I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!
What would the holiday be without a good old PIO, PR, social media take on what if the first Christmas happened in the era of Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Wikipedia, Farmville and Google?
I lucked out a few weeks ago. I was in a hotel in DC setting up for an evening event when I heard a session starting in the adjoining room from a daylong conference. The topic was managing your time to perform social media duties. I heard the whole session through the wall and was actually able to glom the handout from the session afterwards when a kind participant gave me an extra copy.
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.
In one of the more bizarre recent occurrences surrounding the amazing story of the 33 trapped Chilean miners it seems that need to express themselves clearly is towards the top of the agenda. It appears that PR types are yelling instructions down the shaft telling these guys the appropriate way to speak to the media upon rescue. If there ever was a way for the miners to get good nights sleep it would come as the result of some media consultant telling them what to say upon seeing the sunlight for the first time in months. Enough for anyone to go into a catatonic state!
There is a certain group of trend arbiters around whom I envision being skinny, wearing all black, with black framed glasses who think that when they speak the entire work of public relations will turn on a dime to do their bidding.
Over the last several years I am becoming progressively irritated when PR pundits keep saying that the standard press release is dead. Maybe the body is cold from where they sit, but in our line of work the old tried and true, boring and predictable press release is our lifeline to the media.
A couple of years ago one of the guys at the firehouse was showing me how to use Photoshop. I needed to learn some simple skills – specifically how to erase license plates from MVA photos I wanted to send to the press. As a result of boredom over the lesson the famed “sock on fire” trick photo shot was created.
It’s pretty funny when you look at some of the altered images people create with programs like Photoshop, but it is no laughing matter when the press or a news source uses these tools to create something that isn’t really there.
With the line getting longer for businesses, government entities and displaced workers seeking funds from BP and the federal government to assist in a crucial time of need, one does not exactly think of PR services as a fundable project – well think again.
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.
When we look at any crisis communications scenario we work hard to anticipate the unanticipated and deal with it using the best knowledge base we have accumulated over the years. Maybe a certain technique we learned at an industry seminar or college class, maybe a case study of another crisis incident that we garnered good intelligence and experience from.
While it’s great to be book smart and learn from others experience, the top element, in my mind, of dealing with any crisis communications incident is to have COMMON SENSE. Yes, PR is allot about COMMON SENSE. There are many out there who make good livings in PR, are book smart and savvy, but totally lack COMMON SENSE.
This lack of COMMON SENSE can be traced to both the doors of the White House and hallowed hall of BP corporate headquarters in the way these two organizations blatantly lacked any tact in three incidents that happened over the weekend.
I’m sitting in the airport setting sail for some business in south Texas. Two areas to cover while I wait for the flight.
First, I’m honored that my Brothers at Firefighter Netcast have asked me to be a guest on their program this Thursday, June 17th. John and Rhett will be interviewing me at 9:00pm EST.
To get the link to the broadcast visit http://www.firefighternetcast.com/ Call in and say hi!
Banned for Life
I’m in Las Vegas this week attending a conference. Last night I went to dinner with a bunch of guys from Medina, Ohio who are huge Cleveland Cavalier fans. We positioned ourselves near a mega screen monitor so we could see the Cavs ultimately pounded by the Celtics 120-88.
Early on, when the game was relatively close and spirits were higher, the LeBron James rumor mill was the talk of the moment. Facing July 1 free agency everyone at the table had an opinion on whether LeBron will stay or go. With each opinion came a rumor about what someone told someone about LeBron’s status. Also with each rumor and opinion came blame. Who to scapegoat and take to task if LeBron seeks mega millions elsewhere?
As a PR guy this got me thinking. It’s not about just LeBron, it’s about sports in general. Each day is filled with stories in the paper and online, as well as sports radio and television, that are based on heated rumors and bashings about one team, coach, manager or athlete.
If these were stories about our fire departments, chiefs or firefighters we as PIO’s would be apoplectic! We would be in total crisis communications mode!! This would constitute one of the worst days of our careers.
With all the snow in the northeast during this bitter winter a good old “Adopt a Hydrant” program was in order. I am happy to report that it was a big success, due in no small part to the new strength of the word “public” in public relations.
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