Archive for public relations
Media Training Tip # 1: Be Prepared!
Posted by: | CommentsThere is no need to be familiar with the subject matter of this interview to know that the reporter was well prepared, asked straightforward questions and conducted himself professionally while his interview source was ill prepared at best, visibly uncomfortable and abruptly left the room!
Crisis Communications Tip #3: Make Media Training a Priority
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lude “Next Steps” in our crisis communications plans and “media training for designated spokespeople” is nearly always at the top of this list.
Why? Because we’re firm believers in the crisis communications mantra of “tell it all, tell it fast and tell the truth.” This appears to be simple, sound and matter-of-fact when talked about in the calm of a conference room, but yet another matter requiring resolve, courage and leadership should a crisis situation occur.
In our experience, the designated spokespeople who already have a fundamental knowledge of how to communicate their messages to the media are better equipped to immediately focus themselves and their organization on telling it all, telling it fast and telling the truth, rather than to first take a crash course in media training.
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.
Opportunities and Challenges of Social Media
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We were asked by a prospect to describe the opportunities and challenges of social media. Rather than write the latest book about it, we came up with these 10 points. What do you think? Did we miss anything?
Opportunities
Social media allows an organization to tell its story directly to audiences without having to go through the filter of the media;
The real value of social media – customer service – means the public can get answers to questions quickly and efficiently, potentially increasing a brand’s reputation;
Social media enables the sharing of video and photos – in addition to text – to provide a better story to a public that does not have time to read;
With mainstream media consumption decreasing as more people head to social media, establishing a presence enables an organization to reach people where and how they want to receive information;
As mobile devices and applications become even more popular, social media enables organizations to offer information where and when consumers want it.
Challenges
While “free” to set up, the cost of social media is in the manpower of monitoring and responding to questions/comments which can become time-consuming when done properly;
By definition, social media is two-way communication, so organizations not accustomed to listening to and responding to criticism sometimes have a difficult time accepting social media;
Opponents and critics have a ready-made venue for their complaints with social media, so monitoring and responding requires the expertise of someone trained to deal with crisis PR and communications;
Some organizations want a defined return on investment (ROI) for their use of social media, but such a measure is difficult to gauge;
With social media, complete control of the message is not in the hands of the organization as it is with one-way communications such as advertising.
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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Maryland PR Firm Selected by GBAHC for Baltimore Public Relations Campaign
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BALTIMORE, Md. (March 8, 2010) – Greater Baltimore AHC, Inc., (GBAHC) has selected Baltimore PR firm Sawmill Marketing Public Relations for a public relations campaign to increase awareness of the firm’s development and property management expertise in affordable housing in the greater Baltimore area.
The Baltimore-based PR and social media company is implementing a comprehensive public relations campaign that includes media and community relations programs including the upcoming grand opening of the newly renovated, MonteVerde, a 301-unit affordable apartment home community for seniors and non-elderly people with disabilities in the lower Park Heights neighborhood of Baltimore.
About Greater Baltimore AHC, Inc.
GBAHC is part of AHC Inc., headquartered in Arlington, VA. It is a private, non-profit developer of affordable housing in the mid-Atlantic region that has been providing quality homes for low- and moderate-income families since 1975. GBAHC, located at 1501 St. Paul Street, has been in the greater Baltimore region since 2002. It currently has developed five properties offering approximately 1,000 affordable apartments. For more information, visit http://www GBAHC.org.
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
In the January 25 edition of The New Yorker, Ken Auletta’s Annals of Communications column provides a fascinating glimpse into the role the Internet (the author refers to it as the “third party”) is playing in how the White House press corps covers the President and, in turn, how the White House works with the media.
He reminds us that only six years ago, when George W. Bush was finishing his first term, there was no Facebook, Twitter or YouTube and that regional newspapers as well as television stations were profitable enterprises.
To whet your appetite for reading the column, Auletta describes a typical working day for NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd who, when his day is over, will have done eight to sixteen interviews for NBC and MSNBC (grassy area where he stands with the White House in the background is nicknamed Pebble Beach) PLUS eight to 10 tweets or Facebook pos
tings and three to five blog entries. Whew! Todd says he is “compelled to do more reporting on my Blackberry.”
The column also describes that Politico.com “is the most prominent face of new media at the White House.” In existence since 2006, the site draws more than three million unique visitors each month, making it the ninth-largest newspaper online. While traditional media have curtailed their travel budgets, Politico.com has had a reporter on nearly every one of the President’s domestic and overseas trips.
Finally, the column also details the relationship the President and his Administration have with the media and 
the impact Obama believes the Internet has on its coverage. He told Bob Schieffer on a recent CBS “Face the Nation” show that “…what is different today is that the twenty-four hour news cycle and cable television and blogs and all this, they focus on the most extreme elements on both sides. They can’t get enough of conflict. It’s catnip for the media right now.”
Regardless of your politics, or if you are a journalist, PR professional or some other occupation, the article is a good read and offers glimpses into a world most of us will never be a part of firsthand.
An RFP for Opinions on RFPs
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We believe we’re really good at social media, media relations, media training and crisis communications. We believe that we are not as good at applying the brakes to preparing, presenting, revising, explaining, tweaking, clarifying, recasting, explaining, detailing, following up on — well, you get the picture — requests for proposals (RFPs) from prospects who came to us for help with business-threatening problems that all agreed required public relations solutions and specifically ones that we proposed. But alas, the proposals went nowhere.
We completely understand that proposals are the “currency” of new business for PR firms, and we also understand that many prospects lack the experience to understand the unique role that PR plays in helping to solve a communications problem.
However, what we want to (finally!) better understand are the signals to alert us to prospects who use the RFP process to determine what they really do want (and it’s not PR!) and/or to be given enough direction that they can now go off and execute on their own. We have recently experienced both scenarios with one going on for six months including teleconferences, meetings, proposals, revisions to same, and on and on.
We welcome any and all suggestions, including “suck it up!” The time to be whining is when no one is coming to you for a proposal!
