PR Road Show ~ And other PR Rescue Missions

February 8, 2010 at 6:50 am (Public Relations)
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I had a crazy idea come back to me last night, when I couldn’t sleep after watching the mediocre ads from Super Bowl (which made me cranky and is an entire blog post unto itself).

A few weeks ago, in one of my Linkedin PR groups, we were discussing (alright, complaining) about how often other business people do not understand PR (benefits, value, level of expertise needed, etc.), so I suggested a road show. The idea was that we would caravan around the country educating business people about what we do, conquering the world one CEO at a time. A couple people said that sounded fun and they would support me in launching this project.

Around the same time, my Twitter friend Paul Roberts wrote about how PR people are not very good at promoting themselves, which got me thinking that maybe that is one of the reasons there are so few PR jobs / project these days – decision makers simply don’t see the value of PR. Another Twitter friend, @dianesager (Houston, she’s terrific!) and I talked about how frustrating it can be to have these skills and experience, but not have enough meaningful work.

By coincidence, I was introduced to An Inconvenient PR Truth last week, too – a group that irks me to no end, not because of what they are doing, but because they have been forced to do it. Let me explain if you have missed it: this is a PR campaign urging PR pros to be more professional. Not exactly the promotion our industry needs. Apparently, some PR pros need to be taught about “irrelevant press release emails or PR spam.” I have a whole issue with that (which also is a blog post unto itself).

Then, I found out about HAPPO and I just lost it! Aren’t we a sorry bunch? We have public relations pros from all over the country (listed below) promoting “Help a PR Pro Out” day – Friday, February 19th – which is a creative, proactive, lovely gesture, and I personally hope to benefit from it, but what does it say about us as a group? I am not sure I like the message (again, blog post unto itself – which I promise not to say again).

All of this PR energy just boiled over and I started the PR Road Show group on Linkedin with a corresponding twitter account: @prRoadShow. With all that is happening in the economy (or should I say, not happening) and within PR, our industry needs to do a better job promoting itself and maintaining its image. The PR Road Show idea was mostly a joke, but now I am not so sure. I don’t see myself literally driving around the country preaching PR, but reaching out and educating business leaders about PR may be a necessary step to ensure that I am able to continue my PR career. And, unfortunately, I don’t see anyone else doing it.

PR Road Show is not totally evolved, but I have planted the seeds. We (yes, I already have members!) are here to give everyone a little more support, specifically in promoting PR to business leaders and potential clients. How many jobs would be created if every business owner/CEO understood the benefits and value of PR? Clearly some get it, but then again (yes, I mean you millionaire, multi-business owner who keeps asking me “what is PR?”) some do not.

Yes, I am taking it to the streets! Please join me as we ease on down the road and, as always, feel free to share your thoughts or come on over for a visit!

~ Jules

PR Road Show Linkedin Group: http://www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/2742527/

www.helpaprproout.com

HAPPO is spearheaded by Arik Hanson and the amazing Valerie Simon, with the following champions:

There are also a number of other folks who will be supporting the event in different ways, including Sarah Evans, Dave Fleet, Allan Schoenberg, David Mullen, Shonali Burke, Rachel Kay and a few others.

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Pity Toyota PR ~ Guest Blog Post by Elissa Freeman

February 4, 2010 at 6:06 am (Public Relations)
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I am happy to introduce our first guest blogger, Elissa Freeman. Elissa has more than 20 years experience in the public relations field and is currently a Director of Public Relations/Public Affairs at a large Canadian non-profit health charity in Toronto, Canada. Enjoy! ~ Jules


Pity Toyota’s PR team.

Not a popular sentiment these days, is it? The blogosphere has been rife with critiques, comments and conjecture about everything that’s wrong with Toyota’s PR.  Myself included.  During a recent Twitter #journchat discussion on the topic, my initial reaction was: “I wake up every morning thinking, ‘Thank Gawd I don’t work for Toyota.’”

And trust me that sentiment hasn’t changed.   I can only imagine what’s going on with Toyota’s PR team.

My guess is they (and maybe even their agencies) have been kept in the dark while Toyota executives were hoping their troubles would disappear.  What else could explain the complete communications collapse during this recall?

Had Toyota’s PR execs been ”in the know” since the beginning, a multi-tiered PR/Communications plan would have evolved encompassing all internal and external stakeholders.  Think about it: current Toyota owners still have no idea what do to with their cars; dealerships are floundering; and various media spokespeople are broadcasting a hodgepodge of reactive messages. What’s worse, the car manufacturer’s president, Akio Toyoda, is nowhere to be seen.

If this was indeed the situation, any PR pro would be mired in this web of deceit.

Toyota has known about its sticky pedal problem since March 2007, after debuting Tundra pick-up trucks.  Reports of the malfunctioning auto part abounded in all its markets, including Europe.  It eventually took a directive – and the threat of a multi-million dollar fine – from the US Department of Transportation to move the car company into action…in January 2010.

We all know what it’s like to be hit with a crisis.  Usually, it happens out of the blue, on a Tuesday at 4 p.m.   Or, you have the “luxury” of preparing for one.  In any case, PR pros are in direct touch with the main decision makers to ensure the brand doesn’t take a beating.

Perhaps Toyota fell victim to its own  “save face” philosophy, rather than admitting and preparing for its mistakes.  And despite their best efforts to play catch-up, the company’s PR folk are taking the fall.

Pity.

By Elissa Freeman, Director, Public Relations, Toronto, Canada

Twitter: @elissapr

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Bad Day for PR ~ Toyota & The Inconvenient PR Truth

February 2, 2010 at 7:07 am (Public Relations)
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The past week has been chock full of bad PR days.

I couldn’t find one PR pro in an article or on LinkedIn or Twitter that thought Toyota was doing a good job communicating about the recall. “Toyota president talks to press–apologizes to consumers, then gets into an Audi & drives away. Not a good look!” said @TheRealSteff on Twitter. Then, the Wall Street Journal piled on saying the company’s poor handling of the recall “mess’ will cost them $1 billion dollars.  [Of course, I did not subscribe to WSJ in order to read the full article, but the headline and subheading were enough to scare me.]

A couple of days later, The Inconvenient PR Truth – a campaign aimed at getting PR professionals to act professional, was launched. Ouch!

It seems PR people need to be told that journalists are people too. The campaign includes a journalist ‘bill of rights’, “which is a list of demands on behalf of journalists and bloggers about how they are to be approached by the PR industry” wrote Gemma O’Reilly for PRWeek.com.

The crazy list of demands includes:

  1. Ask permission before sending information (emails, press releases, materials) to journalists and bloggers
  2. Do not call repeatedly after sending information, even if permission to send had been granted
  3. Do not send irrelevant information to randomly picked journalists and bloggers

And of course, as many well know, PR people should shy away from spam, as it might get them confused with an unpopular STD.

Um…I am sorry…but are there PR people out there who don’t already know all of these three really basic points?

If so, I demand that they be removed from their positions immediately, forced to work at BestBuy, and pelted with raisins! None of the above makes any sense as a tactic, so who are these people?

Interns? Nah, I don’t think so. Who would let an intern that close to their media lists?

Fakers posing as PR pros? Maybe, but how do they make enough money to stay in business long enough to continue spamming journalists?

Journalists looking for a way to keep PR pros away from from them? Nope.

The campaign was started by Realwire chief executive Adam Parker and, more shockingly, real PR people are supporting it. “Borkowski founder Mark Borkwoski, Speed Communications MD Stephen Waddington and Umpf founder Adrian Johnson are backing the campaign,” according to PRWeek.

Borkowski comment: ‘PR spam is as contagious as chlamydia and has the same effect. It can cause sterility in the people infected. The only difference is that everyone in the PR world’s passed on a spam infection at some point, accidentally or not.’

Great metaphor, no?

But seriously, when we, as a profession, have to start policing ourselves against our own rabid spam (55 per cent of press release recipients have taken action to block a sender of news) then we are in deep, deep trouble.

How can Toyota be expected to handle their PR woes when PR “pros” apparently can’t even build a relevant media list and pitch ideas without getting blocked? Where are the mentors, trainers, and senior leadership when this is going down? I hate calling out my peers, but if this is seriously what is going on out there, then ya’ll are fired!

And by the way, I now officially support the PR Spammers List by Gina Trapani.

And big surprise, that showy firm that stole my creepy client last year is on the list. Bet that worked out well for them! Ah, cosmic justice! And now I officially believe in Karma, too.

I am sure there are plenty of PR pros, who, like me, have never received an angry email from a journalist, but then again, since 1.7 billion irrelevant press release emails are sent each year, I guess we are the minority. Unfortunately,  it is up to us to take a stand for our profession and to teach the newbies that they shall not spam journalists and bloggers – not on our watch!

Three cheers for the really professional PR pros! Hip-hip-hurray!

PS. Please don’t start spamming me.

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