Month: February 2003

Being the master of multi-media communications (part 2)…

The increasingly digital nature of information presents a lot of challenges for all communicators.  In particular it provides a more ‘interesting’ environment for Public Relations practitioners who have to track, monitor and manage all this information. While we all hope we can avoid mishaps, there are enough sobering episodes around to make us all re-examine how we view computers, e-mail and the Internet.

In the latest horror story, the Holmes Report  outlines how Shepardson Stern + Kaminsky, a New York-based advertising and public relations firm, inadvertently e-mailed confidential internal client documents to journalists. The firm is blaming it on a virus.

I’m sure we all sympathise with the victims, however here are some tips to help you avoid this happening to you:

1. Invest in up-to-date Anti-Virus software NOW – it’s not expensive and it will save these type of mishaps as well as data loss through infection of your computers.  Also make sure you update your virus checker at least once a week, but preferably daily – most of the latest packages will do this automatically for you.
2. Carefully consider the tools you use.  Remember that most viruses are written for the most popular operating systems and applications.  Today that means Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. A lot of us use Microsoft Outlook for contacts, calendering and e-mail.  Given the propensity of viruses for Outlook, consider alternatives such as ACT!, Goldmine, Organizer, or even a generic database such as Access or FileMaker.
3. Manage your files.  Rather than leaving files as attachments in your e-mail client, consider saving the file to your hard drive or network drive and deleting the e-mail.  This will reduce the size of your e-mail application, ensure all the files you need are in one place and increase the performance of your e-mail client.
4. Delay your e-mail.  In most e-mail packages you can send e-mail immediately or you can choose to store outgoing e-mail for a specified length of time.  Delay it!

Being the master of multi-media communications…

These days Public Relations professionals have to be skilled in a wide diversity of media.  We are no longer simply the owner of press releases and backgrounders.  Today we have to be able to write good online copy, use e-mails for sharp pitching etc.

A fundamental part of these skills includes an understanding of the best way to communicate online.  We need to understand that because the Internet consists of users with different PCs, different browsers and different quality connections to the Internet, the best approach to web communications is catering for the lowest common denominator.

PR people must also inherently understand that their audience want relevant information that is quickly and easily accessible.

Richard Bailey wrote on Friday of the sad demise of Gnash Communications one of the leading UK dotcom PR agencies (think Lastminute.com).  Gnash were an early entrant into our PR Flash Hall of Shame which showcases PR agencies who believe that advertising through Flash is the best means of communicating over the Internet.

I’ve added a few more new entries to the Flash Hall of Shame (you can see a full listing here).

Whenever I add a company to the list, I regularly get angry e-mails from the listee and as a result I have put together an explanation of why Flash is bad. I even point them to the creators of Flash who themselves warn against the use of Flash intros and if that isn’t enough I point them to the ever-enjoyable Skip Intro.

I’m also very happy to remove anyone from the Hall of Shame who repents and goes back to website design as it is supposed to be… HTML.