Lydia Moss Bradley

Lydia Moss Bradley has become an iconic figure in not only Peoria, IL, where she founded Bradley University, but also in Central Illinois. Just recently, voters in the “Prairie State” voted her as No. 1 in the Illinois Top 200 project for groundbreaking women in the state’s history.

Not only did Bradley come in first, but she also beat Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Oprah Winfrey for the title!

So who is Lydia Moss Bradley, and why was she so influential?

Bradley and her husband built a tremendous fortune over their marriage but lost all six of their children in the process. Following her husband’s death, many expected the widow to retreat into the expectations for a Victorian woman in the day and remain in solitude. However, Bradley did just the opposite. She took charge of businesses, set up charities, founded Bradley University, and even fought a land dispute all the way up into the Supreme Court. When she did eventually remarry, she was even one of the first woman to demand a prenuptial agreement.

President of Bradley University, Gary Roberts announced that as far as most know, Bradley is one of the only universities that was founded by a woman using her own resources.

“She was far ahead of her time and amazingly resourceful… we strive daily to carry on her legacy,” Roberts said.

PR Campaign Ideas to Take Advantage of the Lydia Press:

It is huge that Lydia, the founder of our beloved Bradley University, is all over the news! This is a wonderful thing to take advantage of, and one of the best ways to target Bradley students, faculty, and staff, would be: historical figures.

Now, this may sound crazy, but hold on.

One of my favorite things about attending Renaissance Fairs, Shakespeare Festivals, or Civil War reenactments was getting to meet actors who displayed historical figures. There was nothing like meeting Abraham Lincoln and asking him questions about the war efforts or talking to General Grant to see how he was holding up.

I think that by having several female actors to act as Lydia throughout the different eras of her time could be extremely useful. In addition, having a reenactment of her life on a stage in the quad would also be fantastic. Not only for the students and faculty on campus, but also for the community.

Even if it was just a “Bradley Festival” over homecoming week where the reenactments could take place even twice or again during the spring semester, this would inform so many people.

Research to the Campaign:

Obviously, we would need to talk to the Peoria Historical Society and also look into tracking down and talking to some of the first graduates from Bradley University– or anyone who would have interacted with Lydia. Talking to experts and authors who have a specialty or expressed interest in Bradley would be extremely helpful as well. It would also be helpful to get ahold of any journals, diaries, letters, etc. that Bradley would have written.

All of this information would be extremely useful to contribute to this effort.

How to Market this Reenactment:

Obviously, the main target is the staff, faculty, and students. What better way to get ahold of them than via flyers and Hilltop emails? Emails can even go out directly from the President of the University. The Scout also has an opportunity to write press releases and assist the Bradley Marketing and PR teams with executing some great media plans.

Reaching out to local TV news stations, the Peoria Journal Star, and the radio stations would also be a great way to reach out and spread awareness through the community. We could even look into asking businesses to sponsor the event and donate things like chairs, flyers, giveaways, raffles, food, and more!

Getting the theater and art kids involved in designing the set pieces would be a huge way of helping with senior projects and showing involvement across campus.

Final Thoughts:

It is my opinion, that doing a historical reenactment of the “Lydia Moss Bradley Story” would be a great success in spreading awareness on this iconic woman. Seeing her story, trails, tribulations, and triumphs is inspiring to not just women, but all people.

In addition, along with spreading awareness, positive PR and media attention, this could also be live-streamed on Facebook to attract new students.

So what do you say, Bradley University?

Let’s have a historical reenactment.

 

 

 

 

The Steamboat Classic: Social Media Overview

Background on the Steamboat Classic

The Steamboat Classic is a Peoria, IL race that has been an ongoing running event for the last 45 years. The event strives to be more than just a race, but rather, a community event. Every year, hundreds of sponsors and volunteers endeavor to impact Central Illinois in a positive light.

The Steamboat Classic attracts runners from all around the world and the state. This event is an opportunity for inclusion, welcoming new runners, elites, walkers, joggers, all ages, and wheelchair accessible.

Participants receive race entry, a complimentary shirt (while supplies last) and entry to a Finish Line after party to celebrate their accomplishments.

How is the Steamboat Classic Utilizing social media?

As someone who has lived in the Peoria-area for the last 22 years, I had never heard of this event, and I believe that a factor of this is due to their lack of social media marketing.

Just a quick look at their Facebook page will show that they are very infrequent with their social media posts– often letting weeks go by without reaching out to their followers. The majority of their content is related to races or pictures from their actual race days, but other than that, very infrequent.

The page is dead, and many of the tabs open to blank pages which lack substantial information. The colors itself pose a very full and depressing hue overall. In addition, the logo doesn’t reveal much about the event at all.

(How am I supposed to feel welcomed when there is nothing here?)

Their Twitter page thankfully has a little more color and life to it, but there hasn’t been a Tweet since August 19th. With only 69 followers, it is no wonder that so few young people have ever heard of this event before. And thankfully, the logo is labeled “Steamboat Classic” so I know what I’m looking at.

 

Their final means of social media is their Instagram page, and it by far has the most interaction. Not only does it have a big following, but there is engagement with the followers.  Unfortunately, again, there have been no new posts since June 16th.

So… what is going on? Why aren’t their social media and marketing people stepping up and making the most of the time leading up to the next race? Why aren’t they making an effort?

Suggestions for the Website:

When you enter a website, the colors are supposed to pop, unique headings will grasp your attention, and you will be pulled into and emerged into the web of marketing that their designers have weaved for you.

Let’s take a look at the Boston Marathon’s webpage as an example:

Whoa! Right!?

Look at those bright colors, the fun headers, and vibrant pictures, and welcoming atmosphere.

Now look at the Steamboat Classic:

Yeah, not the same reaction, right? This is a boat I wouldn’t mind missing.

It’s the same bland rusty color and absolutely nothing that grasps my attention.

So how do we go from “meh” to “WOW-ZA!”?

First of all, we need a new template. Something that provides more organization, color, and structure. Change the font to something snappy and bold, and be creative with the content! Give us more pictures– throughout the 45 years! Colorize the social media buttons… something. Anything.

Social Media Calendar Suggestions:

Obviously, the lack of structure and organization within this industry is shameful to any marketing person. The biggest thing that must be implemented is CONSISTENCY. Instead of one post every three weeks to three months, we must organize a plan.

Here is my proposal for boosting interaction and overall engagement– and the best part, these are things that the Steamboat Classic can crosspost over their platforms.

1. Daily #Hashtags
   • #MotivationMonday
     • This can be a daily quote about striving to not give up or stories from runners who have overcome great difficulties.
   • #TuesdayTruth
     • Running and healthiness can be hard– we all know that. So why not use this as an excuse to post tips on little changes we can make throughout the day. Something like: #TuesdayTruth Staying hydrated can be hard, here are some yummy foods you can eat to keep that liquid in our diet (link to meals that include foods like watermelon and cucumbers.)
   • #WednesdayWisdom
     • Use this as something similar to Mondays, more inspiration and words of wisdom from those in the athletic community.
   • #ThrowbackThursday
     • This is your opportunity to share pictures from the past 45 years of races! Think about how fun it could be for loyal runners to skim through these photographs in search of their own pictures or friends.
   • #FutureFriday
     • This is your day to promote the next race or other races in the area! Go crazy!
2. Once a Month Giveaways
   • Nothing gets people more involved than incentives. Even if it’s as simple as “like and share this post for a chance to win a {free shirt, fun shoelaces, 20% of entry fee, etc.}
   • This can be something that the Steamboat Classic does as the race gets closer!

 

Final Thoughts:

I apologize if I offended anyone with my overview of the social media/marketing attempts of the Steamboat Classic, as that was not my intention. My hope is simply that they take advantage of the fact that this race has been going on for almost 50 years. The last thing that Central Illinois would want is to lose this historical race to a lack of knowledge and presence in this Golden Age of Social Media.

Put simply, there is a lot of room for improvement in the impact and presence of the Steamboat Classic.

Is there a Problem with PR?

Recently, Boston University and PRWeek collaborated together and produced an in-depth survey to determine what percentage of companies combine their PR/Communications centers. Through the polling of 1,5000 in-house, agency, and various other practitioners, they came to the realization that 28% of the participants claimed that their departments were completely integrated, while 32% said they were somewhat integrated.

The question that has been raised due to this integration is simply: Should we integrate our public relations department with our marketing and advertising teams? Does it make a difference?

Should We Integrate Communications Teams?

In my opinion, I don’t believe that this serves as too much of an issue. This is because of how closely these different roles overlap. For example, public relations is about maintaining a positive relationship between a company and it’s customers, as well as admitting when there is a problem and providing solutions on how to fix the issue.

Marketing is about promoting the positive things that a company is doing, their accomplishments, and their hopes for the future– thus securing a positive image with the public and their customers.

Advertising also falls in with the marketing aspect as a way to get information out there and promoting the best things possible.

So what is wrong, as a company, with combining your resources? Shouldn’t a company’s communication teams be integrated and collaborate together for the better of the industry?

Public Relations Skillsets

The results of the survey showed how important the skillets for a Public Relations professional should be. These skills included: writing, listening, creativity, and business savviness, but there are other useful skills that I believe a PR professional should have. These include:

• Attentiveness to detail
  • It’s awesome if you can drill out a case study or research for your company in two days, but what if in your hastiness your grammar was atrocious? What if you missed an attribution to another author? What if your research wasn’t as accurate as you believed it would be?
• Strong work ethic
  • Are you willing to stay an extra half-hour to an hour to finish a project? Or do you need to clock out at 5 p.m.? Are you willing to take work home with you to finish something in a timely manner, or does it need to be halted so you can enjoy your weekend?
• Verbal communication
  • Yes, written skills are very important, but what if there is a crisis in your company? Are you willing to speak at a press conference? Can you handle yourself in an interview with the press? Do you know how to carry yourself in a moment of pressure?
• Willingness to collaborate
  • AS much as you might enjoy working alone, there are times where you will need to seek additional information from others. Maybe you are writing an article on how your company is utilizing C# or UI/UX– but do you even know what this means? Are you willing to seek out the developers in your building to ask for help?

How Do We Measure PR Campaign?

Ideally, in my opinion, a PR campaign, you can measure the effectiveness by a variety of different ways:

• Social Media Reach and Impressions
  • Are your blogs getting liked and shared? Are your Tweets receiving many likes and retweets? Did you gain more followers than you lost? Are your analytics seeing an increase in activity compared to earlier months?
  • Make sure that the content that you are sharing is relevant to what is going on in your company and to what you are hoping to promote. If the content receives traction, you are doing something right!

• Increased Sales
  • If your social media reach is doing well, there may be a correlation to an increase in sales! For example, if you are sharing many images of your product (i.e., personalized makeup or beer boxes) and a discount code, you may notice more sales and positive reviews.

So what are your thoughts? Do you think we should be integrated these communications professionals? Why or why not? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.