In the Library: Everywhere

I’m thrilled to finally be on vacation and am enjoying blue skies and 70 degree temperatures in San Diego.  And because I’m ever so slightly a nerd, I am getting a head start on next semester.  I was able to nab the syllabus for my new media class and have started reading Everywhere: Comprehensive Digital Business Strategy of the Social Media Era.  I also started making an infographic about the book, which details some of the key points.  The book cites the social media strategies of several companies that are doing it right – including Threadless, Dell, GE, and Gatorade to name a few.  By “doing it right,” I mean that these are companies that are not only listening to their customers but creating a company culture through the use of social media where each member feels connected to the company and dedicated to customer satisfaction regardless of whether this is part of their job description.

Today’s Sugar:  This book is reminding me of something that I have learned through my work experience.  Just as Larry Weber states in Everywhere, it is important for you as an employee to feel comfortable interacting with customers and giving them the very best customer service, even if that’s not your job.  It’s much easier to go to work in the morning when you truly and genuinely care about your clients and customers.  There are lots of factors that go into a job search, but one important one that should not be discounted is making sure that your new company culture is a good fit.

Happy Holidays

As you know, I love infographics.  I had to share this one just for fun.  (The pie charts are brilliant.)

Happy holidays from PR Sugar!

In the Library: 101 Things I Learned in Business School

I am dangerously impulsive in bookstores.  Yesterday I picked up 101 Things I Learned in Business School by Michael W. Preis and illustrated by Matthew Frederick and barely held myself back from buying Easy French Reader (J’espère qu’un jour je peux parler français comme le Parisian). Preis’ 101 Things… shows illustrations and diagrams on the left side, and short bursts of business wisdom on the right.  My goal for this blog is to serve this same purpose by offering short bursts of public relations wisdom, or as I like to call it, PR sugar.

Tip #2 in 101 Things… is that “Business is not a single field of endeavor.”  Accounting, finance, marketing, production and operations, organizational behavior, and economics all play into the field of business.  Similarly, public relations is a discipline that involves many endeavors including marketing, advertising, budgeting, design, organizational behavior, human resources, sociology, psychology, rhetoric and more.

Today’s Sugar (via 100 Things…): #94 “The real purpose of a visual presentation is to get people to listen, not look.”  This is a great piece of advice and directly related to an auxiliary area of public relations, design.  Earlier, I mentioned my obsession with infographics which I love because they do exactly what they are meant to.  They make information look fun and exciting so that people pay attention and ultimately learn something.  I never appreciated medieval art until I understood that it was rooted in iconography and informed, educated, and communicated in a time when few were literate.

Walmart vs. Wal-Mart

Infographics are so hot right now and ones that are done really well make me jealous of the people who created them.  Check out this sweet example about Wal-Mart.

Today’s Sugar:  Did you know that, according to AP Style, the company is called Wal-Mart, but when you go to the store, you are going to Walmart.  The full name of the company is Wal-Mart Stores Inc.  Thanks to GHNewsroom for the clarification.

Comma Chameleon

Today’s post is about commas.
,     ,     ,     ,     ,     ,     ,     ,     ,     ,     ,

Yesterday, I realized that I am bad with commas.  I know that you need a comma when you join two independent clauses and that a parenthetical reference needs to be set off by commas, but for some reason I don’t always follow the rules when I type.

Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style discusses this prevalent punctuation mark in rules two through six.  My goal for this week is to notice instances of rule number three, “enclose parenthetic expressions between commas.”  A subset of this rule is the distinction between a restrictive clause and a nonrestrictive clause.  A restrictive clause is one that changes the meaning of the preceding subject.  Take these examples:

My cousin Emmett is a glass blower.  (restrictive)
My youngest cousin, Emmett, is a glass blower. (nonrestrictive)

In the first example, you don’t know which of my cousins is a glass blower without “Emmett.”  In the second example, because the sentence is about my youngest cousin, “Emmett” is simply extra information.  We already know which cousin we are talking about, and so Emmett is nonrestrictive in this example.  Set off nonrestrictive clauses with commas.

Today’s Sugar:  Grab a book and see if you can point out restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses as you read.  It’s easy to understand the difference between the two clauses but it’s not so easy to spot examples.