The P.R. Master

publiseek:

It’s Christmas season, so the “Grinch who stole Christmas,” is a great example to use when pitting content marketing and PR. Why? Do you know what content marketing tries to achieve?

“Content marketing is about telling a story that resonates with your audience and finding a relevant channel to deliver it.”— Juliet Stott

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miamiprblog:

With the fiscal cliff averted and the holidays behind us, it’s time to yet again get back to work.  Many of the firms we represent, dominated by small business owners, attorneys and financial services professionals, are looking at 2013 as the year they more fully engage in marketing.  Most companies have plenty to say, but just don’t know how to say it.

Here are a few tips for the New Year:

Start by Starting
If your business isn’t using social media, then you are behind, but it’s never too late.  My advice to business owners is to “start by starting.”  Registering your company on Facebook is an easy first move, and it’s not just for kids.  In fact, most kids view FB as uncool because their parents use it, which is precisely why every small business should be on FB.  More people visit FB each day than visit Google, and if you look over the shoulder of many American white collar workers, you will see they are viewing FB on a regular basis.  It’s where the eyeballs are, so get to it.

Prepare to Share
When your company has news, be prepared to share it – across social media platforms.  If you write a news release, make sure you distribute it to your e-mail contact list, post it to your FB page, send out a tweet and encourage your employees to do the same.   Of course, a main public relations goal is to have your news published by a major news outlet, but you can reach a tremendous audience by publishing news yourself.  You want to build your name recognition among your key audiences.  Most professional services firms, for instance, are referral based.  By publishing your news to your customers and the friends of your firm, you are increasing your chances of referrals.  Trust me, it works.

Consistency and Frequency (Repeat), Consistency and Frequency (Repeat)
Marketing and public relations is a marathon not a sprint.  While it is fantastic to be featured on CNN or Good Morning America, such great media hits do not make for a comprehensive marketing strategy.  Every business owner should be looking for ways to consistently and frequently communicate his or her message.  If you are publishing an e-mail newsletter, set a goal of distributing it monthly or quarterly and stick to it.  If you want to get value from social media, post daily or weekly.   If you advertise, buy a flight of ads that will cover several weeks or months of impressions.  And most importantly, continue to keep at it.  Augment your marketing efforts but always hit your main goals – consistently and frequently.

Quick and the Dead
The 24-hour news cycle offers up many opportunities, as news outlets (online and broadcast) have massive content needs.  But the world is spinning really fast, and today’s hot issue is tomorrow’s “old news,” literally.  Be prepared to quickly comment on the news of the day and capitalize on opportunities which may be fleeting.

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This and That
I went to two sporting events over the holiday weekend: the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic and the Discover Orange Bowl football game.

In order to buy a beer at the basketball game at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, the clerk swiped my ID.  So, now I’m officially on the grid for buying Advil Cold and Sinus at the pharmacy and for buying a beer at a ball game.  Please tell me they will do the same if I ever buy an assault weapon…

Keep your eye on Instagram.  Two boys in the row ahead of us at the football game spent most of it posting photos and texting on the social media photo sharing site.  I joined it myself, much to the chagrin of my 12-year-old daughter.

Best of luck and prosperity to everyone in 2013.

—John

www.miamipublicrelations.com

jlpr:

As CEO of PR agency 5WPR, I still have to explain to friends and family what I do for a living—and the differences between public relations and advertising. Yes, they are very different, and no, I really don’t work in advertising.

What do you tell people outside of the industry? Here are some of my favorite quotes related to the topic:

“PR is about creating content and managing communications—in whatever format it is.” - Lord Chadlington (Peter Gummer), Huntsworth

“PR builds credibility, Advertising builds visibility.” - Elena Verlee

“Both PR and advertising are important in the marketing of your business, depending on what stage your business is at.” - Elena Verlee

“PR is great for building a connection with your audience and promoting your key messages, consumers are more likely to believe and take note of something written in an article, rather than an advertisement that has been paid for.” - Catriona Pollard, CP Communications

“There’s a saying people use to explain the difference between advertising and PR: “Advertising you pay for, PR you pray for.” - old quote, pulled from Vault.com

“By creating product awareness, PR often lays the foundation for advertising.” - Unknown author, Vault.com

“Advertising and PR are all about selling products.” - WetFeet.com

Are there any I missed?

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jlpr:

PR professionals have nightmares all year long that are much scarier than anything to do with ghosts and goblins. Ours actually pertain to real people—the clients we serve.

Forget black cats, this Halloween season we’re highlighting the most terrifying clients to cross a PR pros path.

The micro-manager. We’ve all had this one. He gives you a deadline for a document on Tuesday and on Monday—the day before its due—asks when he’ll be able to see it.

The DIYer. I’m not talking about a client that wants you to do it all yourself. I’m talking about the client that gives you an order and does it himself. For example, the clients asks you to contact a reporter and then reaches out himself. Or ask you to change a pitch and then sends you a new version just as you are finishing up the re-draft.

The unforgiving client. Not sure whom this client crossed, or who crossed the client, but making a mistake with her is not a pretty sight. She may treat you like a blithering idiot for the remainder of the relationship or ask for you to be transferred off the account. Yikes!

The love you/hate you client. Oh, this one may be the worst. He praises you daily and then two weeks go by without a placement and the horns come out. Suddenly, you’ve produced no results and are the worst agency with which he’s worked.

The inhumane client. This client has zero respect for anyone. She throws out new deadlines and assignments on Fridays at 5 p.m. for a deadline of Monday at 8 a.m.

The never satisfied client. This client is insatiable. You have 15 meetings with journalists in New York set up? Well, she wants to know why the two remaining slots aren’t filled. Or she asks why the Facebook post had fewer likes than the former. Or offers you this doozy: “You got us on the ‘Today’ show—great. But our segment was only two minutes.” Sheesh!

The “I want my money back” client. You don’t want to meet this one—trust me.

The O.C.D. client. Everything has to be in Calibri and 1.75 spaced. You have to spell out every last detail in summaries, but keep it to 250 words. Everything—memos, emails, etc.—must be in AP style.

The ad person in a PR title client. This is the client who edits your pitches so that she can insert “marketing messages” into the copy and thinks that media will simply pick up whatever you send out and run it verbatim. She is only satisfied when the story resulting from an interview reads like an ad, and she keeps pushing you to pitch a business/workplace story to a morning show that only covers fluff.

The “Ellen”/”The View”/”Today”-obsessed client. It used to be “Oprah,” but now everyone seems to want “Ellen,” “The View” or “Good Morning, America.” And they don’t have a celebrity or a budget to do audience giveaways. Right.

The talker. This is the client who can talk the birds out of the trees and eats up your whole budget with calls and face-to-face meetings to discuss minute issues or even her personal life. She seems lonely and needs her agency to make any decision, big or small.

The strategy seeker. Does this sound familiar: “They get great media results, but don’t give us any strategy”? Many a client has arrived on our doorstep with this lament about their previous firm and the reality that 99 percent of the time they don’t have the budget for strategic discussions or any of the big program ideas we threw into the pitch to get the business. But a month into the account they are screaming for the hits.

The make me look bad client. This is client who asks you to pitch top tier media promising juicy data or key interviews and then leaves the reporter—and you—hanging out to dry when he doesn’t deliver. It’s a surefire way to get your agency person blackballed from a reporter you will likely need to pitch for another client long after this client is gone. This is also the client who begs for media placements and beats down your door to get “results,” but “forgets” to return the calls of a “Today” show producer for 2 days after your release goes out.

Jennifer Nichols is co-founder and CEO of FlackList, where media can easily search and connect with brands, PR reps and expert sources within a social network setting as well as access the latest news.

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