Kylee’s Blog

I have learned much through this blogging experience and Scott’s book. In this last chapter I will write about, Scott lists thirteen “New Rules of Media Relations.”

The first two have to do with spam. I totally agree that whenever a PR professional, or someone trying to be one, sends out mass pitches it is considered spam. It’s ridiculous not to know that this will get you nowhere. The pitches must be tailored to the reporter you are trying to reach.

The next five have to do with being well-searchable on the Internet and having a great Web site and media room. Google and Technorati are mentioned because they will be make it easy for journalists to find you. Scott says, “If you blog, reporters who cover the space will find you.” I think this can be true is some cases, but others not so much. It’s hard to get a small organization with few employees the coverage it would like. With money restraints and already large workloads, employees can find it hard to get their message out there. I feel this would be a challenge for any company that is not a large corporation.

The next six rules have to do with what making the job easier on the reporter and establishing relationships with them. Find their personal blogs. Pitch them directly with news related to their speciality. Read their articles or watch their shows. Know the reporter and what they would want.

Thanks to Scott and Robert French for showing me the new ways of doing PR and how to actually make it work!

I found chapter 15 of the New Rules to be particularly useful. It was all about online media rooms. For our final in PR Writing, we are making our own media rooms for non-profit organizations. The main problem I’m worried about is that there seems to be a true lack of organization and knowledge about where to find certain information within the organization. Maybe this will get better with time and hopefully proven to be wrong…

What I love about media rooms is that it is OUR space to put out information. If I was a journalist, I would use these puppies like crazy. Why not? It makes their job so much easier. And the fact that we (PR junkies) can put stuff out there without asking the legal or sales department, even better!

I agree with Scott completely when he says that visitors to the media room understand that this is the place to go to find updated information about on organization. I hate when companies don’t have a media room and still let the info on their main Web site get behind. How else are we suppose to find stuff out?

The suggestion about including a search engine with your media room is a great idea. Although, I would have no idea how to do that. It makes sense though. Sometimes an organization can have so much information (which is a good thing), but it makes it especially difficult to find out the one thing you want.

And last, but not least, media rooms should be made for buyers AND journalists, not just the former. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to one myself just looking for information not related to a story. This is important as it can ruin the chance of a sales cycle from going through.

I think it’s amazing how social media and the internet in general has helped the reach of public relations and marketing.  I’m glad it has.  Why should press just be sent to journalists?  Companies want to talk to “real” customers, not let some reporter decide if they like the information enough to write about the news that should be sent out.  The new way news releases can be used it perfect for this goal.

I love that as a PR professional I can send out a news releases about practically anything and get some coverage.  No more waiting until you have BIG news to share.  Sometimes little news is just as important as its opposite counterpart.  In chapter 14 of “The New Rules,” Scott this: “The rule of thumb is: Big news is great, but don’t wait.  Write about pretty much anything that your organization is doing.”  I love this.  Some companies might not ever have “big” news, but they have just as much important information to get out that’s relevant to them.  Shoot, some non-profits may not ever want to be a headline, because that could mean they must have done something bad…

I think the example of CruiseCompete.com says it all in the realm of keywords and phrases.  One consultant working with this travel company said, “Each time we send a targeted news release, we see a spike in the Web traffic on the site.”  I love that they were listed #4 on Google’s list of hits just because of their keywords.  I’m going to have to work on thinking of good phrases to use though.

Also, I had no idea how important links are in a news release.  The fact that they can actually increase your page-ranking is astounding.  It makes perfect sense to include them anyway just to make things easier for customers, but now it’s even better.

I found this chapter of Scott’s to be extremely helpful.

Scott’s 13 chapter is all about organizing a company’s Web page to reach out to all the different audiences it may have. This is a Web designing staple that you think would be followed most all of the time. The only thing that seems confusing about this statement is that some organizations can have far too many identities to associate with to clearly fit all of them on their opening page.

I feel that Auburn’s Web site does a good job at this. The main audiences (students, faculty, prospective students and Tiger Fans) have links to click at the top of the page that are easy to see. From what Scott says though, Auburn’s first page doesn’t totally wrap them in with a relationship starter right there at the beginning. That almost seems impossible to do. You can never have that many focuses on one page clearly and be detailed.

Another thing Scott mentions is RSS feeds:

I don’t know if this is just me, but I don’t subscribe to a single one. Not only do I hate adding more messages being sent to my inbox, but if I really cared about the content on a certain Web site, would I not check it occasionally myself? I can see how super busy and important people may need this special feature. But maybe it’s just a good investment for nerdy computer types. I don’t see a problem with organizations offering this to their customers or Web site viewers. More power to them. I just don’t feel this approach is too important.

One more tidbit Scott included that I appreciate is the fact that having generic pictures posted on your pages could actually be a negative thing. Companies get so wrapped up in being culturally diverse and totally fair that they are willing to “lie” in a way to make themselves look like they are perfect. I am sure that no company is 100% politically correct. Please show me one that is… I would much rather see a picture of employees all of the same race than a fake one that obviously gives their true colors away.

I seriously just had an “aha” moment, and I can’t say it felt good.  While reading Scott’s 12 chapter (How to Write for Your Buyers) I came across an exact example of what not to do.  And guess what?  I had already done it today.

I know I use my internship as an example all of the time, but it’s perfect in this case.  As I was sending an e-mail to a certain group of our target audience I used the phrase “We’re thrilled to announce…”  How could I do this?  I know that it’s an overused phrase, but that kind of attracted me to it.  I’m so use to hearing it that it just kind of came out.  It seemed almost natural.

Scott is right when he calls us lazy writers.  Instead of using my own creativity, I fell into the trap of just saying what came to mind.  How awful!  As public relations professionals, we need to be on our A-game.  We need to think out of the box.  (Yes, I know this is another one of those phrases, but does it not prove Scott’s and my point?)  Why else are we taking all these journalism and wonderful writing for public relations classes?  I need to be creating composing skills that will last me a lifetime.

So how do I get there?  As my writing coach, Robert French, says: write.  That seems the only thing I can do.  People outside of the world of PR have no idea how much writing is involved in our profession.  It is actually all we do in a sense.  We write to entice.  We talk to entice.  And the talking only comes after writing it down first.  Everything comes back to our writing skills.

I am so embarrassed that I said a “gobbledygook” phrase today.  I promise my future audiences and myself that it will never happen again.

Right now, I am doing an internship for a nonprofit group located on Auburn’s campus. It is a big brother/big sister-like organization that deeply depends on cooperation and service from students and the community alike. Although it is a widely known volunteer opportunity on campus, we always have a tough time recruiting more volunteers and donations. This is probably normal for a non-profit though, isn’t it?

I think creating thoughtful content and using it to spread the news about our organization would prove useful in getting the resources we so desperately need. Although I agree with the considerations Scott lists in chapter 11 (Online Thought Leadership to Brand Your Organization as a Trusted Resource), I believe it would be a waste of time for us to separate this information from our main Web site. He is right about separation being a must for companies trying to sell a product. That rubs people the wrong way and is easy to see through. In our case though, it seems natural to mix everything up together.

In his first consideration about creating thoughtful content he writes: “Thought leadership content is designed to solve buyer problems or answer questions and to show that you and your organization are smart and worth doing business with.” I believe my nonprofit can fully adhere to this without having a site directly unrelated to our main one. Showing that our organization is ahead of the game could include having a page dedicated to answering any questions a future volunteer or donator could possibly have, videos and images of volunteers and their children interacting and links that could be useful in deciding what to do with a child. This would be easy.

Scott’s second consideration, defining organization goals, has already been discussed above. We know exactly what we need: volunteers and donations.

Two things that could greatly add help to our site would be to consider what problems our target audience faces and writing for them. Explanations of time involvement, organization procedures, the help they can always receive from us, etc. is something that should definitely be included on our site. Examples and stories that appeal to their emotions could enhance our success, too.

Scott has great ideas for reaching and grabbing an audience. I feel though that his tips may be more helpful for true “companies,” not organizations like mine who are just asking for help.

I am really glad that Scott spends a short time reminding PR and marketing professionals to make sure their Web sites are perfect here in chapter nine. It makes sense to me, but it obviously doesn’t to many companies out there. How many times have we all tried to search for something on the Internet truly easy without any luck? I feel this happens to me all the time!

For example, I heard about this new yoga studio in Auburn. I searched online for yoga in Auburn and I found their Web site. When I get there, it’s cute. Pretty, serene pictures followed by kind words of encouragement that “everyone can do yoga” fill the site. I click on the calendar and find out exactly when the classes are offered. The only thing that’s left now if how much money a class is and how I can pay.

Guess what I found? Nothing. Not a single word about the price of a class. You know, maybe it was on there, but I sure couldn’t find it. Wouldn’t most Web designers and business owners understand that this information is considered important? I was shocked to see this information left out.

Scott says that “Web sites (…) -most importantly- inform each of your buyers.” Without this informing, you might as well not have a Web site, to me.

Something else I found particularly useful in this chapter was a quote from Daniel Hinerfeld, the associate director of communication for the National Resources Defense Council. He said, “People don’t want PR, they want something that’s real.” I can’t apply this to the discussion above about Web sites, but I think this should be something we as PR professionals hold near and dear to our hearts. This is that only thing that will make us successful.

After reading about wikis in Chapter 7- Forums, Wikis, and Your Targeted Audience, I got all excited to go check out Wikipedia.com for two organizations I am very involved in here at Auburn. And guess what I found… NOTHING. Maybe this is normal, but after all that talk in the book I was a little let down. One organization is only located on our campus here so it being left out doesn’t seem too strange. On the other hand, the second one I searched for is a national organization that has done wonderfully successful campaigns throughout the country. Maybe this is a sign telling me to go write an article for both of them now.

I am also very familiar with list serves through both organizations at my school. I don’t see it as anything like Scott describes it though. I thought it was just an easy way to send out e-mails to a large group of individuals without having to type each address in every time. Scott quotes a list serve as “a way that groups of like-minded people stay connected to one another.” I guess this is true. I don’t really see the relevance a list serve would have in the business world, except to maybe inform certain avid buyers, stockholders or employees about big news.

What did stand out to me in this chapter was about the importance of staying up on information people are writing about your business, organization or the products you sell. This “active participation” is essential in PR. I’m glad Scott stressed the importance of not always hitting these interested communities only when you have a new product to sell. If I truly love a product, I am interested in hearing all sorts of information about it, especially if I feel the company cares about me and are not just seeing me as a potential buyer for all of their many products.

For example, a certain store where I’m from in Birmingham is my go-to place for a cute outfit. They do have a website right now, but it’s being redone. I would be thrilled if their new site did not just show where they’re located, what brands they carry and other information like that, but instead also sent me e-mails about what trends are hot this season and how they’re going to help me put it all together just right.

Maybe I’ll mention this tidbit next time I go shopping…

Here I am writing on my own blog with the pretty design and cute layout, but I’m going to say this anyway: I am just not that into blogs.  Gasp now, or forever hold your peace…

Scott writes about how his blog posts are found by major search engines and then brought to people’s attention who are looking for the information he is writing about in chapter four in his book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR.”  He said, “Every word of every post is indexed by Google, Yahoo!, and the other search engines, so when people look for information on the topics I write about, they find me.” 

Just from my experience, if Google pulls up a blog entry and a Web site that shows the product I’m looking for, I click on the Web site.  Maybe it’s just me trying to be conservative with my time, but I’d rather get a good, quick look at something than read a whole page full of someone else’s opinions.

I am going to give this blogging thing a chance though…  It seems to have its fair share of helpfulness.

I think it’s a great idea for businesses to mix their blogs and Web sites.  Being able to look at what the company says and also seeing customer reviews about a certain something seems like a well-rounded way of being a smart purchaser.

Something Scott says that is surprising to me is the fact that only a small percentage of public relations people check out the blogs that are talking about their company or organization.  This should change immediately!  In PR, our job is to watch and listen for everything.  The values and opinions of just a few people can reach 1,000s on the Internet.  We don’t need to take that risk and let something terrible happen.  Scott says it best: “There’s never been an easier way to find out what the marketplace is thinking about you, your company, and your products!”  His example of Dan Rather losing his job is perfect and should be taken to heart.

Chapter four has taught me that although blogs may not be at the height of the communication movement just yet, they will be and I need to jump aboard now.

Being new to the world of communications, it’s frightening to think we as new hires are expected to get huge, front page stories for our employers. Don’t they know that is nearly impossible? We’re told over and over in class that journalists despise being bugged with story ideas about certain products or services and that you have to find something no one else has ever done to actually stand out, and then maybe get written about.

How should I know what will stand out to writers from major publications? I’m just a senior in college with little PR experience as it is.

In David Meerman Scott’s book “The New Rules of Marketing & PR,” he says it is no longer true to try and reach only the top newspapers and media outlets. “Big yields come from cultivating many small relationships rather that a focus on trying to get that one mega success” (p. 30), he said. Hey, I can do that!

My generation is known for its skills using online tools and social media. One of my professors asked a class of about thirty the other day, “Who isn’t on Facebook?” Can you guess the answer? Not a single person raised their hand. Facebook and myspace are a way of life for people my age, and we’re already using its tools like Scott says we should.

Most every organization on campus here at Auburn has a “group” on Facebook. With that group, you can invite members to join, show your upcoming meeting dates, share pictures from past events and much more. It’s a great marketing tool for new members because they can see that one of their friends belongs and then want to find out more about it.

Scott also mentions that PR and marketing focused on the masses isn’t realistic and profitable anymore. Appealing to niches is key. He says, “Once marketers and PR people tune their brains to think about niches, they begin to see opportunities for being more effective at delivering their organization’s message” (p. 32).

This makes perfect sense. Why plan one large campaign dedicated to getting everyone who sees or hears it’s attention? I think it’s common sense to want to branch out and do different, smaller things to get more of a reach.

The only thing that scares me now is how are companies going to view this new way of doing things? Most are still caught in their old ways, right? Maybe more on that later…

It is very thrilling to hear that PR professionals can succeed without getting those “mega successes.” Maybe, just maybe, I’ve already gotten experience at this new world of PR.