I live a digital life. I don’t mean that I’m involved in digital media, though I am (hey, you’re reading this, right, and you probably got here via Facebook, Twitter, or Google). I mean that my first instinct to discover, research, connect or share now involves digital platforms. Cases in point:

I saw a tweet by Heather Caliendo on Twitter about the movie Inception last Friday. It was positive, and I know and like Heather and more importantly, respect her opinions and know she has high standards for smart stories. So, when my husband and I considered a movie on Saturday night, guess what we saw? Yep… Inception, based in large part on Heather’s tweet to the world. I’ve not seen Heather in months, since she’s moved to Colorado, but our relationship matters to me regardless of our “face-to-face” interaction (or lack thereof).

I recently dropped my iPhone into a toilet. It suffered a severe case of PTSD (Post Toilet Submergance Dysfunction) and then died. Through my digital friendship with Bobby Rettew, who sympathized with my phoneless plight and had also recently upgraded to an iPhone 4, I became the very happy owner of his lovely 3G S phone. I’ve never met Bobby in person, though we keep threatening to make that happen. However, I consider him a friend, not just a “friend” in the Facebook sense of the word.

On a trip through southeast Kansas over the weekend, we stopped in Pittsburg to eat dinner. I used my UrbanSpoon app to check out possibilities and we discovered some awesome Italian food at a place called Napoli’s, located on Broadway in Pittsburg. I posted via Foursquare & shared the post to Facebook that we’d really enjoyed our visit. A FB friend, local to the area and someone I’ve not seen in person for many years, said they’d been hesitant to try it, but now they might after hearing our experience.

What is the point of all this? Digital relationships matter. People do pay attention. The relevance quotient for digital relationships is high…. I didn’t do a Google search for restaurants in Pittsburg since I didn’t want to know about all of them… just the good ones. I didn’t buy a phone from Craigslist because I depend (and Crossroads Communications depends) on my phone for my business and I trusted Bobby. And the movie… we see maybe two or three a year. So we choose carefully… and Heather is a writer. She knows a good story when she sees one. Her recommendation elevated Inception to the level of “worth spending one of our two movie nights left this year on” status.

Relevance is the engine that drives our digital decisions. The future of the web as a connection medium  lies not in creating more information nor in more platforms for sharing information. It lies in better ways for relevant information to be funneled to the people who care about it. When you think about how to use the web to drive business, or use social media, or anything else “2.0″ related, start with answering the question, “Who cares?” because that forces the question of relevance. It’s not about creating buzz, or getting hits, or driving traffic… it’s about nurturing relationships that allow your offering, be it information or an iPhone, to become relevant to a very specific set of consumers at exactly the right time. THAT is what translates digital interest into business or brand success.

Many thanks to Doug Stewart, a guy dedicated to helping small businesses dominate their space on the web, for asking me to talk with him for a few minutes about effectively using social media and PR together to market businesses. If you’ve never heard me speak, here’s your chance If you have and you’re game for more… bless you, firstly, and secondly, enjoy the interview!

Have a topic you want to see me cover here? I’ve been toying with the idea of breaking my no-video style… what would you most like to see/hear for the first vid post on this blog?

The most overused business phrase from 1995 through about 2005 was “increase shareholder value.” It appeared in more corporate mission statements, vision statements and annual reports than “be environmentally responsible” does today. The worst part wasn’t the monotony (litany?) of corporate speak during those years… it was that the strategy wasn’t really a strategy. It was a result.

The best companies didn’t focus on creating shareholder value. They focused on their customers, products, services… delivering what people wanted, in the way they wanted it, in exchange for fairly valued compensation. The right focus and smart execution drove success, which ultimately increased shareholder value. Regardless of its inclusion in any mission statement, I might add. Do you think employees can all rally around the idea of doing their very best so they can increase the value of stock owned by someone else? Or even their own stock, which generally is a tiny portion of their compensation or retirement? Doubtful. Employees rarely care about shareholders.

Today, companies are urged to be responsive, engaging, transparent and social. Employees tweet or manage facebook pages for themselves and for businesses. There are videos, photos, review sites… so many ways to share information. And the customers are out there… tweeting, facebooking, reviewing, too. The companies who are engaging, who are social, who are transparent (which is just to say, HONEST), build this army of fans or friends. When something negative is posted to the facebook wall, fans defend the brand. When a tweetstorm erupts over someone’s negative experience, the brand responds, the followers defend and retweet, and all is rosy and well in the social sphere. Until… a major crisis hits, and those fans want answers.

They have been trained through interaction to feel like part of the team. Fed a diet of transparency and access, they feel entitled to answers, honesty and truth in short (very short) order. And they are correct. Those fans you’ve been cultivating? They are your businesses’ social shareholders. They have an (emotional) stake in your company. They defend, but they also demand. Just like in the old days of increasing shareholder value, creating raving fans is still a result, not a strategy.

Serve the customers…. in the immortal words of Becky McCray at the recent Get Social conference in OKC, “Customer service is all you’ve got.” She didn’t mean just the basic idea of customer service (being nice, greeting them, sacking the groceries correctly, etc.); she meant truly serving them. Putting those customers first, in all ways. Then, right after you take care of those customers and create those loyal followers, friends and fans, go take care of your social shareholders. They deserve it, too.

My big takeaways from the conference?

The Context / Content stuff is going to come together for another post soon

What do you think? Do you believe in the idea of social shareholders?

Thanks to Blake Jackson… the inspiration for this post came from his opening discussion at Get Social.

In the long ago days – say 25 years ago – news was a daily affair and it was consumed in tightly controlled, pre-packaged formats. People read their newspapers and watched the local and national nightly news. The truly committed also read a newsweekly or two and maybe even *gasp* the WSJ or NYT. What wasn’t reported in the newspaper on Thursday or on the nightly news that night just wasn’t news until Friday.

Everyone received the same news influx for almost no cost. TV news was over the air and free to anyone with an antenna and a TV set. Local papers averaged $0.25 to $0.50 per day off the shelf and less than $8.00/month on a subscription. Those crazy people who subscribed to Time or the WSJ, well, they were paying some bucks, but they were definitely not the majority of the news-consuming public. People didn’t pay to be informed. And “being informed” simply meant you’d been exposed to the same news stories that the rest of the people around you had consumed through the limited means possible. A news baseline existed for most of the population. So essentially, most people weren’t willing to pay to just ante into the knowledge game.

Nothing has changed, even though everything is different.

Think about that… cable news, the internet, blogging, citizen journalism, Twitter, real time news feeds: the methodology of delivery is different and the resources (time, talent, money) dedicated to gathering news are much expanded; but my local news is still available over the air for free and my local newspaper still costs a negligible amount. I may pay for access to the ‘net, but my news sources on it, Twitter, blogs, Google Reader… are all free. And I could go to the library or other public access point and get informed.

What have people always paid for? To be entertained. And I don’t mean any stupid hybridization like “infotainment” or “edutainment”. In a developed society, people EXPECT to be informed. It’s perceived as a right of the people and the mission of news gathering… like a higher purpose akin to medical care. Why would anyone pay for something they feel is a right? They won’t. With a few rare exceptions, this is why news subscription sites don’t work. Unless the news is specialized enough to be valuable as knowledge currency (insider information status as opposed to generally being informed), it’s not perceived as being worth paying for.

What I wonder is why magazines, who are already in the specialized information curation business, just in an expensive to produce and maintain print format, don’t continue their primary mission (entertainment) and CHARGE for the curation of their own and other’s quality, niche-specific information online. And why newspapers, who are in the public information business, in the same expensive to produce and maintain print format, keep trying to charge me to be generally informed online. If information curation is the next big thing on the internet, the people who’ve been doing it well for decades (think showbiz mags, home decor mags, cooking, parenting, yachting, golf… whatever) should be leading the way.

What do you think? Can magazine companies become curators and charge for content? Would you pay for quality niche-related content? Has that ship sailed… ?

photo credit: Flikr user Bruna Ferrara

Green Rooms are usually not green...

Many times the elation of winning a TV interview spot is followed closely by the panic of having to do live TV. And I do mean panic. I’ve had clients who’ve hyperventilated, bailed at the last minute and frozen on camera. Luckily, they weren’t my clients when those things happened… and that’s because a bit of preparation goes a long, long way to solving the pre-TV panic attack.

Here’s a few basic rules and tips to keep your TV appearance a positive thing for you and your business or cause:

Do Your Homework

Watch an episode or two (or three!) of the show or segment you’ll be appearing on. Pay attention to what the set looks like, how the hosts interact with guests and each other, and any certain “shticks” common to the show. Memorize the hosts’ names.

Set Goals

Be clear in your mind what you want to accomplish during your appearance. Is it to be perceived as an expert? Is it to promote your location, services, products or event? My most recent appearance was to be part of a live giveaway of Father’s Day items from a shopping center (Smith Farm Marketplace in Owasso) who is a client of ours. The segment was going to be about 90 sec., and I wouldn’t be talking for  even half of that. I knew I wanted to mention several of the contributing merchants by name, mention the name of the shopping center & it’s location (Owasso) and remind people that they had two shopping days left and could find everything they needed for the Dad on their list at Smith Farm. Quite a bit to work in over a short amount of time, unscripted and in response to hosts’ questions. Knowing clearly what I wanted to communicate helped me not waste any words or time, and we got the job done.

Practice Up

While it generally isn’t best to script and memorize your words because you typically won’t sound natural and relaxed, you SHOULD say key phrases out loud and listen for troublesome words, sounds or blends so you can reword. If the topic is emotional or potentially volatile, practice answering questions on topic calmly and clearly. Have someone help you by asking you pointed questions and taping your answers so you can see your own reactions.

Dress Appropriately

Use the anchors as your guide… go for brighter colored solids, paired with darks, blacks or neutrals. Avoid fire engine red and stark white and avoid narrow stripes or diagonals. If you do a print or a pattern of any sort, it should be non-distracting to the eye. Anchors wear simple shapes and colors so the visual focus is on their face or on the video they’re showing. Keep jewelry, hair accessories or other add-ons simple, too.

Be A Good Guest

Arrive on time and check in with the producer as soon as you do so. Usually the receptionist or person greeting you will direct you to the “green room” or waiting area for guests and will let the producer or assistant know you’ve arrived. Ask if there is anything you need to know, what time you’re scheduled to appear, when to exit the green room and where to go when you do so. Make sure your teeth are good to go (no everything bagel lodged anywhere it shouldn’t be… !) and take a few deep breaths.

Relax

Report to the set when you’re instructed to do so, listen for camera instructions, cues or prompts and/or the “launch question” for your segment and any other last minute words of wisdom from the producers, hosts or crew. Then relax… it’s a conversation, you’re prepped and ready, you look great on camera, and you’re a model guest. You’ll knock it out and then you’ll get asked back… feel free to repeat the above steps as often as necessary on your way to expert TV personality

If you have tips or hard-won wisdom for doing TV well, please share them in the comments!

Takes courage to share your voice, but the reward is worth it.

I’ve talked to many groups, clients, friends, family members and even some random strangers (it’s my husband’s fault, he’s just like that) about blogging and content generation over the past year. Many of those hearing my words looked at me like I had recently grown a second head. For all those out there who are struggling with the question, “Why do I (or does my business) need a blog?” or “Why do I need to update the content on my website more often than once every year or two?” here are some things to ponder:

Search engines are hungry creatures. They are always seeking new content to digest. And like any animal, the people they like best are the ones who regularly provide food. Feed the beast, and it will be your friend. Continuing with the analogy, make sure it’s good stuff you feed the beast… no one likes to receive rubber chicken when they were promised chicken cordon bleu.

If it takes three impressions at a minimum for someone to internalize a message and seven touches before they’ll take action (conventional marketing wisdom), why do you only want people to stop by your website once every 18 months? If they know fresh content is a mainstay on your digital hub (whether that’s your Facebook Fan/Like page, your website & blog, your Twitter stream, or ideally all of the above) they’ll return more frequently to check out what you’ve got.

Most of my clients tell me they want to be known as the expert in their niche or market. A blog is a great way to build that rep. Talk about what you know… about what you wish people knew about your field, about products, services, ideas or challenges in your field. Help educate your marketplace. If the challenge is no one knows they are making bad decisions, then HELP THEM know better.

Recognize that you’re in it for the long haul, and it costs way less to work with someone to help you develop a blog editorial calender, maybe edit or polish your posts and help you generate content ideas than your average yearly yellow pages ad buy.

Lots of resources are out there on blogging well. Here are a couple to get you started:

Mack Collier’s The Viral Garden

Copyblogger‘s site

Liz Strauss’s blog

And, if you’re on Twitter, follow and participate in #blogchat every Sunday night, 8PM central to 9PM central, to share, learn and connect with bloggers of all stripes, topics and backgrounds.

Lately, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend…. people who think because they blog, because they’ve written family newsletters or company e-mails to subscription lists, they are “in PR.” Why is this disturbing? In the real world, good PR is hard work. It takes technical skill, marketing insight, network juice and a savvy business sense to perform consistently in the field. The problem is that so many PR customers out there think the performance achieved by the people serving them “in PR” is acceptable.

Where is the disconnect? I’ve seen scads of “learn as I go” approaches to PR utilizing social media channels, in particular. Against all odds, I hope it stops. Badly or mindlessly promoting a client to a scattered, disinterested audience via spraying social media sites with links gives the industry, the client and the so-called practitioner all a bad name. People new to public relations need to take the time to read, learn, study the ethics, guidelines and rules of PR before making very public mistakes.

Mistakes happen… we all make them… but the stakes are very high these days for people entering the public relations field. Publicly sharing your learning process isn’t good for your clients or your career. Public relations and Twitter, etc., are a beautiful marriage of story and channel distribution when used thoughtfully.

I’ve been working on this story for the past week. It’s a great story, really… and I tweeted and FB’d the link to the story to my followers, since many of them are either in the biz or are local and might therefore enjoy the story regardless. I’ve been way busier though, on the phone, sending personal e-mails, personal DMs, etc., to those media contacts I thought would be most likely to love the story. That’s PR in the real world. No short cuts, no quick-and-dirty-career-switch, no waking up one day and deciding to “be in PR.”

And I’m done now. Am I overreacting?

If you’ve been there, you know it stinks… and sometimes the worst of it isn’t the financial difficulty, it’s the confidence shattering, ego body blow that does you in.

While I own my business so I can’t technically “get fired,” it feels very much the same when a client decides to go another route and either cuts ties with Crossroads Communications or reduces our role in a project. I’m thankful that it hasn’t happened often, but it did happen this month.

And the worst part is that I know, on some levels, at least, it was the right thing both for the client and for us. It wasn’t the best fit, from the beginning, but it was a referred project and I take the trust someone places in me and in Crossroads Communications when they recommend us very personally.

Some lessons learned….

If the fit isn’t right, it isn’t right. Period. Better to disappoint a little by not taking the project than disappoint a lot through a difficult relationship or less-than-wonderful execution.

If there is criticism, maybe you earned it. Listen carefully, think, take the time to understand what went wrong and why. Fix what you can, apologize sincerely if you need to do so and take those lessons with you to the next relationship.

Unless your mistakes were really core business failures (you didn’t perform work you contracted to do, for instance, or you stole content) don’t dwell on the problem beyond the lesson-learning portion. You’ll just kill your confidence and your drive. No good comes from that for either you or the client.

If the relationship is salvageable, save it. Even if that means the best thing you can do is recommend someone else for the job. Just because this client’s project and needs aren’t a good fit for us right now doesn’t mean they don’t know other businesses who ARE a good fit for our brand of integrated marketing strategy and know-how.

That’s my story… if you’ve been fired from a job or a project and you want to share your experience or your lessons, the comments are yours

A few weeks back, I posted then original PR People, Tips & Resources post. Several of you submitted additional people, espectially, whom you thought should be included. I’ve vetted, added and here, for your enjoyment, is a new and improved list of PR goodness.

Again, please use the comments to let me know if you have a submission for the list. I will periodically update… though it’s approaching the size where a formal list of some sort might make more sense.

PR tips and PR People

Twitter hashtag #PRtips and one of the main contributors, @CyndyHoenig

@Kristen_Okla (Kristen Turley, Oklahoma practioner and PRSA leader)

@techpr (Marivic Valencia)

@dustinpyeatt (Dustin Pyeatt)

@rcrissinger (Rob Crissinger)

@wiredprworks (Barbara Rozgonyi)

PRSA on Twitter

PRSA web site

@SternalPR (John Sternal)

@HowellMarketing (Amy D. Howell)

@AnneDGallaher (Anne D. Gallagher)

@SueYoungMedia and her website (Sue Young)

@Barb_G (Barbara Gibson)

@PRMoxie (Mary Lower)

@MarisaCorser (Marisa Corser)

@worob and his blog (especially great for students, young PR pros and those transitioning in) (Andrew Worob)

@ShannonPaul and her website (Shannon Paul)

@ConversationAge (Valeria Maltoni) and her site

PR wonderfulness

PR Sarah Evans web site

The Fight Against Destructive Spin

PR Squared site (and also @TDefren on Twitter)

Ragan Communications (and also @MarkRaganCEO on Twitter)

Brian Solis web site

The 360 Days in a PR Life blog

PR Breakfast Club blog

Arik Hanson’s site, Communication Conversations

For how not to do PR

The Bad Pitch Blog (not always work suitable, but always targeted and often really funny)

Planning for Recovery?

Some economic indicators are finally showing movement in the positive direction. As I posted last week, I am seeing this in my business, as well. I don’t typically see it until clients (and potential clients) begin to see it in their businesses and respond by thinking about growth, expansion, driving new business, etc. I’m not an economist (and aren’t we all glad for that!) but I can definitively say the businesses I’m dealing with on a daily basis have new energy and purpose in their planning.

And that’s all good, right? Yes… unless you’re a business who spent the past two years curled up in a figurative fetal position, thinking only of short-term survival. If that’s the case, your recovery process is going to be much harder. Here are some issues I’m seeing:

1. Shrunken Customer Base > While most people engaged in less discretionary spending during the depression, they didn’t stop thinking about what they’d like to buy, have, or do during that time. But those businesses who stopped reminding their hiatus customers of their ability to fulfill those desires have lost significant top-of-mind ground as people begin to slowly open up their wallets again.

2. Reduced Ability to Serve > Layoffs and reductions have been part of the fabric of business for the past 18 months. Companies who’ve cut too deeply or dropped service or product lines may struggle as customers return. Training new quality people takes time, and training customers to love a different product or service does, too.

3. Bunker Mentality > Just as some of the shifts in consumer behavior are likely to be long-lasting, business owners are struggling with planning for growth again. Too long in the mind set of survival can limit big-picture thinking, visionary ideas and innovation. Some businesses are finding it hard to take risks again, and while understandable, this bunker mentality will stifle growth.

What to do?

Every business is different, but the key to starting a recovery plan is to, well… START. Don’t assume you can just go back to doing what you did before “all this” and prosperity will return. If you’re waiting for the right time to begin marketing to your customers, or planning for the next season’s offerings, or considering your hiring needs… you’re already behind.

Examine your business: How much of your previous customer base is still with you? At what level? What are they buying now and why? Do they have new needs/desires? Where is your profit? Where do you excel? Where can you grow? What challenges are you facing from a staffing, resource and marketing perspective?

The depth and breadth of the depression caught many businesses off guard, mine included. Don’t let the recovery surprise you, too.

flickr image credit juhansonin