Recently I’ve started writing for Investor Uprising, PR NEWSWIRE’s online community for focusing on all things investing and finance. “The Spin” (I didn’t choose the name) covers all things communications in relation to investments. I’ll be tackling everything from ethical investments to how those so-called “celebrities” can teach us a lesson or two about our brands.
In this post I do just that, more specifically addressing how Charlie Sheen can actually teach companies a thing or two about attracting investors. No really, he might be the biggest celebrity train-wreck of the past year but he actually did get a couple things right when marketing himself. Without letting the cat any further out of the bag here’s The Spin… “What Charlie Sheen Can Teach Corporate America“

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.

Post by Deirdre Breakenridge. Deirdre is President and Executive Director of Communications at Mango! Creative Juice. A veteran in the PR industry, Deirdre leads a creative team of PR and marketing executives strategizing to gain brand awareness for their clients through creative and strategic PR campaigns. She has spoken public on PR and social media communications among other topics and has written several books on new media and PR 2.0.

The hybrid professional is not a new concept. I started to blend marketing disciplines in the late 1990s, when my first PR agency was acquired by a marketing, advertising and web/multimedia company. It was critical back then to make sure that our work, on behalf of our clients’ brands, was consistent in messaging and tone, as well as look and feel. In order to keep this consistency, PR, Marketing, Advertising and Web had to work together.  The same goes today, even more so, as social media has many departments within an organization interfacing with the public.

For me, the hybrid professional is defined in two ways.  First, the hybrid communications approach is rooted or educated in traditional communications. At the same time, it also incorporates digital and social media into the marketing mix. For example, it is still our jobs to connect with journalists no matter where they report their stories; in print, broadcast, online or on their blogs.  We’re not abandoning our media relations work with magazines, online publications, trade journals, and broadcast media, and we may still be using newsletters and HTML e-blasts to reach our constituents.

However, we’re also exploring different channels and building communities in new territories to connect with the media who have turned into bloggers, to create relationships with new influencers/citizen journalists, and to engage with customers directly. Whether it’s Facebook or Foursquare, we need to know the rules of engagement with our stakeholders in these Web communities.  The hybrid is a professional who knows how to make different connections through various channels (old and new) on behalf of the brand.  The hybrid also realizes that consumers are in the driver’s seat taking control of media, carefully selecting their media sources, creating media themselves and requiring meaningful information and engagement from their brands.

Part two of the definition includes the hybrid professional as the strategic communicator with a seat at the strategy table.  This communications professional works closely with other marketing disciplines including the digital creative group, the brand team and marketing/advertising.  I remember attending a conference about a year ago when a very smart educator questioned me about why I thought PR should be integrated with other marketing disciplines.  She told me that PR is in a class by itself.  Yes, it is and PR professionals will always stand out as strategic communicators and reputation managers.

We are the professionals who know how to build relationships with various publics, who educate and change public opinion and who know how to move markets.  PR is not simply tactical and should not be placed in a silo, or only called to the table for media relations or crisis management.  PR must interact and provide guidance for all types of communication, across a number of channels. Being a hybrid and having a strong understanding of the other areas of marketing and web, strengthens our roles; it doesn’t dilute what we do.

Social media communication is human and transparent and when it’s in the hands of the new C-Suite (the Consumer Suite) a company’s reputation could be at stake.  We need to be tapped into the social realm and how the information we retrieve, as a result of social media, will need to be shared with different departments, from marketing and PR all the way to customer service, sales, product development, IT, Human Resources, etc.  We’ve always tried to connect to with other groups, and the strategies and tactics that we’ve used in the past have helped to link us to other areas. But, social media communication and our ability to listen more closely offers us the opportunity to be even more tied to the brand’s business and functions across the organization. We’re able to reach higher-level goals and to do our jobs with more accountability.

There’s a natural progression of the PR professional turned hybrid, which takes the PR person’s professional development from traditional strategic communicator to the hybrid professional who has a secured seat at the boardroom table.  The diagram below not only illustrates the communicator who applies a blend of traditional and social media, but who also works more closely with other members of marketing and Web as well as other areas of the company (including sales, HR, IT, Legal, Customer Service, etc).  As a result, the Hybrid is the strategic communicator who guides all communication and has the ear of the CEO.

The Making of the Hybrid

Source

The hybrid professional will blend PR, Marketing, Advertising and Web, and knows that these groups must work together, so that brands can better communicate and interact with consumers. However, for as much as we discuss the hybrid approach and how PR, Marketing, Advertising and Web must work together, it’s the change in the way news and information is consumed that drives the hybrid professional movement.  I’ve said that social media pushes the integration of PR, Marketing, Advertising and Web, but if you step back, it’s really our consumers who are in the driver’s seat; it’s their shift in behavior that turns the concept of hybrid professional into our new reality.

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.

It goes without saying that every PR firm has some sort of new business pipeline.  What I have found these days is that there are several firms who don’t know how to fill it–or fill properly.

If I hear one more person say they have gone through their rolodex, their LinkedIn profile, their Twitter account or other forum to find people to start conversations about PR counsel, I’ll get sick.  Know why?  In many cases, these people are having the same conversation.  It goes something like this:

“Has (INSERT COMPANY HERE) ever considered its use of PR counsel?” says the agency representative.

“We like where we are,” says the client.

“Can I send you my capabilities one day?”

“Sure.  We’ll keep it on file.  You never know what can happen.”

What if you challenged convention and asked questions that MATTER to the CLIENT’S business as opposed to that of an agency?  Here is an example of something SMPR did in landing one of its most recent clients.

I asked questions that had nothing to do with PR:

• “When was the last time retailers sought ways to transform passive shoppers into active customers?”
• “Who are the companies that are researching how to transform retail’s current environment?”

No mention of PR anywhere here.  Why?  PR can help solve problems when you find other people who are asking similar questions.

We found one of our latest clients because this company was asking similar questions; we had a different answer than what they had heard before.  We started talking about the paths we could each take in finding answers.  Above all else, we proposed that our answers would unveil new opportunities for the company as it sought  new ways to reach clients.

I asked how to solve a problem.  In doing so, I solved a problem that all of us are trying to answer–where to find new business.  Now, this client and SMPR are answering more questions than just about marketing–we’re getting deep into the client’s business.

Isn’t that what a PR firm’s TRUE measurement is about?

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.

Social media has become the good-looking girl in high school who everyone wants to call their own.

I saw an article in Advertising Age recently about how ad agencies and other marketers have created these departments dedicated to social media.  Jonah Bloom suggests that they be dismantled; perhaps another approach might be applicable.

Being that this in advertising industry publication, it makes sense that Mr. Bloom discusses the piece from that industry’s vantage point.  But let’s face it–social media is being “claimed” by all agencies, not just those which create advertising.  PR firms, direct marketers, and ad agencies alike are all claiming to do it.  It’s like social media is the hot girl in high school–everyone wants to take her to the prom so they can say, “she’s with me.”

Rather than building towers or knocking towers down, why don’t we take what’s good about the towers and mesh them with the offices and people who have already built towers within their own expertise?

What social media is doing–and where I see the greatest opportunity for its long-term future–is positioning the customer’s voice in front of everyone in a company–not just its marketing department.   The good-looking high school girl might be making the rounds, but she is not going to latch on to just one date; there is value with everyone she is connected with.

Jonah Bloom said it well in his article; consumers are running the biggest recommendation service in the world.  It’s time that we (as marketers) look for ways to collectively embrace these recommendations so that our clients can collectively benefit from them.

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.