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.

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?

I am one of those PR people who often gets feelings of guilt when he gets coverage for himself; I would rather get the coverage for our clients.

Still, when we have a good idea and the media likes it, we like sharing the news.  Last week, PRWeek printed an article I wrote which speaks to something near and dear to me–how to create more value out of the results that PR firms generate.

I thought you might be interested in reading it (if you cannot open it or don’t have access, Tweet me @shmaraksmpr and I will send it your way), and hope you can apply some of what is here to your company and its clients.  If you’re ever up for discussing specific ideas within your agency, the door (and e-mailbox) is open.

Many thanks–

Michael Shmarak

I am going out on a limb here, but very few PR people would ever gain a lesson in ethics from their condo Board.

But in fact, I had the most unusual opportunity to gain insight thanks to outdoor seat cushions that the Board felt my wife and I didn’t keep in optimal condition.

One member of our Board has spent time going around the neighborhood to cite people for the littlest of worthless details (e.g.,another neighbor for having a Welcome mat that didn’t look so welcoming). In doing so, it has become as much a vendetta as doing her supposed job.

How many times do we have clients who ask us to advocate a special position, only to find out the position takes you away from the client’s core service?  This personal crusade becomes a dangerous path which moves client teams–and companies–away from core strategy.

The lesson here–both for clients and for my condo board–know when to say when.  Stick to what you know, and you’ll become known for it.  Stick to your crusade,however, and your entire team will be known for something you really don’t want.