Timeless PR Advice From Media Guru Dick Jones

Note:  Dick Jones is one of the most experienced experts in the higher ed communication world.  He’s also a friend and colleague who’s helped Mansfield University land stories and features in everything from The Chronicle of Higher Ed, The New York Times and USA Today to numerous AP stories and a couple prime spots on NPR. So when he sends a missive to his clients, I pay attention.  I also asked him if I could use his letter as a guest blog post.

Here it is.

It’s time to oversimplify; to be glib and shallow. Why, after all, should I be different from anyone else? In national media relations for colleges there are five over-simplistic formulae that guide our work. These are:

Results: good.

Process: bad.

Advice: good.

Qualitative judgments: bad.

Events: maybe, but probably not.

The news media like stories with results. A study published in a journal qualifies. So does a new book, if you discuss the substance of the book and not just the fact that there is a new book. Numbers help. Admission applications are up by X. Deposits are up by Y.

The news media usually yawn at process. The faculty is debating a new core curriculum? Wake me when it’s over. A task force has been appointed? Call me when they have a report. We’ve received an NSF grant. Remind me about it when you’ve completed the research.

The news media like advice from experts. And all faculty and staff are experts in their fields. If they aren’t, why do you allow them to teach and serve students who are paying for the privilege? Take every opportunity to make your institution advice giver to the world.

The news media aren’t interested in qualitative judgments. Your college has a better freshman year experience than your competitors? Maybe so, but your competitors claim otherwise. And the news media have neither the time nor the inclination to dig deeply enough to settle the question. Now if you are the biggest, the smallest, the oldest, the newest—something that can be quantified—that’s different. (Tip: use advice stories to advance qualitative claims. “Here are four things students and parents should look for in a good freshman experience program, says Dean of Students Joe Blow.”)

The news media are less interested in covering or publicizing events than you think. This was always true. Now that there are fewer people in newsrooms it is even truer. Getting coverage for (positive) news events is no slam dunk even if the president and the deans think otherwise. Under exceptions see “football teams—undefeated.”

Armed with these concepts you are now ready to go into any meeting with faculty and administrators and quickly make yourself persona non grata when you spout them. I’m just kidding. Sort of.

Postscript: Social media is maturing quickly and these rules apply to these media as well.

How can you think inside the box?

If you have ever attended one of my sessions you know I am very passionate about helping businesses make it happen! If you know anyone who could use over 100 ideas for finding more business and creating more opportunity I would appreciate hearing from you!!

If I hear one more creativity person say, “you’ve got to think outside the box” I am going to pop someone. I don’t know about you but I don’t have the time, money or resources to go outside the box. Heck, I can barely afford the box! The secret to moving your business or career forward in these tough and challenging times is to learn to think inside the box. Ask what can you do with what you have that will take you one step closer to your vision. My guess is that 70% of all “out of the box thinking” goes nowhere and then because we can’t do it, we do the next best thing… NOTHING!

So let me ask you, how can you think inside the box? What can you do with what you have that would make a difference?

If you are in sales, what can you do with the leads, product and customers you have? In marketing what can you do with the budget, channel and sales force you have? In customer service what can you do with the process you have? Inside the box means making do with what you have, Keeping it simple and taking baby steps that let their cumlative effect make the difference.

Many times I find we spend too much time stuck in “wishful thinking” trying to be more than we can be at the moment. In fact, according to Baha Habashy, Canadian Information Overload Guru, (http://www.integrity-plus.com/) knowledge workers today are spending on average 42% of their time in “planning and reacting” meetings (which sure doesn’t leave a lot of time for the doing!). Inside the box thinking means moving forward with what you have. You don’t get anymore time, money or resources you make it work with what you have.

So what could you do to increase sales using just the things you already have? What could you do to increase customer satsifaction? Why not look all around your business and apply “in the box thinking” and see what comes out.

Now I’m not saying that there is no room for thinking outside of the box. In fact, there is great money to be made, outside the box. What I am saying is choose your battles wisely, its great to go big but don’t put all of your energy going outside the box especially when you know 70% of businesses never ever get there.

DR. WHAW? - October 23, 2009

And so another week ends!  I am sad to say that I will not be traveling to the University of Minnesota to visit my little sister, who is a freshman.  I’ve been feeling kind of lousy, and I felt it wasn’t safe to drive for 12 hours this weekend.  So I shall be catching up on my blog (get pumped, readers!) and getting my life organized.  I’m jet-setting off to Sydney, Australia, in two weeks, and I could not be more excited or more unprepared!  In the meantime, I bring you what I Didn’t Read While Hard At Work today!

DR. WHAW? – October 23, 2009

1. Social Media: The Need For Measurement from SEO Book — You know why I’m including this one without even clicking the link, right?  Any article that argues for the need of measurement in social media or any other medium is a must-read in my book.  So why this one in particular?  This one is thorough, and I think that with slight tweaking it could be something you show directly to a boss who needs serious convincing.  Do you agree?

2. Explaining (Some of) Google’s Algorithm with Pretty Charts & Math Stuff from SEOmozBlog — Ever wondered how Google works?  I certainly have.  This is a very thorough and straight-forward explanation of how Google works, and this information could help you to write  content that will rank higher on Google’s search pages. Interested?  You should be!

3. “Listening” graphics have a long way to go by Mark Schaefer — I’m all about measurement, but I have never claimed that the current methods or metrics are perfect.  I love that Mark Schaefer took the time to analyze what is currently available to demonstrate what we still need.

4. How Google Analytics just got a lot more powerful by Guy Kawasaki — Google Analytics recently announced a whole slew of new services, and this is a great explanation of what this means and why you should be paying attention.  He says who cares about Google Wave when there’s more to Google Analytics.  Your interest should be piqued and rightly so.

5. Social Networking ROI by Greg Gianforte — Wow!  An examination of the ROI of social networking, I love it!  I’ve not seen this before, and I’m happy to see that someone is taking a look at this.  There is no real mathematic backing here, but there is some great theoretical suggestions as to how to measure the ROI of social networking.

6. Coke Weighs in on Earned Media ROI by Carol Kruse — Another big WOW!  A major corporation has weighed in on ROI, and I can’t get enough!  I’m happy to see a big player recognizing the importance of ROI and hope it will show other corporations that they need to be measuring, too.  There’s also just some plain good insight, which is worth a read in and of itself.

7. Top 10 brand and marketing trends for 2010 by Robert Passikoff — This is a great look at what might lie ahead.  I strongly urge you to read through these and think about them seriously.  Do you think this is right?  What would you include or exclude?  It’s always important to be looking to the future, and this is a great start to what should be a broad conversation.  Weigh in!

Thank goodness it’s Friday, eh?  I’m happy to be relaxing and spending some time checking things off my to-do list this weekend.  Also, I’ll be happy to sleep in and get really better.  What are your plans for the weekend?

(In)genialidade

Costuma ler autores portugueses?
Alguns, aqueles de que gosto.

Em Portugal há dois autores que vendem muitos livros, Miguel Sousa Tavares e José Rodrigues dos Santos, que aliás têm em comum consigo o trabalho na área da informação [José Saramago foi director adjunto do Diário de Notícias]. Ambos acabam de apresentar as suas mais recentes obras. Já leu algum livro deles? Considera-os como autores…
[Interrompendo] Como poderia não os considerar como autores se eles o são?

Como autores de uma literatura maior…
Bem, essa discussão sobre o que deveria ser ou poderia ser uma literatura maior também nos levaria longe. Mas como eu não li realmente nenhum deles não posso ser efectivo juiz nesta matéria. Em todo o caso, não diria nunca que esses livros não têm méritos literários. Como não os li não posso confirmá-lo, mas não tenho dúvidas de que se possam encontrar ali méritos literários. Aquilo de que eu não gosto, e tenho direito a isso, é a operação de marketing, que essa não tem nada a ver com literatura. O que digo é que a forma de lançar os autores, estes autores, obedece a um marketing implacável.

José Saramago ao DN em 28 de Outubro de 2007

Aprecio muito a escrita do Nobel da Literatura português. Li um número considerável de livros da vasta obra já editada. Ao mesmo tempo que arrebata com as palavras, que encanta com o ritmo e cadência de leitura, Saramago foi sempre um escritor altivo, distante, provocador, atributos que de uma forma ou outra ajudam sempre a vender livros.
O inesperado foi esta aparente jogada de marketing que está prestes a esgotar a primeira edição do mais recente livro, Caim, colocou toda a gente a discutir as declarações da conferência de apresentação e a passar completamente ao lado da obra.
Além de não necessitar, José Saramago à luz das declarações ao DN em 2007, parece relativizar a expressão “manual de maus costumes”.

Sale: Shea Butter . . . prevent stretch marks

We received a great email and testmonial from one of our customers.  dirig her recent pregnancy she used Travertine Spa shea butter to help prevent stretch marks.

She sent us the following quote, “I made it through my entire pregnancy without a single stretch mark on my belly. My secret? Travertine Spa’s Shea Butter Cream – I only trust my tummy with Travertine!” –Peggy L. California

She even sent a picture…see below

The Wonders of Shea Butter
New Uses
From the Karite trees of West Africa, shea butter is known as one of the world’s best natural ingredients for moisture and skin restoration.  Our shea butter was marketed as a Hand and Nail Cream and formulated for deep moisture therapy on dry hands and feet.

We did not consider stretch marks. . .

Then we received the following photo and Testimonial from Peggy.

“I made it through my entire pregnancy without a single stretch mark on my belly. My secret? Travertine Spa’s Shea Butter Cream – I only trust my tummy with Travertine!” –Peggy L. California

Shea Butter Promotion

Our Shea butter is the most luxurious product in the Moisture Therapy line. Ultra rich and creamy. Made with natural shea butter. Concentrated, so a little goes a long way.  Perfect for dry winter skin . . . and smooth bellies.

Retail: $52

Sale: $34

Purchase via our online boutique.
Use Coupon Code

newshea1009

Free Shipping on orders of $75 or more.
Valid until Nov. 1, 2009

New Reseller Friendly Brochures

Channel Marketing has updated four brochures for your use: trixbox Pro, PBXtra, Phones and HUD.  These new brochures include up-to-date product specifications and information to support you on end-user calls as well as room to affix your own contact information.  They are also devoid of pricing and include limited Fonality contact information.   You can find these downloadable brochures in the Sales and Marketing folder in the reseller portal. In an effort to be kind to our environment and reduce costs, please email these as often as possible vs. distributing hard copies.

Channel Marketing has updated four brochures for your use: trixbox Pro, PBXtra, Phones and HUD.  These new brochures include up-to-date product specifications and information to support you on end-user calls as well as room to affix your own contact information.  They are also devoid of pricing and include limited Fonality contact information.  You can effort to be kind to our environment and reduce costs, please email these as often as possible vs. distributing hard copies.  You can download these brochures from the Sales and Marketing folder in the reseller portal.

Dilution of Meaning

I’ve long been fascinated by the meaning of words and their origins. Awful, for example, once meant “deserving of awe” rather than a feeling of disgust or discontent. Guess originally meant to take aim. The word sophisticated used to refer to a form of corruption. What’s more intriguing is not the path these words must have taken on their journey from their origin to their present destination, but rather that they weren’t cemented to the ground in the first place. What inertia must have been around to budge these words into motion? Years, if not decades, of misuse softened their footing until our culture took them for a ride like an unwilling passenger in a mosh pit.

The same dilution is true for partnering. While it’s literal translation remains the same, the intrinsic value it carries in corporate life has become a shadow of it’s former self. Now, rather than it’s own discipline, the art of alliance development is likened to it’s better understood and easier to grasp relatives: sales and marketing.

For evidence simply go to any recruiting (monster.com) or social contact site (LinkedIn.com) and search for the word “partner”. Countless entries will appear. In Austin some 251 people currently feature the word “alliance” in their title in one fashion or another. This reminds me of the end of Sparticus when, enslaved and facing death, everyone stood and claimed they were “Sparticus”.