Falcon PR

Why you need PR in your marketing mix now more than ever

Falcon PR — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 10:37:13 +0000

One of PR’s best known offerings is media relations; raising awareness of brands, products and services through the placement of stories in the media. We refer to the outputs of media relations as earned editorial because the coverage is not paid for, as it is with adverts.

Earned coverage has to meet the journalist and editor’s stringent criteria for what makes an interesting story to their readers, viewers or listeners. It needs to add value to their audience by being relevant, authentic and compelling. Just pushing a sales message won’t cut it with a quality journalist. The story has to earn the right to be featured.

Media relations has been a powerful force within the PR toolkit for a long time and deservedly so, because when a reputable journalist deems a story worthy of positive coverage it gives the brand, product or service added credibility. The journalist’s audience trusts them, and their approval helps to build trust with your brand. It’s like being given a recommendation from a friend.

These days, the first line of influence is often an internet search engine. If we have a question or need a recommendation, what do we do? We Google it. In fact, globally, it’s estimated we Google it more than three billion times a day.

Google has become the ultimate editor, a mediator between us and a world of information. Therefore, it is increasingly important that brands are able to rank high on the search lists.

As a result, search engine optimisation (SEO) has become big business. Some websites use technical tricks and underhand tactics, such as hiding key words on web pages, to bob and weave their way to the top of Google’s organic (non paid for) rankings. Google doesn’t like this.

Google’s aim is to “organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful“.

To achieve this, over the years, Google has developed a series of algorithms that judge the quality and relevance of web pages. They reward websites that offer high quality, compelling content and penalise those that use short-cuts, with the relevant page ranking. In extreme cases, a whole website can be removed from Google’s index. Conversely, the more relevant the content is deemed to be, the higher up the search results page it will appear.

While Google has not revealed the finer details of its algorithms, in addition to a host of technical considerations, it is believed that as well as media endorsement, having a positive reputation on third party blogs, forums and sites belonging to independent organisations all contribute to favourable rankings.

To me, as a PR for more than 20 years, this makes absolute sense, as it is based on the third-party credibility principle that runs through everything we do. As the adage goes, advertising is saying you’re good, PR is someone else saying you’re good, and as a business the value of this word of mouth endorsement is priceless.

PRs are experts in developing content that answers people’s questions, content that is informative while also conveying a brand’s key messages. They know that the value is not only in the brand mention, but in demonstrating the expertise that the brand encompasses. Good PR develops content that guides customers towards the business, engaging them along the way so that when they get to their final destination the decision to engage with the brand has already been made.

Through its results, Google is providing recommendations, so its reputation lies within the quality of those results. In the digital age, the more your content can support Google in its objective the more likely Google will drive traffic in the direction of your business. It’s a simple quid pro quo equation which starts with the consumer, find out what they are asking and answer it in the most authentic way possible and you will be one step ahead of the competition.

Claire Connolly
Falcon PR

From the ridiculous to the miraculous: How technology is changing not only the way we communicate but also how we manage our health

Falcon PR — Fri, 25 Nov 2016 12:46:20 +0000

I was mindlessly scrolling through my Facebook feed one morning, as you do, when I stumbled across a Facebook Live recording from a friend who has recently moved from the UK to America. Intrigued as to what might be his latest transatlantic tale, I clicked through.

Was it a video about this entrepreneur’s latest business endeavour? Or perhaps he and his family exploring the wonders of their vast new country to share with friends and family back home?

No, what I found was a video of – let’s call him Bob – staggering around New Orleans at four in the morning, worse for wear from alcohol not being able to find his hotel.

The filming went on for more than forty minutes. A drunk bloke from Britain lost in New Orleans responding, mostly incoherently, to comments from a handful of mates back in the UK who were watching his struggles in real-time. It was completely ridiculous yet oddly compelling. As I said to Bob on the feed, I imagine this was EXACTLY what Mark Zuckerberg had in mind when he launched Facebook Live.

When Bob’s video had finished I went into my emails and I kid you not the first message I opened was from a colleague sharing a link to a film about doctors in the UK using Skype to advise doctors in Aleppo, Syria during life-saving operations. You’d be hard pushed to find a more polar opposite use of live steaming. I’d gone from the ridiculous to the miraculous in 30 seconds.

The doctors were using technology that’s more commonly associated with connecting family and friends in different countries to literally save lives in a war zone. Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

It reminded me of when my history teacher told us one of the key things which set humans apart was that we developed tools, tools that enabled us to solve problems beyond our physical means.

The use of Skype by doctors in Syria is an extreme and admirable example of how modern technology can help in the delivery of healthcare but there are more everyday ways in which you and I can also harness these benefits to better manage our own health.

For example, wearing a device that monitors activity levels can help us become more aware of our health and wellbeing, putting us on the right track to prevent a wide range of illnesses. The convenience and discretion of consulting with a doctor online can make the difference between addressing an issue or not, and being able to have your medication dispensed by an online pharmacy can give you back valuable time. Indeed, some GPs and online doctors also offer Skype appointments so you don’t have to leave your home, office…even if you’re a farmer and your office is a field!

While all of these tools and services are growing in popularity, overall it’s still only the savvy few who are benefiting. The full potential of digital tools in healthcare is yet to be realised.

However, the latest plans from the Department of Health may help to provide the step change needed to integrate and normalise digital healthcare in our everyday once and for all.

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, recently announced a number of pledges that will give the public better access to healthcare online. He has also said the health service must ‘embrace the age of the smartphone’.

By the end of next year, the beleaguered 111 service will be updated to allow patients to text their symptoms on their smartphone, and receive instant advice or a callback from clinical advisers.

There are plans for a central NHS website which will allow every person in the country to register with a GP, make appointments, order prescriptions and download their own medical record. The site will also provide information on the performance of local health services, with ratings for services for diabetes, dementia and learning disabilities.

The King’s Fund has, quite rightly, called for greater clarity on the NHS’s plans but they do support the principle of greater use of digital technology in healthcare.

Matthew Honeyman, policy researcher at The King’s Fund, said: ‘Digital technology has the potential to transform the way patients engage with services and support them in managing their health and wellbeing.’

So, with the private sector already offering a wide range of digital healthcare tools and the NHS set to up its game it’ll be down to patients to provide the last piece of the potential jigsaw. Changing mindset and behaviours can sometimes be difficult which is why we must all play our part in raising awareness of the benefits and in sharing the digital forerunners’ stories – those who are healthier, happier and living their lives, not sat in a waiting room.

We are becoming more and more comfortable using modern technology to manage our banking, shopping and even our love life, isn’t it about time we embraced the benefits of digital in our healthcare too? It seems a bit of a waste to leave it with drunk Bob, lost in New Orleans…

Watching a TV show will not make my children transgender

Falcon PR — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 16:01:05 +0000

As a mum of two inquisitive children, my work with a GP specialising in the treatment of transgender patients (children and adults alike) has not gone unnoticed.

Recently, I was chatting over the day’s events with my husband and two additional faces appeared at the kitchen table, keen to know more.

I did not hesitate in explaining to them what the word transgender meant and what my client did.

Not for one second was I afraid that by sharing this information would I in any way be influencing my children.

The recent media frenzy over the CBBC programme ‘Just A Girl’ shows that we stand divided on how much we should share with our children on the subject of gender.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tory-mp-attack-cbbc-just-a-girl-awareness-transgender-peter-bone-julian-brazier-a7387461.html

The fear among some parents is that by having the debate and making children aware of the fact that gender can be fluid, we are forcing them to question their own gender identity.

When I told my kids about gender variance, they reacted as most children of primary school age would do, they asked questions, raised their eyebrows, and went back to doing what they had been doing before the conversation caused their ears to prick up.

From my perspective, I am glad we had the conversation. Maybe now they will be a little better prepared for the day when they meet a trans person and, fingers crossed, they will treat them with respect rather than ridicule.