Category: General

The Changing World of Work

Regardless of your position on whether PR is dead, dying, changing or staying the same, there’s no debate that we’re all facing the challenge of dealing with more information, from more sources than ever before.

This trend, along with the capabilities of new technologies and the appearance of new work practices is challenging our perception of a traditional work place.

Work is changing and so is the work place.

As with all these things, the changes will take place slowly, but they are relevant all the same.

There’s some very interesting writing appearing on the subject, and given the importance of focusing on your audience, I think it’s incredibly relevant for every PR professional.

Have a look at this post from one of my favourite Moose ticklers, Darren Barefoot who points to some interesting posts on the subject.

Well it's Friday… Tradeshows

Have you spent days on end, standing on your poor sore feet, talking about things you don’t understand, to strangers who are really only talking to you on the off-chance you’ll give them a t-shirt?

I remember my trade show days all around the US and Europe very very well.

Digression: Once attending a UNIX trade exhibition at the Jacob Javits Centre in New York during the Winter in the ’90s – this was when there was no pre-registration, you could just walk in off the street – and the organizers were having problems with unfortunate homeless people who were wandering through a UNIX trade show (you can bet they weren’t there by choice!) to get out of the cold. 

Anyway my boss at the time briefed all of us to escort any homeless interlopers off the stand.

I avoided this duty for the first two days as I was doing presentations on UNIX development (don’t ask), but on the last day this massive homeless guy was thumbing the literature on the stand and I was despatched to politely ask him to leave. 

He was your typical steroetype of a homeless person.  Mad matted hair, big coat, huge bushy beard, plastic bags, sandals in Winter…

I put on my nicest smile and very nicely asked if he wouldn’t mind leaving the stand.  Then I spotted his delegate badge, he was a college professor….

There’s a lesson there somewhere.

As someone who used to make "presentations" on C++ development I can honestly sympathise with the victims of Gizmodo’s CES prank.

image

But it’s still pretty funny – and not a homeless guy in sight (see digression)…

No more excuses for not using RSS…

NewsGator has announced that they are releasing their FeedDemon (Windows Desktop), NetNewsWire (Macs) NewsGator Inbox products free of charge.

I’m a long time FeedDemon user and these are fantastic products for using RSS – which let’s not forget is a fantastic time saver.

Neville Hobson posted about how he uses NewsGator last week.

Do yourself a favour and go to the NewsGator site.

Award-winning RSS readers are now FREE!

Twitter this… Good content is worth the time.

I have an issue.  That issue is time.

Like you I’m busy.

This week I’ve been thinking about the hassles of keeping up with all this online stuff.  Even with the wonders of RSS…

Then I made my fatal error… I decided that after deriding Twitter for a year I’d start to delve a little deeper. [Apologies to Paull, Susan, Kevin and Alice who replied to my random Twitters (I can’t use the Twe*t word… I must feign cool uncoolnees) I didn’t discover that they had replied via Twitter until Monday – some 286 days after they hit the return key. Sorry about that.

I’ll write about my Twitter experience at a later date – it’s an experiment in progress.

Anyway, that was a rather rambling introduction to say that I just spent a very enjoyable thirty minutes watching a good old grumpy discussion among journalists about the changes taking place around us.  `image

I mean this in the nicest possible way. I’m grumpy. I like being grumpy.

It was a recent edition John C. Dvorak’s videocast "CrankyGeeks" and includes  John Markoff and Gregg Zachary from the New York Times and Sebastian Rupley from PC Magazine. [Thanks to Mr. Holtz] 

It’s excellent, interesting and intelligent – even if there are glimpses of naïveté (if you’ve worked in PR for more than 4-5 weeks you’ll spot it) – I don’t necessarily agree with all their views, but what did hit home was that as time is fast becoming your most valuable asset, you’ll invest it where you’ll get a return.

Not a bad (if obvious) thing to remember as a communicator.

Anyhow, watch it. It’s good.

 

'Tis the time for lists

I realize I’m probably coming to this late but PR Week has published its Book of Lists for 2007.

You can read it online here or download a PDF version here.

 

5 corporate blogs that built buzz

1 http://direct2dell.com/one2one/default.aspx
Dell continues its return from online comms purgatory in the second year of its Direct2Dell blog. The posts are a mix of promotional and troubleshooting advice, perfect for the customers who love the products, but hated their customer service for so long.

2 http://www.jnjbtw.com/
J&J’s blog reached a high point when Ray Jordan, VP of public affairs and corporate communications, honestly explained why the company was engaging in a reputation-threatening lawsuit against the American Red Cross.

3 http://stonyfield.typepad.com/babybabble/
The StonyField Farm Baby Babble blog is a perfect example of company as content producer. This blog is solely dedicated to providing information about rearing children. As such, visitors will instinctively think of the company as an expert on child health.

4 http://1000words.kodak.com/
Yes, yes – a picture is worth a thousand words. And a blog that ties closely to Kodak’s goals is worth a million. Giving staffers a photo blog – even if they’re not the greatest snapshots in the world – is a simple way to boost employee passion and humanize the company.

5 http://www.zillowblog.com/
Zillow’s blog manages to accomplish great synchronicity between promoting the Zillow product and providing valuable information. The service that Zillow, a provider of online real-estate services, can provide through its blog is very important, considering the uncertainty and lack of sensible information in today’s real-estate market.

PR for Chicken Fighting Treasure – Profnet

In what’s becoming an annual event, Morris + King have released their top ten Profnet enquiries for 2007.  I think these do a great job of showcasing the wild diversity PR professionals (bravely) face on a daily basis 🙂

Thanks to Justin Kazmark for sending it along…

10.  BEHAVIOR/TODAY: People’s Busy Lives and the Bad Things that May Happen as a Result—The Cincinnati Post

I’m looking for a sociologist/psychologist to talk about people’s busy lives and bad things that may happen as a result, i.e., leaving the car on in the garage, going to bed and dying of carbon monoxide poisoning because they were so busy they forgot.

9.  SPORTS/TODAY: Transitioning from Cheerleader to Coach/Gym Owner—Freelancer

I’m working on an article for Cheer Biz magazine about transitioning from cheerleader to coach. If you’ve ever been a cheerleader who transitioned into coaching either a school squad or an all-star cheer team, please answer these questions: 1. What has been the hardest part about transitioning from cheerleader to coach/gym owner? 2. How long have you been coaching? Also, how long did you cheer? 3. When you were cheering, did you ever anticipate becoming a coach? Did you consciously prepare to do that? 4. What would have helped you make the transition easier? 5. What would you say to young cheerleaders coming up in the cheer system with the goal of becoming a coach/gym owner? 6. Any advice on making rules and running practices and gaining respect of other coaches, cheerleaders, parents, etc.? Many cheer coaches and owners are so young, they have a hard time with the respect part. How do you handle it? (By the way, how old are you?) 7. For coaches who are not married, barely 21, how do you suggest they separate themselves from the cheerleaders? 8. Is the pressure too much sometimes? Is it all worth it in the end? 9. What characteristics do you think a person needs to have in order to be a good coach/gym owner? Please feel free to add any other info you think might be beneficial to this piece.

8.  PARENTING: Purity Balls—WOSU-AM (OH)

I’m looking for someone who can speak about purity balls, either for or against. I need someone who can say why father-daughter purity balls are good, or why they are bad.

7.  BEHAVIOR: Lion/Tiger Tamer—Parenting Magazine

No, this isn’t a joke. I am seeking a circus lion/tiger tamer for a short, humorous piece on how to get small children to behave. I would vastly prefer that the tamer have children of his/her own and speak English. Please forward me your candidate’s credentials and availability, as well as the name of a contact person I can reach for further information or to schedule an interview.

6.  BEHAVIOR: Vampires—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

I’m out to prove we still love vampires. I need some folks familiar with creatures of darkness to help me give evidence of this passion and/or tell me why we still love them.

5.  BOOSTER/TODAY: Bible Verses for Daters—Love.MSN.com

Many daters look for inspiration from the Good Book. So I’m compiling a list of the best Bible verses for daters. Please e-mail your most inspirational verse, a 100-word explanation of what it means to you and why you chose it, and your name, title and location with "Bible Verses" in the subject line.

4.  NON-EXPERT: Taser Parties—Cloaked

A national women’s magazine is looking for women who’ve hosted taser parties. Please respond ASAP with your info, and I’ll provide details about the article.

3. BEHAVIOR/TODAY: Effects of Drugs and Alcohol—Star Magazine

I need someone to explain to me the effects drugs and alcohol can play on a 25-year-old’s mind. How might their behavior change? Will they do irrational things?

2.  FITNESS: Exercising While Drinking—Freelancer

I am writing an article on how barflies can stay in shape. I am looking for experts who can suggest exercises that can be done at a bar. I am open to anything—low-impact aerobics, barstool dips, beer curls, etc. I am looking for detailed descriptions on how to correctly do the exercise. This is for UrbanTailgate.com, a social networking site for sports fans.

1.  LIVING/TODAY: Finding Treasure/Thwarting Mosquitoes/Chicken Fights—Freelancer

I’m writing some how-to pieces for WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) magazine, and am looking for advice on three rather unique topics: find buried treasure, thwarting mosquitoes, and winning a chicken fight. If you are, or work with, an expert treasure hunter, insect killer, or chicken fighter, please let me know, or simply pass along your top tips. My deadline’s Tuesday, so I’m looking for great info in a hurry.

New PR – another failed New Year resolution?

 

“Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.”

Oscar Wilde

 

This is typically the time of the year when people start of making predictions or begin to consider some ill fated New Year resolutions.

I thought for a change this year, in the spirit of the season, and to avoid the inevitable resolution failure, I’d try and help others to keep their resolutions.

Whenever I chat with PR students or practitioners on “New PR” or PR 2.0 or whatever, the most common question I get in all these sessions is “how can I get started?”.

It’s a great question.

So I thought that I’d provide some entry-level advice on how to get started.

I’m very confident that I’ll miss something so feel free to add more in the comments.

Here’s my attempt at providing some common sense advice to those PR brethren who wish to get more involved.

The 8 Steps

1) Invest

To paraphrase my late grandmother: “you don’t lick knowledge off a stone”.

If you want to find out and understand “New PR”, you will need to commit some time.

Obviously you’re busy, we are all busy, nevertheless this is the time to invest.

2) Explore

Fire up your web browser.

Use your favourite search engine and search for PR, blogs, blogging, social media etc.

Start with some of the links on the left hand side of this page – sorry that’s my left and your right. 🙂

Browse the PR blog indices, for example Todd Andrlik’s (and Ad Age’s) Power 150 (#237 and still sinking) or Brendan Cooper’s PowerPR index.

3) Learn

image There are some new things to understand and learn, but there is nothing a four year old can’t master so don’t worry.

Learn how to use RSS and see how it can boost your productivity.  Learn how to keep track of the blogosphere or mainstream breaking news without losing your sanity.

Learn what social networking is about.

Understand why people blog and how consumers are using these tools.

Listen to podcasts.

4) Participate

The fastest way to understand this stuff is to get involved.

Set up a page on Facebook, start a blog – if you’re nervous about blogging about your practice or your business, blog about a hobby or something you’re interested or passionate about.

Read RSS feeds

Post a video

Comment on a podcast

5) Research

Good communications is all about the audience.

That doesn’t change from traditional to online Public Relations.

Want to understand how new media will impact your clients?

Talk to their customers.

Find out how they are using social media – you might be surprised and at the very least you’ll be better educated.

6) Experiment

Want to know if these new tools can help you do a better job reaching and communicating with your audience?

Try them.

Try a controlled experiment.

Start small… but start.

7) Measure

The beauty of online communications is the opportunity to measure the impact of your activity. 

Measure visitors, incoming links, subscribers, members….

Measure the impact of your experiment and let those results drive its direction.

8) Breathe

There’s a lot of hype about the changing world of communications.

Don’t panic.

Communications is changing, but not as fast as many of the online digerati will have you believe.

Traditional media and traditional Public Relations will remain the centre of your business for the foreseeable future, but the online element is growing and more importantly might help you communicate more effectively today.

Try it. Jump in.