On this week’s episode, Clark dives into his journey of developing a passion for communications and used it to excel in his career. According to him, knowing how to effectively communicate the information is key to using data successfully.

Introduction

0:45 I actually wanted to be a photographer when I first started out and I went to art school and took a ton of art classes and then I decided that isn’t actually what I want to do, I’m sure that’s happened to several people before, but I decided that I actually have a passion for communication. So I got another major in communications study with a minor in PR and that was a wonderful time for me. I took some phenomenal classes, a lot of writing classes, a lot of let’s see, argumentation and debate, interpersonal communication. It was really great for me to learn how to communicate externally at whatever company I’m gonna work at, but also be able to work with people like group communication.

It was so great to learn how to effectively communicate with your co-workers because if you can’t communicate internally then no one’s going to work with you and you’re probably not going to be great at your job because people aren’t going to want to help you. So that was extremely beneficial for me to learn that information. And then after that I got an internship at a local ad agency, was there for a few months and then I was at the Birmingham Zoo in Alabama for eight years doing a variety of marketing and pr and that was phenomenal, very data driven, their attendance numbers.

And I currently work at Fleetio which is a fleet maintenance software company and talk about a data driven company.

I mean Fleetio is all about the data definitely with software you have to be all about the data and we’re helping fleet managers improve their fleet operations by letting them have a total insight into their fleet maintenance.

First experience with data

2:33 My first experience with data in the workforce was figuring out promotion, what, what promotions performed the best for the company. So, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed and right out of college and I was working with budgets, I was working with attendance numbers, advertising reach and a ton of other things and at first it was a little overwhelming. But once you understand it, data is a huge game changer but it’s important to remember that it’s not just about having the data, it’s knowing how to use that data to effectively communicate the information and that is what will truly take your campaign to the next level.

Having good data and using it to your advantage can be the difference in your pitch getting picked up or it just being one of tons of emails sitting in an editor’s inbox just not being read.

Favourite campaign

3:33 So data is key for choosing the correct content for your audience. You want to make sure that you are pitching tailored content that aligns with your customers’ interests. And so, when I was at the zoo that was important for like if we had a new animal coming to the zoo then we would want to communicate the importance of their role as an ambassador for their species in the wild. And so, using numbers to communicate how many animals are left in that specific species in the world. And then here at Fleetio. We’re saving our customers time and money to help them better manage their fleet. And so, one of our customers Stanley Steamer saved over 83% of the time spent on inspections for their vehicles when they started using our digital inspections in the mobile app. So, the data is vital to showing you have the proof to back up your claim. Everyone might not understand the importance of your story or campaign with the words you put behind it, but they definitely understand when a company has a specific percentage increase or decrease for how they operate.

Challenges in communications

4:47 Challenges unfortunately arise in the communications world. But relying on the data to get you out of a concerning situation will likely be your best bet. How is your company being perceived? What words do people think about when they hear your company’s name being mentioned? The correct data will help you answer these questions while also setting you up for success in the future. And it’s important to note that paralysis by analysis is a true thing and you’ve probably heard that phrase before, but you don’t want to get too involved with the data, data can definitely help you, but it can also hurt you at the same time. So you have to use that data and then decide if it’s going to move you forward or set you back

Metric to measure

5:32 for me some of the most important data points and metrics, our readership and ad equivalency. So, you want to see how many people are looking at the information that your company is putting out there. But it’s also helpful to know the advertising equivalency because a lot of what PR professionals do doesn’t necessarily cost organization money. So, you want to see how much that’s worth in the information that you’re out there. And are you getting more leads from it? Are you getting new customers added to your organization? Successful PR is achieved by establishing mutually beneficial relationships with your media contacts and how trustworthy you are and are you coming to them with relevant information.

So, having that data for your readership and knowing who your audience is important when reaching out to various editors and various publications to know if that is the true outlet that you need to be reaching out to because you don’t want to be wasting anyone’s time here and knowing your audience and knowing what specific publication or outlet that you’re reaching into is very important.

Future of PR in marketing

6:48 PR has always been and will continue to be about storytelling. PR professionals have had to pivot strategies like we’ve always done and we’re adaptable, were forward thinking. We’re constantly looking for new ways to make our company’s rocket ship go even higher. So, it’s going to advance with the increase in data that we can receive. There’s so much out there now. But I know there can be even more and I don’t know necessarily what that is, I’m not the person that’s gonna find that out, but I know there are people much smarter than me that are out there looking for ways to increase the information that we’re getting and to be able to use that data to advance our company

My two cents

7:40 For any new communications professionals, I would definitely say to use the data to your advantage, but don’t let it hinder. You may have heard the phrase paralysis by analysis and it’s definitely a true thing. So, you want to make sure that the data is advancing you and not holding you back.