Tank News and Blog

Posts Tagged ‘pr agency’

Read all about it

15-04-2011 | Martin | Tank PR News

In an ironic twist of fate, the past few weeks have seen Sunday tabloid the News of the World hitting the headlines itself rather than publishing them.

The supposed ‘phone-hacking scandal’ and subsequent apology from News International has raised questions about the means used by journalists to produce the sensational headlines that the British press is renowned for.

No doubt the coming weeks will hold more revelations as further details are announced and journalistic practices are pushed even further into the spotlight.

Obviously, phone-hacking and scandal are far removed from the world of a Nottingham PR agency, but it does go to prove one thing – no organisation is exempt from needing the services of a good PR agency from time-to-time!

Martin

No Comments [0]

New recruit joins the ranks at Tank PR

03-11-2010 | TankPR | Tank PR News

Nottingham public relations agency Tank PR has announced the appointment of a new account director.
Martin Stone joins Tank from BCS PR, with extensive experience of managing high profile B2B and B2C campaigns on both a regional and national scale.

An English graduate and trained broadcast journalist, Martin has worked for BBC television and radio, as well as a number of commercial radio stations across the UK, helping him to develop an astute sense of news judgment and an impressive set of contacts.

As an account director, Martin will be working with the team to develop and manage effective and innovative PR strategies, as well as using his background to provide broadcast training for clients.

“Having worked with Martin previously, I’m all too aware of his ability to gain outstanding, targeted coverage across his account portfolio,” commented Trevor Palmer, director and founder of Tank PR.

“His experience and media knowledge will be key in the future development of Tank and I’m confident that he will be a valuable addition to the team.”

Martin’s appointment comes after a highly successful first year of trading for Tank PR, which saw it dramatically increase its client-base and achieve Recommended Agency Register status from RAR, the independently owned register, which helps organisations source the right marketing agencies.

For more information, visit http://www.tankpr.co.uk or follow @tankpr on Twitter.
Ends

No Comments [0]

Online PR – The middle ground?

30-09-2010 | TankPR | Tank PR News

Within the public relations industry, there is a growing demand for online PR. However, we have started to see a cross over of industries as SEO companies and PR agencies fight for the lucrative online sector. Can there really be only one winner?
What is SEO?

SEO is search engine optimisation. Most simply put, it involves tweaking websites to make them easily seen by Google, which will then in turn place the website higher in search results for the keywords you have done work towards. Google wants to return the most relevant results for key terms so the point is to help Google see how much more relevant your site is over your competitors.

SEO is made up of two parts: on-page and off-page SEO.

Clearly, on-page SEO consists of writing Google-friendly content, including the most relevant key terms, which will also appear in your meta information etc. Of course, your website should also have been built so virtual spiders can crawl and extract information easily. Without FPT access, the public relations professional would not normally have a role to play in this aspect.

Off-page SEO is mainly link generation with the best links having a dofollow attributes which includes your key terms in the anchor text. This is where PR people can have a substantial impact. To get your client’s story in a national newspaper is great for traditional PR but for SEO, the aim is to get a link to the client’s website from the newspaper’s website and you will have hit the SEO jackpot. Afterall, the Telegraph’s website has a page rank of 8, the Guardian boasts a page rank of 9 and The Sun has a very respectable page rank of 7. It is well known that links from website with high page rank are more valuable than those from sites with low or no page rank. A persuasive public relations person can get the links that SEO people dream of.

What is online PR?

Again, simply put, online PR is managing a company’s reputation online. This can be done best with social media as companies can create a meeting place for customers who like a brand to discuss products/promotions etc in a social environment that the customer views as their territory e.g. platforms such as Facebook. The great thing about this for brands is that customers let down their guard in this arena, they have time to browse and are relaxed enough to make impulse buys.

SEOs often jump on this task, as it is easy, right? You set up the Facebook page, put a button on the website and let customers come forth and gush about how much they love the client’s brand and we’ll drop in occasionally and use it as a free broadcasting channel. Unfortunately, it isn’t that easy.

Some SEOs get it right and they’re the ones who understand about how social media works and encourage discussion and interaction. Those who get it wrong waste an opportunity for businesses to connect with customers and clients at best. At worst, they create a public relations nightmare that spills off the Internet into a calamity in the traditional media.

The trouble is that not every public relations agency has embraced the Internet. Amazingly, some prefer to stay out and wish not to adapt to the changing times. Unfortunately, this is not a strategy to adopt if you wish to be operating in 5-10 years time.

Separately, SEO and PR have a huge amount to offer clients looking to expand their businesses online. Is the middle ground of online PR a space to be fought over or an opportunity to work together? Part of the battle is that anyone can say they are a ‘Social Media Guru’ and all that will be achieved is a bit of messing around on Twitter with the client losing out. Weeding out the charlatans is the first challenge! Reputation is everything in PR.

Public relations agency Tank PR works with Nzime on several online projects. Based in Nottingham, the two companies work together to ensure that clients get the best deal – amazing websites that are well optimized for search engines backed up with amazing PR.

No Comments [0]

Converting through Social Media, how I became a coveted statistic

08-09-2010 | TankPR | Tank PR News

Social media is a relatively new phenomenon, with savvy established brands and new businesses all trying to use social networking channels to their full effect. The principles are simple – approach potential customers in an environment where they feel safe and comfortable, where they feel in control and basically on their own territory.

Social networking can be hugely valuable to companies that get it right. If you know who your customers are, you can target your other marketing and PR campaigns more effectively. It becomes even more valuable when friends of the customer see that they like your brand and may possibly become customers themselves. It is even better if the customer interacts with you on these social networking sites and provides valuable feedback for free… whether it is good or bad.

Working in digital PR and SEO, you may think that someone like me is immune to such campaigns. After all, I know virtually every trick in the book right? Well yes, but I’m still a shopper! I need to purchase goods and services too, which is why I want to share with you how a company found my Twitter profile and encouraged me to become a customer.

I won’t be revealing the company that caught my attention, I am a shopper not their PR department!

1. This company followed me on Twitter first. When I get an email saying I have a new follower, I take a look at this person’s profile. If they appear to be spammy (no picture, lots of links or a username with lots of letter that don’t make sense) then I don’t follow back. This company checked all my ‘genuine Twitter user’ boxes.

2. They didn’t unfollow me once I followed them. There are tools out there that allow you to see exactly who has unfollowed you and when. There is nothing more annoying than people who follow you and then unfollow once you have reciprocated just so they can look popular.

3. This company reached out and spoke to me and replied when I spoke to them. When it seems as though there is a personality behind the screen, it makes the Twitter user more inclined for follow and chat to them.

4. They identified their target market well. As a woman in my mid twenties who uses Twitter frequently I fit perfectly to their ideal customer demographic.

5. Ultimately, the quality and relevance of their products to me was the dealbreaker. Do not take the attitude that if you sell and item and get enough website traffic the sales will roll in. Take responsibility for the product and be prepared to adapt.

Sales made directly through social media can be easily traced through Google Analytics, however, if social media has put the idea of buying in to a customer’s mind this is somewhat harder to track. ROI is then harder to gauge but still and excellent support tool for traditional public relations and marketing. Tank is well placed PR Agency to maximise your social media campaigns.

No Comments [0]

New client is a good fit for Tank PR

16-07-2010 | TankPR | Tank PR News

Following a three-way pitch, Tank PR has been appointed as the PR agency of national bespoke tailoring firm, Tailoring UK.

tailoring-uk-publicity

Tailoring UK Have Chosen Tank For Their PR

The brief will see Tank PR devise a campaign to support Tailoring UK’s ambitious growth strategy across the UK’s major cities. The campaign will focus on retail store support for the company’s outlets and also support for its offices across the UK and its forthcoming e-commerce arm.

Tank PR will also be tasked with raising the profile of Ketan Jethwa, creative director of Tailoring UK and tailor to the stars. Ketan says:

“Tank were able to convey impressive knowledge and experience of the retail sector, and they have some fantastic ideas as to how we can engage more with our corporate clients using social media.”

Tailoring UK, which recently announced excellent first year trading figures, is owned and managed by the sixth generation tailors, the Jethwa family.

Ends.

No Comments [0]