Julie Thompson Dredge’s Post

This is our local woodland - 60 acres of ancient heathland, ferns and bracken and wild bilberries. (mini wild blueberries, delish, try them). Sorry if this picture is slightly giving brainwashed member of a woodland cult, but I genuinely get a buzz out of being in these woods. Anyone else think the woods smell amazing in June too?

I thought this was worth sharing, about the importance of case studies to stories, whether surveys or other. Twice this week I’ve had conversations with journalists where they reiterate that what turns a data story into a ‘human’ or ‘character’ story - and therefore one of wider interest, is a good case study. We recommend our clients to have at least three varied case studies to hand (ones willing to speak to media; often the trickier bit, so it can take a bit of time and work)

Just before we start thinking 'weekend' - a few reasons anyone who's a business leader doing PR should also build their Linkedin presence: -*Credibility*. Journalists and conference organisers, when pitched, will often come here first to verify you and have a good nosey at what you've written recently. They might even get inspired for further stories or panels by seeing your great content. -*Thought leadership*. Linkedin presents one or the easiest and quickest ways to build your brand. By posting 3 or more times a week consistently you'll quickly build a following, and any press coverage can be really amplified and ramped up here. -*Networking*. With about 134.5 million users actively using LinkedIn each day, it's a no-brainer. By following, tagging and liking journalists' content, you can start to build a rapport with them too. Linkedin isn't just a necessary evil for hiring, sharing dry company updates or new biz wins. It's also a great communciation platform. And journalists are using it a lot more now. * I know some of you know this, but a lot of people don’t. Get in touch if we can help with social media strategy or writing for July onwards...

“It’s not worth doing any PR in summer, everyone’s on holiday, August is dead…” 😵 Um, not true. Unless you live in France, where I started my career, then possibly things will slow to a halt in August. But in the twenty plus years I’ve been in PR I’ve noticed that the media doesn’t “stop” - it’s barely noticeable if it does slow down, and actually July and August can be fruitful months to try and get coverage. Let’s look at this summer in particular - lots of events to jump on and provide comment around: ✅ The election, July 4th. (the media can’t write about the election on this date, so a good day to prep stories on other topics) ✅ The Euros. Lots of tangential / fun stories you can potentially piggyback on here if you have European data/ a creative team. ✅ The Olympics (Paris v London stories?) And the usual summer events - Taylor Swift and concert madness, Glasto and festival season, Wimbledon, etc… Love to hear any stories from other PRs about successful campaigns and stories you’ve run in the summer. And perspectives from journalists.

10 years of Frame PR. A decade of helping startups, scale ups, VCs, and lots of bigger companies. I think it’s been about 90 companies we’ve worked with. Lots more exciting things to come. But just a word of thanks to all the amazing clients, the brilliant brains in the team, and the supporters. Have a brilliant weekend everyone.

3 Takeaways from Muck Rack’s “The State of PR 2024” Survey - 1️⃣ LinkedIn surplants X (Twitter) as PR professionals’ social media channel of choice 50% to 16% - with 61% saying they want to use it more. Now the report didn’t ask what PRs are using social media for but at Frame we use LinkedIn to engage with clients and other PR pros, follow business news, create content for our clients, and interact with journalists. We are using it far more than we are X, and hear that from our PR agency connections too. 2️⃣ Change is coming with a more fragmented media landscape making it harder to secure traditional earned media in the same old places. Podcasts, newsletters, forums - we're reaching out to more people, in varied and different places. Data analytics is coming into PR agencies' workflow.  We already use industry leading tools to analyse and evaluate results. And on securing coverage… 3️⃣ Old fashioned connections matter.  83% of pitches are made 1:1 to specific journalists, with relevance being the most important factor in securing coverage.  With so much experience in our team, we know the journalists and the subjects they cover, giving our stories the best shot at cut through. And we never mass-blast releases out. Personalised approaches still win every time. Oh, and Tuesdays are the most popular days to pitch the media.

I’m sure everyone can say they’ve followed someone they heard on a podcast, or bought something they heard discussed. I bought concert tickets after hearing the actor Andrew Scott on a podcast. He was talking movingly about how much the Pet Shop Boys meant to him as a kid growing up in Catholic Ireland. That sparked a feeling of nostalgia in me too. Podcasts are obviously great places to tell stories. I actually think they’re a gift for our clients. Sometimes 30 minutes air time to tell your story and get messages across. Every podcast we get our clients on is about honest conversations. And every producer we speak to says they want guests to speak openly and, if they can, pass on knowledge that listeners can apply to their own lives and work. Working out how to convey a compelling personal story - whether a powerful founder story or an emotional personal one is something we spend time helping our clients do. It isn’t always easy marrying that genuine discussion with a way of bringing your company or product in to the chat. Podcast training makes up an increasing part of our media training sessions too. William Turvill in The Times recently interviewed Steven Bartlett who discussed the success of his own podcast. The most successful of all the Diary of a CEO episodes is episode 101, the one where one of his guests, Mo Gawdat discusses how he’s learnt to be happy after the loss of his son. ‘Takeaways’ for listeners, presented in an engaging way. Steven also makes the point that in the world of online media consumption where short form video is winning (LinkedIn is next apparently), podcasts are one of the last methods of “long form engagement content” that is really working. We work with world class podcast producers to get clients on top podcasts, we train clients to go on podcasts. And we can produce podcast series for you. *Pic below of last night at Pet Shop Boys in Birmingham

Some wins I'm intentionally acknowledging this week. I almost did a post about PR life being a rollercoaster, having been on a heart-stopping rickety rollercoaster at Paulton's Park last week, but as usual PR man extraordinaire Parry Headrick beat me to it. You can feel all the emotions in just one hour in this industry. We've ended the week on a serious high though. Some wins... 1/ A very exciting consumer tech win for us, a UK & European brief - so huge thanks for Sian H. for her work on securing this. *If anyone has recommendations for excellent freelance tech PRs in France, Germany & Nordics, pls tag below* 🍾 2/ Another equally exciting and more unexpected win in the football world - much more to be revealed, but let's just say a small team is about to be put on the map ⚽ Thank you to Ian Croney and the team at DW for the referral. 3/ The last is a 'let's hope we win this' but an approach for an exciting female-led product business with a great story is still a win 🤰 Also big thanks to Kellie Whitehead for her extensive football knowledge and brainstorming enthusiasm this week.

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