The Institute of Executive Coaching (IEC) appointed CP Communications to raise its profile as a leading centre for excellence in coaching, coach training and leader development in Australia.

The IEC certifies professionals in coaching skills, provides individual coaching sessions and delivers programs to teams and individuals within medium to large organisations.

CP Communications developed a public relations and social media strategy to meet the IEC’s objectives of raising their profile in the business community and attracting new clients.

Traditional PR

Topical angles
Proactive media pitching relating to current news topics was undertaken to secure interviews for IEC coaches to provide expert opinion and commentary.

For example, following the announcement of the News of the World scandal CP Communications pitched an angle relating to ‘creating ethical organisations’ to target media. This resulted in media coverage in numerous business and human resources publications including BRW and Human Capital magazine.

Media pitching
CP Communications also proactively pitched tailored story ideas to key journalists which related directly to the expertise of IEC. This approach resulted in numerous media articles on topics around the services provided by IEC. For instance a full-page article and photo was secured in Australian Financial Review on executive education and an IEC coach was interviewed on Sky News on skills for leaders, reaching more than two million viewers.

Articles
Articles were regularly written on behalf of IEC coaches relating to their areas of expertise. These articles were then pitched to business, management and human resources publications. This is an effective way of gaining positive coverage and being able to tailor the articles’ messages specifically to the business. For example, an article on leadership intelligence was secured in CEO Online.

Speaking engagements
Given the coaches’ experience in public speaking and their expertise, they were regularly pitched to speak at conferences. This helped to raise the coaches’ profiles and the profile of the IEC.

Social media

Blog
CPC was engaged to streamline the IEC’s blogging strategy. This involved a blog being posted once a week. The blogs included links to training programs and events listed on the IEC website, but were not written in a promotional way.

The blog was used as an information tool to increase awareness of what the IEC does and to share tips and ideas with the audience.

The blog was promoted through other social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter to increase page views and comments.

LinkedIn
CP Communications created the strategy for both an IEC Company Page and discussion group to increase awareness of the IEC through the professional social network. An update was posted daily to the Company Page and a discussion was posted on behalf of one of the coaches to the group once a week.

In addition, other group discussions were identified and commented on behalf of the coaches to increase their profile within the LinkedIn community.

Twitter
CP Communications also managed the IEC Twitter profile and generated discussion about issues within the workplace that relate to IEC’s services and events. Tweets were posted daily in addition to replies and retweets to encourage and facilitate engagement. Twitter was also used to successfully drive traffic to the IEC website.

Results
Through traditional PR and social media CP Communications successfully raised the profile of the Institute of Executive Coaching in Australia.

This achieved over 60 pieces of media coverage in publications consumed by the target audiences. These included Sky News, Australian Financial Review, BRW, Women’s Health, Human Capital, Management Today, Sydney Morning Herald and Qantas – The Australian Way.

This resulted in the IEC becoming the go-to-source for leadership and executive coaching media comment significant media coverage over 12 months.

Numerous high-profile speaking engagements were secured, putting them in front of hundreds of potential clients.

LinkedIn engagement was also increased with posts regularly receiving numerous comments. This also helped to grow the group members which more than doubled in a three month period.