Thoughts from the Grouch

 

If you deal with professional communicators, you find that some of us are word grouches. In other respects, we’re comparatively nice people. But we get a little grumpy when it comes to incorrect word usage.

For us, the AP Stylebook is never far from hand. It’s our bible, just as it is for most reporters. We counsel clients to follow AP style so their releases look familiar and comfortable to reporters—so they look professional.

Preaching that gospel isn’t always easy. For instance, most clients have never met a word that they don’t think would look better capitalized. Making secondary references to the Company is one of my favorites.

But what really makes that preaching job difficult is when clients see the media violating the tenets of the Church of AP. Here are just two examples I’ve seen recently.

Under way.  In virtually every application, it should be two words, but most media mistakenly use it as one. According to AP, the only time it’s one word is as an adjective before a noun in a nautical situation: “An underway flotilla.”

The “sure” family. The members of this commonly abused trio are insure, ensure, and assure. Despite what we sometimes see in media usage, insure should only be used in connection with an actual insurance product. So, unless we’re putting somebody “in good hands” with a dandy full-term life policy, we’re ensuring that the job will be done.

And we don’t ensure people. For that we assure them—we declare confidently to them that the job will be done. In other words, we assure them that everything will be done to ensure success. And we can even insure that outcome—just sign here where it says “policyholder.”

That’s enough grouching for now. But don’t get me started on using the noun impact as a verb. You don’t want to see that.

    

Want to Be Heard?

Didn’t like the review given to the movie you saw over the weekend? Want to complain about the proposed increase in Metro fares? Was an article about your company mistakenly one-sided?

You’ve got a chance to set the record straight. Whether it’s in response to an article in a newspaper or magazine or an entry on a blog, almost all media outlets allow the opportunity for consumers to give their opinion.  After all, we consumers keep the media in business, so we should be able to voice our opinion. 

And we can, on the op-ed page. Some say that name is derived from opinion and editorials. Others say it came about because in many newspapers, guest articles and letters are run on the page opposite the editorials page.  Take your pick.

In either case, the nice thing about the page is that it’s a forum anyone can use. You don’t have to have a degree, be a reporter, or a CEO of a company to write in with an opinion, and then hope that your piece is used. Even as a high school student, before I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in PR, I was writing letters to the editor of my local newspaper.

Increasingly, the op-ed page is a useful tool for the PR professional. We often help clients write letters to comment on articles that have been written about them or their industry.  We also help them write their own by-lined opinion articles.

Publications see those pieces as another way to educate their readership and give them a third-party expert point of view on a subject or topic.  It’s also a great way for our clients to reach a large audience, while demonstrating their public transparency. There’s stiff competition for selection, particularly at the larger publications, but it’s a waste to not try to capitalize on the opportunity.

So if you have an opinion and want to be heard, write away! One note of advice, though: restrain yourself. Most editors prefer letters that are no more than about 250 words, and opinion pieces around 600-800 words.

July 15, 2007-The Day the Music Died

I’m a big fan of Internet radio. On stations Last.fm and Pandora I’m able to customize my programming to my preferences. On Pandora, I simply plug in the name of an artist and it will play that performer, plus similar music. For example if I put in Pearl Jam, music by Bush, Radiohead and The Stills is also played. This has allowed me to discover artists I wouldn’t have heard on regular radio. In addition, I like a lot of bands that aren’t played on the Top 40 stations that seem to have taken over regular radio’s airwaves.

This is a great form of publicity for emerging artists. Through this technology they have the opportunity to reach 70 million monthly listeners. Unfortunately, music will die for Internet radio on July 15, 2007. On this date, the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) new rates will become effective. The new rates will raise copyright royalties by an estimated 300 to 1,200 percent. This decision will affect small and large stations, ultimately putting them out of business. The music will end for listeners, and small independent artists and record labels will lose a significant outlet for introducing the public to their work.

Thankfully, a coalition of webcasters, recording artists and listeners has been created to lobby Congress to reverse the decision by the CRB. Earlier this month, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sam Brownbeck (R-KA) introduced The Internet Radio Equality Act of 2007. If the bill is passed the music of Internet radio will live to entertain us another day. Help save this unique medium for artists and music lovers by calling your members of Congress to ask them to co-sponsor the bill. Visit SaveNetRadio for more information.

Bigger is Better

Races can range in size from a small group of runners to thousands of participants. Typically, larger races result in greater publicity, funds raised, prestige and awareness (if there’s a specific cause being promoted).

Larger and more established races, such as many of the marathons, don’t need extensive outreach campaigns because they’ve been around for so long. They’ve reached the status where the media, sponsors and participants come to them. Last year at the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s “The Race for a Cure,” sponsors included Ford Motors and Yoplait. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared at the beginning of the race to encourage runners. Once a race is established in the running world, planning becomes pretty easy.

However, on the other end of the spectrum are first-time races. A lot needs to be done to host a successful race, especially if you want to make it an annual event. Obviously, one of the key factors is participation. Without enough people running, you’re not likely to have long-term success.

Most first-time events are not repeated. I’m sure that will be the case with the last race I ran, about two weeks ago. I found this 5k at a source called runwashington.com. Apparently, this was the only promotion they did, and they paid for it—there were only three runners, including me.

I felt bad because the people who hosted the race put time and money into constructing the course, making t-shirts and providing refreshments and prizes. I can’t imagine that they raised anything for their cause. Unfortunately they learned the importance of publicity the hard way. Hopefully, if the race returns, they’ll invest more in marketing and promotion.

New Pro-Bono Client…Washington’s ‘Secret’ Garden

Among the chaos of everyday life in Washington there lies a “secret” garden.

The Tudor Place Historic House and Garden is an often over-looked hidden gem in the District. Located in Georgetown, it is one of the city’s first National Historic Landmarks. The house was built by Martha Washington’s granddaughter, Martha Custis Peter, and her husband, Thomas Peter, in 1805.

We are delighted to be working with the great staff at Tudor Place to spread the word on this secret. I encourage you to take a break from the hustle and bustle that surrounds cherry blossom season and check out one of the city’s other magnificent gardens. They have some exciting events scheduled for the month of April. On April 7, they will have their first annual egg hunt in the garden. They will also be celebrating National Poetry Month with poetry readings by local poets on April 29. The Tudor Place is located at 1644 31st St. NW.

Off and Running…

Staying in shape is an important part of my lifestyle. I like to keep fit not only for the health benefits, but also for the peace of mind it gives me. And, I like to challenge myself. The best activity I’ve found to meet those goals is competitive running.

I started running cross-country in high school. I continued to run during college, but not competitively. Once I graduated and moved to DC last year I noticed that there are a lot of races in this area. I decided to get back into the game

The first race I ran was in June 2006, “The Race for a Cure” 5K in DC, sponsored by the Susan G. Komen Foundation to support breast cancer research. It was really rewarding to participate in this race, and to see all the people who came out to run or just support the cause. This was a great race to start with because it allowed me to get back into something I enjoy, while also supporting a worthwhile cause.

After that, I was pretty much “off and running.” I ended up doing a total of seven races by the end of 2006. My goal for this year is 12 races, with the longest being a half-marathon. Then in 2008 I plan to train for a marathon.

So where does public relations come into all this? From my personal experience, I’ve seen that sponsoring a charitable event such as a race is a great way to raise awareness, generate publicity, and expand support for your organization.

There are two options you can take. One, if you’re a non-profit or an association you can hold a race yourself to bring awareness to a specific cause. But if you can’t support that cost, you’ll need to get sponsors to donate money or services. That’s the second option: Co-sponsorship.

Many large corporations, such as ING, McDonald’s and Ford Motor Company, sponsor the big “brand-name” marathons. However, there are tons of smaller races that need sponsors, too. So whether your race, or your company, is large or small, there are opportunities for mutual benefits.

Sponsoring a race allows you to bring your message to a wide variety of people. Running is a lifetime sport that people of all ages and backgrounds enjoy. From DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, to the Fortune 100 CEO, to the entrepreneur with the next great idea, you never know who you might “run into” at a race.

Check out RunWashington.com for a calendar of local races. Maybe you’ll find something that might interest you as a sponsor. Or, maybe you’d like to participate in a race yourself and see what the buzz is all about.

Photo Credit: brightroom.com – DC Mayor Adrian Fenty took part in this past weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day 8K Race.

Glad to be Green

I was excited to see that Green Mountain Coffee Roasters was recently named as first among 100 of the Best Corporate Citizens in 2007.

“All of a sudden, it seems, green is the rage,” said Julia Hood, editor-in-chief of PRWeek.

That statement is accurate, but going “green” also must be authentic and credible. That’s why we called it a responsible business practice when we helped Green Mountain introduce an environmentally friendly paper cup. Its liner is sourced from corn, not petroleum.

We developed promotional materials, reached out to the media, and produced more than 24 million impressions. Favorable “buzz” spread throughout the green field.

E. Bruce Harrison, the chairman of our firm, said in a recent article, “Many companies will find that conditions to communicate effectively on geo-green commitments have rarely been better.”

My brother designs green architecture, so you might say green runs in my blood. For me, designing “going green” promotions is an act of good citizenship.

Excitement is contagious

We’re in the middle of promoting the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s upcoming conference. Being able to promote the latest advances in maternal-fetal medicine is very satisfying.

It’s also exciting talking with some of the researchers that are being recognized for the first time. I was talking with a young researcher today who’s had her study blow up in a big way. Based on the abstract alone, it’s become the “IT” study of the conference. We have reporters clamoring for more information.

As I talked with the researcher and tried to prepare her for the interviews, I could hear the excitement bubbling from her voice. “It’s become a big deal, hasn’t it?” she asked. I confirmed that yes it had, and that we’d do everything possible to make sure she was prepared for it all. Wow, I do love moments like this.

Employee Relations—After the Fall

Several years ago, employee relations took a media slap upside the head. It was the summer of Enron. The signature image was of people stumbling out of office buildings, clutching boxes filled with personal coffee mugs, Dilbert desk calendars, and framed grip-and-grin photos.

They had the dazed and hollow look of ambush victims. They never saw it coming. “Sorry about all that ‘happy news’ we’ve been giving you,” their bosses told them. “We’re actually going down the tubes. You have to leave—now.”

Yet one more unfortunate step was taken in destroying the retro notion of credibility between employer and employee. The previous decade’s cynicism about employer loyalty and job security—learning it was history—was one-upped by an even sadder reality: Employers are even losing their sense of personal integrity and common courtesy.

It becomes personal because there isn’t an employer that doesn’t claim to be seeking a loyal bond of “family” among its staff. Happy brothers and sisters, who not coincidentally offer higher productivity and lower turnover. No company says it hopes to earn the disloyalty of employees. All employers want the same thing, the same “family.” But the Enron nightmare was a perfect example of how not to treat your brethren.

The youngest of corporate pledges learn the rules quickly: Paper managers with memos and “heads-up” e-mails, because, they’re told, “nobody likes to be blindsided—nobody likes surprises.” But too often, the wisdom doesn’t seem to go from the top down. Who decided front-line employees, unlike their supervisors, like to be blindsided?

An employee poll by the Society for Human Resource Management found that the single most important factor in promoting the credibility of management is “communications—good news and bad.” So it shouldn’t have been a surprise when another poll, post-Enron, by Aon Consulting’s Loyalty Institute found that employee commitment was at the lowest level since the survey began in 1997. Yet another employee poll, from the Employment Law Alliance, revealed that the majority of employees have “little trust” in the abilities of management.

Common courtesy says we put on the turn signal when our lane is ending—it’s a visual request to join the other lane. Just moving over without it is a demand to be let in. Common courtesy says we hold the elevator door while someone rushes toward it. And yet the courtesy of giving the full truth to people who are our companies’ “greatest assets” is becoming alarmingly uncommon.

As the summer intern would say, something’s whack.

This is an issue where black hats can be found in several corners. You see, back in the day, bad guys in westerns always wore black hats, and Roy Rogers and other good guys wore white. It’s a generational thing. But I digress.

Paranoid poobahs in the executive suite are partially to blame. They trust no one, and figure employees are lucky to have a job, let alone information. But they’re also victims—of a culture driven both by Wall Street and business media. If a company lets slip one hint of weakness, it gets hammered. Shares plummet, stockholders revolt, and retiree nest eggs fall from the tree. Whereas the reward for silence and happy talk is usually just…silence.

As the employee surveys show, even today, things have to change. Common sense and courtesy must prevail, or this cubicle is going to be a pretty miserable place to work, pretend-family or no family. Truth and integrity have to become competitive advantages in hiring and staff retention, no less important than P&E ratios and market share.

Companies have to appreciate—as they once did—that being a good place to work is good for business. Sears saw that years ago, when they discovered it could use employee satisfaction scores as predictors for in-store sales performance.

Fortunately, broader change for the better has been coming. Rising from the embarrassing ashes of accounting scandals and corporate governance failures are companies with a newly juiced sensibility about the basics. After all, this isn’t rocket surgery: Tell employees the truth. Tell them often. And tell them what they want to know, not just what the executive suite feels is important.

New CEOs—replacements for the dirty and deposed—are pledging to talk with employees as much as they do with the board. A couple of years ago, when the new head of a troubled telecommunications giant said nothing was more important than communication with employees, the staff stood and cheered. The same company’s new communications chief said she believed in “radical transparency,” both with employees and analysts, and the street bumped the company’s stock price 20 percent.

Straight talk may yet replace happy talk, that fantasy children’s world where clouds never turn gray and profits never quiver. Employees may get to see the game plan, be treated as trusted teammates, and be taken into as much confidence as the SEC allows. If so, the market collapse ignited by Enron may be remembered for how it reawakened executives to collegial responsibilities within their home walls.

And maybe there will be happy families living in those re-polished office towers, after all.

Not Always a Marriage Made in Heaven:

As seen in this month’s DC Communicator Newsletter, our very own Carolyn Myles, Senior Partner:

We’ve heard some grumbling recently about the age-old problem of “agency reviews” and asked veteran columnist Carolyn Myles to check it out. Her report follows:

An agency review is similar to an ancient arranged marriage. One side —the bride’s family—spends a lot of time presenting credentials to impress the groom. Unfortunately, the bride doesn’t learn too much about the groom until after the marriage. In fact, she may not know anything about him at all. In a review, the agency spends a lot of time chasing after a client, touting their history and experience to impress the prospective client. And, sometimes, the client is like the groom’s family: they don’t reveal any information, such as their budget, scope of work or past history. Maybe they are abusive or are looking at other “brides.”

Most clients are legitimately seeking an agency. But there are shady practices which drive agency heads crazy, such as: holding a review to shake-up the current agency; shopping around to see what different services cost; seeing what ideas agencies come up with and then executing them in-house. Mike August, principal of August, Lang, Husak, said agencies often will get a “letter of participation” and asked to fill out a dance card, but that the outcome is pre-ordained. “Clients don’t understand the wear and tear, money and other resources that go into responding to an RFP,” August said. Cary Hatch, president of MDB Communications, said even on a relatively small account, it is not unusual for her firm to spend $25,000 to $50,000 in out-of-pockets expenses. “And, we’re burning the midnight oil because we have to continue to service our other clients,” she added. Hatch pointed to the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ web site (www.AAAAgencySearch.com), a rich resource for both agencies and clients entering into the new business arena, including “A Marketers Guide to Best Practices and Processes for Finding a New Agency.” The site addresses questions and practices both sides need to consider.

Hatch added just as agencies are asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, so should prospective clients sign a similar document to protect agency’s intellectual property.

Another nasty practice is the old “bait and switch.” The prospect will give a budget, but after you win the account, the budget suddenly changes – usually down.

This happened to David Fuscus of Xenophone Strategies, who participated in a five-agency review last year Fuscus, president and CEO, said he estimates the participation cost him between $20,000 and $25,000 in time and resources. He won the business. But the first question out of the client’s mouth was, “What can you do to raise money from our members” to cover the campaign? Now he asks what budget is in place.

Fuscus was on the client side when with the American Transport Association. He often conducted agency searches. The $1 million account would be honed to four or five agencies, each which was paid $5000 in order to own the ideas. His biggest regret was the number of agencies they started with: 25.

Agency heads are in disagreement with whether or not the stipend is a good idea. MDB always retains the rights to their creative product. Many agencies copyright their proposals.

But, can you enforce a copyright?

Colburn Aker, managing partner of The Aker Partners and an attorney, said, “Yes and no.

“It depends on how unique the idea is. The concept has to be judged creative and unique to your agency,” he said. “Not many PR activities fall into that category.”

While a copyright can be a deterrent it won’t stop people who plan to break the law and, for an agency, the cost of litigation is a deterrent, he added. However, the threat of litigation may place an agency in a negotiating position with a client. A client may pay an agency to withdraw a petition, giving the agency “something, which is better than nothing.”

But the overall perfect marriage should start with a fair courtship. The client should seek firms that have expertise in their field and hone the list down to a few select agencies, at most five. Check their reputation, referrals, web sites or references Agencies should request an opportunity to speak with the prospect to determine how serious they are or if the chemistry exists to enable a good match.

Aker suggested asking to present the proposal in person. And agencies should never find themselves presenting to anyone but the decision-maker or, at the very least, a top officer in the organization. “You are wasting your time telling a go-between or junior staffer about your agency’s credentials,” he said.

MDB’s Hatch warned, “You have to scrutinize the opportunity vs. the potential, whether you’re selected or not. Our currency is our ideas. When we put them out there in the RFP process, we want to know that the other party is going to conduct themselves in an honorable way, just like they want to be treated. “