How Does PR Fit Into Your Comprehensive Marketing Plan?

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Marketing and public relations used to work separately, with drastically different approaches and goals. But in today’s digital world, where PR overlaps with other channels of communication, it’s more important than ever for the two disciplines to work together. For nearly every company we serve, we are exploring ways to incorporate PR into their comprehensive marketing plan.  Unfortunately, not all brands recognize how important PR can be. According to recent research, only 19 percent of corporate communication departments actually contribute to the overall marketing strategy. As a result, many companies are missing a huge opportunity to accelerate brand awareness and improve consumer perception with proven and research-backed PR strategies.

How Marketing and PR Work in Tandem

Traditionally, public relations has focused on maintaining a company’s overall public image, while marketing has focused on promoting and selling products or services. But in today’s digital age, where consumers and brands are more connected than ever before, those two lines have merged into one comprehensive thread.  Marketers need to recognize that telling a compelling story is essential for reaching today’s consumers. This is what PR professionals specialize in doing. For PR professionals, it’s important to recognize that consumers have as much impact on a brand’s perception as the brand itself.  The end goals of marketing and PR — selling products and making people love a company — are now intertwined. To succeed in today’s business world, brands need to combine the best tactics in traditional PR with updated online techniques.

Effective PR Tactics for Your Comprehensive Marketing Plan

Here are a few PR tactics that will take your comprehensive marketing plan to the next level and ensure you’re maintaining a positive brand image while selling more products: 1. Incorporate a digital PR strategy that creates two-way communication with consumers. You can either run from the fact that today’s consumers control brand perception or lean into it. One of the ways we encourage clients to lean in is to create a dedicated digital PR strategy that includes tactics such as customer survey tools, proactive press releases, and comprehensive social strategies. 2. Engage non-traditional outlets and influencers to reach your audience. In the past, PR primarily focused on building relationships with media outlets or industry publications. Today, consumers are getting their information from dozens of different sources — including social media influencers and website reviews.  Studies show that 92% of people are more likely to trust recommendations from other people over advertisements and messaging from the actual brands. This is why influencer marketing is one of the most effective PR tactics. By partnering with influencers in addition to other PR strategies, you can ensure you’re maximizing your potential to increase awareness, engagement, and conversions for your brand. 3. Create customized pitches for various outlets and campaigns.  Historically, PR agencies would draft a press release and then blast it out to every outlet they knew. That shotgun approach isn’t nearly as effective in today’s world. We’re simply bombarded with too much content and information. If you want your pitch to stand out, you need to make it as personal and relevant as possible for your audience. This might require a little extra effort, but it will pay off in the long run if your pitch gets picked up. 

Need Help Integrating PR into Your Marketing Plan?

The PR and marketing landscape is changing. Industry influencers and effective tactics are constantly evolving. As one of the top marketing and PR firms in Nashville, our team is constantly looking for new ways to shape and deliver clients’ stories to their target audiences, driving quantifiable results in ways that stay true to our clients’ brands. If you need additional PR assistance or a new strategy that’s built from the ground up, we can help. Reach out to us to schedule a PR audit for your brand.

Your Guide to a Healthcare Public Relations Strategy

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Are you in the healthcare field? Do you want to find your target audience and show them how you can help improve their well-being? Well, a public relations strategy just might be the key. Your audience can find you online, but we should never assume that they will. Even with excellent SEO, you might miss out on reaching that one person who is in dire need of your services without a solid PR strategy. If your marketing strategy is missing PR, we’re here to help. To get you started, here are a few considerations as you build a robust healthcare PR strategy.

1. Identify Newsworthy Content

Information is changing rapidly in the healthcare industry. Topics of conversation can sometimes change before you even have time to put out a story. That’s why you must stay on top of what is relevant and timely—because that’s what your audience needs to hear. Preferably, you would be the first to give them this information, allowing them to view you as a leader. 

Your PR team should always look for the most relevant information to share that will add value to your audience’s lives. Try to identify newsworthy and engaging content that people outside your organization either want or need to know. 

Make sure that all content fits the following criteria:

  • Timely
  • Relevant
  • Well-researched
  • Easy to understand

2. Build Relationships with the Local Media

Networking is a powerful tool in any type of business, and the media is no exception. Your relationship with local reporters, journalists, and media outlets can skyrocket the effectiveness of your overall PR strategy. When local media professionals know you on a first-name basis and understand the value you bring to the table, they are more likely to reach out to you with questions or to work with you on stories for their outlet. 

3. Become a Subject Matter Expert

You have experience and knowledge in your healthcare specialty that others will find helpful, but you have to find a way to share it outside of your office. One way to do this is to become a subject matter expert (SME) for different channels, such as local media, social platforms, and podcasts. Once you focus on becoming a thought leader in your industry and sharing what you know with those around you, your audience will begin to look to you as their go-to resource for information on that subject. Reach out to those in the media, letting them know what you specialize in and that you are flexible and available when they have questions.

4. Submit to HARO Requests

If you want to hit the ground running and offer advice now, you can subscribe to receive HARO emails. Each email will be a list of requests from media outlets asking for firsthand experience or thoughtful insight into particular subjects. Review the emails to see if there is an opportunity that you could contribute to and take the time to write to the journalists—submissions are usually fairly quick. When a journalist chooses your insight to feature, they will also cite you as the source and link your business, providing you with valuable backlinks that increase your SEO success. 

5. Consider the Channels You Will Use

Your healthcare content is only successful if you reach the intended audience. You want them to take action or learn something from your information, right? So, it’s important to consider where your target audience will be most likely to find your content. 

A few options are:

  • Online and print healthcare publications
  • Your website
  • Social media
  • Local or national news
  • Billboards or other public displays

PR doesn’t have to be intimidating with the right strategy. With these five tips, we hope that your team will feel confident to move forward with a PR plan that boosts the image of your healthcare organization. 

Design a Results-Driven PR Strategy with Green Apple

Could your healthcare office become a leader in your field? We think so. Contact us today to schedule a consultation. Our team is happy to discuss your goals and how we can help you achieve each and every one of them with PR and comprehensive marketing.

What is Digital PR (And Why Do You Need It)?

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It’s no secret that our world is more digital by the day. Advertising and media relations have completely shifted as the internet has grown and changed. And, of course, the exponential (and constant) growth of social media has completely transformed the way we communicate with our audiences. That’s why a PR strategy alone won’t quite cut it anymore. So, where do you go from here?

To stay ahead of your competition and remain present for your audience, it’s vital that you and your marketing team have a comprehensive digital PR strategy. In this article, we’ll cover what is involved in a digital PR plan and how you can begin putting yours together today.

What Does a Digital PR Strategy Include? 

In your digital PR toolkit, you’ll need: 

  • A customer survey tool to collect positive reviews
  • Backlinks in trustworthy publications
  • Proactive press releases and connections with the media
  • A comprehensive social media strategy

How Do You Put these In Place? 

1. A Customer Survey Tool to Collect Positive Reviews

One of the most important ways to build trust with your customers is through positive reviews. In fact, according to BrightLocal, 91% of customers from the ages of 18 to 34 trust online reviews just as much as personal recommendations. Knowing the power of reviews, it’s imperative that you have a strategy in place to collect them. We recommend that our clients use LoyaltyLoop; however, there are many other tools out there to explore to see what would serve your business best. 

Here are a few of the top ways to collect reviews: 

  • A survey tool, such as LoyaltyLoop
  • Instructing your team to encourage customers to leave reviews
  • Linking to your Google, Yelp, or Facebook pages in your email signature
  • Offer your customers an incentive 
2. Backlinks in Trustworthy Publications

Your digital PR strategy should also include ways to obtain backlinks on trustworthy sites. A backlink is when another site links to yours because you have relevant information to offer. One of the most successful backlink methods we’ve tested is using HARO (Help a Reporter Out) to submit helpful information to reporters. Though it can be time-consuming, responding to one or two requests per week could significantly increase the number of backlinks you have, and therefore boost your SEO. 

Another effective method is creating a guide packed with a lot of helpful, actionable information. A large guide is a time investment on the front end; however, it provides you with long-term results. Provide your audience with information that they want to share with others, encouraging them to link out to your guide, which may have tips, steps, statistics, or other information that would be especially helpful. 

3. Proactive Press Releases and Connections with The Media

To send out newsworthy content, your team must stay ahead of any upcoming stories so that they can be ready to have a timely press release out to the media. Think ahead to what you may be able to highlight in the upcoming weeks or months—events you may be involved in, charity work you plan to do, or big changes to your company. Does nothing come to mind? It might be time to make some waves! 

Make sure that you’re submitting your press releases to journalists who will be interested in what you have to say. You might consider looking for publications within your industry or focusing on reporters who specialize in your topic. Try making personal connections with these reporters when you can. Knowing someone on a first-name basis can go a long way in getting your story out there. 

4. A Comprehensive Social Media Strategy

Can you believe we waited this long to get to social media? Well, that’s in part because, although it’s important, social media isn’t everything. Your digital PR strategy should be well-rounded, including all parts of the picture. With that said, social media is an important piece of your plan. Work with your team to decide which platforms work best for your industry and your audience and what types of content you should be creating for each. Create a strategy that works for your business specifically. Tips on content and when and how to post can be helpful, but at the end of the day, you want to spend your time where you’re seeing the best results and getting the most value. 

Looking for a PR Agency to Get the Word Out About Your Business?

The landscape of marketing is changing so rapidly that if you aren’t staying on top of it constantly, you’ll fall behind quickly. We won’t let you fall behind. Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a consultation. Our team is happy to sit down with you to discuss your goals and how we can help you achieve each and every one of them.

Tone from the Top: Should Leaders Be Marketing to Their Employees?

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Yes, you absolutely should be marketing to your employees! You might be thinking the phrase “internal marketing” sounds a bit redundant, but we are here to tell you it is a vital component to the success of your external marketing strategy. Internal marketing is based on the core belief that employees are your most valuable (and influential) customers. Therefore, you must sell your brand to your team, first and foremost.

If employees feel emotionally connected to the services they are selling and the vision of the company, then they are more likely to contribute to the success of external marketing efforts. “Sounds great! Sign me up!” you might be saying. But, wait just a minute. Although it sounds simple enough, integrating an internal marketing campaign takes planning, coordination, and thoughtful execution. We’re here to help.

Consider these tips for why and how you should implement internal marketing efforts within your team:

Corporate Storytelling to Inspire

We’ve seen it before: a company promotes their brand to external customers using inspirational, high-energy commercials, which make customers instantly want to get off the couch and join the fun, and then the company falls flat while marketing to its internal team. A popular scenario involves retelling the origin story of how the great, great grandfather of the company had five dollars to his name and then started a multi-million dollar company—a worn-out, not-so-relatable story that employees quickly wish to tune-out.

Employees aren’t particularly motivated by the financial success of the founder of your company. They want personal meaning from their job, a belief that they are serving a vision that aligns with their goals. So, tell the story of your company to your team, but focus on thematic elements, such as innovation, perseverance, and passion—not monetary gain.

How to Get Started

Just like external marketing, internal marketing requires a plan prior to launching a campaign. It’s important to keep in mind while planning your internal marketing efforts that the goal is to unify and inspire your employees with a shared vision and purpose. The alternative is cross-team miscommunication and employee disengagement, both of which harm external marketing efforts. 

While planning your internal marketing campaign, consider the following as important steps to your success:

  • Employee brand education
  • Encouraging employee collaboration
  • Establishing employee incentivization for contribution
  • Implementing multiple channels of streamline communication

It’s important that your employees understand that they are vital to the success of your company, and as a result, their opinions and willingness to collaborate are greatly valued. Take concrete measures to demonstrate this!

A Culture of Collaboration (and Trust)

So, now you’ve armed your internal team with brand knowledge, engaging corporate storytelling, and you’ve incorporated employee incentive programs that reward their contribution; it’s now time to set them loose into the wild of social media. Trust your employees to live the values of the brand where potential customers will take note and perk their ears. 

Employees make the brand come alive for potential customers. In fact, allowing your employees to create original content via blog and social media posts may inspire more trust from potential customers than traditional PR efforts. 

Internal marketing is a powerful resource for company unification, which inspires team collaboration, as well as trust from potential customers as they watch your employees live the company values. Marketing to your employees is well-worth the time and energy of leadership, as it has long-lasting rewards for your company’s reputation.

Are you looking to make an internal marketing plan for your business? Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a consultation.

Green Apple Strategy Makes NBJ’s List of Top PR Firms

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What a year it has been! Despite having to make multiple shifts to our work style amid the global pandemic that has affected our world in 2020—socially and economically—we’ve also been able to see some positive outcomes. In fact, we’ve had the opportunity to celebrate a few milestone accomplishments. From our eighth anniversary to winning the Nashville Business Journal’s Best in Business Award, we’re humbled to have even more exciting news to share! 

Rising Above the Challenges 

Green Apple Strategy was recently named in the Nashville Business Journal’s top ten list of Nashville’s largest public relations firms. This recognition is incredibly significant for several reasons; one of the most touching is that our clients trust us to help them relate with their audiences and share their stories nationwide. This year has been strange, to say the least, but it’s these moments that show us how our hard work and dedication continue to rise to the top.  “What an honor to be named in the Nashville Business Journal’s Largest Public Relations Firms in Nashville list! It’s been a dream of mine to see Green Apple Strategy’s name alongside so many other renowned PR firms in the city, and to have that dream realized in such an unprecedented year means more than I can say. Thank you to the NBJ, my team, and our clients,” said Samantha Pyle, Owner and Chief Marketing Strategist of Green Apple Strategy. To learn more about this distinguished honor, and see the full list, visit the Nashville Business Journal’s website. 

Let’s Share Your Story Together!

Do you want to share your company’s story with the world? Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a PR consultation.