Green Building and Global Communication

Stacey Hood, Marketing Director at Birmingham’s own Steward Perry Construction, was one of the most interesting speakers we had in our class this semester.  He’s from Texas, has lived in Ireland, loves soccer and once had a job working on Mustangs.  Yet now, he works for a construction company, writing for their blogs in addition to other tasks.  He graduated from UAB, where he got his start in PR, and had lots of useful advice to give.

1. Always engage – PR is useless unless you gain and retain the attention of the customer.  Don’t just toss information at them and hope it is absorbed.  Like many other speakers have suggested, Hood said that PR is a dialogue.  You must draw the customer in, whether through social media or more traditional media outlets, but then also cultivate that relationship to keep their attention and business.

2. Content is important – In order to engage the customer, you must have quality content.  It doesn’t matter how much you have in print if it isn’t really saying anything.  You have to get the message across correctly and effectively in order to keep people coming back.

3. Understand “the box” – Often we hear about thinking “outside the box.”  However, Hood noted the importance of understanding the parameters of that box for any given situation.  You have to know the standard rules of the game in order to step outside of the box.

4. Work on your writing – If you are not a good writer, you cannot be an effective communicator.  Stacey said that we should never stop working on improving our writing skills.  Whether it is through blogging or practicing press releases, there are many applicable ways to get in a little extra practice.

5. PR is an upside down funnel – Essentially there is a great wealth of information in the world, and in PR, you might want to communicate a large chunk of that information to the public.  However, it must be condensed down into easily digestible and understandable bits of knowledge.  An upside down funnel is the perfect example of this.  We must act as the funnel, condensing necessary information down into smaller parts, so that it will engage and inform customers.

Always be Adapting

Recently we had the pleasure of having Andrea Walker, media entrepreneur of W Social Marketing, speak to our class.  She was an exciting young professional who had lots of applicable experience and advice.  Even before she graduated from UAB she immersed herself in media.  In high school she was involved with the school newspaper and yearbook, but her experience quickly escalated in college.  She got high level production jobs at CBS42 and FOX6 while she was still in college, constantly moving up the ladder and learning more.  Recently she even started her own business, W Social Marketing, that focuses on “helping companies and entrepreneurs build relationships with targeted customers through innovative marketing strategies, new technologies and networking techniques.”  Here are just a few things I learned from her talk.

1. Always be Learning and Adapting – Based on her experience, it is clear that media is constantly changing, and you have to keep up.  Even her new business venture requires her to constantly stay on top of trends.  If you are not adapting, you will get left behind.

2. Ask for Help – Andrea told us a story of when she got her first job in production, but didn’t have experience.  She went in from midnight to 5 am to get a grasp on things.. all while she was still in college.  It was an amazing example of how learning is important, but that it is also important to ask for help.  She did not have a full understanding of video editing and production, so she shadowed someone to get a better grasp on it.

3. Know Technology – Whether it is blogging or twitter or video editing, keeping up with trends in technology is the easiest way to stay in the know.  Technology evolves even quicker that traditional trends, so it is imperative to keep up.

Non-Profit Communication in a For-Profit World

Recently Kara Kennedy, the Director of External Affairs for Samford University’s Brock School of Business, came and spoke to our class about the processes and challenges of non-profit communication.  She has extensive experience in Public Relations and media, especially with non-profits from her time with the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society.  Here are just a few of the lessons I learned from what she shared with our class:

1. Non-Profit PR comes with its own challenges: I gathered this mostly from when she spoke about working for the Red Cross when September 11th happened.  She explained how they raised over a billion dollars in the weeks after the attacks, and how that money was being used was under intense public scrutiny, so much so that a top official in the Red Cross lost her job.  They had to be very clear in their communication of how much money was raised and how it was being spent, since they are such a high profile organization.  Since the Red Cross is a non-profit, the American public was wary of the idea of where all that money was going, wanting to guarantee that it was going to victims, not the organization.  In a non-profit, it is important to avoid these issues by being extremely upfront and honest in all your dealings. 

2. Remember the 4 Bs: Be Honest, Be Upfront, Be Smart, Be Innovative.  If you can remember those things, you will be on the way to a good relationship with the public. 

3. Relationships: going along with point 2, it is especially important to build quality relationships in non-profit PR.  Since most non-profit organizations don’t have PR budgets big enough to plan lots of events, or even to really make a lot of printed materials or advertising to get attention, relationships are key.  You must not only build bonds with clients, but also other, related groups or causes that could help get the word out about your organization. 

4. Essential Elements of a Communication Plan: Mission, vision, Public Relations, campaign opportunities, crisis management, event marketing, social media and advertising. 

5. Flexibility: especially with non-profit PR, since money is much more tight, you have to be flexible.  Things won’t always go as planned, and since there isn’t as much money to go around, there isn’t much room for stress to take control of this job.  Rolling with the punches is the best way to make sure that little hitches do not completely ruin your chances for effectively communicating with the public. 

You can check out Kara’s full Biography here:http://www4.samford.edu/business/about/faculty-and-staff/kennedy.php

She-conomy is the new Economy

Recently Brittiny Bookout from Holland + Holland came to speak to our class about her experience in the industry, and more specifically Holland + Holland’s idea of “she-conomy.”

1. What is “she-conomy?” – Essentially, it is the idea that women are increasingly taking over the purchasing process across most industries, even ones that are traditionally viewed as male driven sectors.  Holland + Holland does lots of work with high end residential real estate development, but has developed “she-conomy” as a sort of “guy’s guide to marketing to women,” no matter the industry.

 

2. The purchase process – Brittiny detailed the five step process an individual goes through when making a purchasing decision: kickoff, research, purchase, ownership, and word of mouth.  Through their research, they have noticed that women control 4 out of the 5 steps, with men mostly coming into play during the “purchase” phase, when a decision concerning the product has already been reached.  This demonstrates the strong purchasing power, and the power to sway the opinion of others concerning the product, women hold in today’s market.

3. PR is still a “man’s business” – 97% of Creative Directors are men.  Since Holland + Holland is comprised of only women, they decided to re-brand themselves using the “she-conomy” approach, demonstrating that they can offer a PR angle that firms controlled by men can’t provide with the same level of understanding.

4. Women are not a niche – Women are the market.  85% of all brand purchases are made by women.  It is an ineffective strategy to ignore their power, not only in the purchasing process, but in the actual act of buying a product.

5. Generalizations of Men v Women – Men buy, women shop.  Men are hunters, women are gatherers.  Men use the internet to transact, women use it to connect.  Prime Time Women (ages 50-64) are the wealthiest and least respect group by advertisers.  All of these factors demonstrate the need for a difference in approaching marketing to men and women, and even different subgroups of women.

You can find out more about Holland + Holland at http://hhadvertising.com/ and more about “she-conomy” at http://she-conomy.com/.

“If it doesn’t strike home, it doesn’t matter”

Our most recent in-class speaker, John Richardson, spoke to us on Friday, March 4th.  Richardson currently serves as the Digital/Marketing Director for Forte Marketing Group, located here in Birmingham, Alabama.  He reinforced in us many principles that the other speakers had mentioned, but also brought up other relevant points.

1. Social Media has arrived – again, John reinforced the idea that sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are things we have to be knowledgeable about.  Even if they later loose popularity, they now are critical parts of any PR or marketing campaign, and we must show at the least a willingness to learn how to use them.

2. Sell yourself to future employers – in this job market especially, it is important to make an effort to stand out above the crowd.

3. Networking – making connections within the industry is crucial.  Those are the relationships that could help to get you a job or an internship that could make a difference in your future.  Additionally, John mentioned that Forte often has to work with outside companies to rent video equipment or to direct a video, and those relationships make for smoother and better business deals.

4. Always remember the “3 B’s” – be human, be humane and be honest.

5. Watch for trends – just like the recent swell in popularity in social media, it is important to not only observe but understand industry trends as well.  Even if they are only trends, it demonstrates to potential employers that you are paying attention to what is going on, and that you are willing to get outside of your comfort zone and be a lifelong learner.

Study at Samford: Join JMC

In developing a PR plan to recruit new students, a strategic plan is essential.  I would utilize Ketchum’s Strategic Planning Model in order to determine how to go out and entice students to study Journalism at Samford.

Facts: In order to effectively recruit, it is necessary to have a good understanding of your competition.  In the Facts stage, information is gathered on recent industry trends, competitors, strengths, and general information on the product.  It is important to look where else students who are currently interested in JMC are applying, and also important to know why current students chose Samford’s program over another school’s.  Also, this is the phase where Samford JMC really begins to detemine what its image is going to be for this PR effort. You determine what the significant characteristics of the product are.  In the case of JMC, small class size, liberal arts education, Christian environment, student teacher ratio, internship opportunities, and the quality of professors are just a few characteristics that could be used to differentiate our program from others.  Researching the competition and playing to our competitive strengths will help bring students in, because we are showing off the things that we do better than the other schools they are considering attending.

Goals: It is important to begin with the end in mind.  Goals should always be measurable, so you can easily determine the effectiveness of your campaign.  Two factors to consider when making goals are time frame and sources of new buisness.  It is important to set both short and long term goals that directly correlate with business objectives.  If JMC wants to have 10 more students sign up as majors for the fall of 2011, there need to be goals that work to meet that.  For example, setting up a JMC fair in Ben Brown one day to recruit current undecided students would be an effective action to start to meet that goal.  Setting a goal saying we will make “more” promotional materials this year is not a good goal.  “More” does not explain a measurable change: it could be 1 more or 100.  Also through goals you can target sectors that will produce growth for you.  JMC could decide to recruit 10% more males and 5% more minorities every year, since those are areas that could experience great growth, but it might be hard to cause a spike in the number of females, since they are already the majority of the program.

Audience: To carry out this part of the plan, I would first survey current students in the JMC program to determine why they chose Samford and how they feel about it now.  This information can be used to target new audiences and to determine the current mindset.  I would also want to survey people who are current students who considered joining the JMC program but decided not to, in order to have a better understanding of why.  This information would help know how multiple audiences feel about the product, and we could adjust our marketing of the program accordingly.

Key Message: This is the idea that must be communicated in order to change or reinforce mindsets.  In the case of JMC, we need to communicate that not only is Samford the best place for students to come for college, but JMC is the major that will grant students the greatest utility in real world application.  In order to effectively market JMC, we must first effectively recruit for Samford, because if a student does not commit to Samford, then they definitely will not be majoring in JMC.  Then we can recruit for the program by demonstrating the success of graduates, the enjoyment of current students, and the skills that are acquired in the program that can easily translate into many different careers.

All Kinds of Communication

Last Friday Chris Davis, who is the Director of Integrated Communications for fi-Plan partners, a financial planning and wealth management firm in Birmingham, Ala.  He has had many jobs across his lifetime, from a musician to the owner of a coffee shop, but now he has a job that utilizes the skills that he has amassed across the years.  He explained his job by saying that he “communicates with a lot of different people in a lot of different ways.”  I was able to gain lots of information about not only the job he does at fi-Plan, but also what it looks like to be a great communicator across many different mediums.

1.  Types of Communication – Chris is involved in all kinds of communication with both clients and prospective clients of fi-Plan.  In his job he creates letters, advertisements, Christmas cards, newsletters, videos, and even a custom blend coffee for the office.  All of these are ways for the company to explain what it is all about in new and creative ways.

2. Developing Good Strategy – It is important to have a strategic marketing campaign, especially in the financial industry.  It is difficult to convince people that the industry is honest when there are people who have stolen money from investors.  It is the job of people like Chris to take the positive things that groups like fi-Plan are doing and share them.  He warned against the technique of “spaghetti marketing,” where you just throw out information and hope it sticks.  He is intentional in what he communicates and how he does it.

3. Calls to Action –  a call to action is a message that is sent to potential clients in order for them to connect with the company.  They can range from low to high friction.  An example of a low friction call at fi-Plan is signing up for the e-newsletter, which only requires an email address.  A higher friction call is a phrase like “come see us,” or “place your money with us.”  Using these calls at the right time with the right kind of communication helps develop a positive image with prospects and eases them toward picking you for their business.

4. Search Engine Optimization – This is the process of using techniques to help put your website near the top of the returns when searches are made on sites like Google and Yahoo.  There are certain techniques that are by the book (white hat), and others that are used to game the system and gain an unfair advantage (black hat).  There are many good methods to promote your site, but picking good keywords, telling a story with your copy, inbound and outbound links and lots of good, meaningful information.  This ensures that the real message about your company will get out there and will be what people are able to find, instead of something false.

5. Event Planning -  While traditionally I think of PR and event planning going hand in hand, Chris showed that event planning can take many different forms.  While fi-Plan does about 5 of their own events every year, they also partner with others to make a bigger and better event.  One example is a partnership with the Samford Business Network.  Fi-plan will invite prospective clients to the breakfast so they can get an idea of where fi-Plan is coming from, since the CEO is a Samford graduate, and also so that they will have the opportunity to network with current fi-Plan employees and clients.

You can find out more about Chris on his website www.dadcreates.com

“I’m a Communicator”

On Friday, February 4th our JMC Principles of PR class was fortunate to have Lori Merricks come and speak to us.  She serves as an Account Director at Luckie & Company, and Advertisting and Public Relations agency located here in Birmingham, Alabama.  She spoke to us not only about Luckie and what it does, but also about her personal journey from a print journalism student at Samford to her current position with the company.  There were many insights I gained from her talk, but these are just a few of the points that resonated most with me.

1. The Pitch – Public Relations is all about “the pitch,” whether it’s a proposal you’re giving to a potential client or a press release you are sending out to the local media, and you’ve got to get it right.  With the pitch, it is not just what you say that is important, but when you say it.  Timing is everything.  One of her examples is that you should never pitch information for an article to a newspaper on a Friday afternoon.  The editors have already decided what stories are going to run across the weekend, and unless a major story breaks, they won’t change their mind just because you asked them nicely.  With timing being so key, it is important to understand how different types of media work, from newspapers to newscast, so you know best how to get your client well represented in all the right outlets.

2. PR is a Dialogue – NOT a monologue.  When you’re involved in Public Relations it is important to remember that it is always a conversation, both between you and your client and you and the publics.  You can’t just throw information at people continuously and expect them to absorb it all, but you need to take their feedback and use it to better hone your message.

3. Factors Impacting the Brand – consumers, trends, competitors and influentials all have an impact on your clients brand.  As a PR expert it is important to understand each of these factors and control the impact they have on your client.  You have to be caught up on all trends, aware of the customer’s needs, and knowledgeable about the competitors to protect the brand from outside threats.  Also, it is helpful to get on the good side of influentials, particularly industry groups like the AARP, because they can help by giving your client good press to their members.

4. Research – I am kind of a nerd and actually enjoy the research part of writing a research paper, so I was excited to hear about all the background work that has to be done in PR.  She stated that research was all about “being aware of what is going on around you,” from targeting the right audience to developing campaign tactics, details matter at every stage in PR, and the research phase is where the information is gathered and the strategy is solidified.

5. Social Media – I liked the quotes that were provided about social media, and thought they showed the growing importance of watching what you say on the Internet as it continues to grow in popularity and accessibility.

- “a press release is anything you’re doing to present the brand.”

- “good marketing encourages the right sort of conversation.”

Both show that social media can extend far beyond sharing with the world what kind of sandwich you ate for lunch.  It can really be proactive in PR, setting the tone for the conversation to come between the brand and the publics it seeks to reach.

Listening to an individual experienced in Public Relations was both informative and exciting for me.  I learned more about Luckie than I had known before, which was valuable, since it is important to know about all the opportunities that exist in my own city.  Also it was good to hear a little about the day to day work of someone in the PR industry.  I particularly liked how she described her job as being “a communicator.”  In any given day she may use many different modes of communication to market her clients, and it is important for her to be skilled in each of them.  It is obvious that you have to always be actively following all types of media to be an effective player in Public Relations.  Thankfully, because of Lori, we now have a better understanding of what it takes and are better equipped for our future jobs.