BIPR Feature – An Agency Story

An Agency Story Podcast – Episode 32 – Triumph

This week on An Agency Story podcast, we have Brandi Sims, MBA, CEO and Founder of Brandinc PR – a full-service boutique public relations agency based out of Austin, Texas that specializes in public relations, media outreach, publicity campaigns, events, and general marketing specifically related to social media and online engagement.

Brandi has accumulated over 14 years of experience in the realm of marketing. Initially focused on collaborating with nonprofit organizations, she ventured into the finance sector before gradually transitioning into the captivating realms of entertainment and lifestyle. In an unexpected turn of events, Brandi unintentionally founded Brandinc PR amidst the challenging circumstances of the pandemic in 2020.

Over the past three years alone, Brandi and her agency have successfully catered to a diverse range of clients, spanning beyond the nonprofit space, and venturing into the exciting waters of entertainment. Their portfolio includes public figures and individual brands, showcasing their versatility and wide-ranging expertise. Brandi and the agency have had the privilege of working with some renowned clients such as Dolly Parton, former Seattle Seahawks player Kam Chancellor, and many more.

On this week’s episode, Brandi discusses an array of compelling subjects. She reflects on the impact of MTV on her professional journey, explores the complexities of imposter syndrome, and emphasizes the importance of stepping aside from our own limitations.

She also shares valuable insights into how her experience with the military has shaped her work ethic and transformed her perspective on life.

Enjoy the story.

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For more exciting interviews and resources, please visit Performance Faction at performancefaction.com.

 

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6 Ways to Use Social Listening in Your Public Relations

6 Ways to Use Social Listening in Your Public Relations

With the advent of social media, public relations has changed dramatically from how it was in the past. In order to keep current and create meaningful and impactful interactions with your target market, you need to be aware of what’s being said about your brand at all times. That’s where social listening comes in handy, allowing you to track conversations about your brand and respond as quickly as possible if you detect any negative sentiment or criticism. Here are six ways you can use social listening in your public relations strategy.

1) Build your knowledge

In a world where, literally, billions of people can talk about your brand, product or service on social media at any given moment—there’s no better time than now for public relations (PR) and marketing professionals to become experts in social listening. The best PR pros use tools like Radian6 and Sysomos, which give them access to all of their company’s mentions across social media platforms.

2) Keep an eye on your competitors

In some cases, it makes sense for brands not to publicly acknowledge their competitors. That said, just because you might not be throwing shade or making snarky comments on Twitter doesn’t mean your competition is taking a similar stance. You can use social listening tools to see what people are saying about your competitors—and react accordingly.

3) See what your customers are saying about you

You can’t improve upon something if you don’t know what’s wrong with it. A consumer-facing business should be paying attention to what its customers are saying about it online, whether that comes in through complaints, customer feedback or other social media interactions. For example, if you have a Facebook Page for your business, use Crowdbooster as a way to track mentions of your brand on Facebook and respond accordingly.

4) Check out what others are talking about

Of course, you’ll want to see what people are saying about your brand. You can find out by using social listening tools like Mention and Talkwalker (you can set up free alerts for specific keywords, phrases or hashtags). Then, see if anything has caught your eye and read through it so you can comment thoughtfully on these issues when appropriate.

5) Develop a strategic framework

When crafting a strategic framework, ask yourself questions like: Who is my audience? What are their needs and wants? How can I fulfill those wants better than anyone else? What channels should I engage on so that I can gain access to and build relationships with these individuals? How can I best deliver my message while maintaining consistent branding and tone? If you don’t take time to think about answers like these, your social listening will be less than strategic.

6) Focus on influencers

The best part about social listening is that there are few limits as to how you can put it into practice. It’s not just for PR—it’s a solid marketing strategy too. While your goal may be customer acquisition, you don’t have to wait until they want something from you to capture their attention. You can monitor what’s being said about your brand, engage influencers and interact with customers who are talking about your brand positively or negatively.

How does a public relations agency work?

How does a public relations agency work?

 

Providing quality consulting to their clients is one of the pillars that keep public relations agencies, their work is crucial to the success of any company.

 

Hiring some of these services implies being open to all recommendations. Not to mention that in some cases some of the company’s own ideas may be questioned. Not surprisingly, formulating viable strategies is the essence of public relations agencies.

This is how a public relations agency works:

●     Works hand in hand with the company’s marketing team:

The public relations agency functions in most cases as an extension of the marketing area, which is why the team in charge of that area should be the one to manage the hiring of agency services.

 

For many companies and personal brands, having this type of service is quite useful. You will be getting a much broader working picture.

●     Effective communication:

One of the objectives of public relations agencies is to be able to fully develop your commercial offer. Whether it is a product or a service, such an agency works effectively to define certain aspects.

 

What do you want to offer, who do you want to reach, what do you want to achieve and what are the means to achieve them.

 

The agency you hire will work with you hand in hand to delve deeper into each of these areas in order to plan strategies and deliver much more effective results.

●     They manage the reputation of your company or personal brand.

 

It is the agency’s responsibility to manage the reputation of your company or personal brand. All this is achieved through a series of communication tools, this includes paid media, earned media, influencers, and currently, such agencies include social media management in addition to other digital marketing services.

●     Press release management:

A public relations agency has an extensive directory of contacts of journalists and media platforms, this is essential when covering special events or press conferences. The agency’s job will be to convince journalists and media, getting the message across in the best possible way.

 

While this may be the work of an advertising agency, many public relations agencies have this type of outreach

 

●     Define the style of the message to be transmitted.

 

The way in which the message is transmitted is fundamental; a public relations agency works to ensure that the style of the message transmitted to consumers is the most appropriate.

 

It is also the agency’s responsibility to manage in an intelligent and effective way, all the behavior of the audience before the propagation of such a message.

 

A solid image and reputation not only guarantees the success or failure of a company, it is also capable of strongly influencing the decision of each and every consumer. Working for a solid image and reputation is undoubtedly one of the goals pursued by all public relations agencies. 

Schedule a consultation and learn how we can help you.