Archivo November de 2009
This is a guest post by Alison Kenney.
The media landscape is evolving more quickly than ever before and traditional mass media is changing faster than you can say "Google Reader." PR professionals must understand the changes in order to be effective in their work and manage the impact these changes are having on the PR industry.
How media savvy are you these days?
PR pros who work in media relations know that newspapers, magazines and other print media are disappearing at an alarming rate. Rick Edmonds, a business analyst at the Poynter Institute, a journalism training center in Florida, estimates that newspapers have reduced their spending on journalism by $1.6 billion per year over the past few years. Since the market is not supporting traditional print publications, other options have been floated — such as having the government support newspapers, establishing non-profit journalism centers, charging for online content and more.
Traditional broadcast media is becoming more and more niche with special programming, online extensions, satellite (radio) offerings and more. These changes dramatically affect the way PR professionals pitch the media and the amount of media exposure and coverage PR reps can secure these days. For example, many newsrooms state their current editorial mission, such as focusing more on local news and relying on wire services to provide the rest, when they announce cut-backs, and now reporters who don′t have the "column inches" to write all the stories they did in the past may use their blog to cover those stories. Online outlets, even those that are extensions of established media, always seem to need more content than they have and often accept contributed articles from non-journalists.
Social media has had a huge impact on public relations with its stressing of two-way, many-to-many interactions and communications. Social media offers countless creative opportunities to the PR profession for communicating with different audiences, from making it possible to learn more about people and build relationships to hosting virtual events and enhancing live events, conducting market research with online groups and supporting branding and marketing with search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
With fewer opportunities to communicate via established media, many PR folks are turning to self-publishing opportunities, such as podcasts, blogs, wikis, YouTube and other video. Big brands have caught on to this and are using new media to pitch directly to consumers.
Being media savvy used to mean understanding what makes a good pitch, which outlets will be most interested in the story and using the right tools to get that pitch across. Wait a minute; it still does!
Alison Kenney is an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston′s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She can be reached at alisonkenney at comcast dot net.
This is a guest post by Heather Huhman.
Generation Y, Millennials, The Internet Generation"”it doesn′t matter what you call them; they are the future of the workforce. If you speak to any seasoned recruiter about this generation, you may be surprised to learn that while this generation may be the most intelligent generation to join the workforce, they are also considered to be lazy and difficult to retain.
While these two characteristics often cast Gen Y in a negative light, thanks to this generation, recruiting has changed drastically and will continue to evolve. Three key factors make for major differences between Millennials and their predecessors when it comes to engaging and retaining this generation:
- Technology: Gen Y has grown up with technology and its members are referred to as "digital natives." This skill puts this generation at an advantage because they are able to integrate technology into all aspects of their work. Recruiters have noticed this trend and have begun to reach out to potential employees through online means other than job boards. It is very easy to build relationships with (and learn a lot about) future employees through networking sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. If your company is not using social media or other technologies to entice candidates, you are missing out on top talent.
- Parents: Parents of Gen Y children are often called "helicopter parents," thanks in part to their constant hovering and super-involvement in their children′s lives. Never before have parents played such a big role in all aspects of their children′s lives, and these parents don′t just float away when their children head into the workforce. Hiring managers are reporting some parents are going so far as to accompanying their children to interviews and calling companies to inquire about the status of their children′s résumés.
- While this practice should by no means be encouraged, helicopter parents are hard to ignore. Rather than completely brush them off (as much as you may want to), a better practice is to keep them in the loop through blast e-newsletters. As always, remind them that it is their child applying for the job, not the parent and they are not helping their child′s case by hovering too closely.
- Higher Education: Gen Y is graduating from college with more knowledge than any generation before them. They have been told that they are invaluable to the companies that seek them. While they will bring a new breadth of knowledge to your workforce, there is one key aspect they have not been schooled on: how to behave in a professional environment with both superiors and peers.
Reports have shown that Gen Y has a strong sense of entitlement and feel as though they shouldn′t have to work to earn their superior′s respect and rewards. This is often off-putting to recruiters and puts these sorts of candidates at a disadvantage. The best way to mitigate behaviors such as this is to emphasize the way employees at your organization earn respect and move up the organizational ladder.
Heather R. Huhman is a career expert and founder & president of Come Recommended, an exclusive online community connecting the best internship and entry-level job candidates with the best employers. She is also the national entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com and blogs about career advice at HeatherHuhman.com.
My One and Only release
Bone Dry on dvd
This is a guest post by Josh Morgan.
It′s easy to say, but not always easy to do. I′ve tried to not burn any bridges as I′ve wound my way through my career. This has included working at agency that started small and grew until it was acquired, then leaving to go to a startup agency that cratered, going in-house to a networking start-up founded and run by one of my best friends (and getting laid-off on my honeymoon as the company shut down), going to Apple, leaving Apple and working for Apple′s former PR firm and leaving there to start my own firm.
It sounds like a lot, but it really wasn′t. The thing is, along the way, I was hired everywhere by people I had worked for or with in the past. When I started my career at Alexander Communications (which became Alexander/Ogilvy and now just Ogilvy PR) I was an intern. About two years after completing the intern program and becoming an employee, I became the intern program coordinator. One of the first interns I managed in that role was Nicole Jordan (kickingsand.com).
A few years later, I was hired by a former colleague from Alexander at Apple, where one of the staffers on our agency team was"¦..Nicole Jordan who was now working at Edelman. Eventually, Apple brought all of their US PR work in house and let Edelman go.
After a few years at Apple, our family made the decision to leave Silicon Valley and the Bay Area (believe me, not an easy decision with my wife having grown up in Saratoga and me in Marin) and move to El Dorado Hills, outside Sacramento. I began interviewing for positions in Sacramento, and made the decision to tell my supervisor at Apple what I was doing and why and give my notice, before I found a new job. Maybe not the best financial decision, but I didn′t want to be sneaking around and leave on a bad note.
After contracting for a little VoIP company that was launching (Skype) I was hired by Edelman in Sacramento, partly on the recommendation of former colleagues from both inhouse and Edelman. Since this was a public affairs focused office and I was at the time mostly a technology kind of guy, my being hired was greatly influenced by the input of people with whom I had worked before.
This is a bit of long, rambling way to say that no matter what your industry, it′s an incredibly small world, and getting smaller. Do all you can to not burn bridges. The impetus for this thought right now was a great post, by"¦yes, Nicole Jordan. She now runs communications for the Rubicon Project down in Los Angeles.
One last note, it′s somewhat easy to say don′t burn bridges with people you work with, but also remember to not burn bridges with recruiters you work with along the way. Be honest with recruiters, and please talk with them before you are looking for a job and stay in touch with them after you find a job. How do I know all this about recruiters? I married one.
Josh runs Morgan/Dorado PR and writes at DontEatTheShrimp.com. You can find him on Twitter @joshdmorg. He's worked in PR at big companies like Apple, Edelman and with little companies that have become big.
Photo credit: Paraflyer
This is a guest post by Alison Kenney.
It seems that every job description and prospective client wants to work with a PR pro who is social media savvy. Interestingly, this can mean different things to different people. At the extremes it could mean the difference between someone who thinks they are savvy about social media because they actively participate on Twitter and Facebook and someone who integrates, implements and measures SEO in all PR and business communications. Demonstrate your social media savvy-ness by being prepared to answer the following types of questions:
- How personally familiar are you with social media?
- When conducting a job search, which social media, online networks and Web-based communities do you turn to?
- Do you have a search- and social media-friendly Web site?
- Do you blog?
- Which blogs do you read on a regular basis? How often do you comment on blogs?
- Are you familiar with the popular feed readers? Which one do you recommend?
- Have you ever uploaded a video to YouTube?
- Have you ever uploaded digital photos to a site like Flickr?
- What social networks do you belong to? Do you use them for personal or professional reasons?
- How many followers do you have on Twitter? How many Friends on Facebook? Connections on LinkedIn?
- How do you use your cell phone besides making calls?
- Do you use Skype or ooVoo?
- How have you worked with social media for business purposes?
- How do you address both SEO and social media?
- How do you measure the ROI of your social media engagement efforts?
- Do you help clients/companies develop a blog strategy?
- Give some examples of podcasts you′ve developed for clients.
- Have you coordinated Live Chats for clients? What tools/medium do you use?
- Describe a successful blogger relations effort that you were part of.
- Have you ever been blacklisted by a blogger?
- How do you write a social media or SEO-enabled press release? What are the components?
- How do you integrate social media into your PR programs?
- Which key digital influencers do you participate in conversations with and what methods do you use for communicating with them?
- What kind of coverage can you expect when distributing a new social media release?
- How do you track and analyze online coverage and link-backs?
- What do you do when something negative appears about you/your client/your company on the blogosphere?
- How do you discriminate between different social media efforts?
- Which online press release distribution sites offer the best value?
- How do you gauge whether it′s worth spending time with an online community?
- Do some media types rank higher on search result pages than others?
How do you demonstrate your social media expertise?
Alison Kenney is an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston′s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She can be reached at alisonkenney at comcast dot net.
This is a guest post by Alison Kenney.
Whether you′re looking for a job in PR or just interested in expanding your professional network in the industry, you′ve surely explored social media and online networking.
Social media differs from traditional media in a number of ways. It can be professionally produced (e.g. by paid journalists) or can come from anyone with access to internet connection; it can appear instantly and you can interact with the author and other viewers (e.g. by leaving comments or simply sharing/voting on it). Participating in social media, including blogs, wikis, podcasts, Internet forums and more, is a good way to keep up-to-date on developments in the industry and to share industry knowledge. Social networking is a way to connect and network with other professionals using online tools, the most popular being LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
Following are a few tips for taking advantage of the wealth of public relations knowledge and connections that exist on some of the most popular sites:
LinkedIn — have you ever wondered what to do after you connect with someone on LinkedIn? The site has evolved over the last year, with new features that allow you to interact more with your connections. Like Facebook, you can now update your status on LinkedIn, and there are other things you can do to start a discussion with your network, such as list the events you′ll be attending and share your opinion on books you′ve read. There are also groups to join such as "Network of PR Professionals" "Marketing and PR Innovators" and "MarketingProfs" where you can start questions, respond to questions, see job postings and receive regular summaries of the group′s activities.
Blogs — I′m sure you know what a blog is by now, but can you fully grasp how many PR-related blogs there are? Pretty much every agency has their own blog and many of the firm′s principals have their own blogs too — most can be accessed from the agency′s home page. If you don′t already do this, set up a blog reader, such as Google Reader, Rojo.com or Bloglines, so that the blogs you want to follow regularly are streamed to your reader via RSS each time they′re updated. Looking for new content or to ensure you′re on top of the top blogs? Check out Alltop, Guy Kawasaki′s site for aggregating blog content by topic. Do you blog? If so, what kind of response to you get from your posts? Sharing feedback, either in the comments section on the blog or by tweeting about the post, is a great way to strengthen a connection and share insight. Make sure your blog is getting all the exposure it can by tweeting about new posts and using SEO to make it more searchable.
Twitter — the most basic way to build a PR network on Twitter is to identify industry thought-leaders and follow their tweets. One easy-to-use list of PR pros on Twitter is here, but there are tons of other subjective lists, too. Another way to make connections and contribute to professional development is to participate in chats on Twitter, which are designated by the hashtag (#) symbol. For example, Chicago PR pro Sarah Evans (@prsarahevans) started #journchat, a weekly live chat that takes place every Monday at 8 pm EST on Twitter and features feedback from journalists, PR pros, bloggers and marketing professionals about industry topics. And every Tuesday at 12 pm EST there is a #socialmedia chat on Twitter.
Facebook — I′ve heard it said that companies view their Facebook Fan page as the property of their HR department -- meaning that it′s a great place to find basic information on the company and promote internal developments. Typically you′ll find photos of company outings, links to company blogs, media coverage and other information, activities and events that are more casual than what appears on the company web site. Many PRSA regional chapters have their own Group or Fan page on Facebook too.
Got other tips or links to share? Leave your comments below.
Alison Kenney is an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston′s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She can be reached at alisonkenney at comcast dot net.
This is a guest post by Nate Purpura.
Most people who′ve lost a job in the last year probably already know about the federal subsidy for COBRA health insurance benefits that was signed into law back in February of this year.
The subsidy covered 65% of your COBRA premiums for 9 months.
What folks may not know is that the subsidy is set to end on November 30, for anyone who started receiving it in March. Started in April, end in December; started in May, end in January; and so on.
I have good news for anyone on the subsidy. A bill in the House of Representatives (HR 3930) would extend the subsidy.
Here are some details:
- First, it extends by 6 months-- from 9 to 15 months-- the total allowable time an unemployed worker can receive COBRA premium assistance. This will allow workers who enrolled in the program in February to continue on until at least May 2010.
- Second, it extends this assistance to individuals who are involuntarily terminated between January 1 and June 30, 2010.
- Third, it extends eligibility for traditional COBRA coverage an additional 6 months, from 18 to 24 months, for those terminated at the beginning of the economic recession in 2008.
- No extended COBRA premium assistance or extended COBRA benefits would extend beyond December 31, 2010.
Even with the subsidy, the premiums can be very high. And, even with the extension, COBRA is not permanent.
We published an updated FAQ on the subsidy, which was featured in the SF Chronicle Blog on Wednesday: Federal COBRA subsidies start to expire Nov. 30
It might also help your readers if you also posted a link to our COBRA Learning Center where we have some great resources including a subsidy calculator, videos and FAQs.
Nate Purpura is a former new jockey turned PR pro. After slugging away at the local TV news game in places like San Luis Obispo, Redding and Sacramento, Nate broke into PR in 2000. He had early success in PR managing no-name start-ups like eHarmony.com and eventually parlayed that success into a start-up of his own, called Green Car Marketing & Communications. Today he′s managing PR for eHealth, Inc. where he does a lot of writing about health care for the self-employed and unemployed.
This is a guest post by Rachel M. Esterline.
This past summer I had the opportunity to intern with Fahlgren Mortine, a public relations agency in Columbus, Ohio, rated in the top-100 agencies by PR Week. As their 2009 Founder′s Award winner, I was given a paid internship and a $1,500 scholarship.
How did I get so lucky? Research, hard work and an intensive interview process.
Finding a good internship that pays is tough. But finding one that gives you both experience and a scholarship is even harder. Once you find that internship, you may be competing against hundreds of other applicants. But, it′s well worth it to apply.
Where can you find internships like this? Visit internship fairs, network with peers and search online for opportunities. Below are a few opportunities I have found:
The Craft download
- Fahlgren Mortine
Apply for their Founder′s Award for the agency experience, paid internship and scholarship. - Deveney Communications
Apply for their Summer Scholars Program and receive housing, transportation and compensation. - Edelman
Apply for the Daniel J. Edelman/PRSSA Award for the Outstanding Public Relations Student to be a paid intern at one of the most well-known agencies in the US and a $1,500 cash award. - Hill & Knowlton
Apply for the PR Week Student of the Year award to win a paid internship and $5,000.
When applying for these internships, pay close attention to detail and have everything proofread several times. Go the extra mile when you have the opportunity. Lastly, take a chance and apply because you can′t win if you don′t play the game.
Rachel M. Esterline is a public relations senior at Central Michigan University. She has held internships at her university, a start-up, a large agency and a small integrated marketing communications firm. She blogs at "The Beacon for Navigating a Career in PR" to share information, ideas and tips with her fellow PR students. You can follow her on Twitter at @RachelEsterline.
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This is a guest post by Gerry Corbett.
More than 100 people have sought advice from me in just the last six months on topics ranging from cold calling, search techniques, bad bosses, jumping ship, jumping fences, compelling resumes, coaching references, and building networks. I have seen or heard the good bad and the downright ugly. Consistently what strikes me as I look back is the lack of knowing or understanding "the art of doing well by doing good." I am talking about paying it back and paying it forward.
While it may be a generalization, so many of the "gainfully employed" are woefully ignorant of the nature of the job search and the incredible frustration endured by job seekers as they pursue the hunt. Sometimes it bears remembering that the shoe can be on the other foot. With this in mind, here are a few do′s for those working stiffs who may be contacted by people looking to get out of the unemployment queue.
- Respond to your friends′ requests for advice, connections or referrals! Sure you are busy. But take some time to consider helping a friend and even someone who could be a potential friend or colleague.
- Remember and heed the past! Consider those times when you were in the job hunt. Do you recall how disappointing it was to get no response from anyone? Why not shave 15 minutes off your lunch hour to make a couple of calls or emails to help folks connect.
- Return the favor! Are there folks who have helped you in your job or during your career that are facing bleak career prospects? How about the supplier who saved your skin at the last minute or the client that kept you in business with more business? Reciprocity is a two way street. Get busy helping!
- Be proactive! In the course of your day, have you received a call from a recruiter looking for referrals? How much time could it take to provide names of friends and/or colleagues that might fit the job description? Are there jobs going begging in your own company? Why not reach out to friends that could be a good fit and get them into your firm for interviews?
- Say a good word! If you have friends, colleagues or acquaintances looking for new opportunities, consider endorsing their capabilities. Web sites such as LinkedIn are a great platform to sing the praises of folks that have done a particularly spectacular job for you either as boss, employee, supplier, mentor or even nemesis.
- Students are people too! Get involved in helping young people. Did you ever have a mentor that showed you the ropes or gave you disaster-avoiding advice? Sure you did. Take some time and be a mentor. Help others avoid pitfalls that may have challenged you. Spread your wings and take a couple people under them.
Paying it back and paying it forward is just the moral thing to do. In this economy, or any economy, helping people always pays dividends.
Gerard "Gerry" F. Corbett is the PR Job Coach and Founder and Consultant of Redphlag LLC, a marketing consulting firm. He has served four decades in technology PR most recently as vice president of branding of Hitachi for more than 12 years. You can contact Gerry at coach at prjobcoach dot com or follow him on Twitter @prjobcoach.
As most of you who follow this blog or any of my updates on Twitter and Facebook, you've probably long realized I've gone off the deep end into Mommyland and I've become an annoying new Mommy looking for any excuse to post pictures her bundle of joy.
While I haven't seemed to be able to completely disconnect, I'm trying to make a conscious effort to spend as much time as I can with baby Julia Mai until January-ish. It leaves me with very little time to write.
Over the past two months I've enlisted the help of some awesome guest bloggers to contribute to the blog. A huge thanks to Alison Kenney, Gerry Corbett, Jonathan Rick, Kelli Matthews, Ken Jacobs, Jacob Share, Linda Beltran, Rob Manfredo, George Nikanorav, Rachel Esterline, and Chris Perry for their hard work and contributions so far. You can find all guest contributions here
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I'll be continuing to work with guest bloggers for the next couple months, so I'm inviting anybody who is interested to submit a post.
Main criteria for a post:
- The post must follow the theme of this blog: job search and employment, recruiting (written for hiring managers and/or candidates), social media, or anything about the public relations industry.
- Original content and not previously posted on another blog.
- Provide links and any images you want to go along with the post with appropriate attribution.
- A short (two- to three-sentence bio).
If you want to make sure I′ll post your idea, feel free to email me about it.
This is a guest post by Alison Kenney.
PR folks who′ve worked at both small companies and large corporations know that their role, title and responsibilities can vary widely depending on the size of the company they work for.
Smaller companies tend to have fewer titles to cover the PR function in their organization, but the role often encompasses a greater number of responsibilities. Larger firms are more likely to have a team of PR people, each with more specific duties.
Some job titles, such as "receptionist" or "speech writer," mean pretty much the same thing no matter where you go. And although you can glean information on how many years′ experience the role requires from titles such as "PR Specialist," "PR Manager" and "Director of PR," (entry-level, 3-5 years and 5+ years, respectively) the responsibilities for each varies depending on the size of the company they represent.
Funnily enough, receptionist and speech writing duties could be included in those responsibilities!
When looking at PR positions with a smaller company, consider:
Is the company a good culture fit for you? You′ll be spending most of your time with a set, small number of co-workers and it helps to understand up-front if their work style matches yours.
- The role likely has a broad set of responsibilities. Small companies often expect everyone to pitch in, which could mean you get to flex and develop a wider range of skills. On the down side, this could mean you get saddled with less strategic projects or even tasks that are outside the normal realm of PR.
- The job′s responsibilities aren′t etched in stone. Small businesses feel the effects of sales and economic cycles differently that big companies do and the PR role will adapt with those changes and the company′s needs.
- Small companies can offer more opportunities for career advancement. Working with a smaller employee pool means that you may get more direct access to the boss. It′s also easier to stand out in the (smaller) crowd. There′s often more flexibility to "write your own ticket" and define the role by introducing your own ideas/strategies.
- Your growth is tied to the company′s growth. Although many start-ups fail within the first five years, if your small company takes off so could your career.
While PR positions at larger firms include:
- The benefits of working on a team, such as working with others who understand and appreciate PR and support your work and the decreased possibility that you′ll need to "sell" PR internally
- The chance to practice PR on a broader scale. Larger companies have more and bigger audiences to communicate with, more media that are interested in them, and impact more people overall.
- PR programs and projects that are better funded. At larger companies, there is more budget to start with, more resources to work with, and there can be a chance to try innovative and cutting-edge techniques.
- The opportunity to change jobs without leaving the company. Working in a PR department can be your window into other areas of a large company with opportunities through internal transfers/hires.
- A more stable work environment. With the exception of last year′s melt-down among Wall Street firms, larger companies can be more stable fiscally than smaller firms and can withstand financial losses better.
And then there are PR professionals who work independently, like me. In addition to having strong PR skills, solo practitioners also need to be proficient networkers, self-promoters and salespeople (to win new business) and should have the confidence and self-discipline to keep their business going at a steady pace.
Alison Kenney is an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston′s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She can be reached at alisonkenney at comcast dot net.
This blog is to share my recruiting experiences and discuss thoughts on the job market, PR industry and technology.
Alison Kenney is an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience.
