Social, award-nominated and international PR - highlights from Fourth Day's offsite January 2016

We’ve recently returned from our company offsite in Berlin. It was our biggest to date, with 16 of us coming together to share the best of our work in 2015, our plans for this year and the changes we’re all seeing in the industry.

But what does our annual love-in mean for our clients? This is the best chance we get to share ideas across the whole group and it’s where our clients can really feel the benefit of working with an international PR agency, with each team bringing a different perspective. It’s a brilliant opportunity for us to tap into each other’s brains to do an even better job!

Here are some of the best bits.

What is a PR agency?

We’ll soon be revealing our refreshed website. The exercise has allowed us to look at our messaging and make sure it’s still resonating with people. As our industry has changed and the lines between digital marketing, PR and SEO etc. have blurred, we’ve been debating the term PR and whether it’s as relevant as it once was.

Our conclusion is a resounding yes. Not only is reputation management still crucial for any business but the ability to engage with third party influencers still has a massive impact on the sales process. Not to mention the fact that it is now – at last – recognised as a crucial SEO tool. Here’s Xanthe’s recent blog on why we believe in the power of good PR.

What the industry thinks

Rachel presented her findings on a research project she has just completed on the purpose of PR. The project involved interviewing more than 50 businesses on their use of PR now and in the future. Backing up the thoughts above it proves that clients still very much see the value of PR and are, in fact, planning to increase their investment in it over the next twelve months. We’re very excited about releasing the results of the survey so watch this space, or email rachel@fourthday.co.uk if you’d like a sneaky peak.

Using social media for B2B

Jack gave us all a practical demonstration on the work we’re doing with client Electio on LinkedIn. Fed up with the constant debates about whether social media can work for B2B, we’ve taken matters into our own hands. We have used community engagement, the Pulse blogging platform and our knowledge of the ecommerce delivery industry to raise the profile of our client’s commercial director. Not only has the company benefitted from a sales and perception perspective from the LinkedIn campaign, but it’s also helped to bag us a nomination for best B2B campaign at the PR Moment Awards 2016. If you’d like to talk to us about how LinkedIn can help you, just drop jack@fourthday.co.uk or nikki@fourthday.co.uk a note.

Why Berlin?

Apart from being culturally exceptional and having excellent beer, we chose Berlin as the location of our offsite for a reason. While we still enjoy great partnerships with German agencies we think that now’s the time to start offering a dedicated Fourth Day service from Germany. More info to come on this but we’re super excited about our plans to provide an even more comprehensive European PR service.

Fourth Day International PR

And on that note, we were all fascinated to hear from Cindy about the work she’s been doing for the Casablanca office. With our first client signed and lots of exciting prospects on the horizon we’re more convinced than ever about the opportunities presented by both French and English speaking Africa. Do get in touch with Cindy if you’d like any more info on what we’re doing over there.

Prost!

The author

Nikki is a director and co-founder of Fourth Day

More about Nikki