The Trend: Long before real-time marketing became hot, PR was on the front-lines of seizing a moment and immediately influencing the conversation, shaping opinions and influencing buying decisions. Content creation, storytelling, brand messaging and event engagement put PR squarely in the middle of today’s best B2C and B2B real-time marketing programs. Through social, digital, mobile and branded networks, PR can pivot quickly and take full advantage of the news of the day to amplify its messages. Many of the biggest brands that are active in real-time marketing have dedicated social media and content hubs where PR is a full-time participant. Everyone is working seamlessly to push out content, solicit audience participation, leverage trends and share stories. To ensure success, follow these five key principles: be strategic, be engaging, be authentic, be relevant and be shareable.
Of course, it all starts with storytelling. Great storytelling is the foundation of any effective PR campaign and the creative soul of connecting with your audience. We are bombarded by tons of content that either sticks, or quickly fades away. A good story with a relevant message that connects on a personal level builds trust in the source and keeps the audience asking for more. The story doesn’t always have to be pretty or perfect. Often the backstory, the process and even mistakes in the process can be more interesting than just talking about the finished perfect product.
The Reaction: I see the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation as a PR factory because it’s based on helping people, as we say, “to feed their dreams and build their futures.” So it’s all about creating pathways to opportunity and success, helping people to be successful in the restaurant, food service and hospitality industry. From a PR standpoint, that’s an incredibly rich environment for amazing storytelling. We tell our stories in real time on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
The stories we tell are multi-generational, multi-cultural and involve one of the most exciting industries on the planet. I can’t think of another industry that is more inclusive or diverse and provides a creative outlet for entrepreneurs and people seeking ways to express themselves. That’s the basis of all our storytelling. It’s a huge advantage.
We find people relate to our stories because we work to ensure they’re incredibly authentic and real. We’re relevant not only to people we’re serving as we help them achieve their dreams in this business and people already in the industry, but to members of the public who go to restaurants. In addition this is a business that touches lots of industries. This means we’re not limited. That’s another advantage.
I had the same advantages when I worked at Marriott International. The hotel industry also is content factory. People want nothing more than to talk about, hear about, read about and look at great travel experiences, and even not-so-great experiences.
When you can add a story to your campaign, event, promotion or whatever it is you’re trying to get out, having a good story to go with it makes all the difference in the world. It will actually bring people more regularly to your message and create more loyalty among your audience because they’ll be invested and engaged in what you’re doing through that story. Good storytelling is what gets shared, so your audience becomes part of your PR operation.
What’s The Story?
It is incumbent upon PR pros to ask “What is the story and what are we trying to communicate?” The bottom line is you must assess what you’re working with, how relevant it’s going to be to people and how you’re going to approach and target different audiences. But you’ve got to have a really solid story to begin.
With real-time PR you don’t always know what the story is going to be; it just happens. It’s all a matter of what you’re going to do with it. So the training of PR pros consists of knowing what makes a good story so you can identify when opportunities are presented.
We were just in Charleston, South Carolina, where late in April we will have the annual National ProStart Invitational. ProStart is a national competition where states send their best high school-level culinary arts and restaurant management student teams to compete. To capture the excitement, we are amping-up our PR and marketing with the addition of a real-time social media hub, ProStart Live. Our ProStart Live buzz makers will chronicle the competition start to finish with interviews, video, photo booths, special programing, sponsor experiences and behind-the-scenes access. ProStart Live will be the NPSI’s hub to post stories, images and video, engage with participants and share the ProStart story nationwide. #NPSI2017
Another aspect of storytelling I mentioned: People are very interested in process and behind-the-scenes material. If it’s positioned correctly, it can really help tell your story and get out your message. We see a lot of that here in that people want behind-the-scenes stories from ProStart.
At Marriott, fans were interested in the incredible hotel room, the great views and the marble in the lobby. But we had as much (if not more) success showing them how things were put together, the design elements, the fixtures, the furniture. Where the marble came from and how the staff was trained. What went into designing the hotel. These details can add a lot of richness and texture to your storytelling.
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