How to produce great video for B2B PR

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Alex

In our last post we explored the factors that underpin the effectiveness of online video as a tool in B2B public relations. Video in the digital has literally experienced a viral explosion and is now one of the world’s most popular mediums. Here are our tips for producing effective video for B2B PR:

1. Make your video professional
Your primary concern should be to ensure that the production value and quality of your video itself is high and so B2B appropriate. Today, there are numerous online programmes for customising the appearance of video for presentation on your website – such as in thumbnail popups with quirky, although commonly used, graphics. However, corporate websites should always present video in a format that appears professionally produced – not as an after-thought from a backroom member of staff. This video by Corning is a great example of a slick B2B video that effectively communicates the brand’s message. Gaining 18 million views, it shows video’s power to communicate in an increasingly crowded and diverse media landscape is not to be sniffed at!

2. Integrate your video
Video, like other elements of your homepage, should appear as a seamless part of your site’s design. The most recent or relevant videos should be prominently displayed and be obvious to the browsing viewer – you should aim to utilise every opportunity to have your video viewed.

3. Make your videos accessible
Displaying a photograph or graphic image in the video window, along with a prominent play symbol, will arrest the viewer’s attention and entice them to play the video. In this way you will distinguish your video content from other elements of the homepage such as buttons and plugins. In addition, to further encourage engagement, include a clear tagline or title labeling the video and explaining its content.

4. Know your audience
When devising corporate video, you must consider both the relevance of the medium and its content to their audience(s). Are they investors, customers, employees or trade press? Understand your audience in terms of the other mediums they engage with; the language they are familiar with and expect, the visual cues that engage and reassure them.

5. Keep it simple
Using complex formats (including those that take time to download or open), inappropriate music, complex graphics, or experimental editing styles might serve to alienate your target audience. When the opportunity to grab viewers’ attention is no more than a few seconds of their working day, simplicity in terms of format, presentation and access, is often the best strategy for achieving your primary aim – making them watch. Fundamentally, each element of your video’s production and presentation must be considered in relation to your audiences’ needs, expectations and understanding.

6. Deliver your message
When devising a video, firstly clearly define its subject and key message(s). B2B video for use across multiple platforms should, ideally, be short. You must formulate your message in shorthand: digestible chunks of relevant information, avoiding extraneous detail. Your message should fit onto a narrative framework that will engage the viewer and carry them from shot to shot.

7. Edit strategically
When considering the editing of your video, the viewer’s attention span is a key consideration. Viewers should ideally perceive, while watching the video that it is an effort-free exercise – your business has effectively done the work for them.

Create a dynamic timeline that includes clear illustrations of the video’s subject and narrative with a seamless and smooth audio-steam. Use B-roll shots, simple graphics, images, or animation in clips of no more than four seconds in length. Ensure that all clips are illustrative of what is being said and do not distract or confuse the viewer. In essence, good editing is key to formulating a clear narrative and delivering your message. For more on video as a B2B marketing tool, click here.

Online video as a public relations tool requires constant reconsideration as the digital spectrum expands, and so it’s a subject that we will return to soon. Stay tuned!

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Understanding Video in B2B PR

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Alex

The public relations industry shares numerous characteristics with its parent profession journalism. Among them is an understandable obsession with the printed word – historically, a tool fundamental to both disciplines. However, the digital age has redoubled the importance of imagery and video in PR. Arguably, redefining and extending the industry’s remit, and eroding the key role of traditional medias in relation to PR.

PR from newsprint to YouTube  

The printing press created journalism as a profession: the pamphlet of old evolved into the newspaper and a commercially viable industry was born. Words became powerful political and commercial commodities.

In turn, the PR industry sought to achieve its objectives through the pedantic scripting of press releases and press-packs of refined, though predictably formulaic copy – note the language of B2B communications and media relations.

Conceivably, the digital revolution has freed PR from the tyranny of the press release – the printed word no longer reigns supreme. Likewise, video is not the medium it was 20 years ago; the Internet has effectively given it a third age. The use of video for B2B and B2C PR is not new; however, its reconstitution for digital platforms has both electrified and confounded businesses in equal measure. Successful adapters include Apple, who use video to engage consumers with their products, through theatrical launches and audiences centered on the personality of Steve Jobs as this video shows…

Why Video? People are culturally hardwired

When a business asks: Why use video? It must consider that we are by nature, instinctively visual, and live in a culture that worships imagery. The habitual use of television and the Internet, has contributed to a societal fragmentation of attention spans, with matching expectations for immediate gratification in terms of knowledge acquisition and understanding, and an association between entertainment and learning.

Why Video? The inherent power of imagery

When confronted with an attractive, colourful, dynamic image, we involuntarily engage with it; its subject, its message, or its brand – we learn something new, a seed is planted. This effect was achieved by the Victorian billboard poster, and the same principle applies to the corporate website today.

Placement of imagery and branding on a website’s home page will result in extended viewer engagement. If a website is text heavy but image light, the majority of viewers will quickly surf away. This is borne out by statistics, which show that LinkedIn and Twitter profiles with images gain more hits, followers and productive results than those without. ‘Seeing is believing’: we regard imagery and video as knowledge in shorthand.

Video in the digital sphere

The digital revolution effectively presented the public relations industry with the opportunity to create a new, multi-faceted publicity model for B2B communications. PR has been recast as a media maker and publisher, liberated from its former dependence on the word-centric print-media.

The digital landscape is vast, and beyond a business’s corporate website and company blogs, social media is the B2B PR tool that has powered the renewed relevance of video. Social media platforms are potentially boundless in terms of video and message dissemination. Moreover, video in B2B public relations for digital platforms and social media engagement is a complex and ever evolving subject with countless considerations. Given its importance, and multi-faceted nature, it is a subject that merits further discussion. Watch this space for more on the uses of video in B2B PR.

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LinkedIn as a Public Relations tool

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Alex

While there is no ‘one-fits-all’ model in the sphere of digital B2B public relations, LinkedIn is arguably the most adaptable social-media platform in terms of strategic, specialist community-focused communications and message dissemination.

For communications professionals a LinkedIn presence has effectively become de rigueur. According to PR News Online, a 92% of journalists are now on the platform. This fact considered, in the context of public relations, it is crucial for result-driven practitioners to see beyond LinkedIn as a networking portal and engage with it as a communications platform.

PR objectives: In the context of a PR campaign, before engaging with LinkedIn as a communications tool it is essential to define the objectives of the effort, in terms of campaign or organisational aims.

Identifying communities: Central to defining your objectives when using LinkedIn as a campaign tool is to evaluate the relevance of the platform to your target audience. Does your audience constitute a community on LinkedIn? Is it possible to construct a community from a cohort of users for the purposed of your campaign, or the organisation’s long-term public relations and marketing strategies?

Identifying thought leaders: In order to maximise on the effectiveness of your strategy it is important to identify the key members of your target community, or the presence of pivotal competitors or comparative organizations or individuals who have developed an effective model for harnessing LinkedIn for PR and marketing purposes. Building relationships with influential users can result in the establishment of mutually beneficially links and endorsements across several platforms.

Define your message: It is important to ensure that your campaign or brand message, as it is to appear on the platform, is clearly defined. The message should encapsulate the core objectives of the wider campaign or the organisation. It should also sync with the organisation’s brand in terms of language and image.  In this regard a professional level of copy writing is key.

Plan your content: Expanding from the definition of the company / campaign message and brand language, is the importance of the appearance of your LinkedIn page. This is defined by the categories, text mass, and elements (logos, images, links etc) that are relevant for inclusion. Again, good copy writing is vital: readers should not be over whelmed with extraneous detail; each element should be finely distilled, precise and uniform in tone.

The campaign / brand face: In order to create greater interest and reader engagement, brand confidence and though leadership status, it is productive to feature prominent team members. Profile text should be concise yet informative and accompanying images should appear professional. Each linked employee page should be policed to ensure that it is uniform in terms of content and brand language.

Linking platforms: In terms of using other social-media platforms, as with LinkedIn you must decide if they are relevant to the PR campaign or the organisation and if they actually contribute to achieving your objectives. In terms of company pages, plug-ins to twitter feeds and RSS feeds to company or employee blogs, are of unquantifiable value for the dissemination of messages; particularly if each element is managed in tandem and carries the same branding / message throughout.

Building your thought leadership status: Factors that are key to achieving thought leadership status include engaging with the discussions initiated by substantial voices in the community that are relevant to your campaign / brand. Posting regular blogs and initiate discussions with your relevant communities constitutes the next stage. Also, employing the variety of tools available on LinkedIn, such as Answers, will encourage readers to engage with content and return to the page – seeing it as an informative forum that also values their point of view.

These are just some of the many factors for consideration in the use of LinkedIn in a public relations campaign. At the end of the day, getting your hands dirty and exploring LinkedIn will develop your proficiency and creativity in this regard. However, the crucial hurdle to clear, it the key reevaluation of LinkedIn’s function, and the embracing of its capacity for communicating a campaign message and building brand awareness among relevant communities.

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Burgeoning bcm gains new recruits

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Alex

It’s an exciting time at bcm public relations. As well as some great new clients (details to follow), we’ve also welcomed two new staff members, Michelle and James, to the bcm team.

Michelle began her career working for the Australian Government in the marketing area of its Innovation Division, AusIndustry. Whilst working for AusIndustry Michelle completed her Diploma of Communications and Media (PR) and went on to work as National Events Manager and then National Sponsorships Manager. Within these roles Michelle organised events and worked closely with businesses, Ministers’ offices, and other government organisations to help promote AusIndustry’s range of business programs.

Michelle isn’t a newbie as such, having worked for us before. In 2008 she travelled to England and started working at bcm as an Account Executive. Michelle took a few years break to start a family but couldn’t keep away too long. She is now back at bcm taking on the role of PR Executive and will be working with Account Manager Shreyasi on our HRS and SPX accounts.

Michelle is an avid football fan and supports Tottenham Hotspur. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her young son and family (including her crazy dog!), going to the cinema and travelling around Europe.

Adding another nationality to our diverse team James originally hails from the Irish midlands. James studied design at university, and went on to work with a number of fashion brands, including Gucci, Moshchino Couture and Camilla Staerk– specialising in womenswear design, sales and marketing.

Having a long-term interest in writing and the media, he took a change in direction, and studied for an MA in Journalism and Media Communications. During his Masters program he produced award recognized television and radio documentaries.

Following this, James worked as a PR consultant with the international IT charity, Camara Education, at its Dublin headquarters. He then worked with a publishing focused, London based agency where he specialised in digital and new media PR; organising campaigns and monitoring coverage. Writing since his student days, James has published a range of material, both fictional and factual. In his spare time, he enjoys the arts, cycling and hiking, watching some rugby, and watching the world via Twitter.

At bcm, James will be working with our Aerospace team and helping plan and execute knock-out social media campaigns for our clients.

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UK celebrates National Science and Engineering Week 2012

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Alex

As a technology and engineering PR agency it’s fair to say we’re pretty committed to science and engineering. Whilst being global, our HQ is in the UK meaning we could hardly let the upcoming UK National Science and Engineering Week pass by without a mention. The event, which runs from 9-18th March, is geared towards sparking enthusiasm, awareness and interest in science and engineering and promoting these areas as potential career paths for young people.

The programme is coordinated by the British Science Association and is funded by Vince Cable’s BIS (Department of Business, Innovation and Skills). National Science and Engineering Week is an annual occurrence. 2012 will build on last year’s programme which saw around 4,500 events taking place across Britain in venues such as the Science Museum and the National History Museum. It seems more important than ever for the coalition government to be encouraging the next generation of British innovators following their mantra of a high-tech future for Britain.

This year, the theme of the National Science and Engineering Week is ‘our world in motion’: spanning from the movement of the earth, to the vibration of the smallest molecules and including everything in between.

For more information and to look up an event near you, visit the BSA website.

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bcm MD recognised as member of UK Public Affairs Council

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Alex

As a global engineering and technology PR agency, we inevitably work with leading engineering and manufacturing companies. As such many of these clients are bidding for UK government infrastructure projects.

bcm public relations have significant experience in public affairs particularly within the transport sector. This has allowed us to garner expertise in targeting and influencing key governmental decision makers and influencers.

Recognising this experience bcm public relations MD, Stephen Ballard, has been accepted as a registered member of the UK Public Affairs Council (UKPAC). The UKPAC is the body created to promote good practice and public confidence in those that are involved in influencing government and other public bodies. The UKPAC register provides a comprehensive list of all those actively providing public affairs and lobbying services.

To access the UKPAC register click here.

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The importance of storytelling in PR

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Alex

‘Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever”.

Or so the old Indian proverb goes…

Stories have been part of human culture for thousands of years. We hear and tell stories everyday and PR is no exception.

Unlike adverts, placing articles in a magazine is not paid for. PR is different from advertising and therefore calls for different techniques. The material that we pitch must speak for itself; it must be interesting enough to merit its inclusion in a publication and must strike a chord with its readers. Therefore instead of broadcasting information we use storytelling to engage with and educate our target audiences.

In our case, we often have to explain something that is very technical (for example, software for an oil refinery). Storytelling provides a good way of packaging information because we need to put it into a context that is accessible: how the need for something came about, problems it might solve, any new technology it uses. A story may tell the reader about a gap in the market and how it can be filled or an industry problem and how it’s solved. It demonstrates what is relevant and unique and puts it into a narrative that is both interesting and easily digestible.

Storytelling is a fundamental tool in communicating via any medium. As Stella Lee points out in her blog, storytelling is just as relevant online and in social media. After all, what are we doing when we tweet or blog or update our Facebook status? We’re telling a story about what we’ve done, what we’re doing or what we’re going to do. The overwhelming popularity of these outlets shows that people are interested in our stories, so much so that they often log on everyday to read them and write their own.

The result? Storytelling has been a key part of all communication in the past and will remain so in the future.

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How has social media changed PR pitching?

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Alex

Traditionally, pitching stories to journalists means picking up the phone or dropping them an email. This is all very well if you happen to be on first name terms with the writer in question. But, what if they’re a new contact and you’ve not spoken to them before?

Fortunately, nowadays we’re spared the daunting task of contacting a journalist blind.

We can now use personal and company blogs, Twitter and especially Linkedin as research tools. Accessing a journalist’s social media outlets means that we can ensure that they’re the right person to speak to and establish their area of interest. At the very minimum their activity will give you a good conversation starter (I saw your article on…/ I see you attended…). Researching their background allows you to show that you know your stuff and tailor your pitch to suit their readers’ needs, making them more likely to accept your article.

Social media can also be used to interact with journalists allowing you to keep abreast of hot topics in an industry and join the debate. If you’re part of relevant discussion, the journalist may even get to know you and see you as an industry insider.

This kind of interaction is not a replacement for genuine face time or a call though. You still need to explain your client and your article to the journalist. However, it is a means of ensuring that you and your article are relevant and up-to-date, saving both the journalist’s time and yours. Social media research serves the purpose of streamlining the time you do spend speaking, making it to the point and productive.

We have found that social media helps us to keep in the loop and monitor industry trends, find who’s talking about topics that matter to us and make new contacts in those areas.

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The 10 commandments of corporate blogging

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Alex

Blogging falls under the social media umbrella: we all know we should be doing it but not everyone knows how or why.

Blogging is important to all companies because it is an informal way of informing and interacting with your publics. The two-way and up-to-date nature of blogs makes them more engaging than other forms of communication and brings a human element to a company or brand. As blogging expert Debbie Weil says: ‘Companies don’t blog; individuals do’.

Blogging is an easy-to-use, low-cost tool and anyone can do it. So, whether you’re just getting started or king of the blogosphere, here are our top 10 tips for creating and maintaining a great corporate blog:

  1. Read other blogs on similar topics to get an idea of what to write, good blogging style (and the competition).
  2. Create a strategy and loose editorial calendar for your blog. Then follow it!
  3. Use a friendly and conversational writing style. This adds authenticity and makes your blog more approachable.
  4. Update your blog frequently. A dormant blog implies lack of effort or worse still a dormant company!
  5. Always know what is acceptable content (legally and by your company’s standards). An inappropriate post could have catastrophic consequences.
  6. Write short, snappy posts no more than an A4 page.
  7. Use variety: mix it up with mini-interviews, pictures, video, different writers, photo blogs.
  8. Link! This will make the post more interesting and informative, and may help boost your search engine credentials.
  9. Use your blog in conjunction with other social media outlets; a blog gives you the ability to publish larger amounts of content you can link to from status updates or forums.
  10. Use RSS! It is an essential feature of a blog as it enables readers to subscribe, and keeps them coming back (you’ll find ours to the right).

There are over 100 million blogs in existence, which is a lot of competition! The true key to success is to give people something they can’t get anywhere else, something that will keep readers coming back for more.

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Trade journalists turn social

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Alex

The rise of social media has often been seen as a threat to journalists’ autonomy in the publication of information. As Lionel Barber, Editor of the Financial Times says: “Journalists have lost their monopoly role as gatekeepers to this flow of information. There are others now on stage…”

By others, Barber refers to the large numbers of regular people who publish as a hobby.  Blogging and social media certainly provide a platform for so-called ‘Citizen journalists’ as everyone has the same ability to put a story ‘out there’.

However, just because people are able to publish it doesn’t mean that what they publish is any good. Journalists are valuable because of their writing, analysis and editing skills. Advances in social media do not change that. Thus Lionel Barber goes on to say that the existence of other media “does not render their [editors’] role redundant”.

Another editorial hot shot, Former Director of BBC Global News Division, Richard Sambrook, claims that social media (like Twitter) should not be seen as competition by journalists. He argues: “Information is not journalism…. You get a lot of things, when you open up Twitter in the morning, but not journalism”.

He’s right, social media is not an arena for journalism and editorial content as such. It is, however, a great tool for getting noticed, taking part in debates and expanding readership.   Hacks new and old from the nationals have of course jumped into Twitter in a big way, establishing their voice online:

bbc.co.uk/news/technolog… Patent ping-pong continues – now Apple gets Motorola German iphone/ipad sales ban overturned

— Rory Cellan-Jones (@BBCRoryCJ) February 3, 2012

Trade media journalists have vast knowledge of the field that they work in. Their role has always been to identify new trends in their industry and give their trusted opinion and social media can be used to capitalise on this, establishing trade journalists as true thought leaders in their field. One could also argue that the more information there is out there, the more valuable their role in filtering out the interesting issues is.  Would the scientific community find out about this Russian space mission without Roger Highfield’s tweet?

Russia is heading to the moon english.pravda.ru/science/tech/0…

— Roger Highfield (@RogerHighfield) February 4, 2012

Essentially, if you are seen to regularly discuss the same topic or issue online, readers can see that you know your stuff and share their passion and you will also be seen as an informed source, gaining a larger following and readership as a consequence. Trade press editor, Adam Tinworth argues that the web is kind to niche experts like trade journalists as they “aren’t trying to build communities- they’re serving communities that already exist”. The Internet is also search-led and therefore access to niche topics and experts is easier for readers online. Being visible in the right areas and engaged in right debates will allow trade journalism to thrive through thought leadership and expert reputation.

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