Within less than a week after school started in my district, I began having knocks at my door and children on my porch fundraising for band, football, cheerleading, you name it. We have a rule in our family that if it’s a kid from our neighborhood, and he’s doing the asking himself, we’ll buy something. [...]
I’ve been in the public relations field for 27 years. By most of society’s standards for success, that’s a good start on a lifetime career. I like to joke to colleagues in the profession that I’m living proof you can raise three kids through early childhood on a one-income PR salary (and major sacrifices from [...]
“Risk” is probably one of the large words in business news tag clouds these days. A NIRI newsletter called it the “word du jour in boardrooms and on the minds of institutional investors.” A September 15 story on CFO.com says that, after relative finance department obscurity, risk managers will be offered a seat at the [...]
PR Students Curious About Tomorrow’s PR
Reconciling new media and the future of PR
It was great to be back at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Monday night speaking with the Ohio University PRSSA chapter. Thanks to the 60-plus students who came to the meeting and participated in the discussion about key attributes of successful public relations professionals. I was impressed with the chapter’s familiarity with new social [...]
Our agency recently hosted Keith O’Brien, editor of PR Week, while he was in Columbus to speak at a Central Ohio PRSA luncheon. I had the opportunity to ask him whether he sees more PR agencies developing separate social media departments or integrating social media into the organization holistically. He said it was about half [...]
I was fortunate to spend an hour last night in Ada, Ohio, with about 40 future public relations practitioners from Ohio Northern University. It was their first Public Relations Students Society of America (PRSSA) meeting and they had a great turnout – especially freshmen! Those students really have no idea how far ahead they are [...]
Gen Y: The Financial Industry’s Next Boom(er)
Everywhere it seems, marketers are targeting younger and younger customers.
Malls are full of ‘Tweener stores. Print media, like Time For Kids, flood grade school classrooms. On line, social networking sites like Club Penguin have huge followings. And multiple TV networks targeting youth like Sprout and Noggin are prevalent. Obviously marketers see opportunity in chasing this young demo. And it appears this target audience is [...]
They Told Two Friends, And So On, And So On…
I read a great article in Advertising Age by Pete Blackshaw, author of "Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000." You know, he's right. How many times have you had a really bad experience at a hotel, restaurant or store and told all of your friends about it? This is a real challenge for us as marketers - we don't want to drive people to a bad customer experience because where does that get us? Sometimes the best solution to a marketing challenge starts from the inside out - like Blackshaw says, "do quality checks across all brand touchpoints for disconnects." In this age of customer-generated feedback and consumer control, businesses have to focus on creating the best possible customer experience they can. Now there are tools to help measure their brand experience because consumers are telling all on Web sites like TripAdvsor. I'm a big fan of this site because I can see what real people think about their travel experiences, and almost every time I've booked a trip, I've checked the site first and the feedback is usually right on target. There are countless ways to check out a company's service on numerous sites and by word of mouth using Twitter. Even Angie's List has evolved from providing feedback on dogwalkers and deck builders, now to dentists. A recent Society for New Communications Research study sponsored by Nuance Communications found that consumers are using social media to share their customer experiences and to research the customer service of other companies. Among the US Internet users surveyed, 59% used social media to 'vent' about a customer care experience. Almost three-quarters (72%) said they sometimes research a company's customer care online prior to purchasing a product or service; and 84% said the quality of customer care is a factor in their decision to do business with a company. There's no denying that a customer's voice can be heard louder and travels further than ever before. Amazing, isn't it? My time is too limited to be bothered with bad service or bad products, so I'm relying on other consumers to guide to me the best. I bet you are, too.
When staid, mainstream publications like The New York Times started aggressively using the microblogging service Twitter, clearly it became a tool PR pros need to be using — especially those of us old enough to remember the thrill of sending our first faxes back in the ‘80s. Twitter references abound in the Gray Lady over the [...]