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Archives for June 2011

What Is A Refugee?

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Today is World Refugee Day, and there is an organization, called USA for UNHCR that is working to raise awareness for the plight of refugees from across the globe. They’ve been fund-raising with the sale of $5 #BlueKey(s). Together the power of cause-related marketing is being executed to promote the fund-raising and sale of blue keys — I bought four and donated more to their cause. Cost is merely $5 each sold in the U.S. only.

An admirable woman I know, Shonali Burke, has begun working this this group and has implemented the broadest, most impressive social media campaign strategy I’ve seen in awhile. (I must give kudos to colleagues’ work.)

But, what is a refugee?

This word conjures up Angelina Jolie, Oprah, Madonna, George Clooney and Bono, among other celebrity faces hitting Sub-Saharan Africa and other poverty-stricken regions of the world to raise awareness of the problem that is so far removed from other corners of the world, yet so critical.

It’s truly easy to ignore this situation, isn’t it? To turn your cheek and resume remoting the channel changer? Do you remember Sally Struthers? No greater humanitarian back in the day, and she asked us for our money all the time. Who gave to her? Now’s your chance to rectify that and help the United Nations. You can convince yourself that the plight of these people does not affect you in the least. But, you’re wrong. Refugees come in all shapes and sizes and from all countries of the world.

Violence is an overriding factor that causes people to be uprooted from homes, villages, and comfort zones. Invaders, dictators, war, and poverty become issues for women and children who are victims of rape, violence, kidnap, and murder while husbands, fathers and sons watch helplessly the slaughter of their families.

The victims of the Haiti earthquake now living in shanty towns; are they considered refugees? Probably not, but their choice is to leave poverty and seek refuge in the Dominican or the U.S., but they can’t. Semantics.

For those people seeking asylum from various homelands, such as Iran, for example, to escape a dictatorial regime operated on the theme of Islamic fundamentalism, how shall we define them? Is asylum seeker a higher-end, more affluent and non-poverty oriented moniker for refugee? Semantics.

The UNHCR is one of the most respected not-for-profits across the globe. Its brand and credibility are second to none. America is the land of the free. So, free your vision from your immediate surroundings and open your heart to help and give. When you spend $5, those 500 pennies will be shared with people who believe $.25 is a treasure.

Please consider buying your #BlueKey right now, and when you do, look around. You do know a refugee you can touch in your life today; it’s just that you’ve never wrapped your head around how to define that word — migrant, immigrant, illegal alien, asylum seeker, refugee. It’s semantics, and regardless of the label you put on one another; we’re all human and each of us deserves a safe place to make a home.

 

Sunday Sweets & My Dad

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Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I admire you the most of any man in this world.

And, here’s how…

*For leaving your home country of Iran and coming to the States as a wide-eyed teenager
*For marrying a blonde American woman to the chagrin of your Turkish/Persian strict parents
*For raising four children while pursuing a PhD in chemistry and working odd jobs like a gas station attendant when we were babies.
*For enduring the persecution of ethnic hostility during the hostage crisis.
*For  supporting all of us through thick and thin as we grew up
*For having to say good bye to your youngest child and experiencing that pain
*For sharing your knowledge, stories, insight, and intellect with me
*For having an endless supply of love and laughter for your kids and grandchildren.

I’ll never forget watching my dad earn his doctorate at Wayne State University in Detroit. It was a proud moment. He was so handsome with the biggest grin and I remember him waving to us in the rafters as we watched him accept his diploma.

When I was a baby girl, I was daddy’s girl. Still am, actually; I think that never goes away. My dad would come home late and tuck me in at night. We’d look at the stars and say Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star together.

My memories of childhood are fond, especially when we lived in Iran as a whole family. We had no care, no TV, no phone, just life in a third-world country, and love carried us through. It was a simpler time when all we had to worry about was the Shah’s Savak spying on our family. Dad was a dean of students at Pahlavi University in Shiraz, and we had an endless stream of students clamoring for my dad’s attention.

My dad had a choice at various crossroads of his life, and I’m grateful  he always chose us. I’m even more grateful he’s here in the flesh so my daughter can know Grampa.

I’m trying really hard to keep this light and not too sappy and that’s why the tone may be a tad abrupt. I’ve been fortunate more than most to know that whenever I needed anything at all I had only to turn to my parents for that support; that hasn’t changed, and I know it never will.

WE LOVE YOU, DAD. Thanks for giving me the gift of life.

Twitter Police Needed For Citations

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When I first dived into Twitter, my initial impression was “why is everybody yelling at me?”

For the first few months of my involvement, it seemed anyone I followed was ranting about/bemoaning the “bad behavior” of other Twitter users. Don’t do this, don’t do that. It was extremely off-putting.

And then I’d run into the “Don’t tell people they’re doing it wrong! You can’t do it wrong!” No wonder people drop off Twitter. Who can keep track of the etiquette when it contradicts itself? It would seem from all those ranty tweets and posts that you certainly COULD do it wrong. WTH, everyone?

Of course…I became one of those people! I cringe when I see the ALL CAPS TWEETS. Meaningless #FF tweets. Or on Facebook, which I joined after Twitter. Really, song lyrics as status update – are you a 13yo girl? Does your JOB know you play Pet Society this much? Hide hide hide hide.

Still, even as I was sucked into the etiquette police, I wanted to write something about not yelling at everyone so much. Especially lately. But this morning I woke up to this item from one of my favorite shopping sites, Modcloth.com: The social media citation pad.

Where are my programmer friends at? We need to digitize this. Let’s just do it. Like a version of someecards. We can just cite people in a tweet and get on with our lives. CITATION: ACRONYM ABUSE! CONSIDER THIS A WARNING. Each citation will be accompanied by a picture of a sad dog – maybe Jon Buscall’s basset hounds!

We can do this.

Pushing the Sharp Edge of the PR Envelope

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I’m restless. There’s something brewing on the blogosphere and I can’t tap it. It’s a new energy driven by bloggers who are asking questions about the status quo; they’re pushing the envelope on common thought and traditional practice, and they’re encouraging people to improve, excel, respect, and change.

I can’t begin to capture it all here, but I need to cut loose with this observation and ask, “Is anyone following this train of thought in the least?”

We can count on Gini Dietrich at Spin Sucks, to consistently be leading edge and contribute to the tipping point on all things PR and marketing. Her blog has been a hot bed of debate about whether PR’s rubber is meeting the road, or whether marketing influence is driving the mother ship regardless of the influence of PR.

At Shakirah Dawud’s house, the comments are rich and she’s expecting me to write a blog post about my rant relating to PR and measurement. Numbers have always been PR’s nemesis; it’s how we used to be trained back in the day. Today, being more marketing savvy would do many a PR person good; add business sense to that equation, and voila, a star is born.

Shonali Burke has had a two-day running post (thank goodness the comments were not as high in count as Marcus The Sales Lion who fried my hard drive almost) about a bad PR pitch that disrespected her influence and social media reach.

And, Shonali has been implementing a #BlueKey campaign for global refugees igniting social media for her cause to earn 6,000 Blue Keys by June 20. The campaign is brilliant, the metrics are already impressive and amazing, and she’s got every channel burning up. (Major kudos to this woman for her absolutely should-be award-winning campaign still in its throes.)

I got a call today from a salesperson at a major corporation. She is familiar with my brand based on the work I do, although she was unsure what exactly I do. In the back of my mind, I’ve known that sales is the final frontier for PR, yet “marketing is in the way.” Heh. I’m not truly serious, it’s just that in my opinion, sales people are a brand and they represent a brand. They need to become representative of a brand and use public relations to build it, build community, build trust, and build reputation. PR is how that’s done, more often than not.

We spoke, and I spelled out a strategy that was heavy on LinkedIn and community building along with how we might incorporate nine touches with her new clients who don’t know she exists. Is that PR or marketing?

The lines have blurred so confusingly that I ought to write a message map about my offering. There’s lots I do; there’s more I don’t and that’s where you come in. Together we make a team; each of us is helping one another achieve some sort of goal — whether it’s building confidence, learning the ropes of social media, trying to find someone to visit on your next holiday, earning an invitation to Triberr, hiring someone to round out a team (I’ve hired three people off Twitter and sent business to another).

I wrote a post awhile back, We’re All Talking to Ourselves. It got many head nods and an ouch on the hand by major blogger. I’m raising this again because we who are in debate, casual conversation or heated discussion about the aforementioned have little luck raising the bar or changing the status quo until we get business on board to chime in. We’re spinning wheels, talking in circles, passing the head nod to the next one in line, and where’s the change? Those business owners who show dissent against PR rant and rave once and then disappear; no way can they enter the lion’s den and survive (heck, no one has skin that thick!).

Can you see why I’m restless, antsy, on edge, and trying to maintain balance as we all worry if we’re a Syrian Lesbian Blogger or Weiner? (Wanted to send a bit of link love to the best headline of the week.)

What say you? I’m all over the place; there’s a lot being fired up.

Nothing To Say

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Yet another zany, stupid human trick. It’s all an example of laughing at yourself, putting it all out there, and showing that there’s so much to learn, do, be (do be do be do). I’ll master this video, and these initial attempts will become part of the comedic archives.

So, I invite you to laugh at me, with me, because of me, in spite of me (not spite); sigh…’cuz, I’m tryin’ I really am!