Sam Heimbach is a professor of Public Relations and she talks to us about how modern PR really works. Gone are the days of solely pitching traditional journalists for coverage.

In this episode, Morgan Norris, Senior Brand Strategist, interviews Sam Heimbach, a public relations professor at Texas State University. They discuss the evolution of PR, the impact of social media, and the role of employee voices in PR.

They also touch on the use of generative AI and the changing landscape of journalism and PR. The conversation covers social listening tools, influencer research, and the impact of generative AI on the PR landscape as well as the importance of trust and authenticity in content creation.

Takeaways

• The evolution of PR has expanded beyond media relations to include social media and owned channels.
• Employee voices play a significant role in company brand and reputation, but it requires a balance of control and freedom.
• Generative AI is impacting the content landscape, emphasizing the importance of high-quality and trustworthy content.
• The rise of social media has changed the way journalists source information and has created new opportunities for PR professionals.
• The changing landscape of journalism and PR requires active digital and social media listening.
• Influencer research involves evaluating the reach, alignment with brand values, and content quality.
• Trust and authenticity are crucial in content creation, and AI should be used additively rather than as a replacement for human input.
  
  

Resources

• Connect with Sam on LinkedIn
• Connect with Morgan on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Texas State's PR Program
• Related Content: Engineering a Multichannel Marketing Strategy
• Related Content: The Rising significance of PR for B2B Engineering Firms

Engineering firm Hallam-ICS has sustained growth over the last decade, crediting honest company culture, inbound marketing in niche service areas, and evolving brand messaging as the reason for their success. We talk to the president and CEO, Keith Flaherty on the latest episode of Content Marketing, Engineered.

TREW Marketing has worked with engineering firm Hallam-ICS for more than 7 years and over that time many of the marketing strategies and brand messaging have evolved to reflect the company's growth. We invited president and CEO Keith Flaherty to discuss the company's history, culture, and growth over the years.

One thing that's truly special about Hallam-ICS is the company culture, it plays a huge role in recruiting and retaining employees and the messaging reflects this differentiator.

Hallam-ICS is also seen rapid growth in niche expertise areas, such as toxic gas monitoring and arc flash, and Keith credits executive buy-in of inbound marketing as the reason they've grown and generated millions of dollars in leads in those areas.

We also discuss how messaging changes with growth, and how to blend "small and friendly" messaging with "large and expert" messaging and how to stay consistent as more regional locations are added to the company.

Takeaways

• Company culture is a key differentiator in attracting and retaining employees.
• Achieve rapid growth in niche expertise areas by leveraging inbound marketing to generate leads.
• Messaging should be evolved over time to blend an original small, friendly culture with the current larger, more capable image.
• Opening new offices requires careful selection of leaders who understand the company's culture and can effectively communicate its messaging.

Resources

• Connect with Keith on LinkedIn
• Connect with Morgan on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Hallam-ICS
• Case Study: Hallam-ICS Uses Culture as a Key Differentiator in Technical Solutions
• Related Content: 4 Questions to Ask to Define Your Brand Differentiators
• Related Service: System Integrators

Christopher Penn is a co-founder and Chief Data Scientist at Trust Insights. Chris' newsletter is something the TREW Crew passes around our slack channel on a regular basis. His insights into the latest news about data analytics, automation, and generative AI, have been immensely valuable to or team, and we are thrilled he accepted our invitation to be a guest on Content Marketing, Engineered podcast.

In this episode, Morgan Norris, Senior Brand Strategist at TREW Marketing, asks Chris all of our burning questions about generative AI. They discuss the challenges and opportunities that arise when using generative AI or in-platform AI tools, and he provide a unique perspective about how AI should really be used as a research tool - something technical marketers can use to increase their knowledge of highly complex industries. They discuss AI disclosures to stay compliant with recent EU regulations, copyright issues, and a framework to help you decide which tasks are truly worthy of AI.

They also have a conversation about the rise of AI generated, no-click search and how marketers should update the way they approach content marketing.

Resources

• Connect with Christopher on LinkedIn
• Connect with Morgan on LinkedIn
• Learn more about the Trust Insights
• Related Episode: Generative AI for Marketing - Maintaining Trust and Building an AI Policy
• Related Episode: Optimizing for LLMs and Google's SGE with Dale Bertrand