Its all about the content

By Hannah King, New Business Manager - Red Lorry Yellow Lorry


Recent discussion in the public relations industry has been hijacked by a fascination with all things digital – especially everyone’s favourite…social media

The often misunderstood opportunities social media offers has meant that all and sundry are keen to join the bandwagon - without any thought of who they’re trying to reach, why they’re doing so or what to say when they do engage with a new legion of followers.

To me, if managed properly, digital is simply a very efficient means of delivering content to a specific audience. Its enormous benefits of pinpoint targeting, ease of use and interactivity can be exploited to cut through to an audience with speed. It differs in many ways from traditional media relations, but not in the fact that ultimately content not technology drives a brand and creates value.

All too often the fundamentals of good PR – market knowledge, creativity and crafting the right message and delivering it in the right way - are forgotten among a fog of new job titles and competing digital specialists. Choosing the tools for the job is not an excuse for poor communication - either in planning or execution.

A brand using Twitter, for example, to communicate directly with customers should not overlook the fact that it takes knowledge and skill to successfully engage in a conversation. This two-way medium needs meaningful, clear and concise content to connect with an audience. The technology brands we work with put a great deal of thought into who has the capabilities, skills and knowledge to generate the content that users need. Often this is not one person but several - technical for customer support or engineering, communications for service or marketing and business thought leaders to shape and drive discussion.

Before diving headlong into the digital world an organisation needs to consider who will take ownership of a particular medium. In many cases the individuals with the knowledge to answer a technical query may not be the most natural communicators. Add the speed with which content has to be created in the digital word, and this can be a recipe for disaster.

Once the rationale behind a campaign has been agreed, a strategy formulated and tactical plan put in place, quality content still needs to be created. And this is where so much goes wrong. The delivery method - digital or traditional, Twitter or through briefing a journalist - does not preclude the fact that the content has to be relevant, of a high standard and on message. Whether creating a video clip for YouTube, commenting on a LinkedIn group forum or writing a press release, second-class content will simply disappear into the background. Worse it may get noticed, destroying trust and brand value.

At Red Lorry Yellow Lorry we spend a great deal of time and effort crafting the style and tone of the communications we use to reflect our customers' brand, values and the audience they're addressing. Should Virgin Atlantic for example write in the same way as Ryanair? How can businesses in financial services communicate in a way to restore trust and engage with their customers?

This skill - communication - is at the heart of our industry. Our agency structures need to encompass planning, delivery and communicators. Only in this way can we offer our customers access to the right skills at the right point in the development and delivery of a campaign strategy.

I don't believe that digital services should be hived off as a separate entity, away from the content creators or media relations teams. Generating and delivering creative content through digital or more traditional routes should be tightly integrated. Only in this way can a coordinated and consistent message be sent out in a timely way across all channels. And only in this way can the content be modified quickly and accurately to match each channel’s needs.

To create quality content with any degree of credibility, the modern PR agency needs the skills and detailed knowledge in-house to understand the markets our customers work in, the marketing and brand strategy and the nuances of the messages they wish to deliver. In my view this simply isn’t possible when the key agency staff work on large numbers of accounts across multiple sectors at any one time.

I’m also unclear how teams can be structured around internal functions rather than the client. Our customers rightly expect our people to have the knowledge and skills to interact credibly not only with them but with their external audiences – be they the media or customers. Again, our view is that you can only achieve this with tight-knit focused teams working on a limited number of clients in a sector they know well. With the right people this model is not only simple, it also makes good business sense.

Creating relevant, high-quality and creative content is at the heart of what is the big opportunity for public relations. If the industry can move away from talking about content delivery and internal structures and focus on the quality of that content and the customer, we can play to our core skills and add real value.
 

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