Sometimes a challenge for companies and brands looking to engage with their audiences and the media is that, it’s just business as usual. So when there’s nothing particularly ‘newsworthy’, how do you make sure you can remain top-of-mind and that your voice is still heard among the public?
Commenting on and engaging with topical issues and stories is one way to do this. Not all the content you share needs to be entirely focused on your brand; you can leverage news and current affairs in a number of different ways. Here are just two examples:
Provide expert commentary
Are you a financial guru? A tech-wiz? An advocate for a cause? When news and events break that are relevant to your area of expertise, take the opportunity to respond and give your opinion. What do you think of that new legislation and how it will affect the industry? What will this new technological development mean for consumers? Reacting to the events in the news keeps you in a topical vortex and can establish you as a thought leader and source of information.
Insert your brand in the story
A great example of this is a recent advertisement from Toyota, taking advantage of the tabloid hype surrounding Jay-Z and Solange’s fight in an elevator. The simple execution and clever, subtle tagline demonstrate the brand’s ability to use humour and show that they are up to date with trending stories.
Image via Adland on Twitter
What not to do
However, it’s important to use common sense and not dive in to every trending issue. Know your audience, know your brand and be able to pick when something is not a good fit or isn’t an issue of which you should make light. Ogilvy & Mather landed in hot water this week for an advertisement featuring the shooting of Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai. Part of a series that showed famous figures ‘bouncing back’ from hardship on an Indian brand of mattresses; the adverts were deemed to be in very bad taste and prompted the firm to issue an apology.
Identifying issues and events that you can leverage is a particular but highly useful skill for any communicator. Pesel & Carr partners with clients to keep up to date with news and help create opportunities for commentary and engagement. For more information, contact us here at P&C.
Source: PR Daily
