Over the holiday weekend I have had the opportunity to do some reading and investigation to attempt to put together the facts from a PR perspective of how things could go so terribly wrong in terms of the “they against us” attitude most folks now have towards the TSA. A number of PR gaffs has lead to this perception.

First off the lame TSA Administrator John Pistole used a worn out administration card saying the TSA knows what right for our citizens but unfortunately they haven’t done a good enough job educating people. Again, we’re so stupid that the wonderful changes they put in place and the stellar way in which they presented it to the public is above our scope of appreciation.

The President uses this excuse every time he talks about healthcare, the stimulus plan etc, yet to my knowledge these alleged communications blunders have not lead to the firing or demotion of even one PR or communication person in the White House or any other agency in Washington DC. If lack of decent PR is such a detriment to clearly explaining administration positions why hasn’t reorganizing DC communications across the board become an administration priority? Why hasn’t the TSA reorganized their public affairs department? Time to stop beating on communication folks and look at yourselves in the mirror.

Back to the TSA. Considering the controversy, threats and headlines regarding the newly announced TSA screening procedures, I imagine the agency wishes they could have a do over.  Maybe not, but in any case, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall of the meeting room where plans were made.  There were plans, right?

I’d like to know if the following issues were discussed:

1)   Public Announcement – I can’t find anything from the TSA that formally announced the new procedures and timeframe to implement well before they took place.

2)   Timing – Why was the full blown implementation of these policies introduced during the biggest holiday air travel week of the year?  How was the implementation of the new procedures factored into the security process that has to take place when a massive amount of people go through airport lines? The public really had no advanced warning of what to expect.

3)  Anticipation of Issues – All good plans anticipate issues.  In this case, I’m wondering how many issues like consumer reaction, training uniformity, advocacy group backlash and political posturing were anticipated and plans made accordingly to counter those arguments.

4)  Collateral Tools – You had to drill down through the TSA website to find any information or tools to demonstrate what travelers should expect with the new screenings.  The website’s statement from Administrator John Pistole was as lame as he is.  The TSA has tried to play catch up by posting better information in recent days but the dour tone of the website still does not do a great job of justification.

5)  Testing – While the new procedures were tested at a few airports, I went through one of these new scanners during testing close to two years ago if I recall, did they try to gauge consumer reaction?  I don’t remember being asked what I thought or given a survey. Were media invited to a “screening of the screening” to provide insight on rationale and benefits of new procedures?

The point here is that when you’re dealing with change, especially when it impacts a lot of people, you can’t plan enough.  A solid PR and marketing plan seems to never have been put in place to deal with new screening procedures.

An investment in good creative advertising, PR and marketing would have eased the public’s angst and fear of the unknown.

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As a PR and marketing guy I have over the year been confronted, when a consumer or customer thinks that an injustice has been done to them, spew the old line “I’m going to the papers with this.”

I used to love to hear this sentence spoken when I knew someone with no case, truth or validation to their complaint assumed the “papers” would hold the presses so the masses could hear that we were out of blue logo tees or a donation receipt was not mailed to a donor within moments of the envelope being opened. The chance a journalist or reporter had in receiving a Pulitzer Prize for the irate information usually tended to have them pass on the story.

While this type of unfounded consumer threat used to make me laugh, today that same threat needs to be taken seriously when anyone with a computer can post their grievances on Facebook, Twitter or even set up their own blog to pound on who they conceive to be the perpetrator of the injustice.

We as PIO’s and PAO’s have to grit our teeth and bear it in how we answer members of the community and their perceived grievances. I know it can become tedious and time consuming but our jobs now dictates we cross every T and dot every I or else suffer the consequences of being smeared in the cyber world.

 A case in point was how Alaska Airlines recently handled a flyers complaint and how the world including I found out about every sordid detail. The example does involve though a consumer with what I think was a legitimate complaint.

Alaska Airlines stepped into a PR mess that could’ve been avoided with a “dotting” patience I mentioned.

A few weeks ago, Colleen Roberge, Dan Blais, and their son had to make a last-minute restroom pit stop before boarding their flight. Blais spoke with the airline agent about the situation, but in the time that it took to change a diaper, the airline had given away two of the family’s tickets. And, according to Blais, when he said he wouldn’t board without his family, the agent said she’d give away his ticket too.

Mom and baby were crying, the family’s bags left with the plane, and it cost more than $1,000 to rebook the next day. Now Blais has started a blog called “Alaska Airlines Hates Families.” If that isn’t bad enough, there’s the response from the airline.

The airline’s social media manager Elliott Pesut replied via blog, Business Insider reports: “Reservations are subject to cancellation if customers aren’t ready at the gate within those times because many tasks must be completed before departure…We can’t push the plane back from the gate till everyone is sitting down. And so on.”

The best part is the “And so on.” Way to go Alaska Airlines.

Update: Way to go Alaska Airlines. The family behind “Alaska Airlines Hates Families” now says “Alaska Airlines Doesn’t Hate Families.” Apparently, the family has been reimbursed and the issue resolved.

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One strange phenomenon in public relations where even the most ethical and transparent practitioner is caught fudging the truth on occasion come when it’s time to give a crowd or attendance count. For some reason, when it comes to estimating the size of the crowd, at say our annual fire prevention days, we tend to become world renowned optimists.

A few years back when my Department celebrated its 100^th Anniversary I had my stats together – 23 Departments marched in our parade, 3,580 hotdogs were served etc., but when it came to estimating the size of the crowd on our parade route, I remember I leaned towards what I think I saw as the total. Wanting the event to be a success, and it was, I probably put on the rose colored glasses in giving the crowd total to the press which was purely speculative since no one was walking around with counters in their hands.

Crowd size is an argument that flares in Washington DC constantly.  I read a story in the Yahoo blog The Upshot about the crowd at last weekend’s Glenn Beck rally that was right on. 

The argument is a function of spin.  Supporters want the crowd to be larger.  Opponents want it to be smaller. Both sides guess because neither side has a quick way to determine how many people were actually present.  There is a way of estimating but it takes days and tedious work.  No one wants to wait for that.  Rather, they want to trumpet their points of view to the media right away.  It would be good if the media just dropped crowd-size estimates completely from their stories, but there is little hope of that happening.  So, supporters and opponents continue to wrangle over a silly argument.  PR practitioners ought to know better.

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I just read a story on Phoenix’s ABC15.com that leads me to believe that Arizona tourism might be looking to crew up a backup line if the fire starts getting too hot regarding the State’s controversial immigration bill.

The Arizona Governor’s Task Force on Tourism and Economic Vitality has hired HMA Public Relations in what the story says  is an effort to “tackle any negative backlash caused by Senate Bill 1070.”

The firm is set to help the state address concerns and questions visitors might have surrounding its immigration law and travel documentation. It plans to use grassroots efforts, the Internet and media tools to target certain cities, in a campaign expected to be in place starting next month.

“For us it’s separating the conversation from what we’ve been talking about as it relates to immigration and back to the benefits of what Arizona is,” ABC15.com quotes HMA Public Relations’ Abbie Fink as saying.

I always want to see our brothers and sisters in the public relations profession make a buck, but to pour hundreds of thousands of dollars to go into crisis mode defending and explaining a bill that in my opinion just reinforces federal law, does not sit particular well with me.

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Each year our Department visits the Suffolk County Fire Academy to attend a lecture and do hands on work in the techniques needed to battle fires and incidents involving flammable gas and liquids.

I always enjoy this drill both as a firefighter and a PIO. Quite frankly the hands on portion, as any of you who has taken this kind of training know is quite spectacular as LP gas creates a pretty intense fireball.

As a PIO I look forward to the drill because I get some pretty neat pictures when I am not involved in an evolution and I get plenty of food for thought on how I can let the public know about flammable gas safety.

One of the facts that the public always finds interesting is that natural gas has no odor. The actual smell of the gas is created by a substance called mercaptan that creates the rotten egg odor to warn of potential danger.

Prior to substances like mercaptan natural gas explosions came without warning.

If I had an unlimited public information budget I would try to mirror the creative natural gas safety promotion undertaken by Puget Sound Energy.

The Washington State energy giant, much like stores used to do when they put a perfume sample in with a bill or direct mail piece, infused invoice contents with a scratch off that mirrors the odor of rotten eggs.

I spoke to a buddy in Washington who told me about the mailing and said that the odor after the scratch off was effective but not sickening to smell.

Kudos to Puget Sound Energy for this effect community outreach and safety program.

Here is a copy of the pamphlet

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I was just cleaning up my favorites sites on Internet Explorer. I have not updated my links section on this blog in awhile. I use these favorites for both my work as a fire department PIO and as a marketing and public relations professional for a national not for profit organization.  Over the weekend I will hopefully add some of these new sites to my links page.

I present to you the most often visited PR sites that I rely on for information.

Some of the sites I list have not been updated as frequently as I would like to see, or the content is many years old, yet they still contain valuable resources, lessons to be learned, additional links to other sites and tips. There are many other sites I visit that are listed in this blogs links sections.

PRSA Web Site

I am a member of the Public Relations Society of America and find their site to be a great resource for everything PR.

PRNewswire
A release clearinghouse.

Businesswire.com
A clearinghouse of corporate releases.

PR and Marketing Network

PitchEngine.com
Allows you to get media PR pitches via RSS instead of traditional e-mail or voicemail.

The Publicity Hound
An e-zine with free PR advice.

WebSite-Watcher
A clipping-type tool that automatically looks for changes on web pages, any page at any level), as often as you like (every 30 minutes, hourly, daily, etc.) and then highlights precisely where on the page changes occur. Results are delivered via the tool or via e-mail.

TrackEngine.com
A clipping-type tool similar to WebSite-Watcher.

WhatsNextOnline.com
A bi-weekly newsletter on Internet marketing and PR.

Media Industry News

Press Access
Free PR resources, and the site also tracks moves of reporters and editors to new newspapers, trade and business publications.

Ragan Communications Interactive Public Relations
A great online PR newsletter that features a free online forum.

MediaSource
This site provides headline and feature news, allows users to get online press kits for a variety of companies, to contact industry experts, obtain press releases and provides news on trends and new products.

Best Practices in Public Relations
From the Strategic Public Relations Center at USC’s Annenberg School of Communications, this document outlines best practices for public relations practitioners.

WritingWithClarity.com
An excellent site from Ken O’Quinn, a former news journalist turned writing coach/consultant.

HelpaReporterOut.com
A free subscription site that allows reporters to submit a query looking for sources. Simply enter your query into a form, and it will get posted on the site’s next e-mailing. Queries are sent out three a day to a list of more than 18,000 global sources. If a source has knowledge of a specific query, that source can just e-mail the reporter directly. Note that PR people are kicked off the list for off-topic pitching.

Newswise.com
Press releases and expert referrals in several academic areas.

iPR Newsletter
A good online media relations site for news and trends.

Ereleases.com
Writes and faxes press releases to more than 10,000 journalists.

Press Release Network
Tips and tools for circulating press releases. Listing of top releases and newsletters.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability News, Press Releases, Feeds, Events

24-7 Press Release Newswire
Press release newswire distribution and rss syndication service with dissemination to opt in journalists, online media, freelance writers, newspapers and more. Offers daily top news, and free journalist registration to receive daily headlines by email.

Competitor-Analysis.com

Information Advisor

News Bios
This is a Denver-based pay site, but it’s a great resource. Bios of 3,500 influential journalists.

MediaSource.com
A press release posting system.

Online Press Release Factory
A press release posting system.

ClickPress
A free press release distribution service which is crawled and aggregated by all the main web-based news search operations, including Google and MSN.

PR Newswire Press Room
A journalist-only site that has an archive of news releases and photos, expert sources through ProfNet, multimedia, a directory of company contacts and more.

Center for Media and Democracy
Combats misleading PR practices.

Kirk Hallahan’s PR Links
Hundreds of useful resources from Colorado State University. The site has not been updated in a few years but there are still many helpful links to sites that are active.

Public Relations Online Resources and Organizations
Dozens of helpful links from ImpulseResearch.com.

Internet Press Guild: Care and Feeding of Journalists
Tips on the care and feeding of journalists.

Monday Morning Media Minute
PR tips and trends. Also available as an e-update.

FrugalMarketing.com
This site offers dozens of articles on press releases and other marketing strategies, always focusing on low costs and high return.

PR Talent
An excellent job-hunting site. Includes job alerts, RSS feed, forum page and job-hunting tips.

National PR Network
Resources for business, arts, and travel, as well as on how to have fun cheaply, sustainable business practices and a page of peace resources. More than 500 articles.

EditorsWeb.org
A daily service, which gathers links to governmental and congressional press releases, is used by hundreds of editors and reporters.

About.com PR/Advertising Page
Links to dozens of helpful industry sites.

The NewsMarket
Provides free broadcast-standard video and multimedia content from corporations, government agencies and non-profits. Journalists can search, preview and request video and other content on demand, online, via digital download or can choose to receive tape-by-mail.

PRFirms.org: Council of Public Relations Firms
Resources galore, including job-hunting materials.

The NewsMarket, Inc.
A journalist’s resource for B-roll, this site provides thousands of images free to television newsrooms. Users can preview video, read press materials and order video clips online. Delivery options include digital file transfer via FTP, whereby the material moves from TNM’s server to the user’s server; satellite feeds via APTN or tape delivery can also be requested. There is no cost to news professionals. The NewsMarket’s primary service is providing broadcasters with video from the world’s leading companies and organizations; news stories and archived stock shots from a large and growing range of sources. Particularly helpful to business and medical-health reporters.

MarketingSherpa

Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Association

Creativebusiness.com
Site offers forms as base for interviewing a prospective client. All are in pdf and cover everything from an assignment questionnaire to pricing to how to prepare a marketing plan. Free too.

Online Public Relations
The site offers lots of links, including links to research sites, career resources and public affairs resources.

ContentBiz Newsletter
It goes out weekly to about 10,000 publishing industry execs.

Institute for PR

Council of Public Relations Firms

DigitalWork.com
Affordable press release distribution.

PR News
A newsletter on pr and marketing.

Press Access
Lots of media news and gossip. Folks moving within the industry, etc.

ARA Content
PRNewswire and Business Wire, but we specialize in feature articles. There are two ways we can be a resource. On the PR side, we distribute articles. On the editors side, editors use our articles to fill supplement and special sections and for filler copy. Articles are educational, informational, high-quality feature articles with very little commercialism.

MediaCampaign.org
A site for campaign stakeholders.

PRSA: Silver Anvil Award Case Studies
A resource for those interested in reviewing examples of “best practice” case studies as well as a resource center for entrants. Offerings include a Reading Room as well as a Power Point presentation prepared by members of the Honors & Awards Committee.

The Holmes Report
Several free PR resources (ideas, white papers, etc.)

Web Clip Art

PR Point
Contains lot of useful resource materials.

Deloitte Press Room
Several interesting studies by the consulting firm.

InternetWire.com

LeFile.com
This site comments on best practices of corporate (and government) Web sites using in-the-news events to prompt site reviews and commentary. The site includes a Homeland Security page.

The PR Place
Lots of links.

PR Professional Daily
An online newsletter devoted to the profession.

USA News Net
Press releases, corporate directory and more. Pay site.

MediaMavens.com
An Internet wire service for the media only. Publicity, celebrity marketing and mroe.

PressAccess.com’s Links to Publications and Broadcast Media

Press Access Free PR Links
Dozens of dynamite links.

InternetPRGuide
Public Relations Strategy and Tips for Internet professionals offers tips on press release writing, distribution and trade shows. Internet publicity pointers also cover dealing with the media and crisis management.

PR Web
A press release database, help writing press releases, help finding a PR firm, and more. Billed as “by PR professionals for PR professionals.

MediaRelations.com

Newstream
More wire-service content.

US Newswire

Media Training

News Broadcast Network

CyberAlert
Monitors Web traffic; offers news and news groups.

SpeakerNetNews.com
A weekly e-zine for professional speakers. A good way to promote PR seminars, books, etc.

Ezine Tips
A great online e-zine published on weekdays.

MediaPost.com
MediaPost provides an electronic directory of radio, TV and print media.

PromoteYourself.com
Sign up for several e-zines on promotions. Viz-Ability Marketing Tips is highly recommended.

ODwyerpr.com
Jack O’Dwyer Newsletter’s daily PR news. Jack, by the way, is retiring soon as editor.

URLwire.com
A news service just for site reviewers, portal guide editors, writers, and reporters who link to great web content.

TVEyes.com
Search software that tracks what’s being said on TV scripts.

Writing Releases
Great tips on the do’s and don’ts of writing a press release.

The Traditional Press Release is Dead
An article by strategist B.L. Ochman, an Internet and Outernet marketing and PR consultant, speaker, journalist and publisher of What’s Next Online marketing tactics newsletter.

Press Releases Are a Colossal Waste of Time
An article by strategist B.L. Ochman, an Internet and Outernet marketing and PR consultant, speaker, journalist and publisher of What’s Next Online marketing tactics newsletter.

The Measurement Standard
Product/service reviews of three media reputation indexes, as well as a detailed guide to measuring in cyberspace. There’s also a piece on “if you have six months to turn your PR around, what are the six things you need to do? — a month-by-month timetable. For the media there are the results of a recent survey of PR in the UK that indicates that PR’s reputation is at an all-time low.

WorldPressOnline
“Dedicated to online press relations for corporate communicators and trade press editors in the packaging industry. It’s a business-to-press site in which trade press editors, PR agencies and companies of the packaging industry can exchange information.”

eworldwire Press Release Distribution and Writing Service
With a full-time research department, this site claims its distribution databases are the most up-to-date in the industry.

PR Web
Press release distribution site.

Vocus Public Relations Software
Publishes free monthly white papers and plays host to free webinars on PR-themed topics.

MediaMap
Send a query to PR.

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I was recently looking at the “competition’s” websites as I often do to see what other departments are posting and updating. There are some really great fire department sites on Long Island. Unfortunately it dawned on me that even some of the top sites, and even in their contact areas, do not list an email address to reach.

I understand that it is crucial to list our emergency number and also our non emergency phone contact, but isn’t it equally as important to list our e-mail?

My department site lists both our info@ email address and my department PIO email contact on the site. We receive many email inquiries from folks wanting to know information on a wide range of topics from, how to dispose of combustible materials to how do I get fire prevention speakers? to what time does a parade start to how do I join the department and everything in-between.

Some people use email as their main form of communications. There are a group of citizens who would much rather email then pick up the phone. Maybe they feel a human voice would laugh at their question, or they would be put on hold and sent from extension to extension, whatever reason though, emailers make up a large number of people seeking important information that deserve to have their questions answered.

My department receives a fair number of e-mail inquiries. The info@ questions are routed to the appropriate parties and quickly responded to.

It has been my experience that once I start a dialogue with these folks, and even though I offer a phone number if they want to respond, the conversation still remains restricted to email communication. That is their comfort zone.

Don’t miss out on engaging the members of your community who use email as their primary form of communication with the “outside world.” Make sure your website and publications has email information listed.

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I was contacted a few weeks ago by a free distribution children’s magazine that was doing a story on what kids wanted to be when they grew up. Obviously, as it has been for generations, becoming a firefighter ranked right up towards the top.

The editor did not need the Departments input into the story but instead wanted me to e-mail a series of photo’s that depicted what we do both in the firehouse and at a scene without being too graphic for children to look at.

I try to always keep a good assortment of generic action shots handy if requested for a story. Some are as old as four years but are always proven winners when used. By “winners” I mean that a story such as in the children’s magazine can become a “picture led story” where our photo can lead the rest of the piece because of the quality of the picture.

 By going the extra yard for media outlets looking for photos to accompany some of their stories, you can be assured that in the future when an editor is looking for a quote for a fire safety piece you’ll get the call.

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Kind of a strange post today that takes us to a world of public relations we never see. Last month I had a meeting with some of my staff to figure out ways to make our press presentation packages look better. We have outstanding brochures and flyers, but were lacking in ways to present customized materials.

Both in the Department, and in my regular job, budgets continue to get crunched so there is not much latitude to be creative if it increases cost. The big brainstorm was to get a machine that allows us to do spiral binding of presentation folders.

I was recently reviewing some of the press packages that various PR and marketing firms were producing for the World Cup.

Many were mega bucks costly, pretentious and over the top, but certainly creative. I give you this link to a NIKE “Write the Future” campaign that they are doing in conjunction with the games. What would we do if we had million dollar budgets to produce just one press kit?

The press kit included hand carved crayons of soccer player.

As a bonus, if any of you can figure out what the “Write the Future’ commercial is all about I’ll give you a free subscription to FIRE RESCUE magazine.

HERE’S THE LINK:  http://www.notcot.com/archives/2010/06/wk-crayola-nike-write-the-futu.php

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After my appearance last night on Firefighter Netcast, which I thoroughly enjoyed I sat down to recap exactly what my responsibilities are as a PIO. We touched on a number of the areas last night.

1. Liaison. As a PIO, a large part of my responsibilities lie in being the go-to, in-between person. Whether that be between the Chiefs office and the media or officers to their members I need to be well informed, honest, and aware of both sides’ needs.

2. Supervisor/Director. This doesn’t necessarily mean the supervising of others but more that a PIO needs to supervise, direct, and assist in the preparation of media materials, press kits, and multimedia and other presentation materials. Delegating responsibilities may very well be a part of this role, however, but this is more aimed at the supervision of activities such as editing, writing, and distributing things like white papers, press releases, case studies, speeches, etc.

Furthermore, as PIO I need to be the supervisor of the Departments public image online and offline.

3. Media relations manager. In addition to being a liaison for the media, I also need to create and maintain relations with the media. Media relations involves the communicating with, pitching to, and understanding of media professionals. They have needs and goals to meet as a part of their media role, and I have to understand those goals.

4. Community relations manager. Crisis management is becoming more and more the role of a PIO, and much of this can stem from the Departments every day interaction with the public, elected officials and the media. The key here is to respond transparently and promptly, as that is the basis for successful public interaction. I also use these opportunities to not only help in the diffusing of a potential crisis but to also provide more value for the Department by looking for positive opening to expose.

5. Advisor. As the PIO, I often assist in the preparation of Chiefs and officers for events, speeches, interviews etc. My job is to ensure they know what to say, when to say it, and how to carry themselves. I advise them on how to answer questions and how to interact with the media.

6. Scene Liaison. As PIO I shuttle between incident command and the homeowner or business owner whose property has been damaged. I try to keep them as up to date on the progress that is being made on the fireground and how we are conducting our operation. Obviously on scene media management is probably the least frequent but most crucial job a PIO performs.

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