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Hire A Fractional CCO Today

Does your company need a Chief Communications Officer, but not full-time? Let the team at Selsi Enterprises help your organization reach its goals by bringing in executive-level brainpower not only to achieve but also exceed your 2024 goals.

Here are a few reasons why you should hire a fractional CCO:

  • Cost-effectiveness: A fractional CCO provides organizations with access to top-tier communications expertise without the burden of full-time salary and benefits. This can be particularly beneficial for smaller organizations or those with limited budgets.

  • Strategic guidance: A fractional CCO can bring a fresh perspective and strategic vision to an organization’s communications efforts. They can help develop and implement a comprehensive communications plan that aligns with the organization’s overall goals and objectives.

  • Expertise in specific areas: Fractional CCOs often have specialized expertise in certain areas of communications, such as public relations, crisis communications, or social media. This can be invaluable to organizations that need help navigating complex or challenging communications situations.

  • Flexibility and scalability: Fractional CCO arrangements can be tailored to meet the specific needs of an organization. The CCO can provide as much or as little support as needed, and the engagement can be scaled up or down as the organization’s needs change.

  • Access to a wider network: Fractional CCOs often have extensive networks of contacts in the media, public relations, and marketing industries. This can be a valuable resource for organizations that are looking to expand their reach and build relationships with key influencers.

In addition to these benefits, fractional CCOs can also help organizations:

  • Improve employee communication
  • Enhance brand reputation
  • Manage crises effectively
  • Attract and retain top talent

We know that organizations have evolving needs, and the communications landscape has changed significantly post-COVID. Set up a discovery call with one of our representatives today, and let’s assess if a fractional CCO is what your organization needs in 2024.

AI-ENHANCED STRATEGY

We merge the power of AI with the art of storytelling. Our AI-Enhanced Strategy & Storytelling services help you automate research, personalize campaigns without losing authenticity, and unlock creative, data-driven insights. With an AI Audit, we uncover where your workflows can be smarter, faster, and more effective. You’ll see exactly how to integrate AI in ways that save time, reduce costs, and amplify your brand’s voice. Stay ahead of the conversation and elevate your communications— Call today for your AI Audit.

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CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

The art of communicating in a corporate setting has grown to be even more interesting.  From Employee Engagement to Community Relations, we understand how to strategically align messaging to organizational goals. The corporate culture at each organization is very different.  This factor alone means that there is no one way to define what it takes to be a corporate communicator.  Our experiences with a variety of brands will allow us to share expertise that can mold your communication strategy to one that delivers the results that you are looking for within your organization.

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CAMPAIGN STRATEGY

A political campaign is only as good as the communication strategy. As a candidate, you need to determine how you want to be branded. This will help you decide on everything from your social media content to your direct mail pieces. Our content strategy is comprehensive. We work with you on your media presence, your public speaking, all the way to your social media content strategy. We look at the demographics of your constituents to what their pain points may be at the time. We pull out all the stops to best tell your brand story.

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Facebook To Remove Trending News Section

Facebook has plans to remove the Trending News section of the platform. After reading their blog post, we learned that the use of that portion of the site was extremely low. The reason it is shocking to us is that we use that section multiple times per day as we work to glean knowledge about what content/news people are interested in consuming.

Facebook does have plans to adapt the platform to the way that their data suggest that people like to use Facebook. So, we will have to see if they are making the right decision. In all sincerity, it probably is a good decision for the masses, but for those that work in marketing and PR….it was pretty convenient.

Here is the link to see all of the details about the change.

Leave us a comment to tell us what you think about the change. How often do you look at the trending topics?

What I Learned on The Campaign Trail

The experience of being a communication strategist on the campaign trail is a dream for those of us that enjoy politics. There are a number of factors that have to be taken into consideration in order to craft a successful communication strategy that lines up with the platform of the candidate and the best way to reach the constituents. Campaigning today is not what it used to be. The idea of shaking the most hands and kissing the most babies is good, but it is not a complete strategy.

Before one develops any type of communication strategy, the candidate must truly know where they stand on the issues that matter most to his/her community. Having a full and authentic understanding of what the candidate believes in will allow for the communication strategy to be built in a way that the messaging will not have to change drastically while on the campaign trail. Strong pivots in messaging tend to confuse potential voters. It also makes those that are on the fence uncertain if they can count on the candidate to be strong on the issues if the flounder to what seems to be the hot topic.

  1. A strong candidate needs a strong team. It was obvious to me that even as strong as a candidate may be, the team matters. The candidate needs to have people that can do the research and analyze the data in the background so that messaging is accurate and resonating with constituents. I may be biased, but besides fundraising, the Director of Communications may be one of the most important hires that a candidate will make. This individual will observe the campaign from a totally different perspective than anyone on the team. One must have someone that understands how to read the audience, develop a strategy on framing the message, and properly evaluate the candidate’s performance when delivering the message.
  2. One must understand the concerns of their voting community. Communication 101 is understanding your target audience. As a candidate runs for election, they must understand the top concerns of their constituency. It’s important not to be too far swayed by what those outside of the voting district may think, but to truly listen to what the residents are saying they need from their representative. It is hard to evaluate the voting population when a candidate is in a special election, but I have found that the quickest way to do this is to find out who the movers and shakers are in the community. Find out who the individuals are that touch a lot of people, meet with these individuals and learn from them all that you can about the community. Do not assume that you know all that there is to know about the residents of the community.
  3. It’s important to create Brand Ambassadors. Yes, Mr/Mrs Candidate you are now a brand. In making that distinction, it is important to understand how to spread the word about your brand. It is difficult to spend time with each and every voter in one’s district or voting population, but ambassadors will be able to speak up on your behalf if properly trained. Using social media strategically is another way that a campaign can find brand ambassadors. As much as one may push out content on social media, one can also see who is speaking up the most about them accurately. The campaign can offer volunteer training workshops, have a virtual training, and create social media toolkits for these ambassadors to use as they help you spread the word.
  4. Technology is an important tool to gather DATA. Accurate data collection is key to success. Hilary Clinton mentioned in her book, What Happened, that some of their data may not always have been accurate. She also mentioned that she leaned towards the old fashion way of campaigning (shaking hands and giving stump speeches to small crowds), but knew that she had to embrace this new era of what it takes to win an election. Reach out to other campaigns and see what type of technology they are using, conduct research on the latest tools that can be used to manage a campaign, and check back to our blog as this will be the focus of one of our next blog post.
  5. Meet people where they are. By this, we mean that you must understand where your constituents are, and this takes a deep level of knowledge on who makes up your voting constituency. If you have an older more mature constituency, then you may want to be heavier of meet-n-greets and email. If you have a young constituency, your social media and text messaging strategy will need to be strong and take the lead over the traditional modes of communication. Some may say that the volume of times that a constituent is reached out to may turn them off, but there isn’t data from a notable source to support this theory.

You don’t have to take our word for what to consider in your campaign communication strategy. Here are a few suggestions from others that have also lived on the inside of a campaign.

“Everyone, from constituents to party members, will tell you how things should be done if you want to win. Most will contradict each other. While you need to be open to advice (and actively seek help when you need it), the most difficult part of the job is knowing when to trust yourself and doing what needs to be done for your specific situation. Each candidate, campaign, voter demographics, District, and opponent are different. In the end, I relied heavily on scholarly research and my own intuition.”

Avery Murdie, Campaign Manager & PR Director for Deborah Gonzalez for GA House 117

“Field is how you will win or lose a campaign. Having the candidate do as much direct voter contact as possible will have a huge impact. The most effective method for direct voter contact is knocking on targeted doors, followed by phone calls and meet and greets along with other public appearances.

A universe of targeted voters must be built before any voter contact is done. All voters in the universe need to be contacted before GOTV to identify supporters for GOTV and eliminate others. Knowing who your voters are in all ways is critical. Understanding the demographics of the district will help you figure out the best communication methods for the campaign. For example: younger voters will respond more to Instagram versus email and older voters over 75 will appreciate a phone call or direct mail more.”

Leah Fuhr, Former Political Affairs Manager/Field Organizer for Jon Ossoff, Former Campaign Manager for Jen Jordan

“Watching for the activists who embody the spirit of our organization was key for me. I knew that if a journalist heard their stories, they would exemplify who we were and also boost the candidate we were supporting. Anyone who is inspired to volunteer so much time to get someone elected pulls at the emotions of the audience and makes someone take another look at that candidate.”

Jen Cox, Director of PR, PaveItBlue

Your life will forever be changed when you enter into the world of politics. You begin to understand how big of a role politics plays in the quality of life one leads. You also learn how important it is to have your communication strategy in line so that you can properly reach your constituents. You (the candidate) may have the best platform to run on, the biggest heart, and the best mindset to win your election, but if you do not communicate it in a way that reaches your voting audience…it is all for nothing.

Discipline = Success :: Especially for Women Owned Firms

Success can be defined in so many ways and the journey to obtain a certain level of success is subjective. One of the keys to success that I hear from many of those that have reached a high level of success is the fact that they have to remain disciplined in their daily routines. You will often hear people that are successful say that they do the same thing in their morning routines day in and day out. They may have coffee, workout, read the news on their preferred device, but it is the same routine day in and day out.

I have since learned that the reason for this is because when you implement something as simple as a morning routine, you now do not have to use ‘brain power’ (for lack of a better term) on something that really does not matter. Something like what you must do in the morning to get your day started is not as important as developing the strategy to grow your business or deciding the steps you need to take today to keep the country safe. In one of their final interviews as President and First Lady, First Lady Michelle Obama stated that President Obama has so many of the same exact suits, shoes, and accessories that he does not have to think about what he is putting on in the morning. He can at any time grab one of the suits and put it on and not have to deal with the minute detail of what he needs to wear for the day. As President, he also had to be conscious of the fact that he had to be politically correct in what he decided to wear.

I am someone that gets bored easily. A doctor may call it ADD, but my attention span is lost quickly. Doing the same routine day in and day out seems impossible to me. But, I am going to try to make it a habit for 1 month and see what it may change in my level of productivity. One of the first steps to creating this discipline in your own life is to make sure you are organized. Successful people tend to keep their home and office very neat. They do not have to spend time finding something because everything has a place. This is sometimes easier said than done when you work from home. Depending on how much space you have in your home will determine how organized you can truly be (in my opinion). When you must mix kids’ stuff with office stuff, you are in for a real challenge (unless you live in a large home). Hopefully, by getting as organized as you can, you can then obtain the level of success that will allow you to buy a home or office that will be spacious enough for all of your needs. Some of you already have plenty of space, but may need to throw out some items that you do not need (junk). Take this opportunity to give items away to the less fortunate. Someone else would find your junk to be their treasure.

When running a business of any size, if you cannot elevate your productivity, you will lose this ever-changing game of entrepreneurship. What is interesting to me is the variety of ways that people work to achieve the first 1 million dollars in revenue. This tells you beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no one right way to reach above average goals. I have listened to financially successful people state that it was a challenge making their first million, but once they got it down to a system, making the next million was not so hard.  From the outside of the million-dollar circle club, that seems to be a daunting task. But, if you are a student of success, one could glean some elements of similarities amongst peers that are making a million or more.

Traits of millionaires:

  1. Most millionaires are self-made. Meaning that they did not become a millionaire by working for someone else. According to BMO Private Bank in 2013 67% of millionaires in the US did not inherit their wealth. They found ways to acquire it.
  2. Millionaires are not afraid to take risk. Playing it safe does not land you in the wealthy category. Like CEO Elon Musk, with his company Tesla Motors, was told his concept would not work. He was continuously told that he was not going to be able to compete with the Detroit manufacturers. Today, he is proving his naysayers wrong and trending toward one of the biggest disruptions in the automotive industry.
  3. “The rich invest in time. The poor invest in money.” This statement was said by Warren Buffett and it exemplifies my next point. The wealthy understand the value of time.
  4. Self-made millionaires live within their means. They do not splurge outside of their budget and often, they will work diligently to stay under budget.

If you are a data person like I am, then at this point you must be interested in some numbers. I have a strong affinity for women owned businesses. So, let’s look at data as it relates to women owned business.

  1. More than 9.4 million firms are owned by women.
  2. The 9.4 million firms employ nearly 7.9 million people and generate $1.5 trillion in sales as of 2015.
  3. 9 million firms are majority-owned by women of color in the U.S.
  4. 2% of all women-owned firms have revenues of 1 million or more.

Source: Statistics from Womenable report commissioned by American Express “OPEN State of Women-Owned Businesses  2015” for full report click here.

So, what needs to be done to improve these numbers for more women owned business to reach a level of success that includes generating at least 1 million dollars in revenue. Does discipline play a role in the level of success that women are seeing? Partially, but there are so many other factors that go into success. And one thing that none of us should get into the habit of doing is making excuses. We all have to deal with our own realities and accept our starting points. What we can change is where we end up. We can put in the work to not only reach our goal but to exceed it.

In this blog series, we are going to dive deeper into success, the role discipline plays, and what all of this means for women business owners. One thing we know is true and that is if you are male or female, discipline is an important factor to achieving your goals. No one can really tell you where you need to increase your level of discipline, but you will have to get systematic in your efforts. Start with small changes, be patient, but remain consistent with your eyes on the goals you hope to achieve.

Brands We Have Worked With Over The Years

With all the moving parts to a good PR plan, our volunteer board needed help. Selsi Enterprises provided the insight and strategy to help our organization get useful feedback from our members, connect with reporters who didn’t know about us, and develop messaging to attract new attendees for our events.

Nicole is a PR Powerhouse! She’s helped me to find my angle and present my story to countless media publications. Whenever I need a publicity boost, I go to Nicole and can’t recommend her enough.

Nicole Henderson and I collaborated on a group project to promote a professional women’s networking organization in Atlanta. Nicole did an outstanding job as our leader. She managed the work, people, and budget – and was delightful to work with! Nicole’s experience with social media and the latest innovative trends provides clients with unmatched advice and performance.

I co-chaired PRSA Georgia’s 10th Annual Conference with Nicole. I was continuously impressed with the new ideas she was bringing to the event. Fresh, current, relevant!

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