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By Rachel Sherman
With over 300,000 story opportunities for 2013 in MyEdCals, it’s clear which trends many print and online publications will be focusing on in the coming year. We’ve honed in on the most popular story topics in the Technology, Healthcare and Education industries and we’re sharing them so you can start planning your pitches for the year ahead.
Technology
1. IT Security – Information technology and networking security tops the list of most popular story topics for technology focused publications. Issues around password protection, encryption, and virus and malware checking can significantly impact a business’ bottom line as well as public opinion of the brand, so it’s only fitting that magazines will be devoting plenty of pages to the topic.
2. SaaS – Readers of technology magazines will be seeing plenty written on Software as a Service next year. With a continued uncertain economy, companies are still eager to find solutions that increase efficiency while reducing costs and SaaS, also called “on-demand software”, is designed to meet those needs.
3. Industrial Automation – Also hitting on the need of businesses to optimize productivity and decrease costs, industrial automation rounds out the top technology story trends for 2013. Once seen as applicable only to manufacturing, companies across various industries have found ways to apply the use of machines, control systems and technology, keeping it a hot topic for the industry.
Healthcare
1. Medical News – Keeping up with current news and innovations is imperative for both medical practitioners and anyone concerned about health matters, so publications will be giving a great deal of attention to the latest healthcare and medical news, reports, studies, and findings.
2. Laboratory Services – From diagnostic procedures to drug research and lab-related technologies, laboratory services covers a range of topics that are required areas of expertise for many in the medical field making it a popular topic in the new year.
3. Healthcare Technology – Those seeking resources on advances in the technologies that diagnose and treat medical conditions and the systems that facilitate the administration of healthcare facilities will have no problem finding the information they need as publications dedicate their space to stories on healthcare technology.
Education
1. Educational News –Following the latest news and developments in education is just part of the job for many working in the field. Staying informed with up-to-date information can help education professionals understand how recent events, reports and findings can impact the sector.
2. Educational Technology – School budgets are always tight but providing innovative tools and equipment that help facilitate learning remains a priority. Readers looking for articles on technologies used in education will be able to find plenty of content next year.
3. K-12 - Teachers, administrators and parents all want to see happy and engaged students taking in lessons that are the building blocks for life. Those who have successfully navigated a child through the years between kindergarten and grade twelve have much to offer and will find plenty of opportunities to share their stories in 2013.
Now that you know what the trends are in technology, healthcare and education for the coming year, you’re ready to start pitching. Getting organized and targeting story opportunities early will ensure you meet deadlines, but don’t forget to keep checking for hidden gems that may have been overlooked or added to a calendar during the year.
For more information on MyEdCals and how you can maximize your coverage, request a demo.
By Rachel Sherman
A reporter’s inbox can be filled with countless pitches on any given day, upping the ante for any PR who wants their pitch to stand out from all the rest. While a timely, targeted, cleverly written pitch is a great way to get the attention you’re seeking for your campaign, in many cases adding video as a means of communicating your message can give your pitch the extra visibility you need.
Leveraging the communicative power of video builds a richer experience for your audience, especially with journalists and influencers who are looking to connect with your brand. Creating engaging video content that incorporates useful information can serve as a building block for a successful inbound public relations program. There are great benefits to incorporating video into your PR program and with so many great tools available, getting started is a lot easier than you may think.
Here are 5 simple ways to start incorporating video into your PR communications program:
1) Enhance a press release: You’ve taken the time to craft a press release announcing a new product, a new executive, or a recent acquisition. Reinforce your message with a relevant video—a product demonstration, a personal message straight from the executive, or a company overview—to increase the impact of your message and connect with your audience.
2) Pitch your story: Create a powerful press kit using video to tell your story to the media in a more compelling way. A video of your company’s timelines and accomplishments will leave more of a lasting impression than text-only. Instead of just telling them why they should care (and write about your company), show them!
3) Enrich your online press room: Incorporate video into the “News” or “Press Room” section of your corporate website. Supplement static text with relevant, visually appealing video content to differentiate your company and story to the media community.
4) Launch a product: Use video to introduce/demonstrate your product. A short video (aim for 2 – 3 minutes) can incorporate your marketing message, competitive differentiators and value proposition in a more compelling way than any amount of text.
5) Create your own company breaking news channel: Leverage broadcast clips, news coverage, and relevant videos to create your own web channel. Or produce your own video content with internal experts sharing their unique views, making your web channel the go-to resource for breaking news stories about your company and industry.
Adapted from “5 Simple Ways to Start Using Video in Your PR Program” by Jenn Rothenberg, original post appeared on Thomson Reuters PR blog, July 20, 2011.
While many of us spend time daydreaming about packing a bag, boarding a plane and going on a big adventure, there are some very lucky people who actually get to travel for a living. Fortunately they are happy to share their experiences traveling the world with those of us who are still planning our next trip. These travel experts have found some of the best places to stay, eat and explore around the globe. Follow them on Twitter and live vicariously, or better yet, use their expertise to help ensure your next trip lives up to your dreams.
1. @RickGriffin: Travel enthusiast Rick Griffin is the co-host of the Midlife Road Trip Show where he shares his adventures on the road. He was a featured panelist for BlogWorld 2010, selected for Princess Cruises “Follow Me at Sea” Twitter cruise and selected to attend the NASA shuttle launch and Tweetup.
Tweets: 55,383 | Followers: 38,188 | MMI Rank: 225 | Stars: 5
2. @olv: Travelers with an interest in getting a glimpse of celebrities follow On Location Vacations, a blog that shares information about television and movie filming locations, as well as celebrity events. Posts range from the first sighting of the latest Iron Man costume to celebrity run-ins and movie reviews. You’ll also learn how you can stay at the hotel featured in Veronica Mars!
Tweets: 59,895 | Followers: 33,397 | MMI Rank: 226 | Stars: 5
3. @EverywhereTrip: Gary Arndt writes Everywhere Trip, a travel blog chronicling his experiences on all 7 continents, in over 116 countries and territories. Arndt has visited over 100 US National Park Service sites and over 150 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. During his travels, Arndt experiences the local ‘must-do’ activity, and his adventures include getting caught in the middle of an active war zone in Cambodia and floating in the Dead Sea.
Tweets: 37,213 | Followers: 111,728 | MMI Rank: 290 | Stars: 5
4. @eatlikeagirl: Combining her two main passions, foodie and traveler Niamh Shields shares her best eats recommendations for the places she has visited on her blog EatLikeAGirl.com. Author of Comfort & Spice (New Voices in Food), Shields takes her inspiration from visits to destinations including South Africa, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, and Italy.
Tweets: 92,273 | Followers: 20,336 | MMI Rank: 300 | Stars: 5
5. @EliteTravelGal: Award winning travel expert Stacy Small is founder of Elite Traveler Magazine, a publication of luxury travel firm Elite Travel International. Small shares her expertise garnered from fifteen years of traveling to hundreds of destinations, including her thoughts on hotels, cruises, airlines and more. She is a resource on new properties and emerging destinations for travelers who love luxurious getaways.
Tweets: 49,964 | Followers: 31,576 | MMI Rank: 310 | Stars: 5
6. @Brendanvanson: Canadian travel writer and photographer Brendan van Son writes about his travels on Brendan’s Adventures and video blogs on It’s My Life 365. His philosophy is the real lessons about the world can only be learnt from traveling and setting out to discover amazing things!
Tweets: 49,546 | Followers: 32,582 | MMI Rank: 311 | Stars: 5
7. @SandiMcKenna: Sandi McKenna shares her experiences traveling to new cities, tasting amazing food and ticking things off of her Bucket List on the video blog MidLifeRoadTrip.tv. Along with co-host Rick Griffin, McKenna thinks the best medicine for a mid-life crisis is a road trip. She shares her adventures on her Twitter feed and personal blog, Observations and Reflections.
Tweets: 68,671 | Followers: 20,817 | MMI Rank: 346 | Stars: 5
8. @Marilyn_Res: Marilyn Terrell is chief researcher for National Geographic Traveler and contributor to the Intelligent Travel column in National Geographic. Her Twitter feed is a great resource for travel advice, great photographs and links to articles on amazing experiences abroad.
Tweets: 47,594 | Followers: 27,368 | MMI Rank: 375 | Stars: 5
9. @AboutLondon: Londoner Laura Porter is a travel expert who writes on London for About.com and Laura’s London. She has also done research for various travel guides and publications. Porter was part of the volunteer cast for the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony and shared her experiences throughout the show.
Tweets: 61,304 | Followers: 20,135 | MMI Rank: 397 | Stars: 5
10. @skimbaco: Blogger and businesswoman Katja Presnal founded SkimbacoLifestyle.com, an online magazine featuring a comprehensive collection of articles on various lifestyle related topics. Skimbaco Travel shares the best hotels, food and amazing experiences in various locales across the US, Europe and beyond.
Tweets: 36,897 | Followers: 32,300 | MMI Rank: 541 | Stars: 5
* Number of tweets and followers are based on data collected on the date the article was written.
**If you are a Thomson ONE Public Relations or MyMediaInfo client with access to the social media module, you can recreate this list using the easy steps below.
1. Click on the Social Media Module. On this page, under the ‘Twitter’ column, click on ‘Beats/Focus’. In the pop-up box that appears, enter ‘travel’ and click on ‘Go’.
2. Now, select the sub-level beat ‘Vacations & Travel’ under the top-level beat ‘Lifestyle & Society’, and click on ‘OK’.
3. You will now see a display of the number of results from this search. Click on “Get Results” to view the list.
4. To rearrange the list in a descending order of Rank, click on the column called “Rank”. Remember, the smaller the number, the more influential the Twitter handle.
Watch this 90-second video to learn the three benefits of choosing an integrated solution for your core public relations needs.
By Rachel Sherman
Practicing PR in industries that are ruled by regulations can sometimes feel like an uphill battle, especially when you want to break through the communication clutter withinnovative campaigns. Sadie Wilks, Vice President of Administration and Communication at the Louisiana State Medical Society, and Lesley Bruinton, Public Relations Coordinator for the Tuscaloosa City Schools, shared the challenges they face and how they overcome them in our latest best practices webinar, moderated by Eric Warner of Thomson Reuters.
If you were unable to join the live webinar or would like to watch it again, it’s available on demand. You can also download the panelists’ slide decks as reference guides. In the meantime, we’ve recapped four things you need to know from the discussion so you can forge ahead building novel PR campaigns while still playing by the rules.
Start by learning the ROPEs. A basic tenet of building successful PR campaigns that applies to building strategies in any industry – Research, Objectives, Programs, Evaluation – can be executed only if you truly understand your industry. Immerse yourself in the industry or business you are representing and become an expert by:
- Learning the language
- Knowing the rules
- Leaning on your industry colleagues and peers
Identify what you CAN talk about. Whether you are working within government regulations such as HIPPA or FERPA like our panelists, or you are facing a different kind of red tape when creating your public relations campaigns, remember the following:
- There is plenty you are able to talk about, focus on those points
- Working within regulations doesn’t mean you can’t do something, it just means having to go through the proper channels and approvals
- Keep yourself informed on new and updated regulations and policies to ensure you’re always in compliance
Break through the clutter. Regardless of the industry, the information you are communicating is important but there is a tremendous amount of competition for people’s attention. Developing campaigns that incorporate the newest communication methods will help you stay on the cutting edge and generate the buzz that will give you a successful return on your efforts. Despite being in very different sectors, both the Louisiana State Medical Society and Tuscaloosa City Schools found big success using video to communicate with their respective audiences.
You are not alone. Other PR professionals in similar industries or organizations can serve as great resources from which to learn from, float campaign ideas and swap war stories. Coming together to leverage data, successful experiences and lessons learned from failures can provide one of the most valuable tools possible for creating cutting-edge campaigns.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
12.00 pm New York time – 5.00 pm UK time – 6.00 pm Paris time
Being a public relations pro in any industry has its challenges, so imagine what it is like for those practicing in industries that have legal restrictions, strict policies and regulatory compliance requirements.
Yet it is possible to build innovative, attention-grabbing campaigns while staying within set boundaries. Join our panel of PR experts to:
- Hear best practices for creating innovative PR for organizations with strict governance policies
- Learn how to leverage social media networks without breaking the rules
- See examples of successful campaigns and how to sell them to internal stakeholders
Register now for this complimentary webinar. An interactive Q&A session will follow the 30-minute presentation.
Unable to attend the live webinar? Register and you will receive access to the on-demand version, available after the live event and viewable at your convenience.
Click here to access all of our PR best practices webinars.
By Greg Perry
As the summer winds down and the crispness in the air sets in, many of us have flashbacks to those days of reading, writing and arithmetic. And while the days of pop quizzes have passed, many of us are taking little ones shopping for their school supply list and making sure pencil boxes match notebooks. While they’re busy deciding between wide-ruled and college-ruled, it’s a great time to double check your PR “back to school” list to make sure you’re up to date on the essential tools every PR professional should have in their backpack.
1. Tune up your “listening ears”. While media monitoring has always been key to PR, the methodology has changed over the past few years. As media delivery and consumption have shifted to a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week cycle, PR’s now require sophisticated news monitoring tools and services to ensure each hit is captured. There are significant differences among the tools available, so it is important to make sure the one you’re using is “listening” to traditional and online media outlets and alerting you to all of your mentions.
2. Be ready for pop quizzes. A crisis situation can happen on a moment’s notice. Whether you are a convention and visitors bureau in a beach town facing a hurricane ahead of a holiday weekend or you do political publicity for a candidate whose skeleton just jumped out of the closet, be ready. Review your crisis communications plan at least once a year to make sure it is up to date and have your team practice a “fire drill” with a mock crisis. For more crisis communications tips, listen to our on-demand webinar “Crisis Communications Best Practices.”
3. Check your school supply list. All PR professionals have a set of tools in their backpack that help them do their jobs effectively on a daily basis. With budget planning for the coming year closing in, this is a great time of year to review vendor contracts for your media database, press release distribution, media monitoring and media analysis solutions to make sure they are still serving your needs and aligning with your strategy.
4. Sign up for extra-curricular activities. Whether you have been considering getting involved with a professional organization or are already a member, now is a great time to join or make sure your membership is up to date. Take a moment to review the activities calendar and mark the events on your schedule. There are plenty of groups like PRSA, IABC and SPRF in the U.S. and CIPR and PRCA in Europe that offer great networking and professional development events that will help you make new connections and keep you at the head of your class!
Hopefully you’re ready for the new school year and well on your way to being named “most likely to be a PR star.”
By Rachel Sherman
While public relations professionals are faced with many day-to-day challenges, one in particular is at the forefront when it comes to conversations with the CEO – proving the value of PR to an organization. Tracking and measuring the value of media hits and social network mentions are major factors in demonstrating the return on investment of public relations programs. With the end of the year approaching, organizations will be planning budgets and looking for ways to save. Here are some things to think about as you prepare for doing more with less in 2013.
Mentions worth mentioning
Presenting a comprehensive collection of the hits you have generated throughout the year is an effective way of demonstrating your public relations successes so it’s important to evaluate how you’re capturing your media hits. Some questions you should ask yourself:
- How can I be confident that I am seeing all my media hits?
- How many media hits did my competitors get and how do I compare?
- How much time am I spending sorting through and removing irrelevant content?
- How effective is my system for archiving hits and compiling them for easy access and review?
If your answers leave you feeling like the solution you’re relying on isn’t up to scratch, it may be time to reassess your toolset. There are cost-effective solutions available that will serve up a daily compilation of not only your media hits, but those of your competitors as well as industry news. Look for a solution that will provide a vetted list of your coverage to save you time from having to scan through immaterial content. Also consider a solution that includes a customized portal allowing you keep a historical record of your hits so you can access them at any time.
Social media matters
The amount of conversation on social media networks is staggering, especially for global brands. Keeping up with what is being said can be overwhelming, not to mention understanding the influence it may have on your brand image. Getting a handle on online chatter and determining its impact are key to proving the value of PR in your organization. To ensure your social media monitoring is under control, you should consider the following:
- How many resources are being devoted to monitoring social media?
- How can I understand the general sentiment expressed in tweets and posts?
- How am I participating in online conversations about my brand?
- How can I identify the biggest influencers relative to my brand and know what they are saying?
As budgets shrink it may be time to think about the opportunity cost of managing social media in-house and shifting the focus of those resources to business critical items. While there are automated tools available, they lack the technology to identify sentiment in all online conversations accurately. This can make meaningful integration with the online community very difficult. It may be time to identify a solution that can provide researchers who can filter social media chatter and score the sentiment. This can be more budget-friendly than you may realize.
The bottom line
So now you’ve tracked your media hits and you know what’s being said about you on social media networks, but the most important part of proving the value of public relations in your organization is analyzing it all to understand its ROI. Your CEO is looking for measurable indicators of success. Have answers to the following:
- The value of your media hits and the quality of the message
- The outlets driving your coverage and the influencers talking about your brand
- The sentiment generated by your coverage and the effect on your brand
- How much time and money the organization saved as a result of your efforts
Understanding the impact of your coverage will allow you to be smarter when planning future campaigns and strategies which will ultimately have an impact on your bottom line. Luckily there are services available that provide in-depth analysis and measurement of your media hits and mentions leaving you time to focus on the big picture – building successful PR programs.
If you would like more information about available solutions, or if you have questions about how to best evaluate such solutions, post a comment on our blog and we will get back to you promptly.
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