Lenovo’s Work for Humankind public relations campaign in North Carolina lasted three weeks and involved 13 students working with over a dozen organizations in three cities. Lenovo tasked NP Strategy with executing an activation that serves the organization’s values while ensuring an enjoyable experience for the participants and maximizing our storytelling audience. Each detail mattered and required deep logistical planning to formulate an engaging experience for all involved.

HBCU Participation

Lenovo has strong relationships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities in North Carolina. Elizabeth City State University’s participation was unique. Student groups from the Community Emergency Response Team joined all legs of the journey to offer their perspective on conservation work across North Carolina.

NP Strategy connected with the dean of their Aviation and Emergency Management Department to develop a student selection process, resulting in students from over five different cities joining the campaign.

Students were asked to help capture video and photography content along with writing blog posts about their experiences. While capturing this content, students also kept up with their schoolwork. Being able to capture content, write blog posts and continue schoolwork from remote areas of North Carolina proved Lenovo’s belief that with the right technology, you can truly work from anywhere.

Mountains to Sea Trail Partnership

This was the perfect year to partner with Friends of Mountains to Sea Trail, as 2023 is the Year of the Trail. 40 years ago, Robert Lee, Chapel Hill’s first Black mayor and cabinet official under Governor Jim Hunt, announced an idea to build a trail from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks.

NP Strategy worked closely with the trail team to plan activities at each stop. They connected us with the Ranger Station in Jockey’s Ridge and Cherokee, directors at various museums and community centers like Canetuck in Burgaw, N.C., and helped us understand the possibilities each stop could offer students.

With guidance from the trail team, we determined which three stops would have the largest impact on both the student’s curiosity and Lenovo’s conservation efforts. The goal was to provide students with a conservation volunteer opportunity, enable them to experience the trail and start a lasting project for future hikers.

A Lasting Initiative

After the Work For Humankind activation was over, Lenovo wanted to ensure the initiative had a lasting impact. Each stop used Lenovo technology to create platforms that are useful for years to come.

In the Outer Banks, the data students collected will be used for a project in the fall to develop a flood analysis for the Mountains to Sea Trail team. They will use the information to help determine where the rest of the trail should be built to avoid flooding. Since most students majored in emergency management, an NP Strategy team member who formerly worked in government communications is a taught students how emergency communications work in city governments.

In Burgaw, students were able to build content about their experiences and the area’s rich history. The blogs and photos they created will be stored and shared on Mountains to Sea Trail’s inclusion page – MST For All. The content is meant to encourage people of color to hike the trail and experience the Black history on the trail. During a planned lunch and learn, NP Strategy’s social media manager taught students social media tactics.

In Cherokee, students visited or hiked to seven points of interest then photographed and wrote about their experience for others to nail the perfect shot or select the right trail to hike. Motorola will take this content and build an app called Cherokee: Mountains-to-Sea Trail. The app will be featured for downloads from the Mountains to Sea Trail downloadable guides.

Media Relations

 NP Strategy recognized the North Carolina activation of Work For Humankind had several different stories to tell – from the overall project to the work accomplished by students at each stop and Lenovo’s effort to change the face of conservation.

Knowing this, NP Strategy would rely on tailoring the message, crafting compelling stories, leveraging various media channels, and engaging with the community.

NP Strategy worked to craft compelling narratives that highlighted the North Carolina activation’s objectives, and lasting impact.

The media relations team employed a multi-faceted approach, combining traditional media outlets such as local television news, newspapers and radio stations with digital platforms and social media.

NP Strategy connected with HBCU Pride Nation, an online platform that promotes the significance, importance, and connectivity of HBCU graduates and students, to interview one student per week during an Instagram Live.

NP Strategy’s media team then researched and compiled a list of outlets that may not normally write about Lenovo like a conservation-focused publication or an HBCU-centric outlet. One such outlet, the podcast “Conservation Realist,” interviewed students after their time with Work For Humankind to gain insight into their conservation efforts during the project.

 NP Strategy: We Are Full Service

From the initial brainstorming in March of 2022 to the final click of the van engine turning off in Greer, SC, NP Strategy displayed its powerful capability to be a full-service agency. This project encompassed almost every public relations aspect, including videography, media relations, stakeholder engagement, digital content production, and crisis management.

Nearly every member of the NP Strategy team played a role in the planning and execution of this enormous project. While the participating students were learning that they could work from anywhere using technology and impact local communities, the NP Strategy team discovered new ways to work together with employees in the field while staying connected to the office.

Sometimes you need to learn to walk and chew gum at the same time. It is safe to say that after experiencing and participating in Lenovo’s Work for Humankind campaign, students and NP Strategy participants learned they could take that old quote one step further – run and chew hot dogs simultaneously.

Thank you to the Elizabeth City State University students, Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail, the Pisgah Ranger Station, Pender County Government, Jockey’s Ridge Park Rangers along with many other stakeholders – and a special thank you to Lenovo for providing the opportunity of a lifetime!

Before uploading a video to social media, do you consider the mindset of users on the platform? If you find your video content is falling flat, consider the following before your next post.

Users of each platform are typically there for different purposes. Looking for life hacks or daily Amazon finds? You’re not going to head to LinkedIn, you’re going to open up TikTok. Thinking you’d like to save money by learning how to build your own fence? You’re scrolling YouTube University.

So how does this apply to marketing? If you want your video to perform well, you’ll want to consider your audience’s mindset for each platform in your video strategy.

Some additional questions you’ll want to ask yourself are:

• What’s the typical attention span of the user?
• Will users have audio on or their device muted?
• What’s the typical production value of videos on the platform?

YouTube: Users are commonly on this platform to learn or be entertained. They will tolerate longer videos, since that has been YouTube’s strategy – at least until the release of YouTube shorts, which is growing in popularity. Users will also more than likely be listening to the audio from the videos, so relying on captions is less likely.

TikTok: Users commonly frequent this platform for quick tips, life hacks, and highly entertaining content. For audio use, you’ll find a mixture; some users will have their audio turned on and some will have their devices muted. One thing is certain: short-form content dominates and the production quality of your content matters less. In fact, content with lower production quality (cell phone videos) has been shown to outperform higher production content.

LinkedIn: Users are generally on the platform for career development purposes: recruiting, networking, and inspiration. For audio, you’ll want to cater to both situations; muted devices and devices with audio turned on. As far as the production quality of your videos goes, prioritize your message with high-quality video being a bonus.

Twitter and Facebook: Both platforms are versatile for video content, supporting a wide variety of interests, from entertainment to news. The same goes for production quality as users are commonly viewing cell phone or studio-quality videos.

Understanding the nuances of each social media platform will make or break your posts’ engagement. So before you click “post,” or “record,” be sure you’ve considered the mindset of your audience to ensure the proper video length, audio, and production value.

In today’s world, our attention is pulled in countless directions. Studies show the average user decides whether or not they want to stay and scroll a website in the first 10 seconds. If you want to keep viewers engaged, it is crucial to make an immediate impression. Websites should be visually captivating, user-friendly, and overall interesting to explore.

Consider these four tactics to make sure your website stands out:

1) Your website should be organized and visually pleasing. Nobody wants to feel as if they are solving a puzzle trying to find information on a website. Divide your information into different sections – or even different pages – of your website with clear headings. This allows users to quickly navigate and find what they are looking for.

2) Interactivity is key. Website users love opportunities to interact with a website. One way to do this is to incorporate movement when scrolling, like an image or text that falls into place as the user reaches it. But keep in mind, you want to create strategically placed visuals, not give your users motion sickness. Another method of introducing interactivity is through the inclusion of social media accounts or blogs. These give the user an opportunity to interact further if they wish.

3) Pay attention to your voice. Make sure that the image you wish to portray of your brand is reflected in your messaging. Think about the words you use and how you want them to sound. Professional? Personable? Easygoing? From there, keep your voice consistent throughout your website.

4) Most importantly, make it yours! Your website is a one-stop resource for all things related to your brand. Reflect this by using personalized images and your brand’s colors to make the user feel more connected to your brand while they are navigating your website.

Websites can be a wonderful tool for building brand recognition and publishing information. Better yet, an interesting and appealing website might make users want to continue scrolling even after finding the information they were seeking. Take time to carefully craft your website – your users will thank you!

One of the most effective ways to get your organization’s perspective out into the public without having to go through the filter of news reporters or pay for advertising is through Op-Eds. However, getting the right message out in the right way is no easy task.

Here are three tips to keep in mind for successfully placing an Op-Ed:

1) This may seem basic, but it doesn’t always go without saying: Form an actual opinion, ideally an insightful one, and pick the right messenger to deliver it. The point of getting an op-ed published is not just to see your name in print, it’s to have a real impact on the public conversation. Ask yourself, on what issue of public interest do you have expertise, what is your specific viewpoint in a matter of public debate, and what are the potential counterarguments that you should anticipate and address? 

2) Write concisely and avoid advertising jargon. Many publications won’t even consider an op-ed that is longer than around 750-800 words – partly because, if it’s a print publication, they have limited space, but more importantly because they know from experience that readers have a limited attention span and that concise writing is often more compelling anyway. Given those constrictions, don’t try to jam in a bunch of shameless plugs for your company. Opinion editors will immediately detect if the true purpose of your op-ed is mere self-promotion, and they’ll tell you to pay for an ad instead. Look at an op-ed as more about developing a reputation as a thought leader in your field, which can still pay dividends for your organization in the long run.

3) Pick the publication wisely. Look, we’d all love to get published by the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, but the reality is those publications receive hundreds of submissions per day and only publish a small handful. The selection process can be more difficult than getting admission to an Ivy League college. If your opinion specifically affects a particular area or region, consider a local publication instead. Or if it is targeted towards one particular industry, try pitching it to a trade publication that’s focused on that topic and is more likely to have the type of audience you’re trying to reach anyway.

Have you ever been in a situation where you needed guidance, but couldn’t find it from your usual sources? During the height of the pandemic, I struggled with a decision. Should I stay in the city where I’ve lived for the last 22 years or should I go back to my hometown to be closer to family? Of course, plenty of people had opinions, but it was a long-time mentor who helped me make the best choice. And I wasn’t surprised about that. 

Mentors have been an important part of my professional development since my first job in advertising. As a mentor, you provide guidance that a person can’t get from a spouse, sibling, co-worker, or friend. A good mentor doesn’t have a stake in your decisions, just an interest in helping you gain some perspective and make plans that will work for you.

I’ve been fortunate to have terrific mentors during my career, each bringing something to my professional development that I desperately needed. My first mentor was the Chief Financial Officer of a company I started working for in my early twenties. He could see my energy and potential—and also the huge gaps in my knowledge.

When I made mistakes, instead of dismissing me, he was both firm and kind. I could have bristled at the criticism, but instead I took his feedback and used it. Thanks to his guidance, I not only became great at my job, but I also gained a mentor who helped me shape the career I wanted to build.

Mentoring can happen organically like that when an experienced leader makes time to guide a young team member, and when that guidance is accepted with a willing heart.

Another mentor entered my life when I was more experienced, and he brought a different perspective to my work and decisions. He was an entrepreneur, an independent thinker, and a person whose creative energy and bold action inspired many of his employees, including me.

As my boss, he expected excellent work, of course, but also loyalty and a commitment to his vision. As a mentor, he valued me as a person with my own goals and vision. It was okay for me to say if those goals might take me to the next step in my career. And because he encouraged independent thinking, my co-workers and I weren’t afraid to make big, bold decisions with our careers. For some of us, it was jumping off that cliff and starting our own businesses. He encouraged, supported, and applauded that kind of thinking.

Formal mentorship programs exist in companies and organizations and they can be great. You can also keep it simple, though, and let your mentoring evolve as it’s needed. Look for bright people who can use a little guidance. Provide a friendly suggestion. Let them know they can come to you, that you’ll listen without judgment, and have their back. Challenge them to do a little more, to make themselves better. Connect them to a new opportunity.

Sometimes, your mentee will take up your time, ignore your advice, and make you wonder why you bothered. (Ask my mentors how I know this.) It can make being a mentor feel frustrating. But you might find that mentoring can also invigorate YOU, add a spark to the work you do every day, and help you appreciate the lessons you’ve learned.

Whether you’re interested in joining a global or national association, an industry-specific organization, or a local community group, professional development organizations come with many benefits.

For one, membership typically provides access to learning opportunities and industry-specific information. Some professional organizations offer courses, conferences, labs, virtual discussions, and more, which help you stay in touch with members and cultivate a community conducive to asking questions, discussing trends, and learning from one another. There is so much information at your fingertips and you should use all of the resources that are available to you.

When you join an organization, there are countless opportunities to build your network through meetings, committees, events, happy hours, etcetera. Carving out time for these should be a priority, as it’s a great way to meet new people and establish new connections. Take advantage of these events, step out of your comfort zone and spark conversations with people inside or outside your industry. Not only will this build your own professional network, but you may also cultivate new friendships.

Among the myriad of professional development organizations, there are also organizations that merge industry and community service. You may discover new hobbies and newfound passions for social issues.

Professional development is about putting yourself out there, developing meaningful relationships and leveraging the multitude of resources available to you. Get out there, join a professional organization, you’ll discover new perspectives and a newfound appreciation for your community, profession, and yourself.