New job is one thing, but a new career is so much bigger! I hope I’m not too old to learn a few new tricks!
I’ve left my career as a marketing communications professional after 30-ish years to take on a new fulltime role teaching college students.
I’m calling this my third profession – first as a newspaper reporter… next moving to public relations and communications… and now this! “Megan 3.0” kicks off at the end of August! Look out students – don’t count me out yet.
There’s still so much I don’t know! It’s been ummmm….. several years since I’ve been a college freshman, and I’m sure things have changed a bit. Although I thrive on change, the unknown about this new vocation has left me with so many questions.
How do I get the students to engage? Boy, do I have enthusiasm for the curriculum, but I don’t want to scare them with my over-the-top lectures and animated slide shows – or is that what they want? I think professors were still using overhead projectors when I was in college! Ideas welcome! I need a wild distraction tool to get their attention away from the TikToks.
Did you say pedagogy for Bloom’s Taxonomy? Known for my love of words, I’m struggling a bit with this new educator’s vocab. I’ve tried to learn the proper pronunciation of pedagogy and to casually drop it into conversation with other professor and educator friends. So far this hasn’t gone over well. I’m not giving up!
What’s a Cavalier? My new employer is Johnson County Community College and their mascot is the Cavaliers. But what is it? I tried researching because I’ve seen images around campus of a man with a mustache (looks kinda French) wearing a fedora. Here’s what I learned: His name is Jean Claude the Cavalier. (He goes by JC.) The college’s athletic teams have been called the Cavaliers sine 1983 when students voted to change the name from the Kansans. OK, now I’m getting into this guy. Read more here.
Why is this syllabus so long? I’m thrilled to be full-time faculty at one of the best community colleges in the country, and I’m learning that there’s a lot of rules to follow (yes, all of that information must go into the syllabus – yikes!). I need to become better at coloring inside the lines.
Multiple choice vs. short answer? I think we know the answer to this one. As a seasoned organized and prepared professional, it’s going to be very difficult for me because I’ll be reading the textbooks and creating the lessons right along with the students (hopefully a week or so ahead of them!). Let’s go with multiple choice for this first year, and we’ll see how it goes in year two!
I think I’m ready to be called Professor Neher? I may have been an educator at heart my whole life. Just as my soul yearns to live on the beach in Southern California, I’ve been a closet teacher for many years, and I’m finally OUT. Yes, it’s going to be a BIG change, but I’m ready to bring my passion to the classroom.
Megan 3.0 is more than a third career change. It’s a final stop for my long-held dream job. I’ve had some tough gigs and this might be the hardest, but I’m ready for challenging and meaningful work with endless possibilities. I’m scared and excited! Mostly, I’m ready to inspire students’ curiosity and do my darnedest to get them ready for their own exciting careers – which will probably have a few twists and turns along the way too. Let’s go Cavs!
I’ve got a start on my office with a comfy new chair (thanks JCCC!) and a print from my mom featuring our love of cats and literature! I know she’d love to see this in my new office!
Celebrating one year at my first “real” job (as my husband likes to call it) in 20 years, and it’s time for a recap. For all of my faithful blog readers – and I know there are thousands of you clamoring for another Beyond The Pickle blog post – I just couldn’t delete my blog off the planet simply because Megan Neher Public Relations went away. I’ve been writing periodic, rambling blog posts SINCE 2008 about a variety of topics – mostly work stuff and the occasional bee in my bonnet. So now when you go to MNPR.biz – pretty much all that’s left is the blog. We’ll see if I can ever let it go… (I might need to start a GoFundMe page to keep it alive…)
Since November 2022, I’ve been very happy in my new role at Heart to Heart International as Director of Marketing & Communications – and I’m not just saying that because someone from the organization may be reading this! I was ready for my next career challenge, and I’ve loved the change!
Top things I’ve learned in the first year of not being my own boss:
It is no longer acceptable to simply walk from my bed to my computer and start working. I’ve never been more productive than when I worked from home for myself. I think it is a combination of the motivation of owning your own business (buck stops with you!) and my ability to hunker down and get my work done from home. My hybrid schedule is nice because I still get a couple of days a week WFH. There are definitely distractions in an office environment, but I’m working on how to deal with those. Anyone got some good tips? First things first – I absolutely need to revamp and update my business attire!
I get to focus on the big picture now. I was a very tactical consultant – constantly doing! In my new role, I’m able to oversee the tactics but focus on the long-term goals to help define our strategy. I love this, and it’s so meaningful especially working for a humanitarian aid organization bringing healthcare to those in need throughout the world!
Change makes life exciting! I’m someone who loves change. I know, I’m a weirdo! I think that’s why I love to move (really, just ask any friend who has tried to keep up with all of my address changes). I enjoy new places and despise going somewhere I’ve already been – especially on vacation. I can NOT order the same thing twice at a restaurant! I flourished as a consultant because my clients fluctuated, and no one day was ever the same. It was time for a big career change and as strange as it is to say: I appreciate the learning curve.
I’m taking the dog for a lot of walks. When I leave the office, I leave the office! Unless it is by choice, I rarely have to work evenings or weekends. When you own your own business, you are always on the clock.
From bookkeeper to technology repair woman to president to janitor. I hated wearing ALL of the hats. Managing the books, paying the taxes, creating the invoices, building strong client relationships, fixing my computer and oh yea… taking out the trash! In my new position, I can specialize and focus on what I’ve been trained to do – marketing and communications. I’m a lifelong learner, and I excel when I can put all of my attention into growing and strengthening in my craft.
You get proper perks! Oh, how I’m basking in the glow of paid vacation days, professional development and even some frivolous perks like monthly staff breakfasts and daily cookies. Yes, I said DAILY cookies! 😊
There’s no “I” in team. It’s such a pleasure to be a part of a in-house team. For many years, I made sure I had professional organizations, client teams and other groups to be a part of to combat my isolation. In my role today, I simply walk out of my office and have a built in support group of highly-qualified professionals to assist on any topic.
I will never understand the newish professional concept of “quiet quitting” or how to NOT be an over-achiever, but burnout is real and it takes a toll. I feel a real sense of balance and relief that I didn’t have with my old job. But I do miss my PJs sometimes…
Big career announcement! After 19 years of owning Megan Neher Public Relations, I’ve accepted a full-time position as director of marketing and communications with Heart to Heart International, a nonprofit humanitarian aid organization headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas.
This is a HUGE change, and something I’ve been thinking about for more than a year. I’ve always embraced change but my brain has taken a while to grasp exactly what this means. For almost two decades my whole identity has been wrapped up in my business, client service and my team.
Entrepreneurship Spirit It’s interesting to think about separating who we are from what we do, right? For a lot of entrepreneurs, we spend every waking minute: networking, branding and making plans for how to build the business. And sometimes we’re thinking about it even when we’re not awake. I’m serious! I always hate when I dream about work stuff like email. I mean, come on.
I’m so proud of the company I created, the work we accomplished and the partnerships I’ve developed. Most of all I’m honored to have worked with so many amazing people who collaborated with me, supported me and helped me along the way. I wish I could recognize each of you individually.
I’m told that when I was a toddler and before I can remember, I used to play a make-believe game with my dad and aunt where I directed “my people” who worked for me at a pretend company. It might have been inspired because my dad had his own business. It’s ironic because I never really aspired to be a business owner and kind of just fell into it. But it has been an incredible experience – the best and hardest job I’ve ever had. I think about my dad a lot especially when I’m struggling with a business decision or considering a business risk. I feel as if a little piece of his entrepreneurship spirit must have been passed down to me, and I’m so glad!
Difficult Decision We’ve all heard that you should choose a job you love, and you won’t have to work a day in your life. I’ve truly loved every job I’ve had. Newspaper reporter. Corporate communicator. Agency PR professional. And now PR agency owner. It’s been a very difficult decision to say goodbye to a business I’ve built.
I love the work, and I will continue to get to do what I love in my new position, but I have so much to learn about the nonprofit world. I’m thrilled with that challenge.
I will NOT miss solving my own technology issues, paying small-business taxes, sending monthly invoices and all of the day-to-day crap that comes along with business ownership.
Also, I’m on a mission to reduce my stress to improve my wellness. Our jobs are such an important part of our lives. I know that being an employee for the first time in almost 20 years is going to feel like a breath of fresh air for my entire system.
But what made the decision so difficult was that I wanted the best for my current clients. I’m so happy to report that after a long search, I was able to “re-home” each client with a fantastic PR and marketing consultant who will do a much better job than I was ever doing! I wish them the best, and they know I’m only a phone call away.
4.0 Career As a Gen Xer, I’ve reinvented myself with major career changes a few times, and by my calculations I’m on about 4.0. But after 19 years, it has certainly been a while since I’ve made a BIG change like this! I wanted to investigate this “reinvention” thing especially in regard to us “old-ish” people (AKA Gen-Xers). What is motivating us? So, I Googled it, and it’s a thing (not something I invented). Apparently, there’s others of us who are doing this same thing, and it’s already been named 4.0 Career.
I won’t go into the 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 career descriptions – you can probably figure those out. But the description of the 4.0 was spot on!
The article I read says: the 4.0 careerist wants more than sufficient work-life balance and personal meaning; they want a focus on having an impact on something larger than oneself. We’re motivated by a sense of service and human connection. In addition, we’re looking for a career that offers new learnings and creative growth, through which we can use our talents and capacities for making a positive impact on human lives with our work.
HELLO?? This is ME! 🙂
I love thinking about my reinvention/career change this way. I’m so happy I’m joining an organization that values positive leadership, inclusion, partnerships, innovation and is a fun place to work.
If this is anything you’re considering, I hope I can be an inspiration to take the leap! It might take your brain a minute to adjust just as it did mine, but when it does, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities! Whether it’s 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 or beyond! I believe all good things in life are the result of change.
Illustratration of me working in my office with my co-worker, Willie.
I looked at 2021 and had one thing on my mind – how can I make up for what happened to my business in 2020? I’ve owned my own PR firm for almost 19 years now and NO surprise, 2020 was the worst year yet.
I didn’t really mind a little less stress at work as clients dropped like flies during the start of the COVID-19 outbreak because I was finishing my master’s degree and set to graduate in May 2020. But as the year dragged on, I set out to do whatever I needed to do to make up for the lost client work in the following year.
I was ready to be “on the clock.” And boy did I take that to heart.
When 2021 came along, I wasn’t the only one wanting to make up for lost time. It seems my clients were ready to do the same. Everyone wanted to throw a party, host a fundraiser, step up their PR planning and efforts and plan the grandest of grand openings. I couldn’t bring myself to say no to a single potential client and thus I found myself buried, overwhelmed and busier than I’ve ever been in the nearly two decades I’ve been in this business.
Oh COVID, how you’ve helped us learn many life lessons! (yes, I’m blaming COVID for this. How could someone my age continue to make mistakes?)
So, what do you do when this happens? Luckily, I was able to lean on experience and draw from good ole’ fashion common sense, but here’s a few suggestions I’ll share now that I can look back (and now that I have some breathing room) might be helpful as we go into 2022.
Set a plan. Monthly, weekly and daily. Heck, hourly if you need to. Prioritize what needs to get done and create an action plan with a focus. It’s the only way to get through this period in your life. And look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Mine didn’t come until after Christmas, but it made my vegging on the couch that much sweeter.
Delegate. Find reliable team members who you can meet with periodically and who do not need a tremendous amount of hand holding. This is not the time for new employees or interns. You need tried and true staffers who know you and you know them so you can get the job done. I’m forever grateful for my team during this time.
Busier = more organized. I hate to even utter these words, but sometimes I get more done when I’m busier. Now, I never want to be as crazy as I was last year because I know I had to eliminate things that were important to me, but I also recognize that I am able to buckle down and be efficient when deadlines are looming. Remember, it turns out that the more you put something off, the less likely you’re going to do it at all.
Happy hour anyone? I can’t say that I had a healthy work-life balance during the past 12 months, but I made time to have some fun, see friends on occasion and hang out with my husband and kids. This downtime is one of the only things that helps me to recharge and stop thinking about my to-do list. And when you’ve been working from home for as long as I have, you know you have to switch it off because there’s no physical distance between the office and home.
Never say never. Oh boy this is a hard one! Repeat: I will not take on too much work ever again. This is a promise I have made to myself, and I must keep it. It is so important to my business, my current clients, my family and my health. That’s very dramatic, but let’s just say I need to do a better job of managing my workload.
And especially as we start the new year, I want 2022 to be a positive year for MNPR with a goal of actually achieving a work-life balance – ok, I realize I must set realistic expectations, but at least get a little closer to balance. Because I tend to be a bit of a workaholic (a hazard of being a business owner who truly loves her work), I have to constantly remind myself to find other passions.
My goals for this year are:
Learn how to say no
Get closer to nature. We have a new puppy who LOVES her walks!
Make time for myself!
Focus! Make sure I’m productive when I’m in my workspace
So cheers! Here’s to a fabulous 2022! I’m working to reclaim control this year! Wish me luck.
I learned about goal setting from the beach in Mexico about 18 years ago. I’d just moved back to Kansas City and was trying to figure out if I was a freelancer or PR agency owner (I eventually decided it was the latter).
A small PR firm I was working for in Arizona planned a luxurious planning retreat for five women in a beautiful beach house on the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. In between the yoga, wine, laughs and delicious food, we conducted strategic planning for clients and personal goal setting. We were “assigned” (as part of the retreat) time alone on a deserted beach to conduct personal, professional and overall life goal setting for the year.
It’s an experience I wish I could relive every January.
I learned the importance of personal goal setting and wanted to share it here with my own version of what I remember we used as our guide because it made such an impact. (Thank you, Dana!) Even if you don’t have a beach as your backdrop, I invite you to try this exercise.
Throughout the years, I’ve come back to a version of this document, and I’ve shared it with my husband, colleagues and friends. I hope it helps you especially this year coming off such a crap 2020! We all need to dig deep to find our self-inspiration as we kick off a new year.
When I was asked to moderate the KC/IABC New Year Coffee Chat on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021 titled “Build Your Personal Brand in 2021,” I decided to dust off this goal setting worksheet and share it with our virtual group. The event’s promo talks about starting the new year with resolutions to become better versions of ourselves, but as communicators and branding experts, we often neglect our own personal brand. During the chat, we’ll talk about our own brands and how to change our resolutions into goals (hello? The worksheet!!) to become brand savvy in the new year.
As you’re looking for insight for your goals I hope you’ll log into the free Coffee Chat, but if you missed it, I think it is important to “look back” to truly get a good view of what’s ahead. Consider our history to find our way for the future.
I looked back on my 10-year-anniversary blog post on December 2013, and got a laugh. Not a whole lot has changed as I start my 18th year in business but there were good reminders that I’ve included in my own goals for 2021.
And while clicking around on the MNPR Beyond the Pickle blog, it looks like I’ve written about “goals” before (improving my memory should be a goal, for sure!).
2014 wasn’t a good year. That’s why I started 2015 ON FIRE with some very lofty goals. I intended to take control and turn things around. I was proud that I had written down my goals and was able to check, check, check off these big accomplishments. √√√
In review of my goals in 2015, I see that I gave myself a long-term goal to do more “communication for the good.” It’s taken a few years, but I’m working with at least five nonprofits today and hope to continue to truly specialize in this area. Another check! √
There’s so much negativity surrounding 2020. Can you find positive things to focus on that happened last year? This can help set your intention for 2021.
Megan’s milestones in 2020
Turned 50 √
Went skydiving √
Graduated with my master’s degree from KU √
Started teaching college √
Named Communicator of the Year by Kansas City chapter of IABC √
Moved to a new house √
Son graduated high school and started college √
It was a BIG year for milestones! HUGE!
I don’t think I can break the milestone record next year so I will set totally different goals for 2021. Do you set an annual “one-word” intention for the year?
I’m terrible at being a futurist. I like to come up with ideas after the year is over, and then set my word! Is that cheating?
Right before I went skydiving for my bday, I bought a Tshirt that said: fearless. That’s when I decided that was my word for 2020. One of my best friends told me, I’m the only person she knows who would move during a lockdown and global pandemic! I take that as a compliment. FEARLESS!
But for 2021, I don’t know yet… All that comes to mind right now are cuss words! 😊
When I became president of the Kansas City chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators in 2008, I first learned about the top award that was given every year called the Arthur E. Lowell. I was in awe of these professionals throughout the years who stood out as Kansas City’s top communicator.
After all of the challenges of 2020, I was thrilled to learn that I had been named the Arthur Lowell winner for this year. Of course, it’s disappointing we can’t gather in person, which would have been so fun be with so many of my longtime KCIABC friends to celebrate!
Instead, the entire Quills Award ceremony was made into a video and distributed online this year.
When you work for yourself, you have to do awkward things like brag about yourself! But it doesn’t matter because I am so proud of this award that I wasn’t going to let this moment in my career go by without shouting it from the rooftops… or at least posting it on my website and social media!
And I need to give a BIG thank you to those who believed in me enough to nominate me for this award. Thank you for thinking that I deserved this honor!
Check out the video. Watch through until the end. There’s a fun (funny) surprise!
Mentee and mentor, Ashley Cleveland and Megan Neher
Stop for a second and think about who helped you decide on your career, find your niche, overcome a work challenge or embark in a new direction. There are a lot of people who we can consider mentors in our lives. Parents, teachers, family, friends, work colleagues along the way, bosses, clients, neighbors, pastors and more.
I’ve been thinking a lot about mentorship lately – both as the mentor and the mentee. I recently participated in an online fundraiser for a local nonprofit dedicated to supporting mentorship for Kansas City high school youth. “C” You In The Major Leagues was started by Kansas City Royals GM Dayton Moore to help local families in need and provide mentorship to a group of young high school men and women in a yearlong mentorship program.
A few of us who’ve been a part of the marketing efforts for CYITML were asked to record a video telling the world about a significant mentor in our lives. It was a challenge for me to choose just one person. And I started thinking about all of the people who’ve made a difference in my life. But mostly I started thinking about how I want to be someone who makes a difference in other people’s lives.
With my new master’s degree, I’m hoping to continue teaching college and be able to continue to mentor young professionals and college students as they feel their way through the college experience and then into professional lives in communications, marketing, PR, social media, etc.
This month I was asked to be a mentor as part of Digital Women Kansas City’s structured mentorship program. This professional development nonprofit pairs mentors and mentees in similar professions to work together. I’m looking forward to getting to know my new mentee, and I know I have a responsibility to offer feedback, share knowledge and listen.
Throughout the years, I hope some of the MNPR interns think of me as their mentor because I learned SO much from each of them. And that’s the best part of the mentor – mentee relationship. We learn from each other and ultimately build a strong friendship.
As an entrepreneur working out of her home, my internship setup hasn’t been a typical PR agency experience for college students. They usually get a taste of what it takes to be a PR pro, a business owner AND a busy mom trying to run her own business! Some may leave knowing this is nothing they’d ever want to do in a million years and a few others – the crazy ones – end up doing this very same thing!
For example, Ashley Cleveland is the Grande Dame of all interns. She started with MNPR as a college senior finishing at Park University, and stayed on with Megan Neher Public Relations after graduation for more than a decade. Called “Ashley the Intern” so not to confuse her with another Ashley in our family, she became an integral part of the business. Together, we produced quality PR work for a variety of clients. We took business trips, laughed… a lot, hosted many work events, developed secret acronyms, brainstormed, loved eating sushi and somehow managed to get our work done!
But before her, my very first intern was Erica Cohen and although she didn’t stick around immediately like Ashley did, she ended up joining MNPR years later to assist on a big client. I was fortunate enough to have Erica’s sister as an intern, Lauren Hensley, and her mom as a client. We continue to mentor each other to this day, depending on each other’s counsel.
Another standout intern: Maris Panjada was an overachieving college student juggling multiple jobs while getting dual degrees at UMKC. She was focused and knew what she wanted. I was inspired by her attitude and even was able to convince her to stick around an extra semester.
Rachel Pedersen was never an intern, but we have a mentor-mentee relationship after working together for so many years. She started at MNPR shortly after graduating from college as a part-time PR coordinator in addition to her full-time job. Today, she remains an enormous support to me – especially as my social media guru.
After 17 years in business and sometimes multiple interns a year, this list is only the tip of the iceberg. I’ve worked with many amazing young, up-and-coming professional communicators, and I love staying in touch to see where they land in their careers and watch as they grow.
Unfortunately, I met and hired one intern at a bar in Lawrence after drinking dirty martinis with friends. Not advisable! Surprisingly, I had to fire her a short time later, and then had to argue the point with her angry father who called me to try to save her job! Of course, this only guaranteed my resolve.
That hire aside, I’m confident that every single intern can report that they learned something working at MNPR… even if it is just the meaning of the acronym FIO. This is my mantra for all interns. Can you Figure It Out? 😊
The University of Kansas Edwards Campus selected a few graduates in 2020 to spotlight for online feature stories, and I was honored to be selected. Check out the article here.
Extraordinary times. Unprecedented times. We must pivot our
marketing, PR and social media strategies. These are all things we’ve heard repeatedly
during the past few weeks throughout this COVID-19 health crisis.
What can we do right
now? What I would recommend to my clients right now is to communicate
sensitively, remain optimistic and be present. It’s important to be authentic
to our internal and external audiences because our company’s brand voice has a character,
and it must continue during this time. We don’t want to be absent or go
completely dark during a crisis. In fact, I’d argue it’s even more important to
be there for our audiences as many of us are on the Internet a lot more right
now with the isolation order.
What this means for businesses:
Revamping all of the scheduled social media
posts and starting from scratch
Rescheduling or canceling planned events and
announcing new dates to audiences
Developing relevant webinars
Writing helpful blog posts
Continuing with pertinent updates to websites,
e-newsletters and social marketing
Looking for possible news angles to share useful
information with the local media
How we recover? I’ve
owned my business for nearly 17 years assisting clients with media relations,
marketing, social media and crisis communication. What is happening today is
unique, but it is also what we plan for every time we talk about crisis and
business planning.
Recovering from this means we need to think beyond the
crisis. Which is one of the hardest things to do! The uncertainty surrounding the
timing of the end of our isolation order as well as the uncertainty surrounding
the end of the spread of the virus is causing fear for a lot of us. I would
suggest that we thoughtfully look at our communication strategies for 2020, and
re-adjust based on this new normal.
My recommendations for how we come back: build credibility, engage on a deeper
level, communicate empathy and demonstrate competence.
Why messaging is important? I love thinking about the importance of communication specifically during THIS crisis. When it comes to beating this pandemic, it is all about spreading the message to #flattenthecurve. Without concerted messaging from politicians, businesses, civic leaders and eventually trickling down to all of the rest of us, this virus would have serious and possibly grave effects on humanity.
During a crisis, good communicators understand the importance of:
building trust
explaining the risks without creating panic
demonstrating that leadership has a plan and is taking
action
conveying instructions appropriately
welcoming feedback and working to engage with
audiences
maintaining focus and sharing positivity when
appropriate
There’s been a lot of jokes on TV and social media,
including on The Tonight Show starring
Jimmy Fallon, about the abundance of businesses communicating about
COVID-19, mostly emails flooding our in-boxes from every business we’ve
patronized… ever. I don’t mind these jokes. This is good communication business
policy. This means that businesses are mindful and responding to their
customers appropriately.
When the dust settles (and I know it will), I hope and pray we’ll all be safe and back to our new marketing strategies of best practices of communication, messaging, PR and social media.
PR firm assists clients with micro influencer partnerships
Kansas City influencers participated in a dairy farm tour in the spring of 2019.
Traditional media relations efforts are dwindling for public relations professional because there are fewer news outlets, and traditional journalists are becoming a scarcity. Small businesses have shifted their attention to where their consumers are getting their news, information and entertainment: on social media platforms and online.
Using media relations has long been a tool for small businesses because of its low cost and high return. This natural shift to citizen journalists, Instagrammers and bloggers, achieves today’s small business objective of reaching targeted customers.
Consumers have the ability to select which influencers to follow. This gives influencers a direct channel to communicate with a target audience! Clients have realized that the end consumer became more receptive to messages delivered by a personality (or friend) that they respect, trust and relate to, rather than watching an ad on TV being acted by a famous celebrity.
The new challenge is how to identify the influencer. Tracking down the contact information for the local newspaper, radio station and TV station was a fairly simple task in comparison to assembling a targeted list of key influencers with audiences that meet a small business’s marketing goals. Even so, small businesses understand collaborating with the right influencers who have a fan base that is relevant, makes digital influencer marketing the new best practice in public relations for today.
Now somebody has to cultivate the list of targeted influencers? Considerations include: size of an influencer’s audience, topic of influencer’s content, geography, engagement rates, what social channels they use, reputation, tone of voice in their content, and price.
Micro and nano influencers vs macro influencers How do influencers work? Many busy, successful working professionals, retired residents or stay-at-home-parents who have a passion for a hobby or topic make extra money as paid micro or nano influencers in their local communities. Sometimes it’s unpaid and they simply enjoy free dinners or gifts.
On the brand side, it can be a cost-effective method to launch a product, announce a startup or store opening, and retain attention over time because it creates online publicity with local and targeted audiences. A micro-influencer is an individual with 1,000 to a million followers, though they’re usually at the small end of that spectrum. Because their accounts are small, they’re seen as more relatable by their audience, and they usually are open to genuine collaborations with brands. A nano influencer has between 1,000 and 5,000 followers. These groups consistently gain higher engagement rates than macro influencers because of their authenticity, local relationships, true connections to their followers and personal involvement in a smaller, tight-knit community. Kansas City has a large number of food and lifestyle influencers in comparison to nearby large cities like St. Louis.
What influencer success can do for a brand Working with a micro or nano influencer, leverages the power of another person’s opinion to a targeted audience. It’s similar to the effectiveness of word-of-mouth marketing, online reviews and a friend’s recommendation. With all influencer outreach, content must tell a compelling story, grab the attention of the audience, show up in surprising ways and most importantly… use captivating imagery. Engagement is the most important element of influencer marketing. Examples of micro influencers working with targeted audiences might include: food Instagrammers or food bloggers, a local fashionista or wellness/fitness guru. Higher interaction between the influencer and the audience means that a connection is established and that the influencer is more relatable than a celebrity.
Another strategy is to cross topic when reaching out to influencers within a local community. For example, a shopping center might focus on lifestyle or fitness influencers rather than only reaching out to fashion-focused influencers. A restaurant might forgo an influencer event with only foodie influencers and instead focus on health and lifestyle influencers. This small, simple tactic extends the reach of the brand, opens up new audiences and allows for new story lines in the content.
Influencer marketing pitfalls Overall, marketers must remember to demonstrate authenticity, alignment and integrity when working with influencers. People follow influencers for inspiration, information, comedy, aspiration, ideas to solve everyday challenges, and so on.
SIDE NOTE: There’s been local criticism recently in regards to local micro influencers by Kansas City’s traditional media. However, times have changed, and news is covered differently in 2019. The lines have blurred between paid, earned, owned and shared media. As a former journalist myself, I’ve watched as things have changed dramatically in the past 25 years. It’s time for us to recognize influencers as professionals who work hard at their craft. (Every industry has a few bad apples.) Public relations pros have to make room in their strategies for a variety of tactics and influencer relations is a strong tactic for my clients.
Common pitfalls to beware of:
Despite being digital natives, young consumers value and seek out hands-on, real-life experiences to inform their purchases. As marketers, it’s important to work with the influencers to try to infuse real-life human connections into the content.
Some influencers receive criticism for lacking transparency in disclosing sponsored posts and brand partnerships and gifts. Others are criticized for overexposing and commodifying their kids and/or family.
Beyond close family and friends, connected consumers have mixed feelings about taking an influencer’s advice on what to buy. If the endorsement feels like an ad or too scripted, overproduced or inauthentic, consumers are turned off.
Some brands create too many rules and regulations when establishing a relationship with an influencer which stifles the influencer’s creativity and authenticity. We work with our clients to offer counsel and make this a smooth negotiation process.
Aside from a few pitfalls that diminish authenticity and reduce the human experience, influencers have inspired almost one-fifth of American consumers to make a purchase! And as PR pros, we can’t walk away from this tactic. For small businesses, it’s sensible to partner with micro and nano influencers who can inexpensively provide another marketing platform to build a relationship with consumers through authentic, creative online content. We don’t know how short-lived this opportunity may be.
My goals for this year are:
