Ep 108. 12 Tips of Christmas: Part Two

To continue the festive spirit, I’ve focused on 12 comms tips for you over the 12 days of Christmas, from 25th December to 2nd January. Here are the final 6.

These are short and snappy episodes to keep you going over the festive period to help you improve your comms.

Let’s dive in!

 

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Full Transcript (unedited)

To continue the festive spirit, I’ve focused on 12 comms tips for you over the 12 days of Christmas, from 25th December to 2nd January. Here are the final 6.

These are short and snappy episodes to keep you going over the festive period to help you improve your comms.

Let’s dive in!

 

7. Manage the issues, not the crisis

If the global pandemic of 2020 is anything to go by, we know now that we cannot plan for acts of God. But, still, many bubbling issues within organisations were there when the pandemic hit, and what happened is it unveiled lots of these under-the-radar issues that have been hidden just beneath the surface. Like IT, ways of working, and operational and HR failures. And what lots of businesses realised at this point was that they had to supercharge their operations to deal with some of these issues that could have been dealt with previously.

 

8. PR isn’t just about column inches – no, really, it isn’t!

An important part of strategy creation should always include ensuring the strategy is aligned with the organisation’s culture. Not just in a strategic sense, though. We cannot change the culture through a PR strategy, just the perception of it, arguably, but it would be tricky to have a plan that contains newsjacking if the organisation is risk-averse.

We have to, therefore, find multiple ways to engage the audience in 2023 without conflicting with the culture of where we work or clients’ businesses.

 

9. Make your comms more accessible

We assume everyone can read. So Number one, reduce the need for alternative format versions. So writing clear English. Sounds obvious, but we all make this mistake, no doubt. And there’s lots of slang now, especially around social media posts and marketing.

Be as concise as possible, like short sentences that get to the point quickly. And design it to be as legible as possible. For example, using 14 typeface rather than 12 or 11, which quite a lot of us default to.

Think about using audio-first to engage with your audiences, as some disabilities are hidden from view.

By doing these three simple things, the information will be more accessible to a greater number of people straight away and may reduce demand for alternative versions.

 

10. Use photos in your press releases

From a consumer product media and trade media point of view, a good image is non-negotiable. If you send a pitch without one, it simply will not get looked at in the same way or tool. Journalists get thousands of emails every day. And a photo can be part of the filtering system. National media also use images as page holders and page turners, as they know that they add this to the story, and it’s their job to make it the best possible story it can be for the publication they’re working for and for their readers. It’s worth researching the publication you want to be in, as they will likely have a particular style. So as part of your strategic approach, you need to think about where we want to be pitched and what images they’ll be looking for. Also, see number 9 regarding accessibility.

 

11. Use technology and AI to help you be more efficient

From project management software to content planning calendars, many tools can help you with your comms planning and content generation. So choose wisely and make it a priority to include some new technology as part of your comms mix in 2023. AI is here to help, not hinder, and using it will help you to be more efficient.

I use a few; Canva, Calendly, Hyperwrite.ai, Buffer, and Trello. These are all powered by AI, and they all help me be more efficient.

 

12. Spend some time understanding your purpose

I talk about the “why” quite a lot on the podcast regarding how businesses talk to their customers and explain what they do in a way that resonates with people. The “why” is about understanding what your purpose is, I think. This purpose can translate well into external marketing and comms plans. In terms of what you are ultimately trying to achieve? If you’re a council, what’s your purpose, and how does that inform your communication goals? This takes some thought to make sure that your messages and activity align.

What would a successful campaign look like to you? You know what you want to achieve, but how will you know when you’ve done it? Without an overarching purpose, this is hard. Purpose is outcomes driven and can also be a much higher organising thought around climate or diversity. A lot of people are aligning ESG to purpose, for example. It also is a good way of aligning comms within the business so that the role is critical to success or failure, and it’s therefore seen as a strategic function, not about words and pictures.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my 12 Comms Tips of Christmas.