Together Everyone Achieves More!

                For the past few years, Maureen Locus has been the Crisis Communication and Non-profit Public Relations representative for the very well known, Brinker International. Locus visited with our CCPA class this past week and shared some of the good, bad, and ugly experiences she has had as a PR rep for Brinker. Now, as straight forward as her job may seem, she shared some stories that I would have never thought a PR rep for a large food chain would have to deal with. Let’s just say, expect the unexpected.

                Beyond all the great stories Ms. Locus told us, there was something really special I learned from her visit. Brinker has adopted a “team” mentality and promotes a very open, accepting and friendly work atmosphere. Maureen Locus is a “team-member” at Brinker and works at a “support center.” This mentality that Brinker adopted assures that all of the team members really do feel like part of a team. When you go to work every day with the feeling that you are truly a vital part in the company, you feel more inclined to do your best and have a positive attitude.

                The Brinker team works by the saying “Life is short, Work Happy!” This is both inspiring and optimistic for the future of the Brinker team. The leadership at Brinker wants the entire team to share in the success and happiness of the company. Ms. Locus has been with Brinker long enough to believe in their mission and is evidence of how well their system works. She shared with us that in the end, “It’s the people you go to work with, that make it so fun.” Brinker has changed Locus’ life in a way that will make any other place she may work at, hard to measure up.  After hearing about Ms. Locus’ experiences with Brinker, I think it would be hard for her to work anywhere else especially because it would be hard to duplicate the positive and rewarding experiences she has had with Brinker.

                 Every time I hear the notorious jingle “I want my baby-back-baby-back-baby-back… Chili’s….,” I will have a new image that pops into my head. Now, I see that the support-centers and all the restaurant under the Brinker name, are a vital part of an unbeatable team. That, and well, a funny story Ms. Locus shared with us about baby-back ribs & the wacky things she deals with in PR. And a little piece of advice, if you ever get the chance to hear Ms. Locus or any other member of the Brinker team speak, don’t go hungry; after an hour of hearing about Brinker and their restaurants, you will be craving Chili’s or Maggiano’s like never before!

Old School in a New Era of Technology

Think about this as it pertains to tweeting, posting, and blogging. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you.” (Now save it for the end of this post)

Think back 5, 10, 15 years ago… about how much has changed in the technology and social media worlds. Rob Martin, principal and managing director at MM2 Public relations has witnessed these changes first-hand.  The experience for public relations and marketing has shifted to where the experience is the primary goal. “As a marketer, I think it’s neat, but personally, I think the privacy invasion is weird,” Martin revealed to my CCPA class this past Wednesday.

Social media has become the go-to method of marketers and public relations experts because it is easy and effective. Unlike many other public relations directors, Mr. Martin believes the new use of many social media outlets are over the top and at times, an invasion of privacy. I applaud Mr. Martin’s honesty because I feel the same way. I feel it is inappropriate when people Tweet or Blog about things that are irrelevant to anything that should be public knowledge. So many people feel the need to share details about their lives that completely take away the significance of privacy and personal space and knowledge.

Mr. Martin admitted that “I’m old school; I don’t see how it applies to me on a personal level- I just want to see what everyone else is saying.” I agree. My generation has taken the bull by the horns with this whole social media epidemic. I use the word epidemic because I think the new outbreak of social media usage has eliminated the barrier between our private and public lives. The whole concept of “nothing personal, it’s only business,” has been wiped away by the urgency to tweet, post, and blog about everything in our lives. Our personal lives are no longer personal, they have become a public form of entertainment and we have invited hundreds and thousands of people to know the who, what, when why, and where pertaining to almost everything we do.

“It’s a shift for the generation of how people consume media,” Mr. Martin noted when he discussed the outbreak of social media and how our generation uses it as a never-ending need to consume media. If it’s out there, our generation wants it, quick, easy, and now. We watch our favorite TV shows online, we learn about the devastation in Japan through apps on our iPads, and we stay connected to all of this while we are sitting in our finance classes learning about stocks and bonds. As the times change, social media will continue to grow and I am sure people will continue to blog, tweet and post about what they eat for breakfast. Mr. Martin and I will probably never tweet saying we are “Team Emily” on The Bachelor or that we are “Rock Chalk All the Way!” But that’s ok. We don’t all have to be social media addicts. As long as some of you are to entertain us, that’s just fine with me.

Just remember, it is ok to have some things in your life that remain private. Personal social media accounts and professional/job related social media accounts should be separate. Someday, (hopefully!) we will all work for companies that spend thousands of dollars to maintain reputations that they do not want blemished by the new kids post or tweet about private company matters. So, for those of you that get the urge to tweet, post, or blog anytime soon, just remember, you DO have the right to remain silent!

A Statistic: A PR experts best friends!

Which of the following is an effective statistic?

1)      Some of my friends are 21 and like to gamble.

2)      7 out of 10 of my friends that are 21 like to gamble.

Number 2 is correct!

A statistic is a single measure of some attribute of a sample that many experts in the PR field use when presenting to a client to prove credibility and knowledge. “Clients love data,” head of Burson-Marstellar Southwest operations, Mike Lake told my CCPA class this past Wednesday. Mr. Lake, a frequent guest speaker in the CCPA department, visited our class to explore strategies of a project he has been working on with a high-profile client that I will refer to as “A Poker & Gambling Company” or “PGC” for short. He presented an Online Poker Legalization Strategy that dealt with the PGC’s plan to legalize online poker in the US. Mr. Lake’s presentation took us step-by-step through the process of making a PR strategy that is not only effective, but credible.  

Credibility is essential when creating and presenting public relations strategies. Mr. Lake introduced his messaging approach with a three step process. First step, change the current conversation. Step two, define a current status and bring it into the narrative. Step three, create a framework for changes. Amidst these three steps, you must identify targets and create an understanding of the role each plays in the strategy and why. Then comes the fun part… using statistics! Mr. Lake’s presentation was perfectly sprinkled with statistics that dealt with credible voices for online poker. “Clients are willing to spend extra $money$ up front if they know it is proven to work,” Mr. Lake noted, which is a correlation for the appropriate use of statistics. Statistics can be surprisingly persuading, especially when you use them to your advantage.

You must be careful though; the use of statistics must be done appropriately to be effective. You can’t just throw out random numbers and data… you need to make sure they are pertinent and supportive to proving and persuading your audience. In the strategy Mr. Lake presented, he honed in on the key statistical evidence that not only supported the message but created a foundation of reliability, confidence and excitement for his client.

Mr. Lake and his team at Burson-Marstellar believe that the evidence based approach is the way to go because it is more cost effective- “hard data is the most beneficial when we are putting this (strategy) together.” Now remember this, Mr. Lakes client is PGC… poker and gambling… these people are all about numbers and statistics- it’s basically how they make money. Winning over a company like PGC through the use of statistics is like being able to sell a car to a car salesman... in other words, if you can impress and persuade them at their own game, you are golden!

More Than Just An Edelman Face

Experience, Check, Personality, Check, Motivation, Check, Interest & Enthusiasm, Check, and Positive Attitude, Check. So, you’ve proven that you have what it takes to work at Edelman, but what do you have to offer that makes you stand out among the rest? Edelman encourages every employee to utilize their experiences, skills and expertise to ensure clients are getting the best service and to allow employees to showcase their strengths and gifts.

Just ask Jennifer Little, Senior Vice President for Consumer Brands and Ashley Maddocks, Account Executive, at Edelman and they will tell you how Edelman is a great place to work; it allows you to utilize your strengths and past experiences and apply them to your work.  Edelman promises to “undertake our mission through convergence by integrating specialist knowledge of practices and industries, local market understanding, proprietary methodology and breakthrough creativity.” Ding, Ding, Ding! “Integrating specialist knowledge” is one of Edelman’s greatest offerings because it utilizes the strengths of the employees to offer the most thorough and apposite services to their clients.

When you start working at Edelman, they allow their employees to feel around and really get a sense of where they can utilize their strengths most appropriately within the firm. “You get a lot of experience really quickly,” Ashley Maddocks, assured us having been at Edelman for only two years herself.  Maddocks is currently an account executive on the Dickies Team. She has used her networking skills and personable attitude to establish relationships with national and local fashion publications and dailies. She has also served as a representative for Dickies at editor events which shows Edelman’s ability and dedication to provide their clients with the most appropriate Edelman representatives. 

Over the past seventeen years, Jennifer Little has developed an expertise for public relations and communications involving consumer brands, crisis management, community relations, cause marketing, media relations, sports marketing, and event planning. “You should always be working hard to maintain a good reputation in this field,” Little advised our class. Little manages consumer brands that allow her to focus on areas at which she excels, but still challenge her to be creative in her efforts to provide strategic counsel and support to her clients. During her time at Edelman, Little has been able to apply her past work experience to current clients that pertain to similar industries she had previously excelled in. Edelman encourages this because it is the perfect catalyst for creativity and success.

So, If you have a personal contact that will help a colleague, let them know and If you have a personal expertise of a certain area pertaining to a client, utilize it. Edelman works with clients in a variety of industries which opens up an array of specialties for Edelman employees to dabble in. Integrating specialist knowledge is one of Edelman’s greatest promises which pays homage to the well-rounded team of employees which make up the Edelman family.