Background

Many first-time authors are at a loss when it comes to promoting their books and/or themselves. And even if they literally wrote the book on an issue, speaking about it to a journalist, whether on TV, radio or print, is a whole other thing. 

 

Challenge

Client C was a first-time author, whose publisher did not have a dedicated marketing and promotions department to raise awareness effectively about his book. Though his book had been out and available for purchase for several months, there had been no media coverage on it, no interviews scheduled and no pitch materials or media lists put together. 

 

Strategy

Since this was a three-month engagement, we had to maximize our time. Our first priority was to identify the audience for this book, which would then allow us to define the media outlets and journalists we wanted to target for pitching. In addition to reading the book, we had several lengthy interviews with the author to understand his goals: Who was his ideal reader? What did he want them to take away from the book? How is it relevant to today? We used the information to put together a comprehensive media strategy that included a curated list of target journalists, a media one-pager, press kit, author biography and a social media strategy. We created book accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn using images and templates created by our designer. We posted content on each account several times daily, leveraging peak traffic times and tracking engagement for each post. We did four major media pushes, highlighting a different aspect of the book in each pitch, that went out to our media lists. Each pitch was customized according to each media group’s focus areas, i.e., sports, social issues, books. We conducted several media training sessions — for TV, radio and print— with the author, who had never done media interviews before, and prepared talking points for each interview. 

Background

Crisis management is not something many organizations think about, especially if the industry they are in is focused on hospitality and things that people typically celebrate and enjoy. Recently, however, many individuals, organizations and companies are discovering that things that were not traditionally political now are. From the #MeToo movement to #BLM, social issues impact every industry, every organization and every company. 

 

Challenge

Client B, an $8M national nonprofit, was facing hostile media and social media attacks, citing a lack of diversity and a need to call out accusations of sexual misconduct among its industry leaders. Longtime supporters were now publicly criticizing the organization and/or turning their backs. The situation threatened its ability to carry out events, raise money, successfully implement programs and carry out its mission. This was a crisis situation that was unfolding in real time. The organization was already working with a team of outside consultants, and we had to find a way to seamlessly integrate into the team, hit the ground running, and create and implement a strategy on Day 1.

 

Strategy

Because the situation was already in crisis, the priority was to de-escalate and find a meaningful way to repair and rebuild the organization’s brand and reputation. This meant identifying the root causes of the crisis and, by doing so, creating strategies to address criticisms in the short-term and mitigate similar risks in the long-term. We interviewed members of the leadership team, communications team and staff members who were impacted by the crisis. We identified areas where their actions and or messaging (or lack of messaging) either supported their cause or exacerbated the crisis. We conducted a risk analysis and presented it to the team with recommendations on immediate courses of action. We knew that in order to effectively move past the situation, they had to address it directly, with messages and actions that showed this was not about PR, but about being an organization that was willing to learn, listen and lead. Once we addressed the current crisis, we created a customized crisis strategy plan and internal communications policy that gave the organization definitive guidance on how to prevent and/or handle a variety of situations in the future. We also identified internal and external spokespersons, and provided each of them with media training.

 

We chose not only to support the organization in dealing with its current crisis, but also to provide the necessary tools so it could mitigate and/or navigate future situations.