It’s the same thing at the beginning of every new year – your belly is full after all the festivities while your press coverage inbox remains eerily empty. We reassure you though that you’re not the only one struggling with the annual PR drought that January brings. Did you know that the holiday season is actually one of the best times of the year to explore different platforms, reach out to your target in a more laid-back fashion and boost your multisectoral exposure? Open2Europe’s pan-European PR experts share their experience and lessons learned over the years in the form of 3 holiday-proof PR tricks you can adopt to enter the new decade on the right foot!
- Stay in the mood and capitalise on the endless possibilities of holiday content
Let’s be honest: from December 15th and well into mid-January, people have but one thing on their mind – the holidays! Every door is adorned with a sparkly wreath, every two words someone drops their best wishes, every computer screen furtively hides an e-commerce tab showing the best toy deals and on the telly there’s but talk of money spent to bring the seasonal magic to life. If your brand offers consumer-oriented products, it’s unlikely that you need to brainstorm much, but if you’re a B2B brand or a corporation that capitalises on services rather than material goods, it can be burdensome to come up with a strategy to keep you afloat during this period – which doesn’t mean you can’t turn the odds in your favour! Our advice is to make the best of those quiet few days in the office to create the content that will carry you smoothly into the new year and beyond: from branded Christmasy graphics that can be used as season’s greetings on social media to seasonal special offers and discounts and evergreen content you can use to target press sectors different from those you usually go for. And don’t be afraid to let your hair down and adopt a more playful writing style on social media – the holidays are also your chance to show the world the human side of your corporation by shifting the spotlight onto individual employees you want to push to the media as sector experts, publicising important promotions, recruitments and partnerships as well as company events and any corporate announcements made. - Invest in evergreen content and expert opinions if you lack proper news over the holiday season
Many journalists struggle with what they call the “news drought” leading up to, during and after the holiday season. As for you, there’s a good chance many of your brand leaders are still out of the office (or frantically trying to sort out the piles of emails in their inboxes!), product launches have been postponed until the workflow has been restored back to a normal rhythm, in-house events are not relevant enough to warrant their own press alert, etc. But as much as you’d like to just sit back and enjoy that residual food coma without a care in the world, your KPIs sit merciless and unmet in your spreadsheets. Time to panic? Not if you know how to make the best of the quietest few weeks of the year. A great way to make up for the lack of fresh news and communications is evergreen content: invest your time in drafting quality op-eds, expert opinions and reviews, listicles and how-to contents your PR agent can push to select media outlets as an exclusive. More than a filler, this type of content happens to be one of the cornerstones of any brand’s reputation and a great way to fine-tune your SEO! - Use social media to bring you closer to your target consumers
Many brands go all out with their PR strategies and forget about the importance of diversifying their target scope: an earned press article or a stellar print review can only do so much in a world where a tremendous percentage of consumers rely on social media alone to find the products that best suit their needs. Furthermore, a well curated social media approach can bring you closer to consumers and project a brand image far more reachable and favourable than any traditional media outlet can do. Multisector and multilingual agencies such as Open2Europe can help you tailor your social media approach and advise you on all the latest tips and tricks so you can properly stride into the new decade with all the right tools to excel; from the choice of the platform to coordination of different language versions, including your visual identity and graphic design, content creation, community growth and management as well as the most effective gimmicks to keep your audience engaged.