PRos in Training

Author: Kelli Matthews

  • Linky Love

    A few posts for your blogging pleasure:

    Gerald Baron, a.k.a. Crisisblogger, posted this week about reputation and how much reputation really matters. And asks how companies like Dell overcome headlines like “Dell Hell.” The post is interesting in and of itself, but also interesting is that Dell responds! Jason at Dell leaves a very thoughtful comment (take note, my students for your blogging strategy assignment).

    Is this dialogue? Or marketing speak?

    Over at Media Orchard, guest blogger Joy Jennings lists 10 dumb things smart communicators do. My favorite (because I saw this all over the place on the last assignment) is number 3 – capitalizing the name of your industry or other non-proper names. (excerpt:)

    Do you promote your company’s role in the Fitness market or the Mainframe Maintenance space? Do your press releases quote the Vice President of System Push – CRM Resource Adjunct? Just stop. The names of industries are not proper nouns and neither are job titles.

    Have you been guilty of any of the “dumb things”? What would you add to the list?

    [shameless self linky love] At In Bloom, my account exec, Michelle, talks about how a product she loves has turned her into a customer evangelist. I must admit, I’m one of the evangelized and the product she mentions is en route. How about you? Ever been an “evangelist”? What product/service/idea did you just want to spread the word about?

    SHIFT Communications has a new blog written by junior staffers called Unspun. Danielle Mancano has a great (GREAT!) post about PR people serving as boundary spanners. First of all, huge props (is that still the right slang?) to Danielle for using the terminology that I’m sure her PR profs would be proud of. Beyond that, Danielle has clearly taken the classroom/textbook language and figured out how it applies to her at SHIFT in the job that she needs to do everyday. (excerpt):

    We are the researchers, the eyes and ears, the spokespeople and the counselors. No aspect of this role should be taken lightly, as it is a great responsibility. Not to sound as though we’re curing cancer, but public relations is much more then adding spice to a young start-up’s marketing mix or getting a socialite’s name on Page Six.

    What do you think? Does Danielle get it right, or is she have a little case of rose colored glasses?

    Finally, ChemNurta, the company that imported tainted ingredients for pet foods has hired two crisis public relations companies and started a “blog.” B.L. Ochman of Marketing Profs takes issue with the “blog” label. It appears, she says, to be a repository for press releases, not a forum for dialogue. What do you think? Is this effective use of “Web 2.0” technology or just a tactic, as Ochman suggests, of “crisis flacks.”

  • Students are Interested in Cocaine

    As part of their blogging assignment, students are required to respond to a prompt that I send. This week, I sent this post about the PR fallout around the “energy drink” called Cocaine.

    Lindsay says that Cocaine has more problems than just its name.
    Jessica chimes in and says she’d be embarrassed to be seen drinking it.
    Finally, Chelsea suggests that any company inclined to name its product “cocaine” is not likely to bow out gracefully of any fight, despite the recommendations of PR Week.

    What do you think?

  • A Web 2.0 World?

    Hat tip to Ashley.

  • PR Students are Smart!

    Walk of Fame Animated codes - ImageChef.com

    We’ve started our blogging project in Advanced PR Writing. The students are tasked with writing two posts per week – on based on a prompt from me and one of their choosing.

    Here are some of the highlights from the first couple of weeks.

    Megan talks about what she’s learning at her internship with a real estate software developer in Eugene. Sounds like she’s getting a good foundation in the basics of communication. You know, try as we might to “teach” this kind of thing, it’s really the on-the-job work that helps connect the dots between class and the real world. Kudos to Megan for taking the time to process what she’s learning and making these meaningful connections.

    Jessica’s post about wanting more up-to-date news strikes me as interesting commentary on how the public’s demand for information has changed. I find myself expecting more and different news on a story, too. That’s really where Internet media comes in. While this particular story she talks about might not be covered “more” in blogs, it’s just the kind of thing that will be as the medium grows.

    Shelley says pastors make the best presenters. I wholeheartedly agree! My dad was a senior pastor of a church for 20 years and he’s one of the best speakers I know. Shelley is doing an amazing job with this assignment. Check out her other posts, too.

    Finally, Heron has a thoughtful post about the advertising agency environment. Heron gets “it.” She’s a big picture thinker and a good team leader. This is a great post that made me think. And one of the things I thought is that I’m clearly not even remotely “edgy” enough to even think about walking on the sidewalk in front of the “leading edge” boutiques. Wexley School for Girls?

    Look forward to sharing more with you soon.

  • Pleasure Reading: Made to Stick

    I rarely read for pleasure. And by rarely, I mean r-a-r-e-l-y.

    Between prepping for class (I enjoy the material, but it’s not for “pleasure”), client work (research! research! research!) and raising a happy, healthy, if not a little goofy, 14 month old, it’s all I can do not to drop into a coma at the end of the day.

    However, I broke this trend recently when I kept hearing so much great stuff about the Heath Brothers’ book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. A little click-click here and a click-click there and Amazon delivered in just a couple of days.

    It took me longer than it should to get through the book (review paragraph 2), but let me tell you… I loved it!

    The Heaths break the concepts of “stickiness” into six major criteria. They give lots of great examples and make it easy to think about how this information might be useful for lectures, clients, getting my partner to work on his honey-do list…. okay, maybe not the honey-do, but very useful nonetheless.

    I’ve already started doing a mini “lecturette” on the six criteria and I start with the same story that starts the book – the kidney heist legend. I’ve done this in two classes now. The first class… very savvy. They’d either heard the legend, or they were Nip/Tuck fans. So that ruined the punchline (even though they still loved the example). The second class had never heard the story before! Not one! The looks on their faces were priceless.

    We’ve been working with a lot of start-ups and small companies lately and for the work I do for them, the sticky criteria have been a great start to some creative thinking.

    It’s an easy read with lots of fun stories (principle #6) and food for thought. You can read an excerpt here.

  • A little linky love: student blogginess abounds

    My advanced PR writing students are blogging (watch out!). Part of the requirement is that they respond to a “prompt” post from me. I often send them via email, but thought I’d share some linky love here.

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    These may feel random and that’s intentional – I’m assuming one will strike a chord with every student and they’ll be able to respond with more than, “that was a really good/bad/stupid idea…”

    PR:
    Blog-a-Job
    Do You Have Digital Dirt?
    Gartner Predicts 80% Active Internet Users Will Live In Virtual Worlds by 2011

    Advertising:
    Powerful without turning your stomach
    Xtremely Annoying Advertising
    Another Quality MySpace Ad

    Marketing:
    Embracing Trends: Barbie Lures Multimedia Shoppers with New Doll-Shaped MP3 Player, Interactive Play in Virtual Web World    What’s in a Name?

    Misc:
    Communications 101: How to Communicate Better
    DVR Enhanced Ratings are in

  • Do Well on Assignments: Five Tips

    Do Well on Assignments: Five Tips

    I’m in grading mode this weekend. My “grading” includes two categories.

    My classes: the assignments I’m grading on one’s that I’ve required. Often I kick myself in the butt for having complicated assignments of multiple pages, rather than making it easy on myself. But then I remember how ill-prepared I felt at my first job (or three) and how I wished for more exposure to more types of things while in school. So… tonight I grade!
    Work from AHPR: Allen Hall PR is the student-run PR firm at the University of Oregon. The firm has seven to ten clients, all of which has various projects in the hopper. I’m the last link in the “editing chain.” When things get to me, they should be client ready. They often aren’t.

    With both of these types of “assignments” in mind, I offer these tips for students.

    1. Be clear on the directions and format.I often think I’m being crystal clear, especially for a first time assignment. And, without fail, there’s a detail I’ve missed communicating. I appreciate when students ask for clarification. It gives me the opportunity to… well, clarify and to make sure everyone is hearing the same answer to the same question.
    2. Ask how much time I think it’ll take.I work in public relations every day. Chances are I’ve done the very thing I’m asking you to do and billed someone for it. I can give you a sense of how long it should take to write a press release, or put together a plan. Knowing this will help you better budget your time – help you put the big rocks first. I don’t always think to offer this information, though.
    3. Commit.You’ve chosen the PR major for better or for worse. Embrace each assignment with some enthusiasm. This assignment could be THE piece that your first employer hangs that job offer on. “You know, I wasn’t sure about hiring you, but then I saw that online newsroom material you wrote and I knew you should be part of our team!” Okay, that’s an instructor’s fantasy, but you get the point.Besides, I know when you haven’t committed. I can see it in the weak verbs, passive voice and run-on sentences.
    4. Ask for help.In most of my classes, I require my students think… at least a little bit. That lets you be more creative, more interested in what you’re doing. But, that may leave you with writer’s block, too. Ask for help! I’m a great brainstorming buddy. I’ll help find the right angle that will help it all “click” for you.
    5. Don’t be satisfied with “good enough.”I know. Sometimes you run out of time, cars break down, parents come into town. Trust me, I know. I’m afraid however, that empathy does not equal sympathy in my book. Every piece of work that you turn into me should be your best work. I’m the furthest thing from unreasonable, but I do have high expectations.

    There you have it! Things you already know, I’m sure. But good to be reminded, anyway.

  • Label it!

    I love labels. I dig categories. Classifications? Groupings? You bet.

    This is why I was so interested in Kami’s post about the seven categories of social media today on Communication Overtones. She has created seven neat categories to encompass everything from publishing platforms (Blogger, etc.) and social networks (MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn) to those with more “academic sounding” labels like democratized content networks (think Digg) and content distribution sites (like De.licio.us). Head over to Kami’s blog to check out the list.

    So I got to thinking about what tools I use and yep, most would cleanly fit in the categories that Kami has defined. The only thing that doesn’t fit is Stikkit.

    Stikkit is definitely social – although it’s by invite only. It’s just as “media” as Twitter. So I’m not sure where I’d fit it in. Maybe it needs a new category like Social Collaboration Tools?

  • Guest Post: What Virginia Tech is Doing Right (and Wrong)

    This post is a letter from my mentor, Leslie Habetler, to some of her crisis planning and management clients. With her permission, I’m reposting it here.

    As I watch this unfold, I thought it might be helpful to point some things out that would be helpful if you ever face such a situation (in any scale). First it is obvious they have a crisis response plan and they are doing a lot right.

    For those of you whom I have helped in this way, you can see what they are doing right in handling the media. The President has obviously had good media coaching and they are keeping a careful log of everything they are doing so the media knows they are acting in an
    aggressively appropriate manner. The university media person is cranking out updates for him at a rapid pace and they are posting them on the website and on every medium available to keep rumor down. The police chief is not losing his cool but his exhaustion is clear and he is suffering from the trauma of what he has seen. He is being very very careful and doing a good job in the face of some extremely insistent media.

    The problem as I see it is the media is in control of the conference and that must never happen. If you are ever in this situation, it is vital that you stay in control of these media briefings.

    You must face the media but you get to set the rules…don’t ever let them think otherwise. Here is what I would do from the beginning: Set up the media conference time, make it clear that the president and the police chief will make an update statement and then open it up to questions. So far so good.

    Here is what is not happening: The pr person is not setting adequate boundaries and rules. Most important is setting a time limit for the Q&A period and spelling out rules for asking questions. Such as: requiring them to raise their hand and be recognized in order to ask a question. (They are all shouting at him and he is exhausted) Also notice that the reporters are
    asking the same questions over and over in slightly different ways to try to get the Chief to spill some previously unspilled ‘beans’. Learn to say, “I have answered that question” and recognize someone else. Or even “asked and answered” And then move on to another reporter.
    Notice also that some reporters are trying to put words in his mouth. Learn to say, “Those are your words, not mine”. and move on to another reporter.

    You must be in charge. At the end of the allotted Q&A time, your pr person must step up to the mike and say “we have time for one more question” and then step up again to thank them for coming, telling them when the next briefing is and direct them to the website where updates will be posted. (While he is doing this, someone is getting you off that stage and out of
    there.)

    You will probably never face anything of this magnitude but it is at least worth noting and thinking through with your employees.

    Best regards to all of you, Leslie Habetler

    Photo: Alan Kim, The Roanoke Times via Associated Press

  • Early Adopters are Not the Majority

    The Dells, the GMs and even the Marriotts are not the norm when it comes to corporate blogging. In fact, a small percentage of Fortune 500 companies have an external blog.

    Todd Defren at PR Squared posted recently about his chat with Fortune 500 marketers asking very basic questions about blogging. The good news, he says, is that they are interested and engaged… even cautiously experimental.

    Over at MicroPersuasion, Steve Rubel talks about the new Forester Research report from Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff called Social Technographics. Their research uses the analogy of the participation ladder that looks a little something like this:


    The majority of people are “inactives” (52%). This group does not read blogs, watch peer-generated video (YouTube, Google Video), listen to podcasts, use social networks (MySpace, Facebook), use RSS, tag Web pages, comment on blogs, publish or maintain a blog, upload video or publish a Web page.

    Borrowing a phrase from the diffusion of innovations theory, as public relations PRos, we understand that innovators and early adopters are not the majority of consumers (or clients or stakeholders). The category breakdown looks like this: (from Wikipedia, which does a nice job with these descriptions).

    • innovators – venturesome, educated, multiple info sources, greater propensity to take risk (2.5% of people)
    • early adopters – social leaders, popular, educated (13.5%)
    • early majority – deliberate, many informal social contacts (34%)
    • late majority – skeptical, traditional, lower socio-economic status (34%)
    • laggards – neighbours and friends are main info sources, fear of debt (16%)

    Early adopters are important for communicators to reach because of the “social leader” and “popular” ideas in the categories above. But the higher the costs (financial, social/reputational, opportunity), the longer it takes for an idea to diffuse. And really, participating in social media has a high cost.

    As you think about recommending social media strategies to clients in the future, or how to participate in them yourself, consider these categories (both Li’s and the diffusion categories). Based on where your audiences are on the participation ladder, what strategies and tactics will you need to use?

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