Social and Substance: Green and Sustainable PR Best Practices
In recent years, the cleantech industry has faced more than its fair share of challenges—from high profile company failures to bankruptcies to reduced VC investments.
For the journalists and industry analysts covering this emerging space, reporting on the highs and lows has made them even savvier, more critical and more demanding on the businesses they research and the executives they interview.
At Schwartz MSL we work with these professionals every day, suggesting the story ideas, offering the data and providing the access to thought leaders that feed their reports. To even better understand how their perspectives are changing and how they want PR folks to work with them, we conducted a survey.
We uncovered some pretty interesting facts that any organization wanting to publicize a sustainability or green story will want to know. Here are a few:
- Survey Says Don’t Believe the Hype: 48% of survey respondents felt the biggest perception challenges facing the industry are high-profile flameouts (e.g. Solyndra) and too much hype around early stage, unproven companies.
No coincidence: 65% felt overhyping technology or milestones or a lack of transparency are the biggest communication mistakes a company can make.
- Schwartz MSL Says: PR programs must be built on a foundation of credibility and transparency. Most media and analysts have been burned by hyperbolic claims or unsubstantiated data, and would rather cover a bold, interesting company with substance that under promises and over delivers.
- Survey Says Follow the (Thought) Leader: 55% of respondents cite interviews with industry experts among the sources they most frequently rely on for article ideas and other content.
- Schwartz MSL Says: Thought leadership programs are the cornerstone to our media and industry analyst relations efforts. Arranging interviews on emerging trends, breaking news or policy needs (and not the new solution offering) deliver many of the most valuable results for our clients.
- Survey Says Social is the New Normal: 34% of respondents cited Twitter or LinkedIn as the best ways to get their attention, and 27% cited social media as a major source for story ideas.
- Schwartz MSL Says: Even we were surprised that Twitter tied with desk phones as the second most popular way to contact reporters. And with a quarter of media and analysts getting ideas from social means every company should be budgeting for social media PR in 2013.
Solar Financing Stays Hot, Is The Rest Of The Industry Heating Up Too?
The good news just keeps rolling in for solar financiers. Today, residential solar financing company OneRoof Energy announced an impressive $100 million in financing from Morgan Stanley and Main Street Power Company.
As Greentech Media reports:
“This fund brings the total announced funds for residential solar projects in the U.S. to $3.6 billion, and $350 million already in 2013, according to Shayle Kann, Vice President at GTM Research and author of a just-published report on the U.S. residential solar PV financing industry.”
OneRoof’s model is a little different, in terms of solar financing – they work with the roofing industry to target homeowners replacing their roof, as that’s usually a cheaper way to add solar. But they’re a part of a larger trend, which is the maturation of solar financing and the continuing intertwining of global financial entities and solar.
We’ve been discussing the solar financing industry as a bright spot in solar for a while, but more upstream players have had some great PR lately too. Citigroup recently began coverage of seven solar companies, which included four buy ratings, including on module companies like SunPower and First Solar, which have suffered pretty much across the board over the last two years. (Full disclosure, one company highlighted is Advanced Energy, a Schwartz MSL client).
No one would argue that the solar industry as a whole is out of the woods yet, but this validation from financial players is important—If it keeps up, it will help move solar past the combination of hyperbole and doubt it has suffered from, and establish solar as a valuable and reliable energy technology for the long-term.
By Dan O'Mahony on February 28, 2013 5:57 PM Permalink
Mapping Environmental Coverage, PR Lessons Learned
A recent report caught our eye, called “Environmental Coverage in the Mainstream News,” which details environmental news coverage in the United States. There are some interesting conclusions on which outlets and publications are prioritizing the beat.
This is valuable for PR practitioners: In a time when coverage is often determined by the audience’s tastes, paying attention to where environmental coverage is strongest might also point to where the right audience is for your message.
Key findings:
- Among broadcast outlets Fox News had the highest percentage of headline environmental stories (1.57 percent), beating out PBS (1.43 percent) and CNN with the lowest (0.36 percent).
- Local newspapers prioritize environmental coverage nearly three times more on average
- The Huffington Post was the environmental coverage leader for nationally focused news organizations with three percent of headlines (nearly three times the national average).
- Independent news organizations prioritize environmental coverage five times more than the national, on average.
The report’s authors address the issue of quality over quantity, saying that “improved environmental coverage is dependent upon both, better quality of coverage, a greater quantity, and a higher visibility of that coverage.” Environmental issues are increasingly becoming intertwined with political, economic and health issues and news rooms are changing to reflect that — this fact underscored by the New York Times’ recent decision to disband its environmental desk and allocate it’s reporters to various other focus areas.
The report also details some findings (which reiterate the above thoughts) based on an advisory group of prominent journalists including Bryan Walsh from TIME Magazine and Jennifer Grayson from the Huffington Post:
- Integrate the environmental angle into other stories and make that connection explicit
- Make environmental stories appealing to a larger cross section of society
- Focus more on solutions
- Increase the visibility of environmental stories.
These strategies are invaluable for PR pros, with two main takeaways:
- The first two points both show that PR practitioners need to tie their products and technologies to global trends and issues outside of your niche. That’s a no-brainer, and certainly not exclusive to cleantech, but always worth reiterating
- The third and fourth points should be great news for anyone in cleantech marketing or PR— the goal is to focus on solutions and increase visibility of environmental stories. That means outlets want more people to see their environmental stories, and for those stories to cover solutions (i.e. your technology) more.
The report was funded by nonprofit SEE Innovation (standing for social, environmental and economic) relied on outlet-by-outlet tracking data from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.
By Sarah Horn on February 26, 2013 4:52 PM Permalink
President, U.S. Public Both Advocate Action On Climate Change
As expected, President Barack Obama followed up his inaugural address with stronger climate and energy rhetoric during Tuesday night’s State of the Union address. He urged Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, but also pressed the issue further:
“But if Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take now and in the future to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”
Though Congress remains divided on the topic, a national poll conducted immediately after the speech by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Public Policy Polling found that the majority (65 percent) of Americans think that climate change is a serious problem, and that 60 percent of Americans also support the president in using his authority to reduce dangerous carbon pollution.
In PR and communication terms, "climate" has become a bit of a no-no over the last few years when addressing the purpose of the cleantech movement. To avoid skepticism, "climate" was replaced with other benefits like "green jobs," "energy independence," and even "national security."
With Obama in his second term and no longer operating under the possibility of re-election, he's made a notable shift in his communication around climate change—an issue he seemingly hasn’t mentioned since his original presidential campaign. Tuesday’s speech was the clearest call for action against climate change by any U.S. president, ever. This support is a positive for the cleantech industry—which is working to regain the unanimous support it enjoyed a few years ago.
Are Your Clients Up-To-Speed On The Top Seven Energy Trends To Watch In 2013?
Yesterday, GigaOM's cleantech guru Katie Fehrenbacher succinctly highlighted what David Sandalow, the Department of Energy's Under Secretary of Energy (Acting) and Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs (seriously, that’s his title, try and fit that on a business card) is seeing as the energy trends to watch in 2013.
If you’re in cleantech, it’s worth checking out everything Katie covered. The trends highlighted point to the changes happening—positive and negative—in the cleantech industry.
Here’s a few of the areas we thought most important, with some PR analysis peppered in:
Grid resiliency and modernization:
Both the Superbowl blackouts and hurricane Katrina have highlighted how important it is to make the grid much more resilient to blackouts as well as cyber events. The threat of cyber attacks “is real,” and it’ll be the private sector who mostly will lead the response against these situations, said Sandalow. Having a much more robust grid will also be needed as utilities add more clean power, like wind and solar, onto the grid.
PR pros are always looking for ways to tie their client’s technology to larger trends. The Super Bowl Blackout hype may be fizzling now, but keeping an eye out for similar high-profile incidents and being equipped to offer reporters your clients' take and/or expertise on the event can result in inclusion in large trend stories.
Low cost natural gas:
Cheap U.S. natural gas, which has emerged through horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, is the “hottest topic in the energy area,” said Sandalow. The DOE is accepting comments right now for whether or not the U.S. should export liquid natural gas. We have 16 applications for companies that want to export it, said Sandalow.
Natural gas is touted as a cleantech killer by many. We at Renewablog don’t believe that, but it’s important that more traditional cleantech companies are prepared to discuss why they’re suited to compete with natural gas.
The dropping cost of solar:
The DOE has its SunShot program, which looks to lower the cost of solar panels, but there’s a lot more work left to do. Germany has a 50 percent lower cost to install solar panels because it removed a lot of the red tape, said Sandalow. He explained, “I want to know when solar will become viral in the way that cell phones did, and what will it take, energy storage?”
Everyone is talking about the dropping cost of solar. If your client is in the solar industry, finding a way to point out how they are part of the cost-reduction solution should be a priority.
Clean energy financing:
There’s a lot more work to be done to finance clean power projects, though some milestones passed recently like the tax credits for wind projects. For startups clean power financing is actually a pretty hot area for investment.
This is another “everybody’s talking about it,” trend. Energy is so hot right now. Clean energy, hotter. The innovative technologies that help create clean energy are, basically, on fire. But, venture capital has dwindled, and explaining why your technology is a better fit than some previous high-profile flameouts will resonate with media and, hopefully, investors.
These trends are valuable—they’re high-level and easy for everyday people to grasp, but endorsed straight from the DOE. If your client is well-prepared to touch on them it could mean increased exposure and an elevated brand message.
Friday Fun-- Our San Francisco 49ers Seek to Dominate in Green Efforts, Not Just Football
It’s Friday, and if you’re based in the Bay Area like the Schwartz MSL Cleantech Practice, you’re probably already swept up in the Super Bowl XLVII hype that has consumed many of us.
Greentech Media posted a story today on the 49ers efforts to achieve LEED certification, via solar, at their new Santa Clara stadium.
The vendor highlighted is NRG Energy—a major energy player—and it’s clear that the work is partly an exercise in PR and marketing. A 400-kilowatt system is by no means large, especially for a company like NRG, but the notoriety and branding is potentially worth a lot more.
It’s a smart move by NRG, and they definitely are thinking awareness with this project. As Katie Tweed writes:
“The most visible solar array will be the ones that cover the pedestrian bridges that the majority of fans will have to cross to enter the stadium from the parking lot. For those that might not think to look up, there will be educational messages about solar power and clean energy.”
With environmentally-conscious Bay Area folks attending games and seeing NRG branding and info, this project could lead to loyalty amongst customers in one of the hottest solar regions in the country.
By the way, the Ravens are also seeking LEED certification but, like in the NFL, they are a footnote in the bigger story.
Happy Friday and go Niners!
By Dan O'Mahony on February 1, 2013 2:38 PM Permalink
What does it mean for PR? Doubt, support and criticism over the NY Times environment desk restructuring
It’s been almost two weeks since Inside Climate News was the first to announce that the New York Times will be dismantling its environment desk, sending its seven reporters and two editors to other departments. Dean Baquet, the Times’ managing editor, explained that the decision was made because environmental stories have become more complex since the desk was formed in 2009, and today they are “partly business, economic, national or local, among other subjects.”
The decision has yielded a variety of reactions.
Margaret Sullivan, public editor for the Times, reports on a number of adverse reactions, including her colleague, environment editor Sandy Keenan, who was not pleased with the decision: “Of course, I’m disappointed,” [Keenan] said. “I’ll try to hold everyone to their promise that the coverage won’t suffer.”
Others, such as Christopher Mims, science and technology reporter at Quartz, believe it will indeed help environmental coverage be less isolated. Andrew Revkin, who writes the Dot Earth blog on the Times’ Op-Ed section, believes in the paper’s logic as well, saying “when the roots of environmental problems often lie half a planet away (consider the ivory trade, or the contribution of greenhouse gases and soot to Arctic ice melting) what’s needed most is collaborative post-departmental journalism, not individual desks and editors competing for the front page.”
So what does this mean for PR professionals trying to secure coveted coverage in the Times? First off, it’s important to note how often outlets change their model. Newsweek for example became an online only publication in 2013, and Forbes has shifted its online format to include what seems like thousands of contributors. Even back in 2008, CNN had a similar transition and explanation when it closed its science department. All of these changes have yielded opportunities and challenges for PR pros looking to tell their clients’ stories.
For the Times, there’s been no word on whether the Green blog, often the go-to target for PR pros, will be affected. However, Baquet has said that if it has impact and audience it will survive, so it’s unclear how much coverage will shift.
If you’re a PR pro trying to secure coverage in the New York Times, however, you should already understand the other trends your client fits into and be pushing those angles. For example, maybe you’re a solar manufacturer with some projects in India or Brazil—you should already be in touch with correspondents there. Or maybe you’re a smart grid equipment maker—utility and energy reporters are as important for you as environmental.
This move by the Times only reinforces the importance of understanding the different ways an outlet might cover a given company. As PR professionals, we need to continue to stay in touch with reporters and diligently read their work – to understand how to better tell our clients’ stories, so it will resonate with the media.
