Author: Wellons team

Using Artificial Intelligence in Public Relations

Posted on by Wellons team

The onset of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in creating information about virtually anything has been sudden and enormously impactful.

If you feel your understanding of AI may be lacking and how it is transforming business, you have plenty of company. It feels like AI has arrived overnight…so fast that it has all of us feeling our way forward to adjusting to what seems to be morphing into an Artificial Intelligence business world.

In particular, the marketing and public relations industries are on the front line of industries feeling AI’s influence and how it affects marketing programs like yours.

Getting comfortable with Artificial Intelligence

If you feel you need to get better acquainted with AI, here is some information that will help you better understand AI and how it is changing how we are doing business:

A great place to start is Microsoft’s AI for Small Business: A Beginner’s Guide.

More in-depth drives into AI and where it may fit into your business:

  • McKinsey & Company Quarterly Five Fifty Real World AI offers hundreds of examples of how AI is being incorporated into business management and marketing
  • Everything PR News offers insights on AI’s role in PR in The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Public Relations
  • Forbes business writer Ali Payani provides a thoughtful analysis of AI’s impact on marketing in Embracing the Future: How AI Is Revolutionizing Marketing and Sales

So, how is Artificial Intelligence affecting public relations?

AI is enabling PR practitioners like Wellons Communications to more rapidly and analyze data quickly and accurately.

It helps identify trends and insights. It influences development of develop targeted messaging and campaigns, including what is already being said about you and your competitors.

AI is improving the accuracy and efficiency of media monitoring and analysis.

Can AI replace the need for public relations practitioners?

Nope.

AI is a big help to PR professionals, but it lacks the humanity necessary to gauge or “read” public opinion and what matters to people. It can assemble and organize information, but it lacks the creative spark that can point that information toward an original, productive marketing campaign.

What AI does do for PR agencies like Wellons Communications to more rapidly and analyze data and ideas quickly and accurately. It helps identify trends and insights. It influences development targeted messaging and campaigns. AI is also improving the accuracy and efficiency of media monitoring and analysis.

AI is particularly helpful in media monitoring; analysis of what media is saying and how that information might affect your industry or your business and providing.

The final decisions on what you could or should do, in response to AI analysis, however, still requires a human touch and sound decision making.

Can small businesses like yours use AI in their marketing?

AI-driven personalized marketing campaigns can help build stronger connections with customers and increase brand loyalty.
Also, AI-powered content creation tools can accelerate and streamline the content creation process, saving businesses time and money.

How does Wellons Communications use AI?

We’re already using AI to strengthen our clients’ public relations and publicity programs.

We use AI to transcribe interviews, capture notes and ideas, create content more efficiently and better predict the changes of a PR pitch earning coverage.

Using tools like Cision, Grammarly and Meltwater Propels “PitchPrefer,” we can play to media preferences in what kind of information they want to receive or what they seek.

Best of all, we can take advantage of AI’s power to work more quickly and efficiently, which means you get more from us in less time.

We would love to explore how we can harness the power AI to accelerate your PR and overall marketing program.

If you’re ready to put AI to put some kick into your marketing program but feel hesitant about what to do or where to start, give our PR firm a call and talk to us…in human (not AI) terms.

What’s your elevator pitch?

Posted on by Wellons team

Whatever product or service you are marketing, it’s the most important product service in the world…to you. That’s because your livelihood depends on successfully marketing it.

The importance of what you market brings us to attention spans; the all-important length of time you have to grab someone’s attention.

You have less than 10 seconds to capture and hold someone’s attention.

Try these facts on for size:

  • The average human attention span is only 8.25 seconds, which is less than the goldfish’s 9-second attention span.
  • The average adult internet user’s attention span is 8.25 seconds, influenced by the increasing distractions on the internet, social media, and the environment.
  • The average attention span of a human has decreased significantly over the years, from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds in 2013.

With attention spans diminishing, the importance of keeping your message clear, simple, and direct has never been more important.

Seconds count: the importance of a good elevator speech.

If you had all the time in the world, talking about what you sell would be no problem. But you don’t. You are limited on time. There is no room for redundancy or lack of clarity.

In short, if you fail to capture your audience’s attention, the rest of your messaging may as well not happen

So…to keep up with shortening attentions, our answer is the elevator speech

An elevator speech is a short message conveying who you are, what you do and the value your product or service brings to your audience. It is one of the most effective ways to promote your personal brand and one of the simplest, most powerful tools for any marketer.

When you combine the importance of an effective elevator speech with the lessening of attention spans, it means your message’s first eight seconds are critical to connecting with your audience.

Wellons uses elevator speeches to pitch media.

At Wellons Communications, one of the first things we do for our clients is to create an elevator speech that we can use to pitch media about our clients. That’s because we only have eight seconds to get the attention of media, who are bombarded with pitches and story idea from folks like us.

While we have eight seconds to capture attention, we have about 30 seconds to augment what we have established in the first eight seconds.

Good news: the same elevator speech has greater value that simply pitching to media. It can be used to convey what you do (and why it’s newsworthy or important) to virtually anyone…particularly potential customers. 

At Wellons, we use elevator speeches to pitch media

Our first objective in pitching media is to ensure that our message has value to whomever we are pitching. Media want to hear pitches that are newsworthy and have some connection to the audience they service.  So…our elevator speech is tailored to the journalist we are pitching.

Here are a couple of examples of elevator speeches we use to pitch stories to media:

I’m Will with Wellons Communications, in Florida. I want to offer you a story idea that we believe will connect with your readers (or viewers or listeners). It’s about how technology is making it easier for attorneys to research information that can reduce hours and make it more affordable to clients to use their legal services.

I’m Lauren with Wellons Communications, an Orlando PR firm. We have come across a story idea that has characteristics that lend themselves to your news outlet. It’s about how changes in tourism in Florida have changed since the peak of COVID in 2020.

So, what would a typical elevator speech look or sound like?

A short elevator speech will include five key elements: an introduction, a definition of the challenges of the target audience, a reference to how to solve the challenge, why you are best suited to solve that challenge, and a call to action.

Here are a couple of examples…in response to “What do you do?”

I’m with Daily Grind, a coffee marketer. We coordinate the delivery of high-quality coffee beans to coffee shops throughout North America. We save money for our clients by arranging transport of coffee beans from directly from growers who can roast coffee beans on site and ship them directly to the coffee shop.

I’m with Little Thrills, a recently opened tourist attraction in Florida. We offer guests more than 30 fun, totally safe, rides that are crafted to allow parents and children to both enjoy a fun experience together. It’s brand new and well within the budget of most families.

Both elevator speeches are short, to the point, and include a value proposition.

Work with Wellons to create your elevator speech

How’s your elevator speech? Do you use one? Do all of your employees know what it is? Do they use it too?

Our PR agency is happy to set you up with an elevator speech program that starts with an appropriate elevator speech and by expanding the elevator speech throughout your organization, ensuring that all of your employees to use the same elevator speech with consistency and pride in your organization.

Call us and tell us more about your business…and try your elevator speech out on us!

Are you capitalizing on your winning stories?

Posted on by Wellons team

“Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser.” –

Gen. George S. Patton

If you count yourself among the winners, then it’s the story of your successes, and what they do for your clients, is a story that you need tell….over and over.

“Facts and figures and all the rational things that we think are important in the business world actually don’t stick in our minds at all,” says Nick Morgan, author of Power Cues,” but stories create “sticky” memories by attaching emotions to things that happen. That means leaders who can create and share winning stories have a powerful advantage over others.”

Put away modesty

Your first thought may be “Well, telling our story is going to sound like bragging.”

Wrong.

If you don’t tell your story, nobody else is going to do it for you. In fact, others may take your story and define it in their own terms…and to their advantage.

It is solely up to you to identify your strengths and successes and then tell people about them. And that’s where public relations enters into the marketing mix of your overall communications.

Keep your customers first when you tell your story

Put your story in a context that puts your customers and employees first. Choose a framework that will resonate with your listeners and audience

For example, people don’t want to hear “We have lots of experience.” What they want to hear is “Here’s how our experience has led to successful outcomes for our clients and how our experience will lead to results.” And then back up your story by reporting some results.

According to the Harvard Business Review:

“First, companies should inventory their existing market research and customer insight data, looking for qualitative descriptions of what motivates their customers—desires for freedom, security, success, and so on.”

Second, companies should analyze their best customers to learn which of the motivators just identified are specific or more important to the high-value group.”

So, what kind of stories should I tell?

A story without a challenge simply is not very interesting. Good storytellers understand that a story needs conflict.

Define a challenge that confronted your customer. Then tell how your business solved the problem.

Here’s an example:

“After years of significant membership growth, the Society for Pet Adoption (SPA) began to experience a significant downturn in new membership. SPA needed to find a way to attract new, younger members to supplement the loss of aging and dying members.”

And then explain, in simple, basic terms how SPA reversed the trend.

“SPA augmented online communications to better reach and appeal to a younger family demographic. Their website added appealing visuals of pets in need of adoption and featured “New Surroundings,” showcasing how the adoption of a pet provided a common point of emotional connection that positively involved every member of both the immediate family and their friends. Media found the New Surroundings stories offered emotional appeal to their audiences and adopted some of the winning stories for features in their news reports.” The membership decline reversed itself within a nine-month period”

The formula 1. Problem. 2. Solution. 3 Results.

Let us help you craft and tell your winning stories

As public relations practitioners, we are professional storytellers. We are also professional marketers.

We combine marketing and storytelling to help our clients more effectively reach their customers and potential customers.

We can help you clarify your strengths and how you are helping your customers. And, just as important, we can identify and share your story with powerful media sources who are always looking out for stories they can share with their audiences.

And, once we have crafted your story, we can develop ways and means to augment what you have to say. Powerful photos. Attention-getting video. Research that underlines your results.

We help media make your story become their story. Call our Orlando PR firm to help you put your story in the hands of media best suited to reach your key target audiences.

Give us a call. Share with us what kind of winning stories you want to tell. After all, like General Patton said so eloquently, “Americans love winners.”

And rely on us to help you develop the story of your brand and generate positive results for your business or organization.

The inside scoop about pitching stories to media

Posted on by Wellons team

Some of the questions we receive from our clients — and potential clients — underscore their curiosity about how we go about presenting ideas, known as pitching stories in the PR trade, to news media.

Some of the questions we field include:

  • How do you know which media to pitch?
  • How do you know which media are most receptive to news about what we do?
  • Is there some kind of standardized process you employ to pitch media?
  • What is the best way to pitch media?
  • Is pitching an effective means for placing stories?

These are all good questions. So, we’re going to give you a peek under the curtain to illustrate how we pitch and what we do to maximize our pitching success rate.

All pitches are different.

No two pitches are alike That’s because all stories are unique.

To illustrate…

The opening of a new restaurant will have interest to local consumer media where the restaurant is opening and trade media that regularly cover the food and beverage industry.

So, pitching the news about the new restaurant will be directed to local print media, online news sources, broadcast news sources (including podcasts), as well as any national or regional trade media who seek information on the food and beverage industry.

More specifically, the story will be directed to individuals who cover dining and lifestyle topics. The same story, with a slightly different slant, will be directed toward sources that cover consumer business news and food and beverage trade news.

When it gets down to differentiating the new opening, it is our job to dig out what makes the story newsworthy and craft a story that makes the news relevant to the media that matter most to the client’s business. Maybe it’s a menu item that is totally unique or reflective of a popular dining trend. Or maybe it’s the reputation and renowned ability of the restaurant’s chef or the debut of the restaurant in an entirely new area.

What are some of the keys to making pitches work?

Thanks to research compiled by organizations like Meltwater, Cision, and ContentGrip, all of whom offer comprehensive media monitoring, as well as our own experience, we have a keen knowledge of the key components to make pitching stories work.

For example:

  • About one in five journalists prefer to receive pitches on Monday, but more than half of journalists don’t care what day they are pitched stories. Most journalists say they prefer to be pitched before noon.
  • More than half of journalists get at least a quarter of the stories they publish from pitches.
  • Approximately 67% prefer to get pitches that are less than 200 words long. Well over half (61%) say that two to three paragraphs are the sweet spot.
  • 49% of journalists say they seldom or never respond to pitches. 24% said they respond about half the time, 18% usually do and 8% always do (thank goodness for the eight percent!).
  • The leading reason for immediately rejecting otherwise relevant pitches is a lack of personalization.
  • Overwhelmingly (90%) prefer personalized, one-to-one pitching.

We create “pitches” that hit the strike zone.

It is clear from research, and our own experience, that pitches must be tailored to the individual receiving them.

No respectable journalist is interested in a pitch that is from a PR firm casting as wide a net as possible. Individual journalists want to be treated as individuals and are considerably more likely to pay attention to those PR professionals that recognize and respect their work and individual style.

With that in mind, our pitches at Wellons Communications are really a series of individualized pitches tailored to each individual journalist. This requires upwards of thirty to forty individualized emails, letters or phone calls aimed directly to each individual journalist’s wants and needs.

Take advantage of our pitching abilities

Our team has experience from both sides of the communications spectrum. Members of our public relations agency have served as journalists and we have served as publicity specialists, experience that has enabled us to know what kind of information media seeks, how and when they need it, and how to get the information to them.

When it comes time for your story to be told, call on us at Wellons Communication to start pitching stories … preceded, of course, by a well-designed plan that includes all the elements to enable your story to be presented in the most robust fashion possible.

Make your onscreen messages count

Posted on by Wellons team

Public relations is rooted in effective communications. And, in today’s society, communications increasingly reflects what people see and hear on the internet.   

Consider these statistics: 

  • The average American spends seven hours and four minutes looking at a screen each day. Gen Z averages even more time…nine hours of screen time each day.
  • In the past decade, daily screen time has increased nearly 50 minutes per day.
  • Recent figures suggest the average person spends upwards of 40 percent of their waking hours on an internet-connected screen.
  • The general average time spent on a website is 53 seconds.

 So, what does all that screen time mean? 

The increasing amount of time that your audience is gazing at a screen means that you are fighting for attention with a powerful new medium that less than three decades ago was just finding its “sea legs.”  

Traditional media — television, print, and radio – no longer rule the communications world. Today, we can find basic information on almost anything with a Google search or, with a few more clicks, obtain detailed information on a particular subject.  

What this means is that your onscreen messaging must communicate quickly and effectively.  

At Wellons Communication, here some basic that we employ to augment our client’s online marketing communications: 

Know what your audience is seeking. 

Before you can begin to make your website more effective, you have a clear understanding of what your target market wants and needs.   

Why do they come to your website? What has worked well? What has not worked?  What onscreen information draws the most comments or generates the most sales? 

Once you know what your audience wants and needs, it makes your communications messaging considerably easier and more effective.  

For example, by defining the audience’s problem – and serving up your service as the solution –you immediately connect with your audience.  

Get right to the point.  

When your website visitor arrives at your web page, the two things they look at first are your heading and your first bloc of text.  

If your headlines and introductory copy blocs are off target, visitors will bounce off the page right away. Make it incredibly clear what value you’re offering, what question you’re answering and establish yourself as the best solution. 

If you deliver valuable information right away, you build trust with your website visitor, which means they will remain on your website for a longer period. 

Let images, graphics, and video tell your story.  

Images are critical for engagement. Just adding video to a blog, for example, will see an increase most engagement metrics by a factor of four. 

If you are just starting, our PR agency can help you find free stock images, while remembering to check the copyrights for the image and give credit where credit is due.  

 The most effective way to add graphics to your website is to utilize a professional graphic designer to create custom images, icons, and graphics in your branded colors for your site. 

So how can Wellons help you with your online communications? 

We are professional communicators who are skilled in populating your website with words and stories, images and graphics, that serve as an extension of your overall marketing program.  

We create stories. We create blogs. We arrange to get professional photographers and videographers to create imagery to complement the words.  

And we do it at prices that are affordable, but equal to the task at hand and helping you augment your overall marketing.  

Call us at Wellons Communications and learn more about how we can add the dimension of publicity and public relations to not only your website, but your overall marketing program. 

What you need to do to hire a PR firm

Posted on by Wellons team

When it comes time to hire a PR firm, it is surprising how few businesses spend much time preparing a brief about their enterprise so that the PR firm can present a meaningful approach to addressing their needs.

In many instances, particularly if the business is hiring a PR firm for the first time, businesses do little, if anything, to define what it is they want to accomplish or define the scope of the assignment.

It’s not because they are lazy or incompetent. It is simply because they have never gone through the process of hiring a firm and are not acquainted with what is involved in preparing the PR company to fully address the PR needs of their business.

At Wellons Communications, we have encountered clients who have provided us with well-thought-out documents that clearly spell out what they need to have done.

And, at the other end of the spectrum, we have encountered would-be clients whose approach to hire a PR firm is “Okay, whaddya gonna do for us,” without giving providing relevant input as to what they want to accomplish other than “We need PR.”

The point to remember is that hiring a PR agency is not a beauty pageant.

Think of hiring a PR firm as adding a highly specialized professional to your staff, and treat the hiring process in the same fashion you would use to hire a key employee.

What to include in a PR brief?

A PR brief about your business does not need to be lengthy. A couple of pages will do the trick. From the PR firm’s point of view, the type of information that will be relevant includes:

  • Your business objectives
  • Where your brand/business currently resides in your business category
  • Where you your brand/business to reside
  • Key audiences (Who are your customers? Who are your potential customers? What customers are the best targets for your marketing success?)
  • Key competitors
  • Issues and considerations that the firm will have to consider, e.g. seasonality, budget restraints, history of your business, industry considerations.
  • Any current or relevant market research or background information
  • Other marketing activity you are conducting (advertising, promotion, sales)
  • Time frame (start dates, special event dates, peaks, and valleys in your business’s normal operations)
  • Budget considerations: state a specific budget or provide a realistic budget range that would be comfortable for you.

What about the process of hiring a PR firm?

Generally, hiring a PR firm is a three-step process.

The first step is to research which PR firms appear to be affordable and best suited to your needs.

If your business is totally local, firms based close to home might be the best answer. If your enterprise revolves around one industry (e.g. tourism, legal, accounting, manufacturing), then the PR firms you invite to pitch might be firms that already possess experience in your industry.

The second step would be a preliminary meet and greet to get acquainted with a principal of the firm and outline your needs and expectations.

Based on the preliminary meetings, decide which firms you want to present for your business and provide a timeline and your PR brief. Allow a couple of weeks for the agency to prepare to address you with a formal presentation.

The final step would be a presentation by the agency, outlining how they would approach your assignment and introduce the individual(s) that would serve as your PR account team.

During the interim period between the initial meeting and the presentation, if agencies ask additional questions after having received your PR brief, answer them promptly and with care. Remember their entire approach for you may depend on your answers.

If one agency asks to meet up a second time prior to the presentation do not feel you are giving them an unfair advantage by doing so. They are simply being keen and proactive. If all the agencies are able to compete on a level playing field, you are being perfectly fair.

So, what are your next steps?

If you do not have a public relations agency and want to expand your marketing to include public relations, then consider Wellons Communications.

We will be happy to discuss more about what you need to do to locate and hire a PR firm…and, of course, we hope you will consider us in your search.

We have decades of experience in a variety of industries and are well-versed in consumer marketing, business-to-business trade communications and, if needed, crises communications.

PR and its role in helping you achieve business objectives

Posted on by Wellons team

Ask yourself “In the big picture of my profession or business, what do I want public relations to accomplish for me?” 

Some of the main goals of public relations are to create, maintain, and protect the organization’s reputation, enhance its prestige, and present a favorable image. And, for the vast majority of organizations, to earn a profit. 

If you are a commercial organization, the most obvious reason you want PR in your marketing mix is to drive sales.  

If you are a non-profit or an organization that is not sales-dependent, then you want PR to sell ideas. 

What are your public relations objectives? 

Too often, marketing and communications leaders say they have a PR plan.  

And that plan often becomes a “to-do” list of tactics that lack objectives and strategies.   

Start by creating clearly defined PR objectives.  

Part of the challenge is in achieving clarity between PR goals, objectives, strategy, and tactics.  

In some manner, they all refer to “what you want to achieve.” So, they’re interchangeable, right?  

No! The difference is critical. Each planning element plays a different role in mapping out how you approach achievement of your objective. It’s much more than semantics.  

An example of how goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics result in a plan 

If you are football coach, what is your goal? To win as many games as possible.  

Then, what is your objective? To outscore the opposition in each game. 

Okay, if you want to win the game, then what is your strategy?  

Your strategic direction will, of course, depend on your assets. If you have a terrific offense and a poor defense, then your guiding strategy might be “Ball control. Keep the ball out of the hands of the other team’s offense.”  

Having established that your offense will be key to your success, you would shape your tactics to overcome the other team’s defense. Your tactics (a sort of  “to-do” list) might be something like keeping control of the ball longer by running the ball more than passing or employing short passes, rather than long passes, to maintain control of the football. 

PR should complement your overall marketing effort 

Okay, let’s go beyond football — where objectives, strategy, and tactics are more difficult to develop. 

The PR component of your business should bolster your overall marketing plan (which should have the same basic elements as your PR plan).  

Orchestrating your marketing plan means coordinating advertising, public relations, sales, promotion, and research in a concerted direction to accomplish your marketing goals.  

The elements of your marketing plan should point toward the same objectives.  

Your strategies will depend on variables that include: 

Budget: How much do I need to spend to achieve effective levels of communication? How much money is available for marketing? What is the best use of my budget? 

Influencing factors: What does my competition spend for marketing? How do they spend it? What do they say? How are they priced? Is there seasonality that needs to be considered?  

Research: What does my audience want? Or need?  

Market environment: What opportunities exist for marketing my product or idea? What challenges will I face in marketing my product or idea? What are the best locations for my product or idea (physical location or placement of product or idea)? 

When you step back and address all of this, your marketing plan, and it’s PR component, more clearly presents itself.  

We can help you with marketing public relations 

If you have a marketing plan, our PR firm can shape a PR plan for you that will affordably complement your overall marketing efforts.  

If you don’t have a PR plan, we can help you create and implement a program that will augment your overall marketing…at a cost you can afford.  

Our efforts will be marketing-directed. While we applaud and agree with the notion that PR should help boost your reputation and be looked upon favorably, we are bulldogs about adhering to the notion that PR is most effectively used to help you to sell things and ideas.  

Look over your marketing plan and ask yourself “Can my plan be improved by an infusion of cost-effective, affordable PR?”.  

If so, then give us a call. Put Wellons Communications to work for you to develop and implement a PR plan that will boost your overall marketing efforts. 

Great photography is still worth a thousand words

Posted on by Wellons team

Here’s yet another observation of how digital technology has changed our lives: anyone with a smartphone can shoot a photo or video. 

If you are old enough, you can recall how people had to use cameras that required film. And, once you had shot the allotted photos the film permitted you to take on your camera, you had to have the film developed. It was a cumbersome process, but one that worked for more than a century. 

Today, with your smartphone, you can shoot your photo and instantly see how it looks.  And, because of the convenience of smartphones, you can take more photos because you no longer need to buy film. If you don’t like what you shot, hit “delete” and the photo goes away. 

According to new research from the British photo printing chain Max Spielmann (Max Photo), over 90% of daily photos are now captured with smartphones as opposed to professional or even film cameras. In fact, only 7.5% are taken on ‘proper’ cameras.1 

With the combination of convenience and crisp and clear quality of the images a smartphone delivers, it’s easy to fall into the mindset that “anyone can shoot photos.”   

When it comes to publicity and marketing photos, that is a flawed mindset. 

Look at quality photography from your consumer’s point of view 

While hiring a professional photographer is more expensive than simply snapping away with your smartphone, the quality of the images often provides a far greater return on your investment.   

Here are just a few important statistics that highlight photography’s importance as it relates to you and your customers:  

  • 67% of consumers say the quality of a product image is “very important” in selecting and purchasing the product.2  
  • 75% of online shoppers rely on product photos when deciding on a potential purchase.  
  • Good visual content is 40% more likely to get shared on your social accounts. 

Here’s what you get with a professional photographer 

When you invest in professional photography, you gain years of experience in shooting and editing. You get the benefit of working with a trained eye that employs professional digital photographic equipment combined with the know-how to stage, light, and oversee the elements you want to project within a photograph.  

A 2023 survey conducted by a marketing intelligence agency for the photo and video industry underlines the importance of using professional equipment in PR photography. According to Suite48 Analytics, 64% of professional photographers said they take more than half of their personal photos with their smartphones. When it comes to taking photos for work, that number drops to just 13%.3 

Here’s why we advocate using photo pros 

At Wellons Communication, we always rely on professionals when it comes to creating a photo component to a marketing or PR program.  

  1. Professional photography helps elevate your brand

Great PR photography helps consumers to get a better a sense of what your business offers.  

  1. Great photos are a key element in telling your story

Having high-quality, personalized content to market your business is so important to standing out online. A good photographer knows what customers want and can provide ideas and insights to elevate your images.  

  1. Professional photography equip you with marketing assets

Great images are a long-lasting asset that can be reused over time and repurposed for many different applications.  

  1. Professional photography helps you increase conversions. 

High-quality photos can communicate a lot about your brand, including your attention to detail and dedication to quality. If your photos are poorly composed or look unprofessional, potential customers will get the impression that your business is not worth their time or money.  

So how does Wellons Communications get involved with photo pros? 

At our PR firm, we rely on professional photographers to bring your product or service to life. We work with all kinds of different photographers and can select photographers whose skills are well suited to your needs. PR photographers. Portrait photographers. Architectural photographers. Food photographers. Lifestyle photographers. The list goes on and on. 

At Wellons Communications, we can build an effective publicity or public relations program that will combine your memorable photos or video with the necessary communications and distribution programs that will and set the stage for more sales and conversions.  

Our public relations agency is ready to help you find a photo pro who will deliver quality photos that will make your customers take notice. 

Feeling overwhelmed about the onset of Artificial Intelligence in public relations?

Posted on by Wellons team

The flavor of the moment in virtually all aspects of business, not just marketing, is Artificial Intelligence (AI).

There is not a day that goes by that you hear pundits speculating about the pros and cons of AI. Will AI take over original business planning? Will AI begin to overtake what has previously been done by humans? How will AI interact with how one operates a business?

The information about AI is coming at us hard and fast. New nomenclature. ChatGPT.

If you have the feeling all of the fuss about AI is a bit overwhelming, you have plenty of company.

The truth is that we are all suffering from an AI information overload.

Where can you go to get better acquainted with Artificial Intelligence basics?

There’s more information on the Internet than you have time or interest to bone up on Artificial Intelligence in public relations.

With that in mind, we’ve prepared a list of sites you might want to visit to become better acquainted with AI and get a better sense of how – or if – you may need to incorporate AI into your business operation in some fashion.

The sources we recommend are disparate and unusual. They range from a corporate law firm in South Africa and a California-based company that specializes in online data training for companies to the respected Wharton School of Business.

These sites will not unlock secrets about how you can use AI for your clients, but they are a solid first step in getting a better understanding of AI, its operation language, and how to proceed with using AI.

The best about these sites is that they define AI in terms we can all understand. 

Here’s the list.

AI information overload: A guide to staying informed without getting overwhelmed:

What is AI? A Quick-Start Guide For Beginners.

ABCs of AI: Here’s how artificial intelligence works 

How Do Businesses Use Artificial Intelligence? 

So how can we help you incorporate AI into your marketing and PR?

The best use of AI our public relations agency has discovered is its ability to enhance efficiency and allow us to mechanize some of the basis activities we use to distribute and categorize information.

In simple terms, a PR firm can use AI for distribution of press information, better identify potential users of information about your business, and more quickly research business trends that our clients can capitalize upon.

The truth be known, we are all moving into unknown territory with AI, but it’s territory that will increasingly become a part of business operations.

At Wellons Communication, while we are not throwing our arms around AI and proclaiming, “This is how marketing and PR will be totally conducted in the future,” but we recognize and acknowledge that it is a tool that will be useful—when and if it is needed.

When you are ready to explore how you can use AI in your marketing programs, think about our team at Wellons Communications. We would enjoy being at your side and helping you with your first forays into the world of Artificial Intelligence in public relations.

What’s your story? And how are you telling it?

Posted on by Wellons team

At its very core, marketing is all about telling a story that will capture attention and persuade people to believe in whatever it is you are selling.

Whether it is a product, a service, or an idea, it requires effective storytelling to explain what you are presenting and to earn their trust.

How much time do you have to tell your story?

As a business owner or key marketing player, you are the chief storyteller in your enterprise. You have the primary responsibility for creating your message and getting out there so it can attract customers.

But let’s face it. The many demands of running a business allow little time to dreaming up narratives.

You must deal with employees, customers, and suppliers. You are bombarded with emails, telephone calls, meetings, texts, time to travel and other interruptions throughout your business day.

That does not allow you to sit still long enough to ponder about how you want to shape your story, let alone share it with the world.

That’s where public relations — and Wellons Communications — enter the picture.

“Stories are remembered up to 22 times more than facts alone.” — Jennifer Aaker (General Atlantic Professor of Marketing, Stanford University Graduate School of Business)”

All we do is storytelling. And we can tell some great stories.

Our entire Orlando public relations business revolves around creating stories and getting them out there to work on behalf of our clients.

Our approach to storytelling is based on a simple formula.

  1. We identify elements that make your enterprise stand out.
  2. We build engaging narratives that clearly and simply communicate the benefits of what you do.
  3. We craft the means of delivering your stories so that your story reaches media sources whose audiences are the most likely to buy your services.

Your story is unlike anyone else’s story.

There’s no one way to tell you story because your story is unique to you and how you operate your business.

Some stories are best told in story form…. with narrative that has a beginning, a middle, and an end, in as few words as possible.

Other stories require visualization. A simple graphic, like a chart, a photo, or an image can validate the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” At the more complex end of visualization are videos, that bring together words, sound, and images.

Underneath all of this is your budget.

You can only afford to spend so much on storytelling. Budget is a consideration that we always keep in mind. And we strive to keep your spending to a minimum while still reaching the goals you want to achieve.

How can we help you tell your story?

Let our PR firm know what kind of story you need to tell. Or want to tell. Consider using our Orlando public relations resources and abilities to tell  — and distribute– your story in a simple, effective, and affordable manner.

Call us at 407-339-0879 or email us at will@wellonscommunications.com and tell us what kind of story you want to share.

We’re all ears.

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