Advantages of Collaborating with Personalities with Established Personal Brands

When a brand partners with a well-known figure who has built a strong personal brand, it has the opportunity to benefit from their authenticity, influence, and connection with the audience. These personalities not only have loyal followers but also bring credibility to the campaigns they are involved in. Key benefits include:

Amplified Visibility

In media and social networks, collaborating with a recognized personality significantly increases a campaign’s reach. These figures often have a loyal and engaged follower base, as well as the attention of media outlets that track their activities. The posts, mentions, and content they generate on social media can reach not only their direct audience but also capture the attention of other influential profiles and media outlets. This amplification helps the campaign gain traction quickly, achieving a level of visibility that might otherwise be difficult to attain organically.

Emotional Connection

Building an emotional connection with the audience increases a campaign’s memorability. Opinion leaders with a strong personal brand have often developed a genuine emotional connection with their followers. Fans not only admire these personalities but also identify with their stories, values, and lifestyles. By partnering with one of these figures, brands can convey their messages in a more human and relatable way, creating an emotional bond with the audience. This emotional link makes campaigns more memorable, as it’s not just a marketing strategy but a message that resonates on a personal level with consumers.

Credibility and Authenticity

Since the personality often aligns their own brand values with those of the campaign, collaborating with figures who have well-established credibility adds authenticity to the brand. These personalities tend to be selective with their partnerships, choosing those that resonate with their own values and philosophy. When the audience perceives that the relationship between the personality and the brand is genuine, they are more likely to trust the message.

Madame Tussauds and Vinicius: A Surprising Strategy with Global Impact

One of the most notable examples we’ve worked on recently at the agency is the communication in Spain of Madame Tussauds’ collaboration with football player Vinicius Jr. In this campaign, Vinicius surprised his fans by pretending to be a wax figure at the New York museum, sparking a chain reaction on social media and in the media.

The surprise and excitement of the moment captured the audience’s attention, resulting in massive coverage in the press, television, and digital platforms in Spain and other countries. This type of activation demonstrates how an interactive and fun experience, supported by a beloved public figure, can create a huge impact.

The Power of Authenticity: Introduction of Ron El Supremo with Pocholo

Another successful example was the collaboration between Ron El Supremo and Pocholo, an iconic figure who embodies a blend of irreverence and intergenerational charisma. As part of a larger launch campaign, Pocholo’s unique image and personal brand helped promote the arrival of this drink in our country.

The charismatic personality of the figure, combined with an innovative product, captured the attention of media, influencers, and consumers. The official presentation in Madrid and Barcelona was a standout event, generating significant coverage in the media, on social networks, and among attendees.

Keys to Success in Collaborations with Famous Personalities

To maximize the impact of a communication strategy based on famous personalities and their personal brand, it’s essential to consider several aspects:

1. Alignment of Values and Goals: The collaborator’s personality should resonate with the brand’s identity.
2. Authentic and Organic Content: Avoid overly promotional content and opt for real, memorable experiences.
3. Detailed Planning and Execution: It’s crucial to coordinate every aspect of the campaign to ensure consistency across all touchpoints.
4. Measurement of Results and Adaptability: Evaluating the impact on media, social networks, and sales allows for adjustments in future collaborations and maximizes return on investment.

In conclusion, partnerships with famous personalities who manage their personal brand can be a powerful tool to increase a brand’s visibility and emotional connection with the audience. At LF Channel, we have seen the benefits of this strategy in campaigns like Madame Tussauds and Ron El Supremo, where we successfully connected brands and audiences through authentic and memorable experiences. These types of collaborations not only boost visibility but also strengthen the brand image, leaving a lasting impression in the consumer’s mind.

Estela Cayón
B2B and Corporate Communications Director

That’s why Worldcom partners created the SALUS crisis preparedness and protection service, available in one or multiple countries – see more here. 

So, armed with the latest confidence rankings from the Worldcom’s Global Business Leaders Confidence Index (WCI), we asked Worldcom’s crisis management experts to pick the four people-related topics that are most likely to be a cause of brand, reputation and leadership damage. 

1. Failing to prevent the reputational threats that come from downsizing the workforce 

The global economic crisis is forcing organisations to review their people’s needs. And some organisations have already made redundancies. It’s therefore not surprising that the latest WCI data has retaining talent as the third most important topic for global leaders. 

Layoffs may be unavoidable, as companies try to adapt to tough market conditions and changing customer needs. But these changes mean that retaining the most skilled employees and attracting new skills will be a high priority. 

So, we recommend that all organisations develop a communications strategy for their short, and long term, people needs. This strategy must take account of any planned changes (such as layoffs) so that the risk of negative reactions is minimised. It must also take into account some of the topics below – such as DEI and upskilling – if the organisation is to succeed in retaining its brightest talent and attracting the new skills it needs to succeed.] 

2. Mismanaging expectations around hybrid and flexible working

Organisations all around the world acted very quickly to the shock of the pandemic and adopted new ways of working. This helped businesses survive but it also changed the attitudes of employees to their relationship with work and how it could be best performed. 

Some employers have started to insist that people return to an office environment on a full time or near full time basis. The decision by Zoom to demand employees are in the office – as reported in this article – Zoom tells staff to come into the office at least two days a week | Zoom | The Guardian shows how what appears to be an internal decision can actually become a brand reputation problem. 

So, we recommend that organisations take a people-first and not property-first approach to their operational decisions. By listening to your people, understanding their attitudes to flexible working, and adjusting the way people work to improve personal and organisational performance and connectedness, you will be less likely to experience a crisis in 2024. 

3. Failing to be an employer of choice by failing to upskill and reskill your people to keep your best talent 

As identified above, the battle for in-demand skills is intensifying in 2023 – particularly with the expansion of generative AI technology. In the pre-pandemic world, this would normally have led to aggressive and high-profile recruitment techniques. But, to avoid increasing the risk of a people-related crisis, it makes sense to address this skills gap from the inside, by upskilling employees. As research highlighted in Forbes shows, investing in employee development in this way will encourage employees (particularly Gen Z) to stay loyal. The article points out that ‘a buffet of valuable training opportunities can inspire workers of all ages to skill up—and stay put’. This hire from within approach, what an article in the Harvard Business Review calls ‘quiet hiring’, will protect organisations from claims that it is turning its back on current employees. 

So, we recommend organisations are proactive in identifying ways to upskill and reskill their people rather than focus on external recruitment. It will significantly reduce the likelihood of employee dissatisfaction, and the consequent external brand damage that comes from not being seen as a people-first organisation. 

4. Failing to take a balanced approach to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) has received a lot of attention from global leaders in the last three years and has been at the top of the Worldcom Confidence Index in terms of leader engagement for over a year. As a result, most organisations have been taking steps to be more inclusive. But these efforts are not always universally well received. Research highlighted in the Harvard Business Review found that 42% of employees believe their organization’s DEI efforts are divisive. 

So, we recommend it makes sense to assess if DEI policies and changes are having the right impact in terms of employee happiness, organisational performance and brand perceptions. To not do so could expose the organisation to unnecessary risks in 2024 and lose the support of key stakeholders, including consumers, employees and investors. 

Be prepared for the main risks you face 

These four risks focus on people-related issues. But there are other topics on Worldcom’s Confidence Index of global leaders that have lower confidence than the areas highlighted above, so we recommend that every organisation audits their exposure to risk based on their own context. 

Being PREPARED for the issues that are most likely to come your way will significantly reduce the likelihood of brand and business damage from a crisis. 

That’s why Worldcom partners created the SALUS crisis preparedness and protection service. 

Protecting your business, brand and reputation needs an EXPERT approach from crisis and issues specialists who understand your local and global context. Our crisis experts can deliver emergency response to minimize damage but prefer to focus on getting you prepared so issues never become a crisis. 

If you’d like help to get prepared for the worst that 2024 can throw at you, or if you need crisis help right now, contact info@lfchannel.com.

1. Authentic Representation

A diverse team is capable of understanding and representing a wide range of audiences authentically. Diversity ensures that communication strategies are inclusive, culturally sensitive, and connect with different segments of society.   

2. Amplified Creativity

Diversity in thought and experiences brings a wide variety of perspectives. Collaboration among individuals with diverse backgrounds fosters creativity and the generation of innovative ideas. A team that encompasses different viewpoints is more likely to develop unique campaigns and brilliant ideas. 

3. Improved Decision-Making

Embracing diversity involves having a variety of skills and approaches to problem-solving. Decision-making is enriched when multiple perspectives are considered, leading to more robust and strategic solutions. 

4. Adaptability to the Global Market 

In an increasingly interconnected world, communication agencies must be able to adapt to the complexities of a global market. A diverse team is a competitive advantage, as it can understand and effectively respond to cultural differences and emerging trends in various markets. 

5. Attraction and Retention of Talent 

Companies with a clear focus on promoting diversity are more attractive to talent. Fostering an inclusive environment helps attract professionals with diverse skills and also contributes to long-term employee retention. 

In conclusion, diversity in a communication agency is not only an ethical imperative but also an intelligent strategy to excel in our business environment. By building and fostering a diverse team (in terms of backgrounds, origins, ages, ethnicities, and other variables), public relations agencies can capitalize on a broader range of skills, perspectives, and talents, thus driving the success of our campaigns with clients. 

At LF Channel, as an agency with extensive experience in technology clients and other segments, with stakeholders based in different countries around the world and approaching very broad and heterogeneous audiences, we understand that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are clearly connected to organizational success and must be treated strategically. Therefore, we take care of these aspects. Additionally, our colleagues from DEI Channel help us consider this matter not only internally but also in our clients’ organizations. 

Would you add any other reasons why diversity is essential in a public relations agency? 

Estela Cayón
B2B and Corporate Communications Director

Therefore, a company that seeks to stand out in the market must offer direct and personalized customer service, and to do this it is essential to take advantage of the potential of digital channels. Consumers want to resolve their doubts and solve their problems instantly and combining this with a customer service team working 24/7 becomes a complex task.     

In this context, having an automated system that interacts with the customer without the need for a physical person answering seems very positive, right? Well, we are not talking about the future, we are talking about chatbots. 

Chatbot marketing is a method that optimizes customer interaction processes (marketing, sales, support), while improving the customer experience by offering a personalized conversation with the brand. It is a tool used in Inbound Marketing since, by focusing on the user experience, it is crucial for a strategy of this type. 

The technology behind these virtual assistants is becoming increasingly accessible and consumer adoption is growing year after year. Therefore, it seems that chatbots have a long way to go. 

What are chatbots?

Chatbots are Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based applications capable of simulating real conversations with people. These conversational agents can ask and answer questions automatically, serving as virtual assistants. Therefore, this technology helps companies achieve a high level of engagement with users and solve their problems by talking to them directly in their private space. 

In short, chatbots automate conversations to achieve common online marketing goals. They can be deployed on the web, in messaging apps like Facebook Messenger oR WhatsApp, or as part of native branded apps. 

These intelligent virtual assistants can be useful for many tasks, such as providing technical support for customers and answering users’ questions about the product or service offered by our company. By configuring keywords, the virtual assistant can detect when it is faced with a frequently asked question and send programmed answers. Other common tasks for these AI assistants are scheduling appointments and tracking orders.  

The key to understanding their success is that chatbots are able to learn thanks to algorithms developed by artificial intelligence and machine learning. They can even intuit the habits and understand the tastes of users. 

What are the benefits of chatbots?

• Saving time and money  
• Acceleration of the payment process by avoiding contact “cooling off”.   
• Increased customer engagement  
• Support in attracting potential customers   
• Possibility to segment traffic   
• Improve staff productivity by reducing customer service stress by reducing workloads 

But what applications can chatbot marketing have? 

• Lead generation

Chatbots can serve as a substitute for the terrible online forms that everyone hates. In addition, making the leap to the conversational format can translate into higher conversion rates as chatbots guarantee personalized attention from the first minute of customer relationship and allow you to follow up on their needs in an automated way. 

• Segmentation of potential customers

But having a lead is not synonymous with guaranteed success. To streamline the customer acquisition process, it is necessary to evaluate the quality of the leads and their likelihood of conversion. With a well-structured chatbot, we can measure the degree of interest of the potential customer and the stage of the customer journey. 

First steps to implement chatbots in your marketing strategy 

The first thing is to design a conversational experience, preparing the artificial intelligence software to lead the customer to the programmed conversation. When it comes to defining the robot’s questions, we must focus on specific questions that allow us to direct the user to where we want him to go and not fall into generalities. 

Among the objectives we can achieve with a chatbot are: 

• Answer questions about the product or service  
• Provide specifications on how the product works  
• Send emails to customers  
• Offer personalized and immediate attention to the customer  
• Generate proximity, since this digital assistant uses the user’s language in real life. 

Contribution of chatbots to Big Data Marketing 

Data growth is unstoppable worldwide. According to data from Fortune Business Insights,, by 2030 the global data warehousing market will have an average annual growth of 17.8%. In this context, Big Data presents itself as a key tool for marketers. 

In the case of chatbots, companies use them in lead generation activities within a Big Data plan to profile users and personalize their content. In this way, this technology records every interaction with the user and builds a database. Therefore, chatbots provide us with very detailed user information that, when analyzed, allows us to optimize our strategy and decision-making. 

In short, the global market for chatbots will reach $39 billion by 2027, with the involvement of the public administration, banking and finance sectors and those linked to transportation, catering, tourism and e-commerce. What are you waiting for to take advantage of this success? 

Be sure to visit our blog for more content. 

Raquel González
PR and communication consultant

What is brand reputation?

Brand reputation is the perception that consumers have of a company. Comments, interactions and reviews are some of the elements that shape brand reputation on social networks. For companies, it is key to understand how this collective thinking is built around it and how it can affect the company’s image, both positively and negatively. However, it is not enough to have a presence on social networks; achieving a solid brand reputation requires a communication strategy that is well designed and executed.  

To achieve this, when creating a communication strategy, the objectives to be achieved must be clear, always aligned with the company’s identity and values, in order to transmit them through key messages. 

Brand reputation on social media:

Brand reputation on social media is built by user interactions, comments and reviews. It is important to understand how it is built and how it can affect the company. However, the digital communication strategy should not be seen as an isolated process, but should be coherent with the company’s overall communication strategy and aligned with its identity. 

To start with, a selection of the appropriate social networks for the brand must be carried out, taking into account the target audience and the profile of the users of each platform, as it is not the same to have a presence on a social network such as TikTok, a platform with a youthful and visual focus, as it is to give visibility to our organization on LinkedIn, a network aimed at a professional context. 

• Key points to attract the attention of your audience

The content your company shares on social media should be relevant and valuable. Remember to provide useful information, practical tips, inspiring stories and engaging visual content. Your company’s main goal is to sell, but social media is about much more than selling, so going beyond your product will help build interest, trust and engagement around your brand. 

It is also very important to adapt the content to each social network and, of course, to the audience you are targeting, as it is key to arouse the interest of your followers by encouraging interaction with your activity on networks, boosting participation among your audience and thus reinforcing engagement, i.e. the commitment of users to your brand. 

On the other hand, having influencers or professional content creators can help you strengthen your brand image. Influencers are well-known people who have a great impact on social networks. Seek out those who are relevant to your industry and establish strategic partnerships that showcase your brand in an authentic and compelling way. 

How to protect your brand reputation on social media:

Protecting brand reputation is key for a company, especially in social networks, an area where it can be compromised very quickly. It is therefore important to regularly and frequently track the mentions and conversations generated about the brand, to know and understand how it is perceived. To do this you can use social listening tools that allow you to be aware in real time and detect trends to join that will promote interaction with your audience in a more meaningful way. 

Managing negative comments is also critical to protecting your brand reputation on social media. Reply quickly, empathetically and respectfully by showing interest in your followers’ concerns and personalize your replies. In the event of a crisis, such as a problem with a product or the resolution of a misunderstanding, transparency is key. Communicate openly and honestly, offer solutions and, if necessary, take the conversation to a private channel to resolve the problem further. Response time is also a determining factor in emerging stronger from a crisis. Therefore, it is advisable to have a corporate response prepared for different circumstances in order to try to solve the problem as quickly as possible.  

• How to manage a brand crisis

Remember that social networks can be really useful to managing a crisis. Thanks to their speed and agility, you can share regular and honest updates on how the situation is being managed and how it is evolving, always highlighting the positive actions that are being implemented. In your messages, show empathy and solidarity with the people who may have been affected, thus strengthening the trust of your followers and demonstrating the company’s commitment to resolve the crisis effectively. 

Brand reputation on social media can boost or damage a company’s success. Building and maintaining a strong image requires a coherent strategy, the creation of relevant and interesting content, active participation and proper management of interactions. By doing so, you can strengthen your brand’s reputation and make the most of the opportunities offered by social media in the digital environment. 

María San Felipe Frías
Account Manager

Let’s start by defining public relations activity. Public Relations are marketing strategies that seek to establish reliable relationships with different audiences of interest to a brand, such as the media, bloggers, streamers and/or industry influencers. Basically, the goal of a PR strategy is to establish relationships with all those audiences that can amplify a company’s message by offering value and raising brand awareness. Public relations include media monitoring programs and sending press releases, interviews, or influencer marketing.

Are public relations strategies effective in Spain?

Regardless of the value of each piece achieved individually, calculating the impact on sales of a public relations campaign is not as easy to estimate as a digital advertising campaign, for example, where we can see connections between strategies and sales. How can we know if a person, after seeing an article in the press, decides to go to a brand’s website and get information and then make a purchase?

It is demonstrated that public relations are essential for many businesses

In fact, some studies, such as Context Analytics’ Media Prominence, show that, on average, 27% of a brand’s value is directly related to the frequency with which it appears in the press. Especially in those sectors where the user seeks information before buying.

This confirms that public relations strategies are effective long-term tools for companies, especially in building brand equity, providing reliability and public attitude towards a company, and establishing lasting relationships with customers and prospects.

How do we measure an effective PR campaign?

It seems that even today there is no homogeneous solution accepted and agreed upon by all companies in the sector to quantify the success of a communication or public relations action.

The most popular metric among agencies and communications departments is the economic value of the pieces of coverage obtained, or AVE. This figure is calculated by reflecting the price that this space would have if, instead of being obtained from a communication campaign, it had been paid for as branded content. In other words, it is the economic value equivalent to if the piece were advertising.

But publicity or editorial articles based on a press release are not equivalent to a paid pieces, like branded content. What is the difference? Sponsored content is paid, and in many cases it is written by the client itself or has many indications from the client, while the articles resulting from a press release are 100% editorial, based on the information in a press release but written by a journalist in an objective way.

Key aspects that the economic value does not cover

The economic value does not include some PR aspects, like:

• First, the AVE of an article does not measure the quality of the item and the value of the brand’s insertion within it. For example, it is a static value, more focused on the importance of the medium than the item itself.
• It does not measure the sentiment of an article. Articles can be positive, negative or neutral. And this should also be taken into account when rating an article.
• In the case of online media, the value is fixed, as the size of the article is not taken into account.

As economic value is an unreliable metric, monitoring and clipping tools tend to design their own formulas to measure and value articles, taking into account the visibility of the brand within an article, the position of the article, the feeling it conveys… Are these values sufficient? Of course, they are metrics that more accurately assess the effort behind a PR campaign than the advertising value. In fact, some companies have very complex models based on high-quality journalistic criteria. But the media ecosystem has changed a lot in recent years, and this has made advertising value insufficient to evaluate many PR or communications campaigns.

New variables to evaluate communication and public relations campaigns

It seems that the industry is changing very quickly and we are still missing some variables to consider within our campaigns. For example, shouldn’t an article that has been shared a lot on social networks be much more valuable? And an article that has generated a lot of clicks on the web? There are more and more channels in which we can see information (content platforms, social networks, Google Discover…).

The need for new measurement indicators

The static values that we have been using for years are obsolete. Therefore, we believe that we have to replace them with new meters that are capable of measuring:

• The interaction or engagement rate of the news – clicks, articles shared in networks…
• Consumer perceptions and behaviour generated by the coverage.
• The channels in which it has appeared, and its position.
• The sentiment and size of the news item.

—

Are you interested in implementing a communication plan? Our team of consultants at LF Channel can prepare a customized Public Relations Plan for each company.

However, establishing an effective content marketing strategy is a challenge that must be faced with the support of communication and marketing experts. Below, we share some basic concepts and factors to consider starting our content marketing activities, starting from the beginning.

What is content marketing?

Content marketing encompasses all those actions that seek to promote a brand through the creation, publication, and dissemination of valuable written or audiovisual content on different platforms.

The main characteristic of content marketing is the relevance of the information presented. All the contents that are developed provide value for the users to whom they are addressed. On this basis, the format or platform is totally flexible, although it is necessary to take them into account during the development phase to adapt to them.

What does content marketing bring to the corporate communication strategy?

Integrating content marketing into the corporate communication strategy allows a company to gain presence in the media discourse. At the same time, it strengthens the relationship with users or consumers, as well as with the media and journalists. All this is achieved thanks to the value of the content shared and its relevance to the company’s audiences and stakeholders.

Content marketing positions the brand as a relevant source of information, opinion or data. The objective of content marketing is that the different stakeholders find the information they are looking for in the materials shared by the company. Thus, it seeks to provide value in a direct way and to distinguish itself from other marketing discourses focused on sales.

The basics of developing a content marketing strategy 

The steps to follow to create an effective content marketing strategy include:

• Define the objectives: what we want to explain and communicate, establish the basic goals to be achieved.
• Determine the target audiences: it is necessary to be clear about who we are going to address, since each group or profile will have different interests and needs or will be on different platforms and channels.
• Establish the key messages: write down the ideas that we want to transmit and share with the different audiences.
• Look for differential values: investigate how to differentiate the content to be developed from existing content, either through new information, innovative formats, alternative narratives or distinctive platforms and channels.
• Choose the formats to be used: study the best way to transmit the message, determining the medium (text, video, audio, image) and establishing combinations of contents that will enable the objectives to be achieved.
• Select the transmission platforms: choose how each content will be transmitted or published so that it reaches the target audience in the most direct and natural way possible.
• Reinforce the message: it is essential that the contents complement each other in order to strengthen the messages.
• Monitor results: establishing formulas for measuring results is essential to be able to adjust the strategy and improve it over time.

Content marketing and media: a winning combination

Supporting the corporate communication and public relations strategy with content marketing actions reinforces and improves results in several ways. Firstly, when a company analyzes the interests of journalists and adapts its messages accordingly, it strengthens its relationship with them. In this way, communicators identify the company as a source of quality information that is not only driven by economic interests, but also wants to actively participate in the information scenario.

The positioning of content in the media can take different forms:

• Press releases
• Opinion articles
• Interviews
• Expert communications on specific current issues
• Exclusive statements
• Sponsored content

Sponsored content, the great ally of content marketing

Complementing the organic content marketing strategy with sponsored actions in key media will raise its effect to a new level. However, the fact of contracting a space in a media does not imply leaving aside the strategic principles. Providing value to the public is still key, even if we have room to refer to the products, services or solutions offered by our company.

An elementary factor to be taken advantage of when publishing sponsored content is the measurement possibilities offered by the media, as well as the possibility of including direct links or giving the desired format to the piece.

The goal of content marketing: to capture the target audience

The goal of any content marketing strategy is to reach the audience with a narrative and data that captures their interest. In this way, the aim is to gain presence in a specific area and become a reference. This complements the process of approaching and getting to know the brand, boosting the customer journey. The company must aspire to become the reference in a specific subject, without fear of being very specific, to gain market share and impose itself on its competitors.

Content marketing as a pillar of the communication strategy

It is clear that content marketing plays a key role in the path of any company to become a reference in its sector. Audiences are used to having all the information they want in the palm of their hand and working to make your own stand out from the rest guarantees long-term

Communication professionals must know how to take advantage of the technological revolution we are experiencing to improve the relationship between organisations and their stakeholders. And it is in this equation where Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) play a leading role:

Big Data is already on everyone’s mind and has become essential when it comes to making business decisions. It also serves as a very powerful process for knowing and managing customer data in an optimal way, with the aim of offering them personalised experiences and adapting as much as possible to their tastes and needs.
The great potential of artificial intelligence lies in the automation of content generation. This system helps communication professionals to improve their communication strategy by generating greater interest.

The technological revolution in the media

The greatest value for a media outlet is to receive quality and exclusive information. Mass mailings to infinite databases work less and less and journalists are tired of our lack of filtering when it comes to mailings.

Personalisation is the way forward and for this we must take care of our content strategy. We have to adapt to trends before they even appear. Anticipation and segmentation are essential words to achieve a 360 degree communication adapted to the current situation.

For example, in the case of social media, there should always be a team responsible for reviewing user feedback. Using technology to quickly detect a potential crisis by analysing social media conversations can allow us to mitigate the problem before it spreads. Let’s take advantage of the potential of technology!

The importance of ethics in data generation

We are all aware that any daily activity of any person is likely to generate data of interest to companies and corporations. This has a direct impact on the privacy and identity of users, generating biases and prejudices that should concern us. As with any other aspect of life, our coexistence with artificial intelligence must be based on ethics.

Modern linguistics plays an important role in this scenario. The integration of inclusive communication in early childhood education is already being discussed.The same reflection should be applied to the field of artificial intelligence so that this technology can grow free of prejudice.

Therefore, we must apply inclusive communication in any communication strategy we develop. We must be aware of globalisation and that our communications can reach very diverse audiences. Not understanding this interculturality will only hinder us on the road to a fairer world. Bearing in mind that the future is a digital world, if we want it to be more egalitarian, we need technology to be more egalitarian too. And you, do you want to be part of the change to achieve equality when it comes to communication?

To understand how the media work in Spain, we must take into account a series of cultural peculiarities that make them special. There is a generalized trend in the Spanish press towards branded content, with an increasing number of outlets feeding on paid content. This is justifiable given the growing dependence on online return, which in the last 20 years has become the main and almost only source of income for many media, due to the sharp decline of the print publications. Specifically, the latest General Media Study (EGM) has certified that the fall in print readership is an unstoppable trend. In total, 5,621,000 people read daily printed newspapers in Spain, which means that the print newspapers have lost 8.9 million readers on average per day in the last decade.

Even so, it is worth mentioning that, despite this discouraging outlook for the press, the influence of print is still very important in our country. Clients looking for communication strategies continue to value very positively appearing in a printed newspaper, as it is still perceived as a sign of prestige and is considered more exclusive than online publications. Likewise, the specialized press continues to have an important weight at the print level. Vertical media continue to attract a large number of print-loving readers, as many decision-makers in these fields continue to place a great deal of trust in the traditional trade press.

How to coexist working from home

From this point, it is also necessary to consider another key aspect such as telecommuting. With the pandemic, many publications were forced to move from their newsrooms to their living rooms, and in many cases this move has become permanent. An important part of the work of a communications agency is the so-called media “follow-up”, which consists of contacting journalists, either by email, telephone or WhatsApp, to communicate some news related to the client with whom they are working, either sending a press release, offering an interview opportunity, inviting them to an event, consulting their editorial calendar…

Until 2019, this follow-up used to start with an email to the journalist, often followed by a confirmation phone call. However, nowadays, calling the newsrooms is complicated because they often do not put you through to the journalists and, if they do put you through, they do not always answer. In addition, when it comes to requesting contacts from newsroom secretaries, the procedures vary from one media to another. Some are taking data protection very seriously and do not provide personal emails. This situation makes it very difficult to locate the contact of the journalist covering the topic we want to talk to you about.

How to prepare the ideal pitch?

We define pitch as the text that is sent to the journalist as “bait” to generate his or her interest in the subject that is presented. In the case of a press release or an article, the pitch summarizes the main topics to be discussed in the text, while for interviews, this paragraph explains who the spokesperson is and proposes the main topics he/she could talk about.

Finding the right angle for the pitch and do some research beforehand is essential and necessary. It is advisable to check whether the media has published content on the topic we want to raise and with what approach. In addition, check the latest articles of the journalist we are going to address, to verify that he/she has not recently talked about the topic we want to pitch, since, in that case, it is quite likely that he/she will reject it.

It is also important to see how they structure and focus the contents, to try to approach with our pitch the type of ideas and style they are looking for. It is also crucial to avoid marketing slogans. Journalists quickly identify when we are trying to “sell” something, so it is important to focus on offering them quality content and providing value for their media. This type of measures is what differentiates a quality communications agency.

From the agencies, we must always empathize and put ourselves in the journalist’s shoes. They receive hundreds of emails a day and, on many occasions, with the daily maelstrom, it is difficult for them to discern what is really interesting. For this reason, we must do a previous work and offer them the information already digested and ready to prepare a content.

The power of exclusivity

A very interesting tactic that generally works well is to offer exclusive content. After all, the media are competing on the same stage: Google. Publishing unique content helps them to rank better in the different search engines, since copying content is penalized at SEO level. Therefore, offering exclusive texts helps them to gain positions and, at the same time it gives them prestige, since they have been the ones chosen to communicate that news and not the competition.

For this reason, whenever we have a really relevant content, we recommend offering it exclusively to the main media of interest to the client to ensure their attention. Although not all clients understand this, one quality impact is worth much more than ten of lesser value. Another formula is to offer the information ‘under embargo’ to a single media outlet, so that they have the content before the rest of the publications and can prepare a special piece, even if the information is sent to the rest of the contacts in the database once the embargo is over. In the end, less and less media copy and paste the press release sent by the brand, but there is a tendency to prepare unique pieces that take advantage of the content offered by the companies.

Regarding the time and date of sending, there is no magic formula. It depends on many factors such as the editorial calendars of the media, the events of the week, current events… But in general, we would recommend sending content from Tuesday to Thursday and in the morning. Mondays tend to be editorial meeting days and journalists have less time to consult their inbox, while Fridays are closing days, so communicators are more focused on finishing the issues they have pending than on thinking about new ones.

And for you, what are your tricks for success with journalists?