InsidEPR

To Blog or Not To Blog

By Neila Matheny

Recently, fellow PR professional Brian Solis of PR 2.0 commented on whether PR agencies should blog about clients or not.  Spurred on by a discussion between a client and its PR agency, which refused to blog about the client, Brian touched on the impact the blogosphere has had on PR and the various debates the new medium brings into agencies.

So, why not blog about your clients?  Wanting to be invisible and not wanting to hurt relationships with the press and clients were mentioned as some of the agency’s reasons not to blog.  Personally, I don’t know how to go about being invisible while building relationships at the same time.  I think the whole idea is not to be invisible.  Our relationships with the media shouldn’t be built on invisibility but rather on being a known resource.  Sometimes being a resource is a direct result of what our client can offer, but it is also about a relationship that has been built over time.  If we were invisible, how could we build relationships?

Brian also brings up a good point about social media, particularly blogs, being an unknown for PR agencies.  He says “Some get it. Some don't. Others are learning. The point is that we can all contribute to and learn from this conversation in order to apply relevant principles and lessons-learned to our individual communications strategies."

I couldn’t agree more.  We are all still learning.  Sometimes blogging can seem unnatural, but learning about it can only help us as an agency and as individuals, and it can serve to benefit of our clients.  I am definitely in the early learning stages of the blogosphere and feel much more like an observer than a participant.  However, one of my favorite moments in my three years here happened when I blogged about the adventures my client and I had on media tour, and he called me to comment on my blog entry.

I’m going to keep feeling out this blogging world and keep on learning as I go.  And as long as my clients are up for it, I’ll keep on blogging about them.

When Bigger Isn't Better

By Erin Boyd

At some point in your career, you need to decide what type of company you want to work for.  The questions are simple: large or small; multi-national, national, or local?  For some, like me, the answers are equally simple.

A few weeks ago I found myself in a debate with a friend over these very questions.  He took the position of large and multi-national, while I took small and local.  While he did make some valid arguments, I couldn’t help but think “he just doesn’t know any better.”  I, of course, do. 

During the debate, my friend and I had much to compare.  For example, both our employers stress the importance of interaction with senior-level executives.  But at his company, the interactions are few and far between, and employees are encouraged to prepare “elevator speeches” should they ever find themselves in the elevator with one of the elusive executives.  At EPR, every employee knows the senior staff, and most work directly with one or more of them on a daily basis.

Not only does working with far more experienced people increase my confidence as a junior staffer, I am mentored on a daily basis.  I can learn how senior staff have grown their careers, experience how they lead client accounts, ask them about their personal successes and hardships when they were in positions similar to my own.  It is one of the incredible benefits of working for a smaller company that I could not give up.

When I asked my friend if his clients knew who he was, or what he did, he was forced to admit “probably not.”  At EPR, mine do. The philosophy here is that colleagues at every level add value to the team dynamic, and as a result, our clients recognize everyone who works on their accounts, from supervisor to intern.  At other companies, and certainly at other PR agencies, this type of visibility is not as strongly encouraged as it is at Engage PR. 

Because I interact directly with my clients, I learn how they manage their businesses, what their priorities are, and how they determine success.  Instead of just doing tasks without any background, I understand the “why” of what I do. This first-hand knowledge allows me and my colleagues to do the job better and get results for the client. 

And if I ever have questions about the “how” of doing something, the founder’s office is right around the corner, and her door is always open.

Country living – Big City Technology

By Allison Kuhn

Some of the greatest stories come from the most remote, rural of places. In working on a case study for my client Calix (www.calix.com), I was introduced to one of its customers, BEK Communications, (www.bektel.com). BEK is a service provider in south-central North Dakota that serves 5,700 customers and has about 6,500 access lines. BEK’s customers spread across a region that covers nearly 5,400 square miles, and many live in towns of only a few hundred people. The larger towns have populations of only 700 to 1,000.

We are talking small town living.

But don’t think that BEK is providing its customers with anything short of the most innovative and next-generation technologies. This rural service provider is currently deploying a fiber build-out for its customers that will offer the best of high-speed broadband and IPTV services. BEK Communications is providing the same services to its customers that a large service provider might to its metropolitan city customers. Thanks, BEK, for giving everyone (even in the most remote of places) the opportunity to watch last month’s Super Bowl on HD TV, shop online, and DVR their favorite soap operas while busy at work.

To read more on BEK and its story, check out the article in the January issue of Broadband Properties: http://www.broadbandproperties.com/2008issues/january08/Jan_IndTelcos.pdf

You Get What You Need

By Becky Frost

Years ago, I sat in on a messaging meeting with a new client. The high-tech company offered an enterprise software solution, yet when asked what their biggest media goal was, the CEO and the vice president of marketing both said, “We want to be on the cover of Rolling Stone.”

Yep, that was their idea of PR – to get their fledgling tech company on the cover of a national music/pop-culture-focused magazine. Granted, that would have increased their cool factor immensely, but when it came down to brass tacks, Rolling Stone didn’t target the right audience for their PR needs.

In setting and managing client expectations, sometimes it’s best to reference the words of Mr. Mick Jagger “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.”

As PR professionals, one of the most important aspects of our job is to help clients set and achieve goals that will benefit their business. Give us challenges, we can take them. Tackle the Wall Street Journal? Sure, we’ll map a way to get to the right reporter, get everything we need together on our side, and we’ll get there when the timing is right.

When clients work together with PR to define expectations that will help their bottom line, PR can be quite successful at getting them what they need.

What constitutes bad PR? Let me count the ways…

By Johnny Truong

“The following is just the last month’s list of people and companies who have been added to my Outlook blocked list. All of them have sent me something inappropriate at some point in the past 30 days. Many of them sent press releases; others just added me to a distribution list without asking. If their address gets harvested by a spammer by being published here, so be it – turnabout is fair play.” – Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Wired Magazine

That’s definitely a list you wouldn’t want to be on if you’re in this industry.

PR is all about people, relationships, and adding value. The industry shouldn’t forget that media relations should never be just about pitching, messaging, and sending press releases. It’s about symbiotic relationships, mutual participation, engaging in conversations, and most important, understanding what you’re talking about and why it matters to the person you’re speaking to.

Below is a list of PR do’s and don’ts in regard to clients and the media that we here at Engage PR value and respect:

Do:

• Respect the media’s and analysts’ time – gauge their availability before attempting to monopolize their next few minutes
• Research – know who you’re speaking to before you attempt to contact them. Are they the right beat reporter at the publication?
• Deliver what you promised, when you promised it – set feasible expectations when you say you’re going to get something to someone
• Establish healthy relationships with clients and the media – not all conversations have to be about press releases and messaging
• Be a resource to your contacts – prove to them you’re there to help them do their job, as they are there to help us with ours

Don’t:

• Be too aggressive – no means no!
• Contact multiple reporters at the same publication to reach someone – just because you can’t reach a certain reporter doesn’t entitle you to hunt them down through their colleagues
• Call during deadline – for weekly publications, deadlines are usually Wednesdays or Thursdays. For monthly publications, deadlines are usually in the third week
• Over- or underestimate the reporters’ knowledge – do a little research to gauge their expertise in the particular space
• Get wasted at an industry event – no commentary needed for this bullet…I hope…

I’m sure there are more PR do’s and don’ts, but abide to these and you will, I hope, stay off Anderson’s list of bad PR people.