30 PR Tips – you can apply today!

25/08/2022By scandinaviancomChange Communications, Christina Rytter, Content Marketing, Crisis Communications, Management Communications, PR, PR Tips & Trends, Public Relations Global Network, Scandinavian Communications, Social Media, SoMe Tips & Trends, Strategic Communications

In PRGN (Public Relations Global Network) we have created an eBook with 30 blog posts, where we offer our best tips in PR and communications from our members worldwide.

This is part of our 30th-anniversary celebration, that we want to share with you. Scandinavian Communications’ CEO Christina Rytter contributes to How you can Build a PR Crisis Team.

Download it here for free: 

Reboot Strategy: Reset MarCom Goals & KPIs

25/08/2021By scandinaviancomChange Communications, Christina Rytter, Content Marketing, Crisis Communications, Management Communications, PR, PR Tips & Trends, Scandinavian Communications, Social Media, SoMe Tips & Trends, Strategic Communications

By Christina Rytter, Founder & Trusted Communications Advisor

Remember this! As part of your MarCom strategy – you also need to strategic decide on and set KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for your communications, PR and marketing. Otherwise, you can only to a lesser extent measure the effect, business value and ROI (Return-on-Investment) of your invested MarCom budget.

So, if you Reboot your Strategy – you of cause also need to Reset Goals & KPIs. When you set KPIs and thereby measure results, you will be able to have a clear evaluation of, what is driving the business forward. AND what is not. You can evaluate and demonstrate the direct business value of communications, PR, marketing and social media to the management and the board.

How to measure MarCom results?
MarCom KPIs can be concrete actions or registration of change in behaviour or point of views in the target group before, under and after your work/campaign. Test the measurability of your indicators with SMARTSpecific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Time-bound. When we work with earned communications such as PR you can set both quantitative and qualitative deliverables to get a more sufficient evaluation.

Quantitative PR deliverables could be the number of articles your PR-campaign created separated within your chosen Tier 1 Media in each market. Also looking at the PR-value of each media clipping, which we traditionally measure by finding the Equivalent Advertising Value for each media clip and then multiply the value with 3, because earned media have higher trustworthiness. A quantitative deliverable could also be the measurement of increased website traffic directly related to your PR-results.

Qualitative PR deliverables could be message resonance included in the media coverage such as your Top 1-3 Key Messages. It could be mentions of Brand Name & Product Names and back-links in your media coverage.

In Social and Digital campaigns I would always recommend you to create high-quality content relevant for your key target groups – and then as an ad on set aside a media budget to work with sponsored posts to get a much larger reach and higher amount of web traffic and response from your preferred audience.

KPIs for Social Media could be Engagement and Relevance for your target group measured by; Clicks per post (Traffic to the website), likes, shares and comments. You can also look deeper into development in your followers such as; Audience growth rate, new follower rate, follower/following ratio, which show Thought Leadership position.

SoMe Influencer campaigns can also be very effective when you select bloggers and Instagrammers relevant for your target group to help deliver your key messages. Be aware to set very clear KPIs in paid contracts with influencers to make sure your campaign goals and measure points are clear.

Need help to Reboot your Strategy and reset your MarCom Goals & KPIs? Don’t hesitate to contact us. We are here to help! 😊

Read more Tips to Reboot your Strategy:

Tip 1: Rediscover your purpose

Tip 2: Evaluate your target group 

Tip 3: Adapt your Key Messaging

Tip 4: Tweak your MarCom Channels

Tip 6: Create your MarCom Plan

 

Learn more about Strategic Communications

Reboot Strategy: Tweak MarCom Channels

10/07/2021By scandinaviancomChange Communications, Christina Rytter, Crisis Communications, Management Communications, PR, PR Tips & Trends, Scandinavian Communications, Social Media, SoMe Tips & Trends, Strategic Communications

By Christina Rytter, Founder & Trusted Communications Advisor

When your business conditions suddenly change you often also need to Reboot – or at least evaluate – your existing commercial strategy to adapt. So, you can work successfully within the new normal.  When you have your overall purpose, target group and key messaging in order the next cornerstones in your strategy is your communications channels. If some of the other important areas of your strategy change, it might also be relevant to tweak communications channels. It must always be your target groups and influencers preferences, that decides which channels you use for Marketing, PR and Communications. NOT your preferred channels 😉.

To reach each of your key target groups, you need to tailor your content and then communicate and get into dialogue in the relevant and strategic/tactical selected channels. Again, this often very in different target groups across business position, country, age, gender etc. Your business needs to be present, engage and communicate authentic and clear in the channels where your target groups are present.

Need help to Reboot Strategy? Don’t hesitate to contact us.

Read more Tips to Reboot your Strategy:

Tip 1: Rediscover your purpose

Tip 2: Evaluate your target group 

Tip 3: Adapt your Key Messaging

Tip 5: Reboot MarCom Goals & KPIs

Tip 6: Create your MarCom Plan

 

Learn more about Strategic Communications

Reboot Strategy: Rediscover your purpose

03/04/2021By scandinaviancomChange Communications, Christina Rytter, Content Marketing, Crisis Communications, Management Communications, PR, PR Tips & Trends, Scandinavian Communications, Social Media, SoMe Tips & Trends, Strategic Communications

By Christina Rytter, Founder & Trusted Communications Advisor

Do you know, why you go to work in the morning? I mean really. When you ask yourself from deep down inside. What’s the answer then? What’s your purpose? Why are you here?  

In Crisis, we fight to survive. Change, adapt – or die. Is it pleasant? Not really! Because humans, in the way we are wired, most are reluctant to changes. But if you are in a Crisis – you need to Reboot your commercial and even personal strategy very quickly to adapt. So, you can execute successfully within the new normal. Reboot and shoot!   

Communicate what matters   

BUT before you hit the ground running with an adapted strategy. Crisis gives you a beautiful opportunity to take a deeper look at what truly matters to you: Your purpose – also called your WHY. Crisis equals development! Both on the business side – as a leader and as a human being. 

To get aligned with your inner purpose will raise your feeling of happiness overnight. AND it will also be your launchpad for strong, authentic, and crystal-clear communication – both as a leader, an organization, and a brand striving for commercial success. As a business owner and/or part of Top-Management we are fortunate that our purpose can become the company’s as well. As an employee you can get clearer on, what values you seek in the organizations, you work for. 

What did the crisis make you discover?  

Maybe the crisis got you to realize that your purpose is still aligned? Then you just need to reboot your strategy. OR maybe the crisis gave you a new perspective? If so, you need to take a deeper look at your purpose before you reboot your business and commercial strategy. 

A real purpose is feeling driven. It’s your values, passions, drivers and what gives you and the organisation motivation. This is why your purpose becomes such a strong lever in communications. Because humans relate to and react to feelings. This is not an opinion. Its biology!  

If you need help to rediscover your purpose to Reboot Strategy – don’t hesitate to contact us! 

PS. In case your wonder what my purpose is – and thereby also Scandinavian Communications; “We help leaders and organizations that do good in the world to get personal and commercial success – so their positive impact on people and planet gets as strong as possible”.

So, if you see yourself and your organization in that – don’t be a stranger!😉 

Read more Tips to Reboot your Strategy:

Tip 2: Evaluate your target group
Tip 3: Adapt your key messaging
Tip 4: Tweak your MarCom Channels
Tip 5: Reboot MarCom Goals & KPIs
Tip 6: Create your MarCom Plan

Learn more about Strategic Communications

Top 5 tips for Crisis Communications in Scandinavia

21/12/2019By scandinaviancomChange Communications, Christina Rytter, Crisis Communications, Management Communications, PR Tips & Trends, Scandinavian Communications, Social Media, SoMe Tips & Trends, Strategic Communications

By Christina Rytter, Founder & Crisis Communications Advisor

When crisis or change hits like a bolt from the blue it’s normal for even the most experienced executive to feel concerned. Especially when you want to be at the forefront of things. Here are my Top 5 tips on how you navigate successfully through the storm when a crisis or change hits you in the Scandinavian market:

1. Response quick – but well thought out

A quick response is key in a critical situation, because it gives you the chance to handle and control the situation and thereby the outcome proactively with a higher possibility for success. BUT the quick response must be flanked by carefully thought out communications – especially what key messages you need to deliver in the conversation with your different stakeholders.

Scandinavians are very critical and direct – and we don’t hold back with the questions. This apply to both employees, journalists, clients, business partners and competitors. So, you really need to prepare. I find that one of the most effective ways in crisis and change communications in Scandinavia is to draw up and work with different realistic crisis or change scenarios and plan, what to do and say in each imaginary scenario – and which communications channels will suit your messages and conversations with different internal and external stakeholders best.    

2. Get ready for conversation

  • What is your key message? Your communication is clearer, when you only focus on one or few key messages.
  • Who are you talking to? (Your key target group/stakeholders)
  • Which information do the person/stakeholders need?
  • Which situation are they in? Communicate the messages relevant to them, not to you.  
  • Choose your role based on the person/target group. Are you formal or informal? How do you dress? What language and body language do you use? BUT be yourself!
  • Prepare, prepare and prepare.
  • Train, train and train.

3. Take control over your body language

Your body language is your greatest asset, when you know how to control and use it. When you learn to use your body language proactively combined with clear messages, you can be a brilliant and authentic leader and communicator. BUT if you don’t have your body language under control – and that is quite normal in a crisis or change situation, when you might get nervous – then it can work so much against you, that nobody hears what you say. Well-known international studies show, that up to 80 % of people’s perception of you will be from your body language. That is if you fail to control it. Otherwise people listen. Scandinavian will mostly listen – if it’s not to boring. And if you serve beer (or something stronger for the Finns) they will really listen. 😉.    

Control what we see:

  • Posture: Straight back and raised head express security, authority and energy.
  • Choose a suitable grimace for the occasion; Seriousness, enthusiasm or joy?
  • Use gestures that support the message.
  • Firm eye contact exudes security and credibility.
  • If you avoid eye contact it signals insecurity, uncertainty – and thus untrustworthiness.
  • Pay attention to your bad habits and patterns – they especially come out when you are nervous under pressure.
  • Look fresh and well-rested (of cause sometimes that might be a little difficult in a crisis).

Control what we hear:

  • Deep and calm voicing creates trust and credibility.
  • Variation in voice creates dynamism and awareness of the recipient.
  • Talk slowly – without getting boring. It exudes heaviness and credibility.
  • Breath deep and use (rhetorical) pauses.

4. Keep calm
Even the most experienced executive can get nervous under pressure in a difficult crisis or change situation. That is just human nature.

What happens when you get nervous?

  • You protect your body with your arms, turn your back, avoid eye contact, smile stiffly and stave off.
  • You sweat, get pale, get ticks, mess with your hair or perform other unconscious bad habits. What are your bad habits under pressure?
  • You move uneasily; rocks or turns on the chair. Tilting back and forth on your feet.
  • You breathe quickly and superficially.
  • You speak faster and get a sharper and lighter voice.

Then what to do?

  • Breathe deeply and plant both feet into the floor.  
  • Lower your talk rate and use (rhetorical) pauses.
  • Open your arms, straighten your back and look up and out.
  • Make and maintain eye contact – possibly look between the eyes if real eye contact is unpleasant.
  • Only smile when it suits the occasion.
  • Sit and stand still.
  • Choose a chair that stands firm. Otherwise you will quite easy start rocking or turn it.
  • If at a presentation: Go consciously among the audience.
  • Avoid carbonated water – so you don’t burp (when you breathe quick and superficially).  

5. Use the crisis to your advantage

When your response quickly and are well prepared, you can turn the difficult situation into your advantage. By working out a carefully thought out message platform with key messages as a first step. And train through the different scenarios with message- and media training, you can navigate successfully through. Get your Crisis Communications Action Plan in order; Who do you need to communicate to as a first step? When and how? If you handle crisis and change like this, people will understand you much better – and even get on your side. When you keep calm and friendly – and communicate in a clear and authentic way you be at the forefront of things. And as always, the most important thing is to prepare – and train, train, train!

Get free crisis advise and learn more about Crisis Communications

Need help with Crisis Communications in Scandinavia?

8 Tips to improve your Instagram marketing

08/12/2019By scandinaviancomContent Marketing, Scandinavian Communications, Social Media, SoMe Tips & Trends

By Christina Rytter, Founder & Trusted Communications Advisor

Instagram as B2B social media is growing at a rapid speed in all Scandinavian markets and the platform has some quite strong business solutions to support your brand building and direct lead generation to support sales. Get my Top 8 tips on how to improve your marketing effort on Instagram:

1. Understand your audience
You gotta understand your Scandinavian audience.  That’s key to success on Instagram. Scandinavians from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland are similar – but not the same!

2. Talk with them, not at them
Ask you Scandinavian audience questions. Always give a quick answer to questions and clearly communicate what you do. That’s a big key on Instagram.  

3. Use relevant hashtags
Hashtags are Instagram’s signposts. Use relevant hashtags, but not too many so it doesn’t look messy and get confusing for your audience. Analyse and test your hashtags, to find out which ones create the best impact for you and your company. Remember to brand your hashtags.

4. Know when to post
It’s vital for the amount of engagement on your Instagram posts, that you post at the right time. Instagram engagement peaks mid-day and mid-week, similar to the other major social networks. Wednesday at 11 a.m. is the overall best day to post to Instagram – followed by Friday at 10-11 a.m. The most consistent engagement is from Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday; go enjoy your day off – few will read your posts anyway 😉. Different industries also can peak a bit more on different times.


5. Create beautiful visuals
Instagram is a very visual platform. So to make it work to your advantage, you need to give your posts a distinctive look with tailored appeal to your Scandinavian target groups. Our vision trumps all other senses. Research has shown that when people hear information, they’re likely to remember only 10% of that information three days later. However, if a relevant image is paired with that same information, people retained 65% of the information three days later. Visual branding plays a huge role in not only attracting your clients and stakeholders – but also in making you and your company memorable and creating a positive perception in the minds of your key audience.

6. Add Calls-to-action
When you add Calls-to-action in your posts you get more direct pay-off on your work and have concrete KPIs to measure. When you create an Instagram Business Profile you get the possibility to ad different buttons on your profile besides of working with direct links in your Bio. Use emojis like arrows, hand pointing or the star to direct you audience towards the link. Also, it works well to insert a call-to-action text in your visuals directing people into what they should do next. You can ask them to buy your product, visit your website or get in touch with you.

The key is to be creative, so people take action. Test new versions to see which one engages your audience the most.


7. Tell Stories
On Instagram the best brand storytelling involves telling snackable, visual micro-stories that tie into your brand’s values and purpose. On Instagram it’s the people and the brands who tell the most interesting stories that build the massive audiences. When you use Instagram for a personal account develop a strong brand presence that shows, what you are passionate about in life.


8. Work with influencers
Adding Instagram influencer marketing into your overall SoMe-strategy can help to increase your brand awareness, grow your followers and thereby drive new leads and sales. Influencer marketing can be quite effective. It removes the barriers of traditional advertising when customers are introduced to your brand from a trusted source. When an influencer recommends your product or service on their channels, it comes across as a trusted recommendation from a friend. Therefore, it can have a huge impact on your brand awareness and sales support.

Five key learnings from social media crisis

09/08/2019By scandinaviancomCrisis Communications, Public Relations Global Network, Social Media, SoMe Tips & Trends

By Philip Hauserman, Vice President and Director of Crisis Communications at The Castle Group

In today’s world, there’s no escaping social media – especially when it comes to crisis communications.
I can say this with authority since 99.9 percent of the crises we’ve managed in the past few years have involved one platform or another. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Yik Yak (yes, even Yik Yak, for those of you who remember 2016). Each platform presents its own challenges, of course, but the approach to managing the situation and the response more or less stays the same.

So, what do you do? How do you manage a social media crisis?

Prepare. There’s no anti-virus software that I know of that will quickly and quietly fix a crisis, especially one that is playing out online for all the world to see. Having a plan in place – and testing that plan – before a crisis occurs is the No. 1 step you can take right now to prepare yourself and your organization for that inevitable moment when you hear those three little words that nobody wants to hear: “It’s gone viral!” Part of that plan includes making sure that you know your channels, your passwords, and your team. More than one person on your social media team should always have access to each account, and at least one person should be able to access the accounts from a mobile device. Your plan should also include likely scenarios and template responses – pre-approved messages that can be used in public and/or private message formats. Why is this important? Because a single tweet that goes unresponded to can kick off a digital firestorm that can take over and create a narrative of its own, leaving your organization – and your reputation – behind. In a true social media crisis, you don’t have the benefit of time to run a draft social media response up and down the ladder and through legal before posting. Do that ahead of time and save yourself from the headache that comes with waiting…and watching…a crisis snowball online.

Implement – and abide by – social media policies. Developing guidelines and posting policies for external interaction with your social media channels sets clear expectations for acceptable/unacceptable usage of your organization’s pages. These policies will also give you a publicly stated set of rules to refer to in the event that you have to remove a particularly ugly or vicious attack on your platforms. But don’t, under any circumstances, start deleting or hiding comments – unless they violate said policies. Doing so will make the situation infinitely worse.

Listen, listen, listen. The best way to know what’s going on before, during, and after a crisis is to listen. Monitor your own organization’s channels and that of news outlets that may be reporting on the issue. Pay special attention to trending topics and hashtags on each platform, flagging and screen capturing comments that are particularly concerning and may require priority treatment. Many times, you’ll discover new, and potentially actionable, information just by listening to the conversation. When you do speak, speak with one voice and transmit one message. The style and the exact words of the response may change to fit the platform, but the substance of the response should not. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of eyes just waiting and watching for inconsistencies and errors and tone-deaf or robotic remarks – anything to fan the flames and keep the controversy going. What you say online should be the same thing you said to the reporter who called a few minutes ago, and it should absolutely be the same thing you said to your employees.

Debrief. Clean up. And then start planning for the next crisis. Once the storm has passed, it’s time to clean up. Did you promise any updates to anyone during the situation or event? If so, who needs to hear from you and when? Did your process work? What needs to be improved? Do you need to run through drills based on what your organization experienced? Should you update your policies and passwords? These are just some of the questions to ask yourself and your team before the next storm rolls through.

The Castle Group is our partner agency in Boston, USA.  Article originally published at PRGN.com

SoMe – SO Many Enigmas

05/04/2019By scandinaviancomContent Marketing, Social Media, SoMe Tips & Trends

Theme: Scandinavians – similar, but not the same

By Eva Helene Kabelmann, Digital & SoMe content Director

Social media cannot be avoided when talking PR and communication. And numbers show that it is practically impossible to succeed if one does not use SoMe in campaigns – those being local, regional, national or international. And thus also Scandinavian.

The Scandinavian markets have some of the highest numbers in the use of SoMe and one could be seduced into thinking that marketing here would be a pure cake walk.
But.
It’s worth having in mind that there are differences, when it comes to which of the SoMe platforms, the four Scandinavian populations are operating on.

Let’s have a look at the four most used social media: Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and Linkedin. The four Scandinavian populations all – and to a great extent– use these SoMe platforms, but there are differences in degree:

The Norwegians top the use of Facebook. They also have the highest frequency when looking at the number of SoMe platforms used

The Swedes take first place when it comes to Youtube and Instagram. Despite this, they are in third place when it comes to the number of SoMe platforms used

The Danes top the use of Linkedin. And occupy a second place in the number of SoMe platforms used

As for the Finns the most striking is that they almost do not appear when it comes to the use of Youtube. And the Finns also takes a fourth place in number of SoMe platforms used. Despite this ranking, keep in mind that the Scandinavians – overall – have some of the highest frequencies in use of SoMe.

Small differences, but all relevant to consider when choosing a marketing and / or PR strategy for your next SoMe campaign.

Read more: https://scandinaviancommunications.com/social-media/