On the Job Vocab

After a brief blogging hiatus, I have returned full force as I start my internship and the Portland Senior Experience.  My first week has been exhilarating and I and have done my best to hit the ground running. My team members are superb and, besides being exemplary professionals, are committed to helping me learn, answering my questions, handing me projects, and including me every step of the way. Some of my newly and constantly acquired knowledge includes PR vocabulary that I have found to be very helpful and that I would like to share with you.

Matte Release: An article, written by a PR professional, that is structured like a feature but contains valuable information that would be in a press release. After client approval, the publicist sends the article to publications through a distributor. Publications use the article if there is room or extra space.

Canned Message: A suggested response to a predicted or commonly asked media question.

Unique Selling Proposition (USP): The unique features of a product (or service) that set it apart from the others. The USP is often an integral part of branding and message development.

Request for Proposal (RFP): A document that a company writes to request a project proposal from various PR agencies. The agencies respond with plan proposals, and the company uses these proposals to choose which agency to select for a project or campaign.

I hope this vocab has been interesting and helpful. Professionals, if you have anything to add or any commentary on my definitions, I would be delighted to see it!

Communicating? Use Three

Barack Obama is a powerful communicator. His post-election speech made at least two of my friends cry. He seems to be an eloquent person, but there is one technique I’d like to focus on mentioned in a tweet by @PRJobs. The “rule of three,” or “tricolon” as Richard Nordquist calls it. Some grammar enthusiasts may just refer to it as good parallel structure, using the same words or verb tenses to introduce three ideas.
An example of the rule of three from Obama’s victory speech:
“I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn’t start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington–it began [1] in the backyards of Des Moines [2] and the living rooms of Concord [3] and the front porches of Charleston” (Nordquist).

As seen above, Obama uses parallel structure to introduce the three examples of the “backyards of Des Moines,” the “living rooms of Concord” and the “front porches of Charleston.” He paints a picture of a grassroots effort with concrete examples that stick in the audience members’ minds.

This speaking technique is a simple and effective one to use in many common situations, such as a presentation, a wedding toast or a blog post. Karen Burns of the Working Girl blog recommends using this technique in a job interview. Three items are usually easy to remember, and the parallel structure employed when introducing them makes it easy to follow along.

I invite you to try using parallel structure during your next speaking opportunity. You many find that your words flow more easily, your ideas seem more vivid and your audience makes a stronger connection.

Twilight: How word of mouth can jump-start successful public relations

I have to admit that I am a “Twilighter,” (i.e., a Twilight saga fan). I heard about the books through a friend’s sister and proceeded to read them, enjoy them and insist that my friends read them and be amazed. This trend started me thinking about how underground art forms including music and literature can become mainstream through word of mouth.

Stephenie Meyer, like J.K. Rowling, did not start out with a famous connection or prestigious degree from an Ivy-league university. She simply had an amazing idea that she crafted into a story with her excellent writing skills, and a small fan base was born. Years later, MTV is supporting her upcoming independent film adaptation of the first novel, directed by Catherine Hardwicke. So how did all of this happen without a massive public relations budget from the get-go?

Word of mouth is powerful. Who do we trust more than the people in our own lives? As I mentioned in my post about charity: water, our personal connections are the strongest. That is why word of mouth is such a powerful tool in public relations. It draws from the strongest network our stakeholders have and resounds with personal touch points.

Word of mouth is also budget-friendly. In fact, much of the success of social media tactics lies in word of mouth through social media. I just became a supporter of Barack Obama on Facebook because I saw through recent updates that one of my friends had joined the group as well. All of the information we receive through our social networking tools comes from those we choose to connect with. Social media is, in a way, electronic word of mouth.

Public relations practitioners from all industries can appreciate this tactic. For those in technology, it is the words of analysts they trust. For those in consumer products, it is the magazine editors and friends of stakeholders that spread a product’s popularity through their own positive reviews. Our stakeholders can act as publicists because they know their audience better than anyone else through personal friendships and networks.

So, anyone want to borrow my copy of Twilight?

My First Podcast!

As part of a class assignment, I have put together a presentation that is a culmination of personal experience and research on how non-profit organizations can garner more press coverage and be more involved in current events. The following is my presentation in podcast form.

Show notes for Week 1: Being a Part of the News

On this week’s show, I talk about how to form relationships with journalists and garner media coverage.

Introduction                                                     :0-:40

What’s interesting to journalists                       :40-2:40

How to sustain coverage                                   2:40-3:30

How to form relationships with journalists        3:30-4:04

Conclusion                                                       4:05-5:00

Special thanks to http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com for the free music clip I used.

I hope you enjoy this podcast and find the stories and information helpful. Thank you for listening, and I look forward to your feedback.

Podcast 1: Being a Part of the News

Ben and Jerry’s Halloween: Holidays Help PR Efforts

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year. I’ve always enjoyed the autumn festivities and spooky atmosphere. Carving pumpkins, dressing up, free candy—what’s not to love?

This year, one of my favorite ice cream brands has put up a Halloween Web site complete with an interactive Halloween world that includes a “Flavor Graveyard” with descriptions of seasonal and classic flavors on headstones. The site also includes fun games, the history of Halloween, safety tips, recipes and more.

One successful way that a company can garner press coverage and customer interest is by participating in holidays. Holidays naturally garner press coverage and include newsworthy events and issues. Ben and Jerry’s tactic of creating an interactive Web site with resources and games is part of a great strategy that shows the brand as family-friendly and wholesome, which is especially important after the controversy they had with PETA.

For me, since holidays are so festive and fun, I appreciate when a company or brand gets in on the spirit and provides ways to have fun and enjoy the season. It brings the brand back to the front of my attention. You bet I’m going to be looking for those seasonal flavors in stores!

Are any of your favorite brands implementing any holiday PR?

PRSSA National Conference in Detroit: Happy 40th, PRSSA!

Wow, what a weekend! After a stressful week of midterms, I found myself glad to be traveling to Detroit, Mich., for the National PRSSA Conference. Detroit is an interesting town full of beautiful, gothic buildings. Not the bustling city I expected, but an interesting place to visit, complete with Greek Town and vibrant city culture.

University of Oregon Executive Board in Detroit

The conference was full of helpful and interesting sessions and keynote speakers, including PR pioneer Ofield Dukes and Craig Newmark from Craigslist.org. There were many sessions available regarding various of topics including ethics, global PR, entertainment PR, PR for healthcare, sports PR, fund-raising PR, social media, event planning, and corporate versus agency PR. The conference also included a PRSA/PRSSA social where students and professionals mingled at the GM Renaissance Center Wintergarden.

My favorite sessions were on ethics, social media, and corporate versus agency PR. The ethics session, led by several professionals including John Bailey, was interesting because it addressed many ethical issues practitioners may come across when doing work for clients. We learned about a whisper campaign, which involves the spreading of bad publicity in an attempt to bring down a competitor or promote one’s own product without taking credit for disseminating the information.

The social media session was memorable because speaker Jud Branam created an acronym to tie his points together, POST: People, Objectives, Strategy and technology. He made several interesting points that ring true, including the fact that the emphasis lies in what the company can do for the online community.

Lori Billingsley, a professional working with the Coca-Cola Company, enlightened us on the differences in working for a corporation and working for an agency. She recommended starting at an agency to acquire a wealth of experience with a variety of clients before going to a corporation and applying that broad knowledge.

Conferences are an excellent opportunity to advance professional knowledge and get excited for a career in PR. I had a lot of fun bonding with this year’s executive board and meeting so many other students and professionals. To any students looking to get more involved in PR, I highly recommend joining PRSSA and attending conferences whenever you can.

Concreteness and PR

While reading Chip and Dan Heath’s “Made to Stick,” I found the chapter “Concrete” to bring up some excellent points about communicating a message. The Heaths scatter the chapter with, as they are suggesting, concrete examples to bring their point to life. They bring up an interesting argument that vivid details help ideas stick and resound with people. Whether it’s a solution to a social problem or a proposal for a new technology, by showing your audience an example, you speak a universal language that brings your idea to life and shows, rather than tells, your story.

Vivid storytelling has always been one of the keys to capturing an audience. As storytellers in the modern world, we in PR should employ and enjoy this tactic. In my experience, it seems to work well and certainly encourages more press coverage.

Last year during my internship I worked with a local non-profit that supplies cranial prostheses to children with hair loss due to illnesses. I was brainstorming with my colleagues one afternoon when one of them came up with a brilliant idea for a news story. I called a few local reporters and they were all in. That Thursday, a mere few days later, several local news outlets came to a salon to see a little girl with a thyroid disease get her prosthesis fitted. Our coverage included a story on the morning and evening news, as well as a full tabloid spread on the front page of the life section of a local paper.

We could have sent releases and made pitch calls about the organization for weeks, but instead we decided to tell a real story, give a concrete example, to captivate the community and create public awareness of the non-profit.

Our daily lives and experiences consist of concrete details, which is why this method helps to communicate stories and messages more effectively. It’s a way to connect and share our experiences, opening the gates for discourse and ideas.

Have you had any experience in using concrete details in communication? I’d love to hear your stories!

Using Relationships to Save Lives

Just yesterday, I was doing homework while my roommate had CNN on and I saw a commercial for a non-profit. There was a woman telling the story of a little girl in Africa who couldn’t go to school because she had to haul fresh water from far away to her family. The woman then asked for a donation as a number appeared at the bottom of the screen.

Today, per suggestion from my professor Tiffany Derville, I checked out charity: water’s Born in September campaign that involves those born in September asking for donations to charity: water instead of birthday gifts. The goal? Raise over $1 million to build wells in villages all over Ethiopia. After watching the introductory video, I was nearly brought to tears. I explored the Web site, which offers videos and a virtual map of where the organization has built wells. It made me wonder: do personal relationships help non-profit PR campaigns?

Of course, as a PR student, I have to say yes. However, charity: water founder Scott Harrison’s idea is on a whole new level. Don’t send money, give up your birthday presents and celebrations. Ask your friends to help you improve the water quality in Africa. Who could turn down giving a loved one the gift of helping save lives? Harrison offers people the chance to be volunteers and heroes by spreading the wealth through personal relationships and sacrifice of materialism.

Most of us have done some type of fundraising or another. Think back, who was it that helped the most? Was it the neighbors down the street, or your best friend’s mom, who bought more cookies, raffle tickets, or whatever you were selling to fundraise? It doesn’t matter what it’s for. As human beings, we care about our loved ones, and if a particular cause is most important to them, we’ll do what it takes to advance it because our personal relationships connect us more than any other kind.

Recently, a friend from middle school passed away. I donated to his sister’s non-profit in honor of him and his memory. Without the connection, I would likely never have found nor donated to her organization. It was its importance to him that made me want to help.

This method is genuine, compelling and a great way to enlist people while creating a strong network for a non-profit. Born in September shows the power of relationships in all of its glory: connect to save lives.

Hello and welcome to my blog!

My name is Elana, and I am a senior at the University of Oregon. I am studying public relations and business, and have acquired a minor in Spanish. Writing is my passion, yet this is my first foray into the blogosphere.

Blogging has taken our culture and world by storm. Never before has there been an easier, faster or more transparent form of communication across such a large geography and with such a large community. I am eager to learn about blogging in my Advanced Public Relations Writing class and through my experiences writing and reading blog posts.

My entries will be reflections on current public relations issues, trends and events with periodic emphases on writing, ethics and professionalism.  Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog, and I hope that you enjoy reading my posts.