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In Social Media Chaos, Remember Traditional PR

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From www.honesttea.com

I never, ever thought I’d write a post about the value of traditional (I don’t put PR in my title much any more; I prefer the business-to-business social media marketing moniker.) I was all up in arms over a he got from a PR firm about a new buzz word its trying to create, called “PRkting.”

That threw me into a tailspin, and here’s why:

Public relations is its own discipline. Yes, now more than ever with marketing.

Ergo WE DO NOT NEED TO CALL OURSELVES A CUTESY B.S. DESCRIPTOR.

Maybe the ergo was supposed to swing the other way; in this instance it swung…directly into the quagmire of bad ideas.

Public relations practitioners have gotten, get and will always earn a bad rap; especially if they’re behind the . If you’ve been following any posts , at , at or at , then you’ll know how bad it’s been for we in PR.

Putting a stupid, trendy buzz word moniker on what public relations should be to disguise all the bad and to tap the good from marketing is not the answer. What is the answer is doing good, traditional PR to earn respect. That way people in marketing and business and the C-suite and corner office can understand the value of public relations.

Good Old Traditional PR

An , cofounder & TeaEO of Honest Tea, July 23, 2012 is a perfect example of traditional public relations at its finest.

Mr. Goldman, to be sure, did not pick up the phone and pitch the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal all by his lonesome. After all, he’s “TeaEO” and that’s his title, no lie.

The TeaEO of wouldn’t have thought of aligning a current business issue in an op-ed based on a proposal by NYC Mayor Bloomberg to ban sugar-sweetened drinks in containers larger than 16 oz. After all, Mr. Goldman is in a corner office running his business.

Mr. Goldman, TeaEO of , is likely not the brilliant writer depicted in the Wall Street Journal op-ed, although one cannot be sure. His smarts are more than likely attributed to solid business sense to “launch Honest Tea 14 years ago with five thermoses and a belief that consumers were thirsty for a lower-calorie natural and organic beverage.”

And, so, I bring you three solid reasons why traditional public relations is squarely behind 75 percent of op-eds you read in national newspapers (that stat is totally unsubstantiated).

Do you think the TeaEO (I bet you’re tired of hearing that title, eh?) of an entrepreneurial company knew innately how to land an op-ed in a national print daily business newspaper or did he perhaps rely upon professionally trained, strategic public relations practitioners who knew to:

  1. Seize Mayor Bloomberg’s timely proposal about anti-sugar drinks in large containers and make a case for Honest Tea which already has made a sizeable capital investment to conform to current New York City regulations?
  2. Challenge the NYC mayor to consider and reverse his expensive business proposition that would wreak havoc on a business that provides tea in 16.9 oz bottles to city restaurants.
  3. Write a coherent and thoughtful op-ed with action orientation that has readers siding with the TeaEO.
  4. Pitch the piece to a department in the Wall Street Journal typically so absolutely unapproachable AND get it accepted for publication.

Eh?

Perhaps you hadn’t thought of what goes on behind an op-ed until now. Trust me when I tell you, that public relations by strategic practitioners make these elements happen on a daily basis; it’s just that you don’t know it. And, trust me when I tell you this…when you see a PR person trying to appear on the frontlines and earn credit for this type of work, run the other way; fast.

Our role is to make our clients and company spokespeople look good on the frontlines; we’re never in the limelight ourselves.

 

 

Soulati Media On The Street With Shane Rhyne, Ackermann PR

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Thanks to Stephanie Wonderlin at Social Slam in her 10 impressive minutes of fame where she said that YouTube video got more attention from search engines than web pages or Vimeo.

That statement caused my mind to stray to my neglected YouTube channel and what wasn’t there — enough videos to be impressive. Stephanie changed my life right then and there; I resolved to fix my sheer laziness with snippets of <2 minute snips (another Stephanie tip) then and there at Social Slam.

New on the Soulati Media YouTube channel are 9 videos posted in Knoxville live from Social Slam. Within 10 minutes, I had product, I had launch, I had video all raw and in the moment on the street. Gotta love that takeaway; may I energize you to try the same?

Guest one is Shane Rhyne, director of digital with 30-year-old Ackermann PR in Knoxville. Shane wears a hat that distinguishes him in a crowd; sheesh, the guy is 6’4″ does he need to command any more attention?

So we bantered and got down to brass tacks — PR is all about integration and    Shane offers a tip for newbie PR professionals not yet engaging in social media to “just get started.” See what you think about Shane’s commanding presence on camera; I’d say he nailed it, wouldn’t you?

2011 Social Media PR Woman Of The Year

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So, I’m a few days late with this post, but it’s gonna be a goody, and you’ll be happy you read along to the bottom; promise.

I sat across the table from Gini Dietrich in Chicago just before Christmas at the Southport Grocery (you can eat there, too, with blue-eyed waiters to flirt with), and the poor dear had all she could do to get out of her chair to jog down and keep our meeting.  (She’d been on the go for about three weeks in December speaking on a killer circuit while tweeting, blogging and FB’ing in sync with the jet engine reverberations.)

Then we hit the streets to find a bench to do Gini’s first guest video post (with moi, ahem) which we had to repeat and giggle through. It was after that that I knew Gini was a special someone I loved to be with (and so, too, does everyone else), and I wanted to gift her with a little something in return.

Gini Dietrich is the 2011 Social Media, PR Woman of the Year. (Normally, I’d stop there with a #RockHot and #ThatIsAll, but this time I’ll share why. Oooh, it feels good to blog again after two weeks off.)

>>No one keeps a schedule like she does, and no one has the pulse of PR and social media CONSISTENTLY.

>>She is a mentor to the young PR peeps up and coming, and she works hard to network and land everyone a job.

>>She’ll take time to listen to a business problem and offer solutions and tips to get you out of the trench.

>>She is the author of a new book with Geoff Livingston, called Marketing In The Round, set to publish in spring, and you can pre-order just as I did on Amazon by clicking the link here.

>>She is always accessible with banter, friendly commentary, snark, and giggles.

>>She caters to public relations and social media peeps with content oriented to tools, techniques, and training.

>>Her smile, personality, humor, and love for dogs and bikes know no boundaries, and her energy is ebullient and effervescent (oh, that’s so smarmy, but true!).

>>She gives gifts every Friday; read these posts here and here, for her popular Follow Friday series.

>>She is committed to the cause – changing the perception of public relations and encouraging practitioners to become more marketing-esque with knowledge of financials, business, analytics, and more.

>>She is the consummate social media leader for all things new including channels, gadgets, and tools. She throws the punches where they need to land, and stands tall to take the heat when it comes.

>>She is an A-lister, dammit, and she’ll deny this forcefully…but when her blog, Spin Sucks, sits in the top 35 spot on Ad Age Power 100 for months, and the peeps ahead of her are blogging communities, then why the heck can’t I call her an A-lister? I wonder if that’s a negative…? She’s a leader, and Spin Sucks Pro (her paid platform) is soon to launch for real; she’s taken content marketing to revenue-generation mode (something few have done successfully).

What other reasons besides these can anyone share? I’m sold; hope you are, too!

Love ya, Gin Blossom! I’m a proud twinster!

 

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?

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.