High Road Communications

Competition in Canada’s mobile communication industry is heating up – and it could affect the way companies approach public relations.

With new wireless phone providers entering the market, Canadian businesses might have to seriously beef up the mobile quotient of their public-outreach strategies. Over the past few months, new companies have announced their plans to enter the wireless market. In October, Quebec-based Videotron said it would spend $800 million to $1 billion building an advanced wireless network. In November DAVE Wireless unveiled the executive team charged with taking the business from concept to going concern.

The Canadian wireless market seems ready for more mobile services. According to the CRTC’s Communications Monitoring Report, 60 per cent of Canadians subscribe to wireless – while reports indicate that other countries have nearly 100 per cent wireless market penetration. The Canadian new entrants look towards our nation’s apparent market headroom to drive their profits – and if they succeed in enticing more people into subscribing to wireless, mobile communication could become an even more prevalent aspect of Canadians’ lives.

What does it all mean for public relations? More than ever before, businesses would have to include mobile outreach in their campaigns to connect with people. Certainly we’ve seen the start of this with companies employing new communication services such as Twitter and text messaging in their strategies today. Mobile video could also become an important part of the PR mix down the road.

There are no guarantees that the new mobile providers will succeed – and who knows? Perhaps Canada’s current 60 per cent penetration mark is as fruitful as the market will ever be. Regardless, organizations would do well to watch the mobile trends, and envision ways to use mobile tools to ensure they’re ahead of the curve if it comes.

Think back to any book that has made an impression on you and ask yourself: what made that particular story so memorable?

More than likely, it was the characters in the book that hooked you.

In the real world, the best media campaigns borrow liberally from this concept.

A media campaign that doesn’t feature an interesting customer story is like having a dinner party without food. Without a compelling customer, you’re missing the meat (or vegetarian equivalent) of the story.

Customers are capable of sharing their personal experiences with a particular product or organization. An interesting customer can hook a journalist, keep an audience attentive and act as a credible third-party advocate of your client.

We already know a journalist’s central role is to tell a story. With a compelling customer, you’re making it easier for media to take interest in your client’s campaign. Interesting customers add colour, personal anecdotes, and most importantly, demonstrate the real value of an initiative or product you want to draw attention to.

Just like your favourite storybook character, an interesting customer will help captivate your audience and better communicate the story you want to tell.

Looking for a helpful overview of social networking tools?

Here is a clear cut visual of how social media is currently playing out, courtesy of PR 2.0’s Brian Solis:

It doesn’t cover all of the social networks that are out there, but it’s an excellent and detailed glimpse of the some of the top social computing websites today.

A complete review can be found on PR 2.0: http://www.briansolis.com/2008/08/introducing-conversation-prism.html

We all know traditional pitches don’t always hit with the regularity they used to and it’s becoming increasingly challenging to routinely convert press releases into press.

But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s been good to see many PR pros shocked out of their comfort zone.

Landing the perfect pitch has always been about focusing on the right media. Today, we’re also hip to the fact that not only does the Internet now drive the news; it holds major sway in setting the agenda. With this in mind, successful PR must shift away from the “one size fits all” media list and towards specific, targeted communications that caters to traditional and non-traditional media alike.

Developing that perfect pitch every time was always destined to be an evolving process.  The new media landscape is making people more vigilant in tweaking and fine-tuning that tasty news angle that is as irresistible as it is timely and relevant.

Indeed, understanding how best to leverage this changing PR landscape is often the difference between a media hit and an editor telling you that your latest pitch was not worth their time.

One of the things I love most about doing PR in the defence space is the ability to build unique relationships with the media.

Because this industry is still largely driven by print publications, reporters can delve into trends and use more than one source for a story. They also have the time to explore story ideas that fall outside of the editorial calendar. This always makes my day.

But, as Millennials change the training landscape with wider adoption of simulation, video content, and other visual materials, they are changing media as well with a demand for online content.

Recently, I attended a focus group to discuss the direction of defence magazine and its online presence. Two questions quickly became the focus: how to strike a balance between print and online and how to effectively engage marketers.

We all agreed that online issues need to be a conduit to breaking news, procurement updates, and thoughts for the day. But we struggled to identify how to ensure online becomes a viable part of a publication’s business.

Readers get frustrated with landing pages covered in ads and flashing banners. Marketers want to ensure that both editorial and advertising content has legs and can work to increase corporate SEO.

I want to ensure I have the ability to continue exploring long-lead and trend stories.

We need to strike a balance. Print is lasting and still most appropriate for this audience which is often working in the field and not at a computer. But there is a huge opportunity to deliver fresh content through a blog, roundtable discussion, or breaking contract news. For advertisers, ensure that both editorial and advertising content is searchable and archived.

I also recommend encouraging marketers to post content to their own sites and increase the publication’s SEO as well as direct customers to online content. After all, communication is the key to all of this and, as audiences change, so too will information delivery.