1. What SOPA Means for PR Professionals (Ragan’s PR Daily)

SOPA was a major industry topic this week, with a large amount of websites, including Wikipedia, protesting the act. It’s interesting to see how this act influences public relations. For example, did you know that if you represent a client with a non-U.S. website that hosts offensive content, Google will be required to exclude the website from their search engine?

2. PR: The Best Insurance in a Crisis? (PR News)

After the sinking of a Carnival Cruise ship off the coast of Italy, there was a lot of discussion on how large companies should handle this type of crisis. PR News wrote an interesting story explaining that many insurance companies are partnering with public relations agencies to offer crisis management services to businesses.

3. Interview: Mark Cuban On PR’s Value For Startups (PRSAY)

Last week, Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, wrote a piece in Entrepreneur advising startups on how to have a successful start. One of his rules was to “never hire a PR firm.” After receiving a large amount of feedback on his advice, Mark Cuban spoke with the PR blog, PRSAY, to provide more details on his response.

If you find any additional great public relations articles that you’d like to share, get in touch in the comments section.

Another CES has come and gone. From what I’ve seen, 2012 will be the year of Ultrabooks and thin televisions with great resolution. This was my first year working on CES, and I wanted to share what I learned about maximizing press coverage for a company.

Have a strong bench. When you attend a show like CES, you never know when an opportunity to speak with the press may arrive. Train several members of your team on handling the media and make sure they know the messaging you are trying to convey. The key is to not rely on one person to do all of your company’s interviews.

Give journalists a reason to schedule a time to stop by and demo your product. Offer them a special demo or access to a top executive if they set a time. Otherwise, your spokespeople might be busy when they stop by, and an opportunity might slip through your fingers.

Leverage press events. Large tradeshows often have dedicated press events where only journalists and exhibitors attend. By registering for these events, you can get in front of a lot of press in a short amount of time. (It’s also key to pitch attending media for these events as well.)

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight in the dog. When you are at the show, personally go after the members of the media. Sure you may not have a name as recognizable as Microsoft, but strategic persistence can pay off. Don’t give up, but also be careful not to annoy the journalist!

Do you have any press-related stories from CES this year? Share them in the comments below.

A few days ago, Lora Kolodny, tech writer at Fast Company, let her Facebook subscribers know that in order for her to consider covering a company, the pitch had to incorporate answers to the ten questions that she listed.

Kolodny’s questions are wonderfully spot-on and very insightful for us PR representatives in terms of saying the right thing. Four of her questions are particularly helpful when formulating a strong pitch:

Saying The Right Thing

• What do you do or make, and who needs this?
• Who are your key customers/constituents, now? Who will they be? Why do they come back to you?
• Who is your competition and how do you distinguish yourself from them?
• Are you solving problems for your industry, for society, the world? Which problems and how?

But it’s not enough to say the right thing; it has to be said at the right time too, in the right type of context – all with the purpose of providing a sense of meaning as to why what you have to say is important.

At The Right Time

• What is being said in the current industry debate/context in which you are active?
• Do you represent a trend or an anti-trend in that ongoing debate?
• Is there a lack of debate – should you be the creator/initiator of a much-needed discourse, shedding light on a topic or issue that might be overlooked?
• Are there any news items or seasonal themes that highlight what you want to say?

Saying the right thing, at the right time can land you that story, but it’s all for naught if it’s said to the wrong person.  How do you find the reporters who will understand, who will care?

To The Right Person

• What are your target outlets? Who, within those outlets, cover the topics you are interested in?
• Be sure to follow your key reporters continuously. Has their beat changed?
• Be respectful of their preferences. Do they want to be pitched by email or phone?
• Ask them! Introduce yourself and ask what topics and types of stories they are typically interested in.

And there you go – a few easy steps to a successful story! Ok, ok. I know it’s not quite that easy. But let me say this; as someone from Sweden, with experience working with PR in Europe, a post like Kolodny’s confirms how much more open the relationship between reporter and PR representative is on this side of the Atlantic. There’s a mutual acknowledgement and sense of understanding, which ultimately creates relevant story ideas in a context that is current, interesting and important.

Lesson 1: Look at the crisis as a battle in a long war of a brand’s image. Sometimes a battle is unwinnable, but that doesn’t mean the company can’t come out the victor in the end

Lesson 2: Have your ultimate goal in mind and make sure your actions positively contribute to that goal. If your goal is to earn back the trust of consumers, then are your efforts really accomplishing that goal?

Lesson 3: Don’t allow the company’s spokespeople to speak candidly. Make sure they are properly prepared to avoid further crisis

Lesson 4: The CEO won’t always listen to your advice, even if it’s the best strategy in the world. It is still your duty to present your ideas in a compelling and convincing way

Do you have any lessons about crisis communications that you’ve picked up during your career? Share them in the comments below!

Also, if you want to check out the mock tribunal for yourself, check out the video of the event here.

When first starting out in PR, pitching stories for clients can be nerve-racking. When my account supervisor gave me my first assignment, I was excited but also nervous. Finally, I was given the chance to contribute to the coverage I monitored for on a daily basis, but I didn’t want to mess up. What if I couldn’t produce any results? What if I said the wrong thing to the reporter? What if I ended up on the Bad Pitch Blog? Sure, if I were pitching a new Apple product launch it would seem like an easier task, but even that’s not a slam-dunk in PR.

Thankfully, I work with a team that helped me learn the ropes of pitching. For the other newbies out there, I’d like to share with you my four biggest tips on pitching journalists:

1. Research. Before you even formulate your pitch, make sure you understand what you’ll be talking about. Also make sure you know the journalist to whom you will be pitching the story. Is this a relevant story to their beat? Doing the appropriate research ahead of time will make your pitching efforts more prolific.
2. There’s a phone at your desk for a reason. Use it. Journalists get so many e-mails that your pitch may get lost in the jumble no matter how compelling it may be. A simple phone call gets you 1-on-1 time with the journalist. They can give you instant feedback, too. Maybe they want more data or an interview or aren’t that interested in writing about the topic. You’ll know right away.
3. Show your worth. If a reporter is interested in more information or an interview with a spokesperson, then it is your job as the PR liaison to make sure that happens. Prove your worth to your client by expediting the process and making sure they are fully briefed before speaking to the reporter. Prove your worth to the reporter as well by making sure they have everything needed to write the story and hopefully develop a  good relationship with them.
4. Remember the immortal words of Chumbawamba. “I get knocked down, but I get up again. You ain’t never gonna keep me down.” Don’t be discouraged just because one reporter told you they aren’t interested in covering your client. Keep trying, and when that placement comes through, make sure you give yourself a little celebration.

In the past year, the technology industry has been no stranger to its own crisis communications events (though none involving cheese.) From the Epsilon data breach to the Sony hack, many companies have been faced with the same type of urgent response situation depicted onscreen.

Here are some of the pieces the show got right:

• Get in front of a story, rather than behind it – In the episode, Eli puts the wheels into motion on a crisis strategy the second he sits down with the stakeholder. I can’t explain how important it is for a company to sit down with their PR team and develop a crisis communications plan, BEFORE they ever have a crisis.
• Get all of your stakeholders on the same page – One of the benefits of creating a reviewing an internal crisis communications plan is that you’ll have identified key stakeholders and their responsibilities. In the episode, a key spokesperson speaks out of turn before being briefed by PR and legal counsel. Annual crisis communications training can help get everyone on the same page early.
• Get legal involved, if necessary – Often there are legal ramifications, especially if the company is publicly traded. Make sure that team members from each department are represented on a first tier or second tier list of stakeholders, depending on the nature of the crisis.
• Never point the finger – We’ve all seen it happen. A spokesperson gets in front of a camera and blames the other guy. What we forget is that in the media, perception is often reality. Trying to shift the blame rarely ever works.

Did you spot any other things the show got right, or any missteps? Does your company have its crisis communications/urgent response plan on the ready?

What most folks have not yet discussed, are the implications for businesses and consumers after Google+ takes over the world of social media. As Google leverages the rich information and data it will be able to collect from the interactions and interests of Google+ users, it has the power to change and improve existing Google services as well as push Google into new business categories. Some of the many possible outcomes we discussed in our session included:

It’s a hilarious – and also scary – take on how many of us PR professionals are dumping the word “excited” into each press release. And I won’t lie (because the internet lives forever), I’ve also used the word “excited” in releases from time to time.

So while it’s tempting to simply now offer a few thesaurus-ready alternatives to “excited“, I think what we (myself included) really need to do is re-evalaute the way we write quotes in general. As such, here are a few things to consider before falling into the age-old, “We’re so excited to….” quote:

• Can you skip over the excitement all together? Often, we’re opening with “we’re so excited” as way to stall the quote. Write the quote, then cut out the “excited” clause – the rest of the quote may work as a stand alone.
• Quotes are most effective when they sound like they were actually spoken by the attributed executive. Consider that executive’s “voice” and consider what they may actually say about the announcement (and I’m willing to bet few can’t wait to tell you about how “excited” they are.)
• Write down the top messages you’re trying to get across in the release. Are you missing any of them? Make that message the quote, and get straight to the point.
• Quotes are a fantastic tactic for when you want to insert opinion into a news release, and can’t simply type up a statement about your client’s perspective in a raw paragraph. Use the executive quote to put the opinion at the forefront. For example, “We’re the only company leveraging this technology to do X”, or “Our software is matchless in its ability to Y.”

Any other strategies for avoiding seeing your press release on the Everyone’s Excited in Press Releases blog?

Cupcakes. When an Affect team member has a birthday or whenever there’s a success worth celebrating, we have cupcakes. Everyone gathers in the conference room, and we take time to sit and talk with one another. These are some of the most memorable moments from my summer because it’s when I got to know the team outside of their business demeanor. Did you know that Affect is full of reality tv lovers, seasoned story tellers, and even has an ex-college bowler? You would if you joined us for a cupcake! Bottom line is that Affect takes time to recognize the good times, and I learned just how important it is for morale to do that.

Wigs. One day I went out on an errand with a fellow intern, and when we returned to the office the team had gathered on one side of the office and each person was wearing a wig. We had no idea what was going on. I played along as someone handed me a wig, but I’ll admit I just stood there and laughed and never really took on a character. In the end, I realized why the wigs came out. At Affect we take our work seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. This helps the team work hard every day without burning out, an important lesson for anyone starting out in the professional world.

Action. My internship was hands on. I didn’t just shadow people as they did their work. I was actually assigned tasks. I got to work on things that helped the team, and I learned through doing. My skills in public relations grew because I was involved in the action instead of watching from the sidelines.

Now that my internship is over, I’ll be making the transition to a full time member of the team as an Assistant Account Executive at Affect. It’s been a great summer, and I’m looking forward to what comes next!

So I’ve approached my wedding vendors in the same manner that I approach third-parties that I manage on behalf of my clients, and the entire experience has been a reminder in the importance of good vendor management and the extreme (yes, extreme) importance of following up.

Here are a few tips that I’ve picked up along the way:

1. Set clear expectations up front: Your vendor can’t execute your vision if you don’t tell them what you want. Come in with a plan, details and examples so that you are able to clearly communicate your expectations prior to signing any contracts. If you want to be happy with a vendor then you need to arm them with everything that they need to be successful. Remember to ask questions and give your vendor the opportunity to provide feedback. As I learned in my mandatory pre-wedding counseling sessions (lol), good relationships always start with clear communication.
2. Talk budget early and often: If you’ve decided on a budget, it’s critical that you share that information with your vendor up front. You won’t have to negotiate down a totally out-of-the-ballpark price quote if you provided a range at the onset of the relationship. It’s also important to check in with vendors frequently to make sure that your project continues to fall within the agreed upon budget, and that additional time and charges will or will not be needed.
3. Let the experts do their job: I am not a florist. Nor am I a baker, DJ or a professional seamstress. In fact, I hired a florist, a baker and a DJ because I NEED them to do what they do best. Once you’ve described your vision, budget and scope sit back and give your vendor the room that they need to do their jobs.  Remember, if you can do it better – then you shouldn’t have hired anyone in the first place.
4. Get it in writing: This is a no brainer – in our world, nothing is guaranteed unless it’s in writing. When you and a vendor agree to something, even if it’s something very simple, a verbal agreement isn’t enough. Send a recap email of the conversation, ask for a revised contract or tell your vendor to add an addendum to your original scope of work.
5. Set deadlines and stay on top of them: There is no way to stay organized and on top of things without deadlines. Once you’ve signed a contract with a vendor, sit down with them and map out the relationship with a project timeline. Set deadlines, milestones and pre-scheduled meetings and then stick with the plan. If things shift (as they often do), revise the timeline and make sure that all parties agree to new timing.

The final, and most important tip is to set the expectation with all vendors that you need follow up on any deliverable or open item – this will avoid situations where you’re left wondering about status (and will cut down on overall stress for both you and your vendor).  And of course, to ensure a positive relationship it’s important to be a good client – deliver things on time, be communicative and always say thank you for a job well-done. In other words, no one likes a Bridezilla.

Agencies, what are your top vendor management tips? Vendors, do you have ideas to add to this list?