PR Start by Nick Lucido

Tap, tap. Is this thing still on?

Yeah, I know. I’m long overdue on regular posting. After a really great summer in Chicago and taking a few extra days for some much needed R&R, I’m back on schedule.

Since my last post on July 6, I’ve taken a mini-vacation from blogging here, but I’m still all over the place writing and thinking out loud:

• I contributed to the Edelman Digital blog with my thoughts on the new skills for a new generation.
• I wrote a post for the PRSSA Blog with ideas on collaborating with PRSA.
• I’m still digging Posterous and share what I’m up to there.
• I started on Tumblr again, sharing what’s interesting to me at any given second.

Thanks for sticking around. More to come soon.

I’ve always operated under the belief that you’re either born creative or you’re not. For a while, I tried to be creative, which in my naive freshmen year meant you could photoshop your friend’s head onto some kind of animal. Lately, I’m trying to explore new ways to learn creativity and expand my skills. These skills are especially important to have while working in public relations.

You also might have read the top public relations award at the Cannes Lions festival didn’t go to a public relations agency or department; it went to an ad agency. Even though there was an increase in public relations entries to this festival, PR won fewer awards than in the past. Is advertising more creative than public relations? That’s like comparing apples to oranges and that debate won’t go anywhere. That said, PR pros still need a strong creative sense in counseling.

Here are some ways to develop your creative skills:

1. Be a sponge of information. More than consuming mainstream media sources, find new feeds to subscribe to. The more information you can learn from diversified sources, the more knowledgeable you will become in a variety of areas. You can take it up a step by refreshing your reader every few months to update your sources and make sure you’re always learning from new perspectives.
2. Learn something new. To be creative, you don’t necessarily need to be an artist. When you learn a new skill, you’re adding depth to your base. You can take photography and design classes, but when you explore any passion and learn something new, you’re inherently becoming more creative.
3. Blog about how you’re learning something new. Describe your journey through words or pictures on your blog. If you’re not already a skilled blogger, this will help you add these skills to your tool belt. If you’re already an expert, consider this an opportunity to meet a new community and connect with more people.
4. Keep an idea notebook with you wherever you go and write down ideas and thoughts. Be sure to revisit these things and deconstruct how you can implement them.
5. Be curious by staying on top of new trends and apply them for yourself.
6. Design your resume in something besides Word. Try using InDesign, Illustrator or another program.
7. If you blog and don’t host it on your own site, consider porting it to your own site and hosting platform. Learning anything with this technology will be useful for your career.
8. Don’t get comfortable. When you get too set in a routine, you’ll prevent yourself from innovating. Always be on the lookout for newer ways to improve and learn.
9. Take time each day or week to spend time for the above. Adding to your creativity will take time and energy – be sure to allot time out of your busy schedule to do so.

Anything else to add to the list?

Photo by Bohman on Flickr.

These are my links for May 28th through July 4th:

• 5 Objectives for Social Media Measurement | Brass Tack Thinking – Though I’m kind of getting bored with posts on social media measurement, mostly because everyone agrees we need it but no one knows how to do it, Amber describes some pretty thoughtful ways to identify objectives. This advice is helpful and I recommend bookmarking it for later advice during measurement.
• Do You Trust Your Social Network? – Vineet Nayar – Harvard Business Review – There’s a good question in this post with a pretty solid answer. Even in this generation of sharing and connecting with people online, many people, especially Millennials, put boundaries on this sharing. How to engage those people who have strict boundaries will important for public relations professionals to understand.
• If You Only Do *One Thing in Social Media – The key take-away for new pros is that research is absolutely essential in social media. Be prepared to know how to find actionable insights in this space because that’s what companies need.
• Why it’s ridiculous to argue about ghost blogging | {grow} – Is ghost blogging unethical? is it a good practice? Mark says it doesn’t matter because it’s not a perfect world. I’m still on the fence on this one. I think real blogging by a real executive and his/her opinion will be more effective if that exec has the right personality for it. We’ll see more discussion on this one.
• Richard Edelman – 6 A.M.: The Third Way–Public Engagement – This was Richard Edelman’s recap of the 2010 New Media Academic Summit. Overall, this describes the principles of public engagement and how the public relations industry is evolving to fit this model. I was able to attend the second day of the summit, and I thought the summit provided a thoughtful summary.
• Are You Treating Your Fans Like Cattle | Email Marketing Advice | Social Media Consulting – Convince & Convert – It’s easy to forget about the importance of e-mail, considering all of the shiny new things out there. But the fact is e-mail is still important to consumers, and more importantly, not treating consumers like cattle will help keep e-mail relevant.
• 52+Cool+Facts+About+Social+Media – This is a good page to bookmark. Here are some recent stats and figured with a few social media platforms. Good info to keep around.
• The Blogosphere | Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) – Very interesting study. Of note to me at least, I the New York Times is one of the news sources where bloggers get the most information. It’s interesting that the WSJ is not on there. I wonder how the pay wall will impact this. Nonetheless, it’s a good study to read.

Since the announcement that Betsy Plank–PRSSA’s godmother, adviser, champion and friend–passed away Sunday, there have been some beautiful memories posted about the kind of person Betsy was. I remember meeting Betsy at the PRSSA 2008 National Conference in Detroit. At that point, I really had no idea what a big deal she was. Now, I wish I would have been able to express my gratitude for how much she’s done for PRSSA.

In exactly one week, my term begins as PRSSA National President, and this includes board service on the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations. To be around people Betsy inspired is more than an honor for me; it’s the start of career commitment to mentorship and service in the profession I believe in.

This also means my term will be the first National Committee without Betsy around. What I’ve come to discover in the past several days is while she won’t be around, her legacy will. She was an incredible and passionate leader with unparalleled industry awards, yet she remained humble through her dedication to inspiring future generations of leaders.

Looking forward in our profession, I see evidence of Betsy’s influence in so many current and future leaders. While I many not have been one of her direct beneficiaries, her mentees and colleagues have been instrumental in my young career. Brandi and Rebecca, who have been putting up with me for a long time, have helped me grow into the leader I am today. My Edelman career (which began one year ago on Wednesday!) started because of a scholarship in Daniel Edelman’s name; Betsy used to work with him. And the countless people who have answered my crazy e-mails, phone calls and lunch meetings can be credited with most of the good decisions I’ve ever made.

So, as we mourn the loss of an incredible, dynamic and passionate leader, we should also be thinking about how we all can best carry on the torch. To quote Betsy’s Distinguished Service Award acceptance speech, “Public relations education needs and deserves more such responsible angels.” For those of us who she inspired, both directly and indirectly, I hope we can carry on Betsy’s legacy.

These are my links for March 21st through April 27th:

• Good Mom / Bad Mom | Little angels and devils with Jenny Lawson and Mindy Sterba | MomHouston.com – Read, read again, and don’t ever do this. This is just an embarrassing example of awful blogger relations.
• HOW TO: Add Blogger Outreach to Your PR Plan – I think this post gives a pretty basic step-by-step guide on how to “pitch bloggers.” Obviously, there’s a lot more to it than just the steps in this post. The biggest thing to remember is the relationship value in getting to know bloggers. That’s key for PR people.
• Decreased Media Usage Hurts Ad Market – eMarketer – US consumers spent only 12 hours a day with media in 2009, versus 14 in 2008. The article points out that it was probably because of the recession and all of the bad news around this. Most important part of the article: mobile is growing and fast.
• The personal side of blogger outreach – This is a great perspective on blogger relations. Arik relates “blogger relations” and reaching out to bloggers in general in terms of customer service. He reminds us that they are potential customers, too. Great read.
• Tumblr: ‘We’re pretty opposed to advertising’ – More than just advertising, Tumblr seems to be looking for a sustainable way to make money from users, not just companies. Will this model be successful?
• Edelman Health Engagement Barometer – My employer put together research on health engagement. This is a must read to gain insights on the future of health communications.
• WordPress.com or WordPress.org – Are you a new blogger? This is a great description on the difference between wordpress.com or .org.
• An e-model for journalism in Seattle – A look at what the P-I looks like one year later. I’m hopeful this project will eventually become profitable, and if it does, I think we’ll see other papers do the same thing.
• Single most essential PR pitching tip – A simple piece of advice can change your perspective on a lot of things. This post from David Meerman Scott is really helpful in adjusting your media relations mindset.

I’ve been following the millennial discussion for a while. There’s been a lot of good perspectives, especially from Bill Sledzik and Todd Defren. After reading Todd’s post on loyalty, I figured I could offer my perspective since I’ve experienced this throughout college.

I started working at The State News about three weeks after I started college. Since then, I’ve moved up a lot, gained a ton of experience and have a lot to show for it. However, it hasn’t always been easy and I’ve had to make some pretty big decisions. After my second year of working in the advertising department, I applied to be the manager. I didn’t get the job. After my third year, I again applied for the manager position. And again I struck out. Zero for two. Ouch.

Most people (read: millennials) would quit. Honestly, I thought about it. I applied for (and was offered) other jobs. But after a lot of thought and consideration, it came down to loyalty. Call me crazy, but even though I didn’t get the management time (twice), I still stuck around. And it paid off in a lot of big ways.

Here’s why I think loyalty rules:

• No one likes a quitter. Let’s be honest, when someone quits your team, you probably won’t look at that person in the same way, especially if that person quit for the sake of quitting. If you quit, it should be for the right reasons. In my case, while I could say I was looking for new experiences, I would have quit for the sake of quitting. Dedication goes a long way and colleagues will recognize this.
• After building trust, you can build your own job. After each denial, I evaluated what my current responsibilities were and looked for ways to expand upon them. I found new projects to take on, and current, I manage a new and growing part of our business. By building my own job, I can walk into the same place I’ve been for nearly four years and can honestly say my job is different every day.
• The line between dedication and idling. Combining the two previous bullets, there is a fine line between staying loyal and not advancing your career. If you are stuck doing the same job and there is no chance for taking on new projects, it’s time to move on. However, make sure you’ve become an expert at your current job.
• You’ll learn negotiating skills. When I began taking on new roles and responsibilities, part of that was negotiating more money. Honestly, salary negotiation isn’t fun, but the process taught me a lot. I know I’ll be prepared for this in the future.
• Mentoring makes it all worth it. The best part of my job is the people I work with. A close second is helping my colleagues learn and grow, and when you’ve been working at one place for a while, people look up to you for advice.

What do you think about loyalty? Will you be sticking around in a job for more than a year?

Photo by toob on Flickr.

I like to think my first leadership experience was in preschool when I used to boss the other kids around building forts during recess. I’ve learned a lot since then. 15 years later, I have experience being a national leader in PRSSA while also being a follower in other organizations, and pretty much everything in between. Needless to say, leadership is a topic I love to talk about.

Inspired by Ron Culp’s post about leadership lessons he’s learned throughout his career, I wanted to share some leadership lessons I’ve learned about working with peers and superiors.

1. It’s easy to criticize, but it’s hard to be a leader. Within any large organization, there will be things to criticize. When I was running for the PRSSA National Committee, I thought I would be able to make all these magical changes with the snap of a finger. I learned quickly how much time and effort change takes, so I usually bite my tongue when I see other organizations make mistakes.
2. Speak up or shut up. Working with other leaders, I’ve found that you have be your own best advocate for your ideas. If you don’t voice your opinion, you won’t be heard. Learning the balance of speaking up and speaking when you shouldn’t, however, is important. If you can’t add value to the discussion, don’t speak up.
3. Learn to compromise. If you’re part of a team, learning how to work out a deal will be important in life. Even though you may be 100 percent set on your ideas, listening to others and incorporating their thoughts is just as important.
4. Know when you’re wrong and admit it. No one is perfect. Nope, not even your boss, president or manager. Not even you. Apologize when you make a mistake and make it up in an even bigger way. This will help you build relationships with your colleagues and team members.
5. Attitude wins every time. My favorite leaders are always optimistic, engaging and prompt in following up. They don’t let the bad stuff shake them up. They provide comedic relief, smart perspectives, new ideas and passion. Moreover, they have great attitudes. If you can emulate this attitude, people will follow you.
6. Balance personal and professional. Don’t be afraid to let your personality intertwine with your leadership style. People don’t follow robots–they follow real people.
7. Leadership is not about the resume. The best leaders I’ve worked with are the ones who are leaders because they are passionate, not because they are a title chaser. People can tell the difference and will usually follow the genuine leaders. I think it’s important to thrive on passion and instill it in others.

What other leadership lessons have you learned?

There has been a slew of articles and posts lately about unpaid internships, and it appears this topic is only snowballing. On Friday, there was a thoughtful article in the New York Times questioning whether the growth of unpaid internships in the past few years has been legal. It’s a discussion that has been occurring more frequently, especially within the public relations industry.

To fully disclose, I’m not a fan of unpaid internships and wish there were more paid opportunities for students, though I know some companies just can’t make an extra paycheck happen. I have not worked in an unpaid internship. Like the businesses I’ve worked for, I have tuition (which has been increasing since I arrived on campus) and rent to pay.

This section of the article is what I read several times over:

“Ms. Leppink said many employers failed to pay even though their internships did not comply with the six federal legal criteria that must be satisfied for internships to be unpaid. Among those criteria are that the internship should be similar to the training given in a vocational school or academic institution, that the intern does not displace regular paid workers and that the employer “derives no immediate advantage” from the intern’s activities — in other words, it’s largely a benevolent contribution to the intern.”

While I’ve read a couple of posts (Bill Sledzik and Heather Huhman come to mind as authors of this subject), this article reinforced my thoughts about how this directly impacts the public relations industry.

First, hundreds of agencies across the country utilize unpaid internships and many of these internships are essential to the business. However, if that unpaid intern is billed to clients for their hours work, is this illegal? The law appears to enforce this assertion. If this is true, this will have a huge impact on how many agencies run their business. Unfortunately, now isn’t a good time for this discussion to be happening. The recession hasn’t treated small shops well and I know many agencies have had to cut staff and benefits. By the way, many paid internships are among the victims of the recession.

Second, I wonder how this will impact public relations. How will the industry respond? Will this increase the number of paid internships? Reduce the number of unpaid internships? Will the quality of unpaid internships decrease? Right now, the answers to these questions are guesses at best. I think this topic will be discussed in the coming months.

My thought is that if this law is enforced, the quality of agency internships will decrease. If an unpaid intern can’t work on anything billable, interns will have to go back to fetching coffee and making copies. I find it hard to believe that every single unpaid internship out there now will immediately become a paid position. With more competition to find paid internships, this will then translate to a less prepared entry level.

So, should this law be enforced? It’s a tough question that’s part of an even larger discussion. The most important part of the discussion will be the task of trying to provide students with the right learning opportunities, yet making sure the right kind of compensation is returned. I know there are agencies out there who need the extra help and enjoy providing students the opportunity to learn, but should they be punished for their efforts?

What are your thoughts? Do you think this will have an impact on the public relations industry?

Photo by dborman2 on Flickr.

Note: I apologize for the lack of posts, but some great things have been keeping my active lifestyle as active as ever.

This evening, I attended a media relations panel held by MSU PRSSA. I figured I would be able to double-up and get some blogging done while learning more about media relations. This topic is particularly interesting to me since I’m helping teach a course on the subject. As a public relations professional, you can’t learn enough on how to work with the media and this aspect of the job won’t ever change, though the media landscape is dramatically changing.

Overall, there was a lot of great information discussed during the panel, which included Jam Sardar, news director at WLNS-TV; Michael Patrick Shiels, Michigan Public Radio; and Stephanie Cepak, Gongwer.

All panelists agreed the most important aspect of media relations is relationships. Getting to know someone on a personal level will give you greater access to reporters. That was the theme of the discussion, and as you can tell, many of the tips below revolve around the idea of building a mutually beneficial relationship with members of the media. The key there is mutually beneficial, so if someone does you a favor, return it in a bigger way.

Below are some tidbits from the event:

Pet peeves:

• Sardar: If you’re going to make a pitch, make the person listed on the release available to take questions.
• Sardar: Know how the organization you’re pitching to works. Example: TV stations have a meeting in the morning to go over press releases and often decide on stories for the day. If PR folks call before the meeting, chances are that release will be on top of mind during the meeting. However, don’t follow up later in the day when stories have been decided for the day.
• Cepak: Know the medium and know the publication itself. If you don’t know who you’re pitching to, you will come across as spammy.
• Sardar: One of the worst things you can do is say “no comment.” That leaves interpretation up to the journalist.

Tips and advice:

• Cepak: Be the proactive public relations person who offers sources and ideas, instead of the person who just hands over the media packet.
• Shiels: Future PR people are going to have to best their own best PR person. Send follow-up notes, give calls that aren’t necessarily business related, and overall, be a person before a public relations professional.
• Sardar: If you’re pitching to TV, think visually so the reporters have something to film.
• Cepak: Start press conferences on time. Media organizations don’t have time to sit around and wait for you to start. Be considerate with a journalist’s time.
• Shiels: You might be able to get your client on the air in ways you never thought of before. By following the news and analyzing trends, you’ll be able to do the media person’s job for them. Media folks don’t have time to do their jobs anymore, so by giving them the entire package, your chances of getting coverage will increase.
• Sardar: Look for opportunities. Many clients will have boring, crappy stories for you to pitch, but be creative and look for opportunities to find different angles. This is what journalists do for a living, so try to put yourself in their shoes.
• Cepak: Find a better way to say “no comment;” try to explain why you’re not able to go in depth. Anything is better than not answering the question.
• All: Getting a hold of a reporter will not be easy, but it’s important to make a solid first impression and start a trusting relationship right off the bat.

Overall, Jam Sardar summed it up nicely: Journalists are looking to write about something that affects peoples’ lives. If PR folks can fit in there, that’s when the two work best.

These are my links for February 24th through February 28th:

• The New News Landscape: Rise of the Internet – Pew Research Center – Though this is nothing new, Pew provides great data about the way we get our news. I particularly enjoyed the mobile and social media sections. Either way, the report is worth reading.
• Higher Education vs. Real-World Experience in PR – Considering grad school? You might want to read this perspective before giving up on the job search.
• A special report on managing information: Data, data everywhere | The Economist – If you work in social media analysis, read this. It’s a fascinating perspective on what’s going on in the data management field (public relations is part of this).
• A Beginner’s Guide to Raising Ethical Issues at Work – This is a great read for any new profession or intern out there. It’s easy on paper, but I’m sure these situations are more challenging in the real world. Nonetheless, this is a good resource to be familiar with.
• Comparing Social Media Monitoring Platforms on Sentiment Analysis about Social Media Week NYC 10 – This piece is a good look at the state of sentiment analysis for several social media monitoring platforms. I wonder what is actually being measured.. the post as a whole, individual words, conversation around different topics. The point is sentiment is a very difficult thing to measure, even for a human.
• ‘Millennials’ More Pro-Government Than Older Americans – Pew published some fantastic research on us “Millennials” and it’s great. I love Pew and what they do, but this data truly is great and I highly recommend skimming through the report.
• A Pitching Lesson – This is a great list on things not to do. Sure, we’ve heard a lot of these before from different voices, but the advice is golden and a good reminder for those new and seasoned in the profession.