Injecting Creative Components Into PR Campaigns

There are many ways to measure the value of adding in creative components with a client or campaign (click rate, social engagement, downloads, etc.) but the underlying truth remains that 88 percent of PR practitioners cite infusing creative elements into their work as fundamental to what they do according to this recent study from PR Week. It’s expected in 2017.

Still, you’ve likely heard it before from a client who may be skeptical. Does it really work? Is it effective? Your client doesn’t have the budget or doesn’t see the value or wants to know what the ROI on it would be, right?

One of our clients, National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, recently wanted to make a splash with their Counter Cholesterol campaign using Austin as their pilot/beta test market. The primary goal for SHIFT was to help find inventive ways to reach National Forum’s target audience and to then get that audience to take action by getting their cholesterol checked. Utilizing the help of our talented creative team, we were able to establish a brand guide, create a logo, build social images and populate infographics to reach both English and Spanish audiences. Each creative element included some data points surrounding the campaign and its launch.

An influx of engagement stemmed from the creative collateral produced for social and targeted ad campaigns — 87% of website traffic was generated by social where reach expanded to over 70,000 people and was up 119%.The campaign in Austin was such a success that the project will soon expand to several other large U.S. cities later this year.

Is creative always a possibility with a client or campaign? No. Sure, they might have an internal team. But it never hurts to suggest to a client a way they can spruce up a project, campaign, case study or report. A brand refresh, an infographic, a short video, a microsite or a heat data map are all fun, attention-grabbing ways to allow these items to stand out to their audience or to media by capturing more eye balls.

Ben Waring
Account Director

[cta]