Communications

How to create great content

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on November 21st, 2011

Technology makes it easy to share content. Your website, blog, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites provide the ability to publish your content. Where you publish depends on where your stakeholder group spends time and it is important to identify how they want to interact with your organization. But how do you create engaging, relevant, timely content?

Create an Editorial Schedule
Do you have a schedule of the content you will upload? A little forethought goes a long way when you are busy and need content or an idea in a hurry.

Here are some things to think about…

The value of an audit

Posted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on October 28th, 2011

In today’s AHA Fast Take Friday, Ruth looks at the importance and value of a communications audit.

Social media – how far is too far?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on October 27th, 2011

I saw something on Facebook this morning that really made me sit back and think. I have quite a few “friendly acquaintances” on Facebook. For the purpose of this blog, I will call them “pals.” These are people I have met and like, but that I don’t connect with very much in the real world. Some I met through work, others from my personal life. Many of them I met while travelling.

I don’t hold the same political views as some of them. I have to admit, I have found some of the discussions and ideas put forward by a…

Engage or they will engage without you

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on October 20th, 2011

There have been good articles written recently (The Globe and Mail and BC Business) that talk about Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) labour negotiations and how Facebook played a strong role. Both articles are worth a read, whether you work in a union environment or not. They are proof that social media is a key tool in your organization’s communication. It’s here to stay. Even if you are engaging and facilitating open and relevant discussion, groups will still form (and are forming at this very moment) without your input. At the very least, you need…

Are you a storyteller?

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on October 18th, 2011

At a recent client brainstorming meeting about brand journalism and how we could better tell the story of the organization, there was a senior staff member that was clearly not engaged in the process. For the purpose of this blog post, we’ll call her VP Skeptical. She sat back with her arms folded, checked her BlackBerry every minute or so, and in pure Survivor Tribal Council fashion – rolled her eyes when someone else said something that she didn’t agree with. Yet VP Skeptical didn’t speak up. So I asked her what she felt was the best story they could…

When good is good enough

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on September 13th, 2011

There are times when good is good enough. This may sound odd coming from a small agency that prides itself on exceeding expectations and delivering excellence every single time. It might even sound a little hypocritical. I think it’s realistic and smart business.

There are times when the excellence comes in the moving forward component – in joining the conversation, in engaging with stakeholders, in reaching out and opening the door for discussion. Over the years, I have seen several client organizations get stuck – and I mean stuck – in rewriting speeches, articles or entire websites over and over…

The well-balanced article

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 31st, 2011

One of the most powerful tools that we have used to help educate and engage stakeholders is an article. We often write articles for our clients – about their organization, about successes and challenges (and how they overcome the challenges to achieve success), and even about new products and services. We distribute the piece to traditional and online media for use – free of charge. We use it on the organization’s website, in industry association or other relevant newsletters, and we often share links to the article with a range of stakeholders. We’ve had great success in this area.

One…

How to Identify and Tell a Great Story

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 17th, 2011

Whether it’s a speech, a news release, a white paper, an article for your website or to send to media, a video news release, a video series or any other communications vehicle – it is all about the story. It is one of the opportunities and one of the challenges of public relations. An organization needs to really dig deep and build a credible story to interest stakeholders.

To help determine your story’s news value, ask yourself the questions below.

Is the story timely and relevant? It’s surprising how many things are put forward as great ideas and when we…

Fast Take Friday – August 12, 2011

Posted by Paul Holman of AHA Creative Strategies on August 12th, 2011

How Brand Journalism Fits Into Your Overall Communications Strategy from AHA Creative on Vimeo.

In today’s video, Ruth talks about how brand journalism can fit into your overall communication strategies.

Brand Journalism, the Art (and Integrity) of a Media Pitch

Posted by Ruth Atherley of AHA Creative Strategies on August 08th, 2011

We just did the “soft” launch of the AHA Brand Journalism services last week. It was an exciting, lively time at our PR agency and I had some great calls, emails and messages from friends, colleagues (communicators and journalists), clients and potential clients about the services.

One of the questions that I was asked was: “What if you start with a client and discover that the story they want to tell – or the product or service they are offering – isn’t any good? How does the brand journalism approach work in this situation?

Integrity, authenticity and credibility…