Month: March 2021

At our Orlando PR agency, we spend an enormous amount of time thinking about how to reach external audiences—all those groups you are hoping will buy your product or service or idea—and generating revenue or results on your behalf.

All too often, however, we find that people overlook the vital role internal communication plays in enabling your employees and staff to understand and value your marketing success and the positive results that means for their job security and satisfaction.

The fact is the better your staff understands what you are telling your important contacts, the better they can reflect and reinforce the kinds of values and messages you are seeking to project.

And, as all of us have experienced in 2020 and 2021, the impact of COVID-19 has underscored the importance of internal communications.

Internal communications is where PR begins

Your staff and employees are the first audience that needs to grasp what you are trying to accomplish. The better they understand what you are doing and how you plan to get there, the more they can assist you in reaching your goal.

Involving your staff in your communications plan signals that you value their ideas, their input and their direct involvement. Involving your personnel allows them to better understand what you are saying and enables them to clearly and consistently project the same messaging you are sending to your key audiences.

At our Orlando PR firm, when we develop PR plans, we always include our client’s staff and employees under “audiences we want to reach.”

The three key sources of internal communications

Precisely how you go about communicating with your personnel differs in every organization.

Large organizations with multiple locations, for example, have different internal communications challenges than smaller organizations based at one location.

There are, however, three key internal communications sources that are common to every organization. These include:

Management – top-down dispersal of information such as strategies, company results, internal and external information, and other important general information that will affect one’s organization.

Face-to-face – briefing individuals on tasks and situations.

Resources – the intranet, email, social media, messaging, video calls, telephone.

What management says – and how they say it – is important because it sets the tone for your overall forward direction. If staff understands what the organization is doing, where it is headed, and how it plans to get there, they can buy into the program. Further, management messaging is critical because employees look to management for motivation, direction and leadership.

Face-to-face communications provide the personal touch leadership and internal communications demand. Whether it is a “town hall” gathering, a staff meeting or a Zoom video, putting your face and voice in contact with staff is key to building a management-employee relationship that can succeed.

Finally, orchestrating the resources by which you reach employees is important because the resources serve as the bridge to your staff. No matter what the message, an internal communications plan must include the same basic elements of an external PR plan: who, what, where, why, when, and how.

We can help you strengthen your internal communications

The vast majority of our clients want us to reach outward to their key marketing targets and amplify sales results.

We wholeheartedly agree that sales and results must head in in a positive direction for an organization to succeed.

We also subscribe to the notion that involving your staff and employees through simple, direct communications that clarify your goals, hopes and expectations, adds strength, consistency and enthusiasm to whatever goal you are seeking to attain. The old adage “there is strength in numbers” comes to mind when you add the know-how and willingness of your staff and employees to your marketing mix.

Want to learn more about how you can amplify your internal communications program to get more out of your marketing mix? Give us a call at Wellons Communications and allow our Orlando marketing agency to get better acquainted with your organization and how you can actively involve them in getting more from your overall marketing program.

You know your company has a good piece of news to share. You have been meaning to write up a formal company announcement for weeks now. And yet, every time you go to write, your fingers pause over the keys. You get pulled away to put out a fire. Your client work just seems more important. Or maybe you just don’t know where to start.

Trust us, we are very familiar with the struggles our agency public relations clients go through to put their company first and get the piece of content out the door (we like to think we can help with that!)

But regardless of whether you write the content yourself or your PR firm provides the assist, the point is that content is valuable. You put hard-won time into pieces, and you want to capitalize on the news you have to best position your company for future success.

That’s why you need to be sure you’re making the most of every piece of content you have. It might seem incredibly simple, but the best advice usually is.

Are you getting the most out of your content?

Write it once. Use it many times.

At our Orlando PR firm, we like to talk about this concept so much, we made it into a graphic. (We call it the Wellons Wheel).

The idea is that you write content once and use it for the original purpose you intended. But too often, clients stop there. They don’t realize that they’re actually sitting on a goldmine. That same piece of content can be repurposed and used as an SEO blog, a social media post, a piece of sales collateral and/or a staff memo.

While your personal wheel can be slightly customized to fit your industry, the message is the same. When you create content, you should always be asking how else can I use this?

A content checklist

The Wellons Wheel can also be turned into a content checklist. We often see the cycle play out like this:

A client has an idea or a story come up. Let’s say it’s a milestone anniversary for the company. They notify their public relations agency, sending the necessary information. The agency drafts a press release and distributes it.

Next, the client can take this information and tweak it slightly for an SEO post on the company blog. This can be shared to social media with a great graphic and a link back to the site. At the same time, it can be included in a company eblast. If the client desired, the same could be designed as a postcard for a sales touch to inspire confidence in the company, and the client can share the great news with the staff.

This boosts the potential reach of the news way beyond the simple press release that was originally intended.

A content checklist might look like this:

• Write a press release
• Post an SEO blog
• Share on social
• Share in eblast
• Share internally
• Decide if sales material is appropriate

Any of these steps might also spur a follow up story or another idea, and the cycle begins again.

The point, of course, is efficiency and consistency. When you go to the trouble of sharing valuable insights or news, you want to maximize your return. Doing so is usually simple—it’s just a matter of implementing the system.

Need some help running the play or creating content in the first place? As a Central Florida PR firm, that’s our specialty. Give Will a call at 407-462-2718 or email him at will@wellonscommunications.com.

You have a resume. You have a LinkedIn and a handful of other profiles, social media and professional.

So why is it, when your team needs bios for the website or a contact asks you to send your bio over, your fingers freeze over the keys?

A great professional bio is one of the shortest pieces of content you’ll write, but it’s also one of the most important—and that’s exactly what makes it so paralyzingly difficult.

Need to add one to your professional stockpile? Here’s how.

You have a resume. You have a LinkedIn and a handful of other profiles, social media and professional.

So why is it, when your team needs bios for the website or a contact asks you to send your bio over, your fingers freeze over the keys?

A great professional bio is one of the shortest pieces of content you’ll write, but it’s also one of the most important—and that’s exactly what makes it so paralyzingly difficult.

Need to add one to your professional stockpile? Here’s how.

Just like a headshot, a solid professional bio is a key piece of content every executive should have on hand. It’s just like a logo or boilerplate for a business—it’s part of your personal professional brand.

And just like a branding piece, a bio says a lot about you, from the tone in which it is written to what accomplishments you choose to highlight. Giving the piece some thought in advance means you’re not only prepared to act quickly and capitalize on opportunities when you need it, you’ll also have time to ensure it says exactly what you want it to say.

Additionally, having a crafted bio on hand means you’ll be able to fully fill out profiles and add a personal touch to your digital trail, including your company website.

What makes a great bio?

There’s no one way to write a bio, but great ones all share a few traits—they’re informative, they’re interesting and they’re short.

Similar to a cover letter, your bio is your chance to express yourself. It shouldn’t be a reiteration of your resume or a chronicle of everything you’ve done since graduating high school. Instead, think of it as your chance to tell your story.

In order to keep your bio interesting, steer away from the cliches, and hit the high points. Think about it like your own personal elevator speech. Take a page from a journalist’s playbook and write it in the inverted pyramid style, with the most important features at top, lesser details below and the boring tidbits left out completely.

And most importantly, keep it short. It’s tempting to include all of your amazing accomplishments, but try to keep your bio between 300 and 500 words (or, at least give yourself a “short” version and a “long” version).

How to write a professional bio

OK, so you know why you need it and you know what to do—but how do you write a professional bio?

At our Orlando marketing agency, we have plenty of experience doing just that. When we sit down to write an executive bio or bios for the whole team, we follow a few simple steps.

First, figure out what direction you want to go. Do you want to strike a casual tone or a more formal one? Will you write in first person or third?

Next, determine how the bio will be used. Is this for your website? Something to have on hand for award programs or speaking engagements? Will you be writing this for yourself, or will the entire team need a bio? This will help determine what you want to include and if you need to create a template for uniformity.

Now, consider what you want to say. Here are a few common sections you might want to include.

• First and last name
• Position and company name
• Short description of responsibilities
• Professional history and experience
• Professional achievements
• Education
• Personal hobbies
• Fun fact

Once you’ve decided what to include, it’s time to get writing (and editing) until you have a great bio you can customize for any need.

Turn to our Orlando PR firm for help mastering the bio 

Writing a professional bio takes a little time and a lot of understanding of the audience and process, but a well-written bio is a vital tool.

Fingers still poised over those keys? Writing about yourself can be tricky, so if you’re stuck and still want to reap the benefits of a great bio, leave it to the professionals. Give us a call at 407-339-0879 or email will@wellonscommunications.com. We would be happy to review your goals and share our writing skills with you.