Tag: pr

Why Classic Public Relations is the Future of Digital Marketing
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PR and digital marketingWe’ve always touted the importance of content. It’s not about what you say, but the content’s quality.

To underscore our point, Google’s recent change in its Search Engine Optimization (SEO) algorithm rewards social media links and quality content. The evolution of SEO makes a good case for traditional public relations (PR) in marketing.

Google wants sites to be rife with high-quality content that users will want to use and share. That’s where PR comes in. It can deliver consistently valuable content that appeals to target audiences. PR professionals can create good content, engage with influencers and devise a social networking strategy.

Traditional PR knows how to emphasize the interesting aspects of a business and craft an appropriate profile to engage with and engender trust with its audience. This can include handling media relations, corporate communications, and managing events through blogger outreach and social media.

Classic PR tactics can earn coverage from reputable news sites.  This can lead to a company’s website to gain inbound links, upping their SEO factor. Online and offline activities complement one another. If you’ve been mentioned in traditional media, bolster that by providing the content online as well.

PR is about quality, not quantity. Digital marketers should follow their lead. Build long-term relationships with both online and offline sources, such as bloggers and journalists who will give you coverage many times.

Websites see a spike in viewers after a traditional PR campaign is kicked off, like a newsletter or event. A regular review of your company’s PR strategy is key to succeeding digitally.

Try it. Let us know the results.

September: Ethics Awareness Month
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Most people don’t understand exactly what a public relations professional does. It’s all across the board with “getting people in the media,” “writing press releases,” “cleaning up messes,” and other marketing type responsibilities.

However, what is required of a public relations practitioner is to honor the Code of Ethics.  What does it mean? It means we advocate for our client, we’re honest, are experts in our field, we’re fair, loyal and are accountable for our actions.

The following from the Public Relations Society of Awareness’ site, further desribes the public relations professional:

ADVOCACY

We serve the public interest by acting as responsible advocates for those we represent. We provide a voice in the marketplace of ideas, facts, and viewpoints to aid informed public debate.

HONESTY

We adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the interests of those we represent and in communicating with the public.

EXPERTISE

We acquire and responsibly use specialized knowledge and experience. We advance the profession through continued professional development, research, and education. We build mutual understanding, credibility, and relationships among a wide array of institutions and audiences.

INDEPENDENCE

We provide objective counsel to those we represent. We are accountable for our actions.

LOYALTY

We are faithful to those we represent, while honoring our obligation to serve the public interest.

FAIRNESS

We deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media, and the general public. We respect all opinions and support the right of free expression.

When you’re looking for someone, or are working with a public relations professional, make sure s/he adheres to their professional code of ethics.

Crisis Management from a Three-Year-Old
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This is the second blog in a 3-part series. Didn’t see the first one? Click here…
Check out the second one here….

After taking a class in crisis management, the first thing I learned was the same thing my mother taught me.

Remember when your parents told you not to do something, and you did it anyway? Then, something happened that you were hoping wouldn’t? The first words out of my mother’s mouth after she asked what happened was, “Tell the truth.” After I hesitated, she would then say, “If you tell the truth, you won’t get in trouble. I want to hear the truth about what happened.”

Isn’t it interesting that the same applies in adulthood. Many public relations blunders happen when the truth is not told immediately. Can you say, Bill Clinton and Anthony Weiner?

The second thing I learned happened after I learned to tell the truth. Although in the instance of public relations, you actually do this first, tell it first. If you know that a company accident happened and several people were hurt…YOU be the first to get the information out to the public. YOU take control of the media. Do not let false information leak.

Lastly, make sure you take responsibility and correct the problem. For me, I had to either apologize, pay money or suffer the consequences. In the cases of Clinton and Weiner, they both suffered the consequences of their actions. Would it have been different if they had told the truth first? Probably.

The art of public relations is knowing how to handle the public. As mentioned in the previous blog, you have to know your audience and act accordingly. You audience may be stakeholders, employees, parents, senior citizens…you name it. Each responds differently to the same situation.

Did I learn my lesson about telling the truth? I think so. At least it’s the first thing I said to my children when they did something they weren’t supposed to. “Tell the truth.”

Lessons from Being an Apprentice
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MontrieandDeB
Dr. DeBorah Thigpen and Montrie Rucker Adams

 

When I had “officially” made up my mind to start Visibility Marketing Inc., it was after being down-sized from a sales engineer career. I knew if I didn’t switch gears now, I may be forever beholden to the automotive industry.

I met my mentor, DeBorah Thigpen at a Toastmasters meeting. In her introductory speech, she mentioned she’d just moved to the area and was opening a public relations office. The light bulb immediately went off. We talked after the meeting and I started working for D. Thigpen & Adsociates a few weeks later.

That was my foray into the world of apprenticeships. This was the early ‘90s so the Internet was just starting, there was no Google, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. I learned at lot about the public relations  industry by doing. It was all new territory for me.

Thanks to Donald Trump, there’s a new face to working as an apprentice. I read this blog on Forbes entitled, “The Apprentices: Learn-By-Doing Entrepreneurship At Enstitute” – http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2013/04/17/the-apprentices-learn-by-doing-entrepreneurship-at-enstitute-2.

Although it is long, it’s an interesting story about The Enstitute, “where 11 wannabe entrepreneurs, aged 18 to 25, are packed in a Lower Manhattan loft.”

If that opportunity was available to me years ago, I may have jumped at the chance to at least apply. As I mentioned before, you can watch someone swim, but you can’t do it unless you jump in.

I am forever grateful to Ms. Thigpen for opening her doors to a “wanna be” public relations professional. She wasn’t the first in the industry I’d approached. There were other public relations firms. However, she was the only one willing to assist me in my goals…while at the same time getting the help she needed.

 

Know Your Audiences
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This is the second blog in a 3-part series. Didn’t see the first one? Click here…

If you are contemplating a public relations career, there is a lot to think about. Most people believe public relations is just networking and building relationships. They may believe it’s taking someone to lunch, hitting the golf course or tennis courts, or eating at trendy restaurants and bars. That’s not it. There is much more to it.

For public relations to work, you have to pay attention and know in whose hands you need to get that vital piece of client information. You have to know and understand the client’s audiences.

Reading both magazines and newspaper in print and online, subscribing to blogs, watching television, and other sources of media, etc. – you need to find out who the key players are that report on a particular business industry.

If we represent an author, we would not send out a press release or contact a reporter/writer in the technology field. If we represent a music artist, we wouldn’t contact a writer who writes for corporate entities. Most of us have clients in various industries so we need to have an arsenal of contacts in all fields.

It can take several emails or telephone calls before we can even get to the contact person. However, using key words in an email or voicemail to get their attention might speed up the process. By merely mentioning an article they’ve written or an award they’ve received – that could be the ticket to getting your foot in the door.

However, if time goes by and we haven’t connected – we may have to be a little more persistent. Send a follow up email asking if they received the first one, or drop them a note inviting them to lunch – we all have to eat. Be subtle – you don’t want to look like bothersome pest.

What happens when you finally get that meeting? How will you take advantage of the time you spend with them? Know that media professionals are always looking for new stories and subject matter. Good stories and subject matter. Be creative. Add a special twist to the new product launch. What is new and innovative about it? How can it help the reader? What will it do to make the reader’s life better? This is the information they need to have. Their audience is the reader. That’s the appeal.

If you have more than one client in their field of interest – kill two birds with one stone, talk about all of your clients. Be prepared – develop a brief overview of each of the clients. Have electronic information ready to share that includes your client’s expertise, products and/or services, website and any other information that will help them make a decision. If a client has products – it might be a good idea to have a few giveaways handy.

A public relations professional has to know audiences. You must know your audience: media professional, client… and you must know their audience, the end-user.

What is Public Relations?
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Glad you asked that question! As an accredited member (thus the APR after my name) of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), I am often prompted to come up with a simple answer. People are generally unclear, and the lines between marketing and public relations are often blurred.

To help my readers understand what we do at Visibility Marketing Inc., I will share it in our upcoming weekly series on public relations.

The following information is an excerpt from PRSA’s national website (http://www.prsa.org):

PRSA’s Widely Accepted Definition of Public Relations

The formal practice of what is now commonly referred to as “public relations” dates to the early 20th century.  The earliest definitions emphasized press agentry and publicity, while more modern definitions incorporate the concepts of “engagement” and “relationship building.”

In 2011/12, PRSA led an international effort to modernize the definition of public relations and replace a definition adopted in 1982 by the PRSA National Assembly. PRSA initiated a crowdsourcing campaign and public vote that produced the following definition:

“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

As a management function, public relations also encompasses the following:

  • Anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion, attitudes and issues that might impact the operations and plans of the organization.
  • Counseling management at all levels in the organization with regard to policy decisions, courses of action and communication, taking into account their public ramifications and the organization’s social or citizenship responsibilities.
  • Researching, conducting and evaluating, on a continuing basis, programs of action and communication to achieve the informed public understanding necessary to the success of an organization’s aims. These may include marketing; financial; fund raising; employee, community or government relations; and other programs.
  • Planning and implementing the organization’s efforts to influence or change public policy. Setting objectives, planning, budgeting, recruiting and training staff, developing facilities — in short, managing the resources needed to perform all of the above.

We hope this answers the simple question of, “What is public relations.” In the following weeks, we’ll discuss the process a little more. That’s the fun part.