Q&A with August WCA@Night Speaker: Dara Quackenbush

Written by Noemi Ortiz.

Join Dara Quackenbush on Aug. 17 at WCA@Night as she discusses how organizations can make sure their content is not only seen but also acted upon. A seasoned PR practitioner and a past president of WCA, Dara has spent her career helping companies, working on both the agency and corporate side of public relations, developing strategy, pitching media and doing social media outreach. WCA asked Dara to give us a preview of her upcoming presentation and she graciously shared her thoughts.

WCA: How did you begin with WCA?

I joined WCA in 2007. During that time I served on the board for six years, positions like career services, programs and membership. I also was President in 2012-13.

WCA: How have you seen PR evolve over the last six years?

PR used to be equated with just media relations, but now it has grown to so much more.  Now, you can bypass the media and get your message direct to your audience. You are seeing the rise of content marketing and brand journalism, but really, it’s nothing new. We were doing the same thing 20 years ago, only the channel was print newsletter mailed to customers, where now it’s blogs, Facebook and YouTube. There is so much content now, it’s harder to break through the clutter. One of the things I’m going to discuss is how you can get people to see and engage with your content

WCA: What is the difference between pull marketing and push marketing method?

Push marketing is direct mail – things you get in your mailbox and also in your email inbox. Pull marketing is when one starts researching, reading information about a product, so that the buyer is the one reaching out to the company. Companies have relied on push marketing for a long time to build audiences, but a better approach is pull marketing. Companies should start looking at what will drive audiences to them.  People don’t want to be sold to. Actually, most people, about 56 percent, do their research (reading information about the product, including consumer reviews) before actually talking to someone at the company.

WCA: Why is it important for an organization’s content to not only be seen but also acted upon?

Ultimately, the goal for any organization is to make money, whether that’s selling products or services or getting donations to continue on its mission. When someone likes or shares content, that’s the first step in converting them to a buyer or donor. Take that a step further. Provide great content that I can find when I Google. Provide a call to action, like downloading a whitepaper or attending a webinar and get me to interact with your content. Once I do that, you are halfway to the sale of donation. But if you are just promoting your content on your own channels, you are missing a larger potential audience.