What's your position?

When I was little and kids used to tease me my mother would always say, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

There is some truth to that statement. Sticks and stones may break my bones.  The untruth - words do hurt, and can damage your business or personal reputation. What people say about you or your brand or how they view you and your brand can be detrimental. So, what can you do about it?

Position yourself.

In public relations and marketing positioning is the process by which we try to create an image or identity in the minds of our target market for our product, brand or organization. Quite simply it is us telling you how to think about our product, brand or organization.  It's a simple concept.  Tell people how to refer to you or what you want to be known for all the time and eventually they will get it.

The lesson. Determine how you want to be viewed and tell people. My position? I am Brandi N. Williams, an Accredited Public Relations professional and owner of studio b public relations.My company's position? studio b public relations is a socially conscious public relations firm dedicated to working with individuals, businesses and organizations that make giving back to the community a priority.  We offer b'lessons - PR lessons - on our website. Follow us @studiobpr and @beablesson (Tweets about all things positive). What's your position?

Pay-for-Tweets?

I once believed in paying for tweets. I even told a friend (shout out to my friend Keary Colbert who can be followed @kearycolbert) to stop giving away free advertising in the form of Tweets and get paid for them. Then I thought about it not as a business owner, but as a Tweeter, friend, follower. Paid tweets are not the business.

I don't believe in ghost tweeting and in essence that is exactly what this is. It is someone else tweeting as me...but I am getting paid. Just as Jude states, it is ethically wrong to do without telling anyone, but even if you provide full disclosure it is wrong. It compromises the relationship that you are trying to build. Social media at its very best is about engagement.

In my opinion (expert and humble), it's not about the quantity of tweets, how many followers you have or how many people you follow. Tweeting is about developing relationships, engaging with people in a new way. It's about sharing information and helping build a community without boundaries. It has business utility because it allows businesses, organizations and individuals to be transparent and helps people develop relationships...the kind that can lead to sales, brand loyalty or a good friendship.

The lesson. Pay-for-Tweets is a no-no. Social media can help drive business, but the priority should be on engaging and creating conversations that are mutually beneficial. Develop a social media strategy that is founded on business goals, but remember that engagement and two-way communication are your first priority.  Your business will succeed if your customers (clients) feel you are transparent, sincere and not just pushing a product or service.  You will fail if you become an online sales person.

Update on 2010-02-13 17:49 by Brandi N. Williams, APR

I was up watching late night television and saw a story on Inside Edition about celebrities getting paid to tweet. This company - Ad.ly - connects advertisers and celebs.  The celebs help the companies by tweeting about their products or services.  "A lot of our celebrities are making some serious cash," Rad tells INSIDE EDITION. Read the article about the story here.  Then tell me what you think.

Trickle Down is not for PR (or much else)

Politics is often a great teacher.  Case and point:

In the 1980's President Ronald Reagan popularized the trickle down theory by using it to lead his economic policy. The thought behind the theory is if you provide tax cuts or other benefits to businesses and rich individuals in the belief that this will indirectly benefit the broad population. Though many argue trickle down economics worked for the US, there are a few facts that can't be ignored:

• Personal income taxes of the top earners dropped from 70% to 28% in 7 years
• Social security and medicare taxes increased
• The United States went from the largest credit grantor to the largest debtor
• Real wages declined during the Reagan presidency

 Translation: Providing benefits to those on top does not guarantee those below will reap rewards.

Though this is an economic theory the lessons can be translated to public relations and marketing. Providing information to those at the top of the information chain does not guarantee that those at the bottom will receive the messages or that the message will be delivered with the intention it was sent.  You can't afford for your messages to be ignored or miscommunicated.  President Barack Obama took that same position during his 2008 Presidential campaign.  He didn't deliver messages to the media and wait for them to translate that to their audiences; he used social media to reach his core audiences directly. It was a genius strategy that helped him secure his current position as president of the United States of America.

The lesson. Don't wait for others to tell your story or give them the power to craft your message. Go straight to the source and tell them what you want them to know in your words. Use the tools available to you to go directly to your audiences.  When you do, you will reap great rewards.

Quality vs. Quantity

"The quandry of whether to achieve one's goals with a few products of high quality or many products of low quality, as one cannot have both high quality and high quantity."

~ The Urban Dictionary

The quality vs. quantity debate is an age-old debate that has been had in every industry, household and business.  It's the question of should one seek to have a lot or a little with great quality. This question comes up for public relations professionals when talking about media relations (and not just then, but that's what I want to talk about right now).

Often clients hire PR pros to get them featured in the media.  For them, the more exposure the better.  But more is not always (or usually) better.  Quality media placements are the best placements. What does that mean? PR pros should be pitching and placing clients with media that will help advance their business goals. 

Case and point: If Company X has a goal of increasing media placements to increase brand awareness and brand loyalty in a particular local market, then the goal should be to secure stories with local media outlets targeting Company X's audiences. It may turn out that there are only three outlets in the local market that fit that description; and that is okay.  The work is not about how many hits you can get, but the quality of those hits.  Instead of working for small mentions, calendar posting or other not-so-quality hits, think about how you can secure coverage in all three media and get quality coverage.  Consider:

• A series of stories
• A feature story (focused on issue with client mention)
• A client profile (focused on client)

The lesson. PR Pros shld always go for quality not quantity. Begin each project with a goal in mind and keep that goal close to you as you strategically develop the plan to meet it.  One quality hit is better than a million small-time  mentions.

PR now: PR future

I am sharing the articles below with you as they tell the story of where PR now and PR future.  The articles were written by Ken Makovsky, CEO, Makovsky & Company.  The lesson ... compliments of studio b pr. 

Are we in a battle? You bet. And PR must win.

A recent KPMG survey found that fewer than 30% of ad agencies have a plan in place to leverage social media for their clients. This gap represents a critical competitive advantage that PR firms can’t afford to cede to ad agencies or digital marketers—especially not when we have the stronger claim and the more relevant skill sets.

Social media is all about two-way conversations, not marketing. Conversations—sharing information, developing relationships, and influencing actions—is our mission as PR professionals. For example, one of our clients had been using an ad agency to write its online content. The copy was promotional—fine for advertising, but totally inappropriate for the social media. “Your constituencies have the power of life and death over your company,” we told the client. “You should be talking to them, not at them. It’s not about marketing. It’s about cultivating a dialogue—the province of PR.” The upshot? The client moved the assignment from its advertising agency to us.

Social media management is rapidly becoming one of the fastest growing sectors for PR. Sometimes we sell it separately; sometimes we embed it in a larger program. But there really are no barriers between traditional PR and the social media. We must view them as one seamless communication platform—and convince our clients—or risk losing the war.

PR: opportunity ahead.

The public relations business is on the verge of a major growth explosion, and there are two big reasons why:transparency and social media. And the two are linked.

Indeed social media has caused de facto transparency. There is significant pressure to tell the truth when every individual is a potential publisher in every organization, plus the growing social trend to “confess” via Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, companies who hide information will be rapidly found out.

Thus, every company should be undertaking a transparency audit.It is not an option.It’s as important a tool for assessing risk and exposure as a financial audit. If we do it right, we will become almost as vital as accountants. And then we need to implement the tactics that flow from the audit to keep our clients’ reputations intact.

Think of the violators over the past 15 months – such corporate stalwarts as Lehman Brothers, AIG, Bear Stearns, and the Big Three automakers.

We also need to speak out about the need for transparency and the consequences if no action is taken. There have been so many corporate transparency violations where no one in our business is even quoted in the media, which means editors are not thinking of us in the way they should—we need to change that.

We also need to remind our clients and prospects that while product, performance, and price may get you in the door, it takes trust to close the sale and keep the organization’s business vibrant. Building a dialogue, relationships, and trust with our clients’ constituencies will keep both sides honest, which is what is needed to survive in today’s environment.

The lesson: Social media + transparency + great PR strategy and counsel = successful client/company.  If you aren't recommending and implementing social media, transparency or honesty into your client's PR plan, you are planning for failure.  Social media isn't going anywhere; it is PR now: PR future.

Check this out for more on the benefits of honesty and transparency.