A Guide to Good PR for Scientific and Technical Organizations

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A Guide to Good PR for Scientific and Technical Organizations.

PR is easy, PR is cheap and a well planned PR strategy can benefit any business, but don’t let the dazzle of Absolutely fabulous or expensive “gin palace” agencies distract you from what is a relatively straight forward promotional technique.  Below is a list of five key points to help you become professional in PR.

1Who exactly are your audience

Who do you want to read your Press Release. Write down a list detailing demographics, job titles and functions of your target readers. For example are they users of your products, potential investors, or potential customers.  Once your list is complete ask your self this question? Can all these stakeholders be accessed from one type of publication.  If the answer is no, you will need to write multiple releases that target each stakeholder group. Yes this will be more work but it will mean that your communication will be more relevant to your target audience, more likely to be accepted by an editor and more likely to be read.

2 What do they read.

This is where those who are proficient in PR and the media earn their cash, knowing what publications people read takes research. As a starting point use your gut instinct. Ask for the media packs of titles that you suspect your targets read. Get a breakdown with regards to circulation numbers, distribution frequency and what research a publisher has conducted on their own titles. If you are thinking of using print media, ask for at least three printed copies so can look at the quality of the magazine over a defined time range. If you think the magazine is boring, too thin, or too advert heavy so will your target audience. Avoid magazine that appear to be failing (i.e. falling page numbers or distribution) and avoid at all costs publications that do not have audited readerships. Buyers beware.

Approach your research with an open mind, and also look at online and social media.

3 Adapting the message for online media

Digital media allows rapid communication, more accurate targeting  (via SMS and Email) and quicker campaign evaluation. Digital also allows flexibility, and personalization of messages to smaller and smaller segments but to be effective online media messages need to be a little different. You should incorporate SEO, Keyword research and inbound marketing into your press releases, such as links to your website.  Online message may also be read on a phone, or other mobile device, where there may therefore be limitations such as image type and size, so they need to be quick to load, read and action. Offer the reader the option of downloading a pdf of the full article, and place this offer within the first paragraph.

Accept the fact that digital is today and the future.  Online should be your priority, print secondary. Google deniers will destroy your business.

4              Developing the correct format and media relationships

In the past I used to edit the news section for two medical publications. We would typically print news items of approximately 150 – 200 words. So why did PR agencies persist in sending items 2000 – 3000 words in length? They were too long, the agencies was simply wasting the clients money. If I needed 200 words I would use the opening paragraph and the rest would go in the bin

If you are targeting a specific title, find out in advance how many words they require and in what format. The more closely your release matches the format of the publication to more likely it is to be used. Speak to editors, build relationships, don’t just mail merge a release and follow it up with a hard sell phone call. Make friends and influence people, work with the editor.

The same goes for online although with online you may also need to speak with people call Webmasters. Reciprocal link building is more effective than just putting a spam comment on to a blog. Get to know the people who run the sites you are interested in using for your online PR. Pick up the phone.

5              Know when and why it could be time to call in an expert.

In my opinion there are only two reasons to call in the experts. Firstly you don’t have the internal resource to manage your own PR campaign, and secondly you need help building media contacts. Lets get real a PR agency does not know more about your business, market or customers than you do. PR is not rocket science. Its process driven. Agencies are no better at writing editorial copy than you are, or building relationships with experts in your field. However agencies may have resource and contacts that could help you.

In conclusion as with any marketing technique you need to start with well defined clear objectives, KPI s aligned with your objectives and a mechanism to measure results. Only then can you effectively evaluate your campaign to identify areas that worked well and not so well providing you with a framework for continually development of your commercial messages. PR is for everybody and not just the experts…Pass the Bolly….

 

 

How to evaluate your marketing team?

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How to evaluate your Marketing Team?  Five Essential Characteristics for Marketing Success

Are your marketing team / key marketing personnel delivering. Are they adding value or using up resource? Are they an integral part of your business development strategy or just overpaid administrators?  Five key characteristics of successful marketers are listed below

1              They work with the sales team. Marketing and sales are linked. Marketers who are afraid to engage with customers, discuss price, and solicit feedback need to go. Marketers must add value. At the heart of marketing must be the objective of “meeting customer objectives profitably” (CIM Definition).  For example a Marketer that does not understand your customers and their values cannot possibly advise on promotional strategy, such as appropriate media channels, PR or digital marketing programmes.  Marketers must understand your products and your market.  However I would go further. Successful marketers should also be able to support the sales team with lead generation, pricing and quotations.  Too often a false distinction is made between Marketing and Sales. In reality they are both part of the same strategic function. Business Development

2              Marketers embrace change: The world is constantly changing and successful Marketers embrace the changes.  Specifically Marketers are faced with many changes such as media, in technology, and customer social economics factors.  Nothing stays the same and time never runs backwards. Magazines that were relevant to your market place five yers ago may not be today. Marketers need to accept change and implement systems to monitor for changes

3              Marketers have broad range of skills: Does your business really need a full time Media Officer, PR Officer, or Marketing Communications Assistant? In the 21st Centaury these are all roles that can be easily outsourced, saving you time and money.  You can even outsource work to companies in appropriate time zones that are working while you are sleeping and therefore considerably reduce project working times.

To be effective marketers needs to be responsive and flexible and this requires a broad range of skills.  Niche marketers need to be fully employed in their roles adding value at every stage. Too often in SME’s the role of the Niche Marketer becomes an administration role. Requiring wages, NI contributions holidays and sick pay.

4              Marketers posses professional qualifications: If somebody is passionate about marketing they will have a marketing qualification of some sort and probably membership of a professional body. Professional / academic qualifications demonstrate commitment and learning.  People, who fall into marketing by accident, do not have these qualifications and further assessment will be needed regarding their professional capabilities.

5              Marketers have contacts: Successful marketers have useful contacts; they know people, at agencies, in the media, in your target markets, your suppliers, and usually competitors. They are not afraid of picking up the phone and making new contacts.  This expands their knowledge base and adds resource to your business.

Conclusions

Every little helps “the words of the UK’s leading grocer”. If you have any questions just drop us an email, but don’t  forget that Marketing is a strategic function, that should be at the heart of every business, and not just the “Arts and Crafts Department” (Words of a nameless CEO of a £1 Billion turnover business, who I happen to know……)

Funding Science after Independence and the Grumpiest Scientists in Scotland.

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Readers, I spend most of my time working with research scientists, and I have noticed that there is one particular department within a Scottish University that is grumpier than all the other Scottish Academic Departments that I visit. Is it the canteen, the wages, parking costs or the on campus parking black shirts?  Is it the holiday entitlement, do the fridges keep breaking down, or is it the council tax or price of beer that is too high in this part of Scotland?   I really don’t know but this lot are miserable and as 99% of Scotland’s Scientists are not miserable, and neither are other scientists at the same academic institution, this lot stand out.

Please note that I am not going to name this department, but if readers would like to submit their own entries for the title of the most grumpiest scientific department in Scotland please email the name of their nominated department and we may publish the results and present the winning department with a box of beer or Tesco Takeaway Curry in a bag (to cheer them up).  Please also note that as a graduate of a Scottish University, I am delighted to say that my Alumni are particularly proud of their graduates and are always delighted to hear from them. Consequently I can therefore confirm that the grumpiest Scientists in Scotland are not Aberdonian.

Scotland punches above its weight in Science. For a population of 5.2 million, Scotland produces a staggering level of world class research across all scientific disciplines. (Our commercialisation rates and whether a quango based approach is the best way to proceed are discussions for later)

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmsctech/uc1936-ii/uc193601.htm

http://http://www.holyrood.com/articles/2010/04/12/putting-down-a-marker/

I am also fortunate to work across multiple scientific disciplines and I believe that our Universities and the structure of tertiary education in Scotland is a source for National Pride and a basis for Nationalist Optimism.  However following independence how will science in Scotland be funded? Currently Scottish Science is funded in many ways including donations from the UK government, UK funding councils, Scottish Government, Industry, and UK based Charities.  Scottish independence and a more constructive economic policy may actually increase investment in Scotland, but will English Charity patrons insist that their donations remain in England, and will the BBSRC, or EPSRC, still support science in an independent Scotland? At this stage we just do not know.

Academic Scientific groups differ from oil wells, water and wind power in that they are a lot easier to move, and to retain Scientists, Scotland will need to invest in Scientists.

Politicians argue about oil and tax, but what are the respective strategies of the different sides of the independence debate towards the funding of research science?

In conclusion I will not name the grumpiest scientific department in Scotland, and luckily for them grants are not awarded on the basis of personable skills.  Yes good manners cost nothing but everyone can have a bad day, and as far as I know that department may have just received some bad news on the day that I visited (like their building has been condemned or worse that Nick Clegg is coming to visit).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-18654724

Clarity is needed on the future funding of science but unfortunately I believe that the Independance debates will be more based on self interest and spin than truth and facts. Come on you in the grey suits PROVE ME WRONG. Do the right thing for Scotland.

Effective Email Marketing Campaigns to the NHS

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“I think therefore I am, I am a Marketer therefore I spam”

The difference between Communication and Spam, lies in the mind of the recipient. No matter what new product, service or free offer you are promoting if the receiver of the email is not interested they are more likely to view your carefully drafted communication as spam. This has nothing to do with the brand values of the sender, the structure of the email, the frequency of communication, or words used in the text. Unwanted Direct Mail is junk. Unwanted emails are spam. TOO MUCH SPAM WILL DAMAGE YOUR BRAND. So how do we increase the effectiveness of our Email marketing, increasing response rates and customer interaction?

1 Get good data.

Simple point. Make sure the data you use, is accurate and relevant to the communication you wish to send. The Market leaders are not always best. Shop around and ask for samples. I was recently using data supplied by a “market leader” which contained numbers for the SAMARITANS… (Says a lot about morale in their call centre)

2 Control your data

Make sure you own the data. View the data as a resource. Incorporate the data into your CRM systems. Only through full ownership of the data can you accurately determine its effectiveness. A smaller data set that you can use as a building block, and follow up will be of greater value to your business in the longer term, than a one off broadcast to a larger market which you can’t follow up. Databroker

3 Follow Up

Following up email communications with a phone call will increase your response rates. Obviously with a large target market (i.e. anything over 2000) this will take time and resource, but if you do need to target such a large area, perhaps your money would be better spent on other inbound marketing activities. I.e. Social Media, SEO etc.

Apart from leads one of the main advantages of follow up is that it allows you to cleanse and develop your database. A phone call also helps you develop relationships with your commercial targets

4 Frequency of communication

This is a common area for discussion, but I feel that if you have something to say, say it. The danger of spam damage to your brand increases when you continually email the same piffle. If you have a new product, service or even great feedback, shout it out loud .Email Marketing and Pharma

5 Permission / Respect

If you are asked to remove a contact from your list please do so. However also respect communication protocol. With Secondary care for example it is not uncommon for all emails to go through a consultants secretary. This is not usually a brush off. For example if your product will enhance the performance of a Surgeon there is no way that the secretary will take the risk of not forwarding your email on. If on the other hand you are emailing the latest deadline offer for the third time this quarter, you may struggle to get a response.

Email works. Internet marketing works. My tips. Focus on providing value, interest and encouraging communication.