PR at Sunrise

Posted by: worob | July 29, 2010

Is Your Agency Giving Out Pay Increases?

With this week’s blog theme focused on salary issues, thought it would be fun to take another poll on this topic.

Although pay raises are supposed to be kept secret, we all know how the rumor mill works and how to get an idea about just how much of an increase you may or may not see as you approach your annual review.

So with the Dow above 10,000 points, for the time being at least, it would be nice to get a sense of how agencies are doing from a financial perspective and whether or not employees are earning increases again.

Please take the following poll and let’s see the results!

How to Get a Higher Salary as a PR Professional

HR pro Lisa Hutchins offers advice on how to earn a higher salary

Determining your worth should be a huge factor in your negotiating a higher salary for yourself, and with that in mind I’ve provided a checklist that all PR pros should follow heading into an annual review.

1. Documenting your progress is something that you should never shy away from.

2. Keep files such as examples of your best work, client or co-worker emails to your manager “for a job well done” and any other recognition you have.

3. If you got a top placement in a newspaper, magazine, radio or television spot, keep those placements on file as well.

4. Be sure to self-review yourself throughout the year to monitor your progress so you are able to secure a higher salary during your annual review.

5. Don’t settle on a certain salary that you would like – after all, who doesn’t want a very high salary? Be realistic with numbers that you are comfortable with.

6. Most importantly, review your job description and consider what’s expected of you and whether the salary your company is offering adequately covers those expectations.

7. Talk with your mentor about your approach and be sure to speak with your HR representative, who can help prepare you with getting that higher salary.

8. Caveat: Evaluate the financial status of your company. If you have lost clients in your group, you may have to negotiate at a lower scale.

9. Do your research on salaries for your level and experience before you successfully negotiate a higher salary. PR Week publishes its yearly Salary Survey and Guide based on cities and titles, with an average of salaries and the median salary for the position.

Lisa Hutchins is a human resources professional who has previously worked at leading PR firms such as Ruder Finn and Cohn & Wolfe. A frequent contributor to PR at Sunrise, her responsibilities have included recruiting, employee relations, and miscellaneous employee changes. In addition to her HR experience, she has also as a PR pro on an array of accounts and campaigns, including GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. Follow Lisa on Twitter via @lisahutchins.

5 Secrets to Being Good at New Business Presentations

Any PR pro will tell you that they want to be involved with the biggest and best clients. But in order to do that your agency needs to trust you with an important new business RFP (request for proposal). Not only do you need to have the skills and have proven over time that you are an exceptional worker, but you need to be able to speak in front of an audience and be a positive representative of your agency.

At the end of the day, no matter how experienced you may be at giving presentations and speaking to prospective new clients, it’s always important to take a step back and remember some important points.

1. Practice, practice, practice – If you think you can just walk into a presentation or a pitch and get all of your key messages across without practicing … well, lets just say that I hope I’m not part of your team trying to win the business!

2. Speak Up – Not sure you understand everything as much as you should? Think you have an idea that’s worth bringing up? Don’t hold back. There are no right or wrong questions when preparing for a pitch.

3. Don’t assume everyone in the room knows what you’re talking about – Treat the presentation the same way you tell your client to approach an upcoming TV segment. Just because you think the prospective client should know everything about PR and social media doesn’t mean that they actually do. Ask the people in the room if they understand what you’re talking about, make sure you repeat yourself if you think the message is getting lost, and try to use simple explanations in your discussion.

4. Be confident – You are in the room and part of this important business pitch for a reason. Don’t doubt yourself and be professional. Just make sure you don’t come off as if you know everything and you’ll be fine.

5. Work the room – Be proactive and introduce yourself to people before and after the presentation. Start a conversation. Allow the client to get to know you. You may have the best ideas out of any agency presenting, but your agency will not be selected if the client doesn’t have a comfort level with you and your team.

7 Comments

Posted in Social Media, public relations | Tags: Social Media, PR, business, presentation, speaking

Posted by: worob | July 19, 2010

What All Companies Can Learn From The Old Spice Campaign

: Old Spice Leveraged A No-Name Actor In Isaiah Mustafa For Its “Smell Like A Man, Man” Campaign

By now everyone has seen the Old Spice “Smell like a man, man” videos and has read the New York Times story about this creative, smart program. So what can PR pros, marketing exec’s, and companies of all sizes learn from this overwhelmingly successful campaign? Here’s a few of my thoughts:

1. You Don’t Always Need A Celebrity For A Campaign - Sure, celebrities help (unless Mel Gibson is your spokesperson) get people’s attention and create awareness of your product, but not every company has the budget to enlist an A-list celeb for its campaign. With Isaiah Mustafa, Old Spice used this former NFL Europe player as the face of its product. Why did this work? Because the idea was great and the company believed in it.

2. All Of Your Resources Must Have A Place In Your Campaign – From Twitter to YouTube to the Old Spice Web site, the company did everything it needed in order to promote this program. Bottomline, if a company only puts a small amount of effort into publicizing its campaign and not using all of its available resources, it will never achieve the type of success it was hoping for.

3. Involving All Company Social Networks Is Critical – Engaging with its audience and inviting them to ask Mustafa questions via the Old Spice Twitter handle and Facebook pages was great. But having Mustafa answer random questions and even help a random guy propose to his girlfriend on the Old Spice YouTube channel was brilliant. And not only did he answer questions, but several videos were posted with amazingly fast turnaround time. We all talk about the need for real-time answers and information, and Old Spice did everything it could to quickly record its responses and get them out the door.

I could go on and on about the many things that companies could learn from this campaign, but what else would you add to this list?

18 Comments

Posted in News, Social Media, public relations | Tags: celebrity, commercial, Marketing, old spice, PR, Social Media, Twitter, youtube

Posted by: worob | July 14, 2010

Social Media Poll

Posted by: worob | July 7, 2010

A PR Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

: “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent” – A Bronx Tale

We’ve all seen the 1989 PSA, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” and for the younger readers of this blog who haven’t viewed this video, watch it now.

Since the beginning of the economic downturn, we’ve all noticed that morale is low everywhere – from PR agencies to in-house communications staff. People are unhappy about the lack of impactful raises, the slashing of perks and benefits, and the uncertainty of their futures. And while people have every right to be upset, this also presents a unique opportunity for management to see who steps up and, even more importantly, who doesn’t during these tough times.

In every agency there’s two kinds of workers: the ones that work hard and the notorious “complainers.” While we’ve all been guilty at some point of lamenting about our job and/or our clients, it’s the complainers that most let their emotions affect their performances. They are the people that show up late to work, mope around the office, and give less effort than others. I’d even be willing to bet that nine times out of ten the “issues” they’re having with their agency are ones that can be discussed openly with their boss(es) and addressed in a timely fashion. Whether they are walking into the bosses office asking for more money or for different clients, you can’t expect change to happen overnight. But that doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. And the worst thing you can do is continue to have a negative attitude and not bring your “A” game to work everyday – this is the biggest factor in whether or not those changes will ever occur. The saddest thing about all of this is that somewhere along the line these same people proved to be talented enough for their agency to hire them, and now they are allowing low morale to stunt their personal learning growth, and weaken their value to that same agency.

Ultimately, the people that are unhappy will move on to another agency. Some will get more money in the short-term, some will change career paths, and some will take another job where they continue to be miserable. But if you are one of the hard workers that battles through negative emotions, comes to work early, stays late when you have to, and produces during these hard times, I guarantee you will be one of the lucky ones that quickly rises to the top of your PR agency (title-wise and financially) faster than others when the economy bounces back. Just hold on a little longer, stay positive, and don’t let your talents fall by the wayside!

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15 Comments

Posted in public relations | Tags: Economy, Morale, PR, talent, success, psa, a bronx tale, robert de niro

Posted by: worob | June 30, 2010

Top 5 Ways PR Agencies Can Keep Talented Employees

PR agencies need to invest in talented pros

Since the beginning of my career both in PR and on the media side, I’ve witnessed firsthand a number of talented professionals leave their job for a ‘better opportunity,’ which almost always translates to more money. And lately, I’ve heard this happening a lot more frequently from friends and colleagues across all industries as the economy slowly improves. The result is a terrible feeling for both the team and the client(s), who I’d argue care as much about keeping a strong team intact as they do getting media opportunities.

I completely understand that sometimes you can’t give everyone what they ask for. I also know that people move on and the agency/company will not go into a tailspin with the loss of a few employees. However, it’d be comforting if more often we saw companies do what it takes to keep those skilled, exceptional workers so as not to see them look around, much less take offers elsewhere.

So since everyone loves lists so much, I came up with five suggestions for agencies/companies regarding how to improve retention rates and keep as happy a workforce as possible. After all, a happy workforce can mean happy clients (well, we hope!).

1) Inve$t in Talented Employees. I realize that in this economy we should all be thankful for a job, let alone receive a raise. However, rewarding those employees who go above and beyond with generous raises, especially in this job climate, would go a long way in having them ignore the calls from recruiters. Again, reward those that deserve a hefty raise, not staff members that only bicker and moan for one.

2) Work/Life Balance. If the agency cannot afford to give substanial raises then there should be other ways to incentivize workers. Maybe it’s the option to work from home once a week? More vacation days? The possibilities are endless. Here’s a few of them in an article I read in Inc. back in April.

3) Eliminate The 1-Year Review. Make Reviews Occur Frequently. People get bored at their jobs. Whether it’s from being in the same position for several years or just not feeling challenged anymore. By having, lets say, quarterly reviews then it would be possible for staff to be more transparent with senior management about their job, what they like/don’t like, where they’d like to be going, etc. This would also remove some of the guessing game that junior and senior staff play in regards to who is unhappy and who might leave soon.

4) Launch Agency-Wide Promotions & Contests. How many times have you recommended to a client that they provide free giveaways to their target audience to create buzz and excitement? A ton, I’m sure. So why can’t agencies do the same thing? They could award money vouchers to the person(s) that gets the most media opportunities in one month, or give an extra personal day to someone that helped win new business for the firm.

5) Show Signs Of Appreciation. Often. No matter how many times we say otherwise, we all like to get a pat on the back. I don’t know about all of you, but I love getting e-mails from my boss(es) or having one of them walk by my office telling me how proud they are of something I accomplished. Even if it’s just a note saying they appreciate all of the hard work a team is doing during a tough time. The more these types of things happen, the more I think staff will respect and support management.

What do you all think of these suggestions? Anything you’d change or add to the list? Am I completely off-base? Let me hear your thoughts!

21 Comments

Posted in Lists, public relations | Tags: agency, american express, employees, finance, HR, investments, management, money, PR, salary

Posted by: worob | June 22, 2010

Big Misconception: PR Doesn’t Get Easier As You Move Up In Your Career

If you were to poll your office regarding which staff members do the most work,
I’d be willing to bet that most would say junior staff. However, I’m beginning to learn that moving up and being promoted does not necessarily mean you can relax and have everyone ‘underneath you’ do all the work.

Currently in my fifth year in PR, I can tell you that I’m being challenged more so now than I ever have in my career. How come? Here’s a few of the things I’m currently going through:

1) Learning how to manage others.

2) Writing more comprehensive client plans.

3) Trying to gain a comfort level discussing compensation and title issues with my boss(es).

4) Understanding that every client is different and so is the way you work/respond to each one. In other words, client relations.

5) Figuring out how to get media opportunities in a landscape that is seeing less and less journalists/outlets to pitch

I can easily say that this has not always been an effortless or fun transition moving up from Account Coordinator to Account Supervisor. But with that said, I AM learning something new everyday. The day that stops happening is the day that I’ll move in-house or to another agency or ultimately decide to take my career in a different path. Because to me, no matter if you’re in PR or any other industry, it’s all about learning and constantly challenging yourself and being challenged by your superiors/clients. Otherwise, you’ll never reach your full potential.

16 Comments

Posted in public relations | Tags: career, communications, PR, work

Posted by: worob | June 17, 2010

Poll: What Challenges PR Pros The Most?

"When a man is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn something." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

There has been numerous times over the past few weeks in which I worked on press releases and client plans. Throughout it all I’ve had numerous challenges from coming up with creative event ideas to figuring out how to shape a quote so that it sounds newsworthy enough to generate media interest. Yet despite how many times I wanted to quit and give up, I learned a tremendous amount and believe I’ve come out smarter today than I was two weeks ago.

So with this in mind, I wanted to ask the following poll question:

4 Comments

Posted in Polls, public relations | Tags: education, media, PR, writing

Posted by: worob | June 15, 2010

Top Five Ways to Piss Off a Blogger (And Never, Ever Get Your Story Covered)

eReleases Founder, Mickie Kennedy, provides his thoughts on what PR pros need to know about pitching bloggers

With more and more readers turning to blogs instead of traditional media for news and reviews, it’s no wonder that public relations professionals are increasingly incorporating blogger relations into their media plans. But, before you go approaching ‘Barry Blogger’ the same way you would approach ‘Rex Reporter’, think again. When constructing your blogger relations strategy, keep in mind these five ways to piss your targeted blogger off. Then avoid these irritating tactics at all cost!

1.) Don’t Bother to Read the Blog – PR pros with even a week’s worth of experience wouldn’t dare submit a story about stock portfolios for retirees to a tween magazine, but many PR pros assume bloggers are grateful for whatever news they can get. In fact, the most successful blogs are narrowly focused. Take the time to peruse previous blog posts to find out of if your story is consistent with the blog’s topic before sending a pitch.

2.) Assume the Blogger’s Publishing Schedule – To publish content, all a blogger has to do is write up an article and hit “post.” So why should they take two weeks or two months to post your story? It isn’t like they’re a “real” media outlet, right? You wouldn’t tell Time Magazine which issue your story belongs in. Treat a blogger with the same respect. On the other hand, as with print and broadcast publications, there are ways to encourage a blogger to post your story at a certain time. Submit a seasonal story or one highlighting an upcoming event. If the blogger is interested, she’ll probably post it within the season or before the event. Just give her plenty of lead time, like you would with a print or broadcast media journalist.

3.) Treat Bloggers like Pseudo-Journalists – Some bloggers aren’t trained journalists; some are. However, you can bet that any blogger who has taken the time to build up a large readership is dedicated to her work. Treating her like an amateur or a dabbler is a sure way to get the figurative door slammed in your face.

4.) Offer a Bribe – “I gave you a freebie, now where’s my positive review?” you ask. Nothing will insult your target blogger’s integrity like insisting that he can be bought. While it’s true that many bloggers make affiliate income from reviewing products and offering links to them on their site, any blogger worth his salt will not give a positive review in exchange for a freebie. Plus, Federal Trade Commission regulations now require bloggers to disclose freebies or cash received in exchange for a review.

5.) Pester Them – Bloggers are easy to contact. Blogs usually allow comments, bloggers often post their email addresses, and many bloggers embrace social media. But just as you wouldn’t call a reporter over and over again to ask about the chances of your story running, don’t pester your target blogger. Remember – just because you can contact her, doesn’t always mean you should.

Blog exposure can be just as lucrative as exposure in more traditional media, but only if PR pros become adept at the tricky art of blogger relations. Avoid pissing off bloggers, and you’re already well on your way to success!

This article was written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases, an online leader in affordable press release distribution. Grab a free copy of the Big Press Release Book – Press Releases for Every Occasion and Industry. Mickie’s blog, PR Fuel, covers PR and social media and is updated every weekday. He can be found on Twitter via @ereleases.

*Editor’s Note: I think it’s always good to reiterate tips such as the ones Mickie provides here. Especially for new PR pros, this type of information never gets old.

3 Comments

Posted in Social Media, public relations | Tags: blog, communications, journalist, Marketing, media, news, PR, publishing, reporter

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