INK PUBLIC RELATIONS

On Father’s Day, this one goes out to my dear old dad. He was a high school principal and spent most of his time embarrassing me. Yeah…he was my high school principal and once used the P.A. system to announce that he would “break plastic sitting benches over the head” of anyone he caught jumping on said plastic sitting benches. Even though we pursued different career paths, my dad passed along advice that I rely on in my profession as PR pro, particularly when dealing with stress. Don’t worry…it’s not to break things over people’s heads.
1.)   Stress is what you can’t control so forget about it and focus on what you can control.
Big news from industry giants that trumps absolutely all other news items (I am looking at you Apple iPhone 3G S), client expectations that don’t jive with reality (“why doesn’t Walt Mossberg want to review my 5th generation software development kit for improving the functionalities on the yo-yo of the future hitting markets in the year 3000?”) and impossible deadlines from reporters (and theeeeeen it’s always the TODAY Show producer calling to request that your client, who is currently half-way around the world, report for in-person appearance at their New York studios in five minutes) are all things that can really get your goat. Well, don’t let it. At times, you have to accept that you can’t control time, space and the opinions of other people no matter how hard you try. Swallow that bitter pill and move on to tackle what you can.

2.)   Dealing with stress is what you get paid for.
Like “walk to school cookies” or BlackBerry phones, stress (whether in the form of punk ass kids jumping on benches or cranky reporters killing your buzz) is part of professional life be you a school administrator or PR pro. So accept it. It’s what our constituents and clients pay us to do so take it for what it is…par for the course.

And if all else fails, according to the Zen of Ronny Nash (aka, my beloved dad)…drink whiskey and crack skulls.  Thanks Dad for making me the woman (and PR pro) I am today.

In the U.S. we’re in the eye of the clean energy revolution – it seems you can’t turn on the television, read a magazine or listen to Obama speak without some mention of our clean energy future in the U.S.  Everyone is getting involved.  I just read that Hummer is producing a new H3 hybrid which was shown at the U.S. Capitol last week.  Working in the clean energy PR space, we are very much attuned to the industry since we’re continually reading up on the latest trends, but it’s no secret that young and old are joining the clean tech movement.  This Newsweek article says it so well:

“You might not expect the under-30 crowd to queue up for a cap-and-trade hearing on Capitol Hill. But there they were, all last week, many wearing green shirts with environmental slogans, waiting patiently for hours to get seats for a public meeting on the American Clean Energy and Security Act. At times, fully one quarter of the room appeared to be in their 20s.”

It’s true that a younger generation of people have been energized by Obama’s campaign and as someone that’s part of that generation – it’s exciting.  Although I think everyone recognizes that this is a huge issue and change isn’t going to happen overnight, there really are small things that each of us can do every day to help do our individual part.  I recently picked up a book with some tips on living a greener lifestyle and was amazed at the little things we can all do to help.  One of my new favorites – organize your refrigerator so that you know where everything is and can use less energy when you’re opening and closing the door.  Doesn’t it seem so easy?

The little things are so simple, but I certainly recognize that a lot of this clean energy fight will not be easy.  This was clear as INK traveled to Chicago for Windpower 2009 this month with our renewable energy client and saw firsthand many of the big and small players trying to make a difference in the wind industry.  We even got a glimpse of the man himself – T.Boone Pickens.  The show this year had more attendees than 2007 and 2008 combined, reaffirming that this issue is not one that’s going away any time soon.

The following week, Blair and I headed out to Rochester, NY, for media training for the same renewable energy client.  As we flew in over the quaint little houses and perfectly lined streets, the question was asked: Would you want a wind farm in your backyard if you lived here?  The answer is yes.  Although we’ve seen that there is often a NIMBY attitude in some of the smaller communities, these wind turbines are majestic and a symbol of empowerment.  They are helping the U.S. live a clean energy future and improve our energy security.  So if asked if I would want one of these wind farms in my backyard – I’d say go right ahead.

That is my “green” rant and I’m excited to continue working in this industry and watching the changes and progression over time.  Are you?

Last night while I was in another part of the house I heard my husband shout from the kitchen, “Are these cookies in Lucky’s treat jar for humans or dogs?” (If you had not gathered yet, Lucky is our pooch.) Oh, this could give me fodder for months to write about the many things that were so dumb@$$ about his question, but I will keep it short and sweet for you readers. #1) Why would I put human cookies in the dog’s jar? #2) I don’t really buy things like that for “the humans” in my household which is occupied by me (they call me Steak and I run 30 to 40 miles a week hence my never ending appetite) and my husband (they call him Festival Eater and I don’t know what his excuse is but he once ate my supply of chocolate flavored running Gus in a marathon…a marathon video game session). Anyway, after agreeing with him that they certainly smelled great, I explained they were indeed for dogs. The next morning upon returning from a strenuous workout, I ate one. Now, what does this tell you about me? That’s right, I truly learn from applying myself in the real world.

So here I am, sitting in the captain’s chair about to kick off a truly 100% guerilla style marketing campaign for a client of ours. The program will have many tried and true viral and social networking tactics that some in our field are old hands at and some (like yours truly) will be experiencing for the first time and just how I like to… by drinking out of the fire hose. OK…so the first step will be to launch a successful Facebook presence. I know, I know…some of you are like, “that’s so yesterday” but the planets have aligned in such a way that it now makes sense for me to engage this tactic, number one being that this client already has quite a substantial customer base (over 3 million thanks in no small part thanks to traditional PR programs conducted by INK). This means, I have a built-in audience to go after to start building a Facebook fan base quickly.

Another key point – we are targeting a younger demographic, particularly college students. I saw a recent stat that 8 out of 10 college students are registered on Facebook. However, lately I have seen a sudden rush of older peeps joining up (my 88 year old father-in-law just requested to be my friend) so how much longer do we consider it to be a forum for  targeting young whippersnappers? Lastly, for this client, we have achieved great success in securing endorsement from media and industry influencers (and intend to continue to build upon that) but in today’s transparent and communicative world, you must have peer-to-peer endorsement as well and this Facebook tactic is our first step down that road.

I want to hear from you. What elements should be in place to establish a SUCCESSFUL Facebook presence? I  have about two months to prove to the client that this is a good idea. What success of failures have you experienced with similar programs. Who does it well on Facebook?

I will also be keeping you posted along the way about other the other tactics to be employed as part of this so called guerilla program so stay tuned!

In my house, you gotta work hard for your treats!

PS – The cookie? It was good…even if it was meant for dogs.

In a previous life I was a camp counselor at a dude ranch. I got the gig for the summer and was hired to be a drama coach. I had ridden a horse or two prior to moving out to west Texas for the summer, but certainly wasn’t a capable horsewoman. I got to camp expecting to not have to deal with the horses at all – uh, wrong. I rode twice a day for the entire summer. The younger kids (who I was initially with) rode pretty sedate pack horses – really, you couldn’t upset those guys, they were docile and sweet. The older kids (who I was later charged with) rode out of a different stable and the horses were a bit more feisty (read that to mean A LOT more feisty). Anyway, I was thrown off a horse when I was showing the older girls how to run barrels (I have a picture somewhere, but cannot find it, so this will have to do). I was already skittish with the horses, and I was beyond shocked. Inside I was completely freaking out – but there were fifteen 13 to 15 year olds watching me, and if I spazzed, they would spaz. Not a good plan. So I hopped right back up on my horse and just kept on keeping on.

Ahhh, we have reached the moral of the story…are you excited?

I got home from my relaxing two-week vacation from social media (blogging, tweeting, facebooking, everything) about three weeks ago and immediately had to go on several business trips, went to visit my older sis in DC, ran a half, sold my house, bought a new house – it has been a crazy three weeks. I have fallen off my social media horse. I have twittered here or there, but mostly, I have remained AWOL. I miss my online friends. So I am back.

I would like to officially start my time in the saddle by pointing out that I find the current backlash against twitter rather annoying. I know Oprah, Ashton and CNN made twitter a household word and now there are “too many people” and “too much spam” but really, it was bound to happen.  Honestly, the more the merrier – if there is something going on you don’t like, ignore it and move on.  It is an ‘opt out’ technology – if someone is annoying you, just un-follow them. No need to complain about the tool as a whole when the problem is clearly user error.

Alright then, see ya around the corral – and by corral, I mean twitter feed.

I love my job, I really do. I am one of the lucky ones. That’s not to say I don’t get in ruts, or get burnt out, or just plain overwhelmed because I do. It’s in those times that I try to stop, lift my head up and look around for the inspiration, the flame in the dark that will keep me going or open my eyes to a whole new world I hadn’t yet explored. More often than not, it’s one of these guys that provides that flame:

Todd Defren has inspired me to think broader about what I do – and what I can do – and want to improve the image of the industry as a whole. He also makes me want to be a PR rock star, take the risks, jump off the buildings and oh hey, write a pithy post with a powerful punch along the way.

Chris Brogan – along with our own @poloskey – inspired me to start writing this blog, and my personal blog, and participate in other blogs, and hey throw in some twitter love for good measure. He also makes me go “hmm” quite often and that’s always a good thing in my book.

Eric Schneider inspires me without even trying. An amazingly smart guy, he is so calm under pressure and the pressure he deals with – well, that’s just say that if you ever need someone to teach you how to take it all in stride and still kick ass, he’s the one. He also inspires me to learn.

And of course, it’s amazing what the wee ones can do with the powers of inspiration. Every day my daughter makes me want to be a better person – the best inspiration of all.

Georgia Isabella, 11 months

So who inspires you?

That I spend too much timing thinking about/fretting about/worrying about what to write in a blog post and should just write the dang blog post (thus this blog post ).

That I so love public speaking and want to do more of it – thank you Central TX PRSA for reminding me of that and UT Austin adv/pr class, I look forward to talking with you in two weeks.

That the reason I love public speaking is similar to the reason I love twitter – the opportunity to talk with people whom I would not otherwise have had the opportunity.

That the other reason I love twitter is that EVERY DAY (thank you Chris Brogan, Todd Defren, and yes, even you Evil PR Guy) I am inspired to do a better job at my profession and at my humanity.

That I don’t think @oprah and @aplusk are ruining Twitter – don’t we all have the right not to follow them? Follow those who inspire you and ENGAGE with you.

That working all the time is hard work, but working at something you love makes it all worthwhile.

That when you’re the best fit for the client, you get the client (welcome BlueAnt!).

That two weeks is a LONG time for @poloskey to be gone.

That at the end of the day, work is where the head is, but home is where the heart is – and I am very lucky in both regards.

What did you learn this week?

Alright faithful readers – I am on vacation. And in a deal with my Husband, I have promised to cut my ties (no Blackberry, no twitter, no Facebook, certainly no email) for the entirety of our time in Germany. He had to give up fantasy baseball – it is going to be a fabulous little vacation.

I am interested to see what happens while I am gone – I am looking at this as an experiment. I will update everyone when I get back.

Till then, peace out.

When you’re growing up, it’s inevitable that a parent or teacher will repeat a witty idiom to you and expect that you know exactly what it means.  Or even better yet, expect that you’ll be able to apply it right then and there to your current life.  Some that stick out in my mind more than others that were always being said as a kid include: money doesn’t grow on trees (no kidding, leaves do!) and don’t put all your eggs in one basket (are we having an Easter egg hunt?) and bigger is not always better (this seemed to be a favorite said by parents of the shorter kids in class).  But as we get older, it’s crazy how much these idioms really apply to our real lives.   As we’re coupon clipping for ourselves or trying to balance out car payments, mortgage payments and social engagements, we really start to realize that money doesn’t grow on trees (although how great if it did).  Some more than others are starting to realize that they really shouldn’t have put all their eggs in one basket, especially with the current economic situation.  And that brings me to my last point of bigger is not always better which believe it or not, can refer to much more than the smallest kid in class.

I’ve been lucky enough to fall into INK after college and avoided having to ever tell a first job horror story.  There are so many reasons for this, but one of the main reasons is that INK is a boutique agency – five women (six for a short time with our one great intern) who bring real meaning to the idiom that bigger is not necessarily better.

Everyone at INK takes pride in their jobs and tries to understand our clients almost as well as the clients know themselves.  I’ve always valued my relationships in my life and a smaller team enables us to do this at work, too – each one of us is fully involved in our accounts and builds strong relationships with the clients themselves as well as the analysts and media with which we are helping to write their story.

It also makes for a very enjoyable work environment (and I’m not just talking about the Pottery Barn décor) with the sense of work/life balance; it’s refreshing to know that part of a daily routine can be glancing through top stories in the New York Times, catching CNN Headline News over coffee, checking out Ed Baig’s most recent tech column and still be following US Weekly’s RSS feed or a quick read through the home page of People.com for a celebrity update.  Or that the same INK ladies who know almost every detail of Obama’s clean energy speech in order to better understand how a clean tech client fits into the stimulus package, can still make time to update the rest of us on what drama ensued on the Celebrity Apprentice or describe how their brackets aren’t doing too well in any of the three NCAA March Madness pools they’ve entered this year.

Newshounds

Not only can we still read our favorite blogs, be die hard sports fans and obsess over LC’s latest fling on the Hills, but we can actually apply them to our jobs (okay, maybe not so much The Hills).  This is one of my favorite parts about PR – you’re encouraged to be a newshound.  It’s actually beneficial to us to pick up all those magazines that come through the door each day and spend a few minutes flipping through  the pages.  You never know when you’ll discover a new gadget column which is screaming for the latest Bluetooth device or see a great story about consumers and brand identity in Fast Company which becomes the inspiration for a new pitch campaign.  And you can even find out that a particular journalist moved to a new publication and also started a blog and his updates can now be followed on Twitter.  More importantly, you don’t only have to read blogs or magazines that are completely relevant to a particular client or industry because you may find inspiration in the oddest of places.

One of my favorite examples of this was a few years ago when our director of social media and UT alum Blair Poloskey led the way for INK to run with sponsorship between the University of Texas and the Bluetooth SIG to demonstrate Bluetooth technology to fans at home football games during the season.  INK was able to see a bigger overall trend here with more sports teams using technology to reach their fans and secured a story in the Sports Business Journal – a different type of publication from the wireless or tech pubs with which we had become most familiar.

So as a client, friend or colleague, maybe INK has brought meaning to the idiom bigger isn’t always better for you, too?

As will soon become evident in our “stuff we love” section of this blog, we at INK have a special place in our hearts for dogs and food (among other things like running, beer and babies). And while striving to always stay on top of all there is to know about “new media,” we (and perhaps me more than some of my other hipper colleagues) will always consider ourselves PR purists at heart. I am going to attempt in my first blog to create a casserole of sorts that combines all these ingredients (sans running, beer and babies), to serve up a lesson in the value of transparency. And it’s no accident that “steak” makes a cameo appearance in my maiden post. I love it and when I have it (about once a year), I make it count. That’s how I earned my nickname (I am looking at you, you freak of carnivorous delectability courtesy of Daniel’s Steakhouse in Seattle) so strap on your feedbags folks, Steak is making her first post.

Ahem…like the phrase “steak” rings out among a cacophony of phrases you ramble  to your dog, so the phrase “transparency” stood out to me in the  white noise of advice our director of new media (Blair Poloskey) has been drilling into my thick skull for well over a year now. In the beginning it seemed to me that when dealing with the “new media” and all that goes with that, it was going to be as daunting as having to outfit the dressing room of J Lo, Mr. J Lo and their twin babies at Madison Square Garden on the kick-off of their fabulous family tour. However, transparency I get (she said… with her reputation of starting conversations with clients using phrases such as, “Can I say something inappropriate?”). With that token of encouragement along with the expert guidance and mental manhandling skills of Blair, here I am somewhat adeptly dealing with tweeting, blogging and participating in a number of social media programs. Some of us “PR purists” at INK would not be here without the counsel of our more pioneering colleagues. Even the trusty PR media database tool, Cision, has been coaxing the industry along the new media path with such nuggets of wisdom like “the fundamentals of working with bloggers are the same as with traditional journalists at traditional media outlets.” While that advice on the surface may be as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle, a recent experience with a client had Cision’s little gem top of mind for me and even giving it a swizzle. Perhaps, we need to push our clients harder to treat traditional journalists more like bloggers and particularly when it comes to transparency.

Say it For Yourself

More often than not, I find it necessary to strongly counsel clients to go ahead and jump into the conversation…even the controversial ones. If you don’t say something for yourself, someone else will and it’s never good to surrender control of your voice if it’s going to be out there anyway. So I was pleasantly surprised to witness how our client ACCIONA, a renewable energy company, faced the very unwelcome task of conducting layoffs at one of its wind turbine manufacturing plants when demand decreased due to unstable financial markets. From a PR perspective, this is the type of issue that many companies would rather simply avoid discussing with the media given the negative light it could cast. From the start, ACCIONA recognized the need to make itself available to not only the national media that would be interested in them as a leader in the renewable energy industry, but also the local media in a small community where the impact on the area economy and unemployment rate would be felt.

The morning the announcement was made and all employees were first notified, INK proactively contacted all local media and one high visibility national reporter with the company’s official statement and offered one-on-one interviews with ACCIONA’s vice president of manufacturing. I was struck by how many of the reporters were thankful for the candor. It, and transparency, paid off. All of the coverage resulting from the news, included key messaging featuring the silver lining on the cloud (hiring would begin again, just a matter of time). A more unexpected result was the show of support from the community that would feel the pain of the layoffs. Citizens and in some cases the effected employees wrote letters to the op-ed sections of the local newspapers to say what a great employer ACCIONA was and how they looked forward to the plant remaining there and thriving again in better economic times.

I am certain that in the future, I will again face the dilemma of advising clients to tackle uncomfortable topics head on and having this as a successful case study in my back pocket will help support my point. But having said that, if I ever ask you, “Can I say something inappropriate?”…just say “no.”

I think the best April Fool’s joke I’ve ever been a part of was played on my boss at the PR agency I worked for before starting INK.   During a particularly stressful time at the office – although that should not differentiate that week from any other – we all filed into our boss’ office, one by one, with different stories of why we were leaving or needing extended time off.  Business school, pregnancy, competitive offers, even an incurable eye twitch that was said to be brought on by too much time staring at a laptop (that one was true).  By the end of the parade, our boss was on the phone with corporate in a panic.  It was mean, but very funny.  It was probably my favorite because it’s the only one I’ve ever been able to pull off without blowing it.

Share your favorite April Fool’s story or better yet, go play a joke now and then report back here.  Or tweet your stories at #INKFool and we’ll share the best ones here.