Rants N Raves: Please Don’t Always Give ‘em What They Ask For

As public relations professionals who regularly get frustrated when others don’t respect our profession, we have a responsibility to help with that education. We need to remember the strategic part of our profession and not always just react/act when someone tells us they need a brochure, to be on the evening news, have an event, etc. At the same time, when we hear a colleague lament the planning gets in the way of “real work,” we should remind them of the importance of planning and how the lack of a plan hurts everyone.

These issues are becoming even more commonplace in public relations today and it’s contributing to the degradation of our profession. The more we serve the role of order taker and implementer, the more we will be perceived in just that manner. As public relations professionals, we need to draw a line in the sand and ask “why” more often. Doing so makes us all more successful and reminds our clients and bosses of the value strategic public relations brings to the table. If we want a seat at the boardroom table, we need to always offer the value that deserves the seat.

As an example, I have a new nonprofit client who called to ask for a brochure. We spent about an hour on the phone (no charge) talking about what she’s doing. By the end, she asked me to write a plan for her based on the issues we discussed during the call. That plan included considerably more than a brochure and, in fact, didn’t even include a brochure per se. Yesterday, she called to say she found funding for a new Web site. It would have been easy for me to create a brochure but she would have gone away unhappy because it didn’t meet her needs. By spending time with her to learn her business, goals and needs, we created a program that will keep her happy for a longer time.

As you can see the process doesn’t have to be long and complicated but instead is a series of simple questions. Every request you receive doesn’t need a 15 page strategic plan around it. However, you need to understand some basic information before moving ahead with a request. For example: what are you trying to achieve, who is your target, how will you know success, what is your primary message? Knowing the answers to these four questions can take you miles and drastically improve the results of whatever tactic you end up executing.

This is all part of the education process we have as professionals in increasing awareness of our knowledge, skills and abilities. It’s not our boss’ or our client’s fault they don’t know what they need because they don’t have the knowledge we do. But it is our fault if we don’t show them what value we bring to the table. In the end, you may still be creating a brochure or doing a press release but it will be a lot more targeted and effective. Of course, the request for a brochure/web site/publicity (insert tactic here) is also almost always accompanied with…how much will it cost?

This again is a question you can’t answer accurately without more detail. After asking some key strategy questions, the recommendation — and the cost become clearer. As with the “can you make me a brochure” question, I answer the cost question after getting more information. If the client persists in wanting to know a cost before we both understand the project, I often answer by asking the cost of a house or car and explaining that just like those items which have huge ranges, the project cost can have a wide range.

So, the next time you’re asked to implement any kind of tactic without knowing the why and the what for, please do our profession a favor. Ask a few questions. Make a recommendation. You’ll make us all look better and soon we’ll all have a seat at that elusive boardroom table.

A communications professional, with more than 30 years of experience in food, nonprofit and agency public relations and communications, Mary is president and owner of The Barber Group, a strategic communications consultancy. She is focused on improving communities through communications by working from a strategic base and offering her clients a variety of traditional and social media tactics. Mary currently serves on the Executive Committee of PRSA’s College of Fellows and on the Alumni Board at Whitman College and has served on the Boards of the Public Relations Society of America and the United Way of Anchorage, among other community activities.

Note: Photo credit to JuliaRosen at FlickR Creative Commons

Lessons in storytelling

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege to sit down with a veteran Twin Cities journalist and hear him talk about storytelling techniques. With all the new shiny new tools we all play with each day, it was refreshing to sit down with someone and talk about one skill that will always have a place in the toolkit.

The tips and techniques this journalist relayed are relevant to our work to all the disciplines that continue to blur including PR, corporate communications, social media and marketing. In short, storytelling continues to be a key part of our jobs as we help the companies we represent tell their story to employees, customers and other key stakeholders in an effort to shape perceptions, attitudes and behaviors.

Here are a few tips (admittedly pretty basic, but good reminders) you can use TODAY to help tell your story more effectively:

* How would Steven Spielberg shoot this? Thinking like a director helps you wrap your head around how the audience sees and views your story. What camera angle do you take? What does the scene look like? Describe it in detail. What impactful visuals can help you tell your story? By taking your audience’s perspective, you will be able to tell a much more powerful story.

* Identify the “Wow Factor.” Have you ever been listening to your friend tell a story when suddenly…BAM! You stop in your tracks. Your ears perk up. “Wait, what did you just say?” That’s the wow factor. That nugget in the story that stops you. That’s what you need to find and share. That’s the kernel of information that people will remember about your brands or organization. And that’s what they’ll pass along to others, too.

* Peddle emotion. Think about a newscast for a moment. It’s full of powerful images. War-torn images from the middle east. Video of sports figures making a winning shot with no time on the clock. And images of families standing outside their ravaged homes after a tornado has destroyed everything they have. That’s peddling emotion. And if you can connect with your customers emotionally, you got ‘em. Think about the Cirque du Soleil brand. If you’ve been to a show, you know it runs the gamut of emotions. Surprise. Awe. Laughter. Even a tinge of sadness. The Cirque folks aren’t dummies. They know how to connect with an audience. And they know it will keep that audience coming back for more. Time and time again.

These are just a few of the storytelling lessons this journalist shared. What about you? What approaches do you use when telling a story? 

Note: Photo credit of isayx3 and FlickR Creative Commons

Are bloggers the Rodney Dangerfields of the online world?

“No respect, no respect.” That was Rodney Dangerfield’s signature line, right? Isn’t that what we hear from bloggers on a daily basis?

What’s more concerning is what we hear from PR pros, journalists and the general public:

“Why would I read blogs? Only geeks read blogs, and they’re just opinions.”

“Bloggers aren’t journalists. They don’t have the training.”

“There are so many blogs out there. I don’t have time to find them and read them all.”

Whatever the complaint, bloggers get a bum rap from just about everyone these days.

And I’m hear to say it needs to stop. Now.

Not because I am a blogger. But, because it’s simply not warranted.

Let’s take on the arguments one by one:

“Why would I read blogs? Only geeks read blogs, and they’re just opinions.”–Ask the 1.9 million unique visitors (courtesy Compete.com) why they read the Huffington Post in February. Or, ask virtually everybody in the PR/markering/social media industry why they read Chris Brogan’s blog. Yes, these blogs (and thousands like them) espouse opinions. But, they’re opinions rooted in deep experience. They’re folks who are living and breathing in their respective industries every day. And since when aren’t we interested in key influencer’s opinions? These are smart people, folks. Their opinions matter. And so do ours.

“Bloggers aren’t journalists. They don’t have the training.”–No argument here. I’m not a journalist. David Mullen isn’t a journalist by training. Dave Fleet? Nope, he’s not either. Does that mean their opinions, ideas and thoughts don’t count? Absolutely not. Does it mean I don’t read the daily newspaper in my home town or watch the 10 p.m. news? No. Can’t I get my information from both sources? Why are we so hard on bloggers? Just because they don’t have journalism degrees doesn’t mean they can’t write. Heck, most of these folks write just as much in a day as any journalist. They may not have the formal training, but writing every day for a living counts for a lot. Journalists definitely have their place in the world. And I think bloggers have carved out a valuable niche, too. They can, and should, co-exist.

“There’s so many blogs out there. I don’t have time to find them and read them all.”–According to Technorati, there have been 133 million blogs started since 2002. There are 346 million people globally that read blogs. And 900,000 posts are added to the blogosphere every 24 hours. Those are crazy numbers. Overwhelming. But remember, a big chunk of those 133 million blogs have already died on the vine. My advice? Focus on the blogs worth reading. For instance, I read Dave Fleet, Lauren Fernandez, Jason Falls, Todd Defren and Danny Brown (among others) regularly. They’re proven bloggers who share well-researched and developed thoughts and ideas regularly. Hey, I know there’s a ton of junk out there. That’s why I ignore it. Focus on the steak. Throw away the grizzle.

Note: Photo credit to TomsAutographs via FlickR Creative Commons

Conversations from BlogWell

It’s always tough when you attend big events. There are so many interesting people you want to talk to, and you rarely have the time to get around to chat with them all. For those of you who didn’t attend BlogWell last week at General Mills in Golden Valley (FYI: make plans now to attend the next BlogWell in Atlanta later this year), I wanted to share a couple of the more interesting conversations I had with two of the more plugged-in and socially-aware leaders in our market here in Minneapolis: Rick Mahn and Paul Saarinen.

Rick Mahn, social media strategist, Land O Lakes.

Paul Saarinen, digital culture leader, Bolin.

PR Rock Stars: A conversation with Scott Monty

I had the incredible opportunity to attend BlogWell last week in Minneapolis. A number of brands presented at this terrific event including Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Mayo Clinic and Ford. 

And any time Ford shows up at one of these events that means only one thing: Scott Monty will be there. If you haven’t had the privilege of seeing Scott in person, jump at the next opportunity you get. He is a tremendously polished speaker and a very smart guy. And, as the leader of all things social media at Ford, he plays an intstrumental role in their storytelling efforts. 

I had the honor of spending a few minutes with Scott at BlogWell–here’s what we talked about:

Finding the right social media strategist

Hiring a social media strategist. It’s a process that no one has completely figured out yet. And how could they in such a new–and constantly changing–space? As with any new field, industry or discipline, learning is key and organizations, recruiters and hiring managers will make mistakes along the way. But, we also need to learn. And get smarter about how we identify the right talent in this evolving space.

The process is filled with challenges. Many times, the folks making the hiring decisions have the slightest clue about social media. Quantifiable qualifications are hard to come by. And with so many people calling themselves “experts” these days, how do you separate the wheat from the chafe?

My feeling is, for the most part, most companies are taking a leap of faith with their social media hires right now. How do you really know the candidate you hired has the skills you’ll need in six months? You don’t. Now, that doesn’t make it that much different from any other job in your organization, but I think the odds are longer right now when it comes to making the right social media hire. 

Given that, let’s talk about four ways you can minimize those odds and identify a social strategist that can effectively integrate digital strategies into your existing marketing and communications mix:

* Review the candidate’s tweet stream. You’ll be surprised what you’ll learn by digging back a few weeks. Who do they interact with? What’s their “reply” to “send” ratio? How many followers do they have? More importantly, how many people are they following–and who? It all should play a part in your evaluation. 

* Look at the candidate’s “digital footprint.” Take a look at all the social platforms the candidate is active on–not just Twitter. Read their blog. Look at how often they post. Look at the number of comments. Notice the topics they blog about. Are they offering innovative ideas/thoughts? Or, are they re-hashing previously discussed content? What blogs are they commenting on? What are they saying? Do they have a YouTube channel? On Vimeo? Trying out FriendFeed? Posterous? All this information will give you a more complete picture and a much better for what kind of candidate you’re looking at.  

* Go beyond social media skills. Social skills are just part of the job. What about basic marketing and PR skills? Those are essential. The ability to understand the more technical side of digital. And a solid understanding of business principles. The funny thing about social media jobs is the social work is conceivably the easy part–it’s the business, consulting and integration work that’s the tough part.

* Dig deep into LinkedIn. Go beyond the cursory review of the candidate’s LinkedIn profile. Everyone has recommendations. But does your candidate have an integrated LinkedIn profile? Does the candidate feed their blog into their profile? Does he/she update their status regularly? What do those status updates say about the candidate? What other social media thought leaders across the country are they connected with? What Q&As have they been involved in recently? Do you see any trends? Again, it’s about more than just the resume and number of connections the candidate has.

These are just a few ideas. What else can companies do vet candidates for these social media roles?

Photo credit: judedcoutho via FlickR Creative Commons

Journchat…in real life

One of the great things about Twitter and social networking tools is the ability to connect folks with common interests. Happens every day online. When I started following Sarah Evans’ Jourchat last winter, I began connecting and sharing with PR pros, bloggers and journalists from Charlotte to Chicago. And I learned a ton.

Over the past 8-9 months, I’ve met some amazing people through Journchat–folks I now consider friends like Allan Schoenberg, Matt Batt, Rachel Kay, Jen Wilbur, Kellye Crane, and of course, Sarah Evans. I even had the opportunity to guest moderate a couple of times (Thanks Sarah!). Now, I’m hoping the Journchat experience will expand in the Minneapolis/St. Paul market, when  Journchat Live comes to our fine city next Monday at Tunheim Partners.

From 6:30-10 p.m., PR pros, bloggers and journalists will gather at the Tunheim offices in Bloomington to share stories, insights and thoughts on how we can better work together and overcome the challenges–and capitalize on the opportunities–we face in our respective industries.

The folks at Tunheim have graciously offered to host and will provide the food and beverage. We’ll have Albert Maruggi on hand as one of our “roving reporters” asking folks for their take on the Journchat questions in more than 140 characters. And WCCO-TV reporter, and social media savant, Jason DeRusha will be in attendance as well as a number of other local journalists.

In the event you don’t bring your laptop (gasp!), we’ll throw up the tweetstream of the chat on a big screen to everyone can follow along. We also hope to connect with the six other Journchat Live locations (Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Phoenix and Toronto) so you can see what’s going on in those markets.

All in all, it should be an interesting and entertaining evening. I hope you will consider joining us. Sign up today!

I’m going to BlogWell!

Wanted to loop back briefly on a post I made last week about asking folks to fund my way to BlogWell on Aug. 13 in exchange for a short, boot-camp-type session that could help an organization get smarter about their social media use.

I’m pleased to say Bellmont Partners and Rumpza Consulting stepped up and are sending me to the event next week. 

I want to thank Brian Bellmont, Jennifer Bellmont, Shelli Lissick and Bob Rumpza for their support. And, I’m happy to say we’ve already set up a date to hold the boot camp later this month. Like I said in the initial post–a “win-win” for both sides.

Look for interviews, tweets and probably a blog post or two from BlogWell next Thursday.

Rants N Raves: Down with titles and barriers in social media!

Social media is a great unifying place where students, average people off the street, professionals, and rocket scientists can have an intelligent and innovative conversation about anything – and everything.

But what happens when we bring the traditional power hierarchies from real life into social media? You know what I mean and you’ve probably seen it happen, too. Someone may be brilliant in real life or in their niche, but their blog is blah; and when they arrive on Twitter or FriendFeed, they’re touted as the world’s expert on that niche in social media.

Why is this the case? Maybe we’re uncomfortable with the idea that this new, unchartered territory is fair game.

But we love this new expanse that is a professional and personal playground. Can’t we all get along?

Probably not. Remember Manifest Destiny? I see the same thing happening today where those who are experts in their real life niche or their personal/professional blogs begin to morph into using other social media tools and networks – and attempt to knock everyone else out of the way who has staked a virtual claim of knowledge and expertise. Some may expect to be able to transfer their authority from that niche across mediums.

However, we recognize that it doesn’t work in real life – most people aren’t equally experts in producing in TV, radio, and print. Why would it be so online? I actually don’t think it is. This is where our attempts to transfer real life hierarchies are pretty transparent.

Those who go by “guru” and “social media expert” and “ruler of the online universe” are probably those in real life who haven’t achieved their goal of an executive C-suite title yet. In my opinion, they’re just using these ‘titles’ to build up their cred online in hopes that it will knock out any other contender who has dared stake their claim in the new medium before – or better than – them.

We also have to carry some of the blame, though – how many times have you RTed “social media guru John Doe says the sky is blue”? I’ll admit, I have probably done it, too, although I try to selectively edit and not acknowledge or directly address someone as a guru, even if their tweet or original thought deserves a RT.

The beauty of social media is that we can engage without having a title – real or imagined. There are no barriers to participating in a conversation or even challenging the AP Stylebook. So let’s keep it this way! Don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo. Don’t let a title like “guru” or “expert” prevent you from staking a claim where you have true expertise and knowledge or keep you from  building a discussion. And please don’t put up barriers to prevent others from participating!

What other titles and barriers drive you crazy? Can someone realistically transfer authority across mediums?

Dana Lewis is a writer and strategist who loves social media. Normally, she avoids titles like the plague and dislikes people who try to place her (and others) in a box. You can find her on Twitter or LinkedIn, usually instigating a conversation on #hcsm (healthcare communications & social media). She graduates with bachelors degrees in both public relations and political science from The University of Alabama in May 2010.

Note: Photo credit to “mringlein, FlickR Creative Commons.