3 PR Tips to Make 2017 Your Pitch

There’s always a lot of hype at the beginning of the year around what we’re going to do better this year and what we’re actually going to get done. PR professionals are excellent at this since half their job is planning anyway.

This year we’re juggling the rush of AI, the not-com revolution and working with influencers and analysts. Plan your best year yet with using these 3 tactics to zip up your PR department and make 2017 your PITCH! (get it?)

The Not-com Revolution

Instead of automatically assuming a website is going to follow with “.com”, “.gov” or “.org”, in 2017 we’re going to be saying, “dot, what?” Tom Gilles, creator of the “Not-Com Revolution Guide” has created a new branding tool for companies. Instead of creating websites that proceed with the generals mentioned above, brands are now adopting this not-com practice to further their story before users even enter the site.

“New suffixes can also make for better use of the space to the right of the ‘dot’ in a web address. ‘Com’ means nothing, adds nothing. Now you can use that space to tell visitors something about yourself,” said Gilles.

.guru, .art, .media, what have you. We’re already seeing over 1,000 brands adopting the not-com revolution, will you?

To Do: Work with your web development team (or ours) in getting this project started if you already have a website. Read more about how to migrate your domain.

Executive Thought Leadership

This is a new practice we started dipping into just a smidge at the end of 2016, and let me tell ya, clients love it. How do you get quoted on prestigious, niche websites, podcasts, and magazines? Profnet. I’ve written about it before and I will again. This is a platform for you as a PR professional to receive media opportunities for your clients directly to your inbox.

The benefits?

• Great reporters from top publications who already have their foot in the door with your industry are writing about the latest trends; submit a quote by one of your clients and now they gain the visibility as a thought leader on high-traffic sites under a credible writer.
• You’re building those connections with reporters that we all know are seemingly impossible to build otherwise.

To Do: 92% of consumers want more content with information provided by industry thought leaders. Present this to your leader and see if it’s in the budget to get tools like Profnet.

*Note: When working with the media, reporters, editors and outlets in general, always double check your sources for credibility and accuracy. This is a best practice to follow before reaching out to anyone that you want to represent your clients as thought leaders.

Read more about working on your media relations skills.

Influencer Marketing

92% of consumers say they trust earned media such as word-of-mouth or recommendations above all other types of advertising. Working to get influencers on your side, advocating for your brand is tricky and something we also started playing with in Q4 of 2016. We refer to influencer marketing as “analyst relations.” In my article about building a community of analysts, I mention the importance of adjusting to shifts. Analysts and influencers will always be one step ahead of the industry, which means you’ll need to be two steps ahead.

CEO of IV AI, Vince Lynch, suggests the use of artificial intelligence in order to stay ahead in influencer marketing.

“Influencer marketing is very much about disparate numbers: reach, target, demographics, budgets, timing, etc., which means it presents an interesting challenge for machine learning. It’s about asking the right questions, running the right algorithms based on the data, and using a hybrid approach to machine learning that offers new insights across entire campaigns” Lynch said.  

What better assistant than a robot to help you keep ahead of the trends?

Unfamiliar with the truth about AI? Read these debunked myths about AI.

To Do: This year, make yourself known with strategic thought leadership placement, making your domain extensions unique to your brand, and contributing to publications who reach the audiences you want to influence most.

Did I miss something or mention something you can’t get enough of? Let’s chat! @NoelleBellLynne & @RedBranch

The Branchers

We build the best damn marketing campaigns on the planet. And we do it for industries and companies you might not identify as easy to market (right away). Working here takes a very special kind of person.