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Archives for November 2011

11 Tips To Re-Invent PR

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I applaud for its latest edition, The Marketer Issue. Each page is dog-eared and marked up; what amazing blog fodder. This article, , is rich with tips on how marketing needs to re-invent for future success.

I’m taking the ideas herein, adjusting them with my spin and sharing them as tips for public relations peeps. After all, we in the PR profession must re-invent too if there’s a chance in hell for success down the road.

People who know me know I’ve been in the field of public relations since 1984. I entered the profession as a pure PR’ist and stayed as such for probably 10 years. That’s about when email entered the scene and slowly and surely all things changed. Pure/traditional public relations was turned on its head (for out of the box thinkers like me), and I slowly began to migrate towards marketing.

We all know what’s happened to the profession since the onset of social media and social marketing – that boundary between marketing and public relations has blurred to near non-existence. Step up, PR, and re-invent yourself for future success; your investment portfolio will thank you.

To push you in the right direction, here are 11 ways to re-invent, and I credit Ad Age’s Maureen Morrison for writing the article that provided this inspiration:

>> Be a multi-disciplinarian. Used to be back in my Chicago agency days that people asked, “Are you a strategist or tactician? Do you specialize or are you a generalist?” I was never a specialist; I wanted to know everything. That’s why I love being an agency brat – we get to service a breadth of clients from all walks of life and industries. This is amazing training.

>> Learn Data & Analytics. The old excuse has always been to leave the numbers to the marketers. No more, PR! We must interpret data as well as analytics to create better campaigns and programs. Do not leave the back-end analytics to marketing; without this knowledge you’ll miss the opportunity to make key decisions. Your leadership ability will also suffer.

>> Master social media apps and tools. No brainer, right? (Aside: I wrote that once in a corporate article and was never hired again, so now I get to use it and no one will fire me.) Just when you think you’re getting tired of keeping up with the Jones’s, push the gas and plow back in. Social media is NOT going away, and developers will keep tossing new apps/tools at us every day. You have to walk the talk.

>> Be technology centric and driven. The new generation of tablets, digital readers, smart phones, personal health monitoring devices, and other new gadgets are being developed at an amazing pace. Be well read and informed about these; in fact, incorporate budget to buy the devices and play (if you get that opportunity).

>> Understand ROI. No doubt about it, PR has to contribute to ROI, and we’ve always skirted that issue. Setting up metrics (I don’t care if that word is over-used; it’s the word to use) and measuring how our programs affect the bottom line is a critical success quotient for practitioners’ value.

>> Be nimble, agile and a quick study. Teams are strapped for time; training budgets are out the window, and it’s up to you to be agile enough to learn on your own. Being a quick thinker with wit, problem/solution solving, and flexibility to roll with the punches are what will earn you success.

>> Less tactical; more strategic. I’m unsure if strategy can be taught or if it’s innate. I’d like to think that with maturity as a professional, a strategist orientation unfolds. As a youngster in PR, you will be assigned tactics to execute; ensure you align yourself with a senior mentor who can help you with ideation. Observe how these peoples’ minds deliver and then emulate that example.

>> Search marketing. This arena is no longer strictly under the guise of digital marketers or internet marketing specialists. Trust me when I tell you, “PR people must understand the basics of search marketing and then some.” Whether you master this is not critical; however, understanding and contributing about this topic is important. The impact search marketing has on a PR program influences the entire integrated campaign.

>> Keep “traditional.” I am absolutely against using the word “traditional” to differentiate what others deliver as PR practitioners over what I deliver in a blended offering (PR and social with marketing). While I firmly advise losing “traditional” to describe PR services, don’t lose sight of how our profession evolved and became viable. When I see youth in the profession suggesting the , I cringe. In no way will the press release die; it (along with other PR tactics) will continue to evolve.

>> Focus on the audience. It’s the role of PR to keenly focus on all stakeholders and craft and deliver messages targeting each. Consumers’ outside-in communication orientation with business requires a higher level of creativity and strategy for PR programs. We have to continually understand from where and how consumers comingle with business.  This will drive strategy as we execute integrated marketing programs.

>> Be financially savvy. Yet another numbers request and this one is serious. Ensure you are savvy about interpreting profit-and-loss statements. Understand issued by your company so you can influence business objectives with communications strategy.

It’s a tall order, friends, and no one is suggesting you learn it overnight. Tackle each one as soon as you can and then master the areas you like more. Staying fit as a PR person requires constant learning. Those who adopt a approach like this, or similar, will enjoy a storied career in this exciting profession.

(I think I need to print bumper stickers – “Proud To Be In PR.”)  What can you add to this starter package?

New Trend: Get Off The Grid

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I don’t know about you, but I’m seeing more and more peeps getting off the grid for a week’s respite and even longer. There’s a general malaise, at least in my community, about the time we’re spending to remain connected across channels while coming up with something fresh and exciting to say (that’s not an echo).

>>When my friend Queen D (that’s @3HatsComm to y’all) decided to pull way back, it seemed like she disappeared for good. Upon a query, she insists she’s lurking and around, just not as front and center as she used to be. I have to say, I miss that comment energy. She left an indelible impression; more than she knows. (But, she’s not gone…just more quiet!)

>>Kaarina Dillabough, my north of the border pal, announced she was going dormant (that’s dormant, not Dorman) for a week and then announced upon her return she escaped on a 33rd anniversary with hubby to the Caribbean. (I missed her in my stream; but she was not gone…just taking family time.)

>>My dear friend Erica Allison still has her “summer off” post on her sidebar on the blog (one of the highest PostRank scores she’s tallied) which said she would be encumbered with mommy duties while running her business in summer months. These weeks, her booming business has her focused on areas like billable work and not her blog…she laments this turn of events but also recognizes the need to earn money. (She isn’t gone, just not as accessible to her community.)

>>And, the most famous infamous of all, NittyGriddy, went MIA for more than two months! Gasp! And, to inform her community she’s baaack, she hit up the Gin Blossom to announce her comeback on @SpinSucks.

>>When Danny Brown (along with a team of writers) launched his Punk Rock Views on Social Media blog about the new tonality in social media, he added to my thoughts about what is going on here?

Look around your community.  Per chance you’re amplifying messages within your own peer group; I’ve heard many a friend mention this more than once (me included). I’m hastening a guess that most of us launched our blogs with every good intention of attracting new business from small-to-medium enterprises and laughing all the way to the bank.

Alas, our blogs (at least the bloggers with whom I’ve spoken) agree we’re writing and messaging in an obvious comfort zone – right amongst our own peer group and network of service-oriented professionals (likely playing in the social media, marketing and public relations space).

Does this resonate with you? If it does, here’s what I want to say:

>>We are social media leaders following other social media rock stars just ahead of us pioneering and testing the next new app, tool, channel, platform, connector, game, and more. It’s so easy to become jaded and tired in this leadership position, but guess what?

WE CAN’T!

We have to keep the energy and vibe and positive spirit high…WHY? Because our clients, customers, peer bloggers, entry-level professionals, and others in our communities expect us to be that way – helpful, teaching, positive, thoughtful, inspiring.

>>You bet it’s challenging at the top. We’ve put bloggers on pedestals for years; wanna bet they’re tired too leading the pack as they do? Sometimes they show it; other times they don’t.

>>The point here is this…when you’re tired from being smack in a leadership role in social media and your messaging begins to show those rough edges (because your community recognizes that), then do get off the grid. Take a breather already; no one will fault you for a little R&R because when you return you’ll be back like a spring breeze to tell us all about it.

Boing Boing Corporate PR

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What a time to be in corporate public relations…can you pick three corporations right now that have been in a boat load of trouble lately? Right alongside these three examples are CEOs at the helm suffering from poor brand image as they take the fall for the team.

>>Avon. CEO Andrea Jung is struggling with recent mismanagement. Stories in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere suggest her leadership is suspect. Forecasts are way off base, the SEC has launched and investigation, and investors are none too pleased.

(Aside: I used to sell Avon; so did my mom. I was my own best customer. I still love many of its products but the line diversified to include Curves fitness products, attire and a teen line. Way too much; unruly, but who asked me?)

>>Netflix. No surprise, right? This company flip flopped its subscribers about DVDs and pricing while opening new markets in the UK at the same time. Who is tired of reading about Reed Hastings’s PR debacle already? Read the link on this; Gini does a fab job of rehashing the entire mess, so no need to reinvent the wheel here.

>>H-P. I was surprised to learn the company would spin off its PC business unit. Without its flagship product line as a source of revenue, how would it meet expectations on Wall Street? Then, after installing Meg Whitman, former e-Bay executive and California gubernatorial candidate, as CEO, the company flip flopped and decided to keep computers in its product suite. H-P cited expense as a deciding factor.

I am certain you have more examples to share of corporate flip flops that unfolded in the public domain.

Now, let’s segue to the corporate boardroom. For sure there is a chief public relations officer who has a seat at these boardroom tables? I mean, right? One would expect serious PR strategy and input into serious corporate decisions that impact investors, analysts, stakeholders, consumers, the media, and more.

Why then are these corporations being “permitted” to make these customer-facing errors as if they weren’t thought through? Is there no PR counsel at the table or is PR not being invited to lend its expertise? Honestly, watching these gaffes unfold and multiplied hundredfold by word-of-mouth marketing makes me wonder.

The H-P debacle is pretty intense. The company just told the world it really didn’t want to devote innovation to its PCs; rather, it would produce subpar product. That’s my takeaway after a spinoff failed. I already have a negative image of H-P’s computers anyway; having them try to get out of that business doesn’t bode well for future sales.

For any business regardless of size, here is the type of PR counsel I provide (as do my colleagues):

>>We are trained in strategy to assess the effect of corporate decisions on markets and external audiences.
>>We know how to create story angles and to which media to pitch them for best light in sticky situations.
>>We contribute to messages developed with each audience in mind, and we draft appropriate communications targeting each.
>>We anticipate the backlash and negative impact of un-vetted business decisions.
>>We develop ongoing strategy to counter market pulse and rebuild damaged brands.

It strikes me that corporate PR, in two out of three of the above examples, is getting the raw end of the stick. Who’s responsible for allowing these very public gaffes; certainly no reputable PR professional would counsel its C-suite to engage in flip flop at the risk of damaging stock, brand, sales, and future growth.