From working on the Student Newspaper at her University to being a reviewer at Edinburgh Festival Fringe to interning at a local news agency, Zoe wanted to be Journalist. She loved the media and telling stories, and decided to pursue communications. She currently leads the external and internal communications at Bitmovin

Check out her Story:

Transcript (auto-generated)

0:00
so there’s always been that kind of traditional challenge of how do we justify this PR campaign and show the value, because I think actually brand visibility and great Pr is actually priceless, but that doesn’t, you know, necessarily work when you’re talking to investors or kind of C suite execs going to want to know, okay, how is this, you know, bringing return on investment?

0:21
How is that benefiting my bottom line?

0:31
I came to pr because I think, like a lot of people, I actually wanted to be a journalist originally, I loved writing because I was growing up and when I was at university I actually worked on the student newspaper, and I had my own blog.

0:48
I even worked at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which is the largest arts festival in the world, in which there is a reviewer.

0:54
I did some internships at The Guardian, a local news agency.

0:59
I and I kind of really loved the media and telling stories, but eventually realized I wasn’t quite cut out for journalism.

1:07
I think I’ve got to be a certain personality, and then that’s when I started exploring pr so I think after nine months after graduating university, I joined PR agency which specializes in media entertainment technology.

1:22
I was there for almost seven years and I’m in house at a company that specializes in video streaming technologies.

1:30
It’s been quite exciting move for me really being able to get my teeth into a lot of pr campaigns, but also internal communications and kind of pure marketing activities.

1:40
So I feel like I’ve really been able to broaden my role and I think become much more strategic and kind of really help the company elevated from perception.

1:58
I’m not that young actually, I’m not quite 30 yet, but I worked actually a Pr agency for seven years.

2:05
So in my late twenties I think, I don’t know for me, has always just felt quite natural.

2:11
I’ve always enjoyed writing and I’ve always loved getting media coverage.

2:15
That’s still one of my favorite parts of the job.

2:17
Like when, you know, you get like a client or your Ceo in like a T.

2:21
O on publication, like no one’s happier than the pr person at all because it’s just such, you know, how much work goes into it and how much pitching you do and like just kind of getting over the line.

2:31
And that’s always been one of my favorite things and also kind of advising on strategic communications which I’ve done a little bit with a bit moving.

2:40
I think it’s just for me it’s just always been kind of kind of passion for communications and helping people express their selves and tell the right message and things like that.

2:53
What was your first interaction or first experience with data.

2:58
When I was working at my previous company, we had a client that specialized in work workplace communication software.

3:08
And they actually produced a survey around communication overload and the facts that employees was kind of struggling with all these different tools like slack and email and Microsoft teams and things like that.

3:22
So that was my first kind of encounter.

3:24
First time I encountered data in a pr campaign and kind of pitching it out to the media and I just found that really fascinating how you can kind of use data to make a company seem more authentic and credibility to their voice.

3:37
And that’s something that actually continued with with other clients around life sports and with it moving now we actually have a report on like video developers and that kind of helping like map out the trends and video streaming.

3:49
We’re also doing another research paper as well and will be coming out in you know, a few months.

3:54
So that’s kind of that was my first introduction to data and I think it’s a really great way to help you to be brands tell their story.

4:05
Yeah, I think for me, I think I’ve always kind of really enjoyed it when I have like original research from clients and companies kind of help add authenticity to their voice and to show them as credible thought leaders, especially in B two B.

4:19
That’s very important because it’s all kind of very well a technology vendors saying you know this is how the world is but if you kind of have research, whether that’s, for example, for us, video developers, if you have consumer research, which kind of, you know, that’s you telling your customers what their customers want and that kind of helps them map out trends.

4:39
so from like more of a media relations perspective, that’s what I’ve really enjoyed, from actually measuring campaigns, I think it’s always been quite tricky for the pr industry.

4:48
I think there’s kind of basic metrics like coverage numbers, and I know there’s one that quite a few companies do, like you kind of track the reach of coverage basically where you kind of times how many the audience of a publication and you kind of had the auto In terms of coverage hits, which I’ve never really enjoyed.

5:07
I think it’s quite disingenuous because sometimes you’ll say, oh yeah, this press release had a reach of 500,000 people and you know, 500,000 people definitely didn’t see that news, maybe 1000 did if you’re lucky.

5:20
And I never enjoyed that metric.

5:23
I think actually, also a lot of things I’m looking at now are things which is shared his voice against competitors.

5:29
How we’re tracking against our competitors and media, you know, we kind of increasing our visibility, how we’re tracking against more trade media, how we’re tracking against one media.

5:39
so there’s so there’s those are some of the keys things that we track something I’m also kind of looking into and exploring is looking at, for example, what do advertisements cost in the publications that were getting editorial coverage and the kind of thing.

5:52
You know, we’ve got coverage that’s kind of worth X amount in advertising I think is also another good metric where you can kind of justify the value of the PR campaign.

6:06
I think especially after working at a pr agency, you know, a lot of agencies will know that the pr budget is, well, the PR department is the last departments get any budget and it’s the first department to get its budget cut.

6:20
So there’s always been that kind of traditional challenge of how do we justify this pR campaign and show the value because I think actually brand visibility and great PR is actually priceless, but that doesn’t, you know, necessarily work when you’re talking to investors or kind of C suite execs going to want to know, okay, how is this, you know, bringing return on investment, How is that benefiting my bottom line?

6:44
So that has always been a natal challenge and I think things like coverage numbers are kind of like a very basic barometer, but even then, you know, is it actual coverage or is it coverage from a Pr Newswire and kind of, you know, buried on, you know, some website somewhere, they’ll never see the light of day again.

7:00
So, you kinda have to dig into that.

7:02
I think a combination of coverage, numbers share a voice against competitors looking at how much that editorial would cost.

7:08
You know, for advertising, I think those are all actually quite great, great ways to kind of justify the pr campaign and I think ultimately comes down to like how forward thinking a client or you know, your Ceo is in terms of pr and just kind of understanding, you know, it’s not something that kind of shows, you know, and kind of just you can’t always kind of show the actual value, but you just know it’s valuable.

7:30
It’s kind of inherent and instinctive as for us as a you know, not a smallish B two B company, you know, we kind of in the last few months had, you know, coverage and like Forbes and Euronews and verdict and sifted and business Insider and I think that just helps create a impression of the company being quite big and you know, it’s just that perception of a company, okay, this company is quite small, but it’s getting, you know, the Ceo is quoted and all these publications on, you know, the topic of video streaming and it’s just the perception of making a company seem bigger and I think that’s quite powerful.

8:14
I do actually quite like coverage numbers, I think it is quite a basic metric, but it kind of is a good guideline if, you know, and sometimes it’s a case of, you know, maybe you get 10 pieces of coverage.

8:27
But five of those are tier one publications that for me is, you know, their worth weight in gold, but you know, if you’re kind of getting two or three pieces of coverage every quarter, then obviously then you can kind of see that something’s not clicking.

8:38
So I think it’s a good base metric.

8:41
I think it’s just kind of nice for me at the end of each month to look at coverage numbers and it’s quite a nice feeling, especially when you see some really nice pieces of coverage across trade and Taiwan media, what I’ve actually been looking at more is linkedin because I’m really what we’re looking now is like how can, you know, social media help amplify pr campaign.

9:06
So looking at things such as because it’s very difficult when you kind of just got a piece of coverage, okay, how many people saw that piece of coverage?

9:12
But looking at things such as engagement, link, clicks, shares, I think it’s a good way to kind of say, okay, how much is this getting out their impressions of course is a bit of a vanity metric, but again, it’s kind of a good way to kind of show how many people kind of seeing this in their feed and against all part of that brand awareness of the social media and analytics, kind of primary looking at the moment.

9:36
I had a really interesting conversation with a pr person last week around ai machine learning of NPR and I think it’s something agencies are starting to do in house, but using ai machine learning to really track current trends, what current trending topics, whether that can be things like on social media, on you can even do on google at the moment for free, but kind of tracking trending topics that can be, you know, with influencers or whatever, and using that to kind of determine what are the current trends and also, I think, you know, in the future, what other kind of be the next trends?

10:09
And because you can kind of, you know, with a I machine learning, there is potential for its kind of map out what could be the next trending topic for your industry or, you know, for your influences, and I think that would be really powerful because it helps, you know, plan PR campaigns and adjust pR campaigns, kind of based on what people are talking about, so, you know, you’re not trying to pitch something that nobody cares about when I was talking about in that moment, I think because I’ve been a bit moving for around six months now for me, you know, the pR program I’m kind of overseeing has been really exciting for me, primarily just because it’s been focused on building brand awareness of the company and being able to get lots of tier one coverage in the first six months and I think having the insights from our ceo and being able to, you know it’s like saying hey can I get your thoughts on this.

11:03
and also just kind of seeing the impacts of that within the business partnerships team kind of having kind of more people reaching out to them and kind of helping get more cust.

11:11
Is interested in doing P.

11:13
R.

11:13
With us and for me that the current Pr program that I’m working has been really exciting and also kind of making it more integrated and having a little bit more control over our program than I did.

11:22
Perhaps a pr agency has been really enjoyable.

11:26
So I just kind of the overall Pr program moving has been really exciting for me and really rewarding as well at the moment.

11:33
So in the first a few months we’re actually working towards a big trade show in the in the U.

11:38
S.

11:38
A lot of the kind of brand was kind of really amplifying brand visibility and then run up to that show at the moment.

11:44
We have a second trade show in Amsterdam where we’re kind of again doing more brand awareness around that whether it’s kind of like through company announcements, product launches partnerships, customer announcements also kind of foot leadership as well after the trade show in Amsterdam we will then be kind of actually launching more of our original research.

12:06
One is our annual video developer report which really kind of tracks the insights and opinions of video developers and maps out kind of provides a snapshot of the trends in the video streaming industry and then there’s another one that I’m working on, I don’t want to say too much now because I’m quite excited to reveal the data that I’ve been working on the bar pr agency, but that’s kind of what were happening in september onwards, which I’m really looking forward to so many.

12:35
I’d really I mean, again, it’s something that we just we just looked at as a pr pr industry, but just how many leads is this generating?

12:45
If we could just kind of, you know, like marketing people can do map out like the journey of the lead from where they started, you know, becoming a prospect or lead.

12:53
It’s kind of knowing like how much value we’re generating in terms of actual, you know, numbers would be great and kind of saying to, you know, the person in charge, okay, we generated, you know, £400,000 of revenue this course.

13:09
So that would be my dream metric, that makes life so much easier for everyone.

13:15
But yeah, I think that would be me like the ultimate dream.

13:25
Yeah, I would say I would say if you’re putting comms professional definitely don’t try and box yourself into early.

13:34
I definitely had quite a different career path to a lot of PR professionals.

13:38
So I just worked at one Pr agency then went in house and I don’t regret that decision at all, but I think generally people, I do try and move around a little bit early on in your career.

13:48
Try BtB Tech, try BtB Tech, try consumer tech, trying healthcare, try you know corporate communications and figure out what you actually enjoy.

13:57
And kind of work at different agencies, work at smaller boutique agencies, work at bigger agencies, get that kind of whole well rounded experience.

14:05
Just kind of just work a lot of different companies because it gives you a really broad experience and then you can start specializing once you get more senior.

14:14
I think also generally just really make sure you have really good writing skills.

14:20
Read a lot.

14:21
I think reading is so important in part becoming a good writer.

14:24
Just practice writing different formats because actually coming in house, I’ve realized how valuable copyrighting is as a skill.

14:33
and it’s something that I think everyone should kind of know and understand and refine.

14:39
So I think definitely make yourself a good copywriter and I think especially when you go in house, it will just be, people just kind of really appreciate that