Last month, we hosted an event at our offices organized by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). Basically, it’s a once-a-year event where Phoenix area PR folk pay money to SPJ to individually pitch reporters in person various stories on behalf of their clients. Think of it as speed pitching, where each reporter has their own desk and PR folk line up for their three-minute pitch.
PR Pros attend panel presentation with journalists at SPJ Publicity Summit
This year, 29 journalists volunteered to participate and be pitched by several dozen PR professionals. The picture shown is of many of those journalists gathered in our offices a few minutes before the pitching sessions began.
We’re very proud that 10to1PR serves clients across the U.S. and that we work with media across North America- but it felt great contributing to our local Phoenix community (media and PR peers alike). Generating local market media for our clients across the U.S. is a priority for us, and seeing local media up close and in person only rejuvenated our excitement in doing so.
Journalists in attendance at SPJ Publicity Summit
Got a story you think that your local media should care about? Give us a call and let’s chat!
10 to 1 PR Sweeps Public Relations Category at American Marketing Association Awards
10 to 1 Public Relations won all three awards in the public relations category at this year’s American Marketing Association Phoenix Chapter (AMA Phoenix) Spectrum Awards. The Spectrum Awards are the premier marketing awards program in the state and a testament to the incredible talent and groundbreaking campaigns that hail from across Arizona.
10 to 1 PR won all the public relations awards, which recognized developing successful local public relations campaigns, national public relations campaigns, and effective press kits.
Sweeping the public relations category underscores the effectiveness of our mission to dominate local market and national industry media. Thank you to the American Marketing Association for recognizing our teams efforts to create and execute strategic public relations campaigns that deliver meaningful results for our clients.
Josh Weiss, President and Founder, 10 to 1 Public Relations
Here’s a summary of the winning public relations campaigns:
National Public Relations
Category Description: This category honors public relations campaigns that target a national audience and focus on building relationships with national media and influencers.
The Campaign: To meet credit unions’ ever-evolving needs, AVANA Companies launched AVANA CUSO (a Credit Union Service Organization), formerly Extensia Financial, in 2023. 10 to 1 PR was integrated to amplify the rebrand and increase awareness and education on the benefits of the CUSO. This became an opportunity for 10 to 1 PR to establish AVANA CUSO as a leader amongst other CUSOs, educate credit unions looking to partner with a CUSO and attract new partner credit unions.
Results: The goals of placing a story in a national finance outlet, a national credit union outlet, and a local Phoenix outlet were all met. In credit union industry outlets, the AVANA CUSO announcement press release was repurposed and shared in CUInsight and Credit Union Times. The press release announcing the hire of COO Chad Witcher was also repurposed into stories in CUbroadcast and CUInsight. The most successful thing our team achieved was leveraging the partnership between Sunlight FCU and AVANA CUSO. In the credit union industry, our team secured an opportunity to record a podcast episode with a representative from Sunlight FCU and AVANA CUSO on one of the leading credit union industry podcasts, CUbroadcast. The partnership details were discussed in the podcast episode and how AVANA CUSO works to diversify Sunlight FCU’s portfolio outside its local market by still serving low-income populations in particular. Alongside the podcast episode, we secured a story written by a credit union reporter at a national finance publication, American Banker.
Press Kit/Sales Kit
Category Description: This category honors a comprehensive set of materials that support and promote a brand or product to the media. Examples include a press kit for a new product launch or a sales kit for a tourism destination.
The Campaign: A global semiconductor equipment supplier, ASM, was planning a new North American headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona, due to the growth the industry has experienced. ASM contracted with 10 to 1 Public Relations to develop a public relations campaign to share this news of their expansion plans with local, national, and industry media. A large part of this work was creating a press kit for the launch event.
The press kit included the following materials:
Fact Sheet – 10 to 1 PR started with the creation of an extensive fact sheet. This allowed 10 to 1 PR to gather all of the most relevant information, key talking points, background and history, and more. 10 to 1 PR was able to confirm accuracy with the client and prioritize they key points.
Press Release – 10 to 1 PR then utilized the fact sheet to draft a press release draft that would be shared with media that attended the event as well as those who were out of state or could not attend. This would be a more formal representation of the desired messaging and also include quotes from ASM executives and key community partners.
Visuals – 10 to 1 PR was able to secure renderings/images of the new ASM headquarters. This was important to help journalists understand and communicate what the new headquarters would look like for their specific audiences.
Results: 10 to 1 Public Relations was successful in executing the event press kit and exceeding expectations with their public relations campaign to drive stories about ASM’s expansion with local, national, and industry media. 10 to 1 PR generated over 100 media features in national outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo!, Reuters, Bloomberg; industry outlets such as Semiconductor Engineering, Semiconductor Digest, Computer World; and local outlets such as all the major local TV stations, local NPR, the Arizona Republic (Arizona’s newspaper of record); and others. These stories were all considered very positive and incorporated ASM’s story into the larger story of economic and technological growth in Arizona and the U.S.
Local Public Relations
Category Description: This category honors public relations campaigns that target a local audience and focus on building relationships with local media and influencers.
The Campaign: In July 2023, Unical Aviation relocated its global corporate headquarters from Los Angeles, California, to Glendale, Arizona. 10 to 1 PR was integrated to amplify the benefits of moving to Arizona and establish Unical Aviation as a leader in the aerospace market.
The objectives of this project included amplifying positive messaging around this relocation to support Unical Aviation’s hiring efforts and establishing Unical Aviation as a trusted global aircraft parts supplier in the Phoenix market. The goals indicated at the beginning of this project included targeting the local Arizona publications to aid in Unical Aviation’s new hiring initiatives and the aviation industry publications to elevate Unical Aviation as a leader in the industry.
Results: For the internal communications strategies, goals and objectives were met, as our customer, vendor, and internal communication documents were shared with the appropriate audiences, assisting in Unical Aviation’s goals of amplifying positive messaging around this relocation to support Unical Aviation’s hiring efforts and establishing Unical Aviation as a trusted global aircraft parts supplier in the Phoenix market.
Goals and objectives were also met for the external communication strategies, as our team was able to secure media placements in local media for the formal announcement of the move to Arizona, including the Phoenix Business Journal, ABC15, Daily Independent, Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Glendale Arizona, AZ Big Media, West Valley View, Glendale Star, and Glendale Independent. We also secured placements in the Los Angeles market, LA Business First, and an industry publication, Connect CRE.
How to Leverage Community Outreach Initiatives for Positive Brand Awareness
Written by Annie Appleton, PR Executive at 10 to 1 Public Relations
Corporate social responsibility, such as community outreach and charitable work from a business, has long been a tool used by public relations professionals to help bolster an organization’s reputation. There are a lot more benefits that can come from performing community outreach projects other than being a positive story to feed to the media. We’ll run through some of those benefits, plus how to turn a community outreach initiative into a PR win.
Why Community Outreach Matters
Performing community outreach is a great building block for positive brand reputation and recognition. Having strong community outreach initiatives also helps build trust between the business and the community. It shows that the business cares about its community and the people in it, thus helping to create a more loyal customer base. This also reigns true internally for the business or organization.
“Roughly 82% of U.S. consumers actually consider corporate social responsibility when deciding what services and products to buy and from where. Similarly, a survey of millennials’ work habits indicates that 86% of Generation Y workers greatly value their companies’ corporate social responsibility programs and would quit their jobs if those programs started to slip.”
We are seeing more and more from both an external and internal standpoint that people care about what values a business stands on. People are choosing where to work and shop in businesses that align with their own core beliefs. With the rise of social media, audiences can determine by one post if they will support a business or not.
How to Identify Relevant and Timely Causes
The first thing we look at when start to think about a community outreach initiative is the calendar. We review what holidays are coming up, what time of year it is, and what is timely. For example, in June, a community outreach effort could be centered around Father’s Day, Pride Month, or summertime.
The next thing to consider is the who, what, and why:
Who in the community needs help
What are we going to do to help
Why we chose this particular problem to solve
Finding a cause or organization that is relevant to your business is a good place to start when it comes to deciding the “who.” Here in Phoenix, AZ, it gets hot in the summer. For those who haven’t experienced it, imagine walking into an outdoor wood-fired pizza oven. It is like that, only hotter, from May – October. Homelessness is a big issue here, caused in part by not enough affordable housing and an unstable economy. Here is why the who, what, and why come into play:
Who: People with little to no access to shelter from the heat
What: We will host a water drive by donating cases of water to an organization
Why: According to reports at least 130 people experiencing homelessness died from heat-related deaths in 2021
Getting PR Recognition for Your Community Support
Our client Air Pros collaborated with their local Big Brothers Big Sisters organization on a donation to support kids in the community.
Once you have identified your cause and how you are going to help, there are several things you can do to leverage the work you are doing for positive public relations. Consider:
Creating an event around your community outreach project.
Make sure to take photos with your company’s logo visible
Invite the media to your event and offer interviews about the cause
Send a post-event story (along with your photos) to the media
Add how your company practices corporate social responsibility to the company website
Post your photos and community outreach projects on social media
The Big Picture: Impacting the Community
We worked with our client FirstBank to create the ‘Give it Forward’ campaign to raise awareness for donating to local nonprofits for Coachella Valley Giving Day and Arizona Gives Day.For this year’s campaign, FirstBank surprised local residents by covering their gas bills and encouraging them to ‘give it forward’ by donating to a nonprofit of their choice.
Most importantly, community involvement helps the community at large. When performing acts of service there are real people in real need that are the most important beneficiaries. Think about a back-to-school supply drive. Those who benefit the most will be the teachers that often have to buy supplies for their classrooms out of their own pockets, and the children who will have the supplies they need to learn. That should always be the main focus of a community outreach project, not how it benefits the business doing the service, but how it benefits the community.
The internal benefits of community involvement are vast. These programs and projects are wonderful for team building and unifying employees. They get the whole team to work on one goal – helping others. It can help raise employees’ morale as well. If employees are given a voice on what projects and issues are important to them, it can leave them feeling not only more professionally fulfilled but also fulfilled on a personal level. Many businesses and organizations choose to schedule volunteer days where, instead of going to work, they volunteer at an organization for the day. This gives the employee more control to choose a cause close to their heart.
Takeaways
Taking part in community outreach programs is a wonderful way to practice corporate social responsibility. Community outreach can help to build brand recognition and reputation, foster trust with customers and the community, and bring a team closer together. But when we look at the bigger picture practicing corporate social responsibility by helping the community around us is invaluable to the community and the individuals that are at the receiving end.
We should all try to leave the world a little better than when we arrived. Companies are no exception. There is so much good that can be done in the world, so many people that could use a helping hand, and not enough people that are willing to extend that helping hand. I encourage you to go out and be involved in your communities, and strive to be the good in the world, you will be surprised how even the smallest of things can make an enormous difference in the lives of others.
Hermes Creative Awards is one of the oldest and largest creative competitions in the world. Winners range in size from individuals to media conglomerates, and Fortune 500 companies. Hermes Creative Awards honors the messengers and creators of the information revolution. Armed with their imaginations and computers, Hermes winners bring their ideas to life through traditional and digital platforms.
As a firm focused on creating the highest caliber PR campaigns and results for our clients, it’s especially rewarding when independent third-party organizations recognize our strategy creation and implementation efforts as among the best they’ve seen compared to our industry peers. I’m most proud that these three Hermes Creative Awards recognize our team’s hard work and dedication to serving our clients’ needs and achieving their goals.
Josh Weiss, Founder and President of 10 to 1 Public Relations
Here’s a recap of the winning campaigns that were recognized:
Platinum Winner: “Establishing Worzalla as a Top Local Employer” – Strategic Campaigns/PR Communications/PR
Worzalla, a leading book printer, enlisted the agency’s help to strengthen its employer brand and attract top talent. Through a comprehensive PR strategy, 10 to 1 Public Relations crafted a compelling narrative that highlighted Worzalla’s positive work environment, employee benefits, and commitment to the local community. The campaign’s success in enhancing Worzalla’s reputation as a desirable employer contributed to its well-deserved recognition.
Faced with the challenge of introducing a groundbreaking product, Intel turned to 10 to 1 Public Relations to devise a PR campaign that would captivate local audiences in Arizona. 10 to 1 Public Relations orchestrated an unforgettable experience that showcased Intel’s revolutionary technology. The campaign’s exceptional execution and ability to generate excitement surrounding the announcement made it a resounding success.
Risas, a prominent dental company, faced a reputational challenge that required expert handling. 10 to 1 Public Relations devised a comprehensive PR campaign focused on transparency, proactive communication, and stakeholder engagement. Through strategic messaging and meticulous crisis management, 10 to 1 Public Relations successfully safeguarded Risas’ reputation, earning the admiration of both industry experts and the public.
10 to 1 Public Relations adds these Hermes awards to its extensive roster of awards recognizing the firm’s outstanding work over the last decade.
Written by Katie Geraghty, PR Executive at 10 to 1 Public Relations
It feels like each day in our calendar year has been deemed a holiday in some capacity, allowing a perfect opportunity for your company to capitalize. Whether it be celebrating Veterans Day or Talk Like Shakespeare Day, holidays come in all forms each with its own potential audiences.
Identifying and amplifying holidays that relate to your organization’s mission or values allow for meaningful, relevant, and strategic media opportunities. As media relations experts, holidays of any kind give our team an opportunity to showcase clients through local promotions or events. Planning and executing these media campaigns keeps our creative juices flowing while gaining positive, local media attention for our clients.
Try it for yourself, here are 5 tips for your next holiday-based media stunt:
1. Identify campaign goals
Identifying the solid goals of the campaign as well as the target audiences are the key first steps to planning a successful campaign. Meeting with your team and all involved to clearly identify the goal for the holiday campaign is essential to its success. What’s that overused saying, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. Go ahead and apply that logic here. Laying a solid foundation will allow you to reach new heights, heights being audiences of course.
2. Research, research, research
Investing quality time into understanding what the holiday represents is essential to avoiding any PR blunders. Identifying the true meaning of the holiday will better allow creativity to flow throughout the process of developing the holiday event.
After identifying an appropriate holiday to center a media event around, it’s important to identify how this ties directly to your client’s business goals and PR strategy. The final component of researching for the event involves identifying the appropriate markets and audiences, without the appropriate targets, the event will carry less impact and relevance!
3. Collaborate
Working together with your team to identify a few tie-ins to the holiday provides a great springboard to create better, more relevant ideas. In a creative field such as PR, we see the benefits of collaborating every day.
Bringing together a diverse team for a brainstorming session can be extremely helpful to hear various perspectives and develop an idea everyone can support.
4. Plan every detail
For every media event you coordinate, planning is truly at the core of ensuring the success of a campaign. Establishing clear timelines, deliverables, and roles will allow everyone involved to feel much more relaxed and comfortable throughout the process.
Nailing down the nitty gritty ahead of time will relieve stress points. We recommend working with your team to identify potential roadblocks and develop solutions ahead of time, so everyone feels prepared.
5. Evaluate the Results
Execution is a direct result of your planning efforts, but you’ll need to be flexible in case something doesn’t work as expected. Each event is a great opportunity to learn about the needs of the media and community, so allow yourself to be present and observant!
Taking the time to reflect on the event directly after will allow your team to better understand the successes and identify any missed opportunities. Reflecting, adjusting, and implementing these ideas will make your next event even easier.
If you ever need help, the team at 10 to 1 PR would love to help!
Should public relations for charities and nonprofits be implemented differently compared to for-profit businesses?
For nearly 20 years, I’ve been asked a variation of this question by nonprofit leaders. Since I launched my PR firm about a decade ago, the question comes even more frequently. While most of our clients are for-profit businesses that are national or in several markets, we have also worked with a handful of charities and nonprofits over the years, some that are nationally focused and others local only to a single media market.
When it comes to PR tactics, it doesn’t matter if you’re a for-profit or nonprofit. Sure, a nonprofit might be focused on specifically promoting its fundraising or education efforts, but when you boil it down, it’s really promoting a service, product or idea just like a for-profit business.
I’m constantly impressed by the mission-driven focus of the many nonprofit leaders that I’ve worked with, and I believe business leaders can learn a lot from their passion and commitment to achieving an end goal. The challenge is that some nonprofit leaders fail to understand that their organization is a type of business too and that public relations is a key ingredient to achieving success for their overall mission. Many times, and for various reasons, nonprofit leaders have the wrong mindset and don’t recognize or believe they should adhere to the proven PR recipe that many businesses follow…
