Tag Archive for 'PR'

Sad Situation - PRISA National Conference Cancelled

Published
by
Robynn
on June 9, 2008
in Public Relations
. 0 Comments

The Public Relations Institute of South Africa (PRISA) has cancelled its annual conference, which was set to take place next week. The official reason: low bookings due to the recent xenophobic violence and unrest in Gauteng. Is it just me, or does this sound somewhat like a story that’s been spun?

Zimbabweans living in the townships have had a terrifying time trying to travel via public transport. But public relations practitioners travelling by plane and by car are in a very different situation, very far away from experiencing any xenophobic attacks. I find it hard to believe that people outside of Gauteng would decide not to attend the conference for this reason, it just doesn’t make sense. Perhaps the increase in petrol prices would be a more believable reason.

Maybe I’m wrong about this, but it actually isn’t the point. I completely agree with Louise Marsland where she says that PRISA’s statement - citing xenophobic violence as the sole reason for low bookings - is highly irresponsible. According to a statement by PRISA’s president, Mixael de Kock, South Africa will have great difficulty in restoring its reputation following the recent xenophobic attacks. The statement said “PRISA is ready to play its part in strategising the country’s communication efforts in the months to come”.

Hmm, so after fanning the flame you then offer to help put it out?

The planning of this conference has been going on for months, whereas the xenophobic violence has only flared up over the last few weeks. The conference organisers could’ve seen early on how the bookings compared with those of previous years at the same stage of planning. If the sales were slow, they could’ve used their strategic skills to make changes or increase the marketing and PR efforts much earlier. Granted, South Africans love to leave things for the last minute, so perhaps they were counting on a mass charge for tickets in the last month.

To my mind, perhaps the biggest barrier to ticket sales was the choice of topics covered during the conference. Covering “Communication - The Sixth Sense“, topics ranged from the nature of intelligence and consciousness to neuro-semantics and neuro-hermeneutics. Although these topics fascinate me and I can definitely see the benefit of these for communication in general, I’m probably in the minority.

The choice to cover these topics was very brave and perhaps even pioneering for a conservative type of organisation like PRISA. I applaud them for trying something new, but considering that it is such a new angle, surely they should’ve done their homework first to see if the idea would take, or at least keep a very close watch on ticket sales in the early stages. PRISA plans to reschedule the conference for September and they say they will tweak various aspects of the offering to make it an even better event.

The biggest irony for me is that a conference covering emotional, social, ethical and spiritual intelligence is cancelled due to fears of unrest, which is perhaps not the most ethical or socially aware response. I really am sad for PRISA that the conference has been cancelled, but I can’t help but wonder if it could’ve been avoided or could’ve been handled differently.

Popularity: 8% [?]


Managing Perceptions Around Social Media - Does Your Client Get It?

Published
by
Robynn
on June 6, 2008
in WebPR
. 0 Comments

Gerry McCusker’s post on PR Disasters.com asks if the term ”Social Media” is a misnomer and possibly acts as an inhibitor to adoption. The argument being that social media just sounds lightweight to many CEOs and traditional marketing heads.

“It’s that thing my kid spends all his time on instead of doing his homework, right? Too much socialising and nothing else.” But, the teens that’ve been brought up on social media have a very different perception of it - kind of like the way a fish feels about the water it swims in. It’s just part of the way they communicate and the way they work.

There’s not much we can do now about changing the actual term and we certainly don’t need to, because the users of social media completely get the purpose, usefulness and benefits of it (or at least many of them do). They are also our future CEOs and business leaders.

But what we can do in the meantime is to sharpen our skills on how we pitch the concept to those clients, CEOs and colleagues who couldn’t be bothered with this new web0.2-socialising-thingamajig. Public relations is largely about managing perceptions and that’s exactly what we need to do here.

The art of communication is finding a way of communicating your message so that it matches the values (or priorities) of your audience. Your client won’t rate the concept of webPR and blogging very highly if it’s only being done because it’s the lattest, hottest trend. That means nothing to a business person. But if you pitch your online marketing, social media and webPR plans in terms of real business objectives, then it’s far easier to grasp. Like the SEO benefits of driving more traffic to the website and thereby increasing sales; the ability to more easily establish, affect and monitor your online reputation, thereby creating more credibility and increasing sales; the ability to get faster feedback, make improvements and then increase sales.

It’s really all about the money at the end of the day. If social media simply comes across as a cool, trendy, fun, time-wasting thing to do, then the big corporates and traditional clients will never risk it. Smart public relations people will know how to rephrase their pitches with words like “influencers” instead of “bloggers”, “business networking” or “network media” instead of “social networks” to ensure that they’re using the language their audience understands best.

Popularity: 10% [?]


Top 15 PR Blogs I’ve Read

Published
by
Robynn
on June 4, 2008
in Public Relations
. 10 Comments

This is a quick list of some of the best international PR, publicity and media relations related blogs that I’ve read recently (and there are many, many more that I haven’t read yet). I’m not numbering them, because this list is not in order of priority or greatness, it’s just a random order - you can see which blogs appeal to you most.

- The Bad Pitch Blog: “An award-winning public relations resource from Richard Laermer and Kevin Dugan, since January 2006. Read our Wrath.”

- BuzzMachine: “Jeff Jarvis blogs about media and news at Buzzmachine.com.”

- The Buzz Bin: Geoff Livingston & Livingston Communications.

- Allied: Jeneane Sessum. “Allied is Jeneane’s personal weblog, which covers cultural, social, and professional topics ranging from race and gender issues, to marketing and PR, to pet hamsters.”


(Too much good content out there and too many things to do. Picture Source: Krelic on Flickr)

- POP! PR Jots: Jeremy Pepper.

- Catching Flack: Jon Greer. “Smart ways to win the public relations game.”

- GreenBanana: Heather Yaxley. “Connecting ideas, thoughts and comment because if you’re green, you’re growing.”

- Open (minds, finds, conversations): Antony Mayfield.

- PR Disasters: “PR disasters, spin doctors and reputation management gone wrong, by PR analyst and author Gerry McCusker.”

- PR-Squared: Todd Defren. “Conversations about social media + marketing.”

- A shel of my former self: Shel Holtz.

- Micro Persuasion: “Steve Rubel explores the impact of digital trends on business, culture, media and marketing.”

- PR 2.0: Brian Solis. “Shaping the convergence of social media, PR, web marketing & technology - Live, from the edge.”

- NevilleHobson.com: “Welcome to NevilleHobson.com - the place at the intersection of business, communication and technology. Sometimes, it’s a collision.”

- Communication Overtones: Kami Huyse. “Conversations at the intersection of public relations and social media…”

 


Have a look at the PR Friendly Index for a list (according to ranking) of many more PR blogs.

Popularity: 100% [?]


The Way You End Your Emails May End Your Media Relations

Published
by
Robynn
on May 30, 2008
in Media Relations Tips
. 2 Comments

Stuart Jeffries wrote an article in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday on “A guide to signing off your emails“. He raises some interesting points about netiquette and how PR practitioners should avoid faking a sense of intimacy through over-familiar email endings.

Although Stuart yearns for a return to proper business correspondence, personally, I always avoid what feels like overly formal communication, such as addressing someone with “dear sir”, or ending an email with “yours faithfully”. It just feels dishonest. Not that it’s untruthful, but rather, by using these standardised formalities, it strips all sense of individuality. Your real message, feeling and tone gets muffled.

Don’t get me wrong though, there is always a place and time for the formal, business communication style. Also, I’m certainly not suggesting a descent into colloquial, over-familiar chit-chat with the business contacts and journalists you email.  As an example, I did a double-take today when I opened an email from a job applicant I have never met, which started with “Hi there”. Hmm, not really appropriate as a first time introduction, considering the applicant already knew my full name.

So what is appropriate in emails to journalists? Is “warm regards” too warm and fuzzy? Stuart Jeffries seems to think so, although he’s received far worse. In my case, I’m a warm-blooded human being, a pretty friendly one at that, so I regularly use “warm regards” to end my emails. Although, if I’m emailing a complete stranger I normally opt for the slightly more stand-offish “kind regards”, or more formal “best regards”.

While “warm regards” might still be debatable, “love and kisses”, “xoxo”, “ciao” and “cheers” definitely are not. You might well be filled with divine “light and love” at the time of sending, but these phrases are reserved for friends and family only.

You can’t try to imitate a closer relationship with someone by using an over-friendly ending to your email. You’re more likely to cause the opposite reaction and irritate the journalist.

Phrases like “God bless” and “take care” can also be irritating when received by a stranger. The words come across as empty or insincere when you are asking someone that you have never met to take care. Why? What for?

When in doubt, rather stick to a neutral email ending, such as:
Regards,
Kind regards,
Best regards,
Thank you,

By the way, by not using a sign-off at all, you will come across as curt or rude. Read more about email sign-offs and other email etiquette on NetManners.com.

Popularity: 18% [?]


Leveraging Your Publicity - Why Not?

Published
by
Robynn
on May 30, 2008
in Public Relations
. 0 Comments

One of my clients forwarded an email to me last week (sorry I didn’t get to share this with you until now), where she pointed out a simple, yet very effective marketing message she received from Dawn Wing Couriers.

The email simply referred to an upcoming guest appearance of their CEO, Mike Fanucchi, on 702 Talk Radio. Dawn Wing’s marketing manager invited their clients to share their comments and opinions during the show. The email provided all the details of the interview and the studio number.

Why does an email like this stand out? Well, for some of Dawn Wing’s clients it probably doesn’t. But PR practitioners would certainly recognise this as a way of leveraging publicity. In this case, it was done in an excellent way. It’s not boastful to tell interested people about the media coverage you’ve gained, it’s smart - especially if it’s done in the spirit of sharing information about topics that would interest others.

If you’ve done all the hard work and research to organise a great radio interview or magazine feature, surely you would want as many people as possible to hear it or read it. That is, after all, the whole point. Who better to inform about your media coverage than your existing networks - the brand or company’s employees, clients and suppliers. They can then spread the message to other people who would be interested.

This is so obvious, yet I’m not sure how many PR companies and publicists actually have systems in place or set time aside to really leverage the hard work they’ve already done.

Popularity: 7% [?]


First South African Social Media Release

Published
by
Robynn
on April 11, 2008
in WebPR
. 3 Comments

Social Media Press ReleaseSocial Media Press ReleaseThis week saw South Africa’s first online Social Media Press Release for the 2008 Standard Bank Pro20 cricket series - or at least that’s what the website says. I’m not 100% sure that it’s the first (there are several very smart webPR companies doing great behind-the-scenes work), but it’s certainly the first that I’ve come across. Perhaps it’s because this is the first local media release about a social media release.

I can’t help but wonder though, why did they call it a social media press release? The words “press release” really refer to the traditional way of gaining publicity through the printed press; whereas the words “media release” or “news release” are more inclusive and relevant for broadcast and online media. Perhaps “social media news release” or just simply “social media release” would work. But the terminology is a minor point, overall I feel that this is fantastic work by Standard Bank and all those who worked on this concept, including Cerebra, Brandsh and Melissa Attree.

All the information that a journalist or blogger would need is gathered in one place, from the quick facts at the top, to photos, video clips, quotes, match fixtures and contact details. If you want to see the updates to the release, you simply sign up for the RSS feed and you’ll always be able to access the freshest news around the Pro20.

Congrats to the marketers and the PR team for putting it all together in a simple way. I’m not sure how some of the traditional journalists will perceive this web2.0 thingamajig, but the easy-to-navigate, uncluttered layout will certainly help to convert the newbies. (This particular release was targeted at online journalists, bloggers, podcasters and videocasters.)

With the deadlines that some journalists suffer, they might moan about having to first click a link and wait for the page to load to see if the information is relevant to them or not. In this case, being able to quickly scan through the text in an email is easier. Or perhaps it’s just a habit, which means that it’s simpler to stick with the old ways of doing things? There will always be resistance to change and a social media release like this is certainly a big change from the usual press releases. 

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” - Charles Darwin

I hope to see many more media releases like this one.

Popularity: 11% [?]


How To Really Irritate a Journo in The First 5 Seconds

Published
by
Robynn
on April 4, 2008
in Media Relations Tips
. 7 Comments

It’s simple. If you start a phone call with “Hi, how are you?” you are looking for trouble.

Perhaps you’ve heard that public relations people are sometimes referred to as PR sales people? This is not because the poor journalists aren’t savvy enough to know the difference, it’s because people in our own PR industry are creating this perception - often unwittingly. In fact, some are so unconscious to the effect that their sloppy PR habits have, that they get upset and exclaim “how rude!” when an exasperated journalist doesn’t want to hear another irrelevant PR pitch.

I think I need a quick disclaimer here: I am not saying that journalists should be excused for being rude, there is no excuse for that. But after hearing some of their stories, I can understand why blood pressure levels rise as often as they do. 

Ok, so getting back to the PR/sales person comparison. Here’s what you can do to avoid a negative impression when making your call:

- Introduce yourself upfront.
Only untrained telemarketers selling dodgy products start a conversation with a bubbly “hi, how are you?” in an attempt to “build rapport”. The only thing this does is build scepticism. First say who you are and what company you’re calling from. No-one wants to make small talk when they don’t know who they’re dealing with; journalists generally don’t want to make small talk at all.

- You don’t need to be everyone’s best friend.
Get to the point and then be friendly, in that order. Once you’ve built a good relationship with a journalist, then you can chat away about your weekend plans and the weather. But up until that point, simply give the journalists what they need in a professional manner.

Please, for your own sake and for the sanity of the journalists you’re dealing with, understand why “hi, how are you?” just doesn’t work. Then pass on the tip to all of your colleagues too (despite its obviousness), because somewhere out there some PR people are unknowingly sabotaging all your hard media relations work.

What’s obvious to one is obviously not obvious to everyone.

Popularity: 7% [?]


PR Awards - Creating More Division?

Published
by
Robynn
on March 27, 2008
in Public Relations
. 4 Comments

PRISA’s PRISM AwardsThe 11th PRISA PRISM Awards took place last night in Midrand, with the Gautrain Project walking away with the top awards. According to the comments appearing on Bizcommunity, several people aren’t happy about this and are looking for comments from PRISA.

But before I get into that, I’d firstly like to say well done to everyone who won awards. Then, secondly, I’d like to ask why I seem to be the only one (please let me be wrong) congratulating people/companies on their efforts. Yes, I hear the argument that the competition is only open to PRISA members (apparently that’s a misperception though - see comments below) and it’s always the usual suspects that take part. I also know that many award-deserving companies don’t feel the need to register with PRISA and will therefore never be acknowledged in these awards. So yes, the pool from which the winning PR campaigns are chosen is possibly not very deep.

But nevertheless, these PR companies took the initiative and went to the effort of submitting their case studies to get acknowledgement for their work. There’s nothing wrong with winning an award for that, irrespective of how many companies actually took part. A Marketingweb article earlier this week asked people to list top SA PR practitioners or companies, ahead of the PRISA awards ceremony. It was sad to see that so few took the opportunity to congratulate their peers and colleagues. So once again, congratulations to all the winning (and award-deserving) companies!

Coming back to the Gautrain issue, I don’t know how PRISA’s judging process works and until we know that, no-one can really objectively criticise their decision. Ideally, the key journalists’ who cover the Gautrain project should have been asked for their opinions on the effectiveness of the Gautrain’s PR team. It is a “Media Relations” award, isn’t it?

Just to let you know, I am not a PRISA member. I do, however, feel that we need a strong, healthy industry body and I’ve been keen to chat to some of the PRISA board members about this - if only they would’ve returned my calls.

I’ve just visited the PRISA website to see if I could find any media releases about the awards, but alas their newsroom link doesn’t work in Firefox and their home page still says that “judging is taking place now”.

Popularity: 8% [?]


Wine, Facebook, SEO, Farming and Darts…

Published
by
Robynn
on March 27, 2008
in WebPR
. 11 Comments

Add to that a food demonstration and this made for one of the most interesting and diverse PR-Net meetings I’ve attended in a while. It was held on Tuesday night at the QuirkStation (the offices of Quirk eMarketing) in Cape Town. With the exception of the food and wine, you’re wondering how the strange combination of elements in the title relates to public relations, right?

Well, in the case of the irrigation practices of the Perdeberg farming cooperative, it didn’t. But we politely listened to Kobus from Perdeberg Wines in exchange for the boxes of wine he shared with us during the evening. Thanks Perdeberg! Their PR company, Wired Communications, are doing some interesting work online. They’ve created the Clink to Win Facebook application to create awareness for the little wine brand - “it’s the one with the Zebra” we were told. Well done to them for trying something new.

After hearing about the details and successes of this online PR campaign, Rob Stokes, head of Quirk, introduced his newly launched venture to the PR-Net group. Despite recovering from flu, Rob gave a jam-packed presentation where he explained the importance of online reputation management and how BrandsEye helps companies track and rate their online reputation. I think that Rob and his team of QuirkStars must be congratulated for the excellent and pioneering work they’ve done on BrandsEye. It looks like a world-class product, which will transform the way PR, marketing and communications companies/departments manage their online reputation.

Of course, I’m particularly chuffed that my partner, Scott, was lucky enough to hit the right spot on the dart board to win a one-month trial of BrandsEye! :)

I’ll report back on my experience so you can see how it works for Encyclomedia.

Popularity: 38% [?]


The Back and Forth Journey of a Newspaper Story

Published
by
Robynn
on March 17, 2008
in Media Relations Tips
. 1 Comment

You write a great media release and the newspaper journalist you’re pitching the story to decides to use it. You celebrate and feel very chuffed with yourself, excitedly tell your colleagues and possibly even call up your client. The next morning you rush out to the shop and get your copy of the newspaper and enthusiastically page through to find your article. You reach the end and realise that you must’ve missed it in your haste, so you page through again…and again…

Suddenly the shattering realisation hits that your wonderful article simply wasn’t printed.

For those of you nodding and remembering the excitement and disappointment of your early PR days, you know that there are various factors that affect the longevity of your media release - irrespective of whether the journalist liked it or not. But for the benefit of those who still climb the emotional roller-coaster with every daily newspaper, here are just a few things to keep in mind.

  • The news editor controls what stories the journalists work on. It’s fine to pitch your idea to a journalist directly (news editors are in any case pretty busy people), but just understand that it needs to get the nod from the news editor too before the journalist invests any more time in the article.
  • In the case of Die Burger’s newsroom, your story needs to survive six daily meetings where the placement of each and every article gets discussed.
  • Once the article leaves the journalist’s desktop, it will pass through about nine other people before finally going to print. If any one of these people find fault with something in your article, it will quickly get edited or simply get cut altogether.
  • Important breaking news or hard news will always replace the softer news stories. If you’ve pitched your newly-formulated-fool-proof-muffin-mix minutes before the onset of a national crisis, hard luck. Of course, if you’ve pitched your idea after the journalists start scrambling to cover the big news, then perhaps you should consider a more appropriate career.

Don’t ask me why the odd press release (in its exact original form) finds its way through to the printed paper from time to time. Count yourself lucky when this happens, very, very lucky.

Popularity: 6% [?]