Public Relations Archives

Wendy's PR Crash Course
January 10-11, 2008
Orlando Marriott Downtown

It's official. After years of friends and clients asking why I produce killer seminars and conferences for other people and organizations but never host my own, I'm going to do so.

I've already lined up some of the top PR and business development experts in my personal database (developed over 20 years of actually working in the corporate world and PR industry, not just reading about them). From launching your own publicity campaign to streamlining your business, you'll hear from some of the best.

This will NOT be a "sit in your chair and listen to one talking head after another drone on about how they got super rich in just a few hours with very little effort" seminar. If you're looking to catch lightening in a bottle and get rich quick, this event is NOT for you.

Wendy's PR Crash Course WILL be a highly interactive, hands-on educational seminar from which you will leave with tangible results. You'll actually implement some of the tips and techniques we teach before you ever leave the event. That way, if you have questions, you'll still be in the room with the instructor and can ask questions RIGHT THEN to make sure you've got it.

Normally, I like to have every little detail finalized before I promote an event, but this is going to be so big, I wanted to let you know NOW so you can save the date and plan to make 2008 your best year ever.

For more details, visit our seminar page and look for Wendy's PR Crash Course

I'm off to Chicago tomorrow to represent the Sunshine District on PRSA's National Nominating Committee.

What does your correspondence say about you? Does it say you are knowledgeable, professional and detail-oriented or does it imply you are mediocre, sloppy, and inattentive?

How you present yourself in written form says a lot about you.

I just received a shocking (and sad) marketing pitch letter from the CEO of a company with whom I regularly do business. It was shocking because it is full of typos and grammatical errors, including sentence fragments in random places and bold highlighting used to emphasize almost one-half the letter. It was sad because it was obviously a mass-blast snail mail letter, which means it not only went to all the CEO's colleagues and current clients but probably prospective clients as well. It is a very poor representation of the CEO's abilities and the company's capabilities.

If this were my first contact with the company, I would be unimpressed and toss it out. It was obviously thrown together in a hurry without much thought as to whether the points were coherent or the context made sense. If they are this careless with their own work, how careless might they be with mine? Now, I happen to know the team is extremely conscientious and they produce top quality work. But unfortunately, those prospective clients may never give them a chance.

Here are a few tips for making sure your correspondence accurately reflects your capability and that of your company:

1. Develop a theme and stick to it.
Determine your main point then stay focused on it. If you absolutely must include multiple points, separate them into different paragraphs. Order the paragraphs with the most important point first and provide good transitions between paragraphs so they flow smoothly.

2. When in doubt, check it out!
If you aren't sure how to spell a word, DON'T GUESS! If you don't have a dictionary close by, use an online version.

3. Don't rely on SpellCheck.
I once had a woman apply for a public relations position. Her use of SpellCheck had her applying for a position in a more nefarious field (remove the "l" in public and you get the idea). At least SpellCheck is consistent: her cover letter, resume, and application all had the same mistake. She didn't get the job.

4. Use emphasis sparingly.
If you want to capture your reader's attention, bold and italic formatting are certainly options, but use them judiciously. If you have multiple points you want to emphasize, consider putting them into a bulleted or numbered list. Highlight the point, then include your supporting or explanatory statement(s) as I have done in this list.

5. Use real words.
I've mentioned it before but it bears repeating: irregardless is not a word. And while we're on the subject, "nother" is not a word or a contraction either. "Whole 'nother" is an incorrect phrase. "Whole other" or "another" is correct when talking about something separate or additional.

6. Mix it up.
If you must use the same word more than once in your communication piece, consider synonyms. If you can't think of one, try an online thesaurus.

Additional online resources:

Purdue University's online writing lab has several basic primers, including one on business writing.

Oregon State University also offers Business Writing Help online.

Washington State University has a great list of common errors in English.

Interns can be an exciting addition to your business team. They bring energy, excitement and fresh perspectives.

FPRA Blog Week continues with an outstanding post on the Keys to Dealing with Interns from Dr. Bob Davis, a professor with the Nicholson School of Communication at UCF.

Bulldog Reporter recaps Outmedia's Review of the Top 10 Tech Transformations of 2005, noting public relations may be the most impacted.

The board and staff are exploring options for rescheduling the event in the near future. In addition to posting the latest information on their site , they have a conference hotline for updated information: 1-888-277-3926.

Now, from a PR perspective, the refund guidelines need help. PRSA is asking registrants to write a letter asking for a refund and include "the reason for your being unable to attend the conference." Worse, they post this directly under the hotel's refund policy, which states "The Fontainebleau Resort`s current refund policy allows Conference [sic] registrants to cancel their hotel reservation WITH NO PENALTIES. The number to call is..."

Results from the Technorati/Edelman blogging PR survey I mentioned last week are already posted on Edelman's site. An email I received from Richard Edelman this evening reiterates their purpose in conducting this survey:

We conducted this study to:

- Better understand bloggers’ attitudes towards corporations and PR firms
- Help clients understand why and how they should engage the blogosphere

Technorati contacted tens of thousands of active bloggers via email, blog posts and the networks of discussion and links those posts generated. The survey generated 821 responses during the week of September 26, 2005.

The survey results are a must read for anyone using, or contemplating the use of, blogs, but business professionals in general will also find the survey provides some good, useful information.

Of particular value (PR folks, listen up) are the responses to the open ended questions. The answers are in response to a blog question, but many would do well to heed their answers in their daily PR, marketing and even business dealings. In response to question 5: "How do companies and their firm’s PR representatives generally interact with you?" I particularly enjoyed response #645:

"Get to the point. Yeah, yeah, we all know you have the latest, greatest, best-ever product/service on the planet (in YOUR mind), but instead of telling us how many awards you've won and cranking that MBA-speak word generator multiple times to produce your pitch, try telling us what's in it for us. How will your product or service make our life easier? How will it increase our bottom line? Why should we care? You've got to make the pitches appeal to the reader/listener. Why is it still so hard for otherwise intelligent and competent PR people to understand this?"

It's what I've been saying all along. If you can't get your message across in a clear, compelling and concise manner, you lose your audience. Of course, if you can't respond to the question being asked, that may ding your credibility a notch, too (note #645 seems to be in response to a different question).

PRSA's new online Media Room features RSS feeds that deliver news releases, notices and other daily news to subscribers. Users can select RSS feeds on Advocacy, Diversity, Professional Development, International News and Events.

Yesterday I received an email from an entrepreneur (who will remain nameless) promoting an upcoming teleconference he is hosting. Within the body of the email, he notes "next Tuesday evening, July 19 I'm going to hold a tele-conference..." and provides a link to register for the call.

Unfortunately, this entrepreneur has committed a major faux pas: he did not bother to update the landing page for the link.

The headline on the landing page says "Don't miss the [John Smith] Experience Tele-conference calls May 10, May 17, and May 24." The dates are in bold red type.

If he is that careless with his own materials, how careless was he in preparing the info products for sale on his web site? How careless will he be as my consultant if I hire him? These are the questions your prospects will ask before buying your products or hiring you, so why not answer those questions in advance - by making sure your work is proofread, up-to-date, and accurate BEFORE you hit the send button.

Always do a "run-through" before you launch your promotional campaign. Even better, have a couple associates run through it for you. Test the links to make sure they work, proofread your copy (email as well as web pages), and double check your day/date combinations. I had the bad habit of putting the wrong day with a date (for instance, "Friday, July 16" instead of the correct "Saturday, July 16"), but once I enlisted the help of an editor to proofread critical announcements, that habit was broken.

It only takes a moment and the result can be monumental. Skip this critical step and the results can be devastating.

(UPDATE: 7/21/05 9:30 p.m.) When I dialed in to the call, an automatic recording directed me to a new number, which I called about 10 minutes after the published start time (I hate listening to all the pre-call chit chat and the opening sales pitches). I was surprised to hear two women talking about network marketing and one's vacation in Cancun...I held out a few short minutes but at 15 minutes after the hour, the call still had not officially started so I hung up. I don't think this entrepreneur will be building a successful business any time soon if he keeps this up.)

I have a new blog, thanks to the blog guru (Josh Hallett at Hyku).

Now I have to transfer my posts from Blogger but that can wait. Right now, I want to play around with the new Movable Type publishing platform and learn how to use it.

I'm polishing off my presentation for this Thursday's FPRA luncheon.

Special events have always been my favorite part of work in the public relations field, so talking to the Florida Public Relations Association's Orlando members on Thursday will be a lot of fun. Plus, it's a great organization full of very talented people and I always learn something new when I am around them.

My talk on Thursday is about taking events to the next level, but before you can do that, there are a few basics to keep in mind. When you decide to host an event, there are three decisions you need to make right away:

1. Date
2. Location
3. Theme

The first two are interchangeable depending on the goals of your organization. Your CEO may insist that the annual company meeting be held at a specific location, so you will have to be flexible with your date; however, if your event is date-specific, such as Fathers' Day, then flexibility on the location is more significant.

Your theme is critical because it is the foundation on which you build your event. Everything, from your marketing and program to decorations and entertainment will tie in with your theme. If you will be doing a full scale promotional effort with printed (or even electronic) materials, you will need an event logo that appropriately reflects the theme.

Speaking of marketing, please remember: there is no such thing as a "first annual" event. By definition, an annual event occurs every year. An event being held for the first time is an inaugural event. I see too many groups and organizations promoting their first endeavor as their "first annual..." and it makes me cringe.

There are too many unknowns in hosting an event for the first time. Sure, you can turn almost any event into an annual happening with the right planning and preparation, but there are no guarantees. Your event may flop, the goals of your organization may change, or your boss may decide to spend the time and money elsewhere next year. People who attend your first-run event are now expecting an event next year so you and your organization end up looking foolish.

(Sidebar: Never, ever pitch an event to a sponsor as a "first annual." I have been in charge of sponsorships on both sides, soliciting sponsors and providing sponsorships, and will discuss that issue in a separate post.)

Once you have nailed down your date, signed the contract for your location and determined your theme, the rest is easy (for the most part).

My 30 Days to Radio Success partner, Wayne Kelly, is an award-winning Top 40 radio host. We're practically at opposite ends of the northern hemisphere (he's in Canada, I'm in Florida), yet through the wonders of technology, we're able to work together every day as if we're in the same office.

And now, I can even listen to his morning show on KBS radio weekdays, 6:00 - 9:00 a.m. (9:00 a.m. - Noon here on the east coast). I finally figured out that technology this morning! It'll freak Wayne out when I start saying things like "hey, when you mentioned x on the show this morning, blah blah blah."

To listen to Wayne on your computer, you'll need winamp. (download the free, full or bundle version; the bundle comes with 50 free mp3s).

Doggone it, I just realized you cannot edit your posts in Yahoo groups once they have been posted, even if you are the moderator and set up the group.

Wayne Kelly and I just wrapped Week Two of the June session of our four-week course, 30 Days to Radio Success. After posting this week's homework assignment in Yahoo groups, I realized the format of the message was different than last week's posting. Sure, it's a trivial thing but I like consistency. After a bit of time searching the help section, I found that even though I set up the group and am the moderator, I can NOT edit my post. That's too bad.

Ah, well, you get what you pay for and we wanted something quick and easy for our students to use while we get our training site set up.

I was invited to attend the Florida Public Relations Association's Orlando Presidents' Council Bosses Breakfast this morning. As a past president of the Capital (Tallahassee) chapter and a former board member for the Orlando chapter, I guess I've reached that point in my career where I am now considered a "senior" member of the profession.

Age has never really bothered me and, as one of my friends pointed out, I was recently nominated for the Orlando Business Journal's 40 Under 40 (I am stressing the "Under" here) so being known as a "senior" level professional doesn't mean I'm ready to break out the cane just yet!

Our speaker was Josh Hallet, whom I found to be extremely informative. I'll share more from his talk (he's a blog expert) a bit later when I have more time to post. For now, visit his site - I've added a link to it in my "Great Blogs" section.

My radio buddy, Wayne Kelly, and I are hosting our first teleclass together at 2:00 this afternoon. For more details, visit the resources page on my web site.

It is fundamental to the success of any community initiative to make sure the general public is fully educated about issues in which their support is critical to success. Often, those driving the initiative are so entrenched in the process they forget that the audience they are trying to reach is not nearly as informed about the issues as those promoting the initiative.

You cannot build support among those who do not understand what you are trying to do and why you are trying to do it.