Working with companies in so-called “boring” industries can be its own type of challenge.
PR and communications pros in industries like construction, manufacturing, agriculture and others often struggle to find creative ways to talk about what they do.
How can those in public relations and marketing breathe new life into their efforts when working in these industries?
My guest, Ayo Abbas, an award-winning built environment marketing consultant with a background in communications and public relations and host of The Built Environment Marketing Show, will join me to discuss how to approach this challenge.
Show summary:
In this episode of PR Explored, host Michelle Garrett, a PR consultant and writer, welcomes marketing consultant and writer Ayo Abbas to discuss trends and challenges in public relations, particularly for industries often perceived as ‘boring.’
They discuss their shared background in PR and marketing, and the unique challenges and opportunities of working with industries often perceived as ‘boring’ like construction and manufacturing.
They emphasize the importance of drawing out compelling stories from these industries to make them relatable and interesting.
Ayo shares insights on the process of uncovering these stories, the significance of visual content, and the benefits of repurposing content to maximize reach and impact. Both emphasize the importance of educating clients on effective storytelling and repurposing content to maximize its impact.
They also touch on the role of external consultants in identifying interesting angles that internal teams might overlook.
The episode highlights the depth, challenge, and excitement of working in B2B industries, showcasing that even industries perceived as mundane have rich stories to tell.
It also covers the necessity of building strong relationships with clients and understanding their unique narratives to enhance their communication strategies.
00:00 Welcome to PR Explored
00:23 Meet My Guest: Ayo Abbas
00:30 The Power of Social Media Connections
02:12 Ayo’s Journey in PR and Marketing
04:50 The Appeal of ‘Boring’ Industries
05:46 Challenges and Rewards in B2B Marketing
10:28 Drawing Out Stories from Clients
21:14 The Hidden Steps of Pitching and Planning
22:20 The Importance of Visuals in Storytelling
25:15 Compelling Client Stories and Rebranding
30:37 Repurposing Content for Maximum Impact
35:42 The Value of PR in Non-Beauty Industries
36:42 Conclusion and Upcoming Guests
Show notes:
Ayo’s site – with free resources: https://www.abbasmarketing.com/
Follow Ayo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayoabbas/
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Exploring PR Strategies for Boring Industries with Ayo Abbas
How to Bring _Boring_ Industries to Life
Michelle: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome to today’s episode of PR explored. If you haven’t been here before, it is a video podcast where we delve into trends and topics related to public relations and communications and marketing and everything like that. And I’m your host, Michelle Garrett. I’m a PR consultant and writer, and today I have a fabulous guest.
I have Ayo. Abbas.
But Ayo, I’m so thrilled to have you. You are one of my favorite people. and of course we met on social media, which is where I met so many, people that I know now in the marketing world.
And I’m just thrilled to have you here. Thanks for being here.
Ayo: Thank you so
Michelle: much
Ayo: for inviting me on. I was like, Chuck, when that came through, I was like,
Michelle: yay.
Ayo: We were just saying before, weren’t we that, it’s funny how many people we connected with on Twitter that Lord West, its soul. It was just, but it was just that thing.
It’s like at the moment, I remember saying the other day, we were like. It’s like we could get 30 to 40,000 [00:01:00] views for not doing very much on Twitter. I know, It’s just, and now you’re like, you’re lucky. I came off it over a year ago, but 500 or whatever, and you’re like, that’s a lot.
now it just doesn’t work. It’s really Yeah, that, I, it’s, it was good while it lasted. Let’s put
Yeah, definitely, It brought a lot of us together that probably would’ve never, maybe met if it hadn’t been for Twitter. So I really
It’s so true. So, true.
Michelle: Yeah.
I’m grateful for that. But, but, and I wanna say happy birthday. I know yesterday was your birthday, so
Ayo: it was.
Michelle: Happy birthday.
Ayo: I know, It’s, one of those things where you’re like, exciting. But yeah, it was good fun. Very good.
Michelle: And I wanted you to be here to, we’re gonna talk about these. Boring industries that you and I both, tend to, gravitate toward. But [00:02:00] before we get into that, I know your background is in marketing and you said you have some PR experience. I’d just love for you to tell us a little bit about you and what you do and how you got who you are and all that good stuff.
Ayo: So my name’s Ayo Abbas. I am, I call myself a mark. Like I’m a marketing consultant, but I guess my background is, I originally started off in pr, so I worked, I started working in 2001, January, 2001. That’s how old I am. And I started to work in construction pr. So I worked for a PR agency and our clients were manufacturers, so they made carpet tiles, lighting, all of that kind of stuff.
And they were very much about marketing those products to architects and contractors and all of that kind of stuff. That is what my background was. So I did lots of writing, having to pitch, find stories, but literally nothing. and then after that I after about three years, I moved in house and I started working for engineering companies.
and I’m then [00:03:00] working for some small practices and then I. Onto much larger global firms. and that’s probably where I spent most of my career with a kind of engineering construction company, who are marketing themselves to businesses. So talking to governments, corporates, local authorities, all that kind of federal.
And that’s always what that been the arena that I play in. but yeah, so like you say, the things that I enjoy doing are, Right now for my company, which is a bass marketing, which I started just the, in February, 2020. I work for myself and I kind of work with a range of firms on their kind of marketing strategy, content creation.
I love creating content, so writing, podcasting, all of that kind of stuff lives. but also, yeah, running campaigns and getting them better at digital marketing and that side as well. So that’s what I do now. So yeah, that is me.
Michelle: Yay. No, I love that. I, yeah, I didn’t know about your background in PR when you [00:04:00] know this, and I’d never really knew that you had done that.
So I think this is even, more appropriate because you can, but it does, but I just think it gives you
Ayo: a really good grounding,
Michelle: yeah.
Ayo: Having to write about a carpet time. It’s just, yeah. And it’s about durability. It’s about, like all this kind of different stuff. And I think if you can really get to nuts and bolts of why something is different and it’s an object, it’s way easier when you’re doing services now and all that kind of stuff.
But yeah, Having to learn that was, a huge thing. So yeah, definitely.
Michelle: Yeah, I think it gives you a great, foundatAyon for a lot of other, marketing related jobs. But, but yeah, no, we’re, pretty well-rounded. We PR folk, we can ride and we can do messaging and branding and, we can do all kinds of things.
But, now this topic, this boring industry thing. Now, when I say that, I don’t mean that I think their industries are boring. However, when I know [00:05:00] a lot of people who do PR for like the beauty industry or the fashion industry, and they have, it’s just, it’s more glitzy, more glamorous, more, there’s I don’t know, more, maybe more events and things like that.
Yeah. When we work, I work with a lot of manufacturing clients and of course I work with B2B clients pretty much, solely, and you work in construction, with construction clients. So I just feel like sometimes people don’t understand what is the appeal of working with those types of clients and in those industries.
And I feel like there’s just so much to. share and it’s, I find it really interesting, but let, I wanna hear you just, what’s your perspective on that? You
Ayo: know what, I think when I speak to people, just generally when I’m out and about and not with people from my industry and I say what I do and people look at me and go, is that really a thing?
Or is that really a job? And I think one of the things that I love about what I [00:06:00] do is that. Actually, I probably wouldn’t find it that interesting. Promoting shampoo, the smell, the color, the texture. No, it’s true. And I think what I find interesting is actually trying to. Find, what is that angle that hook for a B2B business?
And the thing I love about B two business is there’s less competitAyon, but it’s bigger sales and there’s more things to do. and I think the size of the opportunity is in many respects greater, right? one B, two B sale could, take two years to get off the ground Really? In terms of like the sales pipeline, but actually that will be, volume wise and, contract value wise can be way higher than, buying a shampoo off supermarket share.
So for me, that’s why I love it, is that challenge of them trying to understand how to connect. you’ve got multiple audiences and people who are influencers and there’s just so much that you can do. And that’s why I don’t think it’s boring. And I have to admit, I wouldn’t think, [00:07:00] I wouldn’t think it was something that.
I would necessarily, have thought I’ve gone into, but I love it here because of that. I think that’s a challenge, that bigger sale and trying to just get more in depth and understand how to connect with people and that audience to buy it.
Michelle: Yeah. I think that’s, I think it’s, it can be, I think that is exciting to me because it does cause you to look under the hood and, find the things that are maybe, interesting that sometimes I think the people working in the companies don’t see it because they’re down in the weeds.
They’re, yeah. their head is down in their work, They need somebody to come in and say oh wow, that’s really cool. Did you ever, have you ever talked about that? Have you ever I go, no. And they didn’t even realize it was cool. That’s the other, have you showcased that client or have you told that story?
Or and often, yeah, they just, they didn’t even, they didn’t even occur to them. So that’s why I feel like it [00:08:00] can be really fun. And then they also, their expectations many times are, they don’t always know, like they don’t have the same maybe idea about some of these things.
That other clients who might. have higher expectatAyons or, maybe, just be more demanding in some ways. I don’t know if I’m saying that but I think
Ayo: No, I, get what you mean though, right? I think I never forget when I started working on a large construction project next to, and I sat next to the project director for this Train. He’s designed this huge train statAyon and I remember sitting next to him and I just joined that company and I made simple things. I made him a banner, literally because nobody in that organizatAyon had really cared about his project. He was so happy by, I was just like, he’s just a pull up banner.
But actually those little things matter, and I think [00:09:00] a lot of it is showing you care and that you have an interest in what they’re doing and then they trust you or you become part of that team and then you can do more. And I think. That’s lovely when you start to build that relatAyonship and you become their go-to person as well, so I think it’s those types of things where, because they’re not always the kind of most loved projects or people don’t realize how important they are. Quite often these boring industries are like, they’re the bottom of the bottom line of so many companies, right? They’re the ones that tugging away and like always turning over the money.
Yeah,
Michelle: no, there, and there are just like, so many stories to be told there. And, I feel like sometimes, again, it’s like people don’t, they just look at the surface of whatever’s going on. They don’t really look and see what’s, like for example, I worked in a, with a, in a, my first job that was more in the manufacturing realm was at a welding institute, but like welding, like who cares about that?
ridges. Skyscraper. [00:10:00] there’s a lot of and stuff that keeps us safe. ’cause if it’s not done right, it can, crack or fall apart or, and it’s, a big deal. So it’s a, it’s, there’s stories about that too. Just safety and, just things that really touch people’s lives that they don’t necessarily think about every day.
But when you do, it’s, it can be pretty interesting.
Ayo: Exactly.
Michelle: yeah, no, I, completely agree with that. Yeah.
So when you’re working with clients of these industries, do you ever find them to be stuck as to what type of stories or informatAyon would make good, PR or marketing content?
Ayo: I, do think there is this thing where a lot of people don’t know what good looks like, and I think a lot of what we have to do is show them. and ask the questions of, and [00:11:00] I find a lot of it is, it’s not dumbing stuff down, but it’s also just trying to ask them questions that will really get down to the nub and, that, that point that makes them stand out and differentiates them.
So I think quite often. It’s, I, for us as PR people and communicators, it’s, for us to delve in and really find those stories. And I think quite often people don’t, like we said earlier, people don’t realize those stories are powerful and they don’t even realize they’re there half the time. So yeah, I do think it is one of those things where, people just don’t realize.
So that’s our job to really question them.
Michelle: Yeah, and so that, I think you made this point a few minutes ago about when you have somebody from the outside, an external consultant, for example, come in, they may be able to see things that you wouldn’t see because you do it day in and day out, and you’re just like, okay.
This is my factory, or this is my job site or whatever. I’m not really looking at, [00:12:00] I’m just trying to get the work done, but I’ve never really thought about it with, looked at it through those eyes before. So I think that’s, you can teach them too, to start looking for stories that might make good, subject matter for, your PR and content folks to be working with.
Ayo: I think a lot of it, it is a two way. It’s an educatAyon process though, isn’t it? It’s, literally you are coaching them through it, through that process. And I think once people start to see actually that got a piece of coverage, right? This is what we need to do. And it’s, you start learning step by step.
And I think that goes for in-house people as well when they’re in inside a company. It can be like you say, so hard to see. Actually that really is a story or that really benefits this type of customer or all of that kind of thing. And you are right. As an external person, we can definitely bring those eyes and that visAyon and sometimes that enthusiasm because I think a lot of it is actually being infused about what they’re doing.
’cause I think people get a bit down. they do. You know what I mean? [00:13:00] They go, oh you know when I go home, my wife doesn’t wanna hear me talk about this. It.
Michelle: Yeah, no, I know. They, somebody appreciates their, stories and all the details and, everything they have to share. And I think that is, they think that’s.
Exciting. It makes it exciting for them. And I find it to be really cool when I can get, pull that out of, a client or a customer of theirs or something, when they get ’em on a roll, and they’ll just start going down. the path,
Ayo: do you find you are now a nub of, you just know lots of random facts about random topics, so
Michelle: how do.
Thank you for bringing this up. ’cause there’s two things. so I’ve been working with, writing, content for, on asphalt of all things on [00:14:00] freeways, highways and things, and like how it, how the length, the light, the lifetime, the life. Being of it and how, what makes it safer and what things, what’s more, ecologically friendly and just all these things that I, and a lot on that at the moment,
Ayo: isn’t it, as laying roads and making them more, because I think it was quite wasteful and unsustainable the way it was being done.
And there’s this whole.
Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. Because there are things you can put on there to preserve it, and then there’s runoff and anyway, so see here I go. I’m going, but, and I, like it came up at the, I start talking, to my kids about it at the dinner table and they’re like, yeah, we, I know a lot of things that I never really dreamed of, before. And now when I’m driving I’m like, oh, you know what, have it but laid this, freeway and if they’ve done anything to preserve it or so it’s a, it’s [00:15:00] interesting. I find it really interesting, but I can kinda geek out about stuff like that, yeah. Yeah. And then food, there’s a bunch of, of course there’s a lot about food inspectAyon in the news and I work in with some food processing companies and there’s no food company that wants to make consumers sick. Okay? So regardless of whether, there are inspectors or standards or they have their own processes and know they do not wanna make people sick.
So there are things that I know that are helping me feel as a consumer just a little bit less. I guess nervous. ’cause I just see a lot of people really getting, at least in the states, getting nervous about that kind of stuff. And I’m like, Hey, you, just think about, companies don’t wanna hurt people.
They don’t wanna harm anyone and they don’t wanna get
Ayo: sued.
Michelle: No. And it’s expensive to recover your reputation anyway. So there are all these things and I mean it’s, that’s, I think it’s really, it’s cool. And then, like when things come up in the news, you’re like, yeah, I, I.[00:16:00]
I have a different perspective on this. You feel really smart sometimes. You’re like, wow. But also, do you find, ’cause you work in
Ayo: pr, can you, look at the news and stuff through a normal person’s eyes or do you, because I know when I was working in house, one of the things that I always thought was I just, always read the papers and just be like, who’s put this story here?
Who’s planted it? Whose angle is this? that’s how I used to read the media because it to this stage where that’s what I used to see.
Michelle: Yeah, I think it’s tough because, you can’t go without looking at it, right? when you work in pr you have to be a news hound a little bit. I think it’s the sources that you look at.
And I, because I do work with a lot of like B2B clients, I’m looking more at industry specific news. Maybe not some of the more, Inflammatory or anxiety inducing coverage of things. like I, not that I don’t [00:17:00] see those things, but I don’t, I can choose to tune out a little bit if I need a break or whatever.
but, there are definitely things going on that are impacting some of the industries that I I, you know, I, from that perspective, it’s good to know, what, what the word on the street is as far as, what, how we’re gonna be handling, different, things that are going on.
So definitely, yeah. Interesting times. There’s no lack of really, there’s nothing boring going on right now, so let’s put that way. Sometimes. I’m like, please slow down. This is a lot. It’s, it really is. Gosh. Oh my gosh. but, so the next questAyon that I was gonna ask you is about how to draw the stories out because it isn’t always as easy as, it, sometimes it, [00:18:00] there’s a lot more things going on than others in certain industries, and sometimes you have to, you might see something or talk to a client about something, but.
I feel like sometimes they don’t have details like they’re, it’s hard for them to think the way that we need them to think in order to, yeah. Pull out and share. I sometimes I want numbers. I want how much time they saved, how much money they saved, what, how did this change what they were doing, So I try to ask some, I have, like a set of questions, but then I also have like some questions to ask, like to try to draw them out. But sometimes it’s just hard to do that. So do you have any, like with en
Ayo: engineers and stuff that they quite often engineer don’t like giving like. This will save you X amount.
They find it really hard because they’re so precise in what they do, so they’re like, oh, we wouldn’t say that. So you have to find ways around like questioning them. Because I think some of these numbers where you’re like, okay, so that would cost you how much normally and how much would [00:19:00] that save by this, whatever?
And I find sometimes. They don’t want to be that specific for that reason because they they’re like, I haven’t calculated fully. And, so it’s, numbers are great if you can get hold of them, but for me it’s questions, just asking loads of questions. Mm-hmm. You why, are you doing this?
How is it being done? How’s it gonna benefit the project, the client or whoever, what does that mean? What’s the final outcome? like really digging in and, I guess when I talk about, I’ve worked in bids and proposals and one of the things we’d always go is, so what? So what does that mean?
So how does that benefit? And that’s so what method of just drawing out that real kind of nuggets and the detail. And I think that’s when you start to find the gems of really good stories and content. But I think questions are good sometimes if, showing people what’s being done by others, this is another good way.
what good looks here you go, look, this is what they did. This [00:20:00] is probably how they tackled it. just to because I think once you see something, it’s easier to comprehend what you need to do to get there. otherwise it can just be a bit too far and a bit too distant I think.
So showing them that, and I think as well, like breaking down why things have been done in a certain way, why they work, what parts don’t work in some of the stuff that you are seeing externally. And just showing people, again, what good looks like. So I think for me it’s that type of stuff helps to draw out stories.
Michelle: Yeah, I really like that, examples of what good looks like, because yeah, if they aren’t really familiar with what you’re trying to do, you have to maybe show ’em a couple of examples of what competitors are doing or just a similar, industry or someone in a similar I. Industry might be doing so, they have an idea,
Ayo: I think.
And actually I just, that, that took me back actually when, I worked in house, I [00:21:00] remember that the, I did a presentatAyon where we had a director who had been speaking at a conference, and then I did a presentatAyon to the engineers in that firm who were like congratulating him. So I did a presentatAyon, I said that was six months of work.
And I took them back, like from me pitching that story to me, briefing him to me doing, like all of the little steps that they hadn’t seen, but they would just congratulate him at the end. And I think. Making people aware of the fact that if you’re gonna pitch, like to be a conference speaker or you’re gonna be doing all of that kind of stuff, that these are the steps that it takes.
And yes, you might need to plan and then you’ve got your talking points and then you know, and I think people don’t always realize how long stuff takes. Especially in what we do. So for me, doing that six month, ah, people don’t realize.
and that goes for our clients as well.
when we work with people and they’re like, oh, that actually doesn’t take two minutes. It’s no.
Michelle: you have to [00:22:00] interview multiple people and then you usually have to get approval if you’ve talked to people from varAyous. You know, companies or vendors or customers or whatever. So yeah, I think it can, it can sometimes it drags out longer than you think, especially if they have to run it by their legal team or whatever.
So I, I try to really plan ahead. The other thing I was just thinking about is that I try to place the clients, the customer stories, sometimes in trade publications and things. Yeah. And there’s one publicatAyon that always wants to talk to the customer themselves. They don’t want you to just, you can send over what you’ve prepared, but they want pictures taken inside the client’s, the customer’s, facility and they wanna speak to the customer.
And so that has also shaped a few of the things that we’ve worked on because, if they. If the company doesn’t get that, they have to go back and ask for it. So it’s better to go in with prepared to know, [00:23:00] what are we gonna need to really tell the story? And not every company will, um, give permission to do that.
Ayo: Yeah. Yeah. But that, that’s really important. I think you’re right. Given them the, this is how it worked, because they’re not gonna know that. yeah. Then that’s huge. That’s definitely huge. But I think as well, like even just stuff like posting to social media, right? It can take you an hour to do it properly.
no, all the different variants, right? All the different formats. Actually, this one has five hashtags that one does this one. But the, but then if someone’s saying, oh, it’s just two minutes to post to social media, it’s no, it’s not actually’s. Do it properly. Is this, and so I do, think there is that whole kind of education process and just taking people through what’s really involved in doing good work for what we do.
Michelle: Yeah. ’cause there can just, there can be a lot of things that they didn’t really think about. And I do think. To the social media point. It’s like people just think you’re just gonna, pop it up there. And I’m like, yeah, [00:24:00] someone’s doing that. You might wanna worry. and half the time you get to that point, I find this to be true too, or even with.
Pitching a story, I’ll be like, where are the visuals? Like we don’t have, again, I’ve tried to get them to think like through this, when they are at the, customer’s facility or whatever, or if they can’t get permissAyon to do that, we have to think of something else. okay, what else can we send?
Because the visuals are super important. I know for trade publications, they always want photos. And even if they don’t ask, I like to send some, ’cause chances are they’re gonna use them. and it’s the captAyons. You can put branding in the captAyons, and I just, I’m always trying. It gets you much more space, doesn’t it?
In the magazine? It’s yeah, oh yeah. So it’s just something and sometimes the clients are not thinking about that stuff, and so it is, it’s a training. Like you have to kinda, I won’t, I don’t wanna, make it sound like, but, you are, you, educatAyon is a better, a better way to say it, but you are trying to help them [00:25:00] understand what you need to be successful.
On their behalf, So their, yeah.
Training. I don’t know. Maybe not.
Oh. So how about, on the topic of examples, let’s talk about, if, can you share a couple of, compelling stories that you’ve uncovered while you’ve been working with clients that you think are.
Ayo: so yeah, there’s a couple I, I did. I’m currently coming to the end of a rebrand at the moment and what’s been quite nice is like interviewing the founders and just really starting to understand their business, what makes them stand out, and having those conversatAyons, which I find when I’m working with founders, especially startups, I.
They don’t necessarily realize what makes them special. so actually having those conversatAyons, you know, why did you set up, what was your story? What did you think wasn’t working in the [00:26:00] market? That’s all fantastic stuff for a rebrand, but it’s also, that’s amazing content. Then using marketing campaigns afterwards, so I think running kind of campaigns like that and just working with founders and just really getting those stories out about why they set their business, what really drives them, their values, their purpose.
I think all of that can lead to so, much rich content. And I find when I do those types of brainstorms with people, that’s probably where the biggest kind of nuggets of gold come from and the best stories. so yeah, that’s what I’m doing at the moment. I’ve done others where. I’ve worked with, people who are trying to break a new market.
So I did a thing with a company called Mini Math, where they had 3D printed concrete beans where they use like a fur, less concrete, really interesting, innovative product. But actually when you start speaking about to the founders about, why they’ve done it, why they set up, again, it’s more those amazing stories, but also working with them to understand.
I guess how [00:27:00] to tackle different audiences and what they will want. And really looking at things like, micro influencers in the industry. It could help them to get their story out there and who they need to connect with to take them to the next stage of, where they wanted to be with their startup.
So that’s the kind of stuff that I’ve been doing that’s interesting. And those much deeper and richer conversatAyons Definitely.
Michelle: Yeah. I think those are, great examples because, they, again, it’s I just don’t know that people would ever think about, the, some of the stuff that’s going on.
there’s a lot of coverage of stuff that maybe, is like overdone. Like we see too many stories about things, but then there’s all these things that are going on that nobody really liked. The 3D. I just, man, I’m not sure that there’s a lot enough about that, And No,
Ayo: but it’s actually, you kinda start to look at it and you think, we do need to use less concrete.
We do need to be more sustainable. like you said about the asphalt, right? And it’s, yeah, people are looking at how do we change these [00:28:00] materials and how we’re using them, and that will apply globally. that’s a huge thing. If you can start, start to change how we use these materials because sustainability, climate change, all of that stuff is there.
Even if you’re in America.
Yeah, that most stories really do resonate with me because I think we can really move the needle on terms of our industries, and I think that’s really important. So yeah.
Michelle: And again, back to the point of regardless of what, anybody else may be doing, the government, the industries themselves are, I know we’ve got to change.
Things that are gonna make them more sustainable or, I think a lot of people, just in the industry are gonna be, interested in things that they can do that are, they, maybe it falls under, ESG or whatever, but, maybe they fish coffee.
Ayo: It’s efficiency. That’s what it is.
Yeah. More efficient use [00:29:00] of resources and time and effort, right? And technology can do that. Just different ways of applying what they’re doing. So I think that there’s a whole strand of that stuff which regards of your political views, which just makes perfect business sense. So yeah. Yes.
Michelle: Yeah, so what we’re gonna continue to see industries innovate and do things that make sense, because it doesn’t, again, it, they’re, they wanna make money and, they wanna serve their customers and customers, want more sustainable solutAyons and things. regardless we’re gonna see that of what’s going on. thank you, Tom. Tom is saying Happy birthday. Yeah, I know. Happy birthday to too.
Ayo: Your dog’s birthday was yesterday. Oh yes. Yes.
Michelle: That’s hilarious. [00:30:00] No, I, well, I’ve known Tom a long time too, and I know Mocha because I know Tom, so there you go. It’s but yeah. But thanks Tom. We hope Mocha had a good birthday. You got cake, man. Dog got cake.
Oh, dear. what was I gonna ask now? I’m all, I’m, totally like, forgot what I was gonna say. Oh, I got lost in the conversation. That’s, that’s good.
I’m all about repurposing content for clients and myself, and I just, I feel like that’s just an important, and I know sometimes people get tired of hearing that term, but it really cannot be, I don’t think we can talk about that enough because again, I. I feel like a lot of times you work really hard on a piece of content.
We’ve talked about how much time it could take and how much effort it could take.
Ayo: Yeah,
Michelle: [00:31:00] and it goes up maybe on their website or maybe on social media, and then it’s okay, that’s nothing else. Like what else are you gonna do with that? So let’s talk about that a little bit.
Ayo: I think for me, one of the things is, like you said, you spend a lot of time producing.
It takes a long time to produce a good piece of content. And I think if you only are sharing about it once on social media or something, then you are missing out on a huge opportunity to get your story out there. And I think you’ve gotta look at kind of multiple ways to post in multiple formats, multiple times, and to really just get it so that.
You could pull a quote out of a piece, you could just take the headlines outta a piece. You could make it carousel, you could turn it into a podcast episode. You could, so I think there are so many ways that you can take a piece of content and really share it. And each time you could just be directing straight back to that blog piece, straight back to that blog piece.
and I think if you bear in mind that you know, especially with the algorithms nowadays, what are they doing on LinkedIn? it is shown to a small amount of your [00:32:00] followers. If people engage with it, then they might be shown to more, but ultimately it’s never shown to everybody you’re connected with.
So actually posting something multiple times in different ways will appeal to different audiences. And different people will be online. So I think we’ve just gotta get away from, I. It’s a one hit wonder. You just post once and that’s it. It’s no, actually, how else can you do this? And you could phase that over a while, a number of weeks, once a week.
Linking that, that black blog post. there’s nothing to stop you doing that, have it as a carousel, have it as a podcast episode. So just lots of ways of just driving that traffic. And I think once you start to get that out there more, then your messages will resonate more as well.
Michelle: Yeah. No, I love that because again, I feel like we just, plop it up there. You work so hard, and all, a lot of people, a lot of hands, a lot of interviews, a lot of, time and effort. And then it’s just okay, here it is. And then, but you’re right. Like I think we [00:33:00] have to get over this in our head sometimes too.
It’s like we think we’ve posted about it, so we can’t post about it again. But I think if you’re creative in the way that you do it, even if somebody did see it two or three times. So what like,
Ayo: yeah. and times does it take for something to resonate with somebody and stick in their minds?
It’s more than once. It’s way more than once.
Michelle: Yeah. there used to be the advice, like you don’t wanna just share the same exact thing across social media platforms either. I feel if you can just. change it up a little bit even. I think it’s fine. And, you are gonna get hit different audiences and it’s important to know where your audiences are spending time or your primary audiences.
And I like to try to repurpose content for clients in trade publicatAyons. Um, sometimes. So even if it’s already on their site, we can still pitch it as a, customer story or maybe thought leadership piece or something like that. And then you can, do you not find
Ayo: that they, that publications alright with that?
’cause here they would be a bit funny. [00:34:00] Oh, would it? Yeah. I, it would be, slightly different here. Yeah. Here I would need to go in your trade publicatAyon and then onto your website, because it’s on your website. It’s like
Michelle: it’s already out of the bag. yeah. Maybe nobody saw it. I’ve done it both ways.
As long as it’s okay to republish it after it’s appeared, I think that’s also fine, but I just feel like it, you can get a lot more out of it because then once it shows up, in the trade publicatAyon, you could share that across social and that’s like a, definitely a different piece of content than the one that might’ve already been on your site or whatever.
So I just, I like to consider it anyway and see if there’s stuff that we can do that you can’t always do it, but.
Ayo: No, not every, but it’s worth it. It’s, it is worth it first, like you say, it’s a lot of time, isn’t it?
Michelle: Yes. And the trade, some of the trade publicatAyons that I work with for clients are just, they need, they have very small staff and they need content.
And so yeah, if you can [00:35:00] provide. Literally, package it up in an email with the visuals and the written, story. And they’ll, it’ll, they’ll run, they’ll often just run it. And then, it, you just make it easy for them. but it’s not, it’s not that there wasn’t a lot of work that went into getting ready for that, but you definitely can, Do that in some cases. Again, not all. Definitely.
so yeah, if anybody has questions, I’d love for people to ask questions. Um, I don’t know if there’s, what other points you’d like to share.
Ayo: I dunno. to be honest, for me, there aren’t really boring industries. I love what I do, so, your title is misleading. no, that’s it really.
yeah. I, think there’s, you can find an interest in, most topics, to be honest. If I can. Definitely. Yeah.
Michelle: [00:36:00] Yeah. I agree. I, and I, don’t, I know that sometimes when I talk about what I do, they’re, I can just see people be they’re not, it’s not exciting, ’cause I think when they think of pr they think of they do think of beauty or fashAyon or, you know, like parties or whatever. And I’m like, it’s not all like that. Then that’s. I have made a career out of working with companies that, are not in that space and I really, have found it to be pretty fun and, rewarding and, al never boring.
that’s for sure. That’s awesome. Yeah, no, I agree. I. I think, unless there’s anything else, I think we should maybe leave it there and, yeah, and I’ll be back in a couple of weeks. and, I have a guest that I’ll be announcing soon. I [00:37:00] hope I. People can join us for that. And I wanna thank, um, Ayo so much for being here.
I’ll put your website up again just so people can pop in there and, check out all of your, you have a podcast too. I have too.
Ayo: Two podcasts. I have two podcasts, so I have one called, the Built Environment Marketing Show, which is where I interview architects and engineers about how they market their companies.
And then I also have one which I do for a client, which is about integrated transport delivery. So I, I interview people who are helping to deliver the infrastructure across the uk.
Michelle: Oh, that’s, incredible. Yeah.
Ayo: Yeah. So I do that. So I.
Michelle: that’s a lot of work right there,
Ayo: Exactly. But yeah, no, I told you I love content, so Yeah. No, I really do. So it’s good. It’s good fun.
Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I hope everybody will check those out and, follow you on LinkedIn and take a look at your [00:38:00] site. And I just say hi. Yeah. Oh yeah. and, honestly, Ayo is just one of the most approachable and lovely people that you will ever meet, on social media and maybe in real life someday.
I don’t know, maybe we’ll be able to, you were
Ayo: talking about coming to the uk, weren’t you?
Michelle: I have talked about it. Yeah. My daughter and I were thinking about doing that, but I don’t know if we’re gonna make it this summer, but eventually at some point. Yeah. Yeah. We’ll make it back over, so
Ayo: no worries.
Anyway, thanks so much for having me on.
Michelle: Thank you, Ayo. Thanks.
