10 signs you’re an old-school PR pro

You remember clip books that were actual books, and fax machines that were absolutely revolutionary



Can you imagine pitching media without email or distributing a press release without online forms? Think about how long that would take.

It’s been less than 20 years since people started adopting Web-based email as one of their main forms of communication, and using the Internet as the tool to do everything from read a trade publication to download a virtual press kit.

Some of the tools and activities of veteran public relations professionals would seem foreign to those entering the workforce today. For those of you who’ve been in PR for a while, you know you’re old when you remember:

1. Stuffing envelopes. And snail mailing press releases.

2. Blasting client news via fax. It seemed like a revelation.

3. Editing press releases—with red pens and proofreader’s marks.

4. Mailing press kit folders instead of virtual ones—not to mention attaching executive photos, business cards, etc.

5. Conducting press tours—in person.

6. Clipping client media coverage. This meant physically cutting newspaper and magazine articles and pasting them onto a piece of paper for clip books, which you bound into physical books and sent in the mail to clients.

7. Your clients went to COMDEX instead of CES.

8. Flipping through Bacon’s Directories. That was how you found media contact information.

9. Checking into the office meant calling from a landline, maybe even a pay phone. It didn’t mean accessing email or voice messages on your smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

10. Scheduling meetings on a Palm Pilot.

What other “old school” tools and activities do you remember?

Michelle Sieling is an account manager at Vantage Communications

Tracking What Matters: A New Mindset For Evaluating PR

Numbers don’t tell the full story, it turns out. After considering circulation and impressions of media coverage and debating various reporting methodologies, public relations industry leaders believe that relying exclusively on quantitative measures to evaluate results is insufficient. As a result, it’s critical to layer on a qualitative element to measure communications effectiveness. With that in mind, here are five tips for reporting meaningful travel PR results.

1. Check out best practices. The PR standards group’s Barcelona Declaration of Measurement Principles spell out these dos and don’ts:

1. Goal setting and measurement are fundamental aspects of any public relations program.
2. Measuring PR effect on outcomes, such as shifts in awareness, is preferred to measuring outputs.
3. The effect on business results can and should be measured where possible.
4. Media measurement requires quantity and quality.
5. Advertising equivalencies (AVEs) are not the value of public relations.
6. Social media can and should be measured.
7. Transparency and replicability are paramount to sound measurement.

2. Just say no to AVEs and multipliers. Advertising equivalency was struck down as a way to measure media relations results because almost all advertising media buys are negotiated, with national rates, local rates, nonprofit rates, and discounts all different based on frequency. Plus, using ad costs is not a fair or valid comparison to evaluating a great editorial. Some clipping services and broadcast monitoring services use a multiplier to account for the increased credibility of editorial compared to advertising, but the standards bodies have also rejected that notion. 

3. Evaluate quality of media and blog coverage. To do this, first establish objectives, such as generating a story on a specific topic in a specific media outlet, or conveying a certain message in a targeted number of stories. Then, rate that earned media on qualitative examples, including:

• Key message penetration
• Positioning/placement/prominence
• Tone
• Story type
• Shared/sole mention 
• Media tier
• Photos/visuals
• Website link or contact info
• Spokesperson quoted
• Quality of comments

Doing so provides a method for reporting coverage that really matters − driving visits and business − and it helps focus and prioritize media and blogger relations efforts.

4. Monitor amplification of editorial coverage. In addition to tracking circulation of blog and media coverage, also report the additional reach gained when reporters and bloggers post links to that coverage on social media sites. Track the number of retweets and other metrics that show the additional exposure generated on social channels. Note comments from blogs and Facebook, too, for great testimonials. Check web analytics to identify referral traffic the coverage may have generated. 

5. Chart overall social media performance indicators. Although different in focus from media and blogger relations, tracking social media progress is also important. Start with a baseline analysis of your social communities and note what type of content generates the strongest response. Set goals for increasing engagement based on what you learned. 

Establishing PR objectives and measuring against them can be very rewarding. Evaluating progress quarterly and applying key learnings will help you improve your communications program. So give it a try, test it out and tweak as needed. Track what matters and report with confidence, knowing your PR efforts will be better for it.

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/198683/tracking-what-matters-a-new-mindset-for-evaluatin.html#ixzz2RpixBUmR

The most enjoyable way to improve your writing skills

A communications professor has an easy breezy secret for writers—too bad some of her students don’t want to follow her advice



“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” – Stephen King
My best student writers are avid readers.

I first made the connection when a student said she read Jane Austen with her mom at age 5. That student was a strong writer. Subliminally, I had probably known this reading/writing connection for a while, but that student, that class, and that biographical detail brought me to an “ah-ha” moment.

Figuring out the formula for being a good writer—and how to teach the formula to the next generation—has become my passion.

To make this connection, I created a “Favorite Authors” presentation so students could share their favorite works with one another, thereby reinforcing the value of reading. More than a few brag that they “don’t read many books.”

I’ve heard reports on everyone from J.K. Rowling to F. Scott Fitzgerald to Dr. Seuss. But over the years I’ve noticed two things: The broad-ranging readers are also the strongest writers, and most students hate this exercise. What does pleasure reading have to do with writing a news release? They ask.

Recently, a student commented on his experience with my class, asking for “less busy work,” specifically Favorite Authors. I bristled at the feedback.

No surprise, that student struggled with good, clear, clean prose.

I wondered, though—did he have a point? Determined to convince the majority of my students that reading makes them better writers in any media, I looked to some experts:

Improve your writing skills, painlessly. In his new book, “How to Not Write Bad,” journalism professor Ben Yagoda supports the premise that reading matters. After 20 years of grading papers, Yagoda observes that “almost without exception, good writers read widely and frequently.” He further assures his audience that reading is the “best and most painless way to absorb the rules of the language.”

Take advantage of your ability to read. Choreographer, author, and MacArthur genius Twyla Tharp quotes Mark Twain: “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” In her book “The Creative Habit,” Tharp explores how she uses reading to inform her creative process, for growth and for inspiration. Most important, she reports reading “archeologically”—going from the present sources to earlier and earlier literature as she delves into a new topic.

Land a job. Recently, I asked some former students about how they viewed the connection between reading and good writing. Here’s what one had to say: “I enjoyed that exercise [Favorite Authors]. I feel that it’s a good way for students to learn what their peers are reading and interested in, and it’s a way for students to learn about other authors that maybe they’d never heard of but might enjoy reading. … P.S. I got the internship.”

See? Good readers are good writers. Good writers get hired for internships. I’m convinced. Now, how do I convince my students?

Jill Stewart is a lecturer in the College of Communication at DePaul University in Chicago. She is convinced her reputation as a good-enough writer boosted her PR career. This story first appeared on her blog culpwrit.

5 signs you’re not cut out for PR

While my firm is incredibly fortunate to employ some of the very best PR and social media practitioners, we’ve also had a number of staff members who simply weren’t cut out for our business. Sure, they were good, hard-working people, but the writing was on the wall early on that they weren’t cut out for public relations.

Here are a few key indicators that PR might not be a good career path for you:

1. You receive critical feedback, well, critically.

Critical feedback is a way of PR life and professionals in this business are required to have thick skin. Even the very best piece of secured coverage can generate commentary from a colleague or client about a key message that was missed; the most successful social media campaign may result in a request for more “likes” or a greater number of followers. And that’s the results end of the campaign.

The feedback during materials development and/or project management is typically without a filter and often comes from a number of sources including colleagues, managers, and clients. Critical feedback is part of the gig, and the best you can do is embrace it, learn from mistakes, and improve moving forward.

Can’t handle it? Consider another career.

2. You think the PR job (or project) is finished.

An old and great client of mine, Jim Gustke, now the vice president of marketing at Internet phone company Ooma, once told me (wisely) that the problem with PR (and social media, marketing, etc.), is it’s never finished. PR people can always do more. And these were the words of a satisfied client—one who understood that the agency support I was providing his organization was the very best I could do under the budget, program, and business circumstances.

You may come to the “end” of a launch, or a short-term client project may be “over,” but there’s always the next thing, the higher level. You can send one more pitch, or comment on one more blog. You can spend more time prepping your spokesperson for the next interview, or spend more time following-up with a key contact.

In general, there’s always more to do and you should always be thinking of “what’s next.” If this isn’t in your makeup, you might start thinking about what comes next—after PR agency life.

3. Breaking news means nothing to you.

If you wake up one morning and realize that you couldn’t care less about what’s happening in the category in which you and your clients work, start thinking about your next career step.

PR pros are expected to embrace the energy and enthusiasm that surrounds their clients’ categories. Do you keep up with current events? Are you a voracious reader? If your answer is “no,” you really ought to consider a new line of work.

4. You have a perpetually low energy level.

Does this sound familiar: After several coffees in the morning, your pulse barely registers? If so, the career gods are waving a large red flag in your direction and letting you know to pick another path.

There’s natural and trained enthusiasm—and PR requires both. Trained enthusiasm is a person’s ability to credibly show enthusiasm for a topic without necessarily feeling the love. We’re not talking about faking it, but rather knowing how to make your client, colleague, or media target know that you are “genuinely” pumped about the latest and greatest. PR is a high-energy gig—and that’s one of the reasons why I love it as I do—and a lack of juice is synonymous with a “slow fade” from the PR biz.

5. You are educated and you’ve been trained, but you can’t talk or type your way out of a paper bag.

This likely seems harsh, but this list is incomplete without mentioning basic and solid communication skills. It should be a glaring sign to hang your professional hat elsewhere if you struggle with finding the right words to say or type.

I wouldn’t expect any of our clients to rely on a communicator who is anything less than top-notch. While such standards aren’t as critical at the start of a career, you need to reach them relatively quickly, ensuring that colleagues and clients have confidence in your ability to deliver key messages.

Can’t write? Can’t effectively talk with clients? You know what I’m going to say next.

What have I missed?

Scott Signore is the principal and CEO of Matter Communications, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a firm next week.