my 2 cents

Paid or Unpaid Internships

 

Last time I wrote about internships a few years back, I got some people upset.  I feel interns should be paid for their time, while many people who use interns feel the "pay" they receive is the experience and resume-building.

I understand the reasoning behind the no-pay philosophy.  At the same time, however, I feel if an intern is doing work --however menial it might be -- the intern is saving the employer some money that it would have to pay for someone else to do that work.  Even an administrative assistant gets something, so why shouldn't the intern get, at the very least, enough money to cover carfare and lunch.

I'm pleased to see that the Public Relations Consultants Association, the UK's PR trade association, recently came out with a statement asking its member agencies to end unpaid internships.  The group did a survey last year that found 70 percent of British PR internships are paid less even lower.

The PRCA says that paid internships will accomplish a few things.  It will help bring the best and the brightest into the feld.  It will also help encourage greater diversity in our industry, since unpaid internships often are simply not practical for young people from low-income families.  So, out of necessity, they might be forced to take a summer job behind the counter at McDonald's rather than learn and get hands-on PR experience in an unpaid internship.

I don't know if PRSA has a position on paid or unpaid internships here in the U.S.  My guess is they have no position, but they should.  And it should echo what our British colleagues are doing. 

Bad Idea: Using Racial Slurs in Ads

What were these ad folks thinking? 

 

Maybe the better question should be... Were they thinking at all?

Automotive News reports on a thoughtless move by General Motors' ad people when they approved a spot that uses racial stereotypes offensive to Chinese people.  As bad as it is anywhere, anytime, it's especially dumb for a company that's looking to sell more product in China.

Automotive News says "GM wants to expand sales in China and plans to spend $11 billion through 2016 on new plants and products in the country. GM is targeting 5 million deliveries in China by 2015. Sales of GM and its Chinese joint ventures increased 11 percent to a record 2.84 million last year. The company already sells more vehicles in China than its home market."

So creating an ad that calls China "the land of Fu Manchu" where all of the girls sing "ching, ching, chop-suey" is a perfect way to endear your brand with the people of the world's most populous nation, right?

The problem lay in someone's choice of music, since the offending references are part of a song that is used in the ad.  The ad's theme  is a throwback to the 1920's era, but surely the creatives at the agency could have found appropriate music without offensive lyrics.

The ad for Chevrolet didn't run in China.  It ran in Canada and also was used online in Europe.  But these days, anything can be seen worldwide and we need to be sensitive to everyone's feelings.  The South China Morning Post saw it and yesterday reported on the ad, calling it "racist" in the story headline.

"Our intent was not to offend anyone and we're deeply sorry if anyone was offended," a GM spokesperson told Automotive News.  "We're reviewing our advertising approval processes to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Someone was asleep at the switch, that's for sure.

O'Dwyer's now has extensive PR Library available

 

Jack O'Dwyer, who has been chronicling the PR business for four decades, sent me an email a few days ago to tell me he has just established the new O’Dwyer’s PR Library, with more than 700 volumes on just about every conceivable PR subject that he's collected over the past 45 years.

Jack says this is the first such physical library in the history of PR and will be useful to high school, college and other students and anyone thinking of getting involved in or using PR.  I do recall, when I was in grad school working on my MBA in Public Relations, using the PRSA library at 845 Third Avenue, but I don't remember how extensive it was back then.  I think they shut it down when PRSA moved downtown.

Jack says the books in his library are arranged in more than a dozen categories including ethics (at least 20 books); marketing PR (30+); social media (20+); biographies and autobiographies of PR leaders (15+); self-help and inspirational books that are good for newcomers and veterans (15 books); PR writing (10); financial PR/IR and Wall Street (20 books); law and PR (10), and other categories.

All PR trade publications are represented including all issues of PR Week back to its start in 1998. All ten Contact directories of PRW are also present. Also present are 45 years of O’Dwyer’s Newsletters (indexed from 1979-2003 when indexing shifted to www.odwyerpr.com), and 26 years of O’Dwyer’s magazine (from 1987). PR News and other PR trades are present. Many seminal articles are also included from major media collected by Jack over the years.

There are also extensive files on more than 15 PR and journalism trade groups, such as 40 years of membership lists and programs of (PR) Seminar, whose members are communications heads of 150+ major companies and about 20 PR firms.

Jack says the physical library, combined with 12 years of archives on odwyerpr.com, make up the most comprehensive and publicly available collection of information on PR.

Anyone is invited to sample the physical library once. Further use including borrowing certain books will be restricted to those from companies or schools that have at least one subscription to the O’Dwyer Co. The library is equipped with Wi-Fi so that users can bring their own laptops, if desired.

Any questions, just email Jack at jack@odwyerpr.com

The PR Person's Challenge -- Getting your Email Read

 

Lots has been written about how to get your emails opened.  A common bit of advice is to use a tempting subject line. But when you send an email can also make a difference in having it opened and getting a response, according to a survey reported by Lucia Moses, writing in ADWEEK.

Getting email read is an ongoing challenge for marketers, and it's a real challenge for those of us in PR who pitch stories to people in the media.  Email has become the preferred method of contact among reporters and producers, overtaking phone calls and even personal contact.  But therein lies our challenge, since an email pitch can get buried in the daily volume of emails, which has gone up by 5.4 percent from a year ago.

I get between 125 - 250 emails every weekday, and I've heard from media people I know who say their email volume can be easily two or three times that amount -- every day.

The survey reported by ADWEEK seems to show that sending an email at night -- after 8 p.m. -- gives you the best chance of having it opened and read within a day.  Emails also fare better on weekends when the overall volume is lower.  Possibly the worst time to send an email pitch is between 8 a.m. and noon, when 40 percent of all emails are sent.

There are exceptions, of course.  If you know the reporter well and he or she normally does repond to your emails, then send it whenever it's best for you.  I always try to be clear in my subject line what the message is about, which seems to help.

The internet, email and social media have made the idea of 9 - 5 work hours obsolete, and I'll often see emails from clients and media people sent in the early evening (between 6:30 and 9 p.m.) and on weekends.  

Of course, regardless of when you send a pitch, it's got to be succinct and on target.  That much hasn't changed, even since the days of telephone pitches and pitches made face-to-face over a lengthy lunch.

 

 

PR Students Don't Read

 

Jack O'Dwyer wrote recently about the upcoming PR Career Day that's being hosted by the NYU Student PRSA Chapter.  He voices a number of problems he sees with the structure of the program, which I'll leave you to read for yourselves by clicking to his article here.

But one thing that troubles me is what Jack wrote about a similar PRSA Career Day in Georgia last year.  At one of the panels, Jack reports, students in the audience were asked by the panelists if they read newspapers.  Only a handful of students raised their hands.  And these are young people hoping to make their living dealing with the news media.

Very few of them were aware of, much less read, any of the PR trade press, like Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter and others. Shouldn't their professors be tipping them off to these trade pubs, and maybe even making them required reading that might prompt classroom discussions?

Jack said,in his piece that "students, besides reading PR texts and listening to their professors, should be reading O’Dwyer’s media and those of PR Week/U.S., PR News, Bulldog Reporter, Ragan’s, PR Newser and blogs by Jane Genova, David Reich, and the weekly podcast of Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson, to mention some of the sources."  (I'm flattered he includes this blog among his suggested reading for PR students.)

Jack also noted that textbooks are far behind the fast-changing world of communications and he suggests that professors feel the PR trade press is competition to what they are teaching. Students exhibited sheep-like behavior in Georgia, he wrote, and he expects more of the same in New York.

One thing the PR Career Day organizers might consider is to invite some trade press people to speak on a panel.  Another idea, which Jack suggests, is to have a resources table where free copies of the key trade pubs can be given to students.  (Jack notes that the organizers are looking to charge big fees for anyone, including PR trade media, to display their wares at the Career Day.  That seems a bit counter-productive, but it looks like the almighty buck prevails.)

Readers of this blog know I've long been an advocate of better education and training for young people coming into the PR profession.  A key part of that education should be a real familiarity with news media -- especially newspapers, whether in print or online.  And they also should have some awareness of the PR trade press, which can provide a good, up-to-date idea of issues and innovations in the public relations world they hope to enter.

 

Who do we trust?

 

Many companies work hard to create and maintain visibility.  That's what keeps those of us ion advertising and public relations busy.

But how much effort do those companies put into building and maintaining a good reputation?  Some, like American Express and McDonald's, put heavy emphasis on PR, community relations and customer service as a way to secure a good reputation with customers and potential customers.

A survey just released by Mediabistro makes interesting reading.  The poll, by Harris, got feedback from about 19,000 people at random.

The most trusted brand, the poll says, is Amazon. I know they work hard to keep their payment site safe and secure, and they are good about accepting returns on things if there's a problem.

Second is Apple, thanks to their innovation and customer service.

Disney is third.  How can you not trust Mickey, right? 

Google ranked fourth.  We must trust them, because Google is where we all go when we want to find something out.  Google it, right?

Johnson & Johnson is fifth on the list.  We all have J&J products in our home, and they've done a good job with PR damage control when they''ve run into quality control problems. 

Coca-Cola is #6.  Maybe it's because the company's been around for close to 100 years and they spend and spend to keep their name in front of us, often using ads that tug at the heartstrings.  So we trust them, even though Mayor Bloomberg is after them and other soft drink makers for causing childhood obesity.

Seventh is Whole Foods.  We love their stores because they have great stuff niucely presented.  Sometimes a little pricey, but tastes good.  We trust them to have good-tasting, interesting foods.

Sony, Procter & Gamble and Costco round out the top ten in that order.  Sony's products are quality, and they have a good reputation for customer service.  Like J&J, P&G has products in every American home, it seems.  From familiarity comes trust.  Last is Costco.  I don't know much about them.  I've tried my best to avoid their stores, but my wife says their prices are great.  I guess low prices creates trust... I guess.

I'm a bit surprised not to see American Express on this list.  To me, they are among the best at customer service. 

Perhaps less surprising is the absence of banks, insurance companies, pharma companies and electric companies on this list. Also, other than Disney, no media companies either.

 

 

Content Marketing Creates Opportunities for PR and Journalists

 

It's all about content now.

With social media opening new ways for marketers to reach out and connect with consumers directly, a key to effective social media outreach becomes the content itself.  Self-serving hard-sell material doesn't seem to be what works best on social media platforms. 

For content marketing to work, what marketers put out there -- regardless whether on digital platforms or via traditional media -- must draw people in and keep them coming back for more.  To do that, the material being offered needs to be interesting and relevant to the intended audience, and not simply a blatant sales pitch.  The "sales" part of it will kick in by gradually getting the audience to trust your brand and rely on it for good information.

It's the type of writing that Public Relations people are trained to do.  It mixes journalism and marketing, with the selling part very subtle, if there at all. 

The increasing focus on content marketing is creating new opportunities for PR agencies, freelancers and laid-off journalists. 

It's a whole new world.

 

Image:  Forbes Magazine

Bad PR: PRSA Boycotts Jack O'Dwyer

 

Jack O'Dwyer has been covering the Public Relations business with his weekly newsletter for more than 40 years.  Part of his coverage includes reporting about and commenting on the industry's primary trade association, PRSA.

Jack does his job -- covering the Association, reporting on happenings, chasing down rumors and exposing questionable practices.  He's been pushing for years for PRSA to have greater transparency  and more responsible spending of members' money.  

Because the leaders of PRSA don't like his coverage of them, they've been trying to boycott him by preventing him from covering news of their group.  He was not allowed to attend and cover sessions at the 2011 National PRSA Conference, and last year he was even prevented from speaking with attendees outside the sessions, in the hotel lobby.  He was, in fact, physically escorted out of the hotel by security guards and told not to come back.

The National Press Club has issued a statement condemning the boycott. 

What an embarrassment for the PR industry.  Of all groups, an association of public relations professionals should know better than to try to boycott a legitimate media representative.  Shame on PRSA for setting such a bad example!

I have no clout with PRSA.  I haven't been a member for more than 20 years and I don't think I know any of the group's current leaders.  But still, I say PRSA is dead wrong to take action like this.  I urge them to reconsider.

 

Part of an email Jack sent to PR leaders is reproduced below...

 

Relations between the J.R. O'Dwyer Co. and PRSA were mostly normal from 2001 - 2006 when Catherine Bolton was COO.  But they have grown not only considerably worse, but intolerable.  I was blocked from all sessions at the 2011 conference in Orlando although allowed to stand in the hallways and talk with people.  But in 2012 I was not only barred from all the sessions in S.F., but guards forbid me to talk to anyone in the hallways.  When I talked to someone in the main lobby, a guard said I had to leave and walked me to the door, shoulder-to-shoulder.  The threat was I would be forcibly evicted if I didn't leave.  I was told not to come back.

See our Jan. 7 editorial which shows the reasons the Society abandoned its enforceable code of ethics.

--- Jack O'Dwyer

 

 

PR again ranks among most stressful jobs

 

Public relations has again been ranked among the most stressful jobs.  In fact, it moved up the list this year from #7 to #5 in a survey done every year by CareerCast.

“Public relations executives are masters of damage control, thus need to be able to think and act quickly under stress,” the report says. “The profession lives in the public eye, and it’s also one of the professions attracting the most college students, which makes landing and keeping a good job that much more difficult.”

As in the past, I've had problems accepting CareerCast's rankings.  Yes, our field certainly has stress, caused by things like crazy deadlines and success for tasks like story placements often being out of our direct control.

But I think we should feel less stress than, say, a police officer, ranked at #10 on the list.  A cop's life is always on the line anytime, anywhere.  And I think they got it right by listing as the most stressful jobs military enlisted personnel and military officers, followed by firefighter and commercial airline pilot.  I'm just not so sure that PR belongs up in those same ranks.  What about surgeons and nurses?

Valid or not, it makes for fun reading. 

 

PR in the New Year

 

As 2012 comes to an end and 2013 waits in the wings, here are a few quick thoughts on what the new year will bring in the world of Public Relations.

PR will become the primary keeper of social media for many organizations.  Smarter organizations will set up systems to involve various functions including marketing, sales, legal and the C-level offices, but PR will be responsible for fast, day-to-day content, monitoring and responses.

It's all about content, as more organizations create their own channels via social media, websites and e-zines.  Since PR people are (supposedly) trained to create content that is interesting, relevant and supportive of an organization's goals, they will take the lead in content creation.  The trick is to make it good, but not overly commercial.

Pitching stories and ideas will still be a big part of what we do, but more will be done via email and, to a lesser degree, social media.  LinkedIn is gaining in popularity and uselfulness as a public relations tool, but that can change in an instant.

 

In my own small corner of the PR world, Reich Communications has just moved to new offices.  Like the old "Jeffersons" TV theme, we're movin' on up.  Up one block, from East 44th Street to East 45th Street.  And up a few floors, from 9 to 11, in a beautiful building at 228 East 45th St. 

The old 11-story building we just left is slated for demolition soon, as the new owner plans to put up a high-rise once new zoning is put into place.  The 100+ year-old building once housed printing companies, but more recently had the Screen Gems studios where "One Life to Live" was taped for decades and, for the past five years, "The Rachel Ray Show."

The new space is still the same neighborhood ... two blocks from Grand Central and a block from the United Nations.  I'll still be able to stop on the way in at Sam's coffee cart at 44th and 3rd, and I'm even closer now to The Comfort Diner, where you can get a fantastic belly-filling omelette with home fries and toasted bagel for less than ten bucks.  And my favorite sushi place, East, is across the street.

The move went smoothly, although we're still awaiting phones and internet to be connected.  Hopefully, that will happen Monday morning.  But if not, I guess I'll have extra time to get cartons unpacked and pictures hung so it feels like home.

To all, best wishes for a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.