High Road Communications

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.

There has been plenty of hand wringing and gnashing of teeth over the recent Facebook redesign. Well, not quite that extreme, but the mixed reaction over the refresh is such a telling statement for how social computing needs to constantly evolve and stay fresh and current with its audience – while retaining the familiar look and feel that attracted the audience in the first place.

First impressions obviously mean a lot, and the new design is one that some haven’t quite warmed to.  But even naysayers would have to admit that facebook pages were becoming a pain to navigate and scroll with all the application clutter that would accumulate. On closer inspection, privacy and security feature functionality have been dramatically ramped up (always a good thing). So has the way you navigate your page, access your favourite applications and test new ones before you fully install them (also good). And for now, you can still revert to the “classic” interface but the new look will soon be the only option available.

The refresh reasoning is clearly around easier navigation, less clutter and an improved user experience. But is it a change for the better? The community response will be the judge of that.

Moving forward, the biggest test for any social computing model often involves retaining (and extending) an audience once the newness and the excitement of it all wears off. Facebook’s aims for a clean, uncluttered site layout is one of the main reasons why so many have signed up. And as with any social network, making the transition to a widely used technology platform is the ultimate goal. 

As we become more comfortable migrating to cloud computing, accessing sensitive data and documents on their mobile device - and sharing increasing amounts of personally identifiable information across a number of different services, a potential party-pooper called identity theft has crashed the festivities.

Now, imagine if you could more easily and automatically encrypt all of your emails from now on. Founded in 2004, TrustMe Security provides a free API  for an encrypted and authenticated solution.  From the TrustMe website:

“TrustMe is a technology that allows you to create circles of trust online and incorporate them into your favorite applications and web sites. You can use TrustMe to allow friends and family as much or as little access to your life online as you’d like while easily making sure that strangers don’t know your credit card number or where you sleep.”

Check out this recent video to learn more about how it works:  

As online / identity fraud continues to climb, so too, will demand for services like the ones offered by TrustMe Security. One of the major differentiators that separate the TrustMe application from many of their competitors is how simple it is to deploy. They really do provide, as described on their website, “comfortable email security solution for the masses.“ Check out the TrustMe website, or their blog and their twitter stream.

As we all know, failing to plan is like planning to fail, and having a plan for keeping you and your data safe online is no different.

(Disclaimer: TrustMe is a client of High Road Communications)