Public relations is actually the opposite of advertising… let me tell you why.

Advertising is pay to play. You pay to have your message placed in a newspaper, TV or radio spot.

PR is not. The article that features your company is not paid for. The reporter focuses on your company as a result of information he/she received and researched.

Publicity is MUCH more effective than advertising. Because..

1. It is more cost-effective than advertising. Even if it is not free, your only expenses are generally phone calls and mailings to the media.
2. Publicity has greater longevity. An article about your business will be remembered far longer than an ad among many.
3. Publicity reaches a greater audience. Your story may receive national attention – spreading word about your company all over the country. Would an ad do that?
4. Publicity has greater credibility with the public than advertising. Readers feel that if an objective third party is featuring your company, you must be legit! You’re not simply handing out cash for a highly circulated magazine to say you’re great.

And that’s why I work in PR, not advertising.  Much more strategic, don’t you think?

Agree, disagree? Let me know with a comment!

I meant to post this ages ago, and am just now getting around to it. (So my apologies if you find this a little outdated..) However, as many PR professionals have given in and joined twitter for their firm or clients, I know for a fact many don’t tweet on their own. I think this is a mistake, and in this post I’ll tell you why. I think the “Trouble w/ Twitter” is hilarious but I do see the real value in twitter beyond being able to share w/ your followers that you just tried a really great new herbal tea. I found these 10 reasons on Social Media Today’s website months ago, and I’m not only backing them up, I’m adding to them….  I think the important difference between this post and many others that argue for PR folks to start tweeting is that these reasons are more about why YOU as an individual should be on twitter, not just your brand, not just your clients but you personally. So read on, and then start using your twitter account that you signed up for 6 months ago and don’t use! (Or go to www.twitter.com and sign up if you seriously still don’t have an account….)

1. Twitter is an influential medium

As SocialMediaToday puts it – as influencers it makes sense that we should be active in an medium that is rapidly influencing and engaging more and more people. 35% of tweeters are social network users which means they are plugged into other social web outlets as well, and they will spread your information (and therefore your brand) if it is interesting or helpful. Being on a personal twitter account with your name allows you to get to know other influencers in your field. Not just their companies (or competing firms) but who they are, what they do on the weekend, what articles they are reading etc. Get to know your industry, professional by professional.

2. Meet clever people

The people I follower on twitter never fail to make me laugh (and not just because my entire extended family is on twitter and my mom says funny things). There is an incredibly diverse range of people on twitter, get on, start listening and learn from them.

3. Build your network

I have met some great people who are in the PR industry who have given me great advice and direction. People like @gregblock have made twitter worthwhile for me! I’ve reached out to several people in multiple cities from San Diego, to Indianapolis, to DC in order to gain advice and friendship from people in my field, or in my similar situation as I’ve gone from job to job. People are willing to help, and when you’ve found them on twitter – it goes without saying that you already have common ground. In my opinion, the “twitterverse” helps you to connect with someone right off the bat.

4. Keep up with trends

As PR professionals we are supposed to be keeping up with our clients trends. Twitter is a trend every industry is jumping into, and therefore one that we should not only follow but attempt to know inside and out. Learn how to use hashtags and lists, and know how to recommend their use for your client!

5. Pitch journalists
6. and/or bloggers

Journalists are getting more active on twitter, and bloggers tend to be pretty involved. Meet them where they hang out, and reach out to them via twitter. Try reaching out to them as an individual too, professional to professional rather than just throwing info or links at them via your client/company twitter account.

7. Tactical execution

Twitter has enough of a presence to now be used as an individual tactic in a full campaign. Learn it now so you are prepared before you realize it’s expected to be a leg of your next full service media campaign.

8.. Get info…fast!

One of my favorite things about twitter is how quickly you can find and share information (search.twitter.com) or simply tweeting a request for information to someone you know or simply to twitter if you have enough followers. You can easily find people with common interest, and common knowledge. Someone asked me recently for some info on the value of foursquare (I’m still learning about this myself) but I quickly directed them to my brother @ryangraves (a foursquare expert you might say who was able to send me some info which I passed along.. (Do you see how this works?) Twitter is largely about sharing knowledge and information with a vast array of people who know a lot about a lot…. use your network to learn!

9. Build your personal brand

I’m young, I’m some-what new in the PR industry – and definitely always still learning. I’m interested in social media – but I’ve got a lot to learn and I don’t have 1/2 the time I wish I did to explore new applications, read more social media expert blogs etc…. BUT I have a pretty impressive twitter following because I reach out to people! I try to arrange as many “meet-up’s” as possible, and I’m interested always in getting more and more involved in social web avenues. You might say… I’m building my personal brand, and my interaction with other professionals on twitter is one way of doing that.

10. Have a laugh

Seriously, I documented my road trip from San Diego to Indianapolis via twitter, tumbr and facebook. Did I annoy some people? I’m sure I did. Is it professional? Maybe not. Were the constant comments about the flat state of Kansas and the horribly long and boring drive hilarious? Absolutely. Tweeting pictures of lost hubcaps and the “come hiking in Kansas” sign was pretty fun. I’m constantly coming across others who are sharing funny things they see, hear and do… and at least once I day I find myself laughing or re-tweeting something that I find interesting or hilarious on twitter.

To leave you on a positive note, part of Scott Monty of the Social Media Marketing Blog’s number one prediction for 2010 is that Twitter will continue to achieve legitimacy! Hooray.

I have often thought about this in my experience working in PR… the traditional PR job, full of pitching, getting your releases butchered, and/or sucking up to clients to keep them happy and/or the media to sway them in your favor… can be a hard 8 (or 10, or 11) hour day. Maybe it’s not for everybody. Maybe only some personality types can take it. Or maybe that’s on the beginning and PR types learn how to grow thick skin and get better at their jobs. There’s a lot of criticism in the job, and opinions from person to person working in an agency can differ. (Not to mention unhappy clients if they don’t understand/support the angle you took to acheive their goal).

I’ve never come across the blog before but it felt like my own words when I came across it today and I had to share it with you all.  It’s titled, “PR Breakfast Club, a chance to start the day out right” and I loved this post, “Am I too emotional for PR” this post was written by Marie V-B and it’s a great little blurb about life as PR pro who sometimes breaks down at 10:00 PM at night when she makes the mistake of checking her work e-mail and getting a nasty scolding from a client.. oh the life of publicist. Question she poses: is it for everyone?

What do you think?

So that left me with the question, how can you become a creative thinker? Here are a few ways to start yourself off on the right foot…

Challenge your employer.If you don’t have the confidence to bring things to light that you don’t approve of. You are that pushover that says “great!” to ever suggestion. Don’t be afraid to speak up when you know something is a bad idea. Maybe you shouldn’t sign that contract because your experience tells you it won’t bring the ROI that your employer expects. Maybe you have to calm a team down taht is moving to hastily so you can re-evaluate your goals… whatever it is, don’t be afraid to challenge your boss or your team. If you are right, they will thank you for it later.

Bring new ideas to the table. Notice I didn’t say good ideas. I don’t care if you think they are good or bad, throw them out there, you never know what lame idea of yours could inspire something else once you’ve spurred discussion, and you will be appreciated for being a pro-active thinker if nothing else.

 Brainstorm Time! It’s hard to be creative when you’re swamped with other daily tasks, so set aside some time for yourself each day, or at least a few times a week to sit down with your notebook and pen, and think about NEW ways to move forward, and new ideas to bring to your campaign, client or team.

Educate yourself. Attend seminars in our field, teleseminars, webinars, meet people. Whatever. The best way to learn is by reaching out to those who have gone before you, and if you find the right people, they are surprisingly willing to help. FIND A SOUNDING BOARD, because a collaborative effort, in my opinion is the best kind, and you will often need to bounce a few bad ideas off on others to come up with some good ones. Find a mentor, find a friend, network, learn from others. Trust me, this is essential to grow and learn in your field.

What do you think? How can someone train themself to be a “new ideas” person? How do you start from scratch to create a different campaign, approach or plan? How do you bring NEW to the table?

I have heard arguments both for and against blogging or twittering on behalf of a corporation. According to MediaWeek for the last several years, new marketing experts have implored corporations to “join the conversation,” namely through blogging. The problem being is that currently, several years into the blogging phenomenon, not many consumers trust these corporate blogs.  Personally, there are many corporate blogs I read, trust and enjoy. One of them is the Google Reader blog. I find it informative, personal and easy to relate to in the first person plural tone in which it is written. I think it’s possible to have a successful corporate blogging experience.  AdAge reported that 20% of the Fortune 500 have blogs.   Chris Baggott says, that “almost every one of those blogs are the traditional C-level, Thought Leadership kind of blather.” He claims that people don’t trust the C-level. The only successful corporate blogging approach is one that includes employees, because that’s where the trust factor comes in. Employees are the credible source. Does that mean that we can twitter or blog with a company/brand name if we first explain (in our profiles) that we are (name) blogging on behalf of (company) ??  Is that simple acknowledgement, of an individual actually typing the posts or sending the tweets, enough to earn a consumers trust?

I liked these Five Steps to a Successful Corporate Twitter Presence on how best to use corporate twitter accounts, when you do want to use a brand/company name for your twitter.

1. Listen. It’s easy to set up and subscribe to a search of your brand or company name.
2. Add value. Provide useful content for those that choose to follow you.
3. Only follow when followed or mentioned. Having an anonymous entity follow you is a bit like receiving spam – you don’t know who it is or why you’re getting it. If your following:followers ratio is more than 2:1 then you are probably being a bit desperate.
4. Reply. Respond to every tweet directed at you.
5. Use replies rather than direct messages. Be transparent about what you’re saying to others on Twitter.

Is it a good move to introduce a blog for a personal brand or company if it’s the behind the scenes employees that do the posting and tweeting and own up to it?? Or is this still a risk for consumer mis-trust? What do you think?

In Ad Age’s “5 Tips to Cope — or Thrive — Through Downtown”, they claim that the good news is that remarkable innovation occurs in marketing and media — in the worst of times.  Good thing for us marketers/branders/launchers/and PR folk, we are in the worst of times… (or something like it)!  Time Magazine (which started Fortune) launched at the start of the great depression, and the magazine has made a large chunk of their wealth with magazines which were launched during recession years. Some examples:  Time (1923); Fortune (1930); Sports Illustrated (1954); People (1974); Entertainment Weekly (1990). Also, regarding marketing in a bad economy, Jack Humphrey says that in times like this it is important to get beyond the excuse of “my sales are down because of the economy”.  It’s a false mentality. Instead start brainstorming new and better ways to help SOLVE people’s problems to attract more attention to your products. (Which should become the solving problem products). All you have to do is what the competing products will not do, in order to solve the problem for the customer. While others companies are lamenting the market loss, you’ll be moving forward with marketing and promo efforts. However, don’t market as if you don’t know that customers are concerned about the times. Address the issue. Then help them deal with it. Use your product to capture their attention and ease their minds from chaos that is currently our economy. Identify an aspect of your product/client that positively relates to the economy downturn.  Create a positive light, and then promote it!

If public relations can save the day by setting up a strong brand image, a big part of this will mean building an online community – which is a great way to converse with your customers.  It all depends on what you want you’re brand to say. Think about it this way if you could lift your logo and have invisible tag-lines/messages underneath what would they be? What do you want your brands image to communicate to the customer who may be hesitant to buy/trust/get on board? Here are some important underlying themes that I believe brands should adopt (right now especially) in order to be successful with their customers in this economy:

- Your brand should care about the customers.
- Your brand should reach out to them online through your network/community.
- Your brand should take the time to listen to it’s customers/users and hear what suggestions and feedback they might have. USE Twitter, Facebook, forums, whatever just GET INTERACTIVE (they are plenty of outlets).

Brand perception is the key to success.  It’s all about whether or not the customer can see value in your product.  Your job is to see that they do see value and can trust you/your brand.  What extra steps do you think can be made to encourage the trust and loyalty of your consumers by improving the overall perception of your personal brand?

An important question to ask ourselves is how do we want to disseminate information? Do we want to send mailings, do we want to allow consumers to talk amongst themselves via message boards and live chats? What modes of communication do you want to introduce and build your community around? Blogging and twitter, or forums, e-blasts and pod-casts? What combination of networking methods will work the best and make the most sense for your brand?

Mega Star Media wisely says that you need to consider if you can run the community by yourself, you need to determine what type of resources it will take to build the on-line community that you want. This is important to recognize from the very beginning. Hosting a web presence and on-line network can definitely be a full time job! This may mean hiring someone more equip to take on the task and manage the on-line branding.  If this is financially an option, get in touch with those who know more about social media than you and bring them on board to become a part of your brand/company.  For example companies like SocialDreamium who offers a  collection of tools and services that help you take full advantage of the social web for your brand. Think of it as outsourced community management. SocialDreamium works to grow your audience, and is built to help brands who may be struggling with the how to’s of social networking.

It’s sometimes difficult to figure out what comes next, but in the world of social media, many of us are learning as we go.  These are the first few steps, a couple of important things to think about as you begin launch your brand on the social web. So get out there, get started, and good luck!

Now, when we take that concept of ghost writing and apply it to blogs, do our feelings about it change at all? Is it okay for a team/staff to blog for their company’s CEO? It’s fairly common that bloggers are getting jobs writing blog posts for corporate executives too busy or inarticulate to do it themselves.  So are we learning to accept this? My thoughts are this: What if we want to hear from someone who just doesn’t have the time to connect with us on a daily basis?  Wouldn’t we willingly accept a briefing from their staff or team? After all, who better to tell us what Barama was up leading up to the election than his campaign manager?

While my thoughts, opinion and research on this subject are not even close to being decided or completed… for now my consensus is this: there is a middle ground.  For now I’d have to semi-disagree with this angle of thought — Rory Cellan-Jones quotes Tom Coats in The Business of Blogging, “The value of having a blog as an executive is to have a conversation with the people who use your products, to be part of the community and to talk honestly. To have it ghost-written is utterly pointless.”  I think that while it is extremely important for company or brand’s blogs to maintain an honest and authentic tone the main thing is that the CONTENT of the blog needs to come from Barama himself. However, if our president elect is dictating/interviewing with a staffer who then takes it to the keyboard… if that’s what it takes to get the content and info to me. I’ll take it.

But… what do YOU think???

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES. From the starting line, if you fail to look at what your end goals will be, and what your overall objectives are, your campaign might as well be pointless. You can’t lose sight of what your after if you never establish what you are after in the first place… think about it. Setting these goals and objectives should start with your client’s ideas — they will know what they want to accomplish because they hired you (the PR pro) for a reason. Now it is your job to help them set realistic and achievable goals and to take their aspirations and form them into clear objectives for your PR effort. Setting these objectives makes your PR planning much more effective.

Kim Harrison of Cutting Edge PR outlines 3 types of goals used in Public Relations: reputations management goals, relationship management, and task management:

1. REPUTATION MANAGEMENT – These deal with identity and perception of your client, aka helping to form positive opinions about your client.

2. RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT -- Improving the relationships your client has with customers, stakeholders, and sometimes even competitors.  Improve communication in the existing relationships help by your client and introduce new relationship opportunities as well.

3. TASK MANAGEMENT – Achieving tasks. This is most common type of goal, and is easiest to measure the results. This would include increasing attendance at events, increasing customer base, increasing recognition of brand, etc. This goal type would be where you would see the monetary profit as well (which is probably why it gets the most attention). However, I don’t think that this makes it the most important type of goal. I stand by relationships and reputation hold just as much if not MORE weight in successful PR efforts.

GET ON THE SAME PAGE
It’s also extremely important to get client and practitioner on the same page about these things. If the client has big ideas in his head, and the PR pro has something a little smaller scale and realistic on the brain, one will see the campaign as a disappointment while the other as a mission completed. This may seem obvious, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to be on the same page. When you work with a client (and this applies to in-house as well as agency situations) it is so important that you have not just complete 2 way communication but open lines of communication as well as honest communication. The meeting in which you both sit down and hash out your different expectations might be a painful, uncomfortable, or tedious task but you wont be sorry for doing it. The results will better, the relationship will be stronger, and ultimately your client/employer will respect you for doing so.

So what have we learned? Once you have your creative approach and strategy in order you’ve got to 1. Set some goals and objectives. 2. Make sure there are at least 3 goals, one having to do with rep, one to do with relationships and one to do with an achievable task. 3. Then get on the same page with your client, be honest and open with them about the goals, what’s realistic, what’s the time-line, how many goals?  Once all these steps are taken you’ve got a well oiled PR effort so… go get ‘em!