PR Rules

PR Rules
A blog about our adventures in the great, mad world of PR. Write your own story. Blog. Become. Get noticed. Share. Write on.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Home Green Home Update

Hello Class,

First and foremost, thank you all for your insightful questions posed when Joe Nolan came in to talk to us. (Please remember NOT to post any information about our client's business on this blog, since it's not a private blog and some information may be considered proprietary!).  I would like all Team Captains to write Mr. Nolan, thanking him for his time and summarizing any questions or comments you might still have. Please copy me on any and all correspondence to the client.

As discussed, Team Captains should e-mail one another and find a time before NEXT Tuesday to journey down to the store and meet with Joe. I would like to be part of that meeting if possible. You may find that using Doodle is a great tool to see where synergies exist with calendaring.

I will also be writing everyone tomorrow to outline some key areas for you to consider. I look forward to hearing more of your great ideas as you throw yourselves into this exciting project.

Take care,
Professor Berry

Bye Bye Spreadable!

Dear Class,

Jazzed about "Spreadable" and their You-Tube video, I went to their website...but alas, they are out of business. http://spreadable.com/shutting-down/index.html

They JUST shut down six hours ago. Wow. See their Tweet below. I can't seem to find out why they went under...it would make for an interesting story. I will see if JetBlue still has the "spread the word" icon up on their website.

Spreadable
As of today,Spreadable will be shutting down & no longer accepting sign ups.Thank you to those who gave us a try! Info:

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

March 29 Class Agenda

Dear Grad PR Class,

Please go to Blackboard to download the PPT for our class on 3/29. The second page contains important information on what we'll cover and what we'll leave for the class on 4/5.

Thanks for your kind attention. Feel free to post any questions.

See you later,
Prof Berry

Monday, March 28, 2011

Our Blog is Alive! PR Rules!

Dear Class,

It was wonderful to see so many posts related to our field- from crisis PR, to State Department PR, disaster relief and the Red Cross, to tips on social media management, to WalMart facing the largest class action suit in U.S. history, to "Spreadable" (let's watch that You-Tube video in class and discuss), to the future of PR as a career and more!  And of course the other big news- that Starbucks no longer has its name in its logo!  I tweeted this just now: Starbucks removes name from its logo this month - says fame now bigger than name.

Please keep posting to this blog- it really does serve to build conversation and community.

Speaking of community- tomorrow night we'll welcome our client Joe Nolan, owner of Home Green Home to class for the first 30-40 min of class. (The 4/5 visit didn't fit in his schedule and we both concurred- better earlier to visit with the teams anyhow!) I  e-mailed you all a packet of information re: Joe's top questions, priorities and preliminary questions and ideas. Please review it if you haven't done so already.

FYI:  I've met with Joe twice over spring break and we have begun to formulate a vision about how each team's efforts might be put to best advantage. In the meantime, please  friend HGH's Facebook Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Home-Green-Home/55264189370

And don't forget to check out HGH on  YELP! :  http://www.yelp.com/biz/home-green-home-ithaca

Ideally, Joe will speak for a few minutes...you'll break into groups and I think he'll just visit with each group for about 10 min. The idea is to get to know him, his focus and dreams for his business. You'll also need to start thinking about setting up a meeting schedule. I thought that Team Captains might like to meet as a group with Joe at his store so that you could move the project along. Just a thought among the numerous ones you'll explore in class tomorrow evening.

After Joe's visit, we'll attend to the lecture portion of our class and then have some discussion on PR, world events and some of the cases in our text. Then as they say on movie sets, that will be a "wrap."

Be well,
Professor Berry

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

R.A.C.E. Model, Brand Management and More

Tonight, we'll break into our four teams to begin our preliminary discussion about our client:  "Home Green Home" (HGH) and to look at how they are capitalizing on the good PR of the "Green/Organic" Movement." Since our first step is always RESEARCH, your teams will be tasked with examining the website, reviewing stories written about HGH and reporting out to the rest of the class, particularly how you feel your particular area (Research, Social Media, On-line Strategies, Community Affairs) can be used to best advantage in growing and further fortifying the "HGH" brand. Any student with a Park Card, without a laptop tonight will be able to use one of the computer labs, and you should be able to use Rooms 270 or 275 for computer access.

It's important to remember that PR practitioners typically use the R.A.C.E. model (Research, Action, Communication and Evaluation) in their campaign work. A lovely extension of this, the "Race with Grace" (TM)
model is a nice place to begin. Start talking with one another about R.A.C.E., working in teams, your own personal strengths and challenges, approaches and more.

After an icebreaker exercise, you'll elect:  a Team Captain (a liaison between your team, client and supervisor/professor), a note taker and a timekeeper. These are all important positions as they will ensure efficiency in the limited time busy people, students and professionals often have. You'll spend much of the class speaking to the issue of the "HGH" brand. After spending about half the class time on this important research, I'll ask each team to report out.

Some considerations:
As we've discussed previously, there's no such thing as a valid social media strategy without proper brand identity. As many of you know in working in your teams and with your three clients, you  must first have a clear understanding of what the business stands for- and overall, what the overall brand promise is.

Just as you wouldn't begin a print campaign without a clear statement and appropriate research, the same process holds true for any integrated marketing communication and/or PR strategy integration either in print, TV, radio or online publishing, advertising, etc. Consistent messaging between Facebook, tumblr, Twitter and the web are what your clients and their consumers expect. So, too, is understanding tone and logo usage across the spectrum of your marketing communications efforts.

As visitors discover what your business has to offer, they begin to explore your online presence (web, blog, Facebook, tweets, video, etc.)  It is hoped that after this exploration, they build affinity with your product and/or services. From this you work hard to ensure that this enjoyment leads to sales and opportunity for further engagement. From there you continue to build the brand promise through quality customer service and attention to detail.

Finally, take a look at this neat article on "12 Steps to Building a Successful PR Campaign."   between now and next week. And don't forget to try to stop in and see "HGH" on the Commons before we meet again, if possible.

Looking forward to tonight!

Professor Berry