Previously, in this series of posts on corporate website content and its strategic importance to PR and marketing professionals, I have discussed why public relations may be placing too much emphasis on social media instead of corporate website content, and why we need to be better at website public relations.

The strategy driving what content goes on corporate websites needs to fit into the overarching organisational communication strategy, yet so wide-ranging and large can corporate websites be, that they sometimes seem to occupy their own ‘micro-climate’ where a unique approach, arguably, needs to be applied.

In this post, with the insight and assistance of a range of communication professionals – digital, SEO (search engine optimisation), marketing, public relations – I am going to outline a number of strategic and tactical elements to consider when utilising websites as an organisational communication mechanism.

Whilst marketing director Lindy Dragstra says, “Enhancing stakeholder engagement will only work if you have interesting and high quality content for your target audience and they know how to find you”, I believe that there are more fundamental strategic communication issues that must be addressed before you begin thinking about content itself.

Strategic dimensions of website communication

One of the most significant strategic questions organisations need to address in the context of website content is how willing is it to engage in a dialogue with its stakeholders?

• Does it value diverse perspectives, even if those perspectives may not be in line with its own?
• Can it tolerate the multi-voiced world of the web or is it wedded to the notion of single, undeniable corporate voice (i.e. The Edifice Attitude)?

This question is especially important in the context of changes that social media has made to the communication and business operations environment. If engagement is the much heralded behaviour that organisations must display through social media, for instance, how can that same behaviour and recognition of other perspectives not be manifested by social media’s natural sibling, websites?

But hey, there is room for multiple approaches and this dynamic is all still being worked out.

When thinking about website content, copywriter and web content adviser Charles Cuninghame says you need to ask what is the response that you want from your human browsers, whilst website designer and strategist Heidi Cool says that her premise is that, “The site owner has specific goals and their visitors have certain expectations. Content should serve each, be written to appeal to humans first (robots second) and be packaged in a format that supports SEO.”

Website and PR consultant Clint Garwood, similar to Heidi, suggests that, “Although the content itself should be truly organic and represent what visitors need and want, your SEO keyword selections need to be research-driven. Knowing which keywords are searched often isn’t enough to identify if that keyword will drive traffic to a company website. Your keyword research needs to be able to identify which keywords/phrases offer a competitive opportunity for the website where they will be used.”

Other issues of importance to corporate website strategy include:

• What balance does your overarching communication strategy have between mediated (e.g. media relations) and non-mediated (e.g. direct mail) communication?
• What emphasis do you have on generating databases to allow for ongoing (and outgoing), consistent direct communication?
• Does it have the resources (human, as much as financial) to utilise social media tools to any reasonable level and the necessary attitude to manage them?
• Does your organisation see the issues management benefit of websites? For example, monitoring questions and the types of web pages visited not just for potentially divisive or problematic issues that the organisation can proactively address before they turn into a crisis, but for opportunities for content that help create more positive stakeholder relationships?
• How will your organisation determine what content goes on the website? Will it pay attention to the sort of web searches that people undertake? Will it undertake polls? Will it research what pages people prefer visiting on their own and their competitors’ web pages? Will it utilise market research or Google Alerts to get an insight into stakeholder interests and ‘hot topics’?
• Does your organisation have strategic alliances it can leverage through website content that will enhance the organisation’s credibility? What about interviews/testimonials with these alliances?
• What thought leadership platforms does your organisation have and how will you leverage the content generated through these platforms through the varying communication mechanisms at your disposal (e.g. media, speaking engagements, direct communication like e-newsletters, social media)?

Lindy Dragstra raises some valuable points when she says that, “customers and partners are happy to submit content, as this will help them too. It makes your site dynamic and if you make it truly interactive (why not post strings and comments?) there is a reason for people to regularly visit your site.

“But only if the information is of interest to the audience. People tend to neglect information that is too commercial. They don’t want to be bothered by it. But they do want information that inspires them, helps them do their business better, gain new insights etc.”

Heidi Cool has made available a valuable tutorial online called Planning Your Website. It isn’t exactly along the lines of the strategic marketing communication I am really seeking, but it does help scope it out. As Heidi says, “While this doesn’t get into SEO, it does get people thinking about content, which of course is the key to good SEO anyway.”

Content for websites: a delicate dialectic

One of the main challenges for professional communicators is determining what stakeholders/target audiences/customers etc want to hear from your organisation, how this fits in with your organisation’s objectives and producing content that meets the needs of both sides of the fence (when in actual fact, due to the diverse nature of internal and external stakeholders, it is one hell of a tangled fence).

As web strategist Tylar Masters says, you need to, “find out how it feels to be a client”. Clients (or organisational stakeholders) want information on their terms, not on organisational terms. But of course there needs to be a balance and it depends on the nature of the organisation and its overarching communication strategy.

“The audience will feel compelled to reach out to you for more information if you strategically give them the information they need to make a decision about your product/service,” continues Tylar.

Tylar’s approach to what she calls the ‘content writing strategy’ starts with a messaging campaign. “My team interviews key partners and employees, as well as audiences and even competition to achieve this strategy. It’s what drives conversion.” Critical to this is determining what stakeholders actually want, not what organisations think they want or want them to think. It is a delicate dialectic.

Her ultimate upshot? “Very simply put, effective messaging and content is crucial to conversion.”

[Footnote: After three posts on this broad topic and discussions with a number of people, I still feel like something is missing. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I am making this harder than it needs to be. There seems to be some strategic map or purpose or insight that I haven’t got hold of. What do you think?]

What can you add to this discussion of the approaches one should take to website communication? Is it a mechanism that is being leveraged enough by professional communicators? Should there be more focus on website communication than is, comparatively, occurring with social media?

PS: I’d welcome you joining networks with me through my LinkedIn profile. Send me an invite!

PPS. And don’t forget you can subscribe to this blog via email or RSS at the top of the blog’s page, or Tweet about this post using the handy RT button, adding your own editorial two cents worth!

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Previously, in this series of posts on corporate website content and its strategic importance to PR and marketing professionals, I have discussed why public relations may be placing too much emphasis on social media instead of corporate website content. The next post will feature strategic and tactical insights and tips on this topic from a panel of global experts.

There is no guide, or overarching process, for how one should go about producing the content that goes on corporate websites…from strategic business planning, public relations or marketing perspectives. This is an almost unbelievable ‘informational gap’ due to the power that has been placed at corporate websites’ discretion due to the mind-bending capabilities of search engine optimisation (SEO).

So, this is my attempt to extend what discussions on this topic have occurred. (I haven’t found any of real substance along the communication/marketing line, but I am sure they must exist!).

There smatterings of information all over the place but, seemingly, no central resource that integrates all the parts; nothing that addresses the full picture of website content and social media and how you push ‘out’ to generate awareness of your new content. Or whether that is even an approach that will yield results.

Strategic approaches for corporate website content

Is the purpose of new website content constrained to Google spiders recognising it as new, and relevant to searches, thus ranking the content/web pages higher for organic searches?

Is the purpose of it limited to it being up-to-date, thus more likely to be relevant and useful to the needs of those searching for information? The implication of both these questions is that the content is only waiting for those who come to it – not content that is actually reaching out to those potentially interested in it.

Or is an option to repurpose (or just duplicate) it for other forms of communication like newsletters, e-newsletters, media programs, speaking programs et al, so it can be leveraged through those mediums?

But then, I presume, you can put Feedburner social media sharing options on each page (e.g. Digg, Reddit, Twitter etc) and thus give ‘human browsers’ an opportunity to easily share the content in a broadcast manner (and editorialised with their own comments, for that matter).

Hmmm, the lines between old-timey broadcast and new age social media sharing approaches are sometimes pretty arbitrary, aren’t they?

The face-off between social media, corporate websites and digital ‘traditional’ media

As for the face-off between social media, corporate websites and digital forms of traditional, hard copy media as to who wins the ‘most influential’ status, for me organisations have a real opportunity to win this battle. Or at least be a competitive participant.

If they are smart.

Smart, as in organisations recognise that all opinions count and all opinions/perspectives should be recognised.

Smart, as in recognise if they invest time and money into this opportunity then they have the opportunity to rank highly in organic searches, then get human browsers to advocate them.

Smart, as in providing content that is above and beyond being purely self-serving (i.e. helpful information that assists human browsers do whatever they want to do that is relevant to the organisation’s essential remit or purpose – no need to be too uptight here. People go for helpfulness, not brand handlers freaked out by the fool’s gold of brand frigging essences and other such bollocks marketing blather [um, apologies, a pet dislike going on here, obviously...]).

As strategic PR counsel Sean Williams pointed out, however, one of the great values of traditional media and social media (in fact, any opinion sources that are not from the organisation in question), is that they are 3^rd party opinion. Supposedly objective. Supposedly with nothing to gain. Supposedly this generates enhanced credibility for the organisation.

Essentially, I agree with this notion in most cases. It’s one of the reasons I espouse the forming of strategic alliances as a PR 101 approach.

But, as Sean himself points out, there is increasing doubt regarding the trustworthiness of both social media and traditional media sources. Everyone, it seems, has an axe to grind. If you know the source personally, sure, you know how much to trust and rely upon their perspectives.

But the web is a many-peopled world. Why should you trust people you will never meet and you will probably only have a web-relationship with? Sounds a bit, um, naive, does it not?

Corporate websites should be better at public relations

Organisations, of course, have the most resources to dedicate to their own profile (through marketing and/or public relations, for instance). They certainly should have the greatest motivation and focus on their own profile. And they should have the acumen and intelligence to take the broadest, most strategic and most realistic possible view of their place in their world.

So, really, they have no excuse to be beaten to the punch by other communication mechanisms when it comes to organic searches. Nor do they have any excuse not to form and/or enhance relationships (by both behaviour and communication) with their stakeholders.

Yet, they continue to allow this to occur because of a lack of recognition of the primacy of organic search and, very importantly, because they fail to recognise it is one thing to use technical SEO trickery to get highly ranked. It is quite another to get human browsers to like and advocate you because of the value-adding insights and resources you freely provide.

This is the telling factor in website content success. Is it making stakeholders do what you want them to do? Advocate you? Buy your products? Support your stance?

Resources is a key issue here. Traditional media is losing them. Social media never really had them; and though this is changing to some extent, we are talking an explosion of a chattering class that is great at accusations and sarcasm, but isn’t really setting the world on fire with providing scientifically reliable and assiduously generated proof for its observations, is it?

There may well come a point where the credibility of both sources of information (traditional and social media) lower themselves enough for organisations (through their corporate websites – which can lift themselves up in the credibility status) to be considered at least in the credibility ball park with them. It is an interesting dialectic. And it is certainly an opportunity for organisations that respect their stakeholders to gain a POD over their competitors that accelerates them along the road to long term, meaningful stakeholder relationships.

This, in turn, must inevitably lead to results such as meeting organisational objectives, increasing profits and minimising regulatory, media and political criticism/scrutiny.

Public relations value from corporate website content

So what is generated from getting positive results from providing corporate website content of value and utility to stakeholders/human browsers?

Authority. Respect. Leadership. And you know, getting the POD from this means a funny little thing called…‘increased sales’.

Looking for strategic communication answers on corporate website content

As there is not an authoritative guide to corporate website content and its implementation, I asked a question on LinkedIn and reached out to a number of digital, SEO, marketing and public relations professionals whose views and expertise I respect. Fortunately, many of them responded and their comments and insights are included in my next post on this issue.

Check out my next post on these issues to get some useful tips. But in the meantime, what strategic and tactical tips can you provide for marketing or public relations professionals on website content? And what did you think of the issues raised in the post and my views on them?

PS: I’d welcome you joining networks with me through my LinkedIn profile. Send me an invite!

PPS. And don’t forget you can subscribe to this blog via email or RSS at the top of the blog’s page, or Tweet about this post using the handy RT button, adding your own editorial two cents worth!

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This is the final of a three-part series of guest posts by professional illustrator and strategic communicator, Guy Downes. It discusses barriers and solutions to adopting visual communication as part of the public relations armoury.

As people have a proven preference for visual learning, we are increasingly suffering from information overload and humans process visuals 66,000* times faster than text, you would think getting professional communicators and senior management to adopt visuals as a communication tool would be easy and straightforward…

Of course, nothing is ever that simple. Using visuals may be a common practice for many clients but for others it can be something new. There are several reasons why companies or organisations may decide against using visual communication or visual thinking.

Business cartoonist Brad Shorr delivers a strong case in a guest article for Wired PR Works, a US strategic marketing consultancy. Brad’s perspective focuses on cartooning but from my experience ‘cartooning’ could easily be swapped out for the words ‘visual communication’, ‘ visual thinking’ or any of the techniques listed above. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“So again, why aren’t companies jumping on the cartoon bandwagon?

1. Grim determination. Business is serious business. Whether a company is manufacturing space shuttle components or yo-yos, management takes things like sales and marketing rather seriously. Managers are seldom in a frame of mind to think funny.
2. Not thinking like the customer. Customers don’t take your products and services as seriously as you do. Customers have their own problems. One thing you can give them is relief from the daily grind. That’s why YouTube gets more hits in an hour than any super serious corporate Web site gets in a month.
3. Risk aversion. Companies don’t like taking chances. They don’t like trying something unless everybody else is doing it. A lot of companies talk about wanting to be different, to be groundbreaking, to be trendsetters. Mostly that’s malarkey. They only want to be different as long as it’s safe, which is hardly ever.
4. Trivialization. Companies feel funny spending their hard earned cash on something silly like a series of cartoons. Management might think cartooning will trivialize their business.

“Now, depending on the situation, some or all of these concerns might have some validity. Certainly, any communication strategy has to reflect the values and aims of the company putting out the message. But if increasing brand awareness and customer loyalty are part of the equation, cartoons and other forms of humor ought to be considered”.

How to overcome challenges

No client (either internal or external) wants to feel that they are the guinea pig for a new idea. Over time, the best way to introduce visual communication techniques to clients (that seem intrigued but at the same time doubtful) is to find the right visual communication technique for the right opportunity at the right time.

Spending time educating clients on the value of visual communications either by demonstrating how it has worked successfully for other brands in differing scenarios, or investing a visual technique in their business are also excellent ways to show value and build trust.

A picture does paint a thousand words

With their ability to create ‘a-ha’ moments, make quicker connections, improve understanding and help storytelling, the potential and power of visual communications should not be overlooked when the appropriate opportunity arises.

So, next time you are at any stage in the PR process, think about how you can combine your written expertise with visuals to engage the audience you are targeting.

Wikipedia explains that, ‘A picture paints a thousand words’ as an idea that ‘complex stories can be described with just a single still image; or that an image may be more influential than a substantial amount of text’.  Here’s a good example to bring this idea to life and to bring this post to a close.

Isn’t it much easier to show a picture of a tree than to describe one?

For a great resource for further reading on visual communication, check out VizThink.

What arguments can you think of, or approach to take, to ‘sell’ visual communication to your stakeholders? Have you any examples of works and images combining for a big impact and stakeholder engagement?

About Guy Downes

Guy Downes is a graphic recorder and award-winning illustrator who runs his own visual communications venture.  Guy has 10 years experience in communication and public relations, having previously spent six years at Howorth (an Ogilvy PR Worldwide company) in Sydney and four years In London working for Banner and Weber Shandwick Technologies. Guy can be contacted at guy@guydownes.com.au

This three-part series aims to spark conversation and information sharing on the combined role words and images can play in helping PR pros communicate and engage audiences more effectively. The first post discussed the power of visual communication and the second post discussed where visual communication can be useful in PR and different visual communication techniques.

* 3M Research

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This is the second of a three-part series of guest posts by professional illustrator and strategic communicator, Guy Downes. It discusses how the combined power of words and images can help PR pros communicate and engage audiences more effectively.

With its ability to share ideas and communicate more effectively, visual thinking can play a major role in storytelling, aiding public relations and marketing professionals help organisations achieve their communication and business objectives.

Whether it’s helping to share a company vision, deliver a thought leadership viewpoint or disclose the benefits of a new product, storytelling is an important skill in public relations to attract and retain an audience’s attention, if not the most important of all.

Stories bind us, build understanding, assign meaning, forge relationships and share our heritage as well as offer insight into our future. Great stories ignite the imagination – a deluge of facts and data do not. And pictures can play a powerful role within this narrative and by bringing words to life.

Using visuals to tell a story can be integrated into presentations, new business pitches, capturing ideas in critical business meetings, media relations and developing traditional and social media strategies. Communicating or humanising complex concepts can also be told simply using a cartoon or illustration.

Historically, photography has been a very powerful and successful visual medium in PR. Here’s a flavour of some alternative visual techniques for consideration that can help share information, engage audiences and aid the storytelling process at different stages of the PR process.

Graphic recording

This is a visual technique used in high-level meetings (e.g. strategic PR or campaign planning sessions) which helps people ‘see what they mean’ or ‘see where their ideas are going and how to get there’ in the planning stages of a PR campaign.

A ‘graphic recorder’ is a silent participant in the meeting who listens intently to what is being said and draws the conversation ‘live’ transferring what he/she hears onto large wall-size posters using images, icons, drawings and words. The final large-scale graphic recording poster provides a ‘big picture’ overview that participants can take-away and review to help plan future direction, actions, messaging and/or communication priorities.

Graphic recording is used frequently by corporations and organisations as well as at leading global events to record discussions. Type ‘graphic recording’ into your search engine and some great examples will come up. Here are some recent instances:

• The technique has been used at The World Economic Forum (Davos) during their WorkSpace sessions (see below)
• The FT ran a story with a great photo of graphic recording in action from this year’s Davos
• Time Magazine also recently showed Tony Blair in front of a graphic recording poster.

Infographics

These are visual and pictorial representations of data and information, which can provide PR consultants and their clients with the ability to: 

• communicate a message quickly (as opposed to using lengthy text); 
• engage the viewer with images and colour; and
• help explain complex information or abstract concepts using visuals.

Well suited to describe an issue, topic or a product, there are many fantastic examples of Infographics online

Presentations

Making presentations more engaging is a critical step in getting your audience to understand, retain and act on your information you are sharing. How you present your data visually is an important ingredient to achieve this. Pioneer Nancy Duarte from Duarte Design shares five rules to developing a world changing presentation in the following short video.

Cartoons and illustrations

Simple but effective, they are a great way to humanise complex issues, thought leadership topics or product benefits. Google used a cartoon to explain Chrome. Hitachi Australia launched an interactive site with cartoons – readers were invited to submit their I.T. horror stories and winners had their stories turned into a custom-made cartoon.

These are two great examples of how visuals can be used to engage and inform, as well as entertain.

What do you think about visual communication and its ability to communicate effectively? Is it used often enough by professional communicators? Are there other forms of visual communication you think can aid communication?  What evocative and effective illustrations/images can you share with us?

About Guy Downes

Guy Downes is a graphic recorder and award-winning illustrator who runs his own visual communications venture.  Guy has 10 years experience in communication and public relations, having previously spent six years at Howorth (an Ogilvy PR Worldwide company) in Sydney and four years In London working for Banner and Weber Shandwick Technologies. Guy can be contacted at guy@guydownes.com.au

This three-part series aims to spark conversation and information sharing on the combined role words and images can play in helping PR pros communicate and engage audiences more effectively. The first post discussed the power of visual communication and the third post will discuss barriers to visual communication adoption (and some solutions…).

PS (from Craig): I’d welcome you joining networks with me through my LinkedIn profile. Send me an invite!

PPS. And don’t forget you can subscribe to this blog via email or RSS at the top of the blog’s page, or Tweet about this post using the handy RT button, adding your own editorial two cents worth!

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“Can annual reports actually be used to create a positive communication outcome, rather than just report and be ignored?” This was a question that generated a lot of interesting comment from PR professionals around the world, some of which I feature in this post.

The comment came about through a few LinkedIn group discussions in preparation for two posts my ex-colleague, Laura Fayers-Pooley, recently contributed to this blog. Laura’s posts addressed building the right foundation for an annual report and how PR pros can leverage an annual report to achieve business objectives.

One question that continually bugged me when I was responsible for the delivery of annual reports was: can they be used for anything meaningful in a communication/stakeholder engagement context?

They obviously exist because of regulatory reasons, but as anyone who has produced them knows, they take a huge amount of time and considerable financial resources to produce.

Below I feature some interesting, insightful, useful and humorous comments from the peers of Laura and I from around the world, culled from discussions on the Public Relations Professionals and IABC LinkedIn groups.

Annual reports as jokes

“I think it really depends on who the shareholders are. Institutional investors laugh at annual reports. They do their own due diligence and regard ARs as puff pieces. On the other hand, individual investors often consume ARs cover-to-cover. Many companies have gone to a 10-K wrap instead of a full-blown AR. In my view, the Chairman’s Letter is probably the most valuable aspect of an AR for most investors.

“One way to avoid the expense is to post on-line—the SEC as recently as last year posted new regs on the distribution of ARs.”

Sophia Twaddell

Senior Corporate Communications Professional

Annual reports using visual communication

“I started doing formal printed reports for my non-profit when I got here three years ago and they’ve been instrumental for development purposes.

“We make them so they’re highly visual, lots of pictures, graphics and big quotes, with all the financial stuff in the back. If you think of them like a yearbook, or like a scrapbook, they’re much more effective and flexible documents. You can see our 2008 [annual report] report and our 2009 report will be out in April.”

Alison Risso

Communications Director at KaBOOM!

Dread-full or powerful tool?

“Alison, while it’s an elaborate report, I trust you know the value of it. Most of us communicators dread the annual report — we know it’s not getting read and is a waste of energy, paper and money. But if written and designed in a way your target audience wants, it can be a powerful tool. True, it must be costly to reproduce but I doubt you’d continue to do it if it wasn’t getting results.”

Susan Hale

Communications Manager at Fulton County School System

Cultural change tool

“Many years ago in a former corporate life, we designed an annual report to communicate a cultural change both internally and externally, due to an acquisition.

“The CEO wanted to make a statement about being more about people than products. So the cover was a wrap around B&W photo of people from the two organizations, some in shirtsleeves, some in suits. The acquired organization loved it, as it reflected their old culture.

“Some people in the acquiring organization (where I worked) howled mightily at the image. I can remember clearly one senior executive exclaiming “That’s not who we are! We’re products, not people!”

“The message was very effective – we’re a new organization, and if you can’t make the adjustment, there’s no place for you here.”

Gregg Feistman

Assistant Professor, Public Relations at Temple University

Potential unrealised

“I wish I had a ‘good news’ story for you! Personally, I love to flip thru and read annual reports that actually have stories about the staff and the customers of an organization… something to give you a feeling for the heart of the organization, what drives it (what is beyond the numbers).

“But as someone responsible for producing an annual report for a government agency, I’m challenged to convince anyone that it is worth it to go beyond the checklists of requirements and truly use it as a PR piece. It’s rife with possibilities untapped.”

Pamela Vozza

Public Information Officer, Arizona State Retirement System

Give it a different name?

“Many years ago I put together the annual report for a convention and visitors bureau. I wrote the copy to make it meaningful to its members, such as putting stats of activities they were involved in and the efforts they made to make tourism successful in front of the book.

“I did get the occasional comment from a member that they read the report and learned something about the bureau, but I wouldn’t call the attempt a rousing success. I think calling it the annual report had a lot to do with it.”

Elena Acoba

Independent Writer and Editor

Creative? Annual reports?

“We actually have had success and advocate ARs be used as creative marketing tools. See Top 5 Ways to Maximize Your Annual Report as a Communication Tool at our indiblucreative blog.”

Kimber Flynn

President & Creative Director, Indiblu Creative – Creative with a Cause

Idealism can hold sway

“I wrote major portions of five annual reports for a Fortune 100 and served as lead editor for each one.

“Based on comments from employees and shareholders, these ARs improved audience views of the company’s challenges throughout the year. As Pamela Vozza suggested previously, the reports told stories about the company. They included case studies about employee initiatives and features about how prominent clients used our technologies.

“I believe these reports were successes. Were they exceptions to the rule? I’d like to believe that all corporations see the AR as an opportunity to reach investors — but then again, I’m an idealist.”

Susan Proulx

Marketing & Technical — Writer & Editor

Late entry – eye-catching and engaging online annual report

Sara Goldberger brought this pretty hip online-only annual report from TNT to my attention. Definitely innovative and definitely worth a look!

What did you think of these comments? Can you share experiences of making annual reports a really worthwhile communication activity that engages stakeholders and helps organisations achieve business objectives? Can they be reinvented into something else, especially in the digital age? Can annual reports go into a totally social media-oriented format?

PS: I’d welcome you joining networks with me through my LinkedIn profile. Send me an invite!

PPS. And don’t forget you can subscribe to this blog via email or RSS at the top of the blog’s page, or Tweet about this post using the handy RT button, adding your own editorial two cents worth!

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In this, the final of a two-part series on how PR pros can leverage an annual report to achieve business objectives, Laura Fayers-Pooley argues that it is up to each of us to determine whether the annual report should be a used as a prime strategic weapon in the first place. Her first post discussed at building the right foundation for an annual report.

The most crucial decision for PR professionals in the annual reporting process is to determine how you’re going to view the task and what its endgame will be for that year.

This is just like elite tennis players, who understand the necessity of winning the mind games before they can translate their game play into points on the scoreboard. As a runner, I’m aware that I often run more with my head than my legs.

PR professional Laura Fayers

 Strategic communication questions

• Is it a tedious obligation of your role or department, or an opportunity to engage with your stakeholders and reach new target audiences for the first time?
• How does it fit with your broader communication strategy and tactical action plan over the next 18 months?

At a practical level your decision will obviously depend on how well resourced your communication department is in terms of staff and budget. But, ultimately, it should be driven by what you see as the purpose of your report. Is your communication objective to:

• inform stakeholders about the challenges and achievements faced by your organisation that year?
• establish the credibility of your organisation by providing new audiences with an introduction and overview of your business?
• persuade investors that your company is a robust and attractive option?
• justify your current levels of funding as a government agency?
• communicate an important cultural change, such as a corporate merger?
• influence donors, supporters and corporate philanthropists to support your not-for-profit financially?

Or do you merely want to comply with regulatory requirements by producing an acceptable report, and focus your communication efforts elsewhere (i.e. on other channels and tools)?

To extend my last post’s military metaphor, we’re all busy communicators and need to pick our battles in order to win the strategic PR war for our organisation. So if you want to fight the good (PR) fight using the annual report (AR) as a key weapon, read on. But if you’ve already decided there are better and more effective uses of your finite resources, share them with us in the comments field below.

Overarching theme and messaging

If you have the ability, resources and commitment required to leverage the AR as part of your broader communication strategy, have a good hard think about what your key message and overarching theme for the report will be.

Regardless of whether your organisation is publically listed, a government agency or a not-for-profit, your AR will be much more cohesive if you have an overarching theme.

One of Fenton Communications’ partners is FareShare, a Victorian-based NFP that seeks to rescue food and fight hunger. (They provide free, tasty, nutritious meals to the hungry and the homeless using donated food not needed by markets, caterers, and retailers around Melbourne.)

FareShare’s latest annual report clearly articulates their response to the global financial crisis, and how they backed up frontline welfare agencies working with Victoria’s homeless and hungry.

The report has really strong messaging that:

• showcases FareShare’s environmental and social impact
• demonstrates their responsible custodianship of financial resources
• acknowledges their individual and corporate supporters.

It also boldly and appropriately provides a call to action for readers in the form of a donation slip.

Other not-for-profits may consider their organisational overview brochures to be their key piece of hard copy collateral. They should remember, however, that many big-ticket donors or potential corporate supporters consider the AR genre to be from the school of more credible documents.

As former colleague and NFP communication specialist Lea Carswell commented on the previous helping relations with publics post, ARs have a much longer shelf life than many other pieces of communication collateral we produce. As such, she sees them as intrinsic to building successful organisations.

She said, “I can really see the value of a good and well-targeted AR for the not-for-profit sector, and more so now that social responsibility, sustainability and governance have such a profile and can say so much, in practical measurable ways, about the kind of organisation it is.”

Telling stories through reporting

In a Public Relations Professionals group discussion on LinkedIn, PR academic Gregg Feistman shared that he once used the annual report to communicate a significant cultural change to internal and external audiences. After a major acquisition, his CEO wanted to make a statement that the new company was more about its people than its products.

Gregg used a black and white photo of people from the two organisations as a cover wrap. The employees wore shirtsleeves or suits, depending on which organisation they’d been originally employed by.

For Greg, the message was both clear and effectively communicated: despite our history, we’re a new organisation now and if you can’t make the adjustment there’s no place for you here.

When I worked at ANSTO we used the AR to showcase the upcoming commissioning of OPAL, Australia’s new nuclear research reactor and the country’s largest single scientific investment ($300 million in mid-noughties Australian dollars). The chronologically ordered highlights section  enabled us to highlight key scientific, operational and research achievements from across the organisation.

Combined with case studies and staff profiles, the report told the organisational story for that year.

Using the AR as a forum for story-telling, therefore, is the secret to leveraging it for your broader communication strategy.

In addition to writing major sections, Susan Proulx also served as lead editor for five annual reports for a Fortune 100 firm.

She said in an IABC group discussion on LinkedIn that the comms team ensured the reports adhered to their communication and investor relations strategies. Based on employee and shareholder feedback, Susan believed the reports were a success because they “improved audience views of the company’s challenges throughout the year”.

Susan’s ARs told stories about the company through the use of case studies about employee initiatives and stories explaining how prominent clients used the organisation’s technology.

Pamela Vozza concurs with the story-telling function of ARs, describing her passion for ARs that tell stories about staff and customers and, “give you a feeling for the heart of the organisation and what drives it”.

Summary

If you can win the heart of a senior executive and get them onside in your desire to elevate the AR to the strategic communication arsenal, your job will be easier. But it will still be a mammoth effort on your part. You need to decide if it’s worth the investment in terms of financial investment and employee hours, or if your focus should be on engaging stakeholders through another publication, tool or communication channel.

However even if your budget is small and your internal resources stretched, I believe you can always use a simple report to tell a really powerful story about your organisation. And if you don’t get it right first time around remember that you’ll get another chance next year…

Do you agree with what Laura said? Do you view the annual report as a strategic communication tool or a waste of time? Have you taken an innovative approach to your annual reporting? What does your market research says about its utility in achieving communication and business objectives?

Laura Fayers-Pooley is an account manager at Fenton Communications. She manages clients across Fenton’s sustainability and infrastructure, justice and professional services specialisations. She knows about annual reporting because prior to joining Fenton she was Public Affairs Coordinator at ANSTO, where she managed the production of publications including the annual report and corporate social responsibility report.

PS from Craig: I’d welcome you joining networks with me through my LinkedIn profile. Send me an invite!

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Set against the back-drop of an increasingly fast-paced society, information overload and attention erosion, a three-part series of guest posts by professional illustrator and strategic communicator, Guy Downes, aims to spark conversation and information sharing on the combined role words and images can play in helping PR pros communicate and engage audiences more effectively.  

People’s preference for visual learning, the increasing levels of information overload and the fact that images help us process information quicker, provides a unique opportunity to PR professionals to take visual communication more seriously.  

Human beings, after all, process visuals 66,000* times faster than text, underlining the need for the public relations industry to bolster its already strong written and verbal skill set with more visual communication techniques and ‘visual thinking’.  

Together with the explosion of social media (and an ever-growing selection of visual channels, as well as the greater accessibility to technology that helps capture, create and share images (plus measure their success), the prospects for visual communication are greater than ever.  

Sailing through a PR sea of verbage

The power of visuals  

At home, work or play, how often do you:  

• hear people say: “I get the picture”, “I see what you mean” or “The way I view it is this…”?
• find it easier ‘to see what you are learning’ with pictures in a presentation?
• refer to pictures in an instruction manual?
• read or watch a story accompanied by pictures?

Without realising it, visual communication and visual thinking is ubiquitous in our day-to-day lives. And we don’t seem to give it much thought. But in terms of effective and engaging communication, perhaps we should.  

Traditionally, in PR and communications the trusted form of written communication has dominated: reports, press releases, presentations and whitepapers, to name but a few.   

Yet studies show that 65 per cent of us are visual learners#.  

Additionally, when words, images and colour are used together correctly, they can be a very persuasive mix.  Research indicates that:  

• pictures interact with text to produce levels of comprehension and memory that can exceed what is produced by text alone^
• using visual aids during a presentation was found to be 43 per cent more persuasive than not using visual aids+ 
• besides improving readership by 40 per cent, colour also accelerates learning from 55 to 78 percent**, and comprehension by 73 per cent##. 

Visual thinking – what is it?  

Visual thinking is a wide-ranging topic but two experts in this area define it as:    

• using pictures to help you solve problems, think about complex issues and communicate more effectively (David Gray)
• our innate ability to use our eyes and our mind’s eye to discover, develop and share ideas (Dan Roam).

JWT’s 2010 Intelligence Report flags visual communication as a new trend to watch for this year. To be precise, JWT refers to it as the importance of ‘visual fluency’ (see their great video below) and defines it as the ‘growing preference and need for a graphic synthesis of information versus an avalanche of reading material’.  

So why do we need visual thinking?  

JWT’s definition for ‘visual fluency’ hits the mark. In today’s age of information overload, the battle for companies, brands and communication professionals to get their ‘messages’ noticed, understood and retained is greater than ever before. Consider these facts:  

• On an average day, ‘a typical worker gets 200 e-mails, dozens of instant messages, multiple phone calls (office phone and mobile phone), several text messages not to mention the vast amount of content that he/she has to contend with’ (Basex 2009) 
• Combined, the total paper and digital content in enterprises, governments, schools, and small businesses around the world will grow 67% a year between now and 2012 (IDC on behalf of Xerox, 2009).

Put simply, people are drowning in information and their attention is eroding.  

Eroding attention from the business of communication

What do you think about visual communication and its ability to communicate effectively? Is it used often enough by professional communicators? Can it convey the subtleties of all the information we need to communicate? Where can it be best utilised? What experiences can you share of where you have used visual communication to effectively engage stakeholders? What evocative and effective illustrations/images can you share with us?  

About Guy Downes  

Guy Downes is a graphic recorder and award-winning illustrator who runs his own visual communications venture.  Guy has 10 years experience in communication and public relations, having previously spent six years at Howorth (an Ogilvy PR Worldwide company) in Sydney and four years In London working for Banner and Weber Shandwick Technologies. Guy can be contacted at guy@guydownes.com.au   

The second post in this series will discuss where visual communication can be useful in PR and different visual communication techniques. The final post will discuss barriers to visual communication adoption (and some solutions…). 

* 3M Research 

# Reaching the Visual Learner: Teaching Property Through Art, William C. Bradford, University of Florida – Warrington College of Business 

^ J.R. Levin, A Transfer of Appropriate Process Perspective of Pictures in Prose 

+ University of Minnesota/3M Research, Persuasion and the Role of Visual Presentation Support, June 1986 

** Embry, David, “The Persuasive Properties of Color”, Marketing Communications, October 1984. 

## Johnson, Virginia, “The Power of Color”, Successful Meetings, June 1992, Vol 41, No. 7, pp. 87, 90.

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In this, the first of a two part series, Laura Fayers-Pooley provides practical tips for using annual reports as communication good, not evil. The first part of this series looks at getting your annual report house in order. Part two will focus on how to make an annual report a great PR tool.

If you can get past the statutory and legal requirements, annual reports can be an extremely effective weapon in the strategic public relations arsenal.

But before you turn what is potentially a blight on the PR communication calendar for many in-house practitioners into this ‘strategic weapon’, discipline must be instilled amongst the troops, expectations articulated and seniority used as an motivational tool of serious strategic import. 

PR professional, Laura Fayers

Mandatory annual report requirements

Regardless of whether you are based in a corporate, not-for-profit, or commercial in house function, annual reporting is something many PR pros will be required to contribute to, supervise or outsource at some stage in your career.

The first thing you need to do is find out the mandatory requirements and inclusions for your organisation. Don’t take it on faith that the person responsible for last year’s annual report (AR) did their homework correctly, or that the ground rules haven’t shifted in the last 12 months.

When I managed the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) annual report, I had to comply with a raft of Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet requirements for Australian Government agencies. These ranged from the physical size of the AR itself and inclusions such as a Ministerial letter, key performance indicators and financial statements, right through to our intended date of tabling in Parliament. ASX-listed companies, of course, have their own hurdles to jump through.

Every industry and organisation type will have its own essential requirements and your AR will never be a great publication in its own right unless you get these basics right.

There is no point having award-winning design and captivating writing if you deliver the wrong number of unbound copies to the Parliamentary Library or forget to include your corporate governance information.

Project plan and timeline

Devise a detailed project plan and timeline for compiling your report, including details of:

• how you will source information
• who is responsible for providing first drafts of material
• internal sign off responsibilities and timing.

Work backwards from the due date of your report and make sure you include time for printing, public holidays and a few days’ grace here and there to accommodate unexpected delays. Make sure you get senior management sign off and buy-in for your plan by seeking feedback, and support, on your approach.

I recommend finalising your draft plan three months prior to the end of your reporting year. Then kick off your first AR project meeting two months before the reporting year finishes. At ANSTO we had a 30 June end of financial year, so held our first meeting just after Easter.

Working with annual report suppliers

If outsourcing, select your contractors carefully. ARs are involved and time consuming. You don’t want to be left to select wallflower consultants from the best of a bad bunch because you left it too late. You’ll need to consider a number of issues and elements.

Writer or editor. In my experience, it is more important to employ a writer who is familiar with your industry than someone who is an expert in writing annual reports.

Designer. Write a comprehensive brief, ask for a quote upfront and ensure they have agreed to deliver the design according to your project plan:

• Double check they will handle print management and liaison, but check how much they’ll charge for this
• Make sure you ask how many hours of author’s corrections are included in their quote and what their rate is for additional corrections
• Ensure you’ve selected someone you can work with easily. It may even be worth using a small job as a test run. You’ll be spending a lot of time together over the next few months, so you need a good working relationship.

Printer. Use a printer experienced in producing annual reports. Your designer should be able to recommend several. Book your print timeslot ahead of schedule to ensure you make your own production deadline.

A good proof-reader. This can either be someone internal who is a stickler for grammar, or a professional proof-reader. At ANSTO, our AR writer recommended a great proofer on hourly rates. Don’t do it yourself or leave it to your writer – you need someone with fresh eyes and the ability to ensure that all the terms are understandable to the everyday reader.

An indexer who will also conduct a second proofing as a value-add:

• This job is a pain and should only be tackled by professionals
• The legal industry has plenty, and I found Puddingburn Publishing particularly good.

Be ruthless with deadlinesDon’t let anything come between you and making the deadlines on your project plan. Be ruthless. Escalate issues sooner rather than later.

You are relying on people who view the annual report as a tedious chore and one that is not meaningful to their role. Make their job as easy as possible and yours will be easier too.

Hold an introduction meeting and invite everyone involved in producing the report. Share your project plan.

Provide copies of text from previous years as a basis for updating (but not replicating!) their sections.

Avoid overwhelming people. Only send the information relevant to their section. Be crystal clear about deadlines:

• No matter how long they have had to supply initial content, send a personalised email reminder four days before the deadline
• Then chase people as soon as their deadline has passed
• Don’t be afraid to copy managers and executive into emails.

Get personal assistants onside. They manage their boss’s calendar and know senior management time demands. Their help will make sourcing information and acquiring sign off much easier.

Don’t let busy people hold off the sign off process. And make sure you cover yourself (i.e. your butt).

In ANSTO’s case, the only people who could really delay sign off were the highest levels of executive leadership and the Minster’s Department. With everyone else, an email request for a read receipt and the following phrase becomes invaluable: “Unless I hear from you by XXX date, I will assume you have signed off on this text.”

Summary

Employ these three golden rules of annual reporting and you will have built a solid foundation for a great report.

Laura’s next post will look at turning an annual report into a great communication tool, but until then it would be excellent to hear your tips for getting the basics right. Do you agree with what Laura said? Do you have any other perspectives on getting senior management involved and/or using them as a mechanism to frighten employees into compliance?

Laura Fayers-Pooley is an account manager at Fenton Communications. She manages clients across Fenton’s sustainability, infrastructure, justice and professional services specialisations. She knows about annual reporting because prior to joining Fenton she was Public Affairs Coordinator at ANSTO, where she managed the production of publications including the annual report and corporate social responsibility report.

PS. I’d welcome you joining networks with me through my LinkedIn profile. Send me an invite!

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The defining theme that, arguably, characterises the world’s leading authority on public relations, Professor James Grunig, extensive, career-long discussion of public relations is this: organisations that proactively create mutually meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships with their stakeholders, including anticipating issues and actively communicating with them during crises:

“…should be more likely to develop relationships with their publics that make it possible to achieve organisational objectives, develop a positive reputation, and reduce the consequences of poor relationships on the implementation of management decisions.”*

“In some ways,” Grunig says, “Public relations has not been changed by the revolution in digital media.” The illusion of stakeholders being controlled existed before and it still exists now. Stakeholders create their own reality. The only way to impact on this reality is to engage and share information, to evolve based on this sharing and to enhance the meaning that relationships bring.

He made this comment in his recently published article, Paradigms of global public relations in an age of digitalisation (Praxis, a digital PR resource centre.) The article had as its central point the potential that social media has to, “truly revolutionalise public relations – but only if a paradigm shift in the thinking of many practitioners and scholars takes place.”

Global public relations in an age of digitalisation: the story so far

This post is the final of a three-part series that discusses certain elements of the article. In the first post (featured on Trevor Young’s PR Warrior blog, as was the second), the following elements were explored:

• how social media has complicated stakeholder targeting and communication
• the notion of ‘giving’ that characterises both public relations and social media
• the lack of control that organisations have over their stakeholders.

In the second post, key elements included:

• the participation required to utilise social media to its full effect
• the dialectic between reputation and engagement for organisational stakeholders
• social media as an issues management activity.

What social media can do for public relations

Social media, Grunig says, has “the potential to make the profession more global, strategic, two-way and interactive, symmetrical or dialogical, and socially responsible.” This will not occur, he warns, if PR pros use it as a means of “dumping messages”, however. Rather, he counsels professionals to interact with stakeholders and bring information, “from the environment into organisational decision-making.”

Social media, if not the ideal way to create this meaning (surely it is direct, interpersonal, face-to-face interaction which still rules here), is clearly becoming more and more influential in this regard.

Human beings are increasingly relying on these forms of communication. For some, social media/digital communication dominates their reality. And, certainly, the information they receive through these mediums, has a considerable degree of credibility. It has been argued that this is due to much of this information coming from individuals, rather than organisations.

Information that enters the social media realm and receives either a deliberate and strategised – or a non-designed organic – impetus from the solar systems of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and their ilk can also have a cumulative, snowball-building ‘word-of-mouth’ effect that the planet has not experienced to this degree before.

Organisations can contribute to this multi-connected and multi-source generated and accelerated dimension. But they sure as hell can’t control it.

Social media is providing public relations with an opportunity to reinforce its importance to business and society. The profession is, in many cases, trying to take advantage of this opportunity. The question is, will it succeed?

The answer, according to Grunig, is only if we institutionalise public relations as a strategic management discipline, one that provides a vitally important element to business strategy and organisational culture.

“I have long provided evidence that public relations has greater value both for organisations and society when it is strategic, managerial, symmetrical, integrated [but not sublimated], diverse, and ethical,” summarised Professor Grunig. “Public relations, when practiced according to this global theory, helps organisations to achieve their goals, cultivate relationships in societies and globally, and reduce conflict.”

In the first post of this three-part series, issues discussed included how social media has complicated stakeholder targeting and communication, the notion of ‘giving’ that characterises both public relations and social media and the lack of control that organisations have over their stakeholders. In the second post, issues discussed included the participation required to utilise social media to its full effect, the dialectic between reputation and engagement for organisational stakeholders and social media as an issues management activity

What are your thoughts on Grunig’s thoughts and on this series of posts? Did you find them of value? Were there any aspects, arguments or thoughts you disagreed with? How can public relations enhance its professional standing and achieve its potential? What role or opportunity does social media have to play in this?

PS. I’d welcome you joining networks with me through my LinkedIn profile. Send me an invite!

*[Note that I am not differentiating, as Grunig does, between ‘stakeholders’ and ‘publics’. I am using the terms as synonyms.]

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When formulating round tables, public relations professionals need to decide whether to invite media to attend and whether to offer media exclusives. It is generally the major objective of a white paper process to gain positive media coverage for the ‘sponsoring organisation’, though there are a plethora of mechanisms through which the white paper content can be leveraged.

­Round table – media participation or not?

There is value, and there are limitations, in having a media outlet involved in the round table (RT). The approach taken will depend on the importance of the media involved to the ‘sponsoring organisation’s’ positioning and stakeholders.

Important elements to bear in mind when considering this question include:

• Do not involve media as a round table participant if it will stop you from gaining the desired coverage from priority media (or any media you want coverage in, for that matter)
• If involving a media outlet in the round table, however, helps achieve your media placement objectives – then it’s a no-brainer: go for it
• The participating media outlet will want an exclusive on the content – so they get to use it first
• That’s fine, but only if you are happy for it to be the only media outlet that covers the round table/white paper issues; or you can create a media campaign that still allows for other coverage (you may have a one mainstream metro media outlet and multiple B2B outlet media placement approach, for instance, which sounds feasible, strategic and useful to me; or you can crack a deal (unlikely) with the media outlet only using certain aspects of the white paper content and leaving some residual content to place/be discussed elsewhere
• As I have written before, you can create a campaign for metro media that is based on one article or op-ed being placed and then you can leverage radio and/or TV coverage off that single placement
• The other option is getting a media outlet present that is part of a broader network, so the syndication of the story leads to multiple placements, but just within one media ‘house’ (once again, an entirely feasible and potentially valuable approach)
• You will be hard-pressed to contain a media outlet from leaving the content alone until the white paper is prepared and your coordinated roll out of its content is underway – they are insatiable and impatient animals (and live and die for exclusives)!

Public relations’ media coverage: giving an exclusive – yea or nay?

One approach to apply with securing media coverage is arranging an exclusive/placement with one metro publishing house and one exclusive with a vertical B2B publishing house. This may lead to more than one actual placement in both sectors. Additionally, there is generally not a lot of perceived competition between metro media and vertical B2B media:

• One is published virtually instantaneously and one takes longer
• Metro is often for a broader audience and B2B is generally for a more niche audience
• Metro media is often more particular than B2B in publishing content (oh shoot me down B2B media!) so it’s generally much easier to get placement in the latter
• After the content is used in metro media the issues not covered can be value-added to and used as a B2B media relations campaign.

And don’t forget, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush……..make sure you are smart when creating your media placement KPIs. Sure, get it so its business-relevant et al, but you also want to make sure you over-achieve, not, gasp, under-deliver!!

In other words, if getting that single placement is all important on different levels (strategically appropriate to target audiences, makes you look good in front of your organisation etc), then it may well be a prudent methodology to apply. Be smart about this on a variety of levels.

White paper for public relations results

The white paper features information gathered during the round table and provides thought leadership from all participants. Relationship enhancement/marketing activity that can follow with the white paper includes using it:

• as the basis for a media program, either using an issues-based multiple placement or to generate op-eds to place in print media or one-off interviews on radio and/or television. These approaches are not mutually exclusive
• as a direct mail piece to prospects of the sponsoring organisation to help generate new business
• on the sponsoring organisation’s website and/or promoting it – and hence the organisation – through a social media campaign
• as the basis for a speaking program at industry events
• to enhance the positioning of the sponsoring organisation in a specific area (e.g. IT solutions, manufacturing innovation, food packaging). Alternatively, it can also help an organisation break new ground in their positioning, entering a domain they are not generally recognised as being experts in
• as a means by an organisational leader, such as a CEO, stamp his or her authority/expertise on a particular topic. This is a particularly useful approach for a CEO who has recently joined an organisation
• as an employee communication positioning device, which is an extrapolation of the point immediately above.

One final observation: whilst it might be stating the obvious, it does not take a round table to produce a marketing communication white paper. It can be based on a precept which is simply discussed internally by senior, or technically astute, employees. This can then be pushed out via various communication mechanisms as discussed above.

Another methodology is having a precept, then undertaking market research to support, extrapolate or challenge the precept. The research can be complemented by a discussion on a ‘white paper level’. So what you get here is in fact two elements of value to media, especially, but also to other stakeholders:

• Statistics
• Thought leadership.

From a public relations perspective, both have cut-through, both enable a sponsoring organisation’s positioning to be enhanced, so both are winners.

This is the final of a three-part series on round tables and white papers. The first post was an overall strategic discussion of round tables’ and white papers’ value. The second post featured tips on getting participants to attend a round table, facilitating it and taking an alternative approach to round tables.

 What did you think of this discussion? What is your experience in holding round tables and producing white papers? Have you ever invited the media? What were your media placement results?

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