Blog
Posts tagged 'public relations' | Catapult Public Relations
The following posts are associated with the tag you have selected. You may subscribe to the RSS feed for this tag to receive future updates relevant to the topic(s) of your interest.
April 12, 2012
What’s a Thought Leader, Anyway? How PR Can Build Yours to Drive Market Leadership (Pt. 1)
This Blog originally published on Commpro.biz.
Posted on Apr 3, 2012 in Corporate Communications, Media Relations | 2 comments
By Terri Douglas and Christie Denniston, Catapult PR-IR
We live in a world of continuous communication. Everywhere we go, we have access to and can communicate with colleagues, customers, employees, friends, family and the list goes on. While there is value in having instant access to anyone, anywhere, this results in a great deal of noise from a business standpoint. How do you break through this clutter and get noticed and, more importantly, how do you ensure your key messages are not only heard and understood, but, have impact on and resonate with the key constituents you are trying to reach?
This is the challenge of PR professionals everywhere. We have so many tools at our disposal – such as traditional phone and email and newer social media vehicles, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ with more being added each day.
However, there is a thread amongst all these tools that creates impact. It drives response, reaction and influence. The one thing that remains constant regardless of the medium or vehicle is the written word.
The Web is one of the greatest assets we have as communicators and we need to leverage and embrace it to its fullest potential. We live in a self-publishing world. . . one where we can control our content and ensure that our key messages are incorporated throughout everything we say, write, speak and share. It allows us to communicate directly – without any filters – the things we want to say to influence our audiences.
How great is that?!
So, what does this have to do with thought leadership?
What IS A Thought Leader?
A great quote that illustrates the mark of a true leader is one from John Adams: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
While most people may think this is more targeted to personal matters, it also applies to the business world. In order to be a true leader in whatever walk of life you choose, you need to be knowledgeable about your mission, passionate, driven and inspiring to those around you.
When we all think of market leaders, certain companies or brands, come to mind. Coca-Cola, Amazon, Apple, Hertz, etc. Why is that? What makes them stand out amongst their competitors?
Thought leadership. They have established themselves in the mind of their marketplaces as the market leader and driver. They shape the values, metrics and perceptions of their marketplaces. They are credible, they offer value to their communities and are perceived as the market drivers.
There are three key things that form the core of what makes a thought leader:
- Establishing a relationship with and delivering something of value to your stakeholders and customers
- That aligns with your brand/company value
- Establishing your brand /company as the expert in that field and differentiate yourself from your competitors
To be a thought leader, you need to voice your opinion, share your knowledge and provide value to the communities you care about. But, in order to do so, you need to first define your message, who you are targeting and then create *valuable and relevant content of interest* in order to engage and develop ongoing relationships with them.
Thought leadership isn’t about espousing the things that promote your company, product or service. It is about setting a standard of knowledge, sharing, value and excellence in what you communicate. Whether it is through speaking, blogging, tweeting, by-lined articles, news releases or other PR tools, you need a consistent voice and expression that conveys what you and your organization stand for — not only internally but externally. More important, you need to think beyond your own four walls and look at your industry and what matters most to it. Share your insights, knowledge and ideas. That is what engages audiences to keep them coming back for more and especially helps position a company or person as a thought leader.
What you do and say is how people perceive you. These are building blocks of creating a perception of what you (your company or organization) stand for. As the familiar saying goes, “perception is reality.”
Okay, so given that, what are the basic elements that define a perceived thought leader? It seems complex, but really it is not. It is based on some simple concepts:
- Assets of knowledge and expertise: This can include knowledge of your product, service or offering. It can be knowledge of your customers and marketplace. Or knowledge of what your marketplace values and what your product or service is worth based on YOUR insights. It can be your multiple years of hands-on experience in the trenches living and breathing what you do every single day.
- Confidence: As the saying goes, you learn something new everyday. As such we seldom take a step back to realize how much we do know. Knowledge can’t be traded or bought. It is something of value that is yours alone. Act, speak and look like a leader through your actions. Confidence goes a long way in building credibility with your key audiences and constituents. Remember, you know probably more than they do about your product, market and customer values. You are the knowledge expert on this particular subject matter and have something of value to offer.
- Act! Execution is one of the areas where most people and companies fall flat. If you have the first two requirements down, then you (or someone else within your organization) needs to execute them by telling your story and leveraging you and your company’s assets of knowledge and credibility. Putting words and statements of confidence into real world action speaks more than anything else you can do. But, to establish your though leadership platform, you really need all three in harmony.
Despite the old adage, your thoughts are worth a lot more than a penny. Recognizing the value of innovative thought creates an atmosphere of leadership. Public relations can play a strategic role in positioning an individual, company or organization as a thought leader in its industry. Leveraging a wide array of PR tools to create a thought leader can help an organization demonstrate its expertise, increase customer satisfaction and profitability. Whether it’s entering a new market or geographical area, creating an exit strategy or just turning up the volume in an existing marketplace, there are a number of ways on how to craft and implement a successful thought leadership campaign.
The great thing about thought leadership is you can actually do it relatively inexpensively through PR.
In our next article of this series, we will explore exactly what those things are that you can do to move you toward becoming a sought-after thought leader.
###
February 29, 2012
Using Strategic PR to ‘Catapult’ Ahead of Your Competition
In medieval times, catapults often were used to propel objects against enemies to protect turf and move armies forward.
While today, catapults are used in fun ways (to propel pumpkins, computers and other inanimate objects), one thing remains true. “Leaping” ahead not only can be fun, but, it can be a strategic weapon.
At Catapult PR-IR, that was the premise upon which we were founded. To help our clients not only propel but *leap ahead* of their competitors, regardless of their size or offerings.
As we celebrate this special Leap Day, which happens only once every 4 years, it is a good reminder for us to always keep front and center that no matter what the size of the company, no matter the challenges of financing nor “ducks in a row,” or stellar customers that cannot yet be named, that creating a market-leading position can be achieved by a carefully laid strategy, sheer words and diligent execution.
Precise crafting of strategy and messaging can propel an unknown company into the folds of much larger competitors who wonder, “Where did this unknown company come from?” It can level the playing field — making a small start-up vying against a much larger established company — look like a formidable player.
On this special day, Leap Day, we salute all the small companies who have braved the challenges and taken the chance to level that playing field by using strategy and messaging as their key strategic weapons. That, together with unbridled execution, is why they still not only exist today, but, are now leaders in their fields.
What small company do you respect and why?
~ Terri ~
November 13, 2009
Forgotten Tools of PR Trade
In an era of shrinking newsrooms and disappearing travel budgets, PR pros are increasingly having a hard time finding editors and reporters who have the time and resources to attend a tradeshow or visit a company’s headquarters.
What many PR Pros forget to remember is you have the ability to take your clients to the newsroom!
Once forgotten with the advent of ‘new media’ desk side visits are an opportunity to PR professionals and their clients to visit writers and reporters in the newsroom or magazine headquarters.
While these meetings don’t guarantee stories on clients, my experience has found them to be valuable and cost-effective relationship-building sessions that have generated increased media requests for interviews with clients who previously flew under the radar of most reporters.
Desk-side briefings are relatively easy to arrange, however included below are a few do’s and don’ts:
- DO time them when your client has news to break or opinions on timely topics.
- DO provide media training to your key spokespeople before the trip to hone your key messages. Even executives accustomed to talking to reporters have found the training crucial. It’s especially important when two executives are making the visits together to avoid embarrassing contradictions.
- DO provide background information on all reporters on the itinerary, including recent articles they’ve written. Reporters inevitably perk up when their work is cited.
- DO leave behind easy-to-access contact information and succinct background data, and follow up just as aggressively as you arranged the desk-sides. Otherwise, reporters are likely to quickly forget about your client when they turn to the next story.
- DON’T overlook the key trade media covering your client’s industry. Often several outlets from a common publisher work in the same building, multiplying the number of placements that result from the visit.
- DON’T fret if breaking news causes a reporter to cancel at the last moment. That doesn’t faze the client if you have a busy schedule of visits, and the reporter may be more receptive to your next call because they remember – or you remind them of – the last-minute cancellation.
- DON’T pack the schedule so tightly that travel delays, interruptions or longer-than-expected interviews put you behind schedule, jeopardizing key interviews.
http://www.catapultpr-ir.com/blog/
July 10, 2009
Video on the Web – Are you Ready?
At Catapult, we have seen an increasing number of organizations start to inquire about our rich media webcasting services.
Interesting.
A couple years ago, we would get responses like “hmmm, that’s kinda cool.” Or “that’s “cute.”" Now, we are seeing savvy companies that are interested not only in saving money through the use of webcasting (an important consideration these and all days), but, that also are interested in taking it one step further by considering and using video as part of the webcasting offering.
YouTube has a lot to do with this. So does the increase in network bandwidth across most organizations.
But, most importantly, it has to do with leaders of companies who see an opportunity to position their organization in a more human way. By putting themselves out there for all to see. It helps distinguish them as leaders. As innovators. As forward-thinking companies.
We say it’s time to embrace this new way of thinking. Besides Catapult, there are many service providers who offer this type of service. Some are more affordable and flexible than others. But, all are worth exploring.
We invite you to learn more at our site and at others on the Web.
Because the next wave of communication is going to incorporate video.
Are you ready to fully embrace it?
Sample Rich Media Presentation:
New Media Tools for Investor Relations – Rimas presenting to NIRI
