- How young people get their news shows e-mail still not dead
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- College of Charleston -- PRSA Counselors' Own Correspondents
- So, you don't have a green strategy
- Measurement -- Science Happens in the Second Year
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| May 2008
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« April 2008 | Main | June 2008 » How young people get their news shows e-mail still not deadPosted by Bob Brin on May 23, 2008 at 11:26 AMAfter I officially declared e-mail not dead in a recent post, I am now seeing evidence supporting my bold claim (previously my research was based on a survey of my own e-mail inbox, some 1600 messages strong). It was only a few years ago that e-mail was called the killer application and then more recently, I've heard social media experts from other firms refer to it in the past tense. From killer to deceased in a few short years. Now, WOMMA tells me (via e-mail) that the AP is releasing research showing that young people are getting their news via social media networks (is that news?) and they're spreading it via e-mail. "Also, the survey found that 16 of the 18 participants got their news through e-mail, a medium which traditional media like newspapers rarely employ." Then again, is a survey with 18 participants research? Okay, I'm off to delete some e-mails so that the IT department doesn't kill me. Public Affairs in Los Angeles -- Cerrell and AssociatesPosted by Matt Kucharski on May 22, 2008 at 12:41 PMOne of our Los Angeles-based Worldcom Public Relations Group partners Cerrell and Associates just launched a re-vamped Web site that does a nice job of laying out their very strong public affairs capabilities. If you're in need of public affairs/government relations support in the SoCal area, these guys are worth a look. College of Charleston -- PRSA Counselors' Own CorrespondentsPosted by Matt Kucharski on May 21, 2008 at 3:20 AMPRSA Counselors Academy did a cool thing at this year's Spring Conference. It invited a group of about a half-dozen public relations students from the College of Charleston to come down and act as "special correspondents" for the event -- writing stories and posting photos on the different keynotes, breakouts and other happenings on the Counselors Academy Blog. Check out some of their stories, including the roundtable of senior marketing execs talking about how PR fits into their long-term strategies. Not only did these students do a great job, they got a can't miss opportunity to spend quality time with more than 125 public relations professionals in a "captive" environment. Smart move by Counselors, and smart move by College of Charleston. So, you don't have a green strategyPosted by Dan Gore on May 20, 2008 at 6:58 AMI have your Green Strategy right here: have a strategy. I don't want to imply that you and your company should invent some nonsensical reason why your product is greener than your competitors'. Nor do I mean that you need a marketing program that touts your eco-friendly commitment to recycling and new employee bike racks. Instead, you need to have a plan for what you do have in place, as well as comments prepared for internal and external audiences when the question arises. You need to have taken time to develop an answer to, "What's your company doing green these days?" when asked over a Mojito some Saturday evening. Your answer can range from the deliberate steps being taken by your company to reduce emissions to eliminating unnecessary steps in manufacturing or how you've installed a solar-power system to eliminate nighttime electrical use. Or, you can be ready to answer that your processes have been optimized through Lean implementation, and your organization has quarterly senior management meetings to evaluate progress. Not all companies need to wear the green rose on their lapel, but companies do need to acknowledge the socio-economic climate that is examining every action and reaction. Don't underestimate the suspicion that can arise from apathy or passivity on issues. Get engaged to the level that makes sense for your business, but get engaged.
Measurement -- Science Happens in the Second YearPosted by Matt Kucharski on May 20, 2008 at 6:51 AMInteresting pespective on measurement from Steve Knipstein (currently with Cushman Amberg public relations in Chicago but soon to be with Life Fitness) and Steve Shannon from Burrelle's Luce here at the PRSA Counselors Academy Spring Conference. The presenters and audience agreed that, with PR measurement, the science really happens in the second year. The first year is all about establishing the benchmarks -- where we're at today. There's value in that, but not nearly as much value as in the second year -- when you can do some comparisions and find out where things are moving ahead and where they're not. This is a much healthier philosophy toward measurement. Instead using measurement solely for justification of next year's budget and agency performance -- look upon it as a way to establish a baseline for monitoring the ongoing effectiveness and health of the program. You'll likely have more meaningful dialog with senior leadership and a much better long-term program. Six Key Drivers of Brand CredibilityPosted by Matt Kucharski on May 20, 2008 at 6:29 AMHere at the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Counselors Academy spring conference in Naples (if you're a senior agency person and your firm isn't a member, you should join). Peter Blackshaw, EVP of Neilsen Online Strategic Solutions gave a really interesting talk on the drivers of brand credibility in our new social media world. He should know -- he was founder of planetfeedback.com, writes the consumergeneratedmedia.com blog and is one of the co-founders of the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). Here's they are 1. Trust -- confidence, consistency, integrity and authority Trust. Authenticity. Transparency. Affirmation. Listening. Responsiveness. Gee, it sounds like a great opportunity for companies to more strategically use public relations to build their brands. MJK Is e-mail a dead medium or are graphics making it ghost-like?Posted by Bob Brin on May 2, 2008 at 1:27 PMI don't really buy that e-mail is a dead communications form. If it is, I spend a good deal of my day in deadsville. As my official representative of the up-and-coming generation, my fourteen-year-old daughter doesn't do a lot of e-mail, but she doesn't have a job, either. The rest of us have to live in e-mail. But while e-mail isn't dead, there are some e-mail marketers doing everything they can to kill it. Take a look at this e-mail I just received, ironically from some guy trying to show off his photography business: 
Actually, this e-mail doesn't just contain graphics; it's all graphics. One of the best things you can do to get your e-mail read is to, like, use some text. Not type imbedded in graphics, but good old HTML text. Your creative or e-mail marketing folks should be testing your e-mails to make sure that they display some important words when the graphics don't get through, especially when most people have graphics turned off for their e-mail preview. In marketing communications days gone by, we used to say, "Graphics exist to draw the eye to copy." In the case of e-mail, the opposite is true. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but words are still the basic currency of communications.
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