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Content marketing x public relations workshop
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April 23, 2021 – Content marketing x public relations workshop

According to HubSpot, 70 per cent of marketers are actively investing in content marketing. In this session, we will explore how and why public relations practitioners should include content marketing in their strategy.

What you will learn:

  • Lessons learned from the past year and how to reach Canadians today
  • How to choose between owned, earned, paid and shared channels
  • What content marketing is and how to integrate it into your strategy
  • Best practices for creating and distributing content on channels like Pinterest and Instagram
  • How to measure success using Media Rating Points (MRP) and digital analytics tools

Presenters:

Victoria Procunier, VP Sales & Marketing, Fifth Story

Victoria joined Fifth Story in 2007, taking on increased responsibility and positions of leadership through the organization’s evolution into digital advertising and content.

Working collaboratively with clients across all industries (federal government, major brands, non-profits, associations), Victoria has planned and implemented highly successful multimedia regional, national and international marketing programs.

Niharika Mohanty, Account Director, Digital Strategy at Fifth Story

Niharika has 10 years of experience in marketing communications and client relationship management. She has worked in a diverse range of industries including home goods, technology, financial services, fintech, aviation, real estate and more. She joined the Fifth Story team in May 2020 as Account Director. From developing marcom strategies to overseeing successful campaign executions as an effective client liaison, Niharika excels at ensuring smooth production of brand campaigns.

Jenny Cruxton, Director of Measurement and Analysis, Fifth Story /MRP & Director of Membership, CPRS Toronto

Prior to joining Fifth Story, MRP™ in 2010, Jenny worked for FPinfomart.ca as Sr. Corporate Trainer, Cision in Sales & Marketing and Hill & Knowlton as Information Co-ordinator. She brings over 20 years of experience in PR, media monitoring/analysis and more recently social media. Jenny is a graduate of Durham College, Journalism; F.I.S University of Toronto, Information Professional as an Educator; and earned a certificate in Competitive Intelligence, Market Analysis and Benchmarking, Schulich School of Business, York University

About Fifth Story, a News Canada company: A Toronto-based content marketing agency that specializes in bringing brand stories to life across multiple channels and platforms. In business for almost 40 years, Fifth Story is the original content marketing agency delivering innovative content marketing solutions that appeal to clients’ target markets.

Date: Friday, April 23, 2021

Location: Zoom

Time: Noon

Cost:
Members: $20 + HST
Student Members: $15 + HST
Non-members: $30 + HST

REGISTER HERE>>>

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Trust – The COVID Edition
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March 4, 2021 – Trust – The COVID Edition

Government leaders, public health doctors, pharmaceutical companies, medical professionals, front-line
workers and business leaders have all relied on our trust during this past year. In the last 12 months, we
have seen the need for trust grow and become an even more integral part of our lives as we have been
asked to change our behaviour for the common good of all Canadians. While some have seen the trust
we have for them soar in the past year others have behaved in ways that would lead us to question the
trust we have given in the past.

Please join Dave Scholz, APR, past president of CPRS Toronto, as he talks with Bruce MacLellan, APR
FCPRS, CEO of Proof Strategies and Bunmi Adeoye, Senior Vice President of Proof Strategies about the importance of trust as we come out of the pandemic. Bruce will share with us a distinctly Canadian story about trust using fresh data (January 2021) from Proof Strategies’ CanTrust Index, a leading source of knowledge and understanding of trust. Bruce and Dave will discuss the implications that the past year has had on trust and how this could reshape how we view trust in the future.

Topics include:

  • How the pandemic has impacted trust
  • The role trust plays as we come out of the pandemic
  • CanTrust Index’s updated results on trust in Canada
  • What PR professionals need to consider about trust in the post-pandemic era
  • Q&A session with the audience will follow

Speakers:
Bruce MacLellan APR FCPRS, CEO, Proof Strategies
Bunmi Adeoye, Senior Vice President, Proof Strategies

Moderator:
Dave Scholz APR – Past President, CPRS Toronto; Executive Vice President, Leger

Date: March 4, 2021

Time: Noon to 12:45 p.m.

Cost:
Members: $15 + HST
Non-members: $20 + HST

REGISTER HERE>>>

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Inclusion in Canadian public relations firms
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Feb. 25, 2021 – Inclusion in Canadian public relations firms: Removing systemic barriers to inclusion, diversity and belonging in the industry

This online event is intended to raise awareness among audiences about how public relations has been predominantly a white-dominant industry of professionals while BIPOC professionals have been largely underrepresented. This event will inform with action steps and perspectives that will help them write for and engage with their BIPOC audiences.

CPRS Toronto’s Inclusion & Equity Chair, Gail Strachan, will moderate this important discussion with Toronto leaders in the PR community including Rohini Mukherji, VP Integrated Communications and Rob Ireland, Senior Vice President Hill + Knowlton Strategies to advance the conversation about strategies to remove systemic barriers in the PR and communications profession.

Date: Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021

Location: Zoom

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Cost:

Members: $15 + HST

Non-members: $20 + HST

REGISTER HERE>>>

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Cision Press Release Workshop
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March 11, 2021 – The press release isn’t dead. You’re just doing it wrong!

Join the press release experts from CISION Canada to learn best practices on wire distribution. Learn how to: get the attention of journalists, schedule distribution effectively, use SEO to improve placement and how/when to use multimedia in content.

Topics include:

  • How the pandemic has impacted press releases
  • How to get your content discovered
  • Use of multimedia
  • What is worthwhile content?

There will be a prize giveaway during this event.

Speakers:

Jeff Vanderby – Director, Global Product Marketing,  Cision

Michelle Oke – Director, Strategic Accounts, Cision

Duane Bayley – Senior Director, Client Content Services, Cision

Event format

6:00 p.m. – Start and Introductions

6:15 p.m. – Workshop presentation starts

7:00 p.m. – Case Study and Client Q&A

7:30 p.m. – Event closes

Date: Thursday, March 11, 2021

Location: Zoom

Time: 6 p.m.

Cost:

Members: $20 + HST

Student Members: $15 + HST

Non-members: $30 + HST

REGISTER HERE>>>

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CPRS Toronto panel revealed top communication trends for 2018
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TORONTO – December 15, 2017 – To think of 2018 and what that means for the PR profession can be exciting and frightening. No matter what side of PR you work on, the landscape has been changing at a rapid pace with no end in sight.

At the final Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) – Toronto Chapter event of the year on December 4, a panel of CPRS members and thought leaders explored communication trends to watch for 2018. The panel included:

  • Ian Ross, APR, director of communications, Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (moderator)
  • Tracey Bochner, co-founder and president, Paradigm
  • Bruce MacLellan, founder and CEO, Environics Communications
  • Lauren More, vice-president of communications, Ford Motor Company Canada

The discussion focused on three key trends.

Trend 1: PR practitioners need a new set of skills.
Teams are being built in different ways to solve communications challenges and data is being used more to influence decisions. “This is a great opportunity for PR as it gives you a chance to expand and adapt your skills – like learning about data and metrics as they are becoming extremely important to PR,” said Bruce MacLellan.

Also, with artificial intelligence (AI) being harnessed to provide value to consumers – it will be used by approximately 80 per cent of chat bots in the US next year – engagement with clients and consumers will change. Although there’s a shift to AI, Lauren More believes “one thing that AI cannot do is tell a story that will tug at people’s heart strings and resonate beyond the noise.”

Trend 2: PR is becoming increasingly integrated.
PR campaigns are no longer focused solely on one channel. “When you get an RFP, it’s not the same [as it once was] – you have to include PR, digital, social and experiential marketing,” explained Tracey Bochner.

The panel discussed how it is a misconception that PR is merging into other areas like advertising and marketing. In reality, the practice of PR is expanding and growing into new areas. Clients, for example, no longer want to go to three different agencies for three different things – they want one agency for several services.

Trend 3: PR practitioners need to change how they develop content.
Resource crunches are affecting all companies – budgets are getting tighter and traditional media outlets are decreasing. This forces PR to be strategic in how it’s used to tell meaningful stories.

The panel agreed, more content is not always better. Effective campaigns can no longer rely solely on news releases and earned media efforts. They now require some aspect of paid media, which can include influencers to help further target key audiences.

This CPRS Toronto communications trends panel is the first annual (held at the end of every calendar year), hosted by the local chapters president(s) with panelists made up of thought-leading chapter members.

The Canadian Public Relations Society is a national professional organization focused on establishing and upholding educational and ethical standards in Public Relations. CPRS Toronto is one of the largest local societies with nearly 600 members. For more information, please visit: https://www.cprstoronto.com.

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How to write better branded content
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Written by Diane Begin, CPRS Toronto Co-president

“I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that he or she would be wise to develop a thick hide.” Harper Lee

Articles are a powerful tool in public relations for creating user-specific content, encouraging buzz and helping to manage the message.

That’s why author and journalist Jane Stokes offered tips at a recent Toronto Canadian Public Relations Society event, to make your branded editorial even stronger.

The approach seeks to match reporter tone through six characteristics:

  1. Cares that readers will trust the information
  2. Cares that readers receive solutions
  3. Remains neutral with the whole conversation; no persuading
  4. Interviews authorities to get opinions
  5. Does not care if audiences take any action
  6. Wants the audience to return

Ultimately, this is accomplished through the acronym Stokes refers to as “T.H.E.”

  • Build TRUST (Is every last word…Impartial? No selling, no cheerleading. Reliable? Sources given. Comfortable? Upbeat, welcoming, not preachy.)
  • Be HELPFUL (Does my wording…Promise solutions? Get straight to the point? Minimal small talk. Make the reader feel satisfied?)
  • Directly ENGAGE (Do all my words…Create a positive/helpful mood? Stimulate thought? Speak directly to the audience? Show empathy? Vary sentence structure, like posing a questions?)

Stokes offered the following headline with T.H.E. at work, to make it stronger.

Before
Top things Canadians love about travel reward programs

After
How to multiply the rewards of travelling

She also offered the following tips for headlines, leads and branding.

HEADLINE TIPS

  • Use the ‘reporter’ voice
  • No unnecessary words
  • Identify the topic exactly
  • Begin your headline with a present-tense verb

LEAD TIPS

  • Don’t repeat the headline
  • Hook the audience
  • Use the ‘reporter’ voice
  • Ask a question
  • Use quick, short sentences
  • No small talk
  • Never begin with boring word “Whether…”

BRANDING TIPS

  • Less is more: 1 brand mention is powerful; 2 exact name mentions are risky; 3 repeats of the brand name are a waste of time (a branded URL is also a brand mention)
  • Quoting an authority allows opinion in the article – a natural path to branding. Quotes give articles a credible Two-Voice quality:
    1. The Reporter Voice: Delivers the topic; guides the article
    2. The Authority Voice: Gives tips (quoted, or tip-list) based on expertise; delivers the branded information
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Where are they now?
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Featuring Erika Manassis, Seneca College Student Representative, CPRS Toronto Student Steering Committee

What did you enjoy most about being on the SSC?

Being on the SSC gave me the opportunity to not only attend student events throughout the year, but to help plan them. I enjoyed acting as liaison between my peers at Seneca College, and my fellow committee members, because it meant I could help make sure that the interests of my classmates were reflected in our SSC events. This made occasions like Passport to PR, and PR 360 much more relatable and applicable to students. It felt great to have a hand in that experience!

As a member of the SSC I was also introduced to non-student members of CPRS Toronto, many of whom I keep in touch with today. The opportunity to mingle with and learn from professionals in the field was invaluable to me as a student trying to find my place in this industry.

And of course – I’ll always be grateful for having met my fellow SSC members through this committee! Though we came from different personal and professional backgrounds, and now work in various fields, it’s nice to know that I have a support system of 15 amazing individuals close by!

Where do you work now, and what do you do?

In April 2016 I joined the team at Cohn & Wolfe Toronto as an Intern. In mid-July I took on the position of an Account Coordinator.

As an Account Coordinator I have a wide variety of responsibilities. From media monitoring, to developing coverage reports, to communicating with bloggers, to pitching stories to media outlets across the country. Every day is different. Most of the portfolios I work on are consumer products, which allows our team to have a lot of fun with story angles, creative pitch notes and media events.

One aspect of my job that I most enjoy is developing relationships with Canadian journalists.  It can be difficult to get to know journalists over email, so I continue to attend CPRS Toronto events each month, where the focus is often on how to communicate with members of the media. At work, I develop these relationships by making phone calls instead of emails to journalists when possible, and doing my best to know what a journalist typically looks for in a story idea.

How do you think CPRS Toronto helped advance your career or get you ready for your current position?

Volunteering with CPRS gave me “real world” PR experience while I was still a student. Continuing to volunteer now that I work at a PR agency offers many opportunities to continue to learn from industry colleagues, and experts in the field. Since joining CPRS Toronto as a student member in September 2015, it has been nothing but a beneficial personal and professional experience!

—

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/erikamanassis

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2016 CPRS ACE Award PR Campaign of the Year: Edelman for Ontario Association of Optometrists
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2016 CPRS ACE Award Creative Campaign of the Year: Narrative PR for Scotiabank
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2016 CPRS ACE Award Best in Show Contender: APEX PR for Polysporin
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