Author: Martin Bergman

A series of media outreach campaigns conducted by GBPR over a year-and-a-half period has helped significantly increase the client base of leading education consulting firm GrantMe.

GrantMe – Canada’s #1 university preparation program which helps Canadian high school students get admitted to their top-choice universities and graduate debt-free – worked with GBPR to create a strategy and implementation plan that would raise awareness of its services across Canada and draw students and their parents to GrantMe for assistance.

GBPR came up with three creative campaigns that did just that – from promoting the fact that millions of dollars in scholarship funds go unused in Canada each year, to providing tips for students on how to set themselves up for success in securing scholarships, to conducting a survey on students’ plans for post-secondary education amid COVID-19 and providing educational guidance.

The result was dozens of pieces of media coverage and social shares, reaching millions of Canadians and spanning TV, radio, newspapers and online media outlets across the country.

“GrantMe was thrilled to lead the education consulting conversation in the media over the last couple of years in our drive to help students achieve maximum success,” said Madison Guy, GrantMe COO, who served as campaign spokesperson.

Since 2017, GrantMe has helped more than 5,000 students – including Ishita, Nordeep, and Will – get into their top choice schools and win scholarships. Its staff of 40 – many of whom themselves have secured major scholarships – provide mentorship and guidance through the university application process to ensure success. The company also provides students with access to its scholarship matching platform on a subscription model.

“Most people don’t realize that there are options beyond student loans and massive debt,” Guy said. “A wide range of Canadian schools, businesses and non-profits offer different kinds of scholarships and awards, and surprisingly, COVID-19 has even brought new funding opportunities.”

For more information and to read reviews from students and parents about GrantMe’s post-secondary education planning support, visit https://grantme.ca/.

Gail Bergman PR (GBPR) has announced the launch of a unique corporate video production service for clients across North America through our newly-formed association with up-and-coming, award-winning JnE Films.

“In today’s instantaneous ‘tell me what I need to know now’ world where people have shorter attention spans, businesses are increasingly turning to videos to tell their stories in a quick, concise way,” said Gail Bergman, GBPR president, adding that the firm’s new service is being launched in response to increased client demand.

“More and more companies are recognizing that video marketing is not only effective in increasing brand awareness, website traffic and social media shares, but also in boosting both SEO and lead generation success,” she said. “JnE Films is a young, uber-creative group of video producers with a fresh perspective who are successfully enabling our firm to help organizations accomplish just that.”

GBPR is a leading public relations agency specializing in media relations, social media marketing and communications in both the consumer and B2B markets across North America. JnE Films is a current video production firm specializing in standout productions designed to attract maximum audience attention and interest, from short video clips to lengthier features.

The combination of expertise of both GBPR and JnE Films provides clients with the valuable ability to incorporate video production as part and parcel of their branding, marketing and communications strategies to ensure maximum effectiveness, Bergman said.

“Working under the direction of GBPR, clients will benefit from a powerful mix of strategic, impactful messaging led by the PR team and creative, entertaining video content driven by the video crew,” said Ethan Godel, JnE Films president and winner of numerous awards, including the 2019 Canadian national CBC Short Film Face Off.

For more information: info@gailbergmanpr.com

With endless social media opportunities available to companies today, it’s more important than ever to take a step back and assess if your efforts are helping or hindering your business. According to Fran Jakubowicz, CEO of leading digital marketing agency SunHouse Marketing, here are three common social media fails companies make and how to avoid them. 

1. Failure to create a content calendar

Think social media content calendars hinder creativity and spontaneity? Think again. Studies show that an effective content calendar keeps your team on the same page and accountable for activities, with assets organized. For maximum effectiveness, use a shared “live” document in spreadsheet format that outlines all posts you plan on rolling out over the course of a day, week, month or year. Beyond Google Sheets, other trusted content calendar templates available free of charge include SEJ Journal Template, Social Media Examiner Template and Sprout Social. Organize content by fields such as Topic, Publishing Channel, Publish Date, Content Type, Asset Type, Post Frequency, Status of Activity and Results. The Results field should measure engagement of a post, including likes, shares, follows and link clicks and conversions. Consider tracking posts via Google’s Campaign Builder to determine which posts helped convert users into sales or leads.

2. Failure to adapt messages for the platform

You may have invested in market research to define your perfect customer profile and voice of your brand. You may have even invested in defining the social networks where your customers are most likely to engage. Where companies often stumble is in assuming that one post or ad style fits all. To take advantage of all that each social network has to offer, you first need to know the best way to amplify your message within that channel.  Each platform has its unique mode of delivery, video length, image dimensions and protocol, and your company’s efforts will yield the greatest results if your content is specifically suited for each option.  Here are some resources for guidance: Facebook Ad Formats; Complete list of Ad Sizes and Specs for Instagram; Get Started With Twitter Ads; Snapchat Ads – The Complete Guide for Business; The Complete Guide to LinkedIn ads; and Pinterest Ad Formats.

3. Failure to respond to comments, positive or negative

Social media is not simply a means of broadcasting your message, but also a platform for your current and prospective customers to connect with your company.  Responding to both positive and negative comments needs to be an activity that is built into your social media strategy. By doing so, you not only strengthen trust among users, but you also create relationships and humanize your brand.  On a strategic level, your interactions will encourage users to continue engaging with you. Positive comments are easier to respond to, while negative comments present a greater challenge. Consider these tips on addressing negative posts:

• Respond quickly. Users expect answers within an hour.  A quick response helps them feel heard, which can stop an issue from escalating further.

• Hide a rude, inappropriate or outrageous comment posted on Facebook.  Facebook has an option that allows social managers to hide a comment publicly, while users and their friends can still view and respond to the comment.

• Direct the comment internally.  In the best case, provide a direct phone number to a customer service representative or at least a contact email.

• Consistently monitor all comments. This should be done once per day as a minimum, and ideally, once an hour.

• Don’t delete any comments. Users will know their post has been removed and this can make an already unhappy customer irate, leading to a flurry of negative comments.

• Never defend your company.  Always let customers know they have been heard and that you feel their pain. If in fact your company is at fault, take responsibility.

Gail Bergman PR (GBPR) is pleased to announce that it has formed a joint venture with international digital marketing agency SunHouse Marketing to provide full service PR and digital marketing services to clients across North America.

“The combination of expertise of both GBPR and SunHouse Marketing provides our clients with unprecedented online market reach, fueled by strong digital content strategically developed to increase targeted website leads and sales, social engagement and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking,” said Gail Bergman, GBPR president.

GBPR is a full-service public relations agency specializing in media relations, social media marketing and communications in both the consumer and B2B markets. SunHouse Marketing is an expert in SEO, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) and lead generation, providing clients with hundreds of thousands of targeted, qualified leads annually.

Bergman explained that the two companies made the decision to form an association after successfully working together on client accounts over the last several months, with record results.

“GBPR has a strong track record of creating newsworthy content that gets strong pick-up by online sources, including media and social outlets,” said Fran Jakubowicz, SunHouse Marketing CEO, explaining that SunHouse Marketing is able to maximize reach of that content, both written and video.

“In today’s competitive digital environment, strategic content and online promotional channels are imperative to effectively reach targeted audiences, boost ROI and maximize conversion rates that translate into increased business for companies,” Bergman said, noting that this joint venture enables clients to achieve just that.

Jakubowicz added that through the cohesive mix of PR and digital marketing services the two firms provide, clients are experiencing unprecedented, measurable results in terms of website traffic and online rankings.

www.gailbergmanpr.com
www.sunhousemarketing.com