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FCES15: Top 10 PR do's (and a few don'ts)

"Whatever I present to you is my PR moment," Nick Powills, CEO of No Limit Agency, said in opening his session at the Fast Casual Executive Summit in Miami.

Nick Powills, CEO of No Limit Agency.

October 26, 2015 by Travis Wagoner — Editor, Networld Media Group

"Whatever I present to you is my PR moment," Nick Powills, CEO of No Limit Agency, said in opening his session at the Fast Casual Executive Summit in Miami.

The FCES event, held last week, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and drew over 400 attendees for the three-day conference.

Powills and Lee Zucker, director of enterprise for SinglePlatform, walked the session attendees through the best ways for fast casual operators to build buzz and gain a following, answering the question, "Where is it all going and how can you best get there?" be it content marketing, viral videos, traditional public relations methods or any number of ways to grab attention for your restaurant brand.

"Inaccuracies can hurt your brand," Zucker said. "Seventy-three percent of consumers lose trust in a brand if it has inaccuracies online."

That’s become increasingly true as more consumers use mobile devices when researching brands, including fast casual restaurants. According to Zucker, restaurant operators must capture the "local seas of traffic."

"The phrase ‘near me’ has increased 34 times in Google searches since 2011," Zucker noted. "And 86 percent of consumers view menus online before dining out. Nothing is more striking than a mobile presence for your brand."

Powills picked it up from there, stressing how every communications contact point a restaurant operator has with a consumer is the same as with the media. The restaurant operator must be prepared when in front of media outlets.

As an example, he proposed that if a fast casual operator is fortunate to gain the attention of a journalist about an upcoming in-store promotion, that operator better be prepared for the crowd and the media spotlight.

"What does your restaurant look like? How does your staff interact with customers?" Powills asked. "Building a strong brand foundation is critical to winning the communications game. Make sure you’re ready for PR when you get it, because when you get that PR moment, your staff needs to be ready for the flow."

Powills said too often communications can become "siloed." In other words, a fast casual operator might have a marketing staff, an advertising staff, a public relations staff and a social media staff, etc. and often times they are not collaborating or sharing.

"If you spend $1 on marketing, it should stretch into advertising, PR, social, etc." he said. "Connect the silos and spend with a purpose on brand development, social media, PR, marketing, advertising and digital. Use social media to create your brand."

Sincerity is also crucial to selling a brand.

"You must be authentic," Powills said. "We’re all humans, and the best stories connect humans to humans. Being proud of the brand you create should be at the forefront of all that you do."

Powills then used the example of the "lone dancer" to illustrate his point about drawing consumers to your brand using "followers." He played a YouTube video of a shirtless man dancing solo with abandon at an outdoor music festival. The performer danced how he wanted to, showing his uniqueness. After about a minute, a second dancer joined him, and both danced as if no one else was watching. Within two minutes more and more dancers joined the fun. At the end of the video, what had been one dancer was a crowd of hundreds.

"All messages point back to one place," Powills said. "Figure out ways to connect the silos and followers."

About Travis Wagoner

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Travis Wagoner spent nearly 18 years in education as an alumni relations and communications director, coordinating numerous annual events and writing, editing and producing a quarterly, 72-plus-page magazine. Travis also was a ghostwriter for an insurance firm, writing about the Affordable Care Act. He holds a BA degree in communications/public relations from Xavier University.