Archive for PR
Crisis Communications Tip #3: Define & Defend Your Boundaries
Posted by: | CommentsA local hospital 
is at the beginning of what promises to be a lengthy and costly resolution of a situation involving a prominent physician, many, many of his patients and now, legions of attorneys.
In fairness to the hospital, it is a complicated situation not easily explained and therefore not easily understood by most of us. Additionally, there are many points of view that will be played out in the media for the foreseeable future.
However, based on media coverage thus far, the hospital does not appear to be assertively defining the situation to one physician in one department utilizing one procedure.
If we were asked our opinion on what their crisis communications strategy should be, we would implore them to quickly and decisively place the situation in context of the hospital’s overall reputation. It should then implement an ongoing, focused communications program that defines and defends the institution’s expertise and reputation beyond the boundaries of the current situation, albeit a serious and far-reaching one.
Get Ready for the QR Code
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Perhaps you’ve noticed those square barcode-looking thingies in the corner of magazine ads or on product packaging. They’re also beginning to appear on posters in malls, stickers, real estate “for sale” signs, and t-shirts.
Called QR Codes (for quick response), we’ll be seeing more of them as they catch on, and lots of PR uses are waiting to happen. Here’s how they work: first you need a mobile barcode reader app on your smart phone (I downloaded QuickMark and Microsoft’s Tag Reader for my iPhone). When you come across one, aim the phone’s camera at the little icon and voila, the QR Code does its thing and instantly brings up a website or displays contact information or generates an email or a text message (whatever the generator of the code wants to share). They’re a way to deliver “saveable” info to someone on the go. Microsoft says they “add interactivity to your physical materials.”
Aim your phone at the QR Code in this post and you’ll find yourself at the Sawmill Marketing Public Relations website. It took me about 10 seconds to set it up using Kaywa’s QR Code Generator.
Jesse Kaye, who runs HomeTryst.com in Washington, D.C., told me he’s using QR Codes for his real estate company. He also created an informative how-to video on his blog. It’s a good idea starter and can give insights into how businesses can use this new technology, including ways the restaurant sweetgreen is using them!
We’re already brainstorming ideas with clients. How about you?
Crisis Communications Tip #15: It’s Rarely Straightforward
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The incredible coverage in the traditional media, posts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other online venues of the recent Jet Blue flight attendant’s bizarre reaction to a less than civil passenger brings home the point that a crisis is rarely, if ever, straightforward in the facts surrounding what happened.
IMO, what’s getting lost in the accolades for the flight attendant’s way that he quit his job are the bigger, more serious issues of the safety risk he put the passengers in when he deployed the evacuation chute and the complicated state of today’s customer service.
It will be interesting to watch how Jet Blue moves forward and how it incorporates the incident into its customer service training. It should make for an important case study.
Craftsmen Developers LLC Selects Baltimore PR Firm for Awareness Campaign
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BALTIMORE, Md. (July 12, 2010) – Craftsmen Developers LLC, a residential and commercial land development firm, has selected Baltimore PR firm Sawmill Marketing Public Relations for a public relations campaign to increase awareness of the firm’s land development projects throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and its expertise and commitment to environmentally responsible green development.
The Baltimore-based PR and social media company is implementing a comprehensive public relations campaign that includes media and community relations programs and that will initially focus on Craftsmen Developers’ distinction of achieving the first National Association of Home Builders Research Center 4-Star Green Land Development Certification on the East Coast.
About Craftsmen Developers, LLC
Based in Glen Burnie, Md., Craftsmen Developers, LLC, founded in 2008 by CEO W. Dennis Gilligan, is one of the most experienced land developers in the Mid-Atlantic region, serving the real estate needs of residential home and commercial building industry clients with properties in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Delaware. For more information, visit www.craftsmendevelopers.com
About Sawmill Marketing Public Relations
Sawmill Marketing Public Relations is a Baltimore PR firm and social media marketing communications agency established in 1995 specializing in the development and execution of marketing public relations programs as business development strategies for business-to-business, business-to-consumer and professional services clients. The Maryland public relations company specializes in social media, traditional media relations, media training, and crisis communications. For additional information, visit www.sawmillmarketing.com
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Media Training Tip #11: Company is Coming!
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In preparing for a visit from a member of the esteemed Fourth Estate, focusing on getting yourself ready with relevant talking points, answers to anticipated questions as well as a mock interview session or two are the obvious and right priorities.
However, you should regard this visit much as you would that of any VIP or a guest in your home. Make sure to communicate “Welcome” with a comfortable setting for the interview, appropriate refreshments, and check that the office areas are free of clutter and the restrooms are spotless. Simple but important.
BP’s Crisis Communications Continues to Bewilder
Posted by: | CommentsBP continues to distinguish itself in a growing number of categories in the ongoing sad saga of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill mess, including the bewildering way it communicates with the world.
We wish we could enroll them in our crisis communications summit. But it may be way too late.
Sunday’s photo of Tony Hayward watching his yacht race was one that will rank high on the “If I didn’t see it with my own eyes I would have never believed it” list! How could anyone at BP have thought that would be an OK way to spend a Sunday afternoon in public and that the media would give his attendance a pass?
While the opportunity has been missed for BP to get out in front of the crisis as well as also ignoring a long list of other effective crisis communications fundamentals, there is still time (thanks in part to BP’s difficulties in finding a workable solution to capping the leak) for BP to communicate — through their actions and words on and off the job — genuine and sincere empathy to a world that is in dire need of it.
Will they do it?
‘The DeMarco Factor’ Maryland PR Launch Handled by Baltimore Public Relations Firm
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BALTIMORE, Md. (June 14, 2010) – “The DeMarco Factor: Transforming Public Will into Political Power,” a new book profiling the fascinating inner workings of Annapolis, Maryland through several high-profile public health social justice advocacy campaigns created and run by Vinny DeMarco, has selected Sawmill Marketing Public Relations of Baltimore to handle PR in Maryland that includes a press event in Annapolis followed by media interviews throughout the state prior to appearances in New York and Washington, D.C.
Sawmill is handling media relations, message development and social media for the book launch.
Co-published by Vanderbilt University Press and the American Public Health Association, the book authored by Michael Pertschuk, former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and founder of the Advocacy Institute, offers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the campaigns lobbyist DeMarco has orchestrated in Maryland, and how the challenges he faced were overcome, revealing insider details of DeMarco’s interactions with lawmakers, advocates, lobbyists and the media.
In 20 years of organizing advocacy campaigns in Maryland, DeMarco has led successful efforts to pass gun control laws (against National Rifle Association opposition), to hike cigarette taxes as a strategy to prevent youth smoking, and to extend health care to hundreds of thousands of low-income workers. He has also built a unique alliance of mainstream and conservative faith groups, which helped secure rare bipartisan votes in Congress for the enactment in July 2009 of landmark FDA regulation of tobacco manufacture and marketing.
About Sawmill Marketing Public Relations
Sawmill Marketing Public Relations is a Baltimore PR firm and social media marketing communications agency established in 1995 specializing in the development and execution of marketing public relations programs as business development strategies for business-to-business, business-to-consumer and professional services clients. The Maryland public relations company specializes in social media, traditional media relations, media training, and crisis communications. For additional information, visit www.sawmillmarketing.com
Community Relations and Personal Passion Can be a Great Marriage
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Craftsmen Developers, a Sawmill Marketing Public Relations client, hosted its second annual fund-raising event this weekend for the Hospice of the Chesapeake. For a modest ticket price, attendees experienced a leisurely stroll around beautiful waterfront grounds enjoying a delicious lunch and listening to a live band – all while admiring more than 50 privately owned Ferraris, Maseratis, Lamborghinis and Alfa Romeos.
This event, with the third one already scheduled for June 2011, combines the corporate community relations commitment to support local organizations and issues with the Craftsmen Developers leadership team’s passion for luxury Italian automobiles.
We think Craftsmen Developers is on to something that other organizations can take a lesson from: helping others in the communities in which you do business is the right thing to do, of course. But be creative with your community relations activities by combining them with personal interests you are passionate about.
Facebook Friday: A Look at Business-to-Business PR
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A common question we hear is how does Facebook apply to business-to-business audiences? We get the appeal for consumers and younger audiences, but B-to-B?
First, take a look at the demographics. The average age on Facebook is 38 (so, yes, that’s an age worth reaching), with around 25 percent ages 45-54 and the 35-44 group at 20 percent, according to stats on the Brian Solis blog. Overall, 61 percent of Facebook’s 400 million active users are 35 or older. They aren’t just high school kids planning this weekend’s party.
A B-to-B social media example that’s getting attention now is TVI Pacific, a publicly traded (Canada) copper mining company taking advantage of Facebook (and other social media tools) to communicate with the investment community. TVI Pacific is using Facebook as its investor relations page and Twitter as a hub to post updates/steer people to other sites (follow @tvipacific). TVI’s YouTube Channel offers company videos and its presentations are on SlideShare. Sounds like their investors have a variety of options to learn about the company and make informed decisions, and it’s working, according to Rhonda Bennetto, executive director of investor communications.
To hear first-hand, listen to this interview with Bennetto on the FIR podcast with hosts Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson.
Don’t Miss This [Final] Kodak Moment with ‘Celebrity CMO’ and Author Jeffrey Hayzlett
Posted by: | CommentsUpdated May 16, 2010…
As a member of the board of directors for the Baltimore-Washington chapter of SMEI (Sales and Marketing Executives International) I’m pleased
to alert PR Buzzsaw readers to an upcoming event that should interest anyone who’s into social media, corporate marketing, business development – or even “The Donald” and “Celebrity Apprentice.”
We’ve arranged for Jeffrey Hayzlett, chief marketing officer for Kodak [update: Eastman Kodak announced Friday he is leaving effective May 28 "to pursue personal projects"] and author of the new book The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing? to speak at PSA Financial in Hunt Valley, Md. on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 (cocktail reception and book signing from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m., followed by the program). Tickets are $50 for members, $75 for non-members. First 100 get a free copy of the book. To register, visit the SMEI Baltimore-Washington website or call 410-925-6005.
He’s been described as a “CMO on steriods” who parlayed what he learned running his own business into his [soon to be former] position as Kodak’s CMO where he helped revitalize one of the world’s iconic brands. Forbes magazine annointed him the “Celebrity CMO” because of his countless media appearances, including on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice. And Advertising Age calls him “a new style of CMO,” especially for his social media skills that made him one of the top 10 C-level executive Twitterers in the world.
Many have “liked” him on Facebook and followed him on Twitter (@jeffreyhayzlett). Now you can meet him in real life (IRL)! at this upcoming SMEI event. Hope to see you there.
[Another update! Melanie Wells, executive editor at Forbes, wrote on her blog Friday that Hayzlett is hashing out the details of a TV show. Read about it here, and consider this one more reason to join us on May 26, just two days before he launches the next phase of his career.]
