Archive for Uncategorized
The Same Old Story – This Time from Inc. Magazine
Posted by: | CommentsInc. is a favorite magazine of mine because I always learn something and enjoy a good read as I do so. Imagine my chagrin when editor Jane Berentson
took the PR profession to task with yet another trip to the woodshed for irrelevant pitches and obvious email blast pitches.
When will we learn?
Ms. Berentson shares that, for her, the best story ideas “unfold in a conversation about this and that” which provides valuable insight into her approach for exploring and discovering stories that reside beyond the obvious and the expected.
Our challenge is to find a way to be a part of one of her conversations about “this and that” and in so doing, uncover a story that neither one of us knew was there.
Crisis Communications Tip #9: Develop an Audience Strategy
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While many focus their crisis communications effort primarily on crafting what to say, we believe it’s also critical to develop an audience strategy for the crisis messaging.
Begin by prioritizing the audience that is impacted the most and then identify the influencer audiences. This exercise should quickly reveal the crisis communications audience strategy as well as options for how best to begin communicating with them.
Additionally, the audience strategy will help to fine tune and customize the crisis messaging so that it is relevant and credible to the target audiences.
Crisis Communications Tip #2: 10 Golden Rules of Crisis Communications
Posted by: | CommentsThis is one of the best presentations of the top 10 items on what should be on your crisis communications ‘to do list’ that we’ve seen in a long time: clear, concise, smart and correct.
Davis Invited to Speak about Social Media and Commercial Real Estate
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I’ve been invited to address the topic of “Social Media Applications for Commercial Real Estate” at an upcoming meeting of Baltimore CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) from 8 to 10 a.m. on Feb. 22. Here’s the blurb promoting the talk:
A social media strategy and its relevance is more than just trying to fire off one or two “tweets” a day about your latest project. Like advertising, social media marketing is quickly becoming a necessity in today’s business climate. If you believe business-to-business relationships are all about people – not companies – connecting with each other, then social media is something you’ll want to consider as an efficient way to share your expertise, build new connections and continue conversations with others.
Come hear real-world examples of how social media can be a valuable B2B tool that should be integrated with other marketing communications activities as more purchase decision-makers look to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs for information. Learn how some commercial real estate executives and the media are using Twitter to connect with prospects and news sources, the importance of social media when it comes to online search results, the role social media plays in branding and recruitment, implications for crisis communications and more.
Joining me will be Pauline Harris, owner/principal, SPIN. Location: Saul Ewing, LLP, 500 E Pratt St, Ste 900, Baltimore, MD 21202. For details and to register, visit this link.
Memo to Sheila Dixon: Say What???
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Hey! Wait a minute, Ms. Dixon. It seems like yesterday you said you had nothing to apologize for when you resigned as Mayor of Baltimore. In fact, in a conversation I had with a former staff member only a few months ago, he emphatically said: “Sheila will never apologize.”
So here we are 11 months later and a Page One interview with you appears in the Dec. 10th edition of The Daily Record where you APOLOGIZE. To what purpose?
The time to have apologized, when it mattered most to the people you were elected to serve, was on January 6, 2010. But you didn’t. Instead, you concluded your brief remarks back then with: “What I owe the citizens is to move on and bring closure to this so we can continue to stay focused on the city.”
We can only hope that the recent crisis communications misstep had a shelf life of one news cycle and that’s that. Too little. Too late. And the citizens of Baltimore are doing as you advised: staying focused on the city.
Chapter closed.
Updates to ‘Sawmill Guide to Baltimore Media on Twitter’
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We’ve added more updates to the “Sawmill Guide to Baltimore Media on Twitter.” Click on the link to the right of this post to access the listing we started in 2008, launched on New Year’s Day 2009 and kept updating ever since!
This version adds Patch.com, a new hyper-local online news source, a few anchors and reporters from WJZ-TV as well as some additions from The Sun.
To see what all 235+ people on the list are collectively tweeting, follow the list Jeff created. It’s your single source to track what’s happening in the region.
An Insider’s View from Television Hill in Baltimore
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Here at Sawmill we take every opportunity to meet with decision-makers in the news business to learn how we can help them do their jobs. We recently heard from news and assignment desk sources at WJZ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Baltimore, who told us exactly what they’re looking for and how to reach them. We then took a quick tour of the studio with members of the Baltimore Public Relations Council. Here’s a behind-the-scenes (or should we say in-front-of-the-cameras) view, beginning with the Morning Edition desk, then sweeping left to the main news desk and finally the First Warning Weather center.
A Few PR and Social Media Highlights from Asheville
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ASHEVILLE, N.C. — I just returned from the annual PRSA Counselors Academy conference, held this year at the Grove Park Inn (left), where President Obama and the First Lady spent a get-away weekend in April (in the Vanderbilt Wing, I might add, not too far from the “Cyd Charisse Room,” where I had the pleasure of staying).
But enough about me, what about social media, the topic of that kept everyone buzzing and tweeting?
Several esteemed counselors have offered their blog summaries, here and here (and search #CAPRSA on Twitter), so rather than duplicate their commentary, I’ll weigh in with a few thoughts and key quotes that, at least for me, summarized what I heard:
Amber Naslund of Radian6 had a great quote one morning, summarizing the unnecessary obsession with all the new social media tools: “Dudes, it’s only communications.” So why so much obsession with the “tubes,” or tools for communications, she asked. Were we like this when the fax machine was unveiled? Not long ago Yahoo and MySpace were “it,” so stay focused on the principles of PR and communications and not so much on the “tubes.”
Also from Amber, a good definition of social media: “Social media is the new phone, so listening is the new way of answering the phone.” It’s not a new communications channel, as some communicators are hoping for; it’s more of a customer service function.
Brian Solis, just in from Cannes and who was kind enough to sign my copy of his new book, Engage, talked about the inevitability of change that is sweeping the PR industry. Those in PR who live exclusively for the next press release are simply not going to last!
I also liked one of Brian’s quotes: “In brevity, there is clarity, and in clarity there is opportunity…better yet, offer it in 120 characters to leave room for a re-tweet.”
There were more than a few “you-had-to-be-there moments,” but I’ll still mention my favorites: Elise Mitchell’s riveting presentation on her Arkansas agency’s – and her personal – success story; Darryl Salerno’s fourth annual “English as a First Language” presentation/quiz; the presence of College of Charleston PR students with executive in residence Tom Martin (brilliant move to have the students there); and a memorable presentation on adding social media to the agency services mix by Jay Baer of Convince & Convert with client Indra Gardiner, founder and COO of Bailey Gardiner in San Diego. I guarantee Sawmill clients will benefit from what they said.
I missed last year’s conference in California, but attended the previous (2008) one in Naples, just a few months after I had discovered Twitter and recall demonstrating this new-fangled tool for anyone who asked. What a change when, in Asheville, it almost looked like a bloggers conference with laptops open and live-tweeting going on at every presentation! Thanks, PRSA, for another practical and useful conference, and I hope to see you next year in Las Vegas.
