Sunday, June 26, 2005

Winning through communicating

I recently read Winning, the latest book from  former GE CEO, Jack Welch. While Welch has numerous insights into the world of business management, I was particularly interested in how often he talked about communications. In fact, much of the book can be read as a testament to the vital role that communications plays in running a winning business.

In his chapter on leadership, Welch lists eight rules for leadership. Every one of the eight rules deals primarily with communication or has a communications aspect. His tips include: no vision is worth the paper it's printed on unless it is communicated constantly... And Trust happens when leaders are transparent, candid and keep their word.

On change, which he calls a critical part of business, his first piece of advice is for leaders to communicate a sounds rationale for every change. When a business is facing a crisis, he recommends complete and continuous transparency. His method for managing people requires a transparent framework that everyone in the company understands.

You often hear corporate heads of marketing and communications talk about the importance of gaining access to the "C-Suite." I think Jack Welch would agree.

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Monday, June 20, 2005

Is your agency blogging?

In an excellent post, Steve Rubel explains why we launched a blog. Many of the important conversations for our clients are happening online and we can't afford to ignore them. I'd like to think that public relations professionals are ready to take the lead on the blogosphere, but I'm not sure our profession is there yet...

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Friday, June 17, 2005

Are you networked?

Every since reading the post Networking 101 from Seth Levine a few weeks ago, I've been thinking a lot about the power of networking. I've never landed a job by answering an advertisement or by competing against a bunch of other applicants. Every job I've ever had has come from networking.

I got my first real job, waiting tables at an upscale local restaurant, because I met the manager at a political party gathering. I received my first job out of college because somebody-I-knew-knew-somebody-who-was-looking-for-somebody-like-me...and she made the introduction. I even got a job from an acquaintance I bumped into at a Christmas party. With my current job in public relations, I'm now the guy who's expected to know people (in fact, I just had someone I knew from a previous job call me earlier this week asking for help with a job search).

So, let's say you believe in the power of networking but you don't know where to start. Well, the aforementioned post is a good place to start. One of the best practitioners of the art of networking is Keith Ferrazzi, who's book Never Eat Alone shares his tips. If you're curious, but you don't want to fork over the the $16.47 that Amazon is asking, you're in luck. As is the case with many books, this one started with an article. Ferrazzi's co-author interviewed him for Inc. Magazine and so you can read The 10 Secrets of a Master Networker for free.

The article on networking that had the most influence on me came from the May, 2000 issue of Details Magazine. Titled "Aren't You Famous Yet?" the nine-page article was penned by Dan Zevin. Here's the Cliffs Notes version:

Step 1: Schmooze or Lose. In order to get ahead, you have to cultivate your contacts and you do that by doing favors for them, not asking them to do favors for you. Here's one relevant excerpt: "Let's say you're a fitness trainer," says David Posternack of Rubenstein Public Relations. "You have a client who mentions he's looking for office space. A few days later, you're introduced to a realtor. Not only should you get thes two in contact, you should suggest that all three of you go out for drinks. And you should probably pick up the tab." What's in it for you? Maybe nothing. But if they end up doing business maybe the realtor thanks you by cutting you a commission. Maybe your client is so grateful that he recommends you to five friends. "All of a sudden, you're not only a fitness trainer," Posternack says. "You're the man. Everyone's talking about what a smart guy you are."

Step 2: Build your Buzz. You generate buzz by inventing demand. Restaurant publicists get it not by swinging the doors open to everyone but by hyping the "fact" that it's impossible to get a reservation. Zevin gives the award for the year's best buzz-building performance to The Blair Witch Project for the 21,222,589 hits their website received.

Step 3: Meet the Press. The news media can extend your 15 minutes of fame, but you have to know what you're doing.

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Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Becoming a thought leader

Public relations professionals are constantly trying so position their clients as "thought leaders." But what does that really mean and how do we do it? I recently read a good post on how to become a thought leader and use that status as a lead generation tool. Brian Carroll says "Content is King" and thought leaders write, speak, do research, analyze trends and openly share insightful ideas with people. All things that public relations professionals help our clients do every day.

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Monday, June 13, 2005

Public Relations in an online world

While there is no doubt that the Internet is changing the way coroporations communicate with the customers, it is of far more interest to me how public relations professionals should react. With that in mind, be sure to read the 10 Commandments for The Era of Participatory Public Relations posted by Steve Rubel.

What strikes me as particularly interesting about his set of commandments is that all should be applied whether online or off. What the Internet has done (especially the blogosphere) is make it more urgent for corporations to adopt standards of communication that they should have done years ago. Ten years ago if a corporation violated one of Rubel's 10 Commandments, the worst that could happen is a letter from a disgruntled customer who might also tell four or five of their friends. Today, that customer can reach thousands of people with a blog post that required less of their time and money (postage).

The connectivity of the Internet reduces the margin for error. My advice? Read Rubel's Rules and follow them. Today.

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Everything has a brand

Everything has a brand, even churches. About three months ago, First Southern Baptist Church of Sioux Falls, S.D. changed their name to Cross Pointe Baptist Church. Why? Because you can't get much further north than South Dakota.

In a recent article in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader pastor Rob Grimm said they made the change to attract more people. Grimm said the old name suggested it was a church for Southerners. "It's a new identity, a new image in the community," he said.

I'm not sure what impact the name change had on the congregation, but the Argus Leader wrote the article due to a new addition on their church needed because they are starting to burst at the seams.

How's your brand?

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Thursday, June 9, 2005

Why do companies blog?

Backbone Media has published some preliminary results from their Corporate Blogging Survey and the responses paint a picture of why corporations start blogs. The top three reasons were:

  1. Another way to publish content and ideas
  2. Build a community
  3. Thought leadership

Interestingly, "Boost search engine positions" was the eighth most popular of the 16 responses. Recently, Steve Rubel suggested that corporate blogging believers should Sell on Search. The preliminary results of this survey would seem to disagree, but I think that search should be ranked higher. What difference does it make if you have a venue to publish content and ideas if no one can find you?

Thanks to PR Opinions for bringing this survey to my attention.

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Wednesday, June 8, 2005

Big blogs discuss small

A big discussion has erupted in the blogosphere on a topic that is central to the theme of this blog. Seth Godin got it started with the post Small is the new big. The entire post is well worth the read, but here's the money quote for us:

A small law firm or accounting firm or ad agency is succeeding because they’re good, not because they’re big. So smart small companies are happy to hire them.

Seth followed it up with more on small, but it was his initial post that touched off a giant discussion on the blogosphere with everyone we read weighing in. Jeff Jarvis picked it up, saying:

Small won't replace big, of course, but small will add up to considerable new competition. And that is because small can now succeed. The economies of scale must compete with the economies of small.

As examples, Jarvis references two articles about virtual companies that I recently commented on here. At Micro Persuasion, Steve Rubel said it was one of the best blog posts I've ever read.

I think this is especially true of the world of advertising/marketing/public relations. Ultimately, when a company is looking for an ad agency, they're looking for fresh ideas. If an agency's ideas are bad, bigness can't make up the difference. If they're good, smallness is not an obstacle. But, as Seth closes his post: Small is the new big only when the person running the small thinks big. Are you thinking big and staying small?

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Saturday, June 4, 2005

Who needs a building when you have a blog?

Two recent articles in major business publications have chronicled the rise of "virtual companies." The Amazing Rise of the Do-It-Yourself Economy from Fortune and The New Instant Companies from Business 2.0 both look at companies that outsource almost everything but the original idea (hat tip to PR Machine on the latter article).

Many of the companies mentioned in the articles benefited greatly from blogs and the exposure their products gained in the blogosphere. Business 2.0 called it "Leveraging the Hype Machine" and listed new companies who saw significant interest and sales following mentions on blogs Gizmodo, MoCo Loco, DailyCandy, Treehugger and Luxist.

The goal of public relations is get our clients in front of audiences who are interested in their products. If those audiences are moving online, then we must follow them and engage in the online conversation.

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005

Indy Racing League

Thanks to a profile in the Argus Leader, I found out that the public relations director of the Indy Racing League is an old acquaintance of mine and a Sioux Falls native. Tom Savage has held the job since December, 2002, and got his start in the world of sports PR with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. One of the great things about public relations is working with the media to tell great stories that people want to read. This one let me connect with an old friend. You can't beat that.