Like most people who work in public relations, I consider myself to be a social person.  On any given day I have meetings with clients, lunches with reporters, events with business leaders, and can carry a conversation with ease.  But, for some reason, when I find myself alone in a room full of people who I don’t know at a proclaimed “networking event”  I feel a small sense of panic (gulp) before I approach a stranger.   As I make my way across the room to “network” I all of a sudden feel like I’m on my way to a first date.

To ease the pre-networking jitters, here are some tips from the top networkers at D+P.  Follow these steps and you’ll be working the room in no time.

Break the ice.
It’s easier to start a conversation with someone when there isn’t much competition, so arrive to a networking event on time, or even a few minutes early.  The room won’t be crowded yet and you’ll have the chance to get to know a few people before the masses arrive.  Approaching someone in a room of five people is less intimidating than a room full of 100 people already engaged in conversation.

Make them feel special.
Talking too much about yourself will turn people off.   Ask questions about the other person and their work, and try to find common ground so you can mutually discuss something.  Make eye contact and remember their name so you can address them directly and introduce them to others who join the conversation.

Be forward.
Like speed dating, there are usually enough people at a networking event to make it difficult to spend much time with each person.  Don’t be afraid to be forward and ask, “How can I help you?” and make sure that you can easily answer the same question.   What is your goal for the networking event?  Meet potential new clients, break into a certain industry, find a new job?   Be able to quickly articulate this goal in a way that doesn’t make you sound “salesy.”

The exchange.
You wouldn’t let the love of your life get away without asking for their phone number, so don’t leave without asking for your next client/employer/vendor’s business card.  A tip from a veteran networker is to ask for two cards – one for yourself and one to pass along to someone else who might benefit from this person’s products or services.  Also, make sure you bring enough cards with you to make your way around the room. 

If you say you’ll call, call!
The whole, “wait-a-few-days-so-you-don’t-seem-to-eager” move doesn’t usually pan out after you meet someone at a networking event.  Email, tweet, or connect on Linkedin within 24 hours of meeting them.  Mention something specific that you talked about (social media trends, your mutual alma mater, a person you both know) to cue their memory in case they met another “Joe” or “Kiera” at the event.  Then, invite them to a coffee or lunch meeting to continue the conversation.

Practice does make perfect.
The more you do it, the easier it becomes.  As you meet more and more people, try to stay in touch with key contacts you have made, you never know when they might be able to help you meet your goals. Keep your eyes open and keep networking.

What are your top networking tips to avoid the “first date” jitters?

Connect with Kiera
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Don’t you love the January magazines with all of their stories on organizing and goal setting?  They reflect what I’m thinking about at this time of year, anyway – planning.  The start of the New Year is one of two times in the calendar that my mind definitely wants to plan (the other is September – clearly a holdover from back-to-school days).  These natural times for setting goals are, not surprisingly, also popular times for us to hear from clients and prospects.  While I plan what books I want to read, what running goals I want to reach, and how I’m going to set aside time for more writing, photography, and hosting dinner parties for family and friends, they, too, are thinking about the things they want to accomplish in the coming year.

If you are the person at your company who is responsible for marketing or public relations, or your company’s CEO or COO, you, too, might be viewing the start of the year as a good time to assess your public relations efforts and set some objectives.

So, why not grab a cup of tea or coffee and treat yourself to a little planning session?  In honor of 2012, here are a dozen ideas that will strengthen your PR program and make you and your team better prepared for opportunities and issues in the New Year.  Choose a manageable few to focus on this year, or consider tackling one a month.

Then, pour yourself a second cup and consider creating a list of personal objectives and goals, too.  See #9 below for a little inspiration, or start flipping through those magazines!  Visit our Facebook page to share your ideas.

1. Conduct a message audit.  Much of our work with clients begins with a communications audit, reviewing sales and marketing materials to determine what main message points are being  communicated to target audiences and whether or not those messages are consistent and the right messages.
2. Write a key message document.  Write down what you want people to know about your company, your services or your product and create a roadmap for all future communications.
3. Incorporate the key messages in all of your communications outlets – press releases/boiler plates, fact sheets and backgrounders, social media, media interviews, signage, etc.
4. If you don’t yet have one, write a PR plan.  You’d be surprised how many companies don’t have one.  Your plan doesn’t need to be exhaustive, just specific about the things you want to achieve and how you will achieve them.  Start with a background or situation analysis section (this is where you include any research), then write your objectives and any measureable goals.  Develop strategies for reaching those objectives and goals, and identify a few specific tactics for getting there.  Include time to track and measure results.
5. If you don’t yet have one, write a crisis plan.  Every industry – and every client we work with –  has the potential for a crisis.  Make sure you are prepared by identifying the issues most likely to escalate to crisis.  Identify your Crisis Action Team and write your plan.
6. Conduct a mid-year review of your PR and crisis plans.  Are you on track for meeting your objectives and goals?  Does your plan need tweaking or revisions?
7. Listen in.  Be aware of what others are saying about you in the media, in online reviews, on social media outlets, during focus groups.  This will give you a sense of whether or not you are doing an effective job of communicating your key messages.
8. Set aside dedicated time to encourage brainstorming and idea sharing.  In addition to pop-up brainstorming sessions, we have two standing meetings each week at D+P – our Monday morning C3 which is a chance for us to come together to connect, collaborate, create; and our Friday lunch, time to chat about the past week, the upcoming weekend, and share ideas through our lunch and learn series.
9. “Exercise” your creativity by “book”-ing time to “travel” to your creative places.  Running, reading and traveling are all things that make me more creative.  Photography, watching movies and talking with people in industries different than mine are on that list, too.  Make time for the activities that inspire you and expand your universe of knowledge and you will be a better writer, idea generator and PR professional.
10. Spend more time with media.  Encourage team members to identify new outlets and share their research with the group.  Divide outlets among team members and have them report back.
11. Practice what you learned in media training.  Conduct some practice interviews.  Evaluate yourself (or your company’s key spokesperson) on whether or not you were able to communicate your key messages.
12. Share your talents.  Offering an internship, mentoring a student, or volunteering for a nonprofit or charity are rewarding ways to share and sharpen your skills, develop new media relationships, learn, and do good.

I hope these ideas are a good starting point for a successful 2012 for you, your company, and for your PR and marketing team.  Happy planning!

Connect with Sue
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A rash of recent corporate missteps (think Netflix and Bank of America) has got me thinking about the power of the customer again.  Too often, companies forget that customers are really the reason that they are in business.

It all started for me when I got that Netflix notice last summer telling me that prices were going up.  Boy do they regret that now.  Last week its stock hit a low for the year and they had to issue new shares.  For Netflix, they got so caught up in the rush of technology that they forgot what the customer really wants is the flexibility to choose the platform for his/her movie watching without having to pay more.  Some customers still wanted to get DVDs in the mail.  (Remember the mail.  It’s that paper stuff which comes every day and often contains an unexpected surprise.)  They liked holding the product in their hand and knowing that you could just flip it into the DVD player on Friday night when you were ready to relax.  What Netflix forgot was that streaming may be great and may save Netflix money, lower its costs and increase profits, but not all its customers were tech savvy enough to stream movies.  That’s where the real outrage began.  By not respecting their customer, they seriously took their eye off the ball.  The result was a meteoric drop in share price and the defection of over one million customers and counting.

Imagine that it took all of that to finally deliver the message to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings who abandoned the company split, but is still tone deaf enough to be keeping the higher prices with no tangible new customer benefit.

Bank of America made the same mistake with its recent launch then rollback of its $5 debit card fee.  It announced the fee in October and the protests immediately started.  One customer actually gathered more than 300,000 online signatures against the fee.  It also prompted the recent Bank Transfer Day where customers of big national banks were urged to switch to local, community banks.  As the Los Angeles Times put it, “The uproar against BofA illustrates the deep-seated anger and resentment many Americans feel over the sagging economy.”   Finally, on November 2, Bank of America scrapped the fee and said, “We have listened to our customers very closely.”  That’s the understatement of the year.

So how can these corporate missteps be avoided?  It’s not easy, especially when the company is flying high and you truly begin to believe that you are invincible.

Yet, that’s exactly the time to take a good hard look at your customer relationships.

When you forget who helped get you there, that’s when you are the most vulnerable.   Instead of trying to squeeze more out of the customer, think about how to reward them for their loyalty.  That’s the moment of truth when you can truly create a bullet-proof bond with your customers.

Connect with Jay
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Back then, way back in 2005, we called them flacks.  They called us hacks.  I’ll chalk it up to a friendly rivalry between the MNO (magazine, newspaper, online) kids and the PR crew.

Then, when I finished my masters degree in print journalism and landed a job at a PR firm back in Philly, my peers [jokingly?] said I crossed over to the dark side.

Six years later, I’m at the same PR firm and still holding true to the principles and ethics of good journalism.  Anomaly?  Maybe.  But funny as it seems, journalism school was my perfect preparation for a career in PR.  I pitch only story ideas that I’d write myself, and I write press releases in a story-like tone/voice/style, because I can relate.

Truth be told, good writing translates to any field.  Here are some of my favorite lessons from J-school.  Read ‘em and weep write! 

Write Short

“I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” – Mark Twain

The greats know that it can be time-consuming to write concisely, but it’s worth it.  Editing is a process.  Embrace it.  Enough said.

Adjectives Can Be a Crutch

Everyone should give this a go: draft a short, descriptive story sans adjectives, and without sounding like a kindergartener [a la ‘See Spot Run’].  Hint: the magic is in the verbs.  You’ll never lose adjectives all together, but you can perk up your writing with word choice and action verbs.

One Mistake Means Total Fail

More and more in this digital age, proofing and fact-checking seem to be falling by the wayside, which saddens me.  As a journalist in training, it was drilled into me.  I felt the urge to fact-check with every fiber of my being.  That’s because, in my first-ever grad school class, there was a very simple grading policy for all reporting.  One error = F.  No matter how well-crafted the story, or how compelling the interviews, a single error ruins the content and the credibility.  Moral of the story: proof, and proof well.

Feel the Rhythm

I grew up singing.  I love to dance.  And I’ve carved out a career in communications.  The common thread, for me, is cadence.  Your writing should flow.  Sometimes, staccato works.  Other times, it’s about stretching out your phrasing and softly layering in details to set a scene, trigger a memory or evoke emotion.  But always, always connect your thoughts on paper, so that you can best connect with your reader.

Drop me a line to let me know how these tips work out for you.  Or, should you be feeling more overwhelmed than inspired, feel free to send writing projects this way!

Connect with Kim
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No one likes to think about the “what if.”  Never gonna happen, right?  Probably not.  But we invest so much human and financial capital in building our organizations’ identities, shouldn’t there be some thinking around protecting them if something unexpected develops?  Could be a glitch with product delivery or a customer relationship gone awry.  Maybe your workforce is changing or your CEO retiring.  Are you merging, divesting, launching, retrenching?  There are a million scenarios, but whatever the change – positive or negative – the smart money is on those who get in front of the issue.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Who do you need to tell?

Customers or clients?  Employees?   Vendors?  Donors and volunteers?  Your board?  Public officials?  The press?  The best way to figure this list out is to ask yourself whether there’s a downside to any of your constituents learning about your situation from someone other than you.  If there is, you need to talk to them first.

Make it a 1-day story, not a 7-day series.

When you let other people tell your story, instead of telling it yourself, you’re left to react to the news.  And that’s not easy when information is leaking out bit by bit.  Or the information is wrong or misinterpreted.  When you’re reacting, you’re not likely to provide the big picture all at once, which means you end up trying to correct or reshape the information over a longer period of time.   Instead of reacting to the news again and again, present the facts yourself and be the first to do it.  Even in a situation that is negative or potentially damaging, it’s better to own up, up front, on your terms, instead of letting the information take on a life of its own.  Plus, you can better manage the issue by providing context and a framework proactively so that the story can be reported and received fully and accurately – all at once.

Be fast, first and factual.

Being first and fast with your information should always be coupled with being right.  Falsehoods, whether accidental or purposeful, never ever help you manage an issue.  So follow your mom’s advice, and just tell the truth.

Don’t wing it – ever.

If you don’t know the answer or don’t have the complete solution figured out, don’t wing it by speculating about what might happen.  It’s better to let people know what your path to the solution is, rather than guessing at what the outcome might be.  Then you can follow up with updates as needed.

Create an issues management plan.

Create a turn-key protocol so that all of the preliminary logistics can be established.  Who should be part of your Issues Management Team?  Do you know, specifically, how to get in touch with all of your important audiences quickly?  Are there people or other organizations of influence that you should know about and  have relationships with in case you need their support?  What is the current perception of your organization in the marketplace and how would that factor into an issues management process?

So how will you take on your next issue – one lump or two?  With some thoughtful, advance planning, you can be ready for the “what if’s.”   Prevent the lumps from happening and protect the reputation you’ve worked so hard to establish.

We have a lot of runners here at D+P – and I happen to be one of them. Having run four marathons in the last couple years I find myself having a lot of time to think when I am training. With what feels like an endless number of 20-mile runs, I pass the time on my three-hour runs listening to music, thinking about life, and often thinking up new ideas for clients.

I realized I do my best thinking when I am running. No distractions. No ringing phones. No email. No chatter of people talking down the hall. Just me, the pavement and my thoughts.

Where do you feel the most inspired? My guess would be it’s probably not when you are sitting at your desk staring down 200 emails.

I wanted to see if I was alone in thinking that most creative thinking happens when you aren’t planning to “be creative.” So, I took a poll of the D+P team to see where people feel their best ideas come to them. The responses? People said while they are cooking, driving in the car, in their dreams, while taking a shower or after a couple glasses of wine.

We happen to work in a creative field where clients depend on us to come up with unexpected ideas every day. But regardless of your industry, at some point most of us are charged with coming up with innovative ideas – whether that be a creative solution to an office problem or a new marketing campaign.

Being “creative on demand” is not always an easy task and who knows when the next great idea will come to you – but I’m willing to bet it won’t be when someone looks at you and says “go” or while you are Googling words that rhyme with “green” to see what play on words you can come up with.

That said I realize there are many times when we are all tasked with brainstorming ideas between the hours of 9-5. So if you are feeling a bit of a block here are some “Brainstorm Best Practices” I thought I’d share that we at D+P find helpful.

1. Don’t Get Caught Up in the Details: When we are coming up with ideas for a new marketing campaign we try not to get caught-up in every specific detail of the product or business. For purposes of a brainstorm we keep things vague so that our ideas are not restricted. We figure it’s better to think as big as possible and ideas can always be adjusted or scaled back.

2. No Bad Ideas in a Brainstorm: It’s important not to discourage other people’s ideas. Even if one person’s idea is not quite on the mark it might spark another idea from someone else.

3. “Yes, and…” A brainstorm is about thinking on our feet and to help us do this we pull skills from improv to help build off of other people’s ideas. If someone says something that is a good idea, other people are challenged to take that idea one step further and reply by saying “Yes, and…”

4. Don’t Think too Hard: Sometimes doing a rapid fire of ideas around the table is a good idea. When people are thinking too hard it can hinder the creative process. Just say what comes to you first. Don’t analyze your ideas too much. When we start brainstorming a topic sometimes we just quickly go around the room and say the first thing that comes to mind.

5. (NEED ONE MORE IDEA…Which means time to go for a run!)

Connect with Rebecca
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Stay tuned for our blog, launching in Summer 2011! Check back soon.