In conversation with Elke De Ridder
of All Colors of Communication
"Smart.pr works for us as a system for day-to-day doing the very best for our clients."
Elke De Ridder has been co-owner of full-service communications agency All Colors of Communication with Kristof De Roeck and Laurens De Lanoeye since July 2018. The three of them took over the firm via a buyout from the previous owner. Elke is PR Director and can boast nearly 20 years of expertise in Public Relations. Since summer 2019, she and her team have been using Smart.pr.
Can you tell us briefly about your agency?
"All Colors of Communication is an integrated b2b and b2c communications group for the technology, HR and construction sectors. From our office in the Brussels green belt, we take care of local and international companies with their 360° communication strategy. Think of us as bridge builders who break the traditional communication flows (PR, marketing, branding & sales)."
A lot has changed since their start 15 years ago - then under the names Out of the Crowd and Whizpr Belgium. "I still remember the time when there was literally a door between our small marketing and PR teams. That's thankfully a thing of the past! Today we are much more in tune with each other. And our areas of expertise have also expanded over the years. Either by spotting opportunities from the market or by attracting new employees. Today we are a team of thirty men and women, all experts within their own domain. Whether that's marketing, PR, branding, copywriting or digital. No more separate areas. One team, one strategy, one direction."
Elke De Ridder, PR Director at All Colors of Communication
The service is very good and you always get a quick response. That is sometimes different with other systems.
- Elke De Ridder, All Colors of Communication -
who are your customers?
"All Colors serves both B2B and B2C clients. We started in the technology sector, but we are now also big in the HR and construction sectors. Beautiful clients such as Attentia, Sony, Dell Technologies, Epson, LaCie, Lenovo, Remeha, Ricoh, Salesforce, Seagate, SipWell and Somfy are among our client base. Depending on the customer's request, All Colors works in Belgium, the Belux, Benelux or throughout EMEA."
As All Colors grew, so did its challenges
"Actually, until a few years ago, we did the keeping of a press database ourselves. Back then it was simple, too! We specialized in technology and knew our journalists personally. But when other sectors and areas of expertise (think influencer marketing) came in house, our press contacts also had to be expanded. And that became a more difficult task. Until we concluded that it was no longer feasible. It would be at the expense of our personal approach, service and quality."
Looking for a press system
"Our search was driven by one key driver: relevance! Finding the right journalist(s) for and with the right message. We know that journalists are overwhelmed with press releases. And so personal contacts and lobbying are very important to us. Just like authenticity and honesty. It is not for nothing that journalists can also just come here for a cup of coffee.
The only thing we were still missing was a central and up-to-date address book to see which colleague had contact with whom when and what it was about. That overview helps us enormously in building relationships. So when we heard from our Dutch colleagues that the Belgian database was ready in Smart.pr we immediately made an appointment."
In what ways does Smart.pr help with this?
"Before Smart.pr, we worked with a different system and maintained the database manually. From the CMS the press releases were sent to the mailboxes. The disadvantage is that you then don't see what happens to the messages.
Big advantage now is that you can see who opens the message, who clicks or where to post. Those insights help us be even more relevant. But also practically very handy. If you need to fill in for a colleague, you can now see from one environment whether a message has already been sent and/or do the necessary follow-up."
Smart.pr gives your team one central, up-to-date contact book that shows who spoke to whom, when, and about what, making it much easier to build strong relationships.
- Elke De Ridder, All Colors of Communication -
What does Smart.pr excel at?
"Service. With Smart.pr it is very nice that there is a quick response via chat. The service is very good and you always get a quick response. That is sometimes different with other systems. That is quite a change. You also notice that innovation is very important. For example, we wanted to be able to search journalists by language and see publication figures. Not long after, both were possible."
How do you guys use Smart.pr?
"It's a tool that the PR consultants use every day. They send out (press) messages every day and check daily that they are well received. Our address book is a hotchpotch of combined expertise and knowledge - with data from our existing press lists and data from Smart.pr's database.
We also use the Journa search engine integrated into Smart.pr to check who is writing about which topic. This always results in interesting and very useful new contacts and media. Very useful also for prospecting or totally new topics."
What makes Smart.pr the right choice for All Colors of Communication?
"Besides focusing on innovation and convenience of the system, it is very nice that weekly training sessions and webinars are offered. So a new colleague who has started can easily get a global overview. Also, we can now evaluate and initiate actions. Smart.pr works for us as a system to do the very best for our clients day-to-day. "
Is Smart.pr right for you?
Answer a few simple questions and we'll tell you right away.
Want to know more about Smart.pr?
Hi, I'm Jasper and as Sales Manager at Smart.pr I'd like to explain to you how you can use our tool to improve your PR. Do you want to know what Smart.pr can do for you? Leave your details and I will contact you!