Big Anniversaries, Accomplishments and Awards
How to Celebrate & Promote (And still be humble…if that’s your thing)
The objective of public relations is to create a reputable, likable and trustworthy image with the greater public. Serving as a media resource is one surefire way to do this – becoming a trusted expert to local and national media gives your prospective clients assurance that you have been vetted and confirmed to be the sourced expert on important financial topics. But being a media resource is just one spoke in your PR wheel. There are several other PR strategies that should be considered when the opportunity arises. You just have to know what those opportunities are!
Recognition Matters
As an owner or executive of a small to mid-sized private business, certain benchmarks should be celebrated and communicated to the public as a whole. Private companies don’t have the luxuries of multi-million-dollar advertising campaigns to spread their messages, and as a result, have to earn their exposure more than their publicly traded counterparts. They also have to work a little harder to win the trust and relationship from their prospective clients. Don’t miss out on your time to shine through public relations strategies tied to anniversaries, accomplishments and awards.
Anniversaries
AdvisorPR celebrated its 15th anniversary in January 2020. If you were considering a PR firm for your business, would this longevity give you confidence in our abilities? Of course, it would – no company could make it that long if they didn’t know what they were doing. Consider your own business. Once you reach milestones of 10, 15, 20 or 25 years or more – tell people! Each time. This could be tied to your business ownership, your time with the company you work for or even your years of experience in the industry. Big numbers assure people you’re not fly by night and you’ve been successfully serving others in the same way they want you to serve them.
Accomplishments
This is an often-overlooked opportunity to promote yourself. If you think something (in the realms of professional development) is important enough to spend your time doing, then others will too. I’ve seen advisors complete post-graduate degrees without as much of a mention to their established clients and business associates. This is a promotion-worthy event! From earning a new degree or designation to attending a weekend advanced study course, these educational accomplishments should not go uncommunicated. People want to invest with people who invest in themselves.
Awards
The value of an award from a credible third-party is extraordinary. Being named as “one to watch” or top “40 under 40” from a reliable source lends amazing credibility and notoriety to your name, your company and your mission for clients. From industry media to consumer, and from national to local organizations, it’s only those who apply for awards who will be considered. And those who earn the awards have the esteemed credit they can leverage for the remainder of their career. Don’t miss your opportunity to get awarded and recognized. For more on this topic, check out our blog, “How to win awards for your financial firm.”
Say YES to Press… And More.
You must be willing to get into the game to leverage and maximize the impact of any of these opportunities. Humility does you no favors when it comes to promoting legitimate accolades. People don’t just “find out.” You need to be the catalyst to help them discover your big news.
Reaching out to appropriate media to cover these occurrences is the first key to getting the word out. You can do this in the form of a simple media alert to a more formal press release; the latter is an appropriate format to put out on a news syndication “wire” service. But there’s more!
Effective strategies to promote your anniversaries, accomplishments and awards:
- Celebratory logos. When approaching a milestone year, develop a commemorative logo to use throughout the year to visually illustrate your accomplishment. Separately, often when winning awards, an identifying icon is provided for use or available to license for a duration of time.
- Add news to highly visible materials. Whether it’s your signature line in your email or it’s the home page of your website, get this information or icon published in the places that your prospects and clients see the most.
- Go social! Document the anniversary, achievement or award via social media. At a minimum, post about it after it’s been secured, but if any live events coincide with the opportunity, share the before, during and after photos as well. To avoid “bragging,” you can ask one of your employees or trusted marketing partners to write it and tag you and your firm. Using statements that acknowledge your clients’ or staffs’ involvement in your success can be another humble approach to broadcasting these announcements.
- Update the biography. Add any significant achievements to your bio and company overview page on your website. If you’re a regular presenter, have it added to your introduction. If you work with the media, add notable accomplishments, such as industry awards or educational accomplishments, to your boilerplate.
- Send it out. Be sure to add the news to your newsletter or even send an email from your company to your database letting them know the good news. Include a “share” button at the bottom of the email making it easy for them to share with their friends or on social as well.
Now is not the time to be humble. Great news doesn’t happen every day. You may not be the “type who brags” but if you’re the type that likes to be successful, then you must get the word out.
If you need help securing these types of opportunities, consider AdvisorPR’s In the News PR Program. It works to help you secure positive media awareness with local and national media as a resource on the topics you specialize in, as well as to secure and promote awards and custom PR campaigns tied into your anniversaries or accomplishments.
