I don’t think a week goes by at AHA when I don’t learn about another social media communications channel. And some days, it can feel like there is so much information about the technology, usage and user demographic, that it can be really confusing and overwhelming.
We go through a process here at AHA that includes defining the demographic user, how this technology or channel can be effectively used for clients, and how challenging it might be to get it up and running – relevant to client understanding of technology or appetite for new channels. It can be a time-consuming process, but it’s worth it for us so that we can be aware of new opportunities for clients.
We are going to start a regular (every two weeks) feature here on the blog that focuses on explaining, in the context of communications or PR, different social networks, channels, tools and technology. And – we’re going to start with the most popular ones like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. While many people are fully versed with these, many others aren’t – and we have had several new clients come to us because they want help with the basics. Other people might already be using the more popular social media networks for their organization, but don’t have a strategy. We’ll talk about that too.
We’re looking forward to developing this feature series here on the AHA blog – and we hope it will provide you with some useful information so that you can navigate through all of the communications opportunities online.
We are beyond thrilled to announce that media icon (and all-around awesome human being) Charlotte Empey has agreed to take on the role of AHA’s Toronto Bureau Chief.
AHA partner, Ruth Atherley, and Charlotte have known each other and worked together for many, many years. Their friendship and professional relationship goes back to the days when Charlotte founded and was Editor-in-Chief of Modern Woman magazine and Ruth was a contributing writer for her. Charlotte went on to have senior and leadership roles at many of Canada’s national publications – including as Editor-in-Chief for Metro English Canada (daily) newspapers and Canadian Living magazine.
In this partnership role, Charlotte will work with the AHA team to expand the brand journalism and branded content services in Toronto, Vancouver and across the country.
With shrinking newsrooms, organizations are challenged in getting their stories told via media coverage. Understanding how widespread the changes in traditional media are, as well as the power of social networks, online content and search engine optimization (SEO), the AHA team realized years ago how important it is for brands to tell their own stories.
In order to meet a growing client need in this area, the AHA team has put a strong focus on creating engaging, informative, well-written and professionally-produced branded content and brand journalism campaigns for our clients. This approach allows the brand story to be effectively and authentically shared with organizations’ stakeholders, communities and target markets in a way that engages the audience.
For our purposes, branded content speaks more specifically to projects or individual items to be developed – such as web content, one-off articles, videos or podcasts – and brand journalism is focused on a longer-term campaign that would include weeks, months or even years of creating ongoing, interesting, informative content on a regular basis that engages your target market or stakeholder groups.
Gibsons, B.C. – Charlotte Empey, former Editor-in-Chief of Metro English Canada newspapers and Canadian Living magazine, has accepted the role of Toronto Bureau Chief for AHA Creative Strategies, AHA CEO Ruth Atherley announced today. Along with heading up the Toronto office, Ms. Empey will also work closely with the AHA team to expand the agency’s brand journalism and branded content services. She will do this through a strategic partnership between her company, FYI Media and AHA Creative Strategies.
“Charlotte is an incredible visionary and editor-in-chief, not to mention one of the most generous, supportive and encouraging leaders. She is a true icon in the world of journalism,” said Atherley. “When we heard that she had shifted into communications consulting with her company FYI Media, we knew we wanted to partner with her in the areas of brand journalism and branded content.” She added: “In this day and age, when newsrooms are shrinking and media outlets are laying off reporters, editors and producers, more and more organizations have to tell their own stories. Who better to help them tell these stories than one of the country’s best journalists. We are beyond delighted that Charlotte has agreed to take on the role of AHA Bureau Chief and to partner with us in helping organizations to effectively tell their stories to their stakeholder groups and communities.”
Said Empey: “I have worked with Ruth since she was a young writer, pitching stories and writing for me at many of my publications. I know her attitude, approach, work ethic and integrity and I have watched her grow into a seasoned, experienced communications professional who understands the changing media landscape and how to effectively tell her clients’ stories in that environment. When she approached me with the idea of heading up the AHA Toronto office and taking on the role of Bureau Chief, she definitely caught my attention.” She explained: “There is a growing demand from organizations for well-written and well-produced content that effectively tells their story in an engaging and authentic manner. We are here to meet these needs and to tell some great stories that engage, inform and entertain. I am thrilled to work with Ruth again and to partner with the AHA team.”
About FYI Media
Charlotte Empey, Principal at FYI Media, partners with her clients – editorial, corporate and not-for-profit – to create powerful narratives that inspire, move and motivate. She helps her clients to define communications goals and objectives, and to identify the audience psychographic – key to understanding who they are and what kinds of stories will move them most. Then she develops a strategic plan and manages a team of cross-platform professionals to create stories that cut through the clutter and capture hearts, minds and the collective imagination.
About AHA Creative Strategies
Founded in 2003, AHA Creative Strategies Inc. is a boutique communications firm with clients in Canada, the United States and New Zealand. The AHA team has developed, executed and managed strategic communications, brand journalism, PR, social media and community engagement campaigns and projects for clients locally, nationally, in the U.S. and internationally. AHA regularly works with clients to help manage a wide range of emerging issues, challenges and crisis communication initiatives in traditional media outlets, online and on social media networks.
How we communicate, both professionally and personally, has changed drastically in the past decade. The online world has created a different way of connecting with stakeholders, your target markets and your community, as well as with family and friends. And that has had an impact in the world of media, including journalism, advertising and marketing.
For the purpose of this blog post, I am going to focus on journalism because publicity and media relations are often important components of what we do as communicators. In Canada and the U.S., newsrooms are not just shrinking – many are ceasing to exist. Print publications that have been in business for more than 100 years are going out of business and local television and radio stations are being closed down. We are at a critical stage in how local and international news is delivered to us. There is a great deal to be discussed about what this means to our communities. I strongly believe that journalists are a key element in maintaining a functioning, democratic society. They ask the tough questions, they investigate, and they hold public and private figures accountable to their promises and for their actions. However, for this blog post, I am going to stay off of my soapbox about this subject and focus on the practical business actions that need to be taken in response to the shrinking opportunity to connect with your stakeholders and tell your organization’s story through media relations or publicity.
The fact is, it’s harder to generate positive media coverage for your organization. Newspapers and magazines are smaller, radio and television breakfast shows and talk shows are being cancelled, and the opportunity for a communications professional to generate coverage is shrinking because the process of who gets interviewed has changed and no one is really talking about it. You see, advertisers have become the priority for who gets interviewed. The only way the media outlets that are still standing are going to stay standing is by increasing their revenues. That means creating added value for advertisers – like having them on a morning breakfast show as a guest, choosing to write about their product, service or event, or profiling the CEO or organization in a print publication – creating copy that is written by a journalist, but that leans more on the side of advertorial than editorial. And – none of this is to criticize the working reporters, producers or editors who are doing this work. The world has changed and they have had to adapt. None of the journalists I know are happy about this, but the fact is – they are trying to do their absolute best while the sand continues to shift under their feet.
One example showing how much things have changed is a recent pitch we did to a television breakfast show for a coffee company client. We had an interesting, newsworthy announcement about what the (Canadian) coffee company is doing at their plantation in Thailand for the environment and for the people of the surrounding villages. It is visionary, they use sustainable business practices, and it is environmental excellence. And the producer of the breakfast show said he loved it and that is was a great story and it was something that their viewers would be interested in, but (and it’s a big but here), they had just taken on a “coffee sponsor” and couldn’t cover any coffee news on the show. And low and behold, within the week, there were the hosts with their branded coffee mugs.
The AHA Moment
Organizations can no longer rely on traditional media to tell their stories, to help build their communities, or to connect with their stakeholder groups. They need to become their own media outlets – creating well-written editorial style articles, taking great photos that help showcase who they are and what they offer clients or customers, and producing short videos that share their news and information in a way that makes people want to watch. The good news is, brand journalism – branded content – can be done in a reasonable time frame for a reasonable budget. It will require a shift of budget and effort from media relations, publicity and even advertising and marketing to tell your own story in a compelling, engaging and entertaining manner.
We are going to be talking a great deal about brand journalism and branded content here on this blog in the coming weeks and months. And that’s because it’s a conversation we are having more and more with our clients. While publicity and media relations will always be an important part of the work that we do, the reality of the current landscape and the declining state of journalism and shrinking newsrooms around the world means that organizations will have to produce their own content – in an authentic and meaningful way (no marketing speak) – in order to stay relevant and build stakeholder and customer relationships. It’s an interesting and exciting time in our world and we’re looking forward to helping our clients to effectively tell their stories in a way that engages and informs their target market, stakeholders and influencers.
Today, I had the honour of doing another AHA Random Act of Kindness. This is the third time I have been given this opportunity and I have to tell you it is very hard to commit to an idea. After much deliberation, I received a tip (thank you Paul) that I could leave money at a Tim Hortons’ drive-thru, which would pay for many coffee drinkers’ orders. Perfect!
So, after purchasing a $50 gift card, I knocked on the drive-thru window and told the ladies working what I was up to. I would be sitting in my van in the parking space directly in front of the window, watching people’s reactions as they found out they didn’t have to pay for their order.
I don’t know who was more excited about this – them or me! Honestly, one of the ladies working was having so much fun with this, she was shouting out the reactions to me as people drove away. “That guy wants to make sure he’s in your will!” It was awesome!
You’re probably wondering what I observed. Well… I saw many smiles and much confusion. I saw a man pay for his order anyway (which one of the employees had told me people often do in this situation – they don’t feel right taking it for free when someone else might need it more). I think I saw one or two customers leave a tip. Many people just looked completely confused as they were trying to figure out what was happening. Someone mentioned that it might be a Just for Laughs gag and was looking for the hidden camera. The biggest smiles came from the older generation, and oh – we got a horn honk or two!
This experience left me feeling amazing. I think it really made the employees’ day as well.
Something I notice every time I do a Random Act of Kindness for AHA is that we all seem to have a real need for connection. I didn’t want anyone to know that I was the one who had bought the coffees, but I did want to see how it affected the recipients. And the employees said that many desperately wanted to know who had done this. Where is she? Who is she? But they kept it top secret. No one had any idea that I was sitting right there in front of them, in the old Dodge Caravan.
In doing something nice for someone, I think the only thing we really want in return is to feel something… to know we’ve made a difference. We aren’t looking for a pat on the back, but we do need to feel the impact of what we have done. I was craving those smiles! And people seem to have a real need to give back and to say thank you. It’s been a constant theme each time I’ve done this and I’m very thankful to AHA for once again giving me the wonderful gift of giving.
I don’t think a week goes by at AHA when I don’t learn about another social media communications channel. And some days, it can feel like there is so much information about the technology, usage and user demographic, that it can be really confusing and overwhelming.
We are beyond thrilled to announce that media icon (and all-around awesome human being) Charlotte Empey has agreed to take on the role of AHA’s Toronto Bureau Chief.
