SKC Insights

It’s the start of a new year—2023! You’ve got a clear business plan, your marketing and communications objectives are set, and now the only challenge is delivering them. While you can certainly go it alone, why not supercharge your in-house capabilities by partnering with a PR/communications agency?

Well, we might be a little biased, but we believe partnering with an agency might likely be the best investment you can make in your organization’s growth. An agency can help your business; increase brand awareness, reputation, handle many activities and lighten your burden. In addition, your partner can offer strategic and fiscal advantages that are unparalleled to internal resources.

Still contemplating if you should hire a PR/marketing agency? Take a look at the top six reasons our clients hire us.  

We’re in the heart of best-of season right now, the time of year when everyone releases their lists of favorites from the past 12 months. 2022 has been a fun and results-filled year for SKC and our clients, where we’ve added a creative flair to many PR campaigns to help clients to stand out from the crowd. 

These are some of the highlights from 2022: 

So, you’re thinking about starting or sprucing up a corporate blog? Good for you! A company blog is a great marketing tool for connecting with prospects, customers, partners, and to build thought leadership. And with figures like these – 77% of Internet users read blogs and spend 3X more time on them than email in the US – blogs aren’t something marketers can ignore! But blogging has to be done right to be successful and effective.

Here are our 5 Do's for creating and maintaining a successful corporate blog:

So, all your hard work and smarts have paid off. You’ve conquered your home market, and now the world beckons. You’re ready to grow your company’s global footprint – open new offices, serve new customers, and of course reel in more revenues. To ensure success, you’re cognizant of the instrumental role marketing and public relations play in building global brand awareness which inevitably precedes sales.

Whether you’re an international company looking to boost your profile in the US, or a US-based business aiming to expand globally, the way you handle your international marketing and PR is going to mean the difference between making it or breaking it. So, let’s get it right. Here are five considerations for planning your global communications strategy: 

“Summer breeze makes me feel fine,” croon Seals & Crofts. You probably agree. The summer is when you, clients, and customers go on vacation. The long summer months are also when businesses slow down, including industry conferences and events. Even lots of journalists take time out. While this may be a "quieter" period for business activity, it's one of the best times to focus on PR and marketing activities for the Fall rush.

Here are five tips to help you tackle the new season well in advance:

Have you ever wondered how a company turned their one-star reviews into a five-star campaign? Or how another rose above the pandemic to help those in need? And how do others use leetspeak and illustrations to attract followers? These are just glimpses into how businesses have embraced and are thriving on social platforms. With more than four billion users online, companies are increasingly prioritizing social media marketing and seeking new ways to promote their brands and products. Here are 7 tips for social media marketing to stir your creative juices for more innovative ideas of your own.

Generating leads - both high in quantity and quality - is a marketer’s most important objective. A successful lead generation engine is what keeps the funnel full of sales prospects while you sleep. Surprisingly, only 1 in ten marketers feel their lead generation campaigns are effective. What gives?

There can be a lot of moving parts in any lead generation campaign and often times it’s difficult to know which parts need fine-tuning. To break it down, the best lead generation campaigns contain most, if not all, of these four crucial elements: an offer, a call-to-action (CTA), a landing page, and a form.

Here are SKC's 10 favorite tips and tricks for lead generation:

It’s 3 in the morning. You’re wide awake and your mind is besieged. Your competitor just sent out a new funding press release. How do you match that? Why is it so hard to reach the right investors? The right customers? Your team throws ideas at you. Dazzle with 3D presentations. We better be everywhere – on TV, on TechCrunch, on Facebook, LinkedIn, at tradeshows, everywhere! And don’t forget blogs, white papers, case studies, and email campaigns! And on and on and on.

It’s now 4am and sleep eludes you. You’re overwhelmed. Why are PR and marketing such enigmas? You know you need it to truly grow and attract investors and customers. But how? Where do you start? To think you once thought asking Rita to the prom was the toughest thing you ever did.

Sure, PR and marketing may feel daunting. But we’re here to say it doesn’t have to be. Take a deep breath, let go of everything you think you have to do. Instead, focus on just two steps that will make all the difference: First, build your foundation, and second, build your house.

This is what we mean: 

We hear you. The marketplace is brutal. Customers are fickle. Competitors are breathing down your neck. And worse, some prospects have never even heard of you! You need positive press coverage and brand awareness yesterday — there’s simply no time to wait.

We wish we could come in and magically wave a wand to get you some visibility right now. But, unfortunately, public relations doesn’t work this way. PR, like so many other business processes, rewards the companies who approach it with preparation, commitment and time.

Getting rid of misconceptions and myths — and facing these 6 hard truths about PR — will help you gain traction and take advantage of all it has to offer.

Truth #1: PR Takes Time

Effective PR takes time. Like the sales process and growing a pipeline, PR is something we can’t do one day and walk away from the next. Companies in the know start by building a solid messaging and story foundation, creating quality content and relevant news angles, and cultivating the right audiences. This takes ongoing commitment and a regular sharing of your story in a variety of interesting ways to achieve PR success. The best results come to the companies who stick with it.

When Steve Jobs received his first big investment for Apple – $250,000 from angel investor Mark Markkula — it was meant for the development of the new Apple II product, the first major Apple product to hit the masses. However, before he started investing in new hardware, Jobs hired the best PR professional in Silicon Valley, Regis McKenna. Jobs knew before he could focus on building the products that would launch his company that he needed to have a PR plan in place.

Jobs embraced PR, and so do Richard Branson and Bill Gates. How about you? In fact, Gates once said, “If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations.” And these business titans aren’t alone in their fervent faith in PR. Many executives from companies feel the same.

Here are 14 reasons why:

1. Master Your Message

If you don't tell your story, others will tell it for you. Avoid negative or misleading press by presenting the best version of yourself with public relations.

2. Differentiate Yourself

With so many products and services out there now, it is far too easy for customers to get overwhelmed. Good PR programs can make you stand out from the pack. As Seth Godin says, “People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories and magic.”

3. Create Buzz (and Adoration)

Do you have a product coming out? Start building that fan and customer base by influencing the influencers. Stoke that excitement with social media, bloggers, journalists, grant interviews, offer reviews and you’ll see awareness evolve to adoration.