Speaker Karen Kaiser Clark is credited with having said, “Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.” At GroundFloor Media change is afoot and we couldn’t be happier with all of the growth opportunities. From personal changes – such as weddings, babies, new smart phones, MacBook Pros (hey – change is change!) – to professional changes – like new team members, clients, exciting opportunities with long-term clients we are proud to call friends – we’re growing and changing in new ways every day.
The world of public relations has been forced to grow in recent years, too – morphing from an industry based upon hard copy press kits and traditional media relations to an industry whose contacts change daily with the reduction of traditional newsroom staff, the advent of new social media outlets and the meteoric rise of new influencers one might never have guessed just a month earlier. Seth Godin recently wrote a great blog post titled “First and Never” in which he addressed the joys and excitement around “firsts” and the inevitable change that comes with “nevers.” While PR will never be the same as it was when I first entered the field (ah – the days of one computer for the whole office to check e-mail and no BlackBerry to follow me home at night…), the reason I fell in love with this industry is still the same – the opportunity to share great stories with interested audiences whose lives might just change thanks for the stories my clients have to tell.
I like how dictionary.com defines change
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Change
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Celebrate National Nutrition Month with a Healthy Snack
Time to talk chocolate, one of my favorite subjects, as it’s National Nutrition Month. It may seem like a strange pairing but ‘tis true. Mars Chocolate North America has chosen the Boulder/Denver market for the launch its new goodnessKnows™ luscious snacksquares. The thinking behind this is that our market is a hub for healthy living and health-conscious consumers. Trending is showing us that consumers are also gravitating back toward healthy snacks and nutrition bars. Indulgence without guilt is what Pierre Buisson, Standard Functional Foods Group, says consumers are looking for and nutrition companies are trying to achieve. He also adds that food companies are making nutritional options taste good without adding numbers to the scale. Add chocolate to this and you have a winning combination in my book.
What sets goodnessKnows snacksquares apart from other chocolate products and/or healthy snacks is the fact that they are made from cocoa beans specially selected and handled to retain cocoa flavanols, which help support healthy circulation for a free flow of oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. The consumption of flavonoids has been positively linked to a number of human health benefits and all goodnessKnows products are guaranteed to contain at least 200 mg of bio-available cocoa flavanols in every four-square serving. I got that explanation from Catherine Kwik-Uribe, PhD., applied cocoa flavanols research manager at Mars, Inc., who examines the potential role of specific cocoa-derived compounds (i.e., cocoa flavanols) in human health. Want to know about all things chocolate, she’s your gal.
So why Boulder? Now that would make a fun headline and banter on Leno. A recent Gallup Poll named Boulder as the Happiest, Healthy City in the United States. I couldn’t agree more but then again, I’m a bit biased. No matter what you think of Boulder, it is a great test market for healthy natural foods. We have some tough critics from moms to athletes to media to community leaders to professors at the University of Colorado, just to name a few. According to Kwik-Uribe, they could have chosen anywhere but chose Boulder because the community is quite aware of what it means to be healthy and have good snack options. She also mentioned that Mars is committed to cocoa sustainability and is focused on improving the planet and lives of cocoa farmers through responsible agricultural practices. Something Boulder can appreciate, too.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Corporate Giving - Are You Committed?
Corporate giving, corporate social responsibility, community relations – we hear about these important issues all the time. It’s supposedly essential for companies to give back to their communities – to help solve the ills that plague society. But is it really the role of business to address issues like hunger, natural disasters and poverty – or to support causes such as higher education or the arts? Shouldn’t business just be about customers, revenues and the bottom line? Considering that I personally spent six years in an organization dedicated largely to encouraging corporate philanthropy, I have to say that forward-thinking businesses should do more than care about their bottom line. And I’m happy to report that Denver – and our nation – is chock full of business leaders and employees who truly care about their community.
According to the 2009 State of Corporate Citizenship in the United States survey from the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and The Hitachi Foundation, “In a strong signal that corporate social responsibility has earned a place alongside the bottom line, a survey of nearly 800 companies found most senior executives believe business should take a greater role solving problems in health care, product safety, education and climate change.” The survey results go on to show that “corporate citizenship is weathering the recession and is increasingly being integrated into business strategy and operations.”
I am proud to report that even though we are a small business, we believe in walking the proverbial walk. In addition to helping clients identify nonprofit partners and develop strategic corporate giving plans, GroundFloor Media donates up to 15% each year to nonprofits. Several years ago, GroundFloor Media chose Tennyson Center for Children, one of the Rocky Mountain region’s leading treatment and education centers for abused, neglected and at-risk youth, as its nonprofit partner and began providing pro bono PR services to the organization. Through its Get Grounded program, GroundFloor Media also allows its employees to get paid time off for volunteering and provides matching grants to organizations about which employees feel passionate.
And, GroundFloor Media is not alone. For instance, in 2008 Qdoba Mexican Grill adopted Starlight Children’s Foundation as its national charity partner, to which it donates funds, employee volunteer hours and food. Denver-based St. Mary Land & Exploration Company has sponsored the building of a Habitat for Humanity house each year for the past several years, sending employee volunteers to help with the construction, and in 2009, Pinnacol Assurance awarded more than $250,000 in scholarships to students through its foundation. And this is just a small sample of the many businesses doing great things in their communities and around the world.
But with all of the potential causes and issues out there, how does a company know which one (or ones) to support? A couple of tips to keep in mind:
- In order to ensure buy-in – and even enthusiasm – for the program among employees, it’s a good idea to survey them to identify causes that matter them. If a majority of your employees believe strongly in the need to help bolster public education, then that might be the way to go.
- It can also help give a company direction to consider what causes are most closely related to their product or mission. What can your company offer that others can’t? Take Tide’s Loads of Hope campaign for instance – by providing mobile laundry services to victims of natural disasters, they are building incredible good will through a very unique offering.
- And don’t forget to give employees ways to support their own personal causes, in addition to an overall cause for the corporation. This is a wonderful way to build employee morale and help ensure employee retention.
And, finally – because we would be remiss as a corporate citizen if we didn’t include a plug for our nonprofit partner in a blog post about corporate giving… For more information on how you can help Tennyson Center, be sure to tune in to 9NEWS in Denver on Thursday morning, March 4. Tennyson Center’s president and CEO will be on the 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. newscasts, and members of the Tennyson Center team will be taking calls about how individuals and groups can get involved.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Is There Such Thing as Work/Life Balance for Entrepreneurs?
They intoxicate themselves with work so they won't see how they really are. —Aldous Huxley
When I first started GroundFloor Media in my basement in April 2001, I am fairly confident that I had absolutely no idea what it meant to have balance in my life. I was newly married, expecting our first child and had just received news that the company I had moved to Colorado to work for was closing its doors. I opened the agency (I use this term very loosely, as I was pretty much the janitor, the CPA and the PR account manager) the next day knowing that in the midst of the dot-com bust, I needed to create a professional opportunity and not wait for something to come my way. The funny thing was that although my bout as an entrepreneur began out of quiet desperation, I loved every minute of it. I had caught the proverbial entrepreneurial bug and I was sick.
To some of my friends and nearly all of my family, I quickly became a work-a-holic. To others, I was simply living the life of an entrepreneur. It has been said “that those who are passionate about what they do, do it to extremes.”
If you haven’t read The E-Myth, it is a must-read for any entrepreneur. The author, Michael Gerber, describes the tipping point as this, “It could have been anything; it doesn't matter what. But one day, for apparently no reason, you were suddenly stricken with an Entrepreneurial Seizure. And from that day on your life was never to be the same.”
I couldn’t agree more. I also have to say that there is a point that is crossed in which the thing you are most passionate about becomes an addiction. Workaholism has become embedded in our culture. There are some that learn to balance and create space for the things they are most passionate about – be it their family, friends, charity work or travel. It took me a long, long time to realize that I was not solely responsible for the success and failure of the agency – that the amount of hours worked was not a direct correlation to the growth of the agency. To be brutally honest, I only recently allowed myself to work toward this ‘work/life blend’ because of the team I was surrounded by at GroundFloor Media. As a senior-level bunch, we all have to juggle family and work life. We termed our struggle as the ‘work/life blend’ because balance was simply out of the question. The bottom line is that I trusted the team was suffering from a similar type of 'seizure’ and that we would all hold each other up as a group. It didn’t hurt that we gravitate toward working with some pretty amazing client partners that hold similar values.
Honestly, I think this point of achieving a ‘work/life blend’ is different for each business and ultimately that the life of an entrepreneur will always be challenging. For me, I always appear to be one step away from having a life where work isn’t always in the back of my mind. I know this isn’t ideal, but it’s difficult not to be working on something that you want to see grow and succeed. I compare it – in the most simple terms – to parenthood.
What do you do to handle work/life balance? Is there balance in your life? Is there a blend in your life? What techniques do you find useful for adding more balance or blending all of the important components of your life?
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Content is Still King, Especially at the Olympics
Every other year I get completely caught up in the Olympics,
During a particularly tense moment in the men’s freestyle moguls
It’s the same type of personal connection that draws people to social media. Think about the Twitter
As my eyes got a little misty when Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Media relations is all about the “relations”
With the Colorado Garden & Home Show kicking off this Saturday (Feb. 13 at 10 a.m.), it only seems appropriate to give a shout out to Denver’s media outlets. Recently, much of my work at GroundFloor Media has been handling crisis communication, social media and national media relations. But, I must admit that I have enjoyed rekindling my relationships with some of Denver’s long-time reporters and producers. In January, PRSA Colorado hosted an event called “A Media Roundtable: Breaking the News in 2010.” It was the perfect event to kick off 2010 and really helped our team get a jump start on the local media relations opportunities for this show. If you missed the event and are interested in learning “the most important thing PR people need to know about the media in 2010,” watch these videos.
We all witnessed social media hitting the mainstream in 2009; however, traditional media still plays an important role in communicating our clients’ news and events. While we developed a Twitter and Facebook strategy for the show and created a hashtag (#garden2010), we knew we needed to execute a strong local media relations campaign. Even with all the changes we have read about at The Denver Post and the merging of KDVR FOX31 and KWGN The Deuce, it was very refreshing to work with reporters/producers who are passionate about their work and most importantly, are committed to our community – as I have witnessed in working with so many of them over the years.
As the media landscape continues to change, my advice to any local business is to read and watch your local media. Follow the news outlet on Twitter. Become a fan on Facebook. Listen to the reporters/producers. Invite them to coffee for a “get to know you” session. Understand their interests and passions. And be aware of the beats/topics they like to cover. Then pitch story ideas that you know they will want to report on because it is the perfect fit. Media relations is all about the “relations” part. Start here and you are sure to have better success at garnering media coverage!
~ Jennifer Wills
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Cheers to the Chamber!
I have two opportunities on my calendar later this week that wouldn’t be there had I not participated in Leadership Denver, so I thought this would be a good time to give a shout out to the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation.
On Saturday, the class of 2009 will head to Tennyson Center for Children to complete another Home Makeover Day, during which we will paint and provide some TLC to the cottages in which the kids live. These days are extremely rewarding because of the service we’re able to provide to Tennyson Center and also because they allow our classmates to reconnect and remain in touch long after graduation from Leadership Denver.
I think most of us agree that it’s important to be involved in and give back to our community. Sometimes, though, it’s difficult to know where to start. If you’re in the Denver metro area and you feel like you need more information on how to get involved or more education about what areas need help, please consider signing up for one of the Metro Denver Chamber Leadership Foundation’s many programs, including Access Denver, Impact Denver or Leadership Denver, or the Downtown Denver Partnership’s Leadership Program. If you’re in the Boulder area, check out the Boulder Chamber’s Leadership Boulder County.
I promise you’ll find more ways to get involved and help out than you can count. Then it will be up to you to decide how to make the biggest impact!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
The Human Element
As the emergence of the Internet, social media and mobile communication continue to steal attention from standbys like newspapers and magazines, I find more and more that the subsequent fast pace of our lives also begins to edge out basic people skills like having a conversation face-to-face or even picking up the phone. A recent Inc. article listing the Top 30 tips for using social media listed “interact with visitors – really” as their No. 7 tip and when social media is the option of choice, I definitely agree. In just the last week I’ve been faced with a number of situations that drove home the importance of the human element – and I wanted to share them here.
Last week I pitched some client news and spent the end of the week making follow-up calls. I was delighted to connect with a reporter who I hadn’t spoken with since her maternity leave, and we quickly jumped into a conversation about her baby and the fact that I am expecting in May. It was a delightful conversation that naturally flowed into the business at hand (the pitch) and wrapped up with a really nice, “I hope to be in touch again soon!” The human connection made all the difference and will be a strong element next time we speak.
In pitching the same news I was researching a blogger in Louisville, Kentucky who has a “pitch policy” on her blog site. The blogger had a section in the policy titled, “I’m a Person, You’re a Person” and went on to say, “Since I’m a real person and you’re a real person, I’d encourage you to make our interaction a person-to-person conversation instead of an e-mail blast to a marketing list. I like people, I don’t like e-mail marketing blasts.” I loved that! While a phone call or face-to-face meeting wasn’t the right way to kickoff a relationship with this blogger, she made it clear that if you do a little research, know who she is, treat her like a person and reveal your human side – your chances of being heard go way up. Her simple statement made a strong statement.
At GroundFloor Media we’re lucky to have a variety of clients from across verticals. At the end of the day, it’s really the relationships we form with clients – and prospective clients – that keep our interactions strong and drive the success we’re able to create for our clients and their brands. The Wall Street Journal, reporting from the National Retail Federation’s annual convention earlier this month, emphasized in this article that retailers not become so dependent on the Internet, social media or whatever else may develop that they lose touch with consumers. While we maintain friendships with our clients via Facebook, follow one another on Twitter and appreciate the occasional quick connection via text message, we also make it a point to meet face-to-face as often as possible to get to the heart of the relationship – the human element.
So, if you haven’t already done so today, make time this week to grab coffee with someone you haven’t seen face-to-face in awhile, or even pick up the phone to have a real conversation with someone who matters to you. If you’re like me, every day there are subtle reminders that the human element will make a difference!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
First Responders: How Businesses Take Smart Action During Times of Crisis
Who hasn’t been impacted by the devastation of the massive earthquake that hit Haiti last week? The outpouring of relief efforts from individuals, communities and organizations has been praiseworthy. We learned many valuable lessons from Katrina, the most important being how to mobilize quickly and respond to a crisis in an appropriate manner. For businesses, there is a fine line between how to activate relief efforts that are not only good for their business, but are also good for the community, and how to not take advantage of a crisis in order to gain publicity. Most importantly, it has to fit the brand and make sense. Take Whole Foods, for example . The natural foods store created a Haitian Fund late last week to collect donations from all 289 stores nationwide. They are encouraging their staff and customers to make donations through the end of this month during checkout that will go directly to several organizations leading relief efforts in Haiti. Whole Foods is also working with vendors to deliver additional food and water to the country. I look forward to seeing their financial results, as I know it will be tremendous.
I’d be remiss to not mention one of my favorite businesses, TOMS Shoes. They kicked off a campaign within hours of the earthquake to donate $5 from every One for One purchase /content.asp?tid=510 to the relief in Haiti through Partners in Health for the first 48 hours after the crisis. And if you are a fan on Facebook, you received this information real time. In addition to their monetary donations for immediate disaster relief, they have more than 30,000 shoes scheduled to be distributed in Haiti in February to help with rebuilding efforts. You can’t get any smarter than TOMS Shoes. I’d love to sit in on one of their brainstorm meetings. Can you imagine the conversation: ”Hey, I know, how about we send 10,000 pairs of shoes to Haiti? No, make that 30,000.” And then not having someone say they couldn’t afford it. They are brilliant and true to their core. No marketing campaign could possibly impact shoe sales and create more loyal customers. In fact, I’m off to order my next pair online now.
Let’s not forget the American Red Cross
These are only a few examples out of many admirable businesses making a difference. Hopefully there will be hundreds more jumping in to help support organizations like the American Red Cross and others who have given their time, money and products to help the people of Haiti not only in the coming weeks but months ahead as they rebuild and rise above this catastrophe. Follow us on Twitter @GroundFloorPR to hear the latest on our clients who are joining the Haiti relief efforts. Challenge: how can your business help?
Sunday, January 17, 2010
"Slacktivists": A perspective
For the record, I am a big believer in the power of activism and supporting causes that resonate with your beliefs and values. When friends and colleagues are passionate about the non-profits they support, I am the first to jump on the bandwagon and do what I can to help get the word out, get other volunteers motivated or offer some financial support. I am sure I am not alone in noticing that with the rise of social media, there has also been an influx of passionate ‘friends’ promoting their causes in the virtual world. This influx of doing good has forced me to ask myself if “by doing good, are we also doing well?”
This point was well documented last week. If you are a Facebook user, there is a good chance that last Wednesday you saw a friend posting a color as their status update. This latest craze came after female Facebookers began receiving messages from a very prominent non-profit in their inbox. “We are playing a game for Breast Cancer Awareness,” said one message that hit an inbox in our office. “Write the color of your bra as your status — just the color, nothing else!! Copy this and pass it on to all girls — NO MEN!! This will be fun to see how it spreads.”
Spread is an understatement. While the count keeps ticking, it appears that the Susan G. Komen Foundation, who is synonymous with Breast Cancer, recruited more than 157,000 new Facebook fans as a result of this simple request to post colors on their walls — whether they received the inbox message or not.
But, is the act of simply posting ‘red’ or ‘cream with daisies’ enough to make a difference? Did it really spread the message and help educate women about breast self-exams? Or is it simply a case of slacktivism — feel-good online activism that has less-than-stellar political or social impact?
Before I dive into the pros and cons of this kind of campaign, I think its important to describe where this term actually came from (I had no idea when I set out to write this post). Apparently, back in 1995, Dwight Ozard referred to it in a slightly different way. He used it to describe the activities that had to be done individually (such as recycling, as opposed to participating in a 78,000-person 5k). Most recently, "slacktivist" have been used to describe those that signed petitions, wore wristbands (think LiveStrong), put bumper stickers on their cars, or joined a Cause on Facebook.
The question is… does slacktivism really hurt? You can’t argue with the brand awareness that last week’s example created. Before the launch of this online craze, Komen had a mere 135 fans. These fans are the viral community that Komen is hoping will help spread the word about the vital importance of screenings and early detection, lobby for research and insurance coverage, participate in the infamous Race for the Cure, and donate online to support local breast cancer research.
Some say that virtual communities are simply not enough. They argue that unless these same 157,000 fans pick up the phone and encourage their friends and family members to get that mammogram or perform monthly exams, it doesn’t save lives. It’s simply a slacktivist campaign that has little or no lasting effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction.
The bottom line – in my humble opinion – is that most slacktivists are genuinely well-meaning folks who want to do well by doing good. As long as we all remember that simply clicking a “Become a Fan” link is not enough to truly be a catalyst for change, it never hurts to slack a little while you act.Thursday, January 07, 2010
A New Year and the New Media
As I was reading the first of the always entertaining and informational Denver PR Blog public relations predictions it got me thinking about how much our profession has changed in the past few years and how the media will continue to evolve.
I’ve seen several different numbers regarding the amount of newspapers that closed in 2009, but it’s safe to say the number is well into the hundreds. Magazines had a similar experience, and while broadcast outlets haven’t closed at the same rate, layoffs and consolidation have been well documented.
In the same 365 days, social media, online news outlets, citizen journalists and the like have flourished. And while I consider myself somewhat of a social media junkie, I don’t think traditional journalism is on the brink of extinction. New York Magazine recently conducted an interesting experiment where it uncovered the actual “source” of news stories over the course of a single day. It is by no means scientific, but the results highlighted how often traditional journalists are primarily responsible for creating the news of the day – including the news on social mediums. That said most of us realize that its often easier and many times more entertaining to use social media to find the niche news we’re interested in (@snowdotcom, @aboutflyfishing and @fodorstravel, to name a few for me).
As the U.S. Senate attempts to define “journalist” through the U.S. Media Shield Bill this year, 2010 most likely won’t be the year we discover “what happens” to traditional media or what exactly the future of social media looks like. What I do think will happen is this: The amount of news outlets, formats and niche audiences that exist will continue to evolve and provide a lot of opportunities for effective communicators to share their stories with the masses. As someone who works to tell his clients’ stories to a variety of influential, interested audiences, but still enjoys a cup of coffee and a newspaper every morning, I’m optimistic about 2010.
- Jim
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Fighting the cookie temptation…
While reading The Denver Post on Saturday, I came across an article titled “Save me… ideas for doing more with less.” (In case you missed it, it was featured in the "In & Out" section; click here to read the story). At first glance I was thrilled to see our client, The Children’s Hospital, included in the article, yet as I read the hospital’s tips to “keep the vacation lazies at bay,” I realized I needed to take note of one particular tip...
I must admit that I love holiday cookies. My family and I bake cookies - sugar cookies, fudge, thumb prints, toffee and spritz - the day after Thanksgiving. During the holidays, I leave a plate of cookies on the counter for our family and friends to nibble on. As I read this article and was gently reminded about the severity of child obesity (the rate of severe obesity among U.S. children and teenagers more than tripled over the past three decades, according to a study in the journal Academic Pediatrics), I decided it was time to put the plate of cookies away.
As you enjoy the last few days of 2009, take the advice of the experts at The Children’s Hospital. Challenge yourself to be active – go skiing or snowshoeing; enjoy a walk or run; or build a snowman.
On another Denver Post-related note, I finally met “In & Out” editor Elana Ashanti Jefferson. While we have worked together to tell our clients’ stories over the years, we have never met face-to-face. It was a delight to finally sit down over a cup of coffee and hear more about her editorial interests. She works from a three- to four- week editorial deadline, so keep that in mind when pitching her!
~ Jennifer
Thursday, December 24, 2009
New Year's Resolutions - like it or not, it's that time of year!
Since this may be GroundFloor Media’s final blog post of 2009 (we’re all attempting to take next week off for some R&R), it seems like the perfect time to discuss that dreaded topic. You know the one… New Year’s resolutions. It’s hard to escape the chatter about those pesky resolutions. I’m sure many of the folks in our profession are “type A” personalities, perfectionists, even borderline obsessive, if you will. So setting goals seems natural to us. Why would we possibly need resolutions?
If you do decide to succumb to peer pressure and declare your New Year’s resolutions in 2010, I have come across some helpful tips that I thought you might appreciate. My favorite, and one that I’ve been practicing with mild success this week, is to never have more than seven items on your daily to do list. I’m ballparking it here – but I would venture to guess that my ongoing to do list typically has 25 items on it. And I’ve found that none of them get done because there are so many to tackle. By pulling five to seven of them off of that ongoing list to a daily “must do” list, I’ve actually been checking things off the list.
Aside from my endless to do list, the other bane of my existence is that “unread mail” indicator in my email inbox. I found a great blog about “inbox zero” last year, and I made it a goal of mine – only to find that my inbox will never be at zero unread emails. I learned to live with “inbox 100” and then “inbox 200” – and then I started getting hives, so I pulled out the “inbox zero” tips and re-read them. Here are a few that you may find helpful. I did.
-Use “rules” and create filters to automatically move certain types of emails into folders. Emails this works well for include your Google Alerts, “friend” requests and news/offers/coupons from retailers that you want to hear from (but maybe not right now).
-Schedule time for emails and respond during those scheduled times rather than living in your email inbox all day long. You’ve got other things to do!
-Use your delete key. Determine if you’re really ever going to respond to that email, and if not, just delete it. Especially if it’s more than a few weeks old. Answer it now or delete it. You can do it!
I hope you found at least one of these tips useful, if not for setting your New Year’s resolutions, then hopefully for getting some sanity back into your life on a regular basis. I wish you health and happiness (and inbox zero) in the New Year.
~Ramonna
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Get a jump start to the New Year with goal setting
If you’re like me, you are probably wondering how it is already the middle of December. And you might be asking yourself, did I accomplish everything I set out to do this year? After becoming a new parent in 2008 and all the hectic things that come along with parenthood, my family decided to tackle 2009 by setting goals, much like we do for our clients at GroundFloor Media in order to stay on track.
As John Lennon once said, “"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” We certainly found this to be true, but by staying on top of our goals and being flexible throughout the year, we managed to achieve some of our goals and readjust when necessary.
At GroundFloor Media, setting measurable goals at the onset of any communications campaign is vitally important. For us, these measurable communications objectives (qualitative and quantitative) must be tied to measurable business objectives; this allows us to ensure the tactics and strategies implemented continually map back to the overarching goals. There are times we have to refine our clients’ objectives in the middle of the project or campaign – maybe a client’s competitor launched a similar product, a new social media network emerged or the organization’s business goals were revised – to ensure we consistently deliver ROI.
While it may be easier to review and evaluate your organization’s business and communications objectives, I would strongly encourage you to run through a similar exercise in your personal life. People say goal setting encourages responsibility, achievement, decision making, personal growth and prioritization. Based on this, I think it would be an effective way for you to jump start the New Year.
~ Jennifer Wills
Monday, December 07, 2009
Staying Sane During the Holidays
If you’re anything like me, juggling work and life on a normal day can be a challenge, but throw in the special ingredient of the holidays and you’re suddenly juggling a handful of howler monkeys! In a meeting with some fellow board members from Colorado Youth at Risk (CYAR) the other day, I said to my colleagues (one an investment banker, another a marketing professional, and the other the executive director of CYAR), “I think maybe it’s just PR people who have such crazy lives…” They all laughed at me and said, “Welcome to the real world – it’s all of us!”
The American Psychological Association (APA) says that 75 percent of American adults report moderate to high levels of stress. As well, in its most recent Stress in America Survey the APA discovered that financial concerns are the leading source of stress for 71 percent of Americans this holiday season. A national study by SleepBetter.org found that 11 percent of households without children say holiday stressors cause them to lose sleep, while 27 percent of parents indicate that this is the case.
Judging by the fact that I made holiday cookies all day Sunday, but wrote this blog post late at night – I suppose I’m part of the 11 percent for whom the holidays bring great joy and a bit of stress all at the same time… So what to do about it – PR professional or not? I found some great tips – as well as some insight regarding what the heck causes all this holiday stress – from About.com:
- Set your priorities: for example, pick a few favorite activities and really enjoy them – skip the rest.
- Cut corners: for example, send cards only to those you regularly communicate with, and don’t feel the need for a personal note/letter in each one.
- Change your expectations for togetherness: be aware of your limitations and set limits.
- Set a schedule: put your plans on paper (or, if you're like me, on your BlackBerry).
- Breathe: take some time for deep breaths, maybe meditation or yoga… breathe in the serenity!
- Carissa
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Supporting Your Local Businesses
As we head into the holiday season, I thought it might be appropriate to talk about food, retail and supporting local businesses. We know that over the next six weeks the treats will amass at the office -- from chocolate to cakes to gift baskets full of cheese and crackers and more. None of this is bad – in moderation – mind you, it is just that time of year. Where these treats and miscellaneous gifts are coming from is another matter. I learned about a new campaign to support local businesses that just so happens to kick off this week -- Buy Local Week runs from Nov. 30 – Dec. 6 (www.coloradolocalfirst.com).
Last year Coloradans spent $12.7 billion during the holidays, which represents a huge portion of cash for retailers. Money spent at locally owned businesses recirculates at least three times more in our community, which means where you spend your money does matter. Check out Colorado Local First online directory, a project of the nonprofit business group The Mile High Business Alliance (http://www.milehighbiz.org). Use this directory to find locally-owned businesses near you and leave reviews for your favorite local businesses. The directory lists more than 400,000 Colorado-based businesses, but they’re still improving the data. You can help by submitting a new listing for a business you love. Or, if you own a
I also have to tout Downtown Boulder. Since I sit on the Downtown Boulder, Inc. board it would be a crime to not mention that 85 percent of more than 300 retail and service businesses are locally owned and operated. (http://www.boulderdowntown.com/) My favorite new find is the Savory Spice Shop with fresh seasonings, herbs and spice blends. Check out the Downtown Boulder gift guide filled with ideas that won’t break your bank.
When you are out and about and looking for a good meal be sure to check out these Colorado-based restaurants: Qdoba Mexican Grill, Marcos Pizza and Snooze.
This holiday season, I encourage you to shop and dine out locally. A shift of just 10 percent of your purchases toward local retailers translates into more people are getting a paycheck, paying their rent, and getting what they need from other local businesses.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Social Media: Let the Legal Team Speak
Ramonna and I recently attended the bi-annual meeting for the Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) in New York City. PRGN has a pretty incredible global membership base of leading independent public relations agencies in 80 markets and we were invited to join as the only Colorado-based agency this past April. The majority of the three-day conference was spent sharing best practices and hearing from expert panelists that the NY-based member agencies, CooperKatz , JMC Marketing Communications and PR and Adam Friedman Associates brought together. In addition, there was a very provocative presentation on "Social Media and the Law" that was offered by Gary Kibel of Davis & Gilbert LLP www.dglaw.com that left us continuing to think about how many legal implications are popping up surrounding social media. As agency owners and practitioners, we must remain mindful of our responsibilities regarding the new media programs we create and implement.
We all know to be especially sensitive when marketing to kids under the age of 13 in traditional campaigns, however this sensitivity is further heightened by new social media programs. In addition, while the FTC has already come out with new “affiliate marketing/testimonial” guidelines, we will most likely see a change in a requirement that company-sponsored social media sites offer full disclosure and affiliate social media sites will most likely to have to disclose that they have been paid for their testimonials. As PR professionals, it should go without saying that if we are being compensated to talk about someone’s product, then we need to disclose it during the outreach.
The legal implication list is endless, but in the midst of planning and research, it is becoming increasingly vital to continue to educate your staff and teams about the changing legal issues that affect online and offline PR campaigns. Education is always the first line of defense and will help us all avoid legal problems, know when to raise the red flags and ask questions and keep current on the new court cases that are decided everyday. The increased use of Facebook and Twitter and other social media vehicles are creating new questions that we must be prepared to address.
We are always mindful of the intellectual property issues that PR firms confront, but how many of us stop and work with legal teams prior to creating a viral campaign? It could make the difference between a successful campaign and a lawsuit. I would personally rather celebrate a fabulous campaign.
I look forward to a few more lively debates when we all reconvene in Brussels in April. Until then, here’s to putting a strong legal team behind every solid PR campaign.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Our Industry is Changing - Part 2
GroundFloor Media’s most recent blog post outlined five of our top 10 takeaways from the PR News Digital PR Next Practices Summit. From SEO to social media content, here is Part 2, which highlights the biggest takeaways we’d like to share. If you missed the first part of this post click here.
6) Know what constitutes an online crisis. Do you respond to a New York Times reporter who is tearing your company apart on her blog? And how is that different when “CatLover77” does the same? Should your response be made in a public setting or via direct message? And what do you do when the next “I hate this product” Facebook page or United Breaks Guitars-type video is about your company? Your company needs a response plan, and the person or people in charge of your social media communications need to know the protocol. GroundFloor Media frequently works with our clients to prepare social media response plans for a wide variety of crisis situations, as well as to develop social media response criteria and guidelines so you’re ready when “that” post hits the Internet.
7) It is vital to understand how search engine optimization works and to always consider it when posting content. This isn’t just regarding your Website, either. Press releases, blog posts, tweets, Flickr photos -- they should all be titled, tagged and written with search engines and the end user in mind. If I’m uploading a video as a response to an unfavorable blog post, how do I make sure my video is listed as “related content” to the blog post? Before you finalize your content ask yourself, “Who do I want to see this, how will they phrase what they’re searching for and what can I do to tie my content to those terms?”
8) E-mail is becoming less and less relevant. At the risk of sounding nostalgic, remember the days when e-mail used to make you more productive? For many people, email is now utilized as a formal form of communication, almost the way snail mail was 10 years ago. In fact, Boston College recently stopped issuing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen. If you really want to get someone’s attention you’ll text, tweet or message them on Facebook for a speedy response. Think about that concept, its implications on your communications strategy and where people are spending their time online.
9) Social media is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s should not be just a tactic, campaign or something you “dip your toe into,” but rather, social media should be a part of your overarching, integrated communications strategy. Treat it as such by making an investment in the proper resources and setting up long-term analytics that make sense for your communications goals. Social media probably won’t garner immediate results, but brand recognition and loyalty have never been immediate.
10) Content is still king. You can do your homework on your audiences, create a presence on every relevant social media platform and make sure your accounts are all optimized for search -- but if you’re not producing content that your audience cares about, none of it will matter. Social media should be a conversation. Imagine being at a cocktail party and a stranger talking your ear off for 15 minutes about what they do for a living, and then finding you three more times throughout the night to have the same, one-sided conversation. Don’t be “that guy” with your social media content. Engage people and participate in fulfilling conversations.
The good news is that the platforms and tactics may be changing in our industry, but the tried and true communications principles still apply: be open, be honest, make calculated decisions and bring useful information to specific audiences. Oh, and be sure to give GroundFloor Media a call if you need help with any of your social media needs!
- Jim
Friday, November 20, 2009
Our Industry is Changing
I recently had the opportunity to attend PR News’ Digital PR Next Practices Summit and interact with a variety of communications professionals while discussing the changing face of communications and social media. The conference included a very good mix of case studies, successful tactics, information on new platforms and “what’s next,” crisis communications using social media and great overarching conversations about communications strategy. The amount of information shared at the Summit was indicative of how quickly our industry continues to change and reinvent itself, so I thought I’d break it down into the top 10 key takeaways from the conference. Here are the first five to ponder:
1) You can’t afford to sit on the sidelines when it comes to social media. Julie Crabill from Shift Communications said it best, “Your brand has already been hijacked and you have two options: join the conversation or do nothing and let others control it.” As we tell our GroundFloor Media clients, people are talking about your company or product whether you want them to or not, and unfortunately you have no control over it. The biggest risk regarding social media is to not participate at all.
2) Join the conversation, but be tactful about it. Start by listening to what people are currently saying online so that you have a good idea of what you’re up against, where there are opportunities and where threats exist. It is the same concept as doing your homework on a reporter before pitching her/him. We encourage all of our clients to “listen” first, and GroundFloor Media conducts a Digital Snapshot™ to do so.
3) Speaking of your brand being hijacked: Google Side Wiki is a new application (currently in beta) that allows you to see all online mentions of a corporation in a browser toolbar while you are visiting their Website. For instance, if I am visiting GroundFloor Media’s site and have Side Wiki running, a real-time listing of all “GroundFloor Media” mentions will be posted in a toolbar (TweetDeck-style) to the left of the browser. It doesn’t work on all sites yet, but you get the idea. Very helpful for consumers or reporters who are researching a company/product, and a game-changer for companies who don’t know what is being said about them, especially in a crisis situation.
4) How do you know Social Media is here to stay? How about some stats:
- Social media users are 83% more likely to be brand loyal than non-users
- The Internet is the most trusted source for information-more than TV and radio combined
- 64% of all news outlets are using video online, including 72% of newspaper Websites
- 95% of news outlets are using video from third-party sources (i.e., citizen journalists)
- 70% of the 118 million bloggers in the U.S. have college degrees and 30% of them list their blog as their fulltime job
- Years to reach 50 million users: radio (38 years), television (13 years), Internet (4 years), iPod (3 years), Facebook added 100 million users in less than nine months, iPhone applications hit one billion in nine months
- The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube
5) You need a social media policy. Is it okay for Sally from Accounts Receivable to publically list you as her employer when she is sharing her strong political opinions on Twitter? And that little “accident” at the office where no one got hurt is now funny in hindsight, but the photos are very interesting to the reporter who is working on a workplace safety investigative piece. Your employees are using social media. It’s best to set the ground rules (conservative or liberal, pardon the pun) sooner rather than later. Some of GroundFloor Media’s clients are more suited for basic guidelines while others request our services to develop policies that outline very specific scenarios. No matter which end of the spectrum you fall within, it’s imperative to state your social media policies and make sure employees are aware of them.
Speaking of ground rules, it’s always a good idea to keep blog posts concise for your readers. With that in mind, check back soon for the second half of our ten findings from the Summit.
- Jim
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Corporations and Nonprofits – A Match Made in Heaven?
Corporations and Nonprofits – A Match Made in Heaven?
When I first left the nonprofit sector, I wondered how I’d feel knowing I went from “doing good” every day to working for companies whose goal was to make money rather than give it away. GroundFloor Media founder Laura Love reminded me that when you find the right for-profit company, it’s possible to give back twice as much through one well-orchestrated program as you might raise in a whole year in a nonprofit role.
In this difficult economic year, it’s no surprise to learn that 38 percent of companies are cutting their cash giving. The encouraging side of the story, however, is that amidst the scaling back on cash donations, 54 percent of the more than 750 business executives surveyed in the recent Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and Hitachi Foundation study said that corporate-citizenship activities are even more important during bad economic times than good.
Since joining the GFM team, I’ve found Laura’s advice to stand true, and I’ve been fortunate to work with companies who, no matter how challenging the economy, have made it a priority to give back to the community through park cleanup programs, collection of DVDs for the troops, donations of volunteer time and money to local high schools, and, in the case of Qdoba Mexican Grill, donations of food, time and money to Starlight Children’s Foundation – the restaurant’s national charity partner.
Just today, Qdoba announced the winner of its inaugural Qmmunity program, which launched in early October and ran through Nov. 1 in an effort to collect inspiring stories of everyday people doing amazing things to better their communities. The Top 5 nominees (determined by votes by visitors to the site) were reviewed by a panel of judges, and Emily DuBois was selected as the most outstanding Qmmunity star. Qdoba is giving $5,000 to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America on behalf of Emily, and will dedicate a Starlight Fun Center in Emily’s name to a hospital of her choosing. In addition, Qdoba committed to giving $25,000 to Starlight in recognition of actions taken by community members who visited the site (e.g., voting for a nominee, tweeting or posting to Facebook to campaign for a nominee, etc.).
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