Posts Tagged ‘PR’

Be’Cause’ of You

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

[Originally posted on The PR Breakfast Club]

I don’t mean the hit song by Kelly Clarkson. I mean YOU—the PR pro, publicist, idea peddler, creative genius, whatever you want to call yourself. You’ve got clout and Klout. You are in a position to make a difference.

What I’m talking about here goes beyond securing hundreds of thousands of dollars in media placements for a client (although that would be the icing on the cake). It’s about making a difference in people’s lives by counseling your clients to roll out a cause-related PR campaign. If they haven’t tried it, I believe it’s time that they do.

I’m so psyched about penning this piece on cause-related PR because I’m a big believer in its merits. And I’ve seen it time and time again on how media outlets are much more open to covering your news if it’s tied-in with a reputable charity.  The question is why haven’t you gotten buy in from your client.

Here a four personalinsights on getting your client on board:

Find the right fit – If your client is an alcoholic beverage company, Mothers Against Drunk Driving may not be the appropriate partner. I think you get my point.

Find a partner with a strong grassroots base – There are many organizations out there that boast of millions of supporters, but only a tiny percentage are actually active in promoting its cause. However, there are some organizations that are smaller in total number, but have a majority that are actively getting its message out to the public.  I don’t want to provide examples of the former, but of the latter—Autism Speaks, Soldiers’ Angels, Livestrong, Feeding America and the ASPCA have extremely active supporters. [This is based on personal research and experience partnering with these organizations.]

Let the nonprofit do some of the work – If you’ll be cutting a significant check to a charitable organization, I think the least it could do for your client is help get the word out about your cause-related PR campaign.  Again, if they have an active base, you’ll get the media attention and word of mouth.

Be creative but not complicated – If your client wants to help and has money to donate to a charity, don’t have him simply write a check. Believe me, your client doesn’t need to give away millions of dollars to receive some earned media. For example, one of my clients, Rudy’s Bar-B-Q, a chain of Texas Bar-B-Q restaurants in the Southwest, decided to donate to the local food banks.  Instead of cutting a check, we decided to donate a dollar for every pound of meat sold (yes, they sell barbecued meat by the pound in Texas) and added 50 cents for every new Facebook fan and Twitter follower to split across all food bank partners.  The campaign ran for three days, and in the end, the chain secured heightened awareness and received media coverage in all of its markets. More details here: http://rudys.com/follow2support. It was a simple fundraising campaign that was easy for the media to report on the air, in print and online.

As you start planning 2011, please make sure you add cause-related PR to your PR plan. Make this your New Year’s resolution. To paraphrase a wise marketing dude, Creed Ford IV (@creedford), even if the whole damn thing flops, you would’ve still made a difference in someone’s life.

And that, my friends, is what PR should be about.

*Please follow me @PRFlipside.

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Posted in Cause-Related PR, PRBC | No Comments »

You Might Be In PR If…

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

This may not be so original since I’m borrowing Jeff Foxworthy’s “You Might Be a Redneck…” shtick for this post. You may also view this as a lame attempt, but hey this is my little space online to share my observations about PR, so I shall post what I want. I’ve been doing PR  for about 13 years so I’d like to think I know more than the average PR pro.

You Might Be In PR If...

You Might Be In PR If…

…you can spot every news item/segment on TV, radio, blog that’s pitched by a PR pro.

…you refer to pitch as a letter not a skill for baseball.

…you think ad buys are a wasted investment.

…every time you write “PR” on tweets, you preface it with a hashtag.

…you know what a hashtag is.

…you hate the word “leverage,” but find yourself using it to explain a PR tactic.

…you get excited when you get a media placement in The Wall Street Journal.

…you get ticked off when the boss asks why you didn’t get USA Today or The New York Times.

…it takes you at least a half hour to explain what you do for a living to family and friends.

…your family and friends think you’re in advertising no matter how many times you’ve explained you’re in PR (ya know what I mean).

…you multiply the ad value by 2.5 to get the publicity value.

…you’re a news junkie.

…you know getting a hit is not all about contacts but about the story you pitch.

…you understood what I meant by hit.

…you still call Cision Bacon’s just because you like the traditional and the association with pork (ok, this is just me).

…you know your profession has been ranked as the 8th most stressful job in the country.

…you’ve used Barack Obama’s presidential campaign as a case study for the value of PR.

…85% of the folks you work with are women.

…creative sessions begin with which celebrity can we bring to the table or can the client write a book?

…clients are treated with the same level of service no matter what retainer they pay.

…you have one social media slide, maybe  two, that covers why your firm has social media expertise on new business presentations.

…you secretly despise being called a flack.

…you have a degree in communications or journalism or some other degree that has nothing to do with PR.

…you wish there was a fictional TV series or sitcom about PR people (not starring Lizzie Grubman or Kim Kardashian).

…you read this post and can relate to more than one of the lines plus you can spew out an additional 25 lines without batting an eyelash.

Send in your lines and let’s write a book together. Did I just say that?

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Posted in Public Relations, Social Media | 7 Comments »

Networking Tips From A Five Year-Old

Monday, April 5th, 2010

My family and I were at a local restaurant recently having dim sum (it may not be as tasty as the ones in Chinatown in Manhattan, but yes, they have dim sum in Texas) when another family sat at the table next to us. We gave them the friendly Texas welcome smile, which we finally learned to do (yes, this seems to be the practice in Texas so don’t be weirded out when you visit and strangers give you a ‘smile’).

The family sitting next to us had a little boy (probably about four years old) and he seemed to like to wander away towards the restaurant’s aquarium on display. My son, who is five, is the same way. So after eating his delightful dumplings, he walked away from our table to the aquarium, and within a couple of seconds was having a conversation in his own little way (he suffers from autism) with the other boy. The communication exchange between the two was what amazed me. He made a connection and while we were at the restaurant, he was engaged in what the other boy was saying and doing.

I thought to myself, that’s a great attitude to have when networking with others. So here are a few things I learned from my five year-old:

- Have no fear. Many people I know are afraid to go up to another person to engage them in conversation even at a networking event. Here’s the best opening line, “HI, I’m ______ (insert your name here).”

- Be loose as a goose. Nervousness may be part of the experience when meeting new people, but it shouldn’t stop you from going up to them and introducing yourself. You’re not proposing in marriage.

- Be open (but not too open). No one needs to know you won the belcher of the year award in college. Find out what you have in common and have a conversation about it. Similar to my five year old and the other boy, they were talking about Super Mario Bros. [Yes, that same game we used to play on a Nintendo 64 is still around.]

- Be engaged and engaging. It’s two-way street. Once you feel like you’re monopolizing the conversation, YOU ARE! So shut up and ask questions and let other people speak. How do you know you’re monopolizing the discussion? Everyone, but one stays in your group, and the one left is slurring his Rs.

- Don’t leave home without it. I’m not talking about your American Express card, but your business card.  It doesn’t matter whether your business card was made by professional printers or by your own personal ink jet printer, just make sure you have cards with your contact info on them.  Some of the folks you meet might just throw them straight into the trash, but some will keep them. Those that keep them might need to get in touch with you in the future when a need arises like when a major crisis transpires at their company.  At every networking event I go to, my goal is to hand out at least ten business cards to the new people I’ve met. Note: this tip didn’t come from my five year-old.

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Posted in life, Networking | 1 Comment »

Differentiating PR from Promotions

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

I’ve said before that the only thing that PR has in common with Promotions is the first two letters. This post is not about knocking the value of promotions. I have high regard for those who work in that profession. I even represented the industry when I managed the PR for the Promotion Marketing Association at my old firm.

At times though, clients interchange PR and promotions as though they are one and the same. They’re NOT.

Although the differences between PR and promotions have been written about many times before, just Google it and you’ll find many articles on the topic so here’s my 10 short takes on the differences between the two (not in any order):

1. PR is relationship-driven. Promotions is sales-driven.

2. PR is ongoing throughout the year. Promotions has a start and a finish and typically follows a calendar.

3. PR is a management function. Promotions is a sales & marketing function.

4. PR is about influencing the influencers (analysts, bloggers, reporters, etc.). Promotions is about influencing consumers (half-off deals/sales, coupons, rewards, etc.)

5. PR can take years to measure its success. Promotions can be rolled out in weeks, if not, days and its success can be measured immediately.

6. PR is an investment. Promotions is a necessary expense.

7. PR builds long-term loyalty. Promotions builds short-term recall.

8. PR earns its media. Promotions buys its media.

9. PR can be done on multiple levels at the same time with various campaigns for each key audience. Promotions is traditionally a singular approach i.e. can’t be combined with any other offer or limit one per customer.

10. PR never thinks it’s Promotions. Promotions never thinks it’s PR.

Feel free to share your thoughts on PR vs. Promotions. I’d love to hear them.

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Posted in Public Relations | No Comments »

My First Post on PR Breakfast Club

Friday, February 12th, 2010

I am deeply honored to be a contributing writer for, PR Breakfast Club, the hottest PR blog in the country today. My debut post is a brief Q & A with Good Day Austin’s Lauren Petrowski. Click here to read.

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Posted in PRBC | No Comments »