Frank Strong

Director of Public Relations for Vocus and PRWeb

Washington, DC

@vocus and @frank_strong

On LinkedIn

Blogging at Sword and the Script

Mopwater: Describe your path to PR: How did you wind up in this field? FS: Uncle Sam brought me to DC for a full time gig with the Army — working at the National Guard Bureau (NGB) – soon after college.  I decided I liked the area, knew NGB wouldn’t be a permanent assignment and so started considering my options.  Given my undergraduate degree in communications, an affinity for technology and the thriving tech PR community in circa 1999, PR seems like a great option; I started planning my career accordingly.

My first gig in PR was working for a boutique tech agency called ProMarc.  Ironically, ProMarc was Vocus’ agency of record then and as such, I was also a beta customer.   I remember working closely with Kye Strance, who was an account executive back then, and remains as the director of Product Management for Vocus.

About a year after joining that team ProMarc was acquired by Hill & Knowlton. That was a valuable experience on many different levels, for example, exposed me to the culture differences between a large and small PR shops, and also allowed me to experience the process of M&A from the inside. One memory from H&K is indelible:  I’ll never forget standing on the balcony of the firm’s old office at the Watergate building and staring in disbelief at the smoke streaming from across the Potomac River from the Pentagon on 9/11.

Mopwater: Describe a pivotal moment in your career. Did you have a mentor or internship that really solidified your interest in this field or helped you hone in on a specific focus area? FS: In 2002, the recession had by then long since taken the air out of the technology bubble.  I’d left H&K to join a start-up – a risky venture – and about six months into it the owner decided to shut it down.  Times were not good and it took me well over a year to land another full-time position.  In the interim, I scraped out a living as a freelancer and managed to score a couple clients of my own, but mostly, worked as a subcontractor to other small shops around town – those with more business than they could handle, but not enough to merit hiring a new employee.  While I enjoyed the work and the freedom, financially speaking, it was trying.   For a time I pondered opening up my own shop, though I ultimately decided I needed a little more time-in-grade before I could make that work.  However, the freelance experience gave me much to think about.

Mopwater: Describe a typical workday including your work hours. What do you do all day? Describe your office setting and workplace. FS: No two days have ever been the same:  there’s always something new.  On a good day, I get to the office about 7 a.m. to get a workout.  Vocus has two gyms for employees on-site which is an especially nice perk, and helps me to avoid the nightmare of cross-town DC traffic.  Once I’m desk-side, the first thing I do is check the reports – the news forwards – Vocus sent me the previous evening.  I have searches set up in Vocus on the company, on PRWeb and the industry, which gives me a sense for the relevant news of the day in both traditional and social media.

Throughout the day, I can be found on social media networks, especially Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn – or working on media relations, whitepapers, contributed articles and case studies.  One area I spend significant amount of time on is interviewing customers:  this is the best of both worlds because by extension of my job, I’m also afforded the opportunity to learn from my peers and hear their thoughts on the latest industry trends.

Finally, the marketing shop at Vocus is tightly integrated, so I spend a lot of time with Vocus personnel focused on other marketing functions including campaigns, direct marketing, search marketing, events and product management.

Mopwater: What are your favorite and least favorite PR/marketing/SM tasks and why? FS: As a PR person, for a company that sells PR software…to the PR industry, I literally live, breathe and sleep PR; I love every minute of it.  My father used to say to me when I was growing up: do something you love.  I’d like to think that I’m living those words.  Of course, it’s always easier when you represent a product and a company in which you truly believe.

Mopwater: Who are some of your company’s clients, and what kind of projects do you take on for these clients? FS: Vocus has more than 4,400 customers ranging from corporations including Southwest Airlines to non-profits like the Humane Society and each has a unique story to tell.  It’s fascinating for me to observe the news and know a little bit about what’s going on behind the scenes.

PRWeb has upwards of 30,000 customers, and while there are global companies that use PRWeb for online news releases, most are small businesses.  What I most enjoy about this aspect is talking small businesses owners and writing case studies.  Their stories are both very compelling and inspiring.  In addition, it’s often it’s an opportunity to provide a little coaching on the side too – and a little chance for me to give something back to our customers.

Mopwater: Describe a recent project where you produced results of which you’re really proud. FS: One recent project that stands out was the survey of PR professionals that Vocus conducted last fall.  It was a chance to learn from my peers, collaborate with thought leaders like Deirdre Breakenridge, and also give something back to the PR community.  Let’s face it, we’re all looking for good ideas and Vocus provides me the opportunity to gather information from my peer group, analyze it and share the findings with the PR community – all while adding value to my company.

Another aspect that is exceptional is the opportunity to use the Vocus platform, including all the add-ons, like news monitoring and analytics.  It’s a chance to have some fun while also providing illustrative anecdotes of the software in practice.  This case study — What Santa Claus Can Teach PR About Media Monitoring – is a good example.

Mopwater:What is your favorite thing about this job and do you think you’ll be in this position in 5 years? FS: Vocus really is a great place to work, I’m challenged every day, have a great boss who pushes me to grow, and despite the cliché, to really ‘think outside of the box.’   I see great potential in the company and feel quite fortunate to be employed at Vocus.

Mopwater: What aspect of the industry are you most excited about? FS: There has never been a better time to be in PR.  While I firmly believe mainstream media still matters, there’s a new opportunity for PR professional to help their causes find, cultivate and grow their own audiences.  I’ve always viewed PR as being a tool for facilitating the sales cycle, but the speed and ease of publishing content on new media, provides an opportunity for PR to contribute directly to the bottom line.  PR professionals are being challenged to adopt and perfect new skills – SEO, multimedia and interactive marketing among others.   I believe PR should champion social media efforts, should be the glue for integrated marketing, and lead organizational efforts in creating high-quality content that contributes to the conversation and advances an organization’s goals.

Mopwater: If you could work on any dream project of your choosing, what would it be? FS: Politics and government have always fascinated me – I wrote a thesis on Jesse Ventura’s use of the Web in his bid for governor of Minnesota.  That campaign is clearly old news now, but it was very new then, and the first solid example of how the Web is transforming how organizations interact and communicate.  I could easily see myself getting wrapped up in a political campaign one day, or perhaps find myself as a press secretary.

Mopwater: What if anything would you have done differently in your career up to this point and what advice would you give someone who is trying to break into this field? FS: The best piece of advice I received when trying to break into the PR industry was from a professor:  he told me to find a topic I was passionate about and write letters to the editor.  It proved sage advice and I landed letters in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.  Those samples demonstrated that I was current on trends, had an eye for news, and the writing talent to be published.

Today, I’d offer similar advice, though I think it’s been adjusted a bit – today you have to be a blogger and be active on social media.  Blogging showcases your writing and you’ll learn important skills about the Web distribution like RSS, SEO and content marketing.  Social media isn’t a fad, it’s not going away and so obtaining experience in the social norms, culture and principles of effective social media evangelism is imperative.

Name: Jasmine Vega
Age: 41
Current City: Venice
Job Title: Music Publicist
Company Name: JPR
Length of Time in this Role: 20 years

Mopwater: Describe your path to PR. How did you wind up in this field?
JV: I didn’t actually go to college.  I started working at 14 yrs old and haven’t stopped.  I didn’t know what a publicist was when I asked for the job.  I was working at a law firm in the data entry department during the day and at night I was promoting my boyfriend’s club in Los Angeles.  This was in the late 80’s.  We always had rappers and record promoters come to the club and get on the mic.  I became friends with the A&R person from Delicious Vinyl (Young MC, Tone Loc).  He asked me if I wanted to come to his label one day after work, so I did.  I looked around and saw that the office was in a shambles, no file cabinets, no structure etc.  This was hard for me to understand coming from a law firm where everything was in its place at all times.  So I asked why that was and a month later I got a call asking if I wanted to come in for an interview to assist the GM.  I went in and got the job.  A few months later the publicist at the label was leaving her position and said that I should ask to take her place since I was already doing her job and everyone liked working with me.  Doing her job at that time since we had established artists was answering the phone and sending out press kits to those who asked.  Those calling were the likes of Rolling Stone, Time, Newsweek etc.  I was in a very fortunate situation and took the position.  The rest is history.

Mopwater: Describe how you got from the in-house publicist job to what you’re doing now. When did o become an independent PR pro? How many years into working at Delicious Vinyl did you decide to go out on your own?

JV: While working at Delicious Vinyl, we also hired an indie pr firm to work other projects that I didn’t have time to.  After a year in the position, the pr firm had asked if I would like to work in their LA office.  I eventually left the label, moved to the indie firm until it closed its doors.  At that time, I was able to leave with a handful of accounts to be independent for a few years until Priority Records offered me an in house position.  I was there for a couple of years until I was courted by Virgin Records.  I remained at Virgin for 8 years until they moved the company to New York.  At that time I went indie again and have remained indie for the last few years. Read the full story

Name: Marc Silverstein
Current City: Washington, DC and environs
Job Title: President and CEO
Company: On The Marc Media
Length of Time in this Role: 5 Years
Twitter: @onthemarcmedia
Mopwater: Describe your path to PR. How did you wind up in this field?
MS: I was a crusty but lovable TV news reporter for close to 20 years, so skepticism of all spokespeople, PR folks and spinmeisters was in my DNA. Over time, I came to appreciate the few who “got it.” They knew how to successfully spar with reporters, leak stories, get out their message—and when they had to—take one for the team (usually a critical story) without too much whining.

Then I left news and hosted a long-running show about restaurants on Food Network called The Best Of. Many of the places we profiled had publicists, some of whom were incredibly helpful, and succeeded in making good stories better. But far too often, we had to deal with what I nicknamed Philadelphia-type PR, based on a company in Philly whose reps were so inept that we stopped covering their clients. They got in the way, raised tension levels with the crew and consistently made the process so difficult that even eating the free food offered by the chefs became a chore. That takes some doing.

From both the news and entertainment experiences, I saw there was an opportunity—to offer the kind of PR that provides a more effective bridge between clients and the media.  Clients need public relations people who know how to:
•    Understand reporters, their pressures and their personalities—and make their lives easier. (Like providing “one –stop-shopping,” and not calling to pitch stories when reporters are under deadline).
•    Speak the language of news reporters (Forget the elevator speech; you’re lucky if you get to ride one floor while you’re pitching them).
•    Identify what their client does that’s newsworthy, and figure out every way we can to get it in front of an audience.
•    Write short, dynamic news releases that don’t waste anyone’s time.
•    Use a lot of bullet points.

After Food Network, I hosted a show on Discovery Channel. After shooting the episodes, I was under contract and couldn’t work elsewhere in TV for several months. Much to my disdain, my wife wouldn’t let me sit home in semi-retirement. That’s when On The Marc Media actively started going after PR clients—and since then, we’ve been successfully getting them on TV, in print and on the Internet, in addition to providing a vast array of other marketing services. Read the full story