I had the pleasure of meeting today’s TDMJ PR Pro a few weeks ago, and was so compelled by her story that I knew you would be, too. In addition to being a new wife and mother like myself, Mrs. Lara is a tenacious public relations professional who started out in the world of academia and leveraged a thirst for knowledge and willingness to work hard to create her own  opportunities. For Lara, this has translated into a pretty impressive career track only a few years out of college-not bad for someone who didn’t study communications in college! Already a senior account exec with several  agency positions under her belt and a consulting practice in the works, Mrs. Lara is one to watch.

Name: Jacqueline Lara
Age: 26
Current City: Silver Spring, MD
Job Title: Senior Account Executive, Lyons Public Relations
Owner, Mpact Communications
Length of Time in this Role: 18 months

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Mopwater: Describe your path to PR. How did you wind up in this field?

JL: My path to PR was nontraditional, but I wouldn’t change it for the world because each step has molded my experience. I received my B.A. in Sociology and a business certificate from the College Park Scholars program at the University of Maryland.  While I enjoyed my major and loved analyzing groups of people and their behaviors, as well as organizations and the key factors influencing their effectiveness, I often wondered what profession I’d pursue after college.  I felt pigeon-holed between working in HR and becoming a social worker.  Neither of these options appealed to me, so I took a few communications courses and was intrigued by the power of words and the way media pundits ‘spun’ messages to advance their platforms. Read the full story

Ah, the cheapskate client. How do I loathe thee? You may know him/her well. S/he masquerades as a serious prospect and raises everyone’s hopes. S/he requests a full-on proposal with no intentions of pulling the trigger. Or the worst: s/he orders the work and signs a contract, but never pays the invoice.

While seemingly harmless at first glance, the cheapskate client is quite dangerous. The CC wastes inordinate amounts of time and resources. Heaven forbid you have team members you have to pay (graphic designers, admin help, copywriters). Dealing with a cc, you could even end up in the red.

But during a recession, everyone wants to believe in the promises of the CC, because we’re all chasing that elusive (perhaps fictitious) pot of gold. We all want to believe in good intentions and the upfront promises that (my personal favorite) this will lead to “more work later down the road.” But since the CC can end up costing you in the end, it’s better to steer clear altogether. Here are a few ways to spot them. And once you spot the CC, please run. You were warned.

They Hint About Brokeness:  If you’re interviewing a potential client and they actually use the words “We don’t have a lot of money” or “We’re waiting for a grant to come in…” or worse yet, “We’re just starting out , so our budget for this is small….” please run. A lack of funds at the onset of a project probably means there will be a lack of funds when it’s time for you to get paid. And remember that blood is thicker than water: if an organization or company is financially struggling, they’re going to make sure they pay their own in-house staff before they take care of the consultants. That’s just how it is. Read the full story

Name: Lizzie Landon- Cole Sorensen
Age: 30
Current City: Saratoga Springs, NY
Job Title: CEO and Founder
Company Name: 32Flavors Public Relations
Length of Time in this Role: 6 years before that consulted for 2 under another company name
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Mopwater: Describe your path to PR. How did you wind up in this field?
LS:I grew up around a lot of creative people, between a mix of artists and innovators who made a good living, and then starving artists. I could always see both sides to the story but couldn’t deny my genetic ability to create, have ideas, and follow through with them. My grandfather replaced Kurt Vonnegut when he left GE, and he (R. Ned Landon) was the chief speech writer for the CEO of GE, as well as the PR liaison between GE and Disney. It always seemed like a shirt and tie job to all of us 10 grandchildren growing up, but little did we know that we would all inherit a bit of his creativity. On my father’s side, my grandmother is an incredible painter, sculptor and photographer, and that didn’t start to hit me in my own creativity until just recently.

I couldn’t wait to get out of high school where I was president of my business club (nerdy yes, but hey, those soccer jocks aren’t being interviewed right now are they?). I found a college that had a PR/Ad department and would take me as a senior in high school and let me do both senior and freshman year simultaneously. I loved to write, and was always coming up with ads and commercials in my head so I thought it would be interesting. My father, who has had his share of starving artist and layoff moments in the field of advertising, photography, and graphic design wrote me a 17 page letter about how I shouldn’t move from upstate NY to Providence, R.I., 1. Because I was 16, and 2. Because the marketing industry can be tough. Along side the artists in our family we have our share of lawyers, and professors, and as much as I tried for a more stable profession, it just wasn’t in me. Read the full story

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?

It doesn’t feel very good to have your client call you up and break the news that they’re cutting back.   But since we are well into what appears to be an ever deepening recession, it’s something you’ll probably experience this year if you haven’t already.

It happened to me a few months ago. One of my clients relies heavily on government funding; about $31 million or so worth of it.  By and large, their programming dollars come mostly from one government agency.  Our city government, like many others around the country, is facing the prospect of furloughs, so millions are getting trimmed from the operating budget.  Naturally, my client’s twice-removed $31 million program ended up on the chopping block.

I knew something was up when I could never reach my  contact directly. When I finally did get her on the phone, she informed me that my invoices were being held up by the funding agency for further review. The funders wanted more details about what I was doing (that hard to define PR work), etc. At the same time, the agency’s financial woes had been leaked to the papers and were all over Internet. I’m no dummy.  I knew where this was going.

My contract, which was actually up for renewal, was put on hold.  One of my specialties is multi-month, multi-year, multi-tier communications and marketing programming, so I couldn’t stop working cold turkey without letting a lot of time and effort go to waste.  Pulling the plug meant that quite a few irons I had in the fire would not only cool, but go cold all together.  A few projects that had stretched out over several months were finally nearing completion. But I was no longer receiving payment, so what was I to do?
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Why Twitter? (Part II)

As you may recall in Why Twitter (Part I), I promised to follow up with more ways that you can use Twitter for business.  If you’re a business owner/entrepreneur, artist, celebrity-in-the-making, you need to get on Twitter. Here’s why: Your customers are on Twitter.  Your would-be customers are on twitter. And more than likely, the competition is on Twitter.

Let’s say you sell…uh I don’t know, post-it notes (first thing I saw on my desk, sorry).  So anyway, you’re selling these post-it notes and you set up your Twitter page online.  You’re following a few people and you’ve got your mom, cousin and best friend following you back. But that’s it. You’re thinking “How in the world is this silly page gonna help me sell more post-it notes?” Let me tell you. Read the full story