Using the Occupy movement as an example, today’s AHA Fast Take Friday video has Ruth talking about how to generate support and action.
Please visit our blog to see the two minute video.
What is your message?
Who are you pitching to?
Our AHA blog is listed in Cision, a media database. It’s pretty clear, even if you only read a couple of our posts, that we write about communications: brand journalism, public relations, media relations, social media, positioning and messaging. It’s all related to strategic communication.
It seems pretty straightforward to me what to pitch to us. Which makes us shake our heads in wonder when we get pitches from random PR agencies and independent PR practitioners that have nothing to do with what we write about here. It looks to me like some people just grab any email they can find and send out a news release or pitch, whether it is relevant or not. We suspect they might then go to their clients and say, “We developed a database of 10,000 journalists and bloggers and have reached out to them.” What the client isn’t hearing is that if they are sending useless (and sometimes annoying) information to journalists and bloggers. It’s not good for the organization’s reputation or the agency’s.
Please visit our blog to read the rest of the post.
Image release form
I am on location at a video shoot for a client today and as I took the early ferry into Vancouver (a short 40-minute commute from my home on the Sunshine Coast), I heard a report on News 1130, a local radio station, that grabbed my attention.
It seems that a local politician used the images of two children in campaign brochures without getting permission from their parents. As a communicator, when I see issues like this, I wonder how it happened. In this day and age, taking photos of children without the written consent of their parent(s) or legal guardian(s) isn’t a smart move. Using those photos without written consent is a big deal.
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How to work with your agency
At AHA, we feel fortunate that we get to work with our clients. We have great clients and many of the people that we work with have been with AHA for a long time. Several have changed organizations and brought AHA to work with them in their new role.
At AHA, we are consistently focused on finding the best ways to work with our clients. What makes a client stand out is that they focus on finding the best way to work with us. Working in partnership means that we build a mutually beneficial, respectful relationship. We have a commitment to client service and to delivering excellence and results for our clients. We also expect our clients to have a commitment to us as an agency as well.
Here are some points on how to get the best from your agency:
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The power of good content
Developing good content is crucial to your organization. Your stakeholders are interested in your organization (if they aren’t, there is a problem) and it is important to build on that interest. Your website, blog and social media networking sites are opportunities to provide information and news, to authentically tell your story and, done well, to have people who think it is interesting share it with their friends and colleagues.
Good content helps with search engine optimization (SEO), it helps to build community and it allows you to reach out and share stories with your stakeholder group.
Please visit our blog to read the rest of the post.