data-driven pr – how data and digital can secure real change on a budget. pr in the digital age...
TRANSCRIPT
Matt Hartley
Charity Comms ‘PR in the Digital Age conference’
3 December 2015
Data-driven PR
The Stop The Knock
campaign: how data and
digital can secure real
change on a budget
What we’ll cover
The who…
The what…
The how…
Some conclusions
The who…
287,000 people last year…
UK debt landscape is changing
Credit cards
and loans
Everyday
household
bills
Leading the pack…
2013 FOI
1.8m debts
passed to
bailiffs
2013 FOI
1.8m debts
passed to
bailiffs
2015 FOI
2.1m debts
passed to
bailiffs
16% increase in two
years
The what…
Research FOI exercise Report
Media National Regional Case studies
Lobbying Council Leaders &
Chief Executives Local MPs Welsh AMs London AMs Local Gov Minister Select Committee
Digital stoptheknock.org
microsite Social media Stakeholder pack PPC tie-in
National media
National media
Regional media
246 tailored, localised press releases
33 county-based releases for BBC radio
421 pieces of coverage – inc 10 front pages
www.stoptheknock.org
Digital and social media
First fortnight…
1,400 visits
630 tweets
463 incidents of
engagement
Lobbying
Outcomes
602 pieces of coverage overall
Engaged with 63 local authorities
Engaged with 40 MPs, 3 AMs
Issue raised in House of Commons, Welsh Assembly,
London Assembly, several council chambers
Meeting with the Minister for Local Government
More importantly…
26 local authorities have committed to improve their
debt collection practices in some way
4 have commissioned full reviews
8 will adopt/consider debt collection Protocol
The how…
Data
Data sources
FOI data
DCLG data
LA contact data
Outletdata
ONS geography
MP, AM contact dataService
data
Past contacts
Data sources
FOI data
DCLG data
LA contact data
Outletdata
ONS geography
MP, AM contact data
Past contacts
Data for Microsite
Email to CXs Tailored
LA PRsTailored
county PRs
Email to MPs
Email to Leaders
Fact sheets for meetings
Email to AMs
Service data
First reaction
Breaking it down
Identify the data required
Source it
Combine it
Build on it – add meaning, identify stories
Quality check it
Put it to use…
A quick word on FOI
Simple mail-merge
Data entry - time
Reminders key
Sourcing data – content
… and for the nuts-n-bolts
Combining the data
Combining the data
All the Excel magic that’s
needed…
Sorting!
Copy/paste
Find/replace
Combining text
=VLOOKUP()
=IF()
=SUM()
=SUMIFS()
=RANK()
Complicated,
but learnable
(Skills elsewhere in org?)
Data combined – now build on it
Council A
X,000 bailiff referrals
£Ym council tax arrears
Z,000 callers to National Debtline
Council Leader is A
Local MPs are B, C
Relevant media outlets are D, E, F
Bailiff use risen/fallen?
Arrears above/below average?
High debt advice demand?
Better/worse than neighbours?
Add meaning, identify stories
Council A
X,000 bailiff referrals
£Ym council tax arrears
Z,000 callers to National Debtline
Council Leader is A
Local MPs are B, C
Relevant media outlets are D, E, F
Regional
press
release
template
+ Links to microsite
Email to
Council
Leader
template
+ Links to microsite
Email to
local MP
template
+ Links to microsite
Using the data
Prepare for email merge
Quality check (every stage)
Using the data
Prepare for email merge
Quality check (every stage)
Started with 5.3m cells of data
Combined down to 18,000
109,000 cells for merges, used to
produce 1,661 emails/releases
Deep breath…
Deep breath…
The rest…
Have data ready for requests
Handle enquiries
(Reputation management?)
Brief spokespeople
Fact sheets for meetings etc
Lessons
Why did it work?
Same as with any piece of PR….
Great story
Strong argument
Organisation’s credibility
But it was the ‘data’ part that gave
us the huge reach + impact
Possibilities
Data sources – MI, service trends, public data,
Census, academic research, mixture…
Geographies – postcodes, counties, constituencies,
wards, SOAs, LEPs, CCGs, catchment areas…
Doesn’t have to be on such a big scale…
Lots of preparation – high staff time cost
But cheap otherwise
Other points
This isn’t spray and pray. Every decision-maker,
journalist receives a timely, relevant argument/story…
…but the ‘data’ part allows you to take good PR
practice, and scale it up. Maximise reach/impact
May involve widening your/your team’s skill set –
cross-disciplinary approach
If you’re jumping in…
Be brave with data – the more the merrier (up to a
point!)
Don’t be put off by Excel – this part is all learnable,
but a ‘power user’ helps
Multiply the reach, multiply the risk – mistakes are
costly, so don’t skip quality control
Huge potential. (Localism!)
Questions?
Visit the CharityComms website to
view slides from past events, see
what events we have coming up
and to check out what else we
do:
www.charitycomms.org.uk
PR in the
digital age
Conference
3 December 2015
London
#charityPR
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