How to Engage Millennials

Who runs the world? Millennials! Sorry Queen Bey, Millennials make up one-third of our population today, making the largest generation represented.

With that being said, it’s nearly impossible for brands and marketers not to think about marketing this group since they control most of the market share. Millennials are vastly different from any other generation. They aren’t as traditional as the baby boomers or Generation X. They care about social issues, immersed in technology, and have different goals. All these things create a need to understand and develop new strategies to capture this interesting group.

In order to engage millennials, three factors are important:

Incentives, Incentives, Incentives.

Millennials are more reluctant than other age groups to look into something new, especially brands; I like to call us the “cynical” generation. Recently, Urban Outfitters wrapped up a contest in which customers were supposed to take picture-in-hand photos and use hashtags on Instagram. The prize was something that this generation is currently reclaiming Polaroid cameras, similar to the return of vinyls. To get millennials engaged, brands have to cultivate incentives that are creative as well, something millennials will enjoy and see as important.

Create an Environment

While a brand’s main objective is to sell, many brands have had shift focus to improving their selling tactics. For millennials it’s all about an experience. Think of Starbucks: it’s a home away from home. They have mellow music, outlets for electronics, jargon that’s only a Starbuck’s regular can understand, like tall, grande, venti. Starbucks creates an ambiance that’s irresistible to millennials. It’s not about the quality—it’s about the experience that a customer walks away with.

Be Accessible and Digitize

Saying millennials are obsessed with technology is an understatement, so it is vital for brands to create a digital presence. In four seconds, a brand’s layout, mobile responsiveness, or content can drive a millennial away.  As for social media, a brand doesn’t have to post every day but often enough that their audience doesn’t acknowledge their absence. Engage and respond to your customers. It’s important to communicate that a brand cares about their audience.

With these three factors incorporated into your marketing strategy, millennials will be lining out the door, ready to snap and share their brand loyalty!

This guest blog post was written by PRowl staff member Taylor Carnard.

Get Inspired by a Story

Storytelling is a part of your everyday life - more than you realize. Talking to friends, calling your parents, answering a question in an interview, we all share stories as a form of communication and reflection. First Person Arts is Philadelphia's premiere storytelling non-profit, focused on using documentary and memoir art to reflect, learn, and in some cases, heal. Fortunately, I was able to interview Becca Jennings, FPA's Marketing & Communications Coordinator, and find out the details on First Person Arts, marketing, and being a young professional. Becca is enthusiastic about her career, takes pride in her work, and has some amazing insights on self-development!

(Source:Visit Philadelphia)

Alyssa: Tell us about First Person Arts!

Becca: First Person Arts is a nonprofit arts organization committed to the power of personal storytelling. We believe that everyone has a story to tell, and that by sharing our stories, we build connections with each other and the world. 

The organization produces at least 65 live events each year including twice-monthly storytelling competitions called StorySlams, memoir and storytelling classes and workshops, applied storytelling programs, and the Annual First Person Arts Festival. 

Beyond the live events, we present storytelling content online via broadcasts, which include the weekly First Person Arts Podcast and the First Person Arts YouTube Channel.

Alyssa: As Marketing & Communications Coordinator, what are some of the projects you've worked on over the last year?

Becca: I manage the creation of all print collateral, press, online presence, and ad sales/ placement for the organization throughout the year. 

But more specifically:

-Develop organizational Marketing Plans

-Press outreach

-Write copy for all organizational promotional materials including the FPA Festival brochure, StorySlam cards, flyers, and postcards

-Write copy and upload weekly podcasts

-Manage Marketing Intern, Executive Podcast Producer, and AV Intern

-Sell ads for FPA Festival brochure

-Identify and cultivate opportunities for promo partners/group sales

-In house graphic designer

-Liaison with out of house ad agency

-Manage, build, and create the schedule for all eblast communications

-Oversee and report out on web and live audience data collection

-Manage promotional distribution

-Manage community outreach to promote fall Festival

-Develop and execute advertising plans

-Social media manager

-Develop marketing budgets

-Maintain firstpersonarts.org

-Onstage host at live events

-And much more!

Alyssa: What are some skills you look for in an intern or even Marketing co-worker?

Becca: Excellent writing skills, ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously in a fast-paced deadline driven environment. The ability to plan is key--we're a small team of three people so forward thinking is a strong and valuable skill!

Alyssa: What advice can you give students looking to work in the arts & culture industry? How about the non-profit industry?

Becca: Do what you believe in and you will find a way to make it work for you. If you dream of a 6-figure salary, arts and culture might not be the direction for you. However, if you're inspired by the mission of the organization, and care more about that, you will have a gratifying job experience. Work extra hard, be very humble and gracious in the beginning, go above and beyond, and your career path will emerge. 

I think a lot of young people starting out are simply "looking for" their career paths. The truth is that their career path doesn't exist for them yet; so how can they "see" it? You have to walk it into existence--place one foot in front of the other-- and as you go along, your path will appear. Don't hang back waiting for your path to reveal itself to you. You reveal it for yourself by engaging with your passions and goals each day--by pushing past your comfort zone and testing your endurance--by meeting new people and listening to their stories. 

And if it doesn't happen for you right away, keep applying yourself. Fully discovering one's own career path is a lifelong journey.

Alyssa: What's your favorite part about working at First Person Arts?

Becca: I listen to stories for a living. That's pretty rad.

Dream big - chase after what makes you happy and find inspiration in your work. Interested in hearing some of these inspirational stories? The 13th First Person Arts Festival is coming up this Nov. 4 -15 and features some fantastic workshops, seminars, and stories. For more information on upcoming events, visit firstpersonarts.org.

Integrated Marketing Communications...What It Means For Your PR Plan

As a public relations student with a business minor, I have the opportunity of taking some marketing classes to help broaden my perspective of strategic communications. This semester, I am taking a class that’s focused on integrated marketing communications and I would like to share some highlights and help explain why this is an important term for any 

PR or marketing professional to know. 

What is it? Integrated marketing communications can sound like a confusing term, but once you break it down the definition is quite simple. My textbook describes it as a process of integrating messages from a variety of sources about a company’s products or brands. Put simply, it means that all of the communications about a company have to be portraying the company in the same way. For example, a social media campaign has to go along with the overall brand image and other campaign materials put out about the company, it wouldn’t make sense to send your target audiences conflicting messages about your brand.

What does it mean for you? When done properly, integrated marketing communications can help to create a successful public relations or marketing campaign.  This means that when creating a public relations campaign, it is important to first look at your company from a consumer’s perspective and assess the image that it has already established. Then, build your campaign with that knowledge in mind making sure that your plan in sending similar messages. Integration of all communications that your target audience receives helps to reinforce what they already know about a brand. In turn, this creates brand awareness where the consumer can begin to establish a relationship with your brand, and ultimately can be very effective.

All of the strongest and most recognizable brands and companies out there right now follow this simple marketing approach. Some of the brands that come to mind for me are Starbucks, Apple, Nike and Target. Can you think of any other brands that have great integrated marketing communications strategies? 

This guest blog was written by PRowl staff member Kaitlyn Mashack.

The Mix Up: Public Relations, Marketing and Advertising

It’s safe to say that for our generation public relations, marketing and advertising are all in one professional melting pot. This wasn’t always the case, but in recent years it has shown that the best campaigns and strategic plans involve a portion of each. Many public relations internship descriptions will be linked to these two other fields. Although they can go hand in hand with one another, let’s take a look at the difference.

 

PR vs Advertising

Public relations is earned media where advertising and paid media, plain and simple. When it comes down to drawing the line between the two, advertising is focused on immediate effects for promotion of the product. This difference falls under the telling vs. selling factor.Advertising’s main goal is the sell the product. PR is more concerned with specialized communication with media and building a relationship with them. Another difference is the control factor. Advertising has complete control of what they are portraying to the media. Public relations cannot beassured that their story will be covered and hands over themajority of control to the media. Lastly, the cost difference is another way to separate the two. Advertising often costs significantly more.

 

PR vs Marketing

Both of these fields are concerned with achieving business goals, but public relations focuses on numerous audiences, where marketing focuses on the customer audience. Public relations has to keep in mind they are under the watch of many, internally and externally. Marketing wants the sale, bottom line. It puts its efforts in coming up with tactics to drive an immediate purchase. Public relations keeps itsfocus on driving awareness about the story. One quote thatseems to clear things us perfectly is “PR lights the fire, Marketing fans the flames.”

 

The lines can still be blurry when trying to figure out what falls under each category. Despite their differences, the fields often lend each other a helping hand. Public relations professionals most likely will find themselves working on a project that can be considered advertising or marketing work. When it’s all said and done, you want your brands to be promoted in the best, most effective way which often times means combining a little bit of everything.

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Staff Member Gabrielle Lacherza. 

Why Are PR Students Taking Jobs in Other Fields?

As graduation looms closer each day, the job hunt has begun for many college seniors. When chatting with fellow classmates about where they might see themselves post-grad, many have told me that they have no intention of actually going into public relations. To a PR-obsessed person like me, this sounds absurd (why would you ever want to do anything else, am I right?) but it's something that actually happens a lot.

There are several reasons why people who have dedicated four years of their life to studying this field might not want to end up in it:

Lack of internships
Classroom learning is great, but there's nothing like the real thing. If you don't get internships in college you have no way of learning the ins and outs of real-world public relations. It's a lot more hands-on and a lot more fun.

Letting a bad experience change your path
A lot of people have had that one teacher who told them "you're not going to make any money" "all you do is busy work" and that deters them from wanting to pursue a career in PR. Rather than take one person's opinions and basing your decisions on them, make sure you're asking around and seeing what the reality is.

PR was never what you wanted to do in the first place
Public relations, marketing and advertising go hand-in-hand and every university has a different way of teaching each subject. Sometimes the three are integrated in classroom teachings and sometimes they are kept completely separate. In the case of schools that keep them separate, you might come in thinking you want to do PR, not really understanding what it's all about and actually marketing would be a better fit--but you'll never know. Make sure you do a lot of research before you choose your major and always, always take classes outside of your field!

Of course there are people who spend all four years studying a subject and just end up finding a different path that works better for them. That's great! Before you make that crucial choice, make sure you're doing it for the right reasons.

Have you or someone you know experienced this? Share your story!

Disney: A Beloved Brand

When you hear the words, “Happiest Place on Earth” one brand should come to mind- Disney, of course! The Walt Disney Company has done everything right to make sure their reputation emulates joy, happiness and fun.  According to a recent Associations of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) Worldwide survey of 70,000 consumers in 15 countries, the Walt Disney Company is the #1 most beloved brand in the world.

So, how does Disney create these heartwarming connections with people across the globe? A very detailed and thought out marketing strategy. Every brand in the world must come up with ways to market its image. Some marketing plans are successful, some are not. Disney, however, has perfected their marketing plan to a T. Their desired image revolves around family entertainment, honesty, innovation, and creativity. Whether it is in a classic Disney movie, on a Disney cruise line or in one of the sensational amusement parks, Disney is so terrifically branded to fit the desired image you can be left to wonder if they really do use magic.

Ever since Walt Disney brought Mickey Mouse into our lives, the company has done a fantastic job with connecting to their audience at an emotional level. Disney continues to use its heritage and the characters that the world fell in love with years ago as their main branding tool, and it is clearly working for them.

If the Walt Disney brand keeps this image, it will be the most beloved brand for many years to come.

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Staff Member Kelly Dougherty. 

Think Outside the Box: Internships

It's about the time that college students are applying for fall internships, if they haven't already.  I've been looking around at internships suggested by classmates, emailed to me by my advisor, and posted online--the usual places.  Then a coworker at my current internship asked me if I had ever worked at a TV station.  She encouraged me to apply for internships at local television stations because of the experience it would bring me. 

Interning somewhere like a television station is beneficial to aspiring PR pros for a lot of reasons.  You'll learn the ins and outs of broadcasting.  Knowing the jargon and being able to find your way around a station will definitely come in handy. It will also show that you aren't afraid to explore your options.

Some other great places for PR students to intern while they have the chance would be newspapers, marketing firms, and advertising agencies.

By working at a newspaper you're going to gain a lot of great contacts, as well as learn how a newsroom works so that you can more effectively communicate with reporters later on in your PR career.  Working at a marketing firm can provide you with a different way of looking a PR issues since, let's face it, marketing and PR are frequently lumped together.  Finally, working at an ad agency is a great way to dip into the creative side of things.

You'll come out of any of these types of internships with broadened horizons and a little something extra on your resume that other people might not have.  It's important to realize what area of PR you want to focus on and get an internship in that, but it's also important that you think outside the box sometimes.

The Child of PR and Marketing

This weekend, members of PRSSA and myself attended a PRSSA regional conference at Penn State, where we learned and discussed many different interesting PR topics.  One of the topics that really interested me was when Adam Kmiee, Global Director of Digital and Social Media at Campbell Soup Company, discussed PR and marketing becoming one.  

I personally avoided marketing because of the business and math side of it, as I’m sure many others in the PR world have. After attending the conference, I started to compare and take a closer look at the two.  If you take away the math, PR and marketing do not have many differences.  The idea of both is to promote a person or business and reach a target audience.  Marketing has a bit more of a business spin on that, while PR is more light and friendly.  Both marketing and PR are constantly doing research to figure out how to reach their target audiences and what their audiences are looking for.  The major difference between the two is money.  Marketing deals a lot more with money.  Marketing professionals deal with where to place ads, how much can be spent on PR campaigns and figure out how to manage every dollar spent.  Public relations on the other hand deals with the public and media more.  Public relations professionals talk to the newspapers and journalists and monitor public approval (or disapproval).  

After thinking about all the similarities, it really occurred to me that one could not exist without the other. Marketing needs public relations to deal with the public and make sure the right message is reaching the right audience.  Public relations needs marketing to help them reach that audience, without breaking the bank.  While speaking, Kmiee said, “I want marketers who know digital who love social.”  

I started looking into what other PR professionals thought of the combination of PR and marketing together and I found this great diagram on PRNewswire by Yin Wu, which really opened my eyes to even more benefits of the two together. 

This guest blog post was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Jackie Grillo.

The Science of Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing, also known as low cost publicity strategies, is a popular technique that is used by many industry professionals in todays society. There are many different strategies that are used by guerrilla marketers in order to raise awareness of their issue, brand, or group. Below are a few of the popular techniques that are commonly used by today’s top publicists: 

Street Teams:

Street teams are a common marketing technique often used by music industry professionals and other entertainment professionals. The goal of a street team is to get people interested in a product, person, or group using their current fans. Most street teams establish connections with fans in all major cities. They then ask the fans to perform simple publicity stunts  to create exposure. These acts consist of social media blasts, putting up posters, passing out stickers, and attending events and shows. 

Graffiti:

Graffiti is used as a tool to gain publicity for organizations and companies. Companies hire graffiti artists to create graffiti that promotes their brand, organization, or product. Many companies often choose locations of high traffic so that their graffiti gains as much exposure possible. 

Sticker Bombing: 

Sticker bombing is a popular technique that is often used in political campaigns. This technique involves creating a sticker and placing it all over areas in mass quantity. A somewhat popular example of this technique was the KONY 2012 campaign. Hundreds of thousands of activists for this organization placed stickers and posters all over major cities to make citizens aware of this issue. 

Have you ever heard of or used guerrilla marketing techniques? If so, let us know which one and how it worked for you!

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Lexi Drexler

The NFL & Social Media: For the Fans, By the Fans

I absolutely love football. Everything about it. The jerseys, the stadium, the weather and the game itself – everything. You can catch me every Sunday with a game on and a plate of hot wings in front of me.

I also really love how the NFL taps into its audience through the use of social media. I follow the NFL and multiple football players on Twitter. I am a fan of the NFL Facebook page. But I was most delighted to hear about another way the league is reaching out to its audience and integrating them into the game itself.

If you’re a big NFL fan like me, you have probably noticed on Thursday night games there is a lot of fan footage. Being the PR investigator I am, I turned to the internet to find out if this was a new marketing campaign. Turns out I was right! The videos of fans used during the games are actually crowdsourced.

The NFL is now encouraging fans to record their favorite team’s “fight song” for a chance to be featured during the opening video montage during a Thursday Night Football game. Through the NFL’s Fanchise site, viewers can upload their fan video from their house, a bar, the stadium or even at the tailgate! All you have to do is pick your team, record your video, upload it and voila – you’re on your way to 15 minutes of fame.

From a public relations perspective, this is a really smart move. Not only is this marketing the NFL in new and different ways on the web, it is also increasing the league’s social media presence.

So, if you have a favorite team and are ready to sing loud and proud, upload your video today! I know I will be for my favorite team (The Eagles if you haven’t already guessed it, I’m a Philly girl!).