Six years ago, Straight Up PR took a new approach to the PR industry. Founder and Managing Director Hannah O’Donnell noticed the emerging need for new PR practices and digital storytelling to be incorporated into the way an agency works.
PR is an evolving industry culminating in a range of different and new approaches. However, it wasn’t always this way.
“The PR industry has transformed considerably in recent years. Media relations was all we had. Then social media happened and bloggers emerged. Then influencers. Then podcasts. Then brand collaborations”, Hannah explained.
“These days it is not enough to just execute a traditional PR campaign to traditional media”.
As the health and media industries have continued to grow with the development of new technologies, so has Straight Up PR. No longer only conforming to traditional PR modalities, it’s delivering impactful integrative communications campaigns via new media avenues.
This includes influencer collaborations, social media management, content creation, digital strategies and brand partnerships. “The influencer landscape is only getting bigger and better and forms a huge part of a lot of our clients’ campaigns”, Hannah said.
“We use this approach to influence purchase decisions and excite more conversations, because consumers trust the recommendations made by their favourite influencers.”
Hannah’s passion for fostering relationships and building communities is at the core of Straight Up PR’s business. PR and media relations are time-consuming practices that require creativity and understanding how the media operates to generate rapport with journalists.
“We pride ourselves on our relationships and our ability to connect our clients to their audience through our united new-PR campaigns,” Hannah said.
The top five traditional practices that Hannah suggests replacing with new PR approaches include:
Stop cold calling media to pitch a story or follow up
Why? Relationships are everything now.
Hannah recommends: Emailing, texting, or Direct Messaging them.
Don’t do a Mass media release send out
Why? Your email will go to junk and your consumers won’t respond.
Hannah recommends: Tailoring pitches to individual contacts and publications.
Forget spontaneous product send outs to media
Why? At the moment, media people are all working from home so they won’t be there to receive it. They also get sent copious amounts of product.
Hannah recommends: Contacting them prior and getting them to agree on receiving it before wasting your time, energy and your client’s money.
Stop Inviting media to events
Why? We’ve seen a shift in event attendance and these days it’s all about inviting influencers and engaging in brand partnerships. Media have no time to attend and they don’t really want to.
Hannah recommends: Send the story to media and invite influencers instead.Influencers like to be seen at events. It’s important for their profiles and gives them valuable social media content.A win-win for client and influencer!”
Don’t just work with traditional Media (TV, Print, Radio, Online)
Why? This is a big no-no in the new age of PR!
Hannah recommends: Expand your reach to influencers, bloggers, brand collaborations, podcasts and more. Get creative!
To find out more about Straight Up PR, visit: www.StraightUpPR.com.au
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