As the client base at The McOnie Agency grows, we are continually looking to create new and exciting ways for our clients to interact with their audiences. Digital communication, moving images and sharing of information form a large part of any communication programme today and so The McOnie Agency dedicated a day to exchange ideas and improve knowledge in these areas with help from fellow IPRN member, Peter Haddock from Edson Evers.
Our training partnership and information exchange
We started our day by discussing the increasing importance of bloggers and influencers. They provide a ready-made captive audience where clients can launch a new product or idea with a view to not only promoting it, but also gaining valuable feedback and potentially support from the blogger or influencer themselves. Having already established social media channels for its clients and the Agency itself, The McOnie Agency was keen to explore blogger and influencer engagement further and benefit from Peter’s experience that included advice such as the importance of setting up a professional Facebook account. We will also now incorporate video content into our agency’s own PR activities as an opportunity to engage with our clients and promote the work that we have achieved with both trade and regional media, as well as through our social media channels.
In the afternoon we explored the benefits and opportunities that videos can bring to any campaign. The moving image is a very powerful form of communication today and the creation of video content is an evolving science and an area where learning never stops. We investigated video production by producing a video of the training session itself and this enabled us to practice how to set up video recordings to achieve the best sound and visual quality and content.
Communications strategies – next steps
Demonstrating the ‘value’ of PR has traditionally been difficult for agencies. However the digital world provides opportunities for return on investment to be measured. This in turn means that clients are more willing to invest their precious budgets and the more positive results they see, the more budget they find.
Our training and exchange day was interesting and great fun but it also enabled us to open up further discussions with our clients, impressing them with our skillset and ultimately getting commitment to additional budgets.