Public Relations Archives - Page 8 of 13

The Blending Of PR With Marketing Is Its Death

05/23/2013 By Jayme Soulati

The with every aspect of social marketing, search, digital marketing, and plain old marketing has provided new opportunities for older, seasoned professionals to reinvent to keep up with the changes. I know this to be true, as I am one.

Sadly, this very blend may be the demise of PR as we know it.

In a recent conversation with a table of marketers IRL originating from the disciplines of search engine optimization turned digital; PR newbies turning digital; PR veterans turning digital/social marketing; and, old-hat marketers, the chatter surrounded the old vs. new of public relations.

The old teachings of the 4Ps stemming from advertising were unknown amongst the newest professionals. Those with search engine optimization competency likened public relations to search marketing. In fact, they said “PR is SEM.” Another had no idea that media relations and publicity are just not the entire discipline.

Me? I merely shook my head in awe at the implications for my profession within this conversation. I walked away from that discussion with a sinking feeling for tomorrow. What will PR look like in 20 years? Based on what I heard, methinks the traditional public relations profession’s demise starts now.

The blending of the disciplines is removing every single barrier and silo from core competencies and making everyone look alike. Do young professionals and our sisters in marketing and brothers in SEO understand the value public relations professionals bring to the marketing mix? Apparently not, and who’s at fault for that?

Off the top of my head, this list below is not inclusive by any stretch, but it’s meant to provide a look at what pure public relations professionals deliver in a traditional sense:

Spokesperson Training
Thought Leadership
Blogger Relations
Industry Analyst Relations
Investor Relations/Stakeholder Communications
Corporate Communications
Internal/Employee Communications
Events Planning/Execution
Community Outreach

What shook me up from my in-the-flesh conversation was the correlation people made with PR and search engine marketing. That bridge is so far from the truth, and it made my heart stop to hear it.

I’m wondering if folks believe PR peeps are only good for stuffing key words into content to game traffic and organic search?

I am all for reinventing oneself in order to earn more revenue-making opportunities. What I’m not happy about is the future of public relations when those who lack traditional hindsight are teaching new professionals that public relations is search engine optimization is digital marketing.

By Jayme Soulati

Anatomy Of Feel-Good PR Stories

05/14/2013 By Jayme Soulati

advocacy.britannica.com

The single-best place to find the single-best headlines in addition to feel-good PR stories is the bottom feature story on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Within these pieces are sensational and zany stories about topics you can’t imagine. Today’s story is one of the best feel-good features I’ve seen there in awhile as it melds the rough and tough U.S. Marine Corps with the desert tortoise.

Yes, our nation’s military dual as conservationists. Hard to believe, eh?

The Story

On a training exercise in the deserts of California, in Twentynine Palms to be exact, the troops were charging a hill and shooting at targets until one of the softer-hearted screamed “tortoise alert!” (Those last four words are speculation.)

The exercise ceased and the turtle doctor was called to the scene; he’s part of “a little-known army of biologists and other scientists who manage the Mojave desert tortoise and about 420 other threatened and endangered species on about 28 million acres of federally managed military land.”

When the tortoises are scared, they pee themselves. I’m only telling you that so I can use this word I’ve never seen from the story…”an unplanned micturition can cause dehydration and even death.” (The best explanation for that is the turtle wets the bed, and BTW? My spell check did not like that word.)

So, the biologist shows the Marines how to soak the reptiles in water until they drink enough to carry on. Apparently, these desert dwellers don’t need a drink for about two years, and when they dribble from fear, their supply of water is exhausted.

Elements of a Good PR Story

Let’s look at why this story works for national news:

Endangered species protected on federal reserves
A team of biologists functioning within the military under a bit of secret cover
The Marine Corps doing drills in the Mojave desert
The Marine Corp as conservationists; ceasing all ops until the tortoise families are safely moved to distances away from training sites.
Background about the reptile and its habits (the water factoids)

And, that really good headline tops it off, “The Few, the Proud, the Tortoises: Marines Protect Endangered Species; An Army of Biologists Are on Nature Patrol at Military Bases; ‘Walking Ravioli’

Your Good PR Story

Considering trying for national news with a good media relations professional? Here are some elements you can’t be without:

Hard news with a soft news twist
Current events angle; news that ties in with world affairs
Data: could be new research, patterns of behavior
Third-party Spokesperson: academic, scientist or other expert to vouch for the data
Consumer: Person who receives the service, uses the product with a good story
Company executive: Someone with the Message Map in hand who can present the company in proper light

The final item on your list is to have a professional pitch this to national media. It will be a huge challenge if you try to do it yourself.

By Jayme Soulati

New Blogging Tips Book by Jayme @Soulati

05/06/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Photo Credit: Jayme Soulati via iPhone 4S on AA flight to LA

On this blog since its start in March 2010, the topic of blogging has been a favorite of its author, Jayme Soulati. When it became time to look toward business development and making digital marketing a priority, Jayme pulled three years of blog posts about blogging from the archives and fashioned her first book.

by Jayme Soulati is now available for advance sale. The hard-copy easy-to-digest book is 130 pages featuring eight chapters, takeaways, teachings, notes, and #RockHot tips. The blog posts Jayme selected are original and remain live on her blog, Soulati-‘TUDE!

Members of this community are included in the book by name and often by blog post. Anyone featured in original posts remain in the content and thus the book. Where applicable, “Jayme Notes” update the original content.

Why Write a Blogging Book

The impetus for the book came from the desire to craft an e-book as content for business development. Upon seeing the plethora of posts Jayme wrote about her own blogging journey, she knew it had to be a true, printed book.

When bloggers launch their journey into blogging, there is intense pressure to be successful right away. So many books on the topic are oriented to monetizing a blog; this book is not about that. Jayme shares true passion for blogging with tips about the basics — voice, community, content, inspiration, the echo chamber, and the back end. The book is easy to read and written in her always personable style.

A blog is one of the most important aspects of social media. It is owned media — you write and control and own the message. Putting people on the right path to becoming an authority and influencer begins with a blog that resonates with authority and influence.

Self-Publishing

Jayme selected a regional press to assist in her publishing experience, one that did much of the legwork she didn’t wish to do. David Braughler of Greyden Press in Dayton/Cincinnati was extremely responsive and helpful throughout the self-publishing experience.

She used the free book template from Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch to put her manuscript into layout. When Guy and Shawn wrote and published , they invited people to download their template in exchange for a tweet on the book.

and Jayme invites your feedback, comments and review of her first title in a business book series.

Who Should Buy

One of the frequently mentioned tips Jayme offers in Writing with Verve on the Blogging Journey is to stay the course for 12 months before making changes.

She recommends that these folks consider getting a copy:

Anyone interested or planning to blog
Anyone on the blogging journey less than 12 months
Any blogger writing more than 12 months
Any corporate blogger wanting a few tips to infuse energy in a blog
Students and friends

Using Comics In Annual Reports To Cut Clutter

04/22/2013 By Jayme Soulati

Credit: Loew’s Annual Report via BusinessWeek.com

In Bloomberg Businessweek April 22 – 28, 2013, a story about a comic book as an annual report was fetching enough to inspire this morning’s article.

The funny thing was, I read the name of the corporation using a comic book to inform shareholders as Lowe’s, my favorite giant hardware, lawn and garden store. Alas, the brand is Loews, just a transposition error.

Loews is a holding company for hotels, sells business insurance, and produces energy. Imagine writing an annual report for a company as diverse as this.

Its comic book annual report, also being called a graphic novel, stars Lotta Value, an investment hunter, who gallivants around Loews’s holdings and business units on adventures.

The creative team obviously had to think harder for this one. One critic of comic books in the article said the illustrations are “dead.” I’m impressed, but who am I?

Earned Media

Actually, I’m most impressed with the public relations team that earned nearly a two-page spread in Bloomberg Businessweek for Loews’s first foray into comic books as an annual report; complete with all the illustrations used in the “13-page graphic novel.”

Corporate communications teams that write annual reports need to dig up inspired creativity to cut through communications clutter for shareholders, stakeholders and other interested audiences.

Using comics, however, is a crapshoot. Just the drawings alone have to be remarkable. For a corporation as diverse as Loews, the illustrations and copywriting have to be way above on the creatosphere. It boils down to whether the concept appeals or if the communications team just doesn’t care.

Bloomberg Businessweek’s take on all this is pretty believable, so I’m going with that:

“The bottom line: Loews wants to attract more individual investors to its stock, which has returned an average of 16 percent annually for the past 50 years.”

Using drawings and stories for annual reports means the company is ready to take a few risks and keep on going. With the birth of PI Lotta Value, the corporate communications team has a whole lotta (heh) opportunity to develop more communications vehicles featuring these cartoons.

I wonder if Lotta Value will become the next inspiration for a new TV series ala The Walking Dead?