Briana Stewart

“Our current agency isn't delivering.” Usually, there's more to the story. Dig deeper, and you'll find underlying issues like: ➡ Lack of proactivity or creativity ➡ Frequent agency team changes ➡ Missing senior-level strategic input ➡ Client structures are hindering the agency ➡ Budget cuts are having an impact on performance It’s rarely just about the results. What are some other hidden challenges you've encountered in client-agency relationships?

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"Check out this amazing story in the Denver Post that beautifully articulates our mission and why we do what we do! And, we've even gotten donations after we shared it in our newsletter!" PR does that. ☝ Curious how that could work for your organization? Let's talk. - - - - - - - - - - 👋 Hi, I'm Rhiannon. I help purpose-driven organizations (nonprofit and do-good companies) generate consistent media coverage and thought leadership opportunities to increase awareness, influence, and impact. Have a question about PR? DM me!

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Demo'ing your technology can be an important part of your PR campaign. However, based on the current media landscape, they are very hard to secure if you are not Microsoft (for example). If you do land one with a journalist, the stakes are high to get it right. Based on my experience being involved with demos that have gone awry, here are two things you need to know before going into it.

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ATTENTION INDIES AND SOLO PR PROS: For independent professionals, success requires more than just top-notch skills. You need the skills and ability to run a business too; however, taking time off to attend relevant trainings and conferences is often cost-prohibitive, especially when you’re a solo practitioner. In addition to the financial burden of registration and travel expenses, there is the intangible cost too: when indies take time off, no one is left “manning the shop.” Work basically stops.  IPA VirtuCon was created to provide members a conference-like program focused on running a business, enabling members to get training they needed without having to shut down their business. Designed specifically as a virtual conference, long before virtual was a norm, it offers an expansion of our monthly webinar programs to help members improve their efficiency and effectiveness to run a successful business. Don’t miss VirtuCon THIS Wednesday, September 25 for an afternoon of fabulous speakers. Register here today! https://lnkd.in/e72Ma9Ym

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5 watch outs for hiring your next agency partner (based on 100s of pitches): ❌ Hyper-focus on the agency’s reputation. ✅ Pay attention to the solution they’ve assembled for you now—their current team’s expertise and fit matter much more. ❌ Get wowed by the senior leaders. ✅ Get to know the account team who you’ll be working with day-to-day. ❌ Base your decision on pitch presentations. ✅ Evaluate agencies based on what happens when they’re not “pitching”—things like their ability to ask smart questions and think on their feet. ❌ Assume any agency that has the right capabilities and expertise is the right fit. ✅ Choose agencies that align with your values, culture, and long-term goals. ❌ Make your decision based on price. ✅ Only engage with agencies that fit your budget, so you can focus on the value potential partners will bring to your organization. What mistakes have you made (or seen others make) when selecting an agency?

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How do you feel about press releases? I'm still a fan, even if they simply serve as an official catalog of an organization's news. What you do with that information in your PR program is what's really meaningful though. Use the data for social posts and infographics, and pitches to media. Extract the quotes for your website. Find contributed content opportunities to share the news from the release in a more robust way. Develop creative graphics to support and enhance your news. Create video to share the news in a more personal way. Finally, don't expect your press release to reach the press. Those days are long gone. The release is just another content tool.

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I get asked "Scott, what do you mean by bad marketing?" To me, it usually falls into one or more of these 3 areas. 3 Kinds of Bad Marketing that I Fix 1. Bad Messaging - You read too many Simon Sinek books and have confused your INTERNAL message (your why, your values, your purpose, yada yada) with your EXTERNAL one (making the CUSTOMER the HERO). Customers really only care about THEMSELVES and how THEY get THEIR problems solved by you. That’s it. 2. Zero Empathy — If you’re a “marketing is a numbers game” sort of person, stop it. You don’t want to receive bothersome, annoying crap that you didn’t ask for so why inflict that on someone else. The response will be the same — they will dislike your brand and you will lose any future opportunities to connect with them. 3. All Tactics, Zero Strategy — I see this all the time. Your marketing is not your advertising, it’s not just your networking, it’s not just any of those tactical things. It’s bigger — there needs to be a plan for how we (as an organization) make people curious, enlighten them and ultimately get a commitment from them. It’s a process so it’s good to HAVE a process to get there. I fix ALL of this—and make it SO much better. BAD marketing is a choice. You (and your network of connections) can choose to be better. DM me and I will fix it. 100 percent satisfaction guaranteed!

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Ok, here’s an observation: this month, we’ve simultaneously grappled with a brutal heat wave, devastating wildfires in New Mexico, and catastrophic flooding in Florida. Each event dominates headlines for a couple days, but it wouldn’t be shocking to learn that our focus was fleeting unless we were directly impacted as individuals. Mountains have been written on the “echo chamber” and our propensity to condense our intake of information into a tunnel that gets narrower and narrower. And the way we communicate has evolved to exaggerate the insulated focus. News stories, social media posts, and even policy discussions are in on the trick, usually highlighting one event at a time, presenting a series of isolated incidents rather than a continuous, interconnected story. It’s “missing the forest for the trees” on steroids, and it leads to complacency and a lack of sustained engagement with the big picture. But there’s a better path, and it’s not even groundbreaking. It’s just returning to fundamentals. To inspire meaningful action, we can shift our storytelling approach from isolated events to a cohesive narrative that emphasizes the broader context of events. This really just boils down to creating a well-rounded communications campaign that indulges the short attention spans of the day without eschewing the critical nature of the larger story at play. Using the weather patterns as an example, it looks something like this: Connect the Dots: Highlight the links between different climate events. Explain in simple terms how the heat wave, wildfires, and flooding are all manifestations of the same underlying issue: a rapidly warming planet. By connecting these dots, we can help people understand that these events are not anomalies but part of a troubling trend. Emphasize Interconnectedness: Illustrate how climate change affects various aspects of life, from health and safety to economic stability and social equity. Show how the repercussions of one event can ripple through communities and ecosystems, reinforcing the need for holistic solutions. Leverage Multiple Platforms: Use diverse media channels to tell a unified story. While traditional news outlets focus on immediate events, social media, blogs, and podcasts can provide deeper insights and long-term perspectives. Consistent messaging across platforms can help maintain public awareness and engagement. Highlight Solutions: Balance the narrative of doom with stories of resilience and innovation. Share examples of communities adapting to climate challenges, scientists developing sustainable technologies, and policymakers implementing effective regulations. Solutions-oriented storytelling can empower individuals and inspire collective action. It's a simple formula that applies to almost anything. Climate change has its army of advocates that focus on the big picture; I’m enthusiastic about the private sector taking a similar approach. #communications #climatechange #marketing

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Let me make this super simple: more people need to know what you offer. One of the most effective ways to do that is through media coverage, i.e., PR. The key to generating press coverage is by offering media content that is interesting, informative, and relevant to your target audience. What insight are they gaining from reading the story? What problem is being solved? When you are consistently making headlines, you build awareness, credibility, and generate qualified sales leads. Ready, set, grow! #BrandAwareness #ContentMarketing #RankinPR #GrowYourBusiness #B2B

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How to get your email deleted by journalists or really anyone else… 1. Misspell the person’s name or address them by an entirely different name. 2. Keep [First Name] and all the areas that you left highlighted. 3. Fail to tailor your message to the recipient. 4. Neglect to research and become familiar with their work or needs. 5. Pitch them irrelevant topics or services. 6. Send them a poorly worded, grammatically incorrect email. 7. Don't get to the point quickly. 8. Avoid pitching them anything original or a unique value proposition. 9. Copy everyone and their mother! 10. Send them a book-long email. 11. Include a lengthy document or press release without context. 12. Forget to provide necessary resources like links to high-resolution photos and b-roll. 13. Attach huge files that clog their inbox. 14. Be annoyingly persistent with your follow-ups. 💡 Pro tip: Want your email to actually get read? Avoid these common pitfalls like the plague. P.S. What are your biggest email pet peeves? Share your tips in the comments below. 📧 #MediaRelations #PitchingTips #JournalistStruggles #EmailEtiquette

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Want to lose a valuable journalist relationship? Nitpick every single little thing they’ve written about you, your company, or something you said. It's true that sometimes journalists will perceive an answer you give them during an interview one way when you mean another. And it gets printed/posted. And you don’t like it. But before firing off an email to request a retraction or clarification, ask: > Is this worth starting a conversation about? > Is what the journalist said factually wrong? > What’s the outcome you’re looking for when reaching out? For the sake of longer-term relationships, not every battle is worth fighting. > Especially if the messaging doesn't jeopardize your larger strategy or sales initiatives? There is a way to determine when it’s right to push back on journalists and how to delicately do it. PS - Want more FREE PR tips, DM me.

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There’s a DIFFERENCE between your messaging, your copy, and your content. Ya see: 🎯 BRAND DNA: sits at the beating HEART of your business. This is your voice, your messaging, the why this why now why you? ✍️ COPY: next? Is your copy. Aka what will drive action and sales. Eg. Your sales page, website and email campaigns. 📱CONTENT: and to drive traffic to your copy? Is CONTENT. Aka social media, videos, blogs. That’s why having purely just a great social media account means ZILCH if your website isn’t converting and your messaging isn’t landing. And vice versa, you could have a GREAT website with smashing copy, but if your content is attracting the wrong traffic? It ain't gonna convert.

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All too often, clients talk to their PR team like they’re practicing to speak to the media. They dodge, obfuscate, spin and withhold. That’s not a good way to talk the media – but it’s an absolutely foolish way to treat your PR team. When clients insist on holding us at arm’s length, we cannot strategize effectively. If they withhold potentially damaging or unflattering information, we can’t prepare them to answer tough questions. The Caster Communications blog offers some heartfelt suggestions on how to succeed working with your PR team, easily. #PRagency #IWorkinPR #PRtips

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One main reason companies use PR is it allows them to reach and talk directly to their potential customers. Getting in front of prospects is important, but what you say when you are there is critical. You have two options: Talk about yourself (awards, new products, company news) Talk about your customers (how can they benefit from your insights and expertise) Both promote your brand but one is far more profitable. #B2B #RankinPR #BusinessGrowth #PRStrategy

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Can you achieve 1 million views in just 6 months? Ocean Robbins is a client who hit a million views in under 6 months. Seven figures may sound average for TED, but really, that’s a stellar result. You see, 100,000 views is considered viral. And million-view talks do eventually happen over the course of years. But 1 million views in 5-6 months... that’s breakaway status. Ocean is the head of the Food Revolution Network, and we had only 3 working weeks together. I prefer 3 months, even 6 months. But, we had what we had so when we engaged, we dove head-in. There was a script, but it needed to be almost fully reworked. The next step was to get the throughline and the key points aligned so that the flow of the script would begin to build and momentum would begin. Thankfully, that was something that Ocean leaned into. I've rarely had a speaker work so hard in such a short amount of time and bring so much energy to bear. Of course that's buy-in, right? That's also making room on your calendar and having the bandwidth to bring everything possible to the opportunity that is a TEDx Talk. #PublicSpeaking #Presentations #TEDTalks #TEDx =================== #TheTEDTalkWhisperer Join My Newsletter: BETTER Speaking! (Links in comments.) LEARNING TOOL: DRIVE RESULTS Like a 47-Million View TEDx Speaker! (Link in comments.) Let the world LIVE your message!™

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I'm a frequent lurker on PR and marketing subreddits, and a common misconception I've seen is that "agencies have no work-life balance." I don't believe this to be true as a blanket statement. Yes, we have a lot of projects to juggle, and it can be stressful at times. But, overall, I enjoy working with my clients, and each day brings something new and different. Without sharing all the gory details, in-house roles can be even more stressful and consuming than agency work in my experience. I don't work 60+ hour weeks and neither does my team. I have a wonderful fiancé, a dog, hobbies, family, and friends who are an active part of my everyday life, and vice versa. Personally, I think it's time to put the "agencies = no work life balance" myth to rest. #agencylife #marketingagency #pragency #marketing #publicrelations

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Timely trend story from Fast Company's Elizabeth Segran: These high-design cabins are a new take on tiny homes. The next time you go on vacation, Ben Svenson wants you to consider staying in a tiny home, rather than a hotel. And he’s designed one so beautiful, you’ll have trouble saying no. As a real estate developer, Svenson had come across tiny homes, which are typically between 100 and 400 square feet in size. He was intrigued by the modularity and movability of these structures, but he also thought they left a lot to be desired. “What if you sleep in a king-size bed?” he says. “Or what if you want a full-size shower?” Over the past two decades, Svenson has taken on a wide array of projects. He bought a dilapidated motel in the Berkshires, transforming it into Tourists, one of the hottest hotels in the area. He bought the Blackinton Mill, a decaying factory near the hotel, with the view of potentially building a hotel there. Reimagining the tiny house as a more luxurious experience felt like a good next challenge. During the pandemic, Svenson decided to give it a go. He partnered with Berkshire-based architects, engineers, and workshops to build different tiny home concepts. Some were elevated, like treehouses. Others relied on natural airflow and so could only be used for a few months in the summer. This year, Svenson’s finally produced the prototype of his dream cabin. The sleek wooden structure, which is 280 square feet, has all the details you’d find in a high-end hotel, including a luxurious shower with a skylight, two separate bedrooms, a patio, and a kitchen with concrete countertops and custom-designed wood cabinetry. For now, guests can’t stay in it, but the hotel is organizing concerts and events in the cabin. The goal is to invite other hoteliers the chance to explore them, with the view of potentially ordering some for their own properties. Through a licensing model, Tourists will support other hoteliers who want to bring Tourists Cabins to their existing property, or build their own franchised hotel startup. https://buff.ly/3WYPYmN

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