Technical PR, Industrial PR, Engineering PR, Manufacturing PR - From Stone Junction UK

Advert Calendar: Can PR professionals learn anything from Christmas Advertising?

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Bodger) — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 03:00:00 +0000

Nothing says ’holidays are coming’ quite like Christmas advertising — in some cases, literally. Although we love getting the ‘festive feels’ and threatening to postpone Christmas until we’ve seen Aldi’s Kevin the carrot; is there more to the humble ‘advert calendar’ than a vocal tear-jerker and a pudding-burning dragon?

In their first collaborative blogpost, the Stone Junction team discuss what marketing and PR techniques they think B2B businesses and agencies could learn from Christmas advertising.

Richard:

STEM companies, and in particular engineering companies, can learn the value of being close to the consumer from the likes of John Lewis, Sainsbury’s and the other regular Christmas TV culprits.

Retailers like these are already part of our everyday lives, but they take this opportunity to position themselves in our hearts — by connecting emotionally via the ads. John Lewis has even achieved the very definition of positioning, as described in Positioning, the Ries and Trout 1981 classic. They are the Christmas ad company.

But do STEM organisations want to be close to the consumer? Let alone in their hearts? They do if they are running recruitment campaigns, or if they are promoting scientific reports resulting from public funding initiatives.

What if you are a global, purpose-led business? It strikes me that learning from retailers' understanding of how to be close to the consumer could be invaluable in that context.

Tasha:

Can you get more festive than the Kings of Christmas-related crying, John Lewis? Probably not! But there is a lot more to learn from its advert offering this year than just the origin of a flaming Christmas pudding. At its heart, the ‘Excitable Edgar’ ad is all about knowing and appreciating your own strengths — and more importantly, understanding what might not be.

It’s ok to not be good at everything — and it’s actually a better business model if you’re not. Once a company knows what it does best — be that composite manufacturing, automotive robots or setting a Christmas dinner on fire — it can place itself more securely in relevant markets, which will only help build customer-business understanding.

Be known for doing one thing incredibly well — like my mum and roast potatoes. It’s far easier to manage, to market and you won’t be making promises you can’t keep.

Jade:

In a time of year when we’re bombarded with advertising and distracted by Christmas lights and the odd mince pie…or two, it can be increasingly difficult to make yourself stand out from the crowd when it comes to messaging.

More often than not, the best Christmas adverts give you that warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

While not all marketing and PR messaging — and particularly that in the engineering and STEM industry — can recreate emotional flashbacks or make you reminisce about your grandma’s steamed sponge pudding (one of my personal favourite Christmas memories), bringing a relatable message to your audience can certainly help what you’re trying to communicate resonate with your audience.

Whether it is explaining to engineers the real-life impact that your product or service could have on their own practice, or showcasing success stories through expertly written case studies (we do this kind of stuff for our clients, you know), bringing a humanised story to the message you’re trying to communicate will make it memorable to your reader.

Carla:

While B2C Christmas advertising pulls on the nation's heartstrings, many of these customers shedding a tear at Edgar the dragon could be business owners and C-level executives. B2C advertising teaches B2B PR that everyone is human, no matter how sharp their suit is.

Let's take a campaign for an industrial parts supplier. Here's three heartstrings pulled very easily.

Many of the parts supplied are designed for sustainability to maintain the Earth's rich biodiversity — sad polar bears on melting ice, anyone?
Automation parts are sparing workers from the dull, dangerous and dirty jobs — everyone wants their family members to have a stimulating and fulfilling job role.
By helping businesses source parts quickly with reduced downtime, the economy benefits everyone — including your new-born baby relatives.

While the aforementioned examples are extreme, they make the point that a good PR campaign is built on emotion.

Alison:

Food plays a massive part of Christmas. From mince pies and turkey to the annually anticipated adverts from our favourite supermarkets. In Japan, however, you won’t find roast potatoes, sprouts or Christmas pudding on the table, all because of a clever PR campaign from a well-known fast-food chain.

When KFC first opened in Japan in the 1980s, the company promoted the KFC Christmas dinner bucket filled with chicken, cake and wine. Today, an estimated 3.6 million families order from a store with a Santa suit-clad Colonel Sanders for their Christmas day meal.

But Kentucky for Christmas was not a campaign to simply put the brand in front of more people. Very few people in Japan are Christian, so Christmas is not an official holiday, meaning that many families are reluctant to spend all day cooking. But why was it successful?

Finding a gap in the market is common practice in PR and a great opportunity to promote a company to fill the gap. However, this campaign went one step further and turned what could be a faceless corporation promoting a product into a company that cares about bringing families together and creating long-lasting traditions.

Laura:

Quirky animations combined with a drab cover version of a 90’s number one have become synonymous with the festive season. Tearjerkers sell tinsel. Who knew?

B2B marketing, however, is rarely designed to drive emotion and is usually considered more rational than B2C. But, should that be the case? Often, B2B buying can be far more emotional.

Let’s say you buy a sausage roll from Gregg’s, but it ends up cold. No big deal, right? What would be an issue, is if that sausage roll had numerous stakeholders, required a binding contract to purchase and took several months to eat — or in this case, implement.

When the business stakes are higher, emotions are too.

Redirect 301 /2019/12/advert-calendar.html https://www.stonejunction.co.uk/stone-junction/christmas-advertsing-tips/

According to market-research group, Kantar, a Christmas advert should “trigger an emotional response” and “tell a story in which the brand plays a key role”. While we aren’t suggesting B2B organisations invest in producing their own festive blockbusters — it’s worth remembering there’s room for a little emotion in B2B marketing too.

Tricks of the trade show

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Bodger) — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Trade shows can be a daunting prospect for any business, and much like McDonald’s chips — if done incorrectly — it can often leave a bad taste in your mouth. With concerns about ROI and exhibition space now costing more than my sister’s Christmas list, many smaller companies are choosing to neglect the convention of conventions.

And yet, 71 per cent of SME’s do the majority of their new business connections at networking events, meaning those who fail to participate could be missing a huge trick of the trade — literally.

Fresh from appearing at Advanced Engineering, Technical PR agency Stone Junction’s marketing executive, Tasha Bodger, gives her top tips on how to get the most out of your next exhibition.

Plan far, far, far … far ahead

If you don’t want the exhibition booth closest to the WC, you’re going to need to plan quite far in advance. Often, trade shows are annual and begin renting exhibition spots about a year beforehand — it may seem excessive, but the more prep time the better.

Once you’ve booked your slot, a whole array of trade show planning paraphernalia opens up to you — lucky you! You can begin to think about stand design specific to your dimensions, corresponding promotional material and how many of your colleagues need to realistically attend. Not to mention, the quicker you’re off the mark, the better chance you have of getting a position closer to a big-name brand with high levels of traffic.

You need to social network

Staying socially active throughout the event is crucial. By using the official event hashtag across multiple networks, you’ll likely receive engagement by the organisers themselves or interested businesses. Check the exhibitor list too and begin to interact with companies who you may want to work with. Slide into their DM’s, give them a cheeky ‘like’ and hopefully they’ll return the favour. Ultimately, it’s all about building an online relationship with potential business partners so broaching a real-life conversation doesn’t seem so difficult.

Be a MERCHant

Free things sell — it’s ironic but true. The average human attention span is only a measly eight seconds, so having brand-appropriate giveaways is a great way to hold someone’s interest — and start a conversation. We all know the best bit of a trade show is the grownup party bag full of swag you get to take home — pens, stress balls, the odd packet of Haribo. Handing out merch, food and/or business cards extends the opportunity for retrospective marketing. 71.6 per cent of attendees who receive a promotional product remember the name of the company associated with it — and that’s the whole point of a trade show after all.

Follow the LEADer

Leads are the piéce de résistance of any trade show, but they’re completely useless without the appropriate follow-up. The easiest and most personable approach to follow up’s is by making notes on any business cards you receive, briefly outlining the conversation and any future actions. Once you’re back — and basking in the post trade show glow — you can assign each follow-up to whoever spoke with the potential client, safe in the knowledge you won’t have forgotten who they are or what they do or need.

Want to exhibit at your first trade show but don’t know how? Contact the experts! Call us today on +44 (0)1785 224 516 or sayhello@stonejunction.co.uk

Direct to video. How to use Lumen5

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Bodger) — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 09:00:00 +0000

There was once a time — 18 months ago — when posting engaging online content was as simple as a well-placed dog meme or an inspirational quote from David Attenborough. But, with social videos generating 1200 per cent more shares than text and images combined, it’s becoming more apparent that consumers want a direct to video alternative to their normal network activity. So, how do you and your business get in on the action?

Lumen5 is an artificial intelligence (AI) led software that can turn blog posts, social media content and articles into engaging graphics and videos for multi-platform use. Here, Stone Junction’s marketing executive, Tasha Bodger, shows you how to get the most out of Lumen5.

Forgoing the obvious sign-up and email verification — the first step will be deciding on the content you’d like to convert. As long as the article is engaging, has previously performed well and has a succinct core massage, it should do well with Lumen5’s AI.

Via a link, text copy or template, Lumen5 will filter the relevant information into slides, assigning images or GIFS to suit. Of course, like most AI, you may find it needs some human assistance; but with a gentle nudge and some careful rearranging, you’re left with a relatively competent first draft.

Next, pick your chosen media platform and template. Lumen5 provides countless free designs for you to use in a range of colours and styles to suit your brand. However, if you’re after something more customisable, unfortunately — and you’ve probably guessed this already — it comes with a hefty price tag.

Each storyboard is instantly available to preview or edit, and although it may be tempting to leave everything completely to AI, checking your storyboard could mean the difference between a professional-looking social video and a GCSE PowerPoint presentation.

The sidebar adjacent to each slide allows you to alter your title fonts, text position, shot length and transition. All of these are initially pre-set by Lumen5, but you can, of course, override the suggestions and customise everything to your liking.

From then on, it’s choosing GIFS and music — marimba anyone? — and images from Lumen5’s media collection. Changing a slide background is as simple as a drag and a drop from the file library. However, if you choose to upload your own images, they need to be at least 500 x 500 and in either a JPG, PNG or GIF format — I don’t make the rules!

Once you’ve previewed, edited and previewed again, you’ll be about ready to hit ‘finish’. Lumen5 normally takes about ten minutes to render your final video, which is just enough time to have a cuppa or flick through social media — you’ve been working hard after all. Once the file is ready you can either upload it straight to Facebook or download to your desktop in order to circulate it around other social channels.

And it’s as simple as that!

Did you know we have our own in-house videographer? If you want a bespoke business video then get in touch with us today on +44 (0) 1785 225 416 or email natasha@stonejunction.co.uk.

Get with the program. The best marketing applications for your business

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Bodger) — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 08:00:00 +0000

So, you’ve just launched your own business*fires celebratory confetti cannon*. You’ve watched at least four episodes of Dragons Den, your bank balance is haemorrhaging on a daily basis and you’ve got more grey hairs than Tom Jones and Len Goodman combined — join the club. It may seem like you’re responsible for running every aspect of your business, but there are countless free pieces of software that could help.

Stone Junction’s marketing executive, Tasha Bodger, shares some simple to use programs for marketers and small business owners.

SEMrush

Although it may sound like an 80’s arcade game, SEMrush provides SEO intelligence data for you and your business. It can project your potential AdWords spend for certain keywords, explain the origin of your social media traffic and audit your website to improve your search result ranking.

You need to pay for the premium version, but there are free options available if you’re not fazed by free trial periods — unless you forget to cancel your subscription, that is!

Google Analytics

The granddaddy of all marketing software, Google Analytics (GA), will tell you everything you need to know about your online presence. From UTM tracking and real-time website traffic to bounce-rate and popular pages — Google knows everything.

At times, GA may feel ever so slightly overwhelming; it’s the analytics equivalent of Scrooge McDuck’s money vault — bottomless. But, if you take the time to learn the basics, it’s a great place to start.

Canva

Photoshop can be a daunting prospect for anyone — me included — so many businesses outsource all design work to save themselves sweating over the clone tool. Canva, however, allows design-novices to create eye-catching social media and marketing graphics with little to no effort.

The platform is template based with corresponding icons, stickers and a whole host of fonts and colours to choose from. It’s so simple you could easily make, save and post an infographic in under half an hour — without any watermarks.

Buffer

Buffer is a social media dashboard used to schedule content and analyse post engagement across all the major social networking platforms, such as; Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

If you manage your businesses social media, this is the perfect application to ensure you stay on top of impressions and content creation. You don’t even have to be on the app at all — Buffer will even help you schedule future posts too. Seamless social media at the touch of a button.

If you’re completely stuck, however, ask one of the team at Stone Junction how to get started. Give us a call on +44 (0) 1785 225416 and we can help.

Alexa, is AI taking over online marketing?

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Bodger) — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 08:00:00 +0000

The year is 2033; velour tracksuits have made an unfortunate comeback, easyJet can send you to Mars for just over a fiver and Artificial Intelligence (AI) has officiallytaken over the world. Although we may have another 14 years before the robot revolution, AI is already dominating the multi-media sectors. With 72 per cent of businesses hailing droids as a marketing advantage, is it time for humans to step aside and leave Alexa to it?

Stone Junction’smarketing executive, Tasha Bodger, discusses the pros and cons of leaving PR purely to the bots.

Well-oiled machine

One of AI’s biggest benefits is the connection it establishes between a business and its customer. Thanks to intelligence software, corporations no longer need to make costly assumptions about their client base. Whether it’s targeting a specific ad or recommending a tv show — that Netflix match-rating to Ru Pauls Drag Race is no coincidence — AI knows exactly what to market to who and when, without any of the human error.

Speaking of error, AI will also evolve your marketing campaign by monitoring past mistakes, audience engagement and customer insight, without you having to post a single thing first. Machine learningallows intelligence software to alter its programme based upon patterns and inference rather than explicit instructions; meaning you don’t need to risk a post being ghosted to figure out exactly what your audience wants.

According to Forbes, companies who use Artificial Intelligence as part of their marketing strategy see a 52 per cent sales lift in comparison to those still relying on non-bot marketers. Although it seems easy enough to analyse sales data without AI, the simple fact is it takes humans so much longer to do so — and bots don’t need to check the group WhatsApp every few hours for memes. Unfortunately for us, taking just a little longer than average could make all the difference when trying to produce relevant online content.

Ro-NOT

Using AI to respond to your customer insights seems like a no-brainer, but do your customers actually respond positively to AI?

The answer? Unfortunately, not.

In a survey conducted by the Business Insider, 52 per cent of customers indicated they would abandon a brand if the communications they received via chat, telephone or DM were impersonal or ‘canned’. Although it’s extremely cost-effective to have complaint channels or customer service lines manned by robots, it ruins the experience for the people potentially buying your products. We can probably all think of a time we’ve internally — and sometimes audibly — groaned when we’ve realised we’re dealing with a ‘help bot’ and not a human being. As of 2019, automated bots don’t have all the tools needed to reply to customer queries correctly, and sometimes than can be more frustrating than the initial complaint.

Although customer service isn’t directly part of a marketer’s job, without great client satisfaction it can be extremely difficult to promote your brand effectively.

What is part of a marketer’s job, however, is being creative; something which AI hasn’t quite yet mastered — listen to one of Alexa’s jokes and you’ll see what I mean! Without a crazy idea or a kooky PR stunt, marketing campaigns tend to get lost in the sea of social media. AI can tell you when to post, where to post and if you’re beating the algorithm, but it can’t write your content for you … yet.

Prefer a more human approach to your PR campaigns? Get in touch with Stone Junction today by calling +44 (0) 1785 225 416 or email natasha@stonejunction.co.uk.

The Stone Junction experience

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Bodger) — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 08:00:00 +0000

I found Stone Junction after looking at a list of the best 100 employers in Staffordshire. I wanted to understand what PR work entailed and I thought that a summer placement in an award-winning agency might be the right place to find this out. During my time, I got the ins and outs of what working as an account executive at Stone Junction is really like.

Here Holly Packham, temporary account executive at Stone Junction, shares her experiences from her two-month summer placement.

To my surprise, my placement encompassed all the day-to-day activities of a typical PR account executive. Instead of making cups of tea and coffee I was issuing and pitching features to journalists, drafting and scheduling social media content, analyzing media coverage and writing articles. Another great experience was going to a video shoot for a client, which gave me an insight into another area of PR.

Due to the agency’s specialist nature, I have also learnt about technology, from the robotics used at major sporting events to the equipment used when retrofitting sensors to legacy equipment in manufacturing plants. As an English student with no prior experience of engineering, I was apprehensive about the technical nature of the role. However, training from colleagues as well as research has broadened my understanding and proved that I can adapt my skill set to the world of technical PR.

Working very closely with one team, but also across all teams in the company, gave me an insight into the different clients Stone Junction has and a good understanding of the different roles my colleagues were doing as part of their jobs. I am ending my placement with a much better understanding of PR careers, as well as understanding the differences between in-house and agency PR.

Moving forward

As I go into my third year at the University of Birmingham, my Stone Junction experience will be reflected on in one of my modules. The placement module, which I would not have taken without Stone Junction, helps English students work towards a career in business. This includes undertaking a work placement and reflecting on their experiences in essay and presentation forms. One of my main takeaways is how much my writing skills have developed from in-depth feedback on my written content. As an English student, this could easily benefit my essays and hopefully improve my marks.

More of a personal takeaway is the importance of working in a cohesive team and a happy work environment. From my first day, everyone welcomed me as part of their team and showed me the importance of loving your job and enjoying spending time with the people, you work with.

Stone Junction offer great internship opportunities — and it’s not just tea making and it’s definitely not unpaid! If my blog post has piqued your interest, why not apply for a position? Stone Junction is recruiting for both account executives and experienced PR people. If you would like more information about working with these friendly people contact hello@stonejunction.co.uk.

Under the influencer? How businesses can take on Instagram’s algorithm and win

noreply@blogger.com (Lorna Wilde) — Fri, 06 Sep 2019 14:14:00 +0000

Posting on Instagram used to be as simple as taking a heavily filtered photograph and pressing ‘share’; but with the introduction of Insta-algorithms, there is so much more to consider if businesses want to be ‘liked’. Updates are now ranked on a set of relevancy criteria that all determine where on a newsfeed you might place, regardless of chronology. So, how can you make sure your business posts are always seen, despite all the avocado toast flat lays, product-peddling influencers and Glasto OOTD’s? — that’s ‘Outfit of the Day’ for anyone who isn’t addicted to social media.
Stone Junction’s marketing executive, Tasha Bodger, explains how businesses can solve the Insta-algorithm in four easy steps.

How insightful
It might seem simple, but the most obvious piece of advice is to post when your followers are most active. With consistent engagement being one of the biggest factors in influencing the algorithm, the more users that view your posts, the more potential likes and comments you’ll receive. By using Insights, Instagram’s analytics programme, you’ll be able to spot trends in your audience’s online activity and post at a time that suits them. As long as your followers ‘like’ what they see — quite literally — your posts will constantly rank high on their newsfeed.

Rules of engagement
Instagram has introduced countless features to encourage engagement between you and your followers; such as polls, IGTV, stories etc. Considering 200 million users a day visit a business profile, it’s little wonder your business/customer relationship plays such a major role in beating the algorithm. So, with all that being said, how can you convince Instagram of the connection between you and your audience?

Simply use the tools Instagram have designed for you — they’re free after all! Post daily stories, start opinion polls, reply to post comments or go ‘live’ on your profile. All of these tactics ensure the algorithm knows that people love your content and want to see more of it.

Get the picture?
According to Adweek magazine, picture quality is one of the easiest ways to influence the algorithm. Regardless of how often your business uploads, if your photographs aren’t easy on the eye, you might find you’re at the bottom of the feed chain. Make sure your photos are well lit, in focus and of a high resolution, and you’re almost guaranteed great Instagram exposure.

Don’t be scared to #Instafail
Some posts, regardless of how much algorithm appeasement you do, simply don’t perform as well as others. However, Instagram frequently updates the ways in which their algorithms filter posts, so a lack of likes may be an Insta-hint that the algorithm has changed. Keep this in mind, to stay one step ahead of the Instagram bots.

If the algorithms are getting you down, you could always outsource your social media strategy to an award-winning agency like Stone Junction. Give us a call on 017850 225 416 or email natasha@stonejunction.co.uk to find out more.

How to win Facebook friends and influence people: A guide to targeted ads

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Bodger) — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 13:58:00 +0000

Exaggeration is the official language of the internet; and when it comes to social media espionage and their oddly accurate adverts, it’s no different. While it appears Facebook is keeping literal‘tabs’ on you — they’re not. In fact, those ridiculously relevant adverts are actuallythe result of targeted ad campaigns. You may think you only told your mum about that desktop refrigerator on Amazon, but your browser cookies, related searches and public profile say otherwise.

With targeted ads generating nearly three times as much revenue as other adverts, Tasha Bodger, marketing executive at Stone Junction, explains the marketing benefits of nailing your targeted ad campaign.

Thanks to analytic services both businesses and social networks no longer need to make assumptions about who their average user is. Instead, they can deliver perfectly timed, primed and relevant ads to exactly who they want to, and boy is it lucrative!

Rather than spending thousands of pounds sending out blanket adverts with little success, businesses can spend a considered amount and target exactly who they want.

Let’s say your business manufactures pick-and-place robots for food production — the type to skilfully position cherries onto each bakewell tart. Although interesting, it’s a niche product and not for mass market. However, for Tim, a foreman at a large cake factory, it’s exactly what he’s looking for.

Why spend big bucks targeting everyone, when you just need to target Tim, Dick and Harry?

This is where your ads come in!

Targeted ads work across numerous social networking sites: such as Google, Facebook, Bing or Instagram. When you’ve decided on the perfect platform, you can begin to input your customer data into their chosen format.

Facebook, for example, provide drop-down menus on their ad site where you can filter your target market’s age, location, interest, gender and page likes. Once done, your ad will be posted to the feed of anyone who fits into those categories.

It seems simple and the results can be colossal.

Online advertiser WordStream, boast that businesses can increase their brand awareness by over 45 per cent by appearing in a targeted mobile advert, when compared to an indirect alternative. This could see an increase in engagement, click throughs and purchases.

For most businesses, the ROI of a tactic is the decider when implementing a new campaign and targeted ads do not disappoint. To generate a thousand impressions on Facebook a business need only spend £6.03. That’s in comparison to the eyewatering £29 per thousand for a television advert. So, not only do target ads work, but they are also best for a business on a budget.

If your target ads keep missing the mark, then contact our PR and SEO experts for some advice. Call us on +44 (0) 1785 225 416 or email natasha@stonejunction.co.uk.

It's nothing personal: Why you need to turn off personalised search

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Bodger) — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Most of us would rather Google didn’tcheck our online search history; but for a media-savvy business owner or anyone downloading bootleg footage of the new Lion King, it can be more than just an inconvenience. Personalised searches enable web browsers to recommend top results based on your location, previous link history or even your social media profiles. With six out of ten searches being customised, how can businesses ever be sure their page-ranking or SEO results are entirely accurate?

Stone Junction’s marketing executive, Tasha Bodger, explains why getting personal with Google can be bad for business.

If you’ve spent months fine-tuning your SEO campaign, nothing feels better than seeing your website appear top on a keyword search. Unfortunately, this is almost a given if you’ve not deactivated Google’s personalisation. Thanks to custom searches, if you’re sat in your business, googling your business, — you guessed it — your business is almost guaranteed to be your top result.

According to the Centre of Cultural Studies at the University of London, the top three URLs to appear on any given results page will vary due to personalised search. Regardless of where your website ranks on your screen, that order will most certainly differ should another person make the same search.

On the face of things, you’re all searching for the same thing, but there are multitudes of extraneous variables that have an impact on what shows up including location, time zone and search history. Therefore, the likelihood of identical search results is minimal.

With all that being said, how do you measure your page rank accurately if your results are always skewed positively toward your business?

The simple answer? Turn off personalised search.

As long as the feature is disabled in your Google settings or you use incognito mode, personalised search is history.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to impact the search results of those customers who have personalised search activated, but you will be able to accurately see how you fair on any organic internet search — and that’s a far better position than basing your SEO on misleading results.

If you’re no longer the top-ranked result once you’ve switched off personalised search, don’t fret! Here at Stone Junction our SEO experts are happy to help you climb those rankings. Contact us on +44 (0) 1785 225 416 or email natasha@stonejucntion.co.uk for more advice.

Small businesses and social media. Do you need it?

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Bodger) — Mon, 12 Aug 2019 08:00:00 +0000

We’re all on social media. Well, maybe not everyone. According to the Global Web Index (GWI), 67 per cent of the UK population owns a Twitter, Instagram or Facebook account. The question is no longer whether we use it, but why we’ve become such social media fiends. Long gone are the days of Facebook-stalking former classmates or begrudgingly ‘liking’ gap-year photos; networking sites are now a key tool for finding businesses and their products.

With such a large pool of potential customers online, why is it that 24 per cent of smaller, local businesses are reluctant to get a (Twitter) handle on things? Tasha Bodger, Stone Junction’s marketing executive, explains some of the benefits of localised social media.

Notorious Y.O.U

Having an online presence as a local business can be the difference between a mediocre customer base and a great one. By introducing any kind of social media channel, your consumer pool expands from those locally, to anyone searching for a ‘great bakery in Staffordshire’, for example.

You might bake the best cakes in the area — excluding my nan — but without making yourself findable online, you’ve already segregated a large potential customer pool.

Additionally, eight out of ten small businesses now have an active social media presence, so there’s a high chance that your competitors are just a click away. They might not be better or more convenient, but they are visible. Make sure you are too.

ConTROLL your brand image

Having control over your brand is one of the biggest benefits to social media. Whether it be negative or positive feedback, being able to respond and engage with customers is the perfect way to build relationships whilst supervising the perception of your firm.

Unfortunately, comments aren’t always positive. Some users relish the opportunity to post a highly-strung Facebook rant, potentially to the detriment of your business. However, with appropriate acknowledgement and an effective resolution, your social media platform could turn a negative review into repeat custom.

In fact, the Huffington Post reported that if a complaint is settled effectively, the consumer is five times more likely to return.

Take a break, have a chit chat!

Social media is also a great platform for marketing and at the heart of all social media campaigns is the content. By simply writing a post on the products you offer or the issues that matter to your customer, you could make significant financial gains.

Plus, you don’t need a huge follower base to get started. Regardless of how extensive your social media following is, it only takes one customer to like your posts to create a ripple effect of engagement. As a result, your client base has increased exponentially; and you only had to press send!

Of course, there are ways to tactically manage social media campaigns, grow a larger follower base and get your business in front of the right people. If you’re looking for help with your first social media campaign, contact Stone Junction now on 01785 225416 or e-mail natasha@stonejunction.co.uk.

Always searching for the right words?

noreply@blogger.com (Tasha Bodger) — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 14:50:00 +0000

Every day, billions of people search for content on the worldwide web, from local weather reports, to shop opening times or even the occasional meme. So, how is it that Google understands exactly what we are looking for in the time it takes to hit 'search'? Tasha Bodger, marketing executive at Stone Junction, gives her top tips on how to land a great SEO campaign and maintain your page engagement.

Besides the usual advice of great metatags and relevant keywords, there are a multitude of other techniques you can use to best improve your SEO!

Don’t DIY S-EO-S your website
Although it’s tempting to overhaul your current content completely; much like a post-breakup haircut, it’s not always a good idea. Your current model is the perfect baseline to work with and will allow you to accurately measure any improvements your changes have made. Create an SEO plan with goals that best represent success to you and your business. Is it a ten per cent increase in page views? Or five more social media shares this month? Whatever the goal, keep it simple and measured.

Good content travels fast
How often have you felt frustrated by a slow-moving site? According to eConsultancy, at least 40 per cent of us will abandon a website that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. A slow page not only insinuates inexperience but ultimately discourages people from reading about your products. Faster loading speeds will improve your user experience and ultimately ensure customers who find your site, stay on it.

These are not the keywords you’re looking for
Keywords are a crucial aspect of successful SEO but prioritising the ‘droids’ over the people that read your content could be a mistake. A healthy balance of long-tail keywords and customer driven copy will encourage a positive change to your engagement. With SEO at the forefront of your mind, it’s easy to forget that search engines don’t actually read your posts, purchase products or hit that ‘like’ button — that’s down to your customers. With that being said, write your content with the user in mind. Make it punchy, unique and relevant.

SE-Oh no!
When analytics show your techniques aren’t working, it can be an intimidating situation to manage. However, peaks and troughs in engagement are all part of a healthy SEO process. Search engines frequently change the ways in which they rank websites and their relevancy, so think of lower engagement as a hint from Google to keep on top of your strategy. To get back on track, have a look at the content that is doing well and replicate some of its keywords or metatags. Google search for your own keywords and view what pages are listed above yours for some SEO inspiration — just be sure to turn off personalised search first...

Of course, you could always ensure your SEO is a priority by outsourcing to an award-winning agency, like Stone Junction. Give us a call on 01785 225416 or email sayhello@stonejunction.co.uk for further SEO advice from our experts.

#InternationalPR – Three tips for beginners

noreply@blogger.com (Monia Dal Checco) — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 08:49:00 +0000

International PR is a powerful way of exporting your brand, accessing new and potentially untapped markets and maximising your global digital footprint. If you have a website, your company is already out there for the world to see, so why not increase its international visibility with a well-planned PR campaign?

Here Monia Dal Checco, multilingual account executive at Stone Junction, shares three tips to get you started.

Don’t split your message
If you decide to give international PR a try, you might be faced with the dilemma of whether to opt for a single international PR agency or to rely on multiple ones, each for every target area.

Though having a physical presence on the territory might have its advantages, the truth is that, thanks to communication technology, overcoming distances has never been easier. As a consequence, relying on a single agency to take care of all aspects of your PR might give you a better chance of coming up with a cohesive, unified message. This message will then be adapted appropriately for the different linguistic and cultural audiences you’d like to target.

Added bonus: relying on a single agency is by far the most cost-effective solution.

Scan the local trade press
Even if you don’t speak the language, it’s still worth having a look at local trade publications in your sector. If the language barrier doesn’t allow you to read the articles in their entirety, there are a couple of tricks you can use to try and understand the kind of content that is most likely to be featured.

Do most publications in your sector focus on hard news about product launches and trade shows, or do they privilege informative articles on a broader concept or technology? You can easily figure this out from the graphics.

You can also look at figures, stats and graphs to understand the level of technical complexity that local trade outlets look for. A technical PR agency can give you the specialist support you need to be featured in publications that require highly technical content.

Don’t get lost in translation
English might be the universal language of B2B communications, but your international audiences probably live, speak and think in a different language. As a consequence, you need to plan how to engage readers from a different linguistic and cultural background.

Firstly, be aware of local preferences in writing style. Some cultures, such as the Italian one, favour a wordy and articulate style, which is seen as evidence of the writer’s education and expertise. Others prefer a more straight-to-the-point approach, which allows readers of all backgrounds to easily access the content.

The sentences you typically find in the English trade press – snappy, concise and centred around noun phrases – might sound too simplistic once translated. As a result, your content might sound less trustworthy.

It’s also a good idea to avoid metaphors and figurative language that might not translate well, and to familiarise yourself with what can or cannot be the subjects of puns and jokes. Religion, politics, and sexuality are topics to be handled delicately and only if you have a deep understanding of the target audience’s culture.

Once you have prepared content that can work transculturally, get in touch with qualified translators and let them do their magic. At Stone Junction, we currently speak eight different languages in house and collaborate with professional technical translators providing reach to nearly every country in the world.

For more information on how to write outstanding international PR content, get in touch with me by e-mailing monia@stonejunction.co.uk or calling +44 01785 225416.

Why an advertising ban is good for girls

noreply@blogger.com (Zafar Jamati) — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 09:45:00 +0000

A ban on gender stereotyping is good for the skills shortage

The UK's advertising watchdog, The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), brought a ban into force last Friday on adverts featuring "harmful gender stereotypes" or those which are likely to cause "serious or widespread offence". The move will not only make advertising more responsible, it’s also good for the engineering skills shortage, as Zafar Jamati, head of content at Stone Junction, explains.

The new rules come following the ASA’s review on gender stereotyping back in 2017. In it, the ASA highlighted how gender stereotypes can limit people’s potential, especially for young people, particularly girls:

“Gender roles and characteristics portrayed in advertising were generally perceived to be dated and not reflective of modern society. Portrayals did not always reflect real-life experiences, or they lacked diversity, and because of this were perceived potentially to limit future aspirations. Women and teen girls in particular expressed concern at the potential future impact of advertising in terms of perpetuating stereotypical messages over time.”

One advert that caused controversy was a 2017 TV ad for baby formula Aptamil, which showed a baby boy becoming an engineer and a baby girl becoming a ballerina. The advert received complaints, but a formal investigation found that it didn’t break any rules at the time; the same advert would now fall foul of these new rules.

While this news is great for breaking gender stereotypes and will undoubtedly make advertising more responsible, forcing advertising agencies to find ever-more creative ways of influencing buying behaviour, it also signifies a positive move for tackling the engineering skills shortage.

Stats from Engineering UK’s Engineering Brand Monitor Survey (EBM) 2018, show that, while half of all GCSE physics entrants are female, this number shrinks to just 22 per cent at A-Level. By the time young people get to university, only 16 per cent of engineering and technology first-degree entrants are female. For those starting an engineering apprenticeship, only eight per cent are female.

“Evidence also suggests that there is more work to be done in informing young people, especially girls, about what a career in engineering can entail,” explains Engineering UK. “Our EBM results indicate that at every age, boys are far more likely to consider a career in engineering than girls. The findings further suggest that pupils across all ages are less likely to understand engineering careers than science or technology careers. Evidence from the ASPIRES project supports this, indicating that young people often have poorly formulated views of what engineering jobs actually entail.”

This isn’t really news to most of us in the engineering and technology sector. We’ve known for years that tackling the problem requires a joined-up approach between parents, teachers, employers and government. The Engineering UK report’s recommendations sum up what industry can do going forward.

I’ll leave you with the list of recommendations and urge you to make positive changes in your businesses that will continue to bring about a paradigm shift in the engineering sector. If an ad for baby formula can bring about a fundamental change in advertising rules, imagine what we in the engineering industry can do.

Recommendations by Engineering UK (read the full report here):

Streamline the STEM outreach landscape
Understand what works in engineering-focused career interventions
Address the STEM teacher shortage
Safeguard against the potential negative implications of Brexit
Ensure apprenticeships are of high quality
Raise understanding and awareness of engineering
Improve diversity and inclusion

For more information about how you can develop thought-leading engineering PR content, contact Stone Junction on sayhello@stonejunction.co.uk or call us on +44 (0) 1785 225416.

Ask me anything - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Lorna Wilde) — Tue, 28 May 2019 09:10:00 +0000

Reddit: The front page of the internet

The subreddit ask me anything (AMA), is one of the most popular on the platform. With over 19 million subscribers, it is of little surprise that more businesses are considering using this avenue as an opportunity to engage with their audiences. Here Lorna Wilde, account executive at technical PR agency Stone Junction, explains the second consideration for businesses turning to Reddit AMAs.

After you’ve established whether there are any skeletons in your corporate closet, the second question I suggest you ask yourself before posting on a Reddit AMA is, do you have the time and expertise to answer?

One of the main downfalls of an AMA is getting someone else to answer the questions. Take Morgan Freeman’s AMA as an example. — while he was verified as the actual interviewee, he didn’t answer the questions himself — a PR firm did. Users quickly picked up on this and there was an influx of comments questioning the validity of his answers.

Other AMAs use PR firms as question-posers, in the hopes that the interview will stay on track and will only focus on a certain area. If done correctly and sparingly, it’s a great way to address issues that wouldn’t necessarily be asked by a consumer, but this should be limited to the start of an AMA, where questioning is slow.

Using a PR firm during these AMAs is recommended but as consultants rather than question answerers — specialists can draft answers to the toughest questions while collaborating with the interviewee who can add a personal flair to their replies. Whatever external help you receive, all answers should have the interviewee as the final touchpoint.

The most successful AMAs are the interviewees who take every question in their stride; transparency and the human touch is key. Keep engagements simple and relevant to the question being asked. And if it all goes wrong, you can always staple a piece of bread to a tree…

For more information on how to use online platforms to benefit your brand, visit www.stonejunction.co.uk, or call 01785 225416.

Ask me anything

noreply@blogger.com (Lorna Wilde) — Fri, 17 May 2019 10:32:00 +0000

On Reddit, nothing is off limits. There’s a reason why it is known as the front page of the internet — many of the images and memes you see on social media originate from the 330 million registered users of the Reddit site. Here Lorna Wilde, account executive at Stone Junction, explains the first question to ask before turning to a Reddit AMA.

When I first joined Reddit many moons ago, I was both surprised and overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information before me. On the site, there are over 9,000 active communities, known as subreddits, all tailored to specific topics and themes. Subreddits can be broad, such as /r/pics, where you can share pictures of almost anything, or specialised, like /r/BreadStapledToTrees, which is exactly what you think it is.

With over 19 million subscribers, one of the biggest subreddits on the site is /r/IAmA, — I am a …. Ask me anything! This is a subreddit where people from all occupations schedule and hold online interviews, answering any question that the community asks.

So far, using this method to advertise or engage with customers is very much like swimming in uncharted waters. There are no case-studies available that really encapsulate the benefits and pitfalls of AMA for businesses. There are, however, brilliant examples of how politicians like Barack Obama and celebrities like Snoop Lion have hosted thought-provoking and interesting interviews to further discussions about pertinent issues that are prevalent in society. On the flip side, there are a myriad of examples of how these interviews can go wrong; usually through a lack of consideration and knowledge about Reddit’s demographic.

The first main point to consider before turning to a Reddit AMA is, do you have skeletons in your corporate closet?

If so, Reddit AMAs are probably not the best advertising route to take. Reddit differs from other social media platforms in the way that its users are willing to take the time to read into your claims. As the subreddit suggests, users can ask pretty much anything and if you have some deeply buried secrets, you can guarantee that these will be found and questioned.

A US beverage company found this out the hard way — redditors engaging with the AMA discovered an old job posting from the company that did not paint them in a good light. They then derailed the interview by focusing on this and ex employees’ less-than-flattering personal experiences with the business. However, instead of responding to these concerns with a clear and rational message, the interviewee offered to talk about it privately with each individual user. This created an aura of insincerity and paved the way to a lot of comments about boycotting the brand.

The right course of action to take here would be to acknowledge user’s concerns —no matter how damning they are. Users are more likely to change their opinion if subjects are explained to them due to this engaging the rational part of the mind. If your company can show how you’ve learnt and improved from bad decisions, you will increase both your brand integrity and influence over consumers’ purchasing decisions moving forward.

To find out the second question to ask before turning to Reddit, visit our blog next week for part two. If you can’t wait until then, e-mail lorna@stonejunction.co.uk and we can discuss Reddit in detail.

Three tips from three years

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 02 May 2019 08:00:00 +0000

May marks my three-year anniversary at Stone Junction. From joining as a fresh-faced Natural Sciences graduate in 2016, to working on award-winning campaigns across a varied group of clients, it has been a steep learning curve. Here Leah Elston-Thompson, junior account manager at technical PR agency Stone Junction, shares three PR tips she’s learned during three years at Stone Junction.

Know your audience
One of our mantras at Stone Junction is to write with the reader in mind, and it’s important that you write for the right reader. For each campaign, defining your audience, thinking about what you can offer them and considering what action you’d like them to take will help your content hit the mark.

Knowing your audience just as important when deciding which journalist to pitch your story to. Good PR is not about casting the net wide, but understanding the core media and providing journalists with the right content for their publications.

Keep learning
One of the reasons I wanted to work in technical PR was so that I could learn about technology every day. However, there are also opportunities to develop outside of the scope of your day to day work.

A big part of this for me has been joining the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and achieving Accredited status. Maintaining this status involves obtaining 60 continuing professional development (CPD) points each year and, so far, I have been to numerous events, training sessions and expanded my knowledge by reading PR, marketing and business books. Two I’d particularly recommend are Good to Great, by Jim Collins, and The PR Masterclass by Alex Singleton.

Choosing the right team
When starting out in your PR career, it might be tempting to apply to every PR agency you can find to increase your chances of securing a role. However, I’d advise taking the time to find out the specifics; what types of client does the agency work with? What are the organisation’s values?

Stone Junction hires graduates from three main pathways; languages, PR, marketing and journalism and science, technology, engineering and maths. As well as looking for particular education backgrounds, we look for people with passion and enthusiasm for technology.

Interested in joining the team? E-mail your CV to sayhello@stonejunction.co.uk.

Three ways to recycle content

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 May 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Recycling. It’s the one of the key ways of saving the world from drowning in waste materials like plastic that have a detrimental impact on the environment. However, I bet you didn’t know that recycling can also save your PR campaign from the damaging effects of wasted content. Here, Kirsty McMahon, new client strategist at content PR specialist Stone Junction, explains.

Creating quality content for your PR and marketing campaign is time consuming and costly. Technical articles, whitepapers, blogs and videos are always worth the expense and effort if they are part of a well-planned and targeted campaign. However, you really can get much more for the investment if you recycle your content instead of disposing of it after the initial purpose has been served.

In
Marketing is about generating leads, so the natural and right focus is on potential customers out in the wide world. However, when those leads do bite, they expect to experience the same brand messages and knowledge the marketing has demonstrated.

One of the easiest ways to ensure this happens is to share marketing content via internal communications channels. Not only will this build brand cohesion, it will also create passion and excitement about marketing activity across your company, giving you that all important buy in from company players at all levels.

Out
Of course, an obvious question to ask about each piece of content is, have I shared this everywhere I possibly can? Pushing content out further is not about forcing things on media outlets or channels that are not interested, it’s about assessing how your content could be adapted to suit multiple audiences.

For instance, if you have an article that explores the benefits of additive manufacturing in aerospace, look at how you can adapt the content to target automotive, machinery or medical markets. This is usually as simple as changing examples or hooks in articles, as the core technology often remains the same. Then you have much wider media appeal for the piece.

Shake it all about
Finally, think about shaking it up completely and upcycling to make something new. That technical article, why not turn it into an infographic? Got a brilliant video case study? What about using the audio to create a podcast?

The main benefit of this approach is widening the ways you reach your audience. Not everyone reads magazines and not all millennials spend hours on YouTube. Take your message wider by shaking up the format and use those carefully structured messages across multiple platforms and mediums.

Oh, and don’t forget to recycle physical things — there really is no plan(et) B.

To find out how Stone Junction can help you get the most out of your content PR campaign, call +44 (0)1785 225416 or email kirsty@stonejunction.co.uk.

Made in Sweden 2030

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Apr 2019 10:32:00 +0000

Meatballs and flatpack, Sweden’s biggest exports, right? Not so much. In fact, manufacturing accounts for 77 per cent of Swedish exports and 21 per cent of the country’s GDP. Here, Kirsty McMahon, new client strategist at Stone Junction, explains the key things to keep in mind when expanding your business or your industrial PR activity into the region.

In 2016, the Swedish Government launched its plan to place the nation at the forefront of the smart industrialisation movement. Focussed on digitalisation, sustainable production, creating industrial talent and promoting innovation, the Roadmap for Smart Industrialisation stipulates a wide range of measures to help the sector advance.

Under the umbrella of Made in Sweden 2030: Strategic Agenda for Innovation and Production, government, education and businesses are collaborating closely to achieve these core goals by 2030:

To make Sweden the primary choice for developing and producing advanced products and services
Make a career or education in manufacturing a desired choice
Have complex systems where virtual and real production processes are integrated for optimum flexibility, resource efficiency and customisation the norm

This strategy has been carefully developed based on an analysis of global mega-trends that will impact Sweden’s economy and challenge its industry. Among the core concerns the region is preparing for is the fact that 60 per cent of the world’s population is predicted to be living in urban “mega-cities” by 2030, with the middle class having increased by almost two billion people, drastically increasing demand for goods and services.

Focus on the digital and engineering skills gaps is also a priority in Sweden because a large proportion of the population in 2030 will be over 65. Ensuring industry can implement the fourth industrial revolution built on connected devices and systems is important, but there is equal focus on creating a human-centred production system. So, while Made in Sweden 2030 and associated roadmaps outline tactics to improve adoption of new technology like robotics and virtual reality, there is an equal balance on human skills development.

Industry in Sweden currently creates over one million employment opportunities, particularly across its core sectors — steel, automotive and chemical manufacturing. Other highly active sectors in the region include industrial machinery and equipment, automation, metalwork and food processing equipment. And, as far as I’m aware, none of these sectors run a flatpack approach… not sure about the meatballs though.

If you need a hand developing your industrial PR strategy to reach a Swedish (or any other) audience, give me or our international team a call on +44 (0)1785 225416 or drop me an email on kirsty@stonejunction.co.uk.

Location, location, location: The key to media event success

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 26 Apr 2019 08:36:00 +0000

You’ve worked hard on developing your new products and creating exciting PR and marketing initiatives, now it’s time for the launch. However, wrangling stakeholders, potential customers and the right media representatives into one room as an SME is as easy as herding cats. Here, Kirsty McMahon, new client strategist at Stone Junction, explains why the right event venue can hold the key to success.

While it’s tempting to take the easy option and hold an event at your own facility, it’s not always the right choice. If it ticks all the following boxes, you’ll be fine, but if not then it may be worth exploring other options to maximise attendance and media coverage.

Location: Accessibility
The first and most obvious consideration is how easy your venue is to get to. Selecting somewhere off the beaten track may provide a pretty backdrop to your event, but it will put guests off making the trip.

You also need to consider how inconvenient a location may be for journalists you’d like to invite. Much of the UK’s media, for instance, is based in and around London and further south. Small pockets, like oil and gas media, are based in other areas, such as the northern most coastlines of Scotland. Selecting somewhere close to the people you’re inviting maximises the chance they will be able to spare the time to attend, instead of declining simply because of travel time.

Location: Meaning
While it is true that you can hold a successful event in any old venue, it is important to stand out from the crowd whenever you can. This doesn’t mean selecting a location simply because it looks unique or exciting.

Instead, look at locations that support the message you’re trying to share or the product you are launching. If it’s a technical product, what about a science museum? For environmental campaigns, select a venue dedicated to cleantech or preservation, such as The Eden Project.

Location: Practicalities
Don’t forget the important task of delivering the event. Always visit the location personally and walk through every stage of your launch. Is the room easy to access? Where do you need roll up banners? Is there enough room for everyone? Who and how will audio visual equipment be managed? Where will lunch be served?

These are just some of the important things to tick off your list before you send any invitations. Having to change details of events after you start to receive RSVPs will frustrate your audience and could reduce the numbers of attendees.

Of course, you could ensure things go smoothly by outsourcing aspects or all of your next press launch to someone with the right experience, like Stone Junction. Give me a call on +44 (0)1785 225416 or email kirsty@stonejunction.co.uk.

Friendly reminder that we’re outstanding

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 16:00:00 +0000

Anyone can say they’re outstanding, talented and successful — but we have the proof. The annual shortlists for the national CIPR Excellence and the regional PRCA Dare awards have recently been released, and both feature the name Stone Junction more than once. Here, Kirsty McMahon, new client strategist at Stone Junction, explains why this is awesome news for you as well as the agency.

Two national and six regional shortlists, all before the 2019 CIPR PRide entries have been submitted. That sets Stone Junction on track for another record-breaking awards year. The last 24 months have seen us reap awards for various PR and consultancy campaigns, with both the CIPR and PRCA naming us as Outstanding Consultancy in the Midlands in 2018.

We have been listed in two categories for the national CIPR Excellence 2019; STEM Campaign and Small Consultancy of the Year. For the PRCA Midlands Dare Awards 2019, we’re shortlisted for:

Campaign Challenges Award
Corporate Affairs Award
Integrated Campaign of the Year
Event, Launch or Stunt of the Year
Trade & B2B Campaign of the Year
Large Consultancy of the Year

While this is an excellent excuse for us to celebrate, it also benchmarks Stone Junction against other leading agencies and demonstrates the reliable ability of our team to achieve outstanding results for our clients.

Our shortlists for 2019 so far are for campaigns across four clients, each with specific challenges and targeting various trade, technology or industrial sectors. As a specialist agency, being able to prove the skills, knowledge and capabilities we have cultured across the company proves our commitment to excellence to our existing and prospective clients and partners — you!

You know that whenever or however you work with Stone Junction there are proven trust markers in place to give you the peace of mind that you will get return on your PR investment. Check out our long list of historic award wins here and don’t forget to root for us when the results are announced this summer!

For more information about how your PR campaign could become one of our future award-winning campaigns, give me a call on +44 (0)1785 225416 or email kirsty@stonejunction.co.uk.

LinkedIn Groups — how to make them work for you

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 12:54:00 +0000

They can be spammy, unfocussed and self-promotional, but when you handle them correctly, LinkedIn Groups can be a truly effective marketing resource. Here, Kirsty McMahon, new client strategist at industrial PR agency Stone Junction, explains how to build and manage a group that nurtures useful relationships and delivers marketing results — without wasting time.

When the industrial sector entered the early stages of the fourth industrial revolution, Stone Junction set up a LinkedIn Group to give professionals a platform to share their knowledge. After all, technology is advancing at the most rapid rate in history, creating great challenges in adopting new tech in an effective and useful way.

As Marina Gorbis, executive director for the Institute for the Future, said in an article for the New York Times, “… technologies are emerging faster than our institutional capacity to adapt to them.”

One of the most straightforward ways of tackling issues like this is to create discussion points with others in industry to change the way we interact with and respond to new tools like artificial intelligence (AI) or collaborative robots.

A carefully managed LinkedIn Group, like industrial and engineering marketing professionals, is a great way to begin, steer and stay involved in these discussions. It will position your company as a brand focussed on the future of industry, showcasing your dedication to your customers and other stakeholders.

It also has the added benefit of allowing you to grow your company’s network of useful contacts and provides an avenue to showcase your success.

The following points will help you get a group off the ground and keep full of interesting talking points:

Set up your group with a name and description that does what it says on the tin, this will make sure anyone joining knows what to expect.
Create a group policy that clearly outlines what members can and cannot share in the group. Outlawing sales messages is a good way to exclude spam.
Vet all members applying to join your group. Are they real people? Are they working in a suitable field to offer insight valuable to the group?
Monitor the group closely. Where you can, set up a team of moderators to remove irrelevant posts and keep an eye out for abusive comments or content.
Share your own content! Don’t forget to start discussions and interact with others in the group.

If you need a helping hand or just a bit of advice, why not give me a call on +44 (0)1785 225416 or drop me an email at kirsty@stonejunction.co.uk and I’ll see what I can do. Also, don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Group here, we’d love to see your industry insights!

Bringing PR in-house — why it’s not always a good idea

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 08:00:00 +0000

Research by the World Federation of Advertisers shows that businesses give their current agency roster set-up a score of just 5.7 out of 10, where 10 is fit for purpose. This is one of the many justifications for taking activity like PR in-house. Here, Kirsty McMahon, new client strategist at Stone Junction, explains the challenges of in-housing and why you should look before you leap.

Before we get stuck in, I can hear you all rolling your eyes — of course you’re anti in-housing Kirsty, you work at an agency! This is true, but as someone who has also spent five years in-house I think I remain impartial… kind of.

Lack of transparency about agency pricing, an increase in digital advertising and pressure on margins are just some of the main arguments for bringing PR activity back into the company fold. However, there are several things you really, truly need to consider before you make this step.

Resources
When we talk about the number of people in your marketing team here, I’m referencing the tools and technology that an agency has the scope to invest in. For example, relying on the handful of journalists your team has a personal knowledge of will not result in a successful campaign. Agencies pay for access to services like Vuelio, which gives them the ability to find the contact information for editors around the world in any trade sector.

Effective media monitoring also relies on spending money on services that can do the leg work for you, such as Meltwater, Vuelio or Gorkana. None of these tools are cheap, but you reap the benefits of them without the massive capital investment if you work with an agency.

Mastering trade
Websites, brochures, trade shows, sales collateral, whitepapers, social media, networking, internal comms, email marketing, budget management and reporting. Marketing teams must be a Jack of all trades but they are already pulled in a thousand directions, so where can they fit in the time to create, manage and run an effective and innovative PR campaign?

An agency ensures you have a team of people solely dedicated to making your campaign deliver results without relying on the simplest tactics because that’s all there is time for. Outside the box thinking is so much easier if you’re not living in the box.

It is what you know
With all the pressure on marketing teams, commitment to continual professional development (CPD) is not easy to make time for, so it makes sense that when it is on the agenda it suits the individual’s career in marketing. PR agencies are full of people doing the same thing, but specialising in PR.

At Stone Junction, for example, we have a flexible benefits scheme that covers membership of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), and this has resulted in half the agency becoming accredited PR practitioners and two being chartered PR practitioners. You can’t really put a price on this commitment to remaining at the forefront of the industry, but it is an often-overlooked asset in any PR campaign toolbelt.

If you’d like to chat in more detail about the agency vs in-house debate, I’m happy to be challenged! Give me a call on +44 (0)1785 225416 or email kirsty@stonejunction.co.uk.

Losing meaning in RoI

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 08:00:00 +0000

The financial crisis of 2008 may seem a lifetime ago, but we are far from recovered. Economies are growing very slowly by historic standards and UK public debt is double its pre-crisis level relative to the size of the economy. This is keeping firm eyes on quick return on investment for services. Kirsty McMahon, new client strategist at Stone Junction, explains the negative impact on your PR campaign.

There has always been one reason or another to keep tight control on the purse strings, whether it’s financial crises of regional or international proportions or seismic political shifts like Brexit. Marketing spend is often the first to be assessed for savings potential, mostly because it can be tricky to prove return on investment (RoI). This keeps the pressure on marketing managers to shoot for quick wins to keep hold of their share of the kitty.

While this is completely understandable, the attention on quick wins results in building PR and marketing campaigns that rely on entirely the wrong tactics for long-term success. Social media competitions, paid for content, Facebook ads and discount deals will get you some low hanging fruit to showcase increase web traffic and sales, but it’s a bit like building a house of straw in an area prone to hurricanes — you’re going to have to rebuild it after every storm season.

Instead, marketing managers need to think longer term and outline a strategy that will show RoI in a sustained and reliable way. Thought leading content PR, media relations, speaking opportunities and high value downloadable assets are all foundations that will build you one of those new-fangled hurricane proof homes that will be standing for generations.

JP Hanson, chief executive of international strategic consultancy Rouser, recently wrote a very interesting article supporting this point for Marketing Week, which you can read here. He said, “The problem with the approach is that while long-term strategies always provide short-term results, short-term tactics practically never have long-term benefits. In fact, due to their nature, they tend to erode brand equity.”

I can’t put it more succinctly than that. There are several ways to demonstrate what results a long-term approach will yield and when if you are working with a PR agency that can help you develop a strategic map for the next three to five years, plotting campaigns, tactics and goals in a realistic manner.

If you’re struggling to prove your RoI point, give me a call on +44 (0)1785 225416 or email kirsty@stonejunction.co.uk and we’ll have a chat about how we can help.

Top three ways to get the most from a PR kick off session

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 16:04:00 +0000

How many of your meetings this week could have been condensed into an email? Time is precious, and when you’ve spent hours sourcing, briefing and watching pitches, you want your new PR agency to just get on with it. However, dedicating time to onboarding is the key to a successful campaign — if it is done properly. Kirsty McMahon, new client strategist at Stone Junction, explains.

When done right, a PR strategy session to kick off your campaign provides the opportunity to share knowledge, establish best practice and processes and builds relationships between all relevant parties. Here are my top three tips to make sure an onboarding meeting isn’t a waste of time for anyone involved.

Make a day of it
Allocating an hour to set out your PR campaign and share vital information to get things moving is not nearly enough. This is why, at Stone Junction, we like to make a day of it. The agenda for these Discovery Days includes an overview of the proposed campaign for the next three months, a knowledge sharing session about products and services from engineers as well as a customer discovery session.

Rather than relying on data sheets and tech specs, this lets your PR team learn everything they need right from the experts. This not only improves the accuracy, relevancy and quality of your campaign plan it also ensures the creation of reliable content that reflects the company’s technology and brand voice.

Come prepared
This is not the sort of meeting you can just wing. Each party has a very important role to play in these early stages and you must be ready to deliver. Agencies need to arrive armed with initial ideas , exercises or discussion points to draw out new ones as well as the necessary information to make collaboration easy for the client.

Clients, you need to have everything you want the agency to know — and the right people — at your fingertips. What products are a priority for you? What USPs need to stand out? Who, exactly, is your customer and what challenges do they face? How do your products work? What other marketing activity are you planning and when?

Get everyone involved
Nine times out of ten, marketing and communications representatives have a pretty good handle on PR, particularly why it matters and what it will achieve. But what about your design engineers, research and developers and C-level executives?

Not only is a Discovery Day the ideal opportunity to educate your team about the benefits of PR and get them excited, it also demonstrates the importance of their involvement. The technical knowledge and exciting company developments rest with more than the marketing manager. By engaging your team from the outset, you will see a greater appreciation for the PR campaign, mostly because it will generate the results the business truly needs.

To kick off your next PR campaign right, give me a call on +44 (0)1785 225416 or email kirsty@stonejunction.co.uk to find out how we can build the best strategy for your needs — just remember, while it will take more than an email, it will be worth it.

Fool me once

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 14:49:00 +0000

Whether you see April 1 as a chance to wind up your relatives, or you’re a bit like me and can’t really see the point, there’s no denying some brands have been particularly creative this year! Here are some of the top 2019 April Fools, as collated by PRWeek and summarised for you by Stone Junction new client strategist, Kirsty McMahon.

Mr Avo Head
Hasbro announced childhood favourite, Mr Potato Head had been shelved in favour of a hip(ster) alternative, Mr Avo Head. With his man bun, styled beard and skinny jeans he’s billed as the new, interchangeable face of Hasbro.

Stamping on Brexit
Truly amazing Brexit first and second-class stamps have been designed by Isobel. They feature the PM and other Brexit players looking as bemused as we all feel. This is one I wish was real, I’d definitely be starting a stamp collection.

No straight white men allowed
Metro unveiled a ban on straight white males in its comment section to appease the “anti-straight-white-male movement”. An April Fool I’m sure Captain Marvel star, Brie Larson probably had a smile at following the backlash she received about her inaugural superhero outing.

Hat-fishing is not your biggest Tinder problem
Tinder took an amusing step to play on its image-conscious dating technology by announcing height-fishing technology. It demanded a photograph beside any commercial building be uploaded to the site to verify height for users put off by those who are too tall or short. Taking the issue of hat-fishing, where people appear more attractive when wearing a hat (it’s true, I’m wearing one now and I look fabulous) to the next level.

Read PRWeek’s full round up of this year’s best efforts here.