Not for the faint hearted…

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Friday 10 May was set to be a particularly ‘challenging’ day for the Acceleris team. No, a client crisis had not just erupted, but the annual team away day was upon us!

There had been a lot of debate prior to this about whether to take the easy route and spend a leisurely day together or a more active challenge. The latter won (much to the dismay of some of our less ‘macho’ team members).

So, the challenge was set and we were on our way to How Stean Gorge in the Yorkshire Dales to climb, crawl, drag and swim ourselves up a gorge.

As we arrived we were met with drizzle and uncertain weather. Spirits were not dampened however as we all gathered to sign our lives/limbs away with a health & safety disclaimer (alarmingly one of the instructors was missing half a finger).

Once dressed and raring to go (perhaps a few of us a little uncertain about heights/getting our hair wet/ smudging our make-up) we got harnessed up and began the first part of the day – climbing along the rocks of the gorge, also known as the Via Ferrata, Latin for ‘iron way.’  As we battled a series of metal beams, ladders and cables it was good to see everyone get stuck in, and helping each other along.

Next we donned some truly flattering wet suits (see photo!) and abseiled 45ft (15m) into the gorge to be met with freezing cold water and fast flowing rapids.

 

Team Acceleris

As we waded through the water, the challenges really began. One by one we slipped on the rocks and plunged into the water, but everyone was on hand to help each other – albeit laughing.  The most difficult part was attempting to climb up the gorge as the water smashed down and took us back to where we began. Words of encouragement were shouted and hands held out and together we made it to the end where everyone (well almost everyone…) jumped into the plunge pool.

The day was enjoyed by all – even those initially apprehensive, and as we left smelling of river we set off to the pub.

So what did we learn on our team away day? We all look damn fine in a wet suit…

Preventing a crisis becoming a disaster

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By Peter Davenport, Managing Director at Acceleris

An overly-suspicious person might think there was something inherently risky in anything to do with the letter ‘S’ when it comes to crisis potential; Starbucks, Sunderland Football Club, Savile, Stuart Hall and, of course, Sexual allegations!

The one thing that links them all is that they were each unexpected and each generated a crisis of corporate reputation that called for calm heads, inquiring minds, brave decisions and incisive actions. Continue reading →

Have a Word: How to do content marketing

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Jack Williams - Account Executive

So far in 2013, the buzzword of communications has been “content marketing”. Effectively this is content creation and an important discipline for anyone working in the social web today. It positions businesses as experts and thought leaders, it feeds into SEO campaigns boosting website visibility and it’s an important way of controlling how customers perceive and interact with brands:

• 70% of UK adults consume at least one piece of content marketing monthly
• 59% of consumers are more likely to notice products and promotions when produced by brands compared with conventional advertising
• 72% are more likely to consider purchases when reading brand-produced content compared with non-branded content.¹

Stats like these cannot be ignored and explains the huge interest in content marketing – the human planet now produces as much information every two days as it did from the beginning of civilisation up until 2003. So, cutting through all that ‘noise’ with something meaningful and not just adding to it is critically important.

At Writers Inc. we’re big fans of written content – blog posts, how to guides, top tips – the problem is written content is often regarded as easy to create and a lot of it just isn’t very good.

So, here are our quick tips on great content marketing:

• Make it relevant – your audience has come to you because you’re an expert in your given industry, so provide news and information relevant to that. Don’t suddenly decide you want to be a meteorologist and start providing weather reports
• Make it interesting – don’t provide weather reports
• Make it shareable – sharing spreads the message further, promotes your brand as a thought leader and, most importantly, provides third party endorsement that is much more trusted than advertising or promotion. Include social media icons and present the content in a format conducive to Facebook and Twitter
• Make it valuable to your audience – give something away, for example top tips on a certain subject
• Make it valuable to you – when producing content you need to occupy the middle ground between storyteller and salesman, with commercial and marketing objectives kept in mind.

So can anyone be a content marketer? Yes and no. Creating quality content is a skill best executed by a professional. There’s plenty of content ‘out there’ that lacks quality for sure and detracts from the originator’s credibility. At the same time though, to truly be a thought leader those in the company with the expertise should be involved in the creation of content. Working with your PR and content marketing practitioners is the best way to assure content that consumers will value and share and that will build a brand that is trusted.

¹ “Smart content holds the key to engagement”, Marketing Magazine, 27 March 2013

Crisis management: baptism of fire for Liverpool FC’s new director of communications (Intern’s Insight)

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In the era of social media where information can travel around the globe instantly, an issue can suddenly emerge and, before you know it, evolve into a fully fledged crisis demanding swift action. Last week there was a particular crisis on everyone’s lips: the Suarez biting incident.

By Acceleris Intern David Mayers

The bizarre actions on the pitch demanded quick and level-headed action, but what made the club’s handling of the situation even more interesting to watch, was the fact that Liverpool FC had just appointed former head of internal communications, Susan Black, as its new director of communications. Little did she know that just three days later she would be put to the test over the handling of a number of Twitter trends and tabloid headlines relating to an in-match incident involving star striker, Luis Suarez. Continue reading →

Did social media or traditional news sources bomb with Boston coverage?

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The Boston bombings and their dramatic aftermath will go down in history as the first unscheduled international news event to break and unfold on Twitter and other social media sites, in real time for a mass audience.

David Gatehouse - Consultant

Instant, high volume reporting by those at the scene of the atrocities, then in attendance at hospital emergency rooms, along the murderous manhunt’s route and at the eventual capture of the surviving suspect, left professional journalists in ‘traditional media’ floundering in their wake. Continue reading →

Have a Word (part 3): A matter of style

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At Acceleris, we have transformed our clients’ public profiles, revamped whole suites of marketing materials and revolutionised how clients communicate with the outside world. Put another way, change has led to clients increasing their business, getting their messages out to the public, forming better relationships with their stakeholders, dealing efficiently with crises or simply showcasing achievement and best practice.

Charley Durham, Senior Copywriter and Editorial Project Manager

There is, however one area where change is not always the best way forward and that is in relation to house style. While there will always be organisations crying out for professional support in establishing a consistent house style, there will also be those that place a lot of importance in their existing house style and rightly so.

Let me give you two examples, one a housing trade body, one a small seafaring charity, both of which we have worked with over many years. We manage major annual report projects for both of these clients – highly formal and technical publications with specific audiences and communications objectives. Some of the editorial preferences of these clients, however, are quite different.

The housing body has a list of specific preferences, including where to use and not use a hyphen and mostly favouring the use of lowercase, which has the tendency to look very modern, especially in subheadings (it’s also a personal preference of mine, but that’s by the by!) This results in a contemporary looking, yet targeted, publication and a consistency that is recognised by its 5,000 recipients, most of whom are public sector and communications professionals, each year. This house style also fits in with the body’s wider branding; they may only constitute simple touches but they all count.

In contrast, the charity client favours the use of uppercase for job titles, departments and formal charity terminology such as Royal Charter, Mission Statement, etc. As the charity’s ‘Annual Report’ is read mostly by former Royal Navy and Merchant Navy professionals, or those in the wider seafaring industry, this style is entirely appropriate for the target audience. ‘Capping up’ immediately makes text quite formal, which in this case is in-keeping with such an important and purposeful document.

For any copywriter or communications professional, the ability to recognise when change is necessary and when to respect what’s already there, is essential. The best approach in both these cases, before getting out the red editing pen, is to decide whether it’s more valuable to stay true to a client’s history, personality and integrity rather than enforcing change for change’s sake.

Proofreading and editing is a major part of what we do within Writers Inc., the dedicated editorial production service from Acceleris. Please get in touch and see if we can help you with your forthcoming project.

 

Time for some social media savvy

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Simon Leonard - Senior Account Director

This week’s events have clearly shown the pitfalls of playing ‘editor-in-chief’ on social media platforms. And while the likes of Twitter and Facebook provide us all with a modern-day ‘soap-box’ to share our views with a mass audience – we need to remember it’s not a case of ‘anything goes’.

Paris Brown, the UK’s first youth crime commissioner, was left with no other alternative than to resign from her £15k a year job earlier this week after, as what she describes as ‘bravado on social networking sites’, finally caught up with her just six days into her new role.

Companies should take note and use the incident to ensure their own social media strategies and policies are robust enough to deal with the ever-blurring line between employees’ personal and professional personas. After all, Kent Police’s reputation was damaged after the story hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, as a result of the incident.

Paris Brown's resignaion

Paris Brown was forced to resign because of past comments on her Twitter account

There’s absolutely no doubt that the importance and influence of social media will continue to grow over future years. It’s certainly a powerful tool to have in the communications’ ‘kit-bag’ – the stats speak for themselves – over one billion people now use Facebook and 517 million have a Twitter account.

And while this offers a fantastic opportunity to inform and engage with diverse audiences, we should all be aware of the fact that personal opinions will have an effect, like it or not, on professional personas. Extreme as this case was, the standard line of ‘these views are my own etc..’ certainly did nothing to stop the media circus descending on Miss Brown and her employer this week.

Companies are therefore duty bound to ensure their social media policies reflect the growing popularity and ever-changing face of these platforms so they are ‘fit-for-purpose’ and are clearly communicated to their workforce. This applies from the recruitment process to ensuring employees understand the ‘dos and don’ts’ of the wonderful world of social media, when they’re at work and, just importantly, when they are not.

To see how Acceleris manages social media accounts to support our clients’ commercial objectives visit: www.acceleris-mc.com

What’s in a brand?

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If you search online you’ll find countless research papers and studies into consumers’ relationships with a brand which are all well and good in theory but how does it work in practice?

We’re human and as such we form connections with all the products and services we use day-to-day, whether we intend to or not. From our toothpaste in the morning to the alarm clocks we set at night, everything has a particular association and all it takes is one small hiccup to show just how important these are.

In this ‘age of austerity’ undoubtedly consumer habits are turning more to cost and finding the lowest prices, but there will always be certain items we’ll never scrimp or save on and that’s where the brand’s power really comes into play.

The Tesco horsemeat scandal (oh not that again!) is a prime example. If asked two months ago which supermarket I prefer the inescapable blue, red and white logo would have been an outright winner but now I’m not so sure and instead find myself swaying towards the squeaky-clean Sainsbury’s or farmer-supporting Morrisons.

Every brand treads a thin line between consumer love and hate. A place where years’ worth of trust and loyalty can be destroyed in one line of an email or 140 characters of an ill-advised tweet but equally where an honest admission can recover a badly damaged reputation.

In a recent email correspondence with a society (which I have supported for a number of years) an unnecessarily terse response has not only left me feeling affronted but more importantly has brought into question my continued support and advocacy.

The old adage of ‘think before you speak’ has never been more appropriate. In today’s technological age it’s far too easy to fire off an irritable email missive in reply to what you deem an unreasonable request or to compose a derogatory Facebook post without so much as a second thought but when you are the voice of a brand, it goes without saying caution is absolutely essential.

When speaking as a brand or organisation, there can be a tendency to adopt a robotic-like approach, responding purely with carefully devised template messages and leaving all emotion aside. Whilst this tactic is certainly appropriate for some situations, there are also brands which have developed their entire customer base on speaking as human beings.

Drinks maker Innocent is a great example of how being open and approachable has built up a worldwide following of brand advocates. In 2010 the brand came under fire when it sold shares to Coca Cola and subsequently received further investment earlier this year, but a frank and personal explanation from co-founders Adam, Jon and Richard laid all their cards on the table; retaining Innocent’s values and its loyal customers.

Sadly there’s no scientific formula for right or wrong brand communications. So much depends on the ethos, capabilities, target audience and positioning, as well as any pre-existing reputation already in place. The best piece of advice is simply as all good parents and grandparents dole out ‘treat others as you like to be treated’.

Put yourself in the customers’ shoes and if you don’t like what you see then it’s time to change.

Writers Inc.’s top five tips for quality website content

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There is much debate within the industry about what the word ‘content’ really means. In reality, content is any information you provide to customers, clients or stakeholders in the form of writing, video or audio. This can be online and offline marketing collateral, such as leaflets and brochures, or news stories and blog posts. In this blog we focus on website content and how to ensure it works for you.

Everyone wants quality website content; it’s what pushes you up the search engine rankings and allows people to Google your site with ease. Your news, blog posts and all general prattle needs to be original, up-to-date and relevant to achieve this.

Yet, even when you hit these three fundamentals and the Google spiders index your site, the job isn’t over. All you’ve done is appease the machines so the humans can find your content. Now your content needs to be accurate, grammatically correct and well-written on top of original, up-to-date and relevant.

Our Writers Inc. survey found 42 percent of respondents would be put off from buying a company’s products or services if the content on its site failed to meet these requirements. This means something as little as a spelling mistake could cost you more than two-fifths of your customers. At that price, can you really afford lazy or incompetent writing on your website?

At Writers Inc. we’ve pulled together five of our top tips to ensuring website content engages with your audience:

  1. Check, check and check again! Poor spelling and grammar can be damaging. To avoid any nasty mistakes, we recommend using Word to draft any copy for your site – this makes it easier to spot any errors – and using the invaluable spelling check tool. Then, print your document out and read it thoroughly. Finally, get someone else to read through your work – you’ll be surprised at what you may have missed.
  2. Write for your audience. If you’re writing only for Google spiders then your content will not appeal to a human reader. Know who you’re writing for and write specifically for them.
  3. Make it personal. Consider the line ‘some of you may be aware…’ When you read this in a letter, do you imagine yourself stood beside all the other recipients, deciding who was aware and who wasn’t? Of course not! It’s a daft phrase that signals to your reader you’re not focused on them and leaves them asking why they should focus on you.
  4. Cut, cut and cut! So much writing is filled with unnecessary fluff that makes it all the more difficult for your audience to penetrate and take in the key messages. If you can cut out a sentence and the piece still makes sense, cut it!
  5. Hyperlink. Being able to link to relevant pages and supporting information is a very powerful tool that isn’t used nearly enough in website copy. And it links nicely to point four: sometimes more information would be useful but isn’t entirely necessary; so link to it! A great use of hyperlinks can be directing your customers from one part of a site to another; for example getting them to move from a blog post to the area of a site where a sale can be made.

In this age of digital and mobile communications, 88 percent of people believe the ability to write well is still important. Yet, with communications becoming ever faster, shorter and more immediate, the opportunity for mistakes is wider than ever. Follow these five tips and make sure your content is working to captivate its target audience, or else run the risk of falling into the surrounding white noise.

Writers Inc. is the newly launched department at Acceleris which is dedicated to the production of quality content. It comprises a select team of skilled writers and former journalists who have many years of experience in generating content across a wide variety of sectors.

Also, check out some of the website projects Acceleris has managed in recent years.

The perils of social media

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Step back in time seven years ago and social media was arguably in its infancy. MSN Messenger was the best way to contact friends, Myspace was a great way to share music and to communicate, and Facebook was still only accessible to those at University.

Jump forward to now and social media is the best way to communicate news, share links, interests and also annoyances. Twitter recently celebrated its seventh birthday!

This evolution has come with a level of uncertainty. We are regularly hearing about people who are taking to Twitter and other forms of social media to identify people who should have the right to anonymity, debate alleged scandals about ‘anonymous’ footballers, and discuss trials, name victims of crime, as well as expressing every day gripes with brands and companies.

As each incident happens we learn a little bit more about the perils of social media and the repercussions of falling foul of the law.

While journalists training gives them a certain level of legal knowledge of what they can and can’t write, members of the general public may not be aware that most laws which apply to the press also apply to social media. The BBC recently published an article citing recent examples of people facing legal action over their actions on social media. The wrongful naming of Lord McAlpine on Twitter is one recent example, where users who posted tweets and also those who retweeted posts are now facing legal consequences as a result of their actions.

Interestingly, the article highlights that joining in controversial or potentially incriminating conversations, including retweets, on contentious topics can leave people in sticky situations. It also notes that 653 people on Facebook are currently facing criminal charges in England and Wales.

So as a business or a brand, what can we learn from these every day examples?

Social media usage guidelines are important in letting employees know what companies expect of them. This may be managing a company’s social media page, or how you refer to a company on your personal social media page. Some companies go as far as to say that personal social media profiles should not refer in any way to the company an employee works for. But whatever your company decides – make sure it’s clear! Companies are also advised to have a social media policy outlining the acceptable use of both individual and company profiles.

This may seem obvious, but if you are managing various social media accounts for companies or brands, make sure you know what key messages you are supporting and what types of conversation you want to take part in. If high profile conversations are going on within your industry decide whether or not your company/brand wants to join in and the messages it wants to deliver.

At Acceleris we manage various clients’ social media accounts, and for each one, we know the messages that it wants to deliver and the type of engagement the client wants to participate in.