I thought y’all might be interested in the following article/blog I wrote for PR NEWSWIRE’s “Investor Uprising” community.

Is it possible for Groupon to issue a deal-of-the-day for its own stock when its IPO comes around? 

Here’s my thought; what do you think?

It pays to read this section of the Wall Street Journal; you never know who you can meet!

As part of my new business strategy, I strive to make relationships with the VC and private equity communities.  While it makes a lot of business sense, we also have a lot in common and have always contended that (one day) a PR shop should go into business with a VC group to not just go after businesses that are worth investing in, but to seek out ways to merchandise the efforts of these investments.

So when I saw the following article in AD AGE this morning about Madison Avenue forming a relationship with VC partners, I got shivers down my spine.  There is hope that my vision could come true.

Investment banks look for return on assets that strengthen financial statements.  PR firms can help leverage assets–both tangible and intangible.  At SMPR, we strive to hit on any innovation buttons we can, for these are the very buttons that trigger asset development.

Anyone who knows me in the PR world has heard my explanation of PR and how it mirrors economics–clients have a supply of information, and it is our job to match the demand of the marketplace with what our clients are supplying.  Our currency is content.  In the VC and PR worlds, content is king.

If any PR folks are doing something like what this article is describing, I would be curious to learn about your feedback.

Recently, I posted an article on SMPR’s Facebook page about how the DETROIT NEWS (my hometown newspaper) seemingly threw its ethical codes out the window (not to mention selling its soul) and changed an article to soothe an advertiser’s wallet and ego.  Combined with the latest Groupon fiasco and its ad blunder (I wrote about this issue on A Sorry State), maybe it’s time to skin the cat differently.

So I thought it would be cool to share something that is cool about ethics, specifically talking about how our friends in the advertising industry are making efforts to bring more of an ethical position into their operations.

Check out the following article from ADVERTISING AGE on the industry’s attempt to get more ethical.  These are really good ideas; what do y’all think?

One of the great passions I have about this business is teaching junior people about the rigors of public relations, and (in turn) what people in my field have taught me.  I was talking with a friend who operates a great agency in Dallas; we were talking about what each of us has learned about running a business, as well as what we would have done differently if given the opportunity.

Speaking to the latter point, I would not have changed a single thing and have done anything differently. Running a business, you quickly learn how to take the good with the bad. If you cannot take lumps in this business, then you shouldn’t be in it. To be sure, I have built a much tougher and stronger skin than when I first embarked on my journey now almost eight years ago. I have seen people come and go; clients start with a bang but spend funds miserably and fail. I have seen the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. I have made incredible friends and have formed several meaningful relationships.

 
Still, I have learned a lot—more than any of my college studies could have prepared me for. Here are some thoughts.

 
Understand the power of “no.” It’s easy for business owners to take on things because the money is appealing or the allure of having a “name client” associated with you would add to your reputation. Saying ‘no’ is empowering, for it allows you to focus on what you truly want to do. “No” keeps your eyes on the prize of ultimate satisfaction.

 
The customer/client should not always be right. Logic tells me when presented with an array of options, I want to make as informed of a decision as possible; life is not one way or the highway. I also rely on my past experiences about what journalists want; I would expect both my peers and fellow colleagues would follow the same path.  As an agency, we are hired to bring an objective voice to our clients’ tables. Maybe it’s because I have more gray hairs than when I first started the business, but I take my role as a counselor more seriously than ever. I have learned to cement my position by proving it with smart research and positioning and not just do what a client thinks is the most ideal course of action. I would never go back to a client and tell him/her “I told you so…” but I would go back to what I know has worked for others–and could work for them if given the opportunity.

 
Hiring a business coach is a wise investment. It’s one thing to preach objectivity to your clients, but it is hard to obtain objectivity running an agency—especially when it is your agency. I have learned how to distinguish things between the SMPR brand and that of Michael Shmarak; I used to take things personally when something went wrong. But as many people have come to tell me, it’s just business. We need to remember that business should stay where it belongs. To that end…

 
…tell your spouse and kids that you love them as often as possible. I set up SMPR to represent beliefs I have that agencies need to be treated like families, that if a family member’s name is on the door, then the belief set should represent the person/people who you are honoring. I have tried to bring “family” into everything I do, inclusive of making sure that my team enjoys their lives outside of work. Understandably, my team means the world to me, and I try to communicate the value they bring as often as possible. But I would be nothing without my wife and three kids. Hugs from children are the best elixir for soothing a bad day at the office. Clients come and go; my wife and kids are always with me. It is up to me to make sure they know that.

 
Client love is the ultimate measurement tool. If a client merely likes its PR counsel, then the agency is not doing enough to foster the relationship. I know about my clients’ kids, their families, what they do outside of the office, et.al., to show that we (as people) are deeper than what a letter of agreement tells us we should be. Striving for client love does as much for what makes good clients awesome clients as any deliverable you can provide.

 
Know the right time to reinvent your business. When I started SMPR in 2003, social media was just beginning to hit the mainstream. There were several agencies that got on the bandwagon early, going as so far as to say they do it—and do it well.  Me?  I would rather wait and let other people make mistakes so I can learn from them.  In turn, I can then take this education and shape it in a way that best fits who I am as a professional, as well as what my team knows it does well. Claiming to be all things to all people deteriorates one’s focus. We should all strive to own something and be really good at it first. Do we do social media work? Of course, but we specialize in helping companies build their infrastructure so they are ready for what social media has to offer.

Above all else, I have been blessed to learn that my team’s work has impacted lives. We take it for granted that PR can help influence other people’s decision making processes. When you’re leading the charge for those decisions, there is an immense source of pride and accomplishment. There are so many examples of how we have enacted change I could go on all day.

Moving forward, I want to learn how to learn better.  I want to get smarter about more tricks of the trade.  I want to build deeper relationships and find work that drives satisfaction for all of us.

It starts today.

Will Google's Instant Search be not so instant after all?

Whitney is on a roll these days, so we don’t want to hold her back…

When Google introduced the new Instant Search feature at the end of September, marketers were intrigued to hear that there was a list of words that instant search couldn’t utilize. That was just the beginning.

In a press conference, Google’s reps explained that Google didn’t have a master list of words and phrases that were blacklisted for instant search. Instead, it uses algorithms to distinguish between phrases that are more “family friendly” than others.  What is really interesting is the list of words that have been compiled that aren’t filtered out through this algorithm.  2600 (“The Hacker Quarterly”) has created a page with a list of what phrases are blacklisted and what words and phrases slip through on to instant search (much to some people’s surprise).
It is completely understandable that Google would take action to make sure instant search doesn’t provide little kids with information their young eyes should not see. What is confusing is that it is letting certain words through and blocking other phrases that aren’t all that offensive.

Check out Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit;” that phrase is blocked.  Words that you wouldn’t traditionally utter in public (i.e., “swear words”) are not blocked.  WTF?

Now, this is a brand new feature; in time, the algorithms will hopefully adapt to keep out a wider range of inappropriate words.  What about titles of songs, and names of journalists, like Ms. Slutsky who was present at the press conference. She commented that her name was one of the words that was blocked from instant search.

In a time when people are getting more and more impatient, what will instant search do to those who want answers quickly?  Yes, you can still type in “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and get links to Nirvana and the song. Will there come a day when people are too lazy to enter one more keystroke to search the entire phrase?  Who is to say that Google should be editing what shows up on an instant search anyway?  If we are all educated people using the free and open Internet, we should all understand that you get what you search for.

What will this mean for PR when a practitioner searches using Google?  Let’s say they’re looking for the journalist Ms. Slutsky and prefer using instant search.  Her name wouldn’t appear and a possible connection and opportunity for the client is lost.  As PR practitioners, we will have to look at how popular instant search becomes and how to ensure that our name and our clients’ names don’t get “blacklisted.”

Imagine what that could do to your SEO if everyone became dependent on instant search and the words associated with your product were for some reason blacklisted.

This new invention by Google seems to be a tool whose worth we, as professionals in our field and as a society, will have to weigh as it continues to grow.

Could using a PDA be bad for your corporate health?

Über-intern Whitney checks in with a very smart analysis of how technology could impede the practice of corporate communications.  Take it away, Whitney…

Since the advent of smartphones people have had a new challenge placed in front of them.  It isn’t how often you can check in on Foursquare or how fast you can look up a fact to prove a point.  In fact, it’s a challenge of etiquette, of how we as a society are choosing to balance face-to-face interactions against online relationships.

Recently Gini Dietrich covered this on her blog, Spin Sucks. After reading her post we felt compelled to chime in as well.

If you look around a coffee shop, restaurant or on the train it’s safe to say you’ll see at least a dozen people with their phones out, waiting for them to light up with an alert that something is happening in their digital world.  When people are this focused on maintaining their networks online they are often neglecting the relationship and networking opportunities right next to them—in the “real world.”

In the not so distant past, it was viewed as rude to answer a phone call during a meeting; now, it’s practically expected.  It’s hard to make a blanket statement saying that everyone should ignore their phones while conducting business, at the workplace or when out with colleagues and friends.

Still, SMPR encourages clients to think about how one’s corporate reputation—not to mention one’s personal brand—can be hindered if your PDA runs your life and not the other way around.

Remember this—people with whom you network over the Web cannot see that you’re ignoring a client when Tweeting during a meeting, but that client sure can. What will they tweet, think or say about you after their face-to-face interaction with you where you were MIA?

The calendar says January; no more 2007 holiday parties, gift baskets–and traditional reflections and prognostications about business and commerce.

Whether you work for a Fortune 500 company or a small mom-and-pop shop, executives are tirelessly and feverishly working on how to improve their position in the marketplace. In my attempt to plan ahead, I cleaned my desk in the hope I can keep things neat, tidy and simple.

But who would have thought that a simple task would develop a primer for how to manage through the tumult of corporate performance?

Tape Theory Applied

Looking through the annals of corporate history, there are several stories of companies trying to accomplish more than their core competencies. In an ever-growing attempt to please shareholders and corporate boards, executives have sought acquisitions of brands, companies or processes in an attempt to maximize business processes, only to find that it makes more business sense to have these companies act individually.

I’m not here to argue which mergers or divestitures make more sense than others.

But I would contend that simplicity and focus should be the key deliverables for businesses everywhere, especially during a time when several companies have divested themselves from what truly sets them apart from their peers.

I have tried to subscribe to this message by looking at a roll of tape. It’s amazing what you can learn from a collection of plastic and adhesive sitting in a sea of simulated wood cabinet. But this “tape theory” could stick to a lot of companies making the choice on how they want to evolve their business models:

Transparent tape is just that—transparent. There is nothing to hide from this kind of tape. The adhesive, the plastic, even the product in which keeps the tape in place is clear. There is no hidden agenda or deliverable—I know what I am paying for.

Tape sets an expectation—it will stick. There aren’t too many products which hold themselves accountable for their actions like tape. You don’t buy tape with the expectation that it doesn’t adhere to something or keep something together. There is an implied knowledge that one knows what he/she is getting when the product is in use. How many companies can say that?

There are other tape types in my drawer, but this one sets the tone for the others. At the time this article was written, there have been countless rumors about GE selling its NBC unit because of the fit amongst its other business units. Conglomerated companies often have vague “About Us” statements when talking about what they do; that lack of clarity is a beacon that changes are on the horizon. When a company has focus, it can communicate its core competencies without long sentences or corporate hyperbole.

Such is the case with transparent tape—masking tape, duct tape and colored tape all have specific functions, but they all drive back to the core deliverable of the product category.

When you have a good product with good systems to back it up, everyone wants to know how to do it. Richard Drew—the 3M engineer who invented the world’s first transparent cellophane adhesive tape in the 1800s[1]—and his peers defined a new category. Once word got out about it, other companies tried to copy the process, but 3M defined the standard that others followed.

It’s a practice which still follows suit today. There are several companies which attempt to do many things, but what value is truly derived from being all things to all people? By continuously working on the things which made you good in the first place, there will always be a new opportunity for innovation, provided you can find those people within in your company to champion the cause.

I don’t have all of the answers to solve corporate performance or improve productivity. But imagine what can be accomplished if we keep our eyes on the prize which we know we can obtain?

Maybe it’s time for all of us to clean our desks more often.