Fall is in the air. The temperature lowers (hopefully), sweaters and boots are rampant and pumpkin spice everything swirls through our heads. If you are a runner like myself, that also means this is ideal running and race season. This got me thinking – while I was out on a run one day, fittingly enough – about how running and training for a race is a lot like public relations. I know, I know, it may seem like a stretch, but hear me out.

You have to have a goal. Whether you’re running to get in better shape, lose a few pounds or train for a race, without a clear goal in mind, you are more likely to be unmotivated and unfocused. Defining a clear goal for a campaign or an event will help sharpen your focus and give you something to work towards and measure success.

You have to have a plan. This is one of the biggest pieces of advice I give people when they are asking me for tips about running. You need to lay out a clear-cut number of days you plan on running vs. resting vs. cross training to help you achieve your goal. This same line of thinking applies to PR plans. You need a clearly defined plan that reflects your campaign goals and lays out a road map with deliverables and action items to meet them.

Have good gear (tools). You wouldn’t run a race in flip flops and jeans. You want some good running tennis shoes that are going to last through training and some shorts that are going to wick away the rain and sweat. Same thing applies when gearing up for a PR campaign. You need to have the right tools in place like media lists, strategic plans and a clear picture of the competitive landscape in order to run the best and most effective campaign.

Don’t give up! That is also one of the most important pieces of advice for new runners and those training for their first race. It’s 75 percent mental – if you think you can, you can! This same theory applies in PR, if you aren’t succeeding with one angle, don’t throw in the towel or stick with the same message. Get creative and change up the plan. The media landscape around us is always changing, so it’s important to be flexible and adjust accordingly in order to be successful.

Last, but certainly not least – Celebrate! Whether you are celebrating a 2 mile run, a 20 mile run or just getting off the couch for a walk that day, celebrate. Small successes lead you in the right direction every single day. Like our victory bell here at Konnect, we celebrate the victories with each other on a regular basis when we reach our goals!

 

 

Since its introduction in 2011, Snapchat has been stirring up the world of social media. In May of 2012, users sent 25 images per second, and by November of the same year, Snapchat use grew to 20 million photos shared per day. It’s no wonder brands were quick to get on board with this social media phenomenon. While the app’s huge user numbers attracted the attention of many companies, there are only so many ways you can really market on a platform that only keeps files for 24 hours at a time.

Enter the almighty Geofilter! Swipe left and right after snapping a selfie, and you’ll run into these fun filters that magically change to reflect where you are in the world. We hate to spoil the Snapchat magic, but those were placed there strategically by businesses like Konnect Agency. We recently created and hosted a few filters for our client High Brew Coffee, and here’s how we did it:

1. Pick a day/time: National Coffee Day landed right around the time of Austin City Limits. Because of this, High Brew Coffee aimed to celebrate both occasions with a Snapchat Geofilter during the ACL weekends.
2. Pick a location: Because we were celebrating National Coffee Day and Austin City Limits, we chose to host the filters in the music-loving ATX. Big events like this tend to block off areas within the borders of the event, so our task was to find a location that would hit both the ACL crowd and non-attendees in Austin.
   
   For High Brew Coffee’s ACL filter, we targeted college students around the area that would most likely use the Snapchat platform and see the filter.

3. Create a Filter Worth Swiping For: Sure, you want to get your brand out there, but stamping your logo on the bottom of a PNG is not going to cut it. If no one uses your filter, it’s just not worth the money. High Brew Coffee is known for their snappy sayings on social media, so we leveraged that when developing the filters.
   
4. Launch It and Wait for the Results: Not much more you can do until you find out the results of your first filter! We were able to achieve a $1.27 cost per view, which is amazing!
   

And there you have it! Now you’re ready to get your own Snapchat Filter going for your next big event! Good luck and get snapping!

-Shelley

“Oy with the poodles already!” I could not be more excited about the Netflix “Gilmore Girls: A Day in the Life” reboot of the beloved show! While I will be forever Team Jess and wish that I could live off of a diet of pizza and donuts, alas and alack, I will never be transported to Stars Hallow. That being said, I have learned many valuable lessons from binge-watching countless hours of Gilmore Girls that have made me a better publicist. Below are a few lessons every PR pro needs to know, as told by Lorelai, Rory and the Star Hallow gang.

• Be Aware of Current Events: For anyone who has seen even one episode of Gilmore Girls, you know the fast-talking  dialogue is packed full of pop culture references. In order to come up with creative pitch angles for our clients, everyday our team at Konnect  monitors the current media climate. Is there a presidential debate tonight? What are the trending hashtags? Who won The Bachelor? Knowing the ins and outs of what your media contacts are covering within the industry and what’s happening in pop culture is essential to the work we do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Know Your Audience: On a typical day, I work with clients in the food, beverage, fitness and franchise industries. When crafting a pitch for each individual client, I need to be an expert in that field and convey my understanding of the industry. An editor who covers cocktail recipes may not be as aware of fitness trends and may not be interested in topics such as pest control. Just as Richard and Emily do not understand a Metallica reference at Friday night dinner, Gilmore Girls has taught me to tailor my pitches to the right people with the right phrasing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Read: I admit it. As a child, I aspired to be Rory Gilmore. 339 books are referenced by Rory in the seven seasons of Gilmore Girls. This is a lot. While I may not read that many books, Rory Gilmore taught me to do my research. When a new study comes out that impacts my clients, I read it. When a competitor secures a press placement, I read it. This research makes you a better publicist and a more informed resource for clients, colleagues and editors alike.

• Dress for the job you want, not the one you have:  There are many examples of hard work paying off in Gilmore Girls. For example, Lorelai began as a maid at the Independence Inn and went on to own the Dragonfly. At a public relations agency, there are so many opportunities to learn from those around you and to take on more responsibility over time.

• You will deal with difficult people in life: Whether it’s Paris trying to sabotage Rory’s Harvard dreams or Taylor opening up the Olde Fashion Soda Shoppe next door to your diner, we all have to deal with all sorts of difficult people. In PR especially, you will have to face many tough situations and I’ve learned to handle them Gilmore Girls style. Well….maybe don’t take your cues from Michel.

• Good work is powered by coffee: Enough said.

For those of you who I’ve completely lost with my references, you’ve got a lot of binge watching to do!

-Becca

The cringe-inducing tension of last Sunday’s presidential debate was cut – even if for only a fleeting moment – by the emergence of Ken Bone, who quickly became a folk hero for the digital era. With his made-to-hashtag name and seasonally-appropriate red sweater, viewers looking for common ground during a divisive election cycle were quick to embrace his everyman demeanor and practical question about energy policy. Within days, he was everywhere –The New York Times interviewed him, Stephen Colbert sang about him, his Twitter followers exploded from seven to more than 250,000 and several online retailers sold out of his iconic sweater.

But his status as an everyman hero was short-lived. On Thursday, he announced a Reddit AMA, using the same account he’s used for more than a year. As they’re wont to do, inquisitive web users dug deep into his Reddit history and unearthed some details that didn’t quite meet the expectations set by his cuddly persona. Bone weighed in on some controversial and politically-charged topics and playfully commented on a variety of decidedly NSFW content. His late-week fall from grace happened just as fast as his early-week rise to fame.

What can the rest of us learn from Bone’s very public example?

First and foremost, be just as careful when choosing the words you use online as you are when speaking publicly. When sitting at the keyboard, it can be easy to forget that much of what we post online can be traced back to us. The illusion of online anonymity emboldens many to weigh in with opinions they wouldn’t necessarily express in person, but those words can come back to haunt us. Once you share something online, it becomes part of your digital footprint and can be linked back to you in most cases.

Secondly, be aware of the privacy settings on social networking sites and be careful with who you allow to follow you. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all have options for limiting who can view the content you share. It’s still best not to say things you don’t want to reach the general public, but you likely have more room to express yourself with people you trust than with strangers who are less likely to view your words in the appropriate context.

Finally, if you do enjoy using your online anonymity to express yourself in ways you’d rather the general public not know, don’t link your screen name with your real name. Bone could easily have avoided the more unpleasant parts of his big week by creating a new Reddit account to use during his 15 minutes of fame.