely beneficial. Spotting the signs of potential employee burnout is harder when working remotely but I booked in individual calls with the team every second week, reminded them constantly of their holiday entitlement, reiterated the importance of taking breaks and encouraged the senior leadership team to embody these practices themselves, we had to role-model the right behaviour.

Staying apart, together

We’re a social bunch here at Clarity. It is why people join agencies; for the noise and the banter and the excitement that comes from working together. We will always find an excuse to celebrate with a drink or two, and that didn’t stop during the pandemic. The social team went into overdrive and the virtual event calendar was stacked up with Book Club, wine tasting, meditation, yoga, drag bingo and the unavoidable interactive quiz. We sent out fun care packages on special occasions and when restrictions were lifted we all met up in Hyde Park for a picnic.

A personal favourite was our ‘Glass of Clarity’ with a direct order to stop what we were working on every Thursday at 5pm, pour yourself a tipple of your choice and just have a natter with the team. When you’re not together you forget how much you use the office for general chit chat, so our Glass of Clarity was a chance to ignore work and debrief on the latest Netflix series and share tips and tricks on how to endure the boredom of lockdown.

Supporting health and wellbeing

During this period of increased pressure and anxiety, employee mental health and wellbeing was our very top priority. At a very basic level, we provided office equipment for those who needed help creating a comfortable working environment at home through to introducing weekly meditation sessions. No Meeting Fridays were introduced, a day when we asked both clients and the teams to cancel calls and we’ve since introduced Monday Call Free Mornings created to support the differing personal priorities and ways of working we had across the team.

As an agency lead, you know that you’re only ever as good as the people you hire. And I’m blessed to have the most superb team who are smart, creative and bursting with diverse opinions and mindsets. The supportive and collaborative nature of our employees meant we successfully onboarded new staff remotely, with the team wrapping their virtual arms around every new arrival, ensuring they felt part of the Clarity family as quickly as possible.

We also acquired two new agencies, which when you consider we’ve not yet met face-to-face through this period, and yet in both instances it has been a huge success, is extraordinary. Our buddy-up programme, which encourages employees to grab a virtual coffee with colleagues across all our global offices meant new bonds were created, with plans put in place to meet up IRL as soon as we can!

The path to the next normal

As we enter the next and hopefully final phase and restrictions ease, Clarity is working towards building a safe return to the office, something the team is universally keen to do. We’ll never return to the old ways of working, the new normal is a transition to a ‘next normal’ and it will come with its own challenges, managing the hybrid working model in 2021 and beyond.

What we do know is that it’s important to get the balance right. It will require testing different approaches; listening to the team and using that feedback to ensure we’re creating something special and strong that further enhances our values.

I’m incredibly proud that at Clarity we operate a flat management structure that calls regularly for the unique perspectives of the entire team wherever they sit in the business. The past year has reinforced for me that listening and then acting on that feedback quickly, means you move forward together, as one team, and that is so incredibly powerful.

For more on working remotely together, read this guest post from Middleton Consultancy Ltd’s Richard Middleton on leading different types of people while working remotely.  

PRCA

PRCA calls for an end to Parliamentary pass abuse

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The PRCA is calling for reviews and reform from Parliamentary authorities following its research into the granting of over 200 Parliamentary passes to representatives of organisations likely to be engaged in lobbying.

The analysis of the Lords and Commons Registers of the interests of staff revealed that 210 passes have been given to individuals with links outside of Parliament, including those working for think tanks, business groups and commercial enterprises.

Such passes enable access to the Parliamentary estate and it is individuals have potentially unfair access to decision-makers in politics.

Professional lobbyists represented by the PRCA – the representative body for the lobbying industry – are unable to hold passes under the Public Affairs Code, other than in exceptionally rare and publicly declared circumstances.

The PRCA is calling on Parliament representatives to:

1. Urgently review each passholder who has a second job to assess whether it is appropriate for them to continue to hold a pass.
2. Remove passes from anyone whose other roles make it inappropriate for them to have access to the Parliamentary estate.
3. Reform the rules around passes to ensure this abuse is ended permanently, and that passes are only issued to people who genuinely need them for their work for Peers or MPs.

Parliamentary Passes in numbers

Parliamentary passes data from the PRCA

PRCA Public Affairs Board chair Liam Herbert said:

‘It is extraordinary that more than 200 people likely to be lobbying for think tanks, charities, trade unions, business groups, commercial enterprises, and others have been given official sanction to have privileged access to Parliamentarians.

‘No other office building would allow unfettered access to such a huge number of people whose main place of employment is somewhere else – so it is surprising and concerning that an institution that is meant to be secure location has such a cavalier attitude to the issuing of security passes. It is even more surprising that so many of these passes are held by people whose job seems to be to influence the political process. This is unfair, untransparent, and inappropriate.

‘The PRCA Public Affairs Code prohibits the professional lobbyists it represents from holding Parliamentary passes for the obvious reason that to do so throws up real and perceived conflicts of interest. It is time for the Parliamentary authorities to meet those same ethical standards and to strip individuals of passes to which they have no legitimate right.’

The PRCA has previously called for an overhaul of the Parliamentary Passes process in a Six-Point Public Confidence Plan for lobbing reform.

Faima Bakar accessmatters

‘PRs: know your audience’ – accessmatters with freelance journalist Faima Bakar

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Our latest accessmatters session for knowledge sharing among the media, comms and PR community was with freelance journalist and Journo Resources senior staff writer Faima Bakar. Sharing her experiences as a lifestyle writer on the Metro desk, and some of the lessons she’s learned since going freelance, Faima had plenty of advice for PRs hoping to get in touch with useful pitches.

Watch our accessmatters session with Faima Bakar here.

While the relationship between PR and journalism can get contentious when either side isn’t fully cognizant or respectful of the other’s duties and deadlines…

‘When I first started at Metro, I wanted to get lots of emails,’ shared Faima. ‘My colleagues were like: ‘Be careful what you wish for.’

…relevant content is useful – provided it’s delivered in the right way. Faima had advice for PRs who want to build relationships with the media and get results:

‘Before selling-in, I would divvy up among your team who’s contacting who. Have a chat across your team and decide who’s doing what first. As a writer, I might be excited to pitch a story based on a press release you’ve sent over – it’s not good when I see another colleague is working on it already.

‘Know your audience, too. For example, the Metro lifestyle desk is very body positive, so there’s no weight loss stories unless they have an interesting angle. Every Christmas we’d get articles about all the calories in Christmas dinners, and we’d never cover those stories because we don’t want to make people feel crap. Get to know the publications you’re targeting; read what you’re interested in.’

And is what you’re pitching interesting to you? If not, there’s a good chance it won’t be of interest to the journalist either, or their readership.

‘If you’re sending a story you’re not interested in, what’s the point?’ believes Faima.

‘For my work as a freelancer, I pitch things I talk about with my friends. There’s always a way to make a story more interesting.

‘For example, a PR friend of mine had a low-calorie ice cream client and needed a way to publicise them. She decided to take a bunch of journalists to a big park full of trapeze artists because the ice cream was “lighter than air”. It was a good way to be creative – thinking outside of the box – and it was fun.’

While Faima’s work as a freelancer now means less interaction with PRs – publications will have their own staffers writing up quick-turnaround pieces from releases they receive – she has developed good relationships over the years. Building connections and proving yourself to be a useful source for journalists in your field takes time as a PR, but there are a few short cuts. Number one: getting the journalist’s name right.

‘I get called the wrong name about once a week. And I get it – it’s easy to miss a letter. But if you’re emailing because you want coverage, it helps to show attention to detail. If you call me the wrong name, it gets you on the wrong foot. That’s not to say I won’t use your email if you get the name wrong, but it’s not the best way to start.

‘As a freelancer, I’m sending pitches out to people, and I get it wrong sometimes – it’s so easy to do. But have a quick check through of your email before you send it.

‘Being a lifestyle reporter and now a freelancer, my interests were and are quite wide. I developed a good relationship with quite a few PRs – there are some I’ve never actually met, but we’ve been emailing back and forth for years.’

‘If there are journalists you want to work with, find out what works for them.’

Watch the full accessmatters session with Faima Bakar here and check out our previous sessions on the accessmatters hub.

PRCA Office Return Study

UK PR industry ready to embrace hybrid working model

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Research from the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) has found that a majority of the PR industry in the UK is prepared to move away from a traditional five-day office-based week in favour of a hybrid working model.

The PRCA’s Office Return Study of agency and in-house leaders found that 44% of senior professionals will not specify the number of days that employees will be required to work in-office, with only one in twenty industry leaders expecting employees to be office-based five days a week.

On masks, COVID-19 testing and vaccination policies, 23% have plans for weekly or fortnightly testing, while 56% have no plans as yet. Others plan to follow advice from the Government.

While 22% of those polled for the study said they have asked staff about vaccination, the majority – 86% – have no plans to implement vaccine policies.

Over half of respondents – 58% – will not require staff to wear masks, 35% will require masks to be worn in all areas except for desks, and one in twenty will require employees to wear masks throughout the working day while in the office.

‘The data from the PRCA Office Return Study are conclusive – our industry overwhelmingly stands ready to embrace a new hybrid working model,’ said PRCA director general Francis Ingham.

‘PR and communications professionals have delivered exceptional work while operating remotely. But ours is a social industry; one in which teams are built and creativity is sparked through face-to-face relationships. There are elements of our practice which simply cannot be replaced by Zoom calls. That is why our future will be built around a hybrid model that fuses the best of both worlds. But let’s be clear – for the great majority of us, our working lives have changed fundamentally and forever.’

Concerned about an eventual return to in-office working? Here are 11 ways to mentally prepare for heading back to the office with advice from mental health professionals and fellow PRs.

COVID-19 UK public relations agency startup report

Wadds Inc. Report finds a boost in startups during COVID-19 pandemic

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The COVID-19 PR Agency Startup report released by Wadds Inc. this week has encouraging news for the industry with findings that over fifty PR agencies were founded in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Along with an exploration of why so many agencies launched over such a short and challenging time-period, the report includes profiles of startups including Second Mountain Communications, BB Partners, Little Mesters, Hard Numbers, Inpulsus, Look After, Happy Yolk and CommsRebel.

Two-fifths of agency startups were founded during the first lockdown between February and July, pointing to redundancy and furlough as being key drivers for new launches and career redirections. While the pandemic proved that London-based working isn’t a requirement for business success, two-thirds of the startups were located in the UK capital.

Those interviewed for the report celebrated support for their new agencies from the industry and pointed to innovation as an area for opportunity in modern business – startups featured focus on services, business model or specialisms, and propositions centre on data, creativity and lead generation, with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), fintech and healthcare particularly popular markets.

‘The report is dedicated to anyone who has founded an agency during the COVID-19 pandemic,’ says Wadds Inc. managing partner Stephen Waddington. ‘It celebrates your work. It’s also intended as a source of inspiration for anyone considering setting up their own agency.’

PRCA director general Francis Ingham is encouraged by the data: ‘It’s hard not to feel optimistic about the future of our industry after reading the findings included in the report. The PR industry has adapted remarkably well to the pandemic and the explosion of new agencies is testament to the strength of our practice.’

Read the full report here.

For more from Stephen Waddington download our whitepaper The ESG Opportunity for PR, co-authored with Dr Jon White and featuring insight from Rebecca Zeitlin.

Women in Transport

Women in Transport selects Jo Field as president

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Women in Transport has elected CIPR fellow Jo Field as President for a four-year term.

The not-for-profit professional membership network, which celebrates its 15th year this June, works to empower women in the transport sector to maximise their potential and provides access to leadership training, mentoring, events and its All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).

JFG Communications founder and managing director Jo Field brings experience of driving equalities initiatives, including an award-winning accessibility campaign, a women’s sponsorship programme and a youth panel, and a passion for addressing women’s under-representation in the transport industry.

‘It is an honour to become President of Women in Transport and I would like to thank our members, Board and Chief Executive for putting their trust in me,’ said Jo.

‘I am a passionate campaigner for gender equality and I bring this energy and expertise to the role.

‘It is important for PR professionals to have senior roles in any organisation to shape strategy and build advocacy for its work.

‘My election as President recognises the important role that communications professionals play in the transport industry, from engaging customers and stakeholders to making the case for infrastructure and services.

‘I look forward to using my experience to advocate for Women in Transport and boost our connections with industry employers, parliamentarians and government to enable us to create positive change for our members and ensure we have an even greater voice on the issues that matter to us.’

Prior to founding JFG Communications, Jo spent almost ten years at Transport for London, leading its stakeholder engagement team, building stakeholder support and advocacy for London’s transport infrastructure. She has been named among the 100 most influential women in Westminster as well as one of the top ten most inspirational women in public affairs.

The Women in Transport Board members working alongside the new president are vice president Marny Moruzzi, past president Katie Hulland, events lead Steve Griffiths, marketing lead Nicola McMillan, regional coordinator Asiya Jelani and regional lead – West Midlands Alliance Daljit Kalirai.

Find out more about the Women in Transport Board here.

SEO best practice guide for PR

SEO best practice guide for PR

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PR and SEO are more connected today than ever.

Modern PR practitioners require much more than a basic understanding of search. Yet there are very few search marketing resources specifically tailored for the PR and communications sector.

And when you Google for SEO advice, how much can you trust that what you find will contain the very latest information about what impacts search rankings?

To help address SEO knowledge gaps among PR professionals, we have published a helpful, bang up-to-date educational resource for the sector.

We asked international search expert Judith Lewis to write a free 60+ page: SEO best practice guide for PR.

Judith explains why this guide is needed: ‘These days, SEO is as much a part of PR as PR is a part of SEO. SEOs and PRs are increasingly overlapping in what they do. All PR professionals can help deliver exceptional SEO by adding a small amount of additional knowledge.

‘This guide was designed to help PR professionals understand the seemingly impenetrable world of SEO. It will help them better reshape and refocus their offerings to not only continue to excel at what they are already doing, but to regain ground lost to SEOs.’

Download the free SEO best practice guide for PR here

Want to learn more about SEO? Do you have questions about how to align SEO to your PR and communications strategy, or do you want to hear about Google’s latest algorithm update? Judith will be on hand to answer your SEO questions in a free webinar.

Learn even more about SEO. Sign up for the ‘SEO best practice for PR’ webinar at 11am BST on 9 June, with Judith Lewis here.

Why is PR and SEO so closely linked, and why produce this SEO guide for PR professionals?

Two of Google’s most important ranking factors are natural extensions of what most PR professionals do on a daily basis: content creation and generating coverage.

In the agency world, search marketing agencies have evolved over time, adding content marketing, social media and creative services, and wrapping this up with what many call ‘Digital PR’.

Digital PR is a tactic focused on generating content and stories that will not only generate coverage online, but build links. These agencies back up that offer with measures to highlight the commercial impact of the coverage and links, such as sales, leads and other valuable and measurable ‘conversions’ for their clients.

As the relative importance of links to SEO has increased over the years, digital PR is a natural extension of Search Marketing or a Digital Marketing agency’s services. But digital PR and content marketing is much closer to traditional PR territory than the more technical elements of SEO or Paid Search Marketing.

As a leading provider of tools and services for multichannel PR, communications and marketing professionals (Vuelio, Pulsar and ResponseSource), we’ve designed this free guide to cover one of the core skills required in many modern PR and communications roles – Search Engine Optimisation or SEO.

Who should read the SEO best practice guide for PR?
Developing SEO knowledge and skills is not only important for PR agencies developing a broader range of services for clients, but also for in-house communications teams.

Many companies approach SEO and public relations as separate activities. Either running activities with different teams or working with multiple agencies. For in-house PR professionals, a little knowledge of SEO can go a long way in terms of PR planning, execution and measurement aligning to marketing and digital activity in their business or organisation.

The good news is that it is easier than you might think to combine a PR and an SEO strategy.

The guide is not just an excellent primer on SEO for beginners.

For PR and comms professionals who already have a good handle on SEO, Judith Lewis provides some advanced SEO tips to help you move your knowledge on.

What does the SEO best practice guide for PR cover?
The guide covers:

  • What is SEO?
    Information about search engine rankings, what visibility means in digital PR, and the concept of search ‘demand’.
  • How Google works
    The technical side of search engines, covering spiders, the index and how Google sees expertise, authority and trust.
  • How to build a PR SEO strategy
    The signals search engines look for, the technical bits you need to understand and the important elements for success.
  • Keywords, content and on-page essentials
    Delves more deeply into the kind of research currently possible to understand search demand, how to meet that demand and do it in a way rewarded by search engines.
  • Advanced SEO
    A deeper look at advanced SEO elements that could help the content you are creating stand out in search engines.
  • Link building for PRs and communications professionals
    One of the most popular topics in digital marketing and an area where digital marketers overlap with PR and Comms professionals.

‘SEO best practice guide for PR’ is free and can be downloaded here.

Learn from Judith Lewis, one of the world’s leading authorities on SEO in this free ‘SEO best practice for PR’ webinar, 11am BST on 9 June. Register here.

Laura Sutherland PRFest

PRFest helps drive change in our industry

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This is a guest post by Laura Sutherland, founder of PRFest and Aura PR.

Our industry can be guilty of talking inwardly and doing something because we think it’s what we should be doing, not always 100% informed or part of a strategy. Bandwagoning, I think that’s the term?!

PRFest, now a community of around 600 PR and communication professionals, has always been about the minds of practitioners, to let them further investigate and formulate their own ideas and thinking from sessions at the festival.

The festival was built on the idea of doing things differently to inspire practitioners to think for themselves, to think outside of the borders and put learning into practice.

PRFest also discusses topics and ideas which you wouldn’t necessarily find at other PR events. Practitioners have a platform for their voices, and they don’t need to have had experience speaking at other major events. Some of the attendees go on to become speakers and that’s the start of their journey to having more profile and being heard. It’s brilliant.

Be the change

There’s always an emphasis on practicality. I’m a highly practical person. I face a challenge and need to go away and create something to help overcome it. That’s how PRFest was born. The challenge was around always having big industry events in London and I went away and changed that. For years I’ve been the voice asking for better representation in the nations and regions. Often you need to be the change, to see the change…

Just as we expect our clients and organisations to be socially conscious and doing the right thing when it comes to diversity, inclusion, climate and sustainability, unless we ourselves are educated and armed with ideas to tackle the challenges, then how can we advise our brands and organisations to be better?

Taking your own advice

This week I did a thing. I took my own advice and nailed my colours (flag) to the mast. I re-imagined my business, one I had built over 12 years, to focus on the singular most important thing to every brand and business – stakeholder engagement. It starts way before even thinking of the comms plan. It’s about getting know stakeholders, deeply. This is what gets me out of bed in the morning. This is what I’ve been talking about for years. Well now, this is my specialism. Why? Because everything has changed due to COVID. If everything has changed, then why wouldn’t businesses adapt, too?

What does PRFest2021 look like?

This year, PRFest was built on this exact model. Look at what matters to your stakeholders and talk about the interesting and leading things they need to know about. Involve them in the conversation. Take the event to where they’ll be.

The theme is looking at the sustainability of the industry, specifically the planet, work, the next generation, society and corporate social innovation. Even discussing the five pillars of the event with the PRFest steering group was exciting. Going that bit further. Going deeper into what comes before a relationship even starts.

This year’s PRFest is going to be the best yet. Why? Because once again the conversations evolve, we’ve got a cracking line-up of speakers across the programme, we’re across Zoom, Twitter and Instagram, and we’ve set our sights on bringing fresh voices, perspectives, opportunity and positivity to the public relations and communication industry.

Highlights announced so far

• Philippe Borremans will discuss his work during COVID advising foreign government and how risk assessments told us a pandemic was predicted

• Kevin Mtai, a Kenya environmental activist, organised a petition for the conservation of Nairobi National Park which resulted in a demand to be presented in Kenyan Parliament. We’ll hear about the campaign, lobbying and amplifying local voices to achieve results despite the unique challenges he faced.

• Stephen Waddington joins Sudha Singh and Laura Sutherland to discuss working for yourself in public relations and his latest research report

• We consider the skills necessary for the future PR leader and how they may be developed. Is university adequately equipping our future practitioners? What should the industry be doing to develop and retain this talent? Panellists include Dr. Martina Topić, Professor Ioannis Kostopoulos and Jahanara Chaudry.

Ticket info

Once again, we’re truly global and we’d be delighted to welcome anyone to our community. Tickets are £50 for the whole week. We’re also pleased to continue our support for the Taylor Bennett Foundation, as we have pledged to donate £5 from every ticket sold.

There are eight comp tickets left for PR graduates or PR students who’d like to attend and there are ten comp tickets set aside for PRFesters who perhaps can’t afford the ticket price but would like to attend.

Last year was the start of the journey to go virtual, plus look at how PRFest could more diverse and inclusive. It’s been a challenge but well worth it. It shows that even in a difficult situation, if you put in the work and you’re open to learning, great things can happen.

It would be my absolute pleasure to welcome you to PRFest this year. You’ll be in the company of some of the best minds in our industry. Buy your tickets here.

Find out more about this year’s PRFest in our previous post here. 

PRCA Ethics Council Co-chairs

Nitin Mantri and Israel Opayemi join the PRCA Ethics Council for 2021-22

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The PRCA has confirmed that Nitin Mantri and Israel Opayemi will join Mary Beth West as co-chairs of the PRCA Ethics Council for 2021-22.

Inaugural chair David Gallagher steps down from the role following 12 successful months of leading the council.

‘It was a privilege to help get this discussion going internationally, but there’s clearly so much more to do in practice and on the ground,’ said Gallagher. ‘I’ll look forward to contributing however I can, and wish the new leadership and entire council continued success in this important work.’

Originally launched in May 2020, The PRCA Ethics Council aims to elevate ethical standards in PR and comms across the globe. The Council co-chairs will continue the work to dismantle the systemic organisational non-compliance with worldwide PR ethics standards.

Chain Reactions Nigeria’s managing director, chief strategist and PRCAN President Israel Opayemi is one of West Africa’s leading consultants, working as the Exclusive Nigerian Affiliate and Preferred West Africa’s Partner of Edelman.

‘This collegiate leadership is a testament to the commitment of the Ethics Council itself to widen PRCA’s circle of influence and to ensure our prescriptions on standards can be heard across borders,’ said Opayemi of his appointment. ‘Those standards must run through the labyrinth of cultures. Without this, our noble profession will lose its soul. We are nothing without standards. Standards are nothing without their acceptance and adherence.’

Avian WE Group CEO and International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO) President Nitin Mantri has more than two decades of experience across a variety of sectors and was named ‘Global PR Leader of the Year’ at 2015’s ICCO Global Awards.

‘I am excited to be appointed Co-Chair of the PRCA Ethics Council,’ said Mantri. ‘It is not only a great honour but also a huge responsibility and I hope we will be able to fulfil the Council’s aim to raise ethical standards in the global PR industry.

‘The lifeblood of our profession hinges on credibility and our dedication to upholding honesty and transparency. Ethics must be the cornerstone of our work, especially in this new era when authentic, purpose-led communication is the only way forward.’

PRCA Director General Francis Ingham thanked David Gallagher for his work on the Council and looks forward to what the new co-Chairs will bring: ‘I’m delighted that Mary Beth West has agreed to stay in her Co-Chair role, being joined by Nitin Mantri and Israel Opayemi. Together, their leadership, energy and breadth of international experience will enable the Council to intensify its work.’

Read the PRCA Ethics Council Annual Perspective here. For more on the aims of the council, read more here.

Lessons from the CIPR Climate Change and the Role of PR conference

Lessons from the CIPR Climate Change and the Role of PR conference

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PR has an important role to play in the adoption of better business practices when it comes to ethics and environmental factors across all levels of business, whether stakeholder leadership, coworker or client level.

If you’re unsure where to start, speakers at last week’s CIPR conference Climate Change and the Role of PR had plenty of ideas for getting people on board, organisation-wide.

1) Use your influence wherever you can within your organisations
‘How comms professionals can save the planet’ – Climate Group’s director of internal communications Luke Herbert
‘It’s a risk, as a business, to say one thing and do another. Get your executives in the right forums. Show them what other executives are doing; get them on courses. Be upfront and clear about the risks of saying this, and delivering this,’ advised Luke for getting leadership teams on board with environmental initiatives and strategy.

‘It’s much better to plant your flag in the future, and work back from that – leadership strategy is easier than a follower strategy.

‘Exert your influence on your organisations where you can. If they have huge revenues, they have huge footprints. The first thing is to commit. Be really ambitious – the bigger things are negotiable, even if they’re not solvable. Set up pathways for the trickier problems.

‘My one message to you is to lead the change.’

2) Empower your decision makers with the information they need to be aware of
‘Truth, responsibility, opportunity, risk, legacy: 5 words in 15 minutes to sum up the importance of the plastic crisis for every business’ – Plastic Planet UK’s co-founder Sian Sutherland

‘The idea of the ‘ethical consumer’ is silly – rather, it’s a design problem; it’s a production problem,’ said Sian Sutherland on how businesses need to start taking action on the plastic crisis.

‘Your organisation’s decision makers need empowerment on this – they need to know the materials of the future, the innovators and the convertors. Wherever there is change, there is always opportunity.

‘The myths and the facts of climate change are all our responsibility and we need to start telling the truth. You guys – the PR and comms industry – are the ones with power. It is a business where we can create change at scale and pace.’

3) Educate clients and provide leadership on sustainability initiatives
The role of public relations: how to advise clients and your business to go Green – #EthicalHour’s Sian Conway-wood, CommHero’s Asif Choudry, PersonaR & WhiteElephantDigital’s Andras Sztaniszlav

‘We need to educate our clients and ensure that sustainability is embedded in what they’re doing,’ said Sian Conway-Wood.

‘The real dark side of this is that brands that are greenwashing are dominating the sustainable conversation, and the media is such a big influence on us and how we understand these topics as well as the action we go on to take. We just haven’t got the time to waste – I passionately believe that greenwashing is where we should start.

‘Sustainability is becoming more and more of a consumer demand – because education is happening and awareness is growing, the way to be profitable is to be sustainable. And if there are clients that are outside of the echo chamber, we need to be a sustainability lens for them, and I think positive stories are the way to go’.

Asif Choudry advocates for being an example for clients when it comes to making change: ‘In the last ten years, we’ve been involved in a sustainability drive. We took decisions to ensure every sheet of paper we use is FSC-certified and sustainably sourced.

‘All of this takes commitment and it takes investment – none of this comes for free. We don’t pass this down the line to clients. How much are you willing to put your money where your mouth is?’

And for Andras, there has been one big lesson the PR and comms industry can take from the pandemic:
‘Driving conversation with all stakeholders is the most essential part – we’ve learned that it’s fine to make mistakes sometimes, that it can be right to do something wrong if it starts conversations.

‘The main part of our role is broadcasting, but this is more about conversation and dialogues. Individual actions are just as important when it comes to the hard work ahead on climate change.’

Interested in more from the CIPR Climate Change and the Role of PR conference? Read our write up of the half-day event here.

For more on ESG and the important part public relations and communications can play, watch our webinar The ESG Opportunity For PRs.