Author: Wellons team

Top social media post ideas for businesses

Posted on by Wellons team

If you have a business, chances are you realize the value of social media. (If not, there are so many reasons you should consider it!)

Creating content for a business page, however, is vastly different from updating and maintaining a personal page. You want to have consistent, professional content that helps to support your business’s social media strategy.

When you’re staring at a box on a screen with the words “Write a post…” however, that can feel easier said than done. What photos or art do you use? What should your posts look like? What do you even say?

Like all things in business, you need a plan. You want to craft a mix of posts that help you accomplish your goals. At a higher level, you want to craft a personality and aesthetic on your platforms that align with your brand. A lot of that comes from what you decide to post.

If you’re just getting started with your business’s social media, or if you’re just stuck for ideas, consider going back to these five basics.

  1. Your own news. When it comes to social media, authentic content is key. Your followers want to get a sense of who you are, and giving them a peak behind the curtain is a great way to do that. Have you recently had a win you can share? Posting articles, press releases or news coverage on social gives you another outlet for the good things you’re making happen. Can you share a sense of your office culture, or give a glimpse at daily life? Snap a quick photo. You might even consider a regular feature of a staff member through a spotlight. All of these types of posts give outsiders a sense of who you are beyond your homepage. They can be great tools when potential job candidates or potential new business leads check out your digital footprint.
  2. Industry news. If you don’t have any internal news to share at the moment, it doesn’t mean you have to be silent. Turn to the industry publications you read, or your local news outlets. Are there articles that catch your attention? Sharing these can show your company is on the pulse of what’s happening, and they can start a conversation. You can also use these posts aspirationally, targeting business areas you’d like to work in and showing some thought leadership.
  3. Customer reviews. They’re saying great things about you—so tell everyone else! Whether you’re a B2B or B2C business, this type of post can work for you. If you have great testimonials from customers or great reviews on sites like Facebook, Google, Yelp or TripAdvisor, reuse that content. Create a graphic with a quote from the review and share to show off your great work—in their words, not yours.
  4. Your products or services. This is probably one of the most basic subjects for a social media post, but don’t forget to tell people what you do. Spotlight both your best sellers, as well as products or services even your best customers might not know about. This is a great way to keep you top of mind and another outlet for your messaging.
  5. User generated content. If you’re in the B2C space, your customers are likely connecting with you in some way on social media. If they’re tagging you in photos, consider asking for their permission to reshare. This is a great way to add to your creative lineup, show authentic content and engage with your fans. B2B businesses don’t have to be left out, either. Retweet, repost or reshare posts your industry partners tag you in or posts they share to build those connections and show your involvement.

When it comes to social media for your business, there are endless possibilities for what you can post. Once you incorporate these basics, you can try new and creative ideas, from running contests to creating your own videos.

The key is to know what you want from your platforms and craft a plan to support that. Still need some help? Give us a call. We are pros at messaging and have plenty of creative ideas to help you meet your goals.

Beyond the elevator speech: Five questions you need to answer for your business

Posted on by Wellons team

We’ve all heard the importance of having an “elevator speech” that tells your audience what you do and how important your product or service is to them.

We at Wellons Communications agree with the idea of a short, punchy message. However, we also believe that you need to work on and perfect a more robust message than a 15-second elevator speech to truly explain the value you bring to your clientele.

With that in mind, at Wellons Communications, we ask our clients five important questions that help define the messages they want to project … and the impressions they want to create.

The Big Five are:

  • What do you do?
  • How does your product or service help your client?
  • What do your competitors say about themselves?
  • What distinguishes your product or service from your competitors?
  • Who and where are your potential customers?

Build from the basics

Surprisingly, many business leaders have a difficult time answering these five questions.

They have successfully grown their businesses to the point where they need to expand their marketing program — including public relations — to continue growth. However, when it comes to more precisely defining themselves and what they do for the audiences they serve, they run into challenges.

They know they need to continue reaching out, but struggle to find the ways and means to reach new and different audiences in order to continue expanding sales and growth.

PR is part of your overall marketing package

We view public relations as one of the four primary components of our client’s marketing programs: paid advertising, public relations, sales and research.

Our job centers around publicity management — attracting attention or, in some cases, clarifying and shaping the attention that is defining our clients. That requires us to interact, for the most part, with editorial media, whose independence means their viewpoints and opinions cannot be purchased but can certainly be shaped and influenced with proper messaging.

That means we have to know about you, your business category, your audience, your competitors and what you want to accomplish.

And that means that we need to know the answers to The Big Five questions listed above.

Sometimes, less is better

When we first meet with potential clients, we always ask the Big Five questions.

Often, these potential clients struggle to concisely and clearly answer the Big Five. And, while we listen closely to what we are told, we often learn that the longer a potential client takes to answer these questions, the more difficult it is to concisely and clearly answer the question.

Our first priority is to clearly understand what you do and what you want to do. That means asking tough questions and boiling the answers down to strategic approaches that will result in messaging that your audience can understand and act upon.

The end result may appear to be a very simple solution. But reaching a simple solution requires some complex planning and hard work to achieve.

We think like marketers. We act like PR professionals

If a client were to ask us The Big Five, our answers are:

What do you do?

We provide publicity and related communications services that augment our clients’ overall marketing.

How does your product or service help your client?

We help our clients increase sales by reaching their target audiences with clear, concise messaging that amplifies their reach beyond advertising.

What do your competitors say about themselves?

Our competitors most often claim they are bigger, more experienced, have a larger client base and have greater depth in resources.

What distinguishes your product or service from your competitors?

We are smaller and, because we are smaller, we provide more personalized, hands-on services that are more creative, more nimble and more effective than our larger competitors.

Who and where are your potential customers?

The vast majority of our potential customers are based, or have significant operations, in the Central Florida region. Some of them are in tourism, hospitality and food and beverage and others are in real estate, development, legal and related business categories.

How would you answer The Big Five?

Ask yourself how you would answer the five questions listed above. If you find you have difficulty clearly and concisely answering them, it may be a signal that you have grown to the point that you need some help to augment your marketing program, particularly in the public relations area.

If you’d like to share your answers with us, we’d be eager to hear them. And we would be eager to learn if your business — and ours — would be a good fit.

Want to learn more?

Call or email me (407-339-0879 or will@wellonscommunications.com) and let’s talk.

Or, better yet, you talk… and I’ll listen.

5 things you need to know before hiring an agency

Posted on by Wellons team

At Wellons Communications, we’ve seen how much of a difference hiring an agency can make for a business.

We’ve seen the power of a national PR placement in getting a client noticed by buyers in their industry. We’ve seen how a coordinated social media ad campaign can move the needle on sales. And we’ve seen how a strategic marketing plan can raise serious awareness and have an impact on the bottom line.

In fact, we’re proud to have been part of those results for our clients.

But we also understand that hiring an agency might not always be the right move. When clients have different expectations of what an agency does, or when the agency isn’t the best fit, clients might not see the results they’re looking for.

To ensure you’re getting the most from your client-agency relationship, consider these five things BEFORE you make your decision.

What you need from your agency.

Not all agencies are created equal. In fact, if you just Google top agencies in your area, chances are you’ll get a mix of ad agencies, marketing agencies, PR agencies, social media agencies, even terms like creative agency or digital agency—all of whom specialize in different areas. As with all things in business, you need to know your goals. When you zero in on those, you can find an agency whose strengths best align.

What level of service you expect.

Agencies are structured differently. At a large agency, for instance, you might never speak to upper-level management, while at a smaller firm, he or she might be your main point of contact. Agencies also provide a different level of service based on the contract you draw up. If you choose a lower level of service, for instance, you might not be able to achieve all you want when you hit a certain number of hours. Alternatively, if you just need one service, you don’t want to overpay for things you already have handled. Be sure you and your potential agency partner are on the same page as to who’s doing what and what the level of service looks like.

What constitutes a win.

This goes hand-in-hand with knowing your goals for an agency relationship, as well as knowing what you need in an agreement. What, to you and your agency, is a win? When do you both call it a success? If all you have is a nebulous idea of “more sales,” you might find yourself disappointed, wondering what, exactly, this agency is doing for you. Having concrete benchmarks (a national PR hit) that feed into and support your overall goals (more sales) will make both sides of the client-agency relationship feel fulfilled.

You’re going to have some work to do.

Often, clients sign the contract and sit back, expecting something to happen. Only it doesn’t. That’s because with any agency you choose, you’re going to have to put in a little work up front, as well as a little to maintain the relationship throughout its course. You will need to have a true, unclouded view of your company, and you’ll need to share some of that with your agency. They need to not only get a sense of your goals, but of your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities you may not see, and who you are at your core. If you put in a little time to share these things—or designate a strong employee to manage the relationship—your agency can better serve you. And it doesn’t stop there. You, or that designated point of contact, will need to stay engaged to get the most from your agency, providing things like direction on how to respond to customer concerns, the latest product artwork or event posters, and important news updates. Generally, you’ll get out more than you put in.

Who fits with your team.

The contract, the service level, the fees—all of that is important when selecting an agency. But more important? Who they are. You know what kind of business partners you like to work with in all other facets of your business. Don’t let an agency be an exception. Your agency should feel like a fit, like an extension of your team. Make sure they fit into your culture and values, because you’ll be working with them on the things closest to your business.

If you’ve considered all of these things and found the answers, an agency might be the best choice for you—and you might be ready to truly get the most from that relationship.

We hope you’ll consider us at Wellons Communications. We are one of Orlando’s top PR and social media agencies, and we specialize in PR, social media, content and marketing. We are a smaller team dedicated to making real connections with our clients and delivering great results. And we love new clients!

Want to learn more? Give Will a call at 407-339-0879 or email him at will@wellonscommunications.com. We’d love to share our perspective on the answers to these questions so you can find the right agency for you.

Why you need to say “Thank You” to your clients

Posted on by Wellons team

There is no better time to express your gratitude for the business of your clients than to simply wish them well for the holidays.

Yet, surprisingly, sending a simple and direct message to your clients to let them know that you value the confidence they invest in you is an opportunity that is often overlooked.

Personal messages can cost virtually nothing. They take only a few moments. And the benefits can be immeasurable.

Here are a few ways to let your clients know you are grateful for their business.

The power of a personal note

When was the last time you received an actual hand-written note from someone?

Take five minutes to compose a short message that lets your client know you appreciate the business they have afforded you over the past year. The written word, in your own hand, is enormously powerful.

In an age when tweets, texts, and emails dominate communication, notes stand out. And all they cost is a few moments of your time and postage.

A phone call personalizes your gratitude

Just as simple as a personal note is a personal call to your client.

The act of simply picking up the phone and wishing your client a happy holiday is thoughtful and will stand out simply because you have thought of them.

Better yet, personalize the call by letting your client know you are generally familiar with their family or loved ones. Simply by extending the good wishes to one’s spouse or children in your call can let your client know you have their interests at heart.

What if you want to symbolize your thanks with a gift?

Everyone enjoys receiving gifts. But be careful. Gift-giving needs to be carefully thought through.

Who should you gift? Many companies forbid any corporate gift giving, or only allow employees to accept gifts valued at less than $25.

What should you give? The decision of what to give should comply with your client’s standards and directives on gift-giving and gift-receiving. Sending a gift to a client who’s unable to keep it is awkward for both parties.

The best solution? If you feel a gift is necessary, employ common sense and send a gift that is useful, not overly extravagant, and reflective of both your values and those of your client.

How do other organizations express their thanks during the holidays?

Want to explore more about addressing your client during the holidays, from contact to gift-giving?

You might want to glance at Do’s and Don’ts for Client Gifts Over the Holidays, authored by James Harris that first appeared in Entrepreneur Magazine in December 2017.

Harris’s article is loaded with tips and examples of approaching gift-giving and using gifts—and enhancing connections—with clients. 

And thanks to you for taking an interest in Wellons Communications

As we approach the holiday season, those of us at Wellons Communications are grateful for your interest in us.

We value the responsibility and business our clients invest in us to address their public relations needs. We remind ourselves daily that if our clients succeed, we succeed, and without our clients, we do not exist. Best wishes to all for a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful 2019 holiday season.

Bring your story to life with visuals

Posted on by Wellons team

People often think of public relations and journalism in terms of the written word.

Mention “public relations” and people immediately think of “press releases.” Say “journalism” and people connect it with “stories.”

Both perceptions are only the tip of the iceberg. Public relations firms and print journalists are, indeed, centered around the written word. We certainly value the importance of what you say, but in today’s contemporary Big Data environment, at Wellons Communications, we place equal emphasis on using visuals to project your story.

Here’s an example, as illustrated by London-based NeoMam Studios, a leading graphics design communications firm based in the UK:

The picture, indeed, is worth a thousand words.

Your brain craves visuals

Written communications are designed to conjure up a picture or image. With that in mind, let’s cut to the chase and examine just how important visuals are in telling people about your business:

• The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text.

• Ninety percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual.

• We can get the sense of a visual scene in less than one-tenth of a second.

• Color visuals increase the willingness to read by 80%.

• People following directions with text and illustrations do 323% better than people following directions without illustrations.

Visuals make your information more engaging

Organizations that specialize in visual communications have a name for communicating visually: infographics.

Infographics are particularly effective at communicating complex ideas. Non-experts better comprehend and understand information that requires long, complex explanation when graphics present the idea. Statistical information, e.g. trends in your industry or key points about why your product or service is superior, are more easily understood by laymen when presented visually.

An example of the power of infographics is the popularity of the informational graphics published regularly by USA Today. Not only is your eye attracted to the graphics, the ideas they project are quickly and easily understood. Even if you have little interest in the subject or know nothing about it, once you look, you come away with an image and information that you cannot easily forget.

Put Wellons to work on making your story easy to see … and understand

Our team at Wellons Communications firmly believes in making your message as easy to understand as possible. Simplicity in understanding is augmented by visuals. And that’s why we look for the best way to visualize your story and get people to notice you and your organization’s key attributes.

If you want to make your story come to life and possess qualities that will make people look at you a first—and second—time, keep Wellons Communications in mind. Contact us (407-339-0879 or will@wellonscommunications.com) and let us show you how we can blend words and pictures into memorable stories aimed at increasing your bottom line.

Why you need to keep your PR plan fresh and flexible

Posted on by Wellons team

Let’s start with an assumption we can all agree upon.

You must have a plan to succeed in business. If you don’t know what you want to accomplish, you will never arrive at your destination.

It’s no different in public relations. A public relations program must have well-defined, realistic and measurable objectives before strategies and tactics can be developed.

At the same time, it’s important to remain cognizant that nothing remains written in stone. Marketing environments are constantly changing. New competitors come forth. Old competitors change their products or introduce new ones. Regulatory mandates change. Social conditions change and new attitudes emerge.

Simply stated, change is the only constant upon which you can depend.

A three-step approach to PR planning

At Wellons Communications, we keep our clients’ plans updated by conducting a three-step process:

  1. We review and assess what’s happened in the past year.
  2. We consider our client’s overall business objectives and use them as a basis for revising and developing the next steps in our client’s PR plan.
  3. We develop a plan of attack for the upcoming year.

The public relations plan that develops from our three-stage approach helps you know where your PR program is headed and, from our vantage point, helps us verify what we do is in concert with your overall business objectives.

“Everybody has a plan…until they get punched in the mouth.”

— Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson

Successful business leaders likely would not deign to take advice from an individual with a history like one-time boxing great Mike Tyson. But Tyson’s memorable quote is particularly well-suited when it applies to keeping your PR plans up to date.

Tyson’s quote serves as a reminder that PR plans, particularly plans that address crisis, must be capable of being activated quickly and must be flexible enough to adjust to uncertain situations. Your business must be mindful of all possible negative scenarios and have appropriate responses prepared.

Plans, indeed, are important, but they also must be flexible enough to deal with challenging situations you might not ordinarily address.

If you believe a crisis cannot happen to you, think again.

Start with Hurricane Dorian.

How did the hurricane affect your business? How did you interact with your customers before and after the hurricane’s visit to Central Florida? Were there opportunities (e.g. increased sales to meet unusually high demand for storm-related products)? Were there special concerns you needed to identify and resolve before the storm (e.g. what your clients needed to do in relation to your product or service)?

Were there messages you needed to convey to your target audiences? Was there information you needed to remind your clients about? Did you take any action to let your clients know how they could reach you or ask questions of you before and after the storm?

One of our roles is to ensure our clients are aware of the need for some sort of crisis plan and crisis procedures, even to the point of conducting a test run to help iron out any holes in the plan. Like Tyson said, plans are great until you have to actually use them.

2020 is fast approaching. So, start your PR planning for the new year now.

The new year will be here before you know it.  And that means your PR planning needs to be thought out now in order to get it underway in January.

If you don’t have a PR program, consider augmenting your overall marketing plan with a PR initiative. And if you already have a PR program, it’s time to dust it off and ensure your PR action plan is in sync with your other marketing activities.

Not sure how to develop a robust, affordable and doable plan?

Call us at Wellons Communications. We serve a great number of mid-size businesses that have regional and local needs…and will be happy to review your business’ current situation and see how we can affordably and realistically help you meet your needs.

What is a news peg, and how can you use them to get publicity for your business?

Posted on by Wellons team

When we first sit down with clients, one of the things we consistently hear is “We want to become better known. We need recognition for our product (or service).”

Public relations, of course, goes considerably beyond getting recognition in print, broadcast and online media. But coverage over and above paid advertising is the primary reason why companies and organizations call on us to augment their marketing program.

News coverage demands…news

The first rule of publicity is that one’s story has to possess newsworthy qualities.

That means the information you serve up to news media has to have some news value that will benefit or interest their audience.

So how do you sift through the mountain of information about your organization and isolate what will be interesting to media…and what won’t?

Examples of news pegs

Basic information about your product or service, by itself, is not particularly newsworthy.

But, when you link your information to another story, the combined effect can be magic. It all comes down to finding a peg on which to hang your story—a news peg (or news hook).

Examples include tying your story to something like:

  • A new wrinkle (and consumer benefit) to your product or service
  • A holiday or significant anniversary
  • An award recognizing achievement via your product or service
  • A high-visibility topic already in the news
  • A special event showcasing something new or different about you
  • An opinion on a topic of interest from an expert on your staff
  • A local twist on a story generating national attention
  • Information from a survey or poll on a topic of interest
  • Identification of a trend you are witnessing, or a trend that you foresee

Connecting to other news pegs

Identifying news pegs is an ongoing process that demands remaining aware of what’s going on in the world – or your industry. One needs to be constantly in tune with new and different trends (or what might signal a trend), what’s popular with consumers or within a trade category (or what might be popular), and of how and where your story can fit into news coverage.

A financial service provider, for example, might want to remind media that one of their authorities is available as a resource and is willing to provide commentary (i.e. a quote) or observe ongoing trends just after the start of the year, when tax preparation goes into high gear.

A restaurant might want to explain why their menu conforms to their target market’s tastes and preferences, or feature a menu item they can totally
“own” in the mind of their audience.

A company serving a narrow segment within a particular trade category (e.g. suppliers and vendors in warehousing) can offer an observation of how their particular industry is changing and provide examples of how they are adjusting to those changes. Or, if they recognize a change in another industry, project how that change may affect their industry.

We scour the media for what’s getting coverage

At Wellons Communications, it’s part of our job to be aware, at all times, at what’s being covered and how we can connect our clients to what’s in the news.

Every day, weekends included, we are news junkies, watching what’s getting coverage, aggressively looking for story opportunities or creating opportunities others might not see.

Rather than simply issue press releases, which media recognize as self-serving, we seek to augment ongoing stories with information reporters will not know unless someone like us tells them.

That means knowing about our clients, what they are doing, learning what they are seeing, and identifying targets who can use that information. It means our clients must tell us what they are doing and seeing and requires us to listen and take that information and connect it to news media.

What’s more, when you bring an experienced, knowledgeable PR team to your side, you get considerably more than simply a publicity team. You acquire a team of marketing professionals who proactively help you sell your ideas while covering your back to fight off challenges that prove damaging to your enterprise.

Consider publicity in your overall marketing mix

If you find yourself spending the vast majority of your marketing budget on paid advertising, you may be overlooking the opportunity afforded you by placement of a high-value news story about your organization.

The cost of augmenting your marketing program with an ongoing public relations/publicity program is minimal, particularly in comparison with the kind of money that is frequently invested in paid advertising. Although news coverage is not guaranteed, the publicity it can generate when it is successful can be substantial…at considerably less cost than advertising.

When you are ready to tell the media about yourselves, give us a call

Wellons Communications has been identifying news pegs — and generating results for clients — for more than a decade.

We have news experience in our professional backgrounds and know how to recognize what’s newsworthy.

Want to learn more? Call or email me (407-339-0879 or will@wellonscommunications.com) and tell me your story. I’ll be happy to relate to you how we can hang your story on the right news peg.

The importance of pitching stories

Posted on by Wellons team

When we sit down with clients, one of the first things we hear is some version of “We want media to recognize who we are, what we do and what we offer our customers. What we do is important, and people need to know about it.”

Those are noble ambitions and we agree with that objective.

However, the biggest challenge to attracting media attention is that everyone wants recognition. And by everyone, we mean all products and services in virtually every category. In other words, your product or service competes with everyone and everything in the world for attention.

Our job is to drill down and find out what really makes you unique and how to project that unique attribute to the media. And that leads to pitching – contacting media on a one-to-one basis to let them know how and why you stand out.


Pitching differs completely from simply issuing press releases.
The information within press release stands on its own. If the information is newsworthy, a press release will serve as an effective and useful means of generating news.

Press releases, however, are impersonal. They do not necessarily lead to or promote in-depth or feature coverage about your product or service.

A more tried-and-true method of using your information to achieve greater coverage about you is pitching, which means calling or meeting one-on-one with relevant news sources.

A pitch is a description of a story idea (and why it should matter) to an editor or reporter. A pitch can be delivered over-the-phone or sent via email. It should be crafted to appeal to both reporters and the editors they serve. And, importantly, it should be short and to the point.

Unique and compelling media pitches can lead to coverage that goes far beyond what a press release can provide. Small businesses, in particular, can gain a greater exposure and a larger audience by enabling their public relations team to conduct aggressive pitching.


The benefits of pitching
Media pitching provides three key benefits.

First, pitching provides information tailored for particular media outlets. It serves up news about you that is relevant to their audience. Pitching allows your PR team to raise and answer the question “Here’s why this is important news for you and your audience.”

Second, pitching allows your public relations team to identify what kinds of stories media outlets are seeking. Knowing what media are looking for is valuable information and provides insights into how your information can be employed to answer that need.

Creating real relationships with reporters, bloggers and journalists is invaluable to anyone in the business world. But to build those real relationships you need to be genuine and think more of their needs than your own.

Like everyone else, reporters only have 24 hours in a day, and they’re looking out for their own interests. They want to write about things they are interested in and that will drive lots of traffic and get them paid.


Reason number three: the human dimension
The third reason pitches are effective is that they provide editors and reporters with an actual name and face they can call upon as a reliable, informed source. They create real relationships between you and the media.

When media need someone to comment on a particular story or seek background or clarification on story, they inevitably rely on sources they know, recognize and respect. This kind of relationship often results from having previously presented a newsworthy pitch.

Pitching is a key part of establishing and maintaining those kind of relationships.


So, who actually does the pitching?
The reality is that you simply don’t have time to pitch the media. If that were the case, you would already be talking with them.

The solution is to rely on your PR team to identify which media make most sense for you and which stories make the most sense to the media and then turn your PR team loose to pitch, pitch and pitch some more.

Generating results from pitches can take time, but the results can exceed expectations and have an enormously favorable impact on what you market.


Call us and let us pitch you
Want to get acquainted with our pitch? Call or email me (407-339-0879 or will@wellonscommunications.com) and tell me the kinds of stories you want others to know. Let us listen to your story and share with you how we can go about expanding the kind of marketing-oriented, ongoing news coverage you seek.

Why your business needs a press room, and how to create one

Posted on by Wellons team

How many times have you gone online to research a prospective client’s organization only to find yourself mired in promotional gobbledygook that fails to clearly state what the organization does?

Now, put yourself in the shoes of an enterprising journalist under the gun on a rapidly-approaching deadline. Imagine how they must feel while slogging through materials laced with trade jargon, especially if they aren’t familiar with your industry.

That raises an even more basic point: where, on your website, do journalists go to find out the most basic information about you and your organization?

Do you have a press room clearly marked? Or do journalists have to scour your site to find it? And, once they’ve found your press room, what’s in it?

Do you even have a press room?

Press rooms contain the basics

At Wellons Communications, we organize press rooms under the premise that they cannot be too simple.

We approach their development with the same mindset as a journalist: who, what, when, where, why and how.

Like Jack Webb in the now-ancient television series Dragnet, we stick to the facts, ma’am. We put the answers out there as plainly and simply as possible.

Why the simplicity in press rooms?

The information in press rooms is basic for the simple reason that journalists often want the simplest possible explanation to extract and convey to their audience. This is particularly important if a journalist is on deadline or unfamiliar with your organization or industry.

Another important reason simplicity is paramount in press rooms is that you control the information being conveyed. Or, to say it another way, by making the answers available before the question is asked, you have made it as easy as possible for the journalist to say about you what you say about yourself.

This does not mean that you use over-the-top hyperbole. It means you boil your elevator speech down to a phrase or a few well-chosen words that will accurately and clearly tell people who you are and what you do.

What do you put in a press room?

No two press rooms are exactly alike, but there are basic elements that should serve as a foundation. These include:

  • Copy blocks, in varying length, that allow journalists to cut and paste information (a big help if they are on deadline). The blocks can range from 25 to 100 words in length and should include your website address. The purpose of the copy blocks is to define who you are, what you do, and how to get more information about you.
  • A fact sheet that provides the 5 W’s and H in succinct phrasing that can be adopted for use by journalists. The fact sheet should be free of hyperbole and contain only relevant factual information that is important to you, your industry, and your clients.
  • An undated overview release that provides a basic introduction about your organization. Keep it short (two pages max) and readable. The key element is to keep the release undated and limited to information that will not change very often.
  • Recent news. Include a list of the most recent press releases in chronological order. This allows journalists to see what you’ve been saying.
  • Press contact. Who should journalists call for more information? Name, phone number, email address and any other relevant information should be included. This should be one page, no more, and easy to find.
  • Graphics. It’s always nice to include a downloadable logo, photos, and a short video (:20 seconds is plenty).

Let media know you have a press room

The fact that you even have a press room provides a legitimate excuse to contact media and let them know that a) you exist and b) you are a readily available source of information for your organization, your industry, and any related topics that might be important to the media.

You can communicate this via an email, or you may want to go a little further and send the information out via some memorable tchotchke that will linger on a journalist’s desk and have a lengthy life span (i.e. a magnetic bookmark, a mousepad, pen cup or magnetic calendar).

If you are on a tight budget (who isn’t?), create two levels of tchotchkes: a more expensive tchotchke for your A-list media and a less expensive notification for everyone else.

So how do you create a press room?

We’re glad you asked. That’s what we do.

We are experienced and knowledgeable in developing and maintaining press rooms. That’s because we’ve been on the other side (the journalist’s side) combing through the web (and everywhere else) seeking information necessary to create a story about something that we just learned was important.

We know what journalists want and how to format a press room that meets their needs.

If your press room needs updating – or if you simply need a press room for the very first time – call on us.

We will be happy to look over what you have in mind—or even recommend what you need—and furnish you with a press room that will be valuable to you and the media you want to reach.

Crisis communications: How prepared is your business?

Posted on by Wellons team

clipboardWhen you hear “crisis communications,” your first reaction might be “It won’t happen to me.” After all, you’re just a business—not the target of something you’d see on the news.

And you’re right—mostly. While you probably won’t suffer some kind of incident that will make major headlines, the rise of social media has made it much more likely that your business will face some kind of crisis situation.

Because there is a possibility, you need to have a crisis communications plan in place now.

What kinds of crises are we talking about?

There are different degrees and types of “crises.”

Any one of them could have an enormous impact your business. Indeed, any of these types of crises could happen to you and they don’t have to make headlines to have a meaningful, negative, effect on your business. Here are some examples of impactful, but often unseen, kinds of crises that affect businesses with more regularity than you might suspect.

• Negative actions by a former employee. These can range from someone sending harmful emails to your key client database to someone going to the local media and spreading negative misinformation, creating a false image of your organization.

• Criminal activity involving an employee. What would you do if you discovered that one of your employees had been arrested for embezzling organizational funds? Or had been arrested for sexual abuse against children? How would you respond if an ex-spouse showed up at your business and took threatening action against their ex?

• Negative spotlight on your business category. How well prepared are you to respond to client or media inquiries about a sharp sales downturn in your product or service category? What about some kind of inquiry about the safety or reliability of products or services in your particular category?

It doesn’t have to be your fault to call attention to your business. Media often call on anyone in a particular industry to add context to a story.

Need specific examples? How about the safety of Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder? Or the recurrence of E. coli or salmonella in Chipotle’s restaurants? If you market a product related to parents or operate a restaurant, there’s a good possibility you can get caught in the news fallout, even if it is someone else’s problem.

Need examples closer to home? How about the shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub? Or the disappearance of the 2-year old who was attacked by an alligator at Walt Disney World? What about the impact of hurricanes on Central Florida and their disruption of normal working cycles on businesses?

How to handle a public relations crisis

Thanks to the interrelationship of social media and mainstream media, an incident can morph into a full-blown crisis in just a few hours.

If you have a well-constructed crisis management strategy, backed-up by a regularly-conducted rehearsal program to test it out, you are in position to deal with the crisis.

Such a plan will enable to you quickly interact with your clients, the leaders and influencers in your category, media, and any other audiences that are important to you. Even a short, basic plan identifying your key audiences (along with their contact information) will position you to address an unseen crisis in a businesslike, responsible manner.

How do you create a crisis plan?

You can create your own plan.

Or you can call on the seasoned professionals at Wellons Communications to create a plan for you.

Our team members have served both sides of crisis management (the media side and the client side) and have first-hand knowledge of how effective a good plan can be. They have also seen the disastrous results that inevitably occur when a business lacks crisis planning.

We will be happy to provide you specific examples of the kinds of crises we have addressed in the past. More importantly, we will listen to you, learn about your business and better understand what kind of readiness you need to have to address a crisis situation.

Let’s discuss how we can ready your business to be prepared to address a crisis situation effectively and professionally—and before it ever happens.

Call us (407-339-0879) or email us at will@wellonscommunications.com to start on your crisis communications planning.

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