Applying what you’ve learned and voicing opinion

Hi everyone. I am trying something a little different today, I’m trying a video podcast.  I wanted to share with you guys something that happened to me the other day that was a little bit scary. I am part of the PRLab at BU – it’s a student run PR agency where I am an account supervisor.  I have two accounts and then in addition, PRLab is sort of my account. I share this responsibility with the other PRLab supervisors in order to bring about awareness of PRLab and make it sound fun and exciting.

One of the tasks that has been brought to my attention recently is that we need to work on revamping our website.  One of the words that has been used to convey the goals of PRLab’s new look and feel is “sexy.” I’m not really sure exactly what that means but one thing that I thought was really scary to me was that, you know, in all my classes we’ve been talking about authenticity thinking about who your audience is and speaking directly to them.  And when I started to approach this assignment of working on the website, I was thinking: “What does my supervisor want?  What does she want to see?” and that’s pretty much contrary to everything that I’ve learned in class. It would be like throwing $60,000 in the trash can because I didn’t learn anything or if I did learn anything I wasn’t putting it into use.

And actually I had spoken to someone at Burson-Marsteller in the HR department at their New York office and she said something that was interesting to me, she said that someone who they consider a “Burson person” is someone who is not afraid to speak up and share their ideas.  She said if you’re at a board meeting, not a board meeting, any kind of meeting in school or for class that if they ask you a question, “Julia, what do you think?” they don’t want you to just say “oh no, sounds good.”  They don’t want you to just agree.  They want you to actually state your opinion because they’re paying you to be there and voice your opinion, and your thoughts, and expertise, so with this first web assignment I’m really going to do my best to convince my superiors that “this is the best way to go and here’s why”.  “This is what I believe, even though maybe this isn’t exactly what you were looking for, this is the way to go and here’s why.”  So we’ll see how it goes.  If you click on the link on the bottom of this page you can see PRLab’s website.  And let us know if there’s anything that you’d like to see on the website or if you have any tips for us, things that you don’t think work, we’d be happy to hear.  Thanks!

Today’s Sugar:  Knowledge isn’t useful unless you apply it!

Click here to visit PRLab’s Website

Establish Rapport and Trust in Five Minutes

It’s a snowy Saturday in Boston and I was up at 8 a.m., pulling on my wool socks and winter boots, and heading over to BU’s writing center.  This semester, I will be a writing fellow.  (I know, the title “fellow” makes me laugh, too.)  In today’s training, I learned helpful suggestions for running a 30-minute meeting, which can apply to any meeting with a new client.

Here are some insightful tips from Diana, one of my fellow fellows:

1.  People visiting the writing center are emotional.  They may feel scared, anxious, angry, frustrated, or demoralized.
2. Learn the student’s name before the session starts.  People feel important when you know their name.
3.  Take the first five minutes to establish rapport so that they trust and respect you.  Ask how the semester is going.  Find common ground and show yourself as a peer.  Indicate that you can empathize with their situation.
4.  Be aware of personal space.  Don’t sit too close and creep them out, but don’t sit so far away that the client feels distant and detached.
5.  Set the agenda.  Ask “Why are you here?”, “What do you want to focus on?”, and “When is the deadline?”.
6.  At the end of the appointment, offer them candy.  This ends the session on a high note.

Today’s Sugar:  Establishing rapport leads to trust.  This is a key to opening up a successful meeting whether you are tutoring a new student or meeting a new client.  Although your instinct might be to jump right in when you only have a few minutes of someone’s time, that time could be wasted if you haven’t first gained that person’s trust and attention.  As Diana mentioned, don’t ignore non-verbal cues.  Another key point during our training session was to ask good questions.  These and more tips can be found in the Ragan’s PR Daily article “99 ways to improve your business communication.”

In the Theater: Bringing King to China

Winter break wreaked havoc on my bank account, so my friends and I went to a free movie at MIT last night – I didn’t even know what I was going to see.  Bringing King to China, is a documentary about 27-year-old Cáitrín McKiernan, an American teacher in China, who decided to bring a play about Martin Luther King Jr. to China.  The film is about the process she goes through in dealing with fundamental cultural differences between Americans and the Chinese.

What does this have to do with public relations, you ask?  What came to my mind is the question of impact and measurement.  Cáitrín and her father, the filmmaker, were on-hand to answer questions and someone asked what kind of influence the play had on the people who saw it.  Cáitrín explained that it was hard to measure and gave two specific examples of people she talked to and what it seemed they got out of the play.

Yes Cáitrín wasn’t working on behalf of an organization to increase public opinion about that organization, but she was trying to influence China’s public to consider the concept of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience.  If this were a public relations campaign, perhaps a survey could be used before and after the play to see either whether a change actually occurred.  The film leaves us wondering whether all of her work was worth it or whether there are fundamental cultural differences between the Chinese and American people that leave them with mutually exclusive perspectives.

Today’s Sugar:  The public relations industry in China is fundamentally different than practice in the U.S.  A standard practice when dealing with the media is called haochufei and it is basically a fee that you pay for coverage.  This fee is intended to pay for transportation and other expenses that would be involved with proper reporting.  I tried to do some research on this topic but I feel like there is a lot of bias in what I’m finding.  If anyone knows more about this practice and can help to explain it, I’d love to know more!

No Fear in 2012

The last few hours of 2011 are upon us and it’s time to look back at a year’s worth of public relations learning.  A major theme I’ve found in several books this semester (including Tests of a Leader, and Everywhere) is the concept of risk taking.  I’m not talking about thrill seeking or flying to Vegas and putting all of your money on black.  I mean that preparing how you will handle failure allows you to take big risks that could reap big rewards.  After all, scenario planning is an important part of a strategic plan as it allows the people in charge to feel confident in their plan.  If you imagine your worst possible outcome and prepare for it, you will increase your confidence.

This concept applies to a variety of public relations applications including a crisis plan (preparing for your client’s worst nightmare), a branding campaign, a social media plan, or simply a gutsy but calculated move that you as a public relations professional make in order to demonstrate your value to upper management.

Today’s Sugar: Be fearless in 2012.  Make this the best year of your career.  Consider asking for a raise as long as you consider the worst possible answer and how you will handle it (Is “no” the worst they can say?).  Be a bit bold and gutsy (but not without first taking a look at how you will manage failure and figure out a way to come out on top).    Cheers!