Archive for the ‘ communications ’ Category

Daylight Saving Time for you work life: Add an extra hour in your day by being more efficient

There are not enough hours in the day, you say? Working more efficiently can help you find them. In an earlier post, I outlined various ways to declutter your work life. In the spirit of Daylight Saving Time, I thought I’d share a blog post for you from Pointer.org.

Writer Butch Ward does a great job outlining ten ways to effectively manage your time and create more opportunity to do the work you want to do. Here are a few of his tips:

  • Clarify your role: We waste so much time wondering what the boss expects of us. Why not ask? Then ask again, until you get a clear, consistent answer. Check back at least weekly to review real situations and the decisions you made.
  • Be clear about your expectations: If we waste time wondering what the boss wants, how about the people who work for us? Are we sure they know exactly what we want on this assignment, this beat, this project? Don’t wait for them to ask what you want; invite them to help you develop guidelines. End conversations and meetings by reviewing what everyone agreed to do. Seize opportunities — while editing, running staff meetings, talking over lunch — to reinforce your expectations.
  • Schedule the important stuff: If it matters, schedule it. It will be harder to cancel. Reserve time for activities that improve the staff’s work in the long-term — feedback sessions, difficult conversations, career updates — and prepare for them.
  • Coach all day: Talking with staff throughout the day can save you time at the end. For example, taking an extra five minutes with reporters at the idea stage and when they’ve finished reporting (but before they write) can eliminate surprises and save precious minutes at filing time.
  • Manage your meetings: Distribute agendas in advance. Schedule only as many items as you can reasonably address, including discussion and questions. Start and end on time. Encourage all to participate, and don’t let anyone dominate. Stay on topic. End by reviewing what everyone agreed to do.

For the complete list, read his article. How do you effectively manage your time?

2011
03/15
CATEGORY
communications
Marketing
public relations
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Spin doctor? No. Just call me “a revolving physician.”

Spin doctor, spin doctor, spin doctor!! Is your blood boiling yet? Are your ears bleeding? If you are like me, hearing these two words together to describe people in my profession (public relations) is like listening to nails screeching down a chalk board.

In 2008, I was honored to have the opportunity to attend the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) International Conference in Detroit, Michigan. One of the keynote speakers repeatedly referring to what we did as “spin.” She was, and is, a well-known speaker and entrepreneur. For that reason, she shall remain nameless.  Attendees were so offended that the current PRSA president interrupted the speaker in the middle of her speech and politely asked that she not refer to our work as “spin.” The crowd, of course, went wild.

Spin. It’s the four letter word of our industry. PR people have fought long and hard to clean up our own image.  We are not spin doctors. Believe it or not, it is NOT okay to be manipulative or disingenuous.  When working ethically; we address facts and truths. As professionals, we are ambassadors of public relations and it is important to reiterate our purpose. It is not our job to simply do what the boss or client says. Part of our job as public relations professionals is to act as a consultant. If your client/boss wants you to spin a response in favor of the company, let them know the value of truth, honesty and transparency to the company, its audiences and stakeholders. They should also be aware of the consequences of spin as well. Once your organization has been blackballed as a spin machine, it will be hard to gain that respect back.

As much as we fight to prove this perception wrong, there are plenty of professionals who are perpetuating the stereotype.  How can we put an end to this? Should there be more/better education in the J-schools so that we are “raising” ethical, young public relations professionals? Should we press our public relations organizations to be more vocal when those in the media refer to our group as “spin doctors?”

What are your thoughts?

 

How ethical are you as a public relations professional? Take this quiz to find out!

2011
03/09
CATEGORY
communications
PR 101
public relations
TAGS





4 comments

My Thoughts: 5 Essential Skills for Public Relations Professionals

PR Daily recently posted an article titled, “5 Skills Every PR Professional Needs.” Although I think this article does a great job covering the basics, I would like to add five more essential skills to that list.

  • Multi-tasking: As public relations professionals, we often wear many hats. We are graphic designers, writers, editors, event coordinators, webmasters, copy writers…the list goes on. It is important for us, whether on the agency or in-house side, to multi-task. Being able to multi-task well can definitely work in your favor. But, it can also be your downfall.  A good multi-tasker is organized, first and foremost. Need help decluttering your life so you can restore organization? Check out a post I wrote about decluttering your work life.
  • Researching: Public relations professionals need to be great researchers. In order to provide the WIFM (What’s In it For Me) factor for journalists, we must be able to provide the adequate research that lets them know why our news is important, why it’s important for the journalist’s audience, what our news could mean for the industry/community, etc. Research is also important in other areas of public relations, including speech writing, media or interview prepping and backgrounders.
  • Adapting: As marketing and public relations professionals, we must know how to adapt to our environment. Whether through the way we speak to consumers and the media or the extra roles we may take on, we have to be flexible at all times.
  • Understand the business: It has been said that communicators make poor business people and vice versa. Let’s dispel that myth. Communicators need to have a seat at the board room table. When making your communications or public relations plan for the year, you should be using your company’s business goals as a guide. If you can prove how public relations helped the business grow or generate revenue, you are essentially proving your value to the company as well.
  • Understand new media: Online video, podcasts, social media, QR codes, mobile and group coupons…have I lost you? Trends in communications are continuously evolving. As public relations and marketing professionals, we must have a thorough understanding of new media. It’s not necessary to be expert in every form, but we need to understand the uses and appeal of each.

It is important to remember that some skills may vary depending on the industry. So, what are your thoughts on this list? Anything you’d like to add?

2011
03/07
CATEGORY
communications
Marketing
PR 101
public relations
speech writing
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2 comments

Brands work to strengthen their relationship with the social consumer in 2011

According to research conducted during the October 2010 Pivot Conference in New York, marketing and adverting eyes are on the social consumer. With 58 percent recognizing the social consumer as a pivotal element to the brand, marketers and advertisers understand the value and power of the social consumer. In addition, 84 percent see social consumers as a primary or secondary target market this year.

Who is the social consumer?
They are tech-savvy consumers who speak to brands through social media. They “like” brands on Facebook and will retweet your brand’s newest promotion on Twitter. They will let all their social friends know they are spending some time with your brand when they check-in on Foursquare and spread online coupon love with your brand through Groupon.

Businesses keep social media management close to home.
The survey found that 52 percent of respondents run their social media efforts in-house, while 19 percent use full agencies and another 15 percent rely on specialized agencies to lead their social media efforts.

Among the 700 marketing and advertising professionals surveyed, 90 percent recognized social media as a marketing function. Public relations followed at 64 percent with sales not too far behind at 46 percent, and customer service at 39 percent. When asked what roles or functions they oversaw, the majority (64 percent) were responsible for social media marketing with brand management following closely at 58 percent.

So, how will marketing and advertising professionals divvy up their time in 2011?
The survey provides a quick breakdown:

  • Social Media. Marketers plan to increase usage of social media by 75 percent. Only 19 percent will remain at current levels, while one percent of respondents actually plan on decreasing usage.
  • Mobile. Apps for iPhone and Droid will see a rise of 62 percent, 21 percent will remain constant and 1 percent will decrease.
  • Microblogging. More than half of marketing and advertising professionals, 61 percent, will increase use of streaming apps such as Twitter and Yammer, 27 percent will stay the course and 5 percent will reduce current usage.
  • Video. At 55 percent, a little more than half of marketers will increase video production and distribution with YouTube, Vimeo and the like, 31 percent will continue as is, and no one plans to decrease their efforts in this category in 2011.
  • Blogs. Contrary to a recent story in the New York Times insinuating that the statusphere would spell the end of the blogosphere, brands will increase their focus on top tier blogs to reach customers and peers by 52 percent, with 35 percent staying constant and 5 percent reducing focus.

Social Media ROI
Such a hot topic in the world of social media for business, isn’t it? According to the survey, the majority of respondents are measuring social media success against internal goals and objectives. Of those who measure, 73 percent find social media useful, however; four percent say it hasn’t been all it’s cracked up to be.

Hmmm…Interesting…
As the survey proves, social media use will definitely grow this year. On the contrary, certain platforms won’t be receiving the same love. Geo-location networks such as Foursquare and Gowalla and Review sites will see a 10 percent retraction in focus this year. However, brands will increase usage of virtual worlds such as Second Life by 11 percent.

For the complete Pivot Conference social media branding survey, click here.

2011
03/03
CATEGORY
communications
consumer trends
Marketing
public relations
Social Media
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