Let’s face it: awards and speaking opportunities can easily raise your profile and get you as a PR professional added visibilty. Visibility can set the services of your firm apart to potential clients, or accelerate your career.

For those of you looking to take your career to another level this year or next, maybe it’s time to apply for an award from PRSA. If you’ve got a stellar campaign or project you worked on in the past year, check out the Bronze Anvil Award. If you don’t have an Anvil-worthy project, not to worry. PRSA has a great opportunity for practitioners with deep subject matter expertise to present at the upcoming international conference in Washington, DC this October. If you’re a social media guru or knower of all things crisis comm, why not put together a proposal to present? The deadline has been extended.

Public Relations Society of America October International Conference Presentations-February 23

Due to severe weather conditions in many parts of the United States, PRSA has extended the Call for Presentations deadline to February 23.

Showcase your strategies, theories, ideas, research and results at the most dynamic gathering of public relations professionals in the world! This is your opportunity to share your expertise and network with thousands of Conference attendees while enhancing your leadership profile in the public relations community. Join us in Washington, D.C., October 16-19, 2010, and experience the excitement, the power, the people and the places of a true capital city. Combine that with the best professional development, influential speakers and networking opportunities, and you’ll be “Powering PRogress.”

PRSA is seeking expert speakers. Are you a public relations or marketing communications professional, educator or expert in a related field — CMO, CEO, CFO, economist, social scientist, futurist, management consultant, journalist, blogger, technologist or editor? Are you a specialist in social media, public affairs, sustainability, design, or research and measurement?

Public Relations Society of America Bronze Anvil Awards-March 12

From the PRSA Web Site:

Recognizing Tactical Excellence

PRSA’s Bronze Anvil Awards annually recognize outstanding public relations tactics — the individual items or components that contribute to the success of an overall program or campaign. These tactics — whether a media relations program, Web site, annual report, podcast, blog or use of social media or word-of-mouth — are the hardworking parts of any public relations program.

Now in their 40th year, the Bronze Anvil Awards celebrate the “best of the best” in public relations tactics, reflecting their growing scope, creativity and importance in strategic public relations. Learn how you can gain industry recognition by entering and winning a PRSA Bronze Anvil Award.

You know the feeling. You’re working on a new project and you’re in the zone. Your brain is rapid firing idea after idea; you’re drowning in a deluge of creativity. You’re thinking to yourself, “Wow...this client is doing some amazing work in the community,” or “This campaign is briliant; it’s so cutting-edge, the PR element needs to be over the top…” Especially when you have a new client whom you are trying desperately to impress, it seems that the ideas just keep coming and coming; you’re ready to produce the YouTube video and tie the Twitter campaign to a creative giveaway. PR superhero to the rescue!

Not so fast. Hang your cape back up on its hook.

If you find yourself working on a project and the scope seems to grow in medias res, take the time to solidify the details of your compensation before you continue doing your work. It can be nearly impossible to do for those of us who tend to get inspired and want to just do the good work. But a big part of our jobs as communications professionals, frankly, is communicating these evolving scopes with our clients.  Educating the client on how long things take, what steps are involved and how much things cost is all a part of that communications challenge.

Should you find yourself ready to rush to save the day, keep these things in mind first:

Don’t Squeeze: The same way you wouldn’t try to squeeze size 8 thighs into size 2 jeans, don’t try to fit a 2-Year campaign Into a 6-Month Contract. When you do, you’re setting yourself up for failure. If your client has limited time and goals that would normally exceed the time frame, let them know that in the future they should plan ahead so that everyone has the time to do a great job. And then let them know what in your professional opinion can be successfully achieved in the time they have left. Continue Reading

No matter how great your message, product or service is, if you don’t package it with great visual branding, you’re missing an incredible opportunity to wow the heck out of your potential customers, and leave your competitors in the dust. It never ceases to amaze me how many PR and marketing pros seem to miss this simple truth, and miss the opportunity to partner up with designers or design firms to 1.) add polish to printed and web materials and 2.) share clients. Designers don’t want to bother with copywriting, media pitching, or messaging the same way you don’t want to fiddle with vectors, color balance, or Photoshop.

Collaborating with designers presents an unparalleled win-win situation because designers come across clients who need PR and Marketing services, and PR/Marketing Pros regularly have projects that could use some good design. The two parties can form one of the most practical symbiotic relationships on the planet.

I have several designers that I regularly partner with, as well as a design firm that I will collaborate with in the future on larger projects. But how does one go about finding and working with a design firm? What elements must one have professionally designed? And what are the rules of engagement? To answer these pressing questions, I caught up with a local (DC-MD-VA) designer to get his insights. Meet Greg, of Carousel30 Interactive Media.

Name Greg Kihlström
Age 33
Company Carousel30 Interactive Media in Alexandria, VA
Title Chief Creative Officer
Years in the Field 11
Web
Blog
Twitter carousel30

Mopwater: How long have you been working in the design field, and what made you get into design?
GK: I have been designing Interactive Media for over ten years now and got into it after spending some time in Photography, which also teaches you many of the important elements of design and about the economy of space, shape and message.

Mopwater: What kinds of clients do you work with?
GK: A pretty wide range from high-profile for-profit (AOL, MTV Networks, Starbucks) non-profit (The Nature Conservancy, AARP, DividedWeFail) and government (NASA) clients to medium-sized companies and organizations.

Mopwater: How often do you collaborate with PR and Marketing firms?
GK: My company, Carousel30, has done some of our best work when collaborating with PR/Marketing firms and other agencies.  About half of our work comes from these types of collaborations. Continue Reading

These days, everyone is trying to get more for less. And when you’re a public relations practitioner, that especially includes your clients.  We’re in a recession, so smart business owners are out to get more than their money’s worth. Clients want to see the impact of each dollar spent.

But what can you do to add value to an existing public relations contract without investing too many precious hours that you don’t plan to bill? Here are a few ways to easily add components to your contract and enhance the public relations work you’re already doing. Tip: Assign these tasks to a PR intern who is eager to learn.

Set Up a Facebook Fan Page

The new Facebook Fan Pages are much better than the old Facebook groups because they allow you create a profile for a business much like you would create a profile for yourself.  Fan pages allow businesses to list standard business info like hours of operation, web address and phone numbers, as well as update the status bar to answer the “What are you doing?” question much like you would do on Twitter.  I like the fan page because it allows business to combine the lightweight functionality of Twitter with a photo gallery, video, and more. The client can update their fan page to quickly reflect changes in hours, menu, prices, sales, promotions, etc. The client can also upload photos to show potential customers the interior of the establishment, etc.

Offer to Set Up a Blog 

I happen to love setting up blogs for clients because I’m a writer and content is my middle name.  If you’re a writer, researcher, or creative type (which you are if you’re in PR) suggest helping your client set up a blog focusing on their industry. But be sure to make the blog industry and solutions-focused, not company service-specific. Readers don’t want to feel like they’re getting sold; they want to feel like you’re helping them solve a problem.

Your client may want to build out a blog section as a part of their custom site. If not, there are tons of free blog publishing platforms out there, so the investment will be nominal. My personal preference is Wordpress, but there are a few other blog services that offer powerful publishing capabilities for little or no cost.

Setting up a blog can be time consuming though, because you want to get the colors, design, fonts, headings, and taglines just right. If you need some help on this, subcontract some of the content development  out to a professional writer.  Be sure to suggest topics for your client to blog about, or be prepared to provide the first few posts to get the ball rolling.

Set Up a YouTube Channel

Another easy, free way to get your client maximum exposure is a YouTube channel.  Take the blog beyond mere words by embedding video. Bonus: Once you upload your video on  YouTube, you can tag it with keywords to make it instantly searchable.  This, of course will aid in SEO-one of those ROI factors clients love. Videos are also a great way to incorporate “how to” messages, product demonstrations, on-site facility tours, employee interviews and more. There really is no limit to where you could go with video. And again, since YouTube is a free service, the investment is only your time.

What have you done to add value for your clients?

If you missed the first Social Media Seminar of the DC Chapter of the Black Public Relations Society, you didn’t get a copy of my whitepaper “Selling Social Media”. But fear not: I’ve compiled the main points here for you.

If you’re like me, you are in charge of convincing business owners why social media is important to their bottom line; and you’re probably also trying to get them actively  engaged in it.  It’s a process to truly win over those who are extremely private or just simply averse to telling the world what they’re doing.  Here are a few tips to get those you’re working with on board.

Sell It. Before you can expect your client or boss to buy into the virtues of social media, you must first answer the obvious questions: “What’s in it for the company? Why should we invest our resources here?” As your client or company’s social media ambassador,you have to do your homework. Offer up clear examples of where social media worked for a similar company. Show where a direct competitor saw results and you’ll get and keep a client’s attention.

Educate the Gatekeepers. Consider hosting a half-day social media camp for your client or Marketing Director to go over the basics. Make your presentation fun, interactive and easy to follow. Remember: those who don’t use social media are often intimidated by it or at the very least, don’t understand how far-reaching it is. Hold your boss or client’s hand and let them know you understand their apprehension. Repeat your belief that social media is a worthwhile investment.

Offer a Roadmap. What good does it do you to create an incredible plan that can’t with real ways your client or boss can begin using social media immediately. Set up accounts on social media sites for them and hand them a username and password.

Set Metrics. Be sure that you set goals that your client can really measure. Give them participation goals (i.e., two blog posts per week, or 1 Twitter update a day) as well as goals for the newly implemented social media program (i.e., 200 new Twitter followers by [date], or an improved online brand image by [date]). If you set goals, you can chart your progress easily. Knowing your progress allows you to change course if your strategy isn’t working.

Build It In. Developing your marketing and PR calendar for next year? Build social media into the plan so those in charge can
see exactly where it fits, and exactly how it complements the work you’re already doing.

Communicate the Commitment. While implementing a social media program may seem to have no real associated costs, developing quality social media programming can be extremely time-consuming. Communicate this fact to your client or director to be sure that you are well-compensated for your time.

There is absolutely nothing that upsets me more than to see savvy entrepreneurs,  PR pros and marketers send messages from their handheld devices and use the default e-mail signature. You know the ones. “Sent from my iPhone.” or ”Sent from my AT&T blackberry wireless.” I always think, why on earth would you give all of that free advertising to Apple,  AT&T or Blackberry? Are you getting your residuals? 

Unless you just want people to know that you have an iPhone, or Blackberry (which most people have these days anyway) why not use your e-mail signature to promote yourself or your business? If you think about it, you probably send dozens of e-mails a day if not more. So dozens of people could potentially see the name of your business and the link to your Web site in your e-mail signature. But if you’re sending messages via your handheld device and only have that factory signature, you’re missing a tremendous opportunity to market yourself, your business, your Web site and any other projects you want people to know about.  [To change your e-mail signature on your handheld, simply go into your e-mail settings and alter the existing text of the current signature] Continue Reading