Online Outreach Then and Now: From Problem to Priority
May 4, 2012

When Mac and I looked back at where we were five years ago when we formed Click Communications, we were struck by how much has changed in the world of online publicity since then.

When we first formed Click, we would tell stories about how, back in 2003, no one cared about reaching online audiences, and online journalists didn’t care about home entertainment. We compared that with 2007, a time when many studios realized they needed to be in front of online audiences, but the pool of interested online media had gotten so large that matching the right product and story with the right sites was a fairly daunting proposition.  As such, we were often hired to “solve the online problem.” In fact, once word got out about how handily we could navigate the web, we got really busy really fast, and our company grew from two people to seven in a few short months.

Today, of course, there are a myriad of different ways to “solve the online problem” because the problems are as vast and unique as the people and agencies prepared to take them on. The major difference between online publicity Then and Now, however, is that online has shifted from Problem to Priority.

When online outreach is viewed as a problem to be solved, it automatically makes it a problem to be solved. Everything becomes last-minute and fast breaking, not just because of the dynamic pace of the online medium, but because most long-lead attention is still placed with traditional media. And if traditional media publicity doesn’t meet expectations, online coverage becomes the consolation prize.

When online outreach is viewed as a priority, on the other hand, wonderful things can start to happen. For example, if you wait until the last couple weeks of a campaign to roll out your online strategy, then what happens earlier in the campaign when you’re pitching broadcast and long-lead print publications about your new brand that no one’s ever heard of? Those producers and writers will Google your product and come up with…. Nothing. By contrast, if you prioritize your online outreach early on to take place throughout the life of your campaign, then you build up Google results, conversations and the all-important Buzz.

Our approach at Click has elevated online outreach beyond a priority to become a driving force in campaign strategy. This frees us from some of the old rules and restrictions that can apply to available assets, allowing our team to parcel out exclusive content, premium items, compelling interviews and exciting event opportunities across multiple mediums to reach true market saturation with our ideal audience.

The Click team is also particularly deft at finding new ways of maximizing assets in fresh, creative ways. After all, when it comes to rolling out publicity and marketing materials over a period of time to your target audience, you have to be careful. Think of your assets like ingredients, and your press as a mix of carnivores, vegetarians, foodies and picky children.  You can either parcel out your interviews, video clips and widgets (or meat, vegetables and cheese, if you will), to the people who want each individual item the most. Or you can put them together to form, say, a delicious pizza—something unique and mouth-watering for everyone.

The trick, especially with a long campaign, is to make sure that you’re not pitching the same story to the same person over and over again. I don’t care how much a person likes a pizza—if they hear about it three times a week, they’re going to get sick of it and stop returning your emails.

Luckily for our clients, the Click team avoids this kind of creative fatigue with the right blend of targeting, timing, and our signature Click creativity and genuine enthusiasm. Our online experts are well-rounded, strategic publicity and marketing professionals, ready to lead the way on our clients campaigns, and deliver outstanding (and occasionally delicious) results.

By: Dinah McLean

First! Is it better to be earlier or better? How about both?
May 12, 2010

Last week, Click Communications celebrated its third birthday. In three years we’ve gone from a husband and wife duo to a team of eleven (including our contractors, which we do). We have a smarty pants Advisory Board, and a roster of awesome, fun, high profile clients. Our database of online press is exponentially bigger and stronger than it was three years ago.

At the same time, perhaps you’ve noticed, online marketing and publicity have pretty much exploded over the last three years. Talk about timing! It is more important than ever to have a strong, strategic presence online, and even more important to have partners in the digital space that you can trust.

Because, let’s face it, any schmuck can create a Facebook account and call himself an “Online Expert.” How do you make sure your online partners really know what they’re doing?

A few things to consider:

  1. History – Being first isn’t necessarily most important, but experience counts. Mac McLean has personally been focused solely on online publicity since 2003. Dinah McLean started focusing on primarily online marketing and promotions in 2000. When we founded Click in May 2007, we were one of the earliest online-focused agencies through the gate. A strong history like this means that we can spot trends, know what sticks, and know how to implement the right strategy using the right tools.
  2. Expertise – Integrated online outreach is our core focus at Click, and helping clients realize their online potential has been our primary mission since Day One. This makes Click a leader in the digital space. We can identify a quality site or blog with just a glance, translate target demographics into target sites in our heads, and transform simple assets into fun feature stories. We can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound (yet), but we are always learning, challenging ourselves, and competing with ourselves in order to do better.
  3. Evolution – Click is not the same company we were when we started. Our team is bigger, our list of services is longer, our client list is longer and more diverse, and our press database looks completely different. We’ve achieved all of this because we are flexible, quick to learn, and committed to our education. Every new idea is examined for potential, every setback is a new opportunity,  and every success is shared as a best practice. We roll with the punches and evolve with the times, and are a stronger company for it.
  4. Relationships – Ask online press who they like to work with, and why. Better yet, just check out our testimonials. Our long history with our online partners, combined with the fastest response time in the industry, has made our relationships with our press extraordinarily strong. We have been building these relationships, and our database, with great care, because we know they can make the difference between getting covered or not.
  5. Integration – Is online outreach a function of the marketing department or the publicity department? It varies from client to client. Our team is unique because we speak the language of online, publicity, and marketing, which means we can work with any department with ease. Our integrated approach helps internal departments work together seamlessly to achieve the best possible results with a cohesive, complementary campaign.
  6. Results – If you skip everything else, this is the criteria to examine closely. At Click, we combine quality placement with a high quantity of hits to generate superior results that drive awareness and, ultimately, sales. We measure success by looking at how well we reach target demographics, how timely our placements are, how many quality sites we reach, how many different kinds of sites we reach, how many different assets we had to put to work—we examine everything. And we report these results with great care, making sure they are extremely thorough and capture every hit we place, fully detailed, and, of course, as accurate as possible.

Of course, these aren’t just our criteria. They’re the criteria of the clients we’ve worked with as well. They’re also just the ideals that we’ve chosen to try and live up to. After all, if you built your own company, wouldn’t you try to make it as awesome as possible?

By: Dinah McLean

Click Celebrates Its 3rd Anniversary!
May 7, 2010

Three years ago,there were two of us and a cake.  Now there are 11 of us, but I think this year will be Otter Pops.

Happy Friday!

By: Dinah McLean