The New Rules of Marketing & PR

Our book, “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” was full of useful information and it was really hard to pick one idea that I most agree with because there were many. Chapter 15 talks about mobile marketing and mobile marketing is one of the many ideas that I strongly agree with from our book. On page 235, it says, “because buyers use their mobiles to search for products and services in the time of need. You’ve got an opportunity to move them from being a one-time looker to a long-term fan.” Mobile marketing is what will make those customers come back. Working at a retail company, I can say that mobile marketing is huge. An article “Why Should Marketers Care About Mobile Marketing” points out some great points of why mobile marketing is important. Some of the points are mobile is arguably the closest you can get to the consumer, the physics of media indicate that the new channel has the biggest advantage, mobile right now is a great deal.

One of the ideas that I disagree with from our book was in chapter 15. QR codes were really hot about a year ago but things haven’t been as hot as they once were. To me, I have never understood the whole idea of QR code. The only time I have used one was at 54^th street to get coupons. I disagree with the idea of QR codes because it is fading and the importance of them is not there. An article “Are QR codes losing their magnetism?” would agree that QR codes are fading. One of the problems with having QR codes everywhere is marketers did not use it well. Once marketers understand how to properly use QR codes, they could be a great look for consumers to learn more

One chapter that stood out to me the most was in Chapter 4 Social Media and Your Targeted Audience. We have learned through out this semester that Social Media is growing and it is only going to get bigger and more influential. Social media is a huge part of our everyday life. One of the first things I do when I get up in the morning is check my social media and see what has been going on.

In chapter 4 it talks about social media and how people are able to express their opinions on things like social networking, blogs, video and photo sharing, chat rooms and message boards, listservs, wikis, social bookmarking, mobile applications. Social media allows people like us to share information with anyone that is willing to listen. One of the things that I have noticed is that not everyone feels the same way about social media and chapter 4 makes a great point. On page 54 of our book it says, “The best way to think about social media is not in terms of the different technologies and tools but, rather how those technologies and tools allow you to communicate directly with your buyers in places they are congregating right now.” I think it is really important that people realize that social media could be really helpful and useful, you just got to give it a chance. 

Over all, I think that this book was great. Since it was so up to date it gave some great pointers about social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, etc.. It was really easy to read and understand what Scott wanted us to get from the book. One of the things I really liked was the examples that were used in the book. Even though they weren’t all recent they were some of the greatest examples that you can take a lot away from. I would definitely recommend this book for the next class. Even if the book gets outdated you will still be able to learn a great deal from it. I found this book most useful out of the two books that we read from. I found myself copying some of the pages out of the book because it had useful information I did not want to forget.

Is social media worth your time?

I would like to start out by saying that this article made some really good points about old fashion PR. I was so drawn into this article that it makes me want to think of the way I should do PR when I get a job. We are all so use to PR 2.0 and how everyone is attached to social media. Then again, people have done PR with out social media for years and have done fine, if not better. I think that there are positives and negatives to both types of PR. Lately, it is harder for our age group to understand that PR is possible to be completed the old fashion way because we are so used to social media. I do not know how I feel about the article saying that social media is a complete waste of time. I can see where he is coming from but I think what we need is to find a happy medium. There is a way we can do both old fashion PR and use some social media. That way, we are not relying only on social media to do all the work. I’m not going to lie; I am really impressed that some of the most accomplishing PR was done with out all the major social media.

 

On page 30 of Solis and Breckenridge it says, “with web 2.0, the ability for everyday people to publish content and build authority exploded.” We have also seen many companies do some awesome things because of social media and this is why we need social media for our PR. On page 3, of Solis and Breckenridge it says, “Social Media also forces PR to see things differently.” I think that book makes a really good point that having social media helps us reach those people that we may have not been able to reach before. In our article it talks about using email and telephone use to get a hold of someone but that’s not possible. I think social media opens that door so that you can have all the access in the world. Also, we know that things are changing and being ahead of the game is key. This is why we need to be able to know how to use social media for our PR but not to the extent to where we are not wasting time. I know that we can’t, “Spend time meeting reporters, crafting your message and getting placements in major media or your local publication, or you can type the keyboard for hundreds of hours hoping someone “Likes” your brilliant post on Facebook or follows your wickedly awesome tweets on Twitter.”

 

I found a really interesting article that also talks about social media being a waste of time and money. The name of the article is Social Media: why it’s a big fat waste of time and money. Just the beginning of the article it makes a really good point saying, “The problem is that social media rarely has any strategy or business purpose behind it. (Hint: getting as many Facebook likes as humanly possible is not a social media strategy!).” I do not think that many of us realize that this really happens. I can see that some people may get carried away and use social media because other companies use social media and that could potentially be bad. My thoughts are that this article and the article that we were given tell us that we don’t need social media. It may have a hidden meaning saying that people do not know how to use social media wisely.

 

It is really hard for me to pick one kind of PR instead of the other. This is why I keep going back and forth in my answer because I see positives in both. I can see how it would be beneficial to use old fashion PR and I also see how social media helps PR people. This is why I have mentioned earlier we need to compromise and be able to do both.

SPC blog #1

 

After reading the first few chapters of the book my new way of thinking about PR is how important it is being connected with people and really know what your audience wants. We know that in the past few years social media became a huge part of everyday life. Our book talks about the change PR is going through and what things are still really important in our day-to-day basis.

The first thought that comes to my mind thinking about PR is how different it is now and how much it has evolved. A great example of it is on page 86 and what it talks about is the shift in power. The audience that used to be on the receiving end of things is now the people who control everything.

In our book we are given advice on what’s important about PR 2.0. On page xxiii it says “New PR Is the path to better relationship with your stakeholders and the opportunity to really listen and help your customers.” I think this is really true because as we have learned not only from this book but also from the previous classes is that relationships are everything. It is so important to be connected on this lever where you can comfortable around a certain individual.

Something that can be taken away from our book and applied in any other class is building relationships. You want people to trust you and want to keep coming back. Going back talking about the change PR is going through something that everyone needs to know if how difficult PR 2.0 is. We are talking about the skills that you can not learn in a classroom setting.  Don’t get me wrong I think that the basics of PR are still very important and we need to know them. I just think some people now might focus a lot on the relationship aspect of it and forget about the fundamentals. What we all need to learn is how to combine both of those things together to become great PR professionals. That’s when you know that you have mastered the skill. Being open-minded to all the change that is happening is something that really helped me with my other course work. Change is really hard for me and I can relate to those people that do not like change.

On the other hand something that stuck out to me from our book was on page 17. Being involved with social media. The only way to succeed now is by being involved. “Engaging in Social Media.” I can definitely agree with this statement because I myself recently became more engaged with social media. I feel like this a great opportunity for me to be heard and get connected with people. In the past month Twitter has really grown on me quite a bit. My goal is to be involved Twitter user. I found this really interesting article online called “28 ideas for engaging visual content to post on social media.” I figured it might help out. It was a very interesting article that was worth the time to read it. Even though that the tips they give are for companies, it’s something that we can take for consideration for our personal profiles. The once that really stood out to me were: infographics, comics, testimonial video.

Taking a look back to where I was a year ago or even a few months ago, its crazy. I have learned so much in the past few weeks then I have in awhile. This class on its own has taught me a lot. Starting from building relationships to putting yourself out there to learning new SM tools. It’s all coming together.

Sports Panel

Gateway Grizzlies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: St. Louis Cardinals Cap Insignia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Public Relations Student Society of America hosted a winter warm-up for members interested in learning more about the competitive world of Sports PR.

 

Public relations professionals from the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Rams and Gateway Grizzlies gave PRSSA members a home-field advantage on Wednesday, Nov. 28 as they shared industry tips and advice on everything from internships to networking.

 

The sports panel was a chance for students who are passionate about sports PR to ask questions concerning the field or anything pertaining to the public relations industry or job market in general.

 

Professionals had a lot of great advice for all of us. The main thing that students left with was to have lots of different experience under your belt. Adam with the Gateway Grizzlies, Ron with the St Louis Cardinals and Sarah with the Rams all have said that having internship is very super important to have and also will give you a huge advantage. Most of the people who have internships have full times jobs after the internships that they do. They have also stressed on getting connection and that what we were doing there that night was crucial for us because we had opportunities open for us. Work hard and never give up.

St. Louis Rams logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

CAT Ch 16 High-Profile Projects

English: Annual reports of the , Singapore. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It seems as Public Relations professionals have a whole lot of work on their hands. Aside from having to do a lot of wiring as a PR professionals they also work on some big important projects that require a lot of work and time.

This chapter talks about 3 most common projects they are annual reports, special events, exhibition or convention.

An annual report is a really big deal not only does it take time to do it but it means a lot to both nonprofits as well as public companies. It can give companies a lot of credibility. There is 3 ways that annual report can be used as: annual report as financial document which is the most important, annual report as public relations document, and last but not least annual report as social responsibility. Different companies might make their annual reports look different from the others. Some might use graphics and maybe some advertising as some might not. So be sure to know what your company wants you to do so you do it right.

Another most common project is a special event.  When you right for a special event your message needs to cover a variety of audience. Just like when you do any other type of writing you want to cover a big range of people.

Last most common project is exhibition or a convention. In this particular project I have learned that an original role of a PR professional is changed. To be able to meet the deadlines of your new project you must have a plan in detail.

Twilight

Movie or concert tickets symbol (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As you all may already know Twilight Breaking Dawn Part  2 is coming out in theaters Nov. 16. This is a huge deal for the Twilight fans.

I’m not a huge Twilight fan but I did enjoy watching the last 2 movies. Filled with action and love you can never go with the two and two put together. There’s a little bit of something for guys and girls.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I wanted to go see the midnight showing of part 2 movie that will be out but I wasn’t on top of my game for getting the tickets. I got an email from my bank for an opportunity to win two tickets to go see the movie. I thought what the heck might as well sign up. Little did I know that I could possibly be the winner?

On my way to school the other day I got a phone call from an unknown number. I answered and a lady asked my name to make sure it was me, she than went on to say that I won two tickets to go see Twilight. I was so excited, still am. I have never won anything before. You better believe it that I will be in front row of the movie theater on Nov. 16 at midnight. See you there!

Ch 14 CAT Persuasion for Mass Action

The overall message of this chapter is advocacy. It’s the foundation of what Public Relations is all about. I will go over a couple important topics in this chapter.

 

Maslow’s hierarchy is talking about the human needs. It is a pyramid of five levels. There is the need for self-actualization, the need for self-esteem, status, respect, the need for love companionship, the need for safety, security, and physiological needs. It’s all about truly knowing your audience. Knowing if you have active or passive audience is really important.

 

Emotion appeal is another important aspect of this chapter. It is used a lot in everyday life and corporation use it a lot with their audience, not just corporations but small companies more so. It’s a big part of the message. Power of words goes along with emotional appeal because it would have a bigger effect if you know how to put the two and two together. Especially if you target it right with your audience.

 

Some of the ways that the message goes out to target audience is by PSA which is public service announcements. We hear these every day more than once. I have no idea that PSA is just a short ad.  These are just a few things from the chapter that stood out, I know that persuasion is really big in PR and you need to know what you’re doing.

 

English: A colorful depiction of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Th!nk Tank

On Friday Nov. 9 PRSSA Chapter got a chance to go on a boutique firm tour. Think Tank is a place to go. Trish the founder of Think Tank and Kevin her right hand man gave lots of great and helpful advice. Kevin said “drive yourself and push yourself” that’s what you need to be successful.

What they do at Think Tank can either improve or ruin a company that’s a really big responsibility and it’s not always the good stuff. It’s really important to work hard at everything, have thick skin and never give up. It goes from having really great days to not so great days. For example one day you could turn a client to a “rock star” and the next day you could get complains all day from your clients. You can only imagine the atmosphere that they have.

The atmosphere of the place when you walk in to the boutique was fun, outgoing, it’s like a little house. Feels like home and family environment. Trish said it’s like a bus; you must have the right people on the bus. That bus makes up the family environment that they have. So if you want to be on the bus what do we need to do?

Trish does have interns every semester.  Some of the things that she looks in interns are for them to be different, standing out from everyone else. Things like volunteering work. Get involved in none profit. Find something you’re passionate about and that’s also how you get your connections too.

The interns at Think Tank work a lot on social media. You have to be self motivated and offer some inventive ideas. They have you work with the real work stuff and you act as an employee, part of a team.

If you have the time I would check out the website and learn more.

CAT ch 13 The Multipurpose Medium

Chapter 13 taught me all about writing for the media. A lot of the writing these days are more digital than anything else so it’s really important to know what you’re doing. At the begging of the chapter it talks about why public relations professionals use internet. It gives us 3 reasons: for communicating with their organization’s public’s  for research and for their own personal and professional development.  When I read that I didn’t

 

World wide web (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

think that was enough, it feels like there should be so much more to it.

 

Some of the other helpful information came from limitations writing for the web. It talked about how you can’t take anything back after you have already put it out there. You can’t forget about all the audience. When you put your information out on the web you now have a global audience so we all need to make sure everyone is included. It’s very important to link to credible sources.

 

Web writing is different than a print document. When you print something it’s usually longer but that’s not the case for web writing. The length of your document is smaller and catchier. You want to make sure it’s quickly to read, efficient, easily to navigate and not cluttered.

 

One last thing that was interesting to me was towards the end of the chapter talking about PR objectives. You want to put your newsletters online and news releases. Using distribution services.

 

Need a job…

Graduation Happiness (Photo credit: jameskm03)

What’s one of the biggest worries that a graduate student has after graduating from college? Well aside from having to pay your student loans out the wazoo, it’s trying to find a job. A job! In this economy it seems close to impossible. I know that when I think about having to graduate soon, I am having fears to do so. I don’t want to get out of college and have to worry of how to pay off my student loans because I can’t find a job.

1 in 2 new college graduates don’t have a job after graduating college. Does that scare anyone? It does me. If you have the same fear I would highly consider of going anywhere you can get a job after college. I found this article that I think will be helpful when you start searching for your job after graduation.

In this article it gives you 5 cities that would love to hire young people who just graduated college. Seattle, Houston, Minneapolis, Washington DC, and Boston are the 5 cities. In each city they give a little bit of a description of what they are looking for and how much annual wage growth each city has.