Tag: public relations

Terrie Williams – The Public Relations History Maker
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Terrie Williams (Wikipedia)

The day I was downsized was one of the most depressing events of my career.  

Months prior to that life-changing day, I had a desire to change careers. I enjoyed my responsibilities as a Sales Engineer, but I was not doing much of what I loved. I wanted to write.

I locked my eyes on a career in public relations. As I researched the industry, I came upon Terrie Williams’ story.

What immediately struck me in the early ‘90s about her story, was her drive and determination to run a successful business in a predominately white industry.

A 2018 Harvard Business Review article stated that the public relations industry is 87.9 percent white, 8.3 percent African American, 2.6 percent Asian American, and 5.7 percent Hispanic or Latinx. I can only imagine the statistics in 1988 when Terrie opened her company.

I later realized there were several parallels to Terrie’s story. She began her career as a social worker with a dream of becoming an entrepreneur (I was in sales with the same dream). She met jazz giant Miles Davis who encouraged her to start a business (I met DeBorah Thigpen of D. Thigpen & Adsociates who gave me my first opportunity). Williams credits many people who helped her along her journey (Visibility Marketing Inc. would not have celebrated its 20 year anniversary if it weren’t for the people who helped us).

In 2018, Terrie closed The Terrie Williams Agency after 30 successful years in the public relations industry. In celebration of National Women’s History Month, I salute Terrie Williams, formerly of The Terrie Williams Agency, for making history for all entrepreneurial women striving for excellence and for being the impetus for Visibility Marketing Inc. to do the same.  

Using Public Relations for Success in Content Marketing
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PR and content marketingThe public relations world has changed dramatically since I entered the field. The tactics practitioners use have moved to a new frontier. The word “content marketing” didn’t even exist then. Now, it’s one of the best ways to communicate to vast audiences.

Public relations can include online and offline activity to improve communications and build relationships with audiences that matter to business. Public relations is still vital at building strategies that have an impact on driving website traffic, generating leads, increasing sales and enhancing customer loyalty. Here’s how an integrated public relations strategy can lead to content marketing success:

  • Building a media database with business publications, blogs and trade journals. You can track the organization, phone, email, social media profile link and areas of interest. These contacts can be managed in your marketing team’s customer relationship management (CRM) system.
  • Utilize editorial calendar information. Traditional print publications publish editorial calendars with topics they will publish throughout the year. Look for topics that align with the content in your campaigns.
  • Pitch story ideas to your media database.
  • Evaluate the associations and organizations in your network that have expansive reach. This should include your LinkedIn and Facebook organizations. Consider collaboration and distribution of your content through their events, emails and websites.
  • Speaking engagements. Find opportunities for your staff to speak at industry events. Discuss relevant topics from your content marketing with the target audience as a way to showcase your company’s credibility and expertise.
  • Submit your content for industry awards. It can extend the life of a content marketing program and extend your reach to new audiences.

These are just a few ways to manage the audiences to whom you wish to communicate. Try one or two and let me know what you think.

 

CBC Magazine Article: IPG Connects Self-employed PR Pros
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This article first appeared in CBC Magazine
By Lauren Sable Freiman | Photo by Jim Baron

Being self-employed certainly has many advantages. But camaraderie and the opportunity to bounce ideas around the office typically aren’t among those advantages. That’s where the Independent Practitioners Group steps in to fill a very real void.

montrie rucker adams, IPG

A support group for self-employed public relations and marketing professionals, IPG started as a subgroup of the local chapter of the Public Relations Society of America in 1990. In 2001 the group broke off to become an independent networking group, focused on addressing the unique needs of those who work independently.

“There is a certain amount of isolation you deal with when you are self-employed, and this is one avenue to get out and mix and mingle with peers,” Jim Tabaczynski, IPGs co-chair and president of JPT Group, says.

Almost 80 percent of the group’s 15-20 paid members are female and have been working in the industry for an average of eight years. Most members work from home but not all. Montrie Rucker Adams, IPG’s co-chair and treasurer, houses her business, Visibility Marketing Inc. in an office outside of her home.

“There is a great camaraderie among members. There are a lot of emails going back and forth where people ask who knows about this or who can help me with that,” she says.

IPG hosts monthly lunch meetings from September through May at restaurants around the city. The format varies between professional development and open roundtables, and the content is driven by member wants and needs. A roundtable discussion where members shared their favorite apps was a big hit among members, Tabaczynski says.

As the public relations and marketing industry is dynamic and ever changing, members are especially interested in programs on things like pay-per-click advertising and mobile apps, which provide them with new ways of reaching people.

“We always ask our members what they want,” Tabaczynski says. “The best way to find new programs is to listen to your members.”

According to Rucker Adams, IPG has hosted conferences in the past, including one on social media. As a small networking group, IPG is also open to partnering with other networking organizations to co-sponsor programs. One such program was a meet and greet with tech writers from Crain’s Cleveland Business and The Plain Dealer, which IPG co-hosted with the Northeast Ohio Software Association.

“Our members always enjoy meeting with the media. It is a program that seems to resonate the most with people,” Tabaczynski says. “What we usually tell the media is that we want to learn how to work with you better and we want you to be able to work with us better. We ask what types of stories they are looking for, what they aren’t looking for, and what they consider to be their geographic footprint.”

Though some members have similar businesses and are competitors, Rucker Adams says that, nonetheless, IPG members serve as a strong support system to other members.

“We are very big on passing information, and there are many opportunities to gain clients as well,” she says. “There is always an opportunity to get a new perspective. The more varied voices you have, the more opportunity you have to learn.”

For more information: IPGCleveland.org

Crains Cleveland Business Article: Montrie Rucker Adams, president and chief visibility officer, Visibility Marketing Inc.
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Purple2Originally Published in Crains Cleveland Business: November 16, 2014

Earlier this year, Crain’s Cleveland Business formed an 11-member minority advisory board to provide objective, constructive input on minority-based issues for Crain’s. The Crain’s Business Diversity Council has met regularly since April. This is one in a series of profiles of its members.

Montrie Rucker Adams is a seasoned communications professional, yet she still has had her abilities called into question despite her qualifications.The president and chief visibility officer for Visibility Marketing Inc. of Beachwood said diversity and inclusion are issues that still need to be addressed. “No matter where you are, there’s this segregation that seems to naturally happen,” she said. “It’s still going on, it’s still happening. … It’s the 2000s and people are still running from each other.” Adams, who also has worked as director of publications for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District; as manager of marketing and public relations for the Health Museum of Cleveland; and as editor of Kaleidoscope magazine, is not one to sit back, however. Not only is she a member of the newly formed Crain’s Business Diversity Council, she’s been involved in a variety of community organizations and efforts, including the East End Neighborhood House and Continue Life Inc., a homeless shelter and transitional housing program for expecting and parenting young women.Adams also is passionate about her work with the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women at Case Western Reserve University.

“I am truly a women’s advocate,” she said. “When it comes to women, we’re still just treading water … sometimes just standing still.”

She even has made inclusion part of her everyday work at Visibility Marketing, implementing a practice of what she calls “Smart Inclusion.” It builds off the concept that innovation requires collaboration that crosses boundaries that we used to avoid or ignore.

Too often, she said, it is human nature for people to look for people like themselves — whether it’s in news coverage, the world of business or other circles.

“It’s the same old, same old,” she said. “That’s what happens when you don’t open your circle wide enough.”

It’s for that reason that Adams is encouraged by the Crain’s Diversity Council and her involvement with it. “It’s a positive step in the right direction,” she said.

Adams, a Northeast Ohio native who now lives is Richmond Heights, earned an undergraduate degree in business administration and psychology from Baldwin-Wallace College and her master’s degree in business administration (marketing/marketing management) from the University of North Carolina.

She and her husband, with whom she works at Visibility Marketing, have two children, ages 11 and 13.— Amy Ann Stoessel

Measuring PR Through Your Website
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measuring PR through your websiteWhen it comes to measuring your public relations impact, there’s a new kid on the block.

Now, a business’s website analytics and search engine optimization is at the center of public relations measurement. You can find out if your visitors are buying your product or service, ask for more information and if your public relations efforts are shaping the correct perceptions. A system for measuring your impact through your website  includes:

Defining business goals
Marketing and communications aim to get customers to a company’s website and take action, be it downloading information or making a purchase. After defining your goals and implementing your public relations campaign, determine where the most traffic came from and evaluate the quality of your website’s users.

Determine Your Customers’ Search Terms
Using search terms in your content is essential to driving traffic and those terms must be a part of the public relations campaign. Understanding how search engines work is vital for effective SEO, and should dovetail with a business’s goals.

Use Google Analytics
Learn how to analyze the data: How many visitors, what pages they visit and what is their behavior when they arrive at a page? It’s time to fine tune your campaign if visitors aren’t going to the pages you want them to visit or aren’t taking any action when on your site.

Create good content
Shareable content such as photos, video and infographics extends your reach. Make coming to your website a great experience that benefits the user. In this way, they will visit often and tell others about the great information they received.

Like what you read here? Please share!

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.

Public Relations Trends to Watch This Year
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prtrends

Now that we’ve closed the door on 2013, what can public relations professionals, and those who rely on their services, expect.

I’ve included five public relations trends to watch.

  1. Traditional media will continue to slow. What brands are doling out is not information, but curating and giving credibility to what is already out there. Responding to what is said about a brand is more important than ever. Many research items and services before they pull out their wallet.
  2. Brand media and journalism will increase. Audience-centered mindsets will power businesses’ advertising and marketing. Thinking like your customers becomes the foundation of your message.
  3. Analytics will get better and sharper. Whether it is on your website or social media, new and better tools to measure marketing impact are at hand. Measuring ROI becomes easier and clearer and will shape future efforts on where you’ll spend your marketing dollars.
  4. More public relations efforts will go into blogging and content marketing, paid media campaigns and managing social media: i.e., going to where the audiences are and delivering your message in the correct location – directly on their phone and inboxes.
  5. Content marketing will experience a backlash over bad content. The need for better content will grow and become more important for marketers as customers sound off on social media when a message is not carefully put together. Customers better educated and more informed. Gone are the days when you could dish something out and they would take it.

The world is speeding on the information super highway. Customers need to be informed and public relations professionals must be equipped to give their clients what they need and want.

 

Sometimes… You Just Need a Little Help
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Being in business for 13 years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many people who have started businesses. What I found is there are many who have great products and services, but lack the “know-how” to get their business to the right level.

No one can do it all. Businesses are multi-tiered. Not only are there functions that include accounting, marketing, human resources, sales, etc., there are also functions/responsibilities within those areas.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. There are creative professionals who can assist you with ways to help your business succeed. The following is a short list in the area of public relations and marketing communications.

  • Public Relations Professional – The Public Relations Society of America defines public relations as “A strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” The public relations practitioner can help with identifying your target market (demographics), strategy, social media, developing “stories,” special events (product launches), and media relations.
  • Marketing Consultant – The marketing consultant can assist you with developing your sales and marketing strategies, pricing, product placement, lead generation, branding, Internet and SEO, developing print and online marketing campaigns.
  • Professional Copywriter – We can all have great ideas, but describing those ideas, services and products in a way that persuades potential customers can be daunting. Copywriters write content for websites, marketing and sales materials, brochures and direct mail. They also assist in advertising by writing taglines, jingles and ad copy. Copywriters can be independent or employed by ad agencies, public relations and marketing firms.
  • Event Planner – Planning a professional event is not the same as throwing a birthday party, although there are similar elements. The logistics include identifying the purpose, theme, audience, venue, program/activities, time and dates.
  • Graphic Designer – It never gets old because it’s true: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” A creative graphic designer is the bedrock of publications. Yes, the copywriter helps with words, but the graphic designer determines the look, feel , tone and personality of any printed piece.
  • Photographer – Not everyone with a camera can take relevant photos. The trained photographer understands positioning, lighting, moods, rhythm and purpose so that the image “speaks” without words.

Business owners may be the best at what they do, however no one is the best at everything. In business, it’s best not to be the jack-of-all-trades but the “master of one” great skill. Using professionals who are the best at what they do can help your business make a big impact.

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.