I’ve long been a fan gal for research in PR. Personally, I obsess over trends, opinions and ultimately, what motivates customer sentiment toward a brand, product or an entirely new way of doing things.

Professionally, research solves so many things — identifying specifically who to target and how these people consume content. Research allows us to truly move beyond metrics that never satisfy internal audiences to those that demonstrate true, meaningful impact.

Also, it’s fun to identify the sentiments we can unlock, uncover and expedite for clients and prospects. Previously though, research had its challenges — it could be cumbersome, costly and slow. It was often times very hard to sell in primary research or audience insight programs, particularly to start-up or mid-stage companies that could benefit from such critical information.

Continue reading " Only the Best Data Can Lead to Better Decisions and Direction "

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to talk to Peter Semmelhack, the founder and CEO of Bug Labs, and author of the recently published book, “Social Machines.” Peter will deliver the Friday keynote address at the PRSA 2013 Digital Impact Conference, June 27–28, in New York City. All I can say is, get ready to have your mind blown! Our conversation was one of the most stimulating I have had in a while — the kind that immediately goes off track, gets your brain working in a thousand directions at once as it considers the implications of what it is hearing, and is just plain fun.

Peter told me that he spent his youth with soldering iron in hand as he and his dad used Heathkits to explore the possibilities of electronic devices. His various businesses have continued this interest, creating software, hardware and services that, at their core, are about connectivity. His latest venture, BugLabs, continues this work as he builds the tools needed to create what is currently called the “Internet of Things.”

After introducing ourselves to each other, we started talking about definitions — my favorite place to start. The first question I asked was, “What is a ‘thing?’” (You have to admit, “thing” is one of the quintessentially undefinable terms in the English language — the term we use when we can’t figure out what term to use! This leads me to laugh a bit about how much this new area obviously troubles our intellects.) Peter’s “things” are network devices that have no screen and a limited or no user interface. Think air conditioners, vending machines or wearable fitness trackers. This is, of course, in contrast to other connected devices, such as smartphones or tablets. It doesn’t mean that “things” are dumb, it just means that their intelligence resides elsewhere — probably in the growing data cloud.

Continue reading " What Happens When Machines Become “Social?” "

Over the past decade, I’ve had the chance to consult with organizations of all sizes regarding their need to measure, and learn from, their public relations campaigns. Fortunately, they’ve all heard PR industry teachings about the importance of accountability, which has made my job easier! But, most are confused as to how to move beyond simply measuring outputs(such as clip counts or impressions) to more meaningfully tying together outputs to business or organizational outcomes (such as leads, sales, donations, and/or survey scores).

Some of this new quest for higher-level measurement results from the now-famous Barcelona Principles, which were established by the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC), PRSA, the Institute for Public Relations and two other industry associations at the 2010 AMEC European Summit in Barcelona, Spain. Utilizing much of the language and ideas found in PRSA’s The Business Case for Public Relations™, the seven Principles primarily mandate the importance of setting measurable goals and objectives, and moving toward linking outputs to outcomes.

All that is great, but PR pros have been left wondering how to execute these mandates. They have plenty of guidance on objective-setting, but not as much on how best to measure outputs — and then, how best to link them to outcomes.

Fortunately, the founders of the Barcelona Principles didn’t stop there. A special taskforce was deployed to develop what has become the AMEC Valid Metrics Guidelines, a set of practical frameworks that guide PR pros through developing a holistic, meaningful measurement process. I have found the Guidelines to be of enormous help to my clients, so I hope the following brief overview will be helpful to you.

Continue reading " Confused About How to Tie PR Outputs to Organizational Outcomes? Consider the AMEC Framework! "

Last month, Lisa Bialecki, senior director of Integrated Communications for Rust-Oleum, and I hosted a PRSA webinar, now available on-demand, called, “Going Beyond the Press Kit to Engage Influencers.” During the webinar, we highlighted the efforts Rust-Oleum has made to develop and deploy a sustainable blogger network as well as eight common ways brands can fail in the blogger space.

The discussion during the webinar was rich. It’s clear that today’s public relations professionals are already incorporating blogger relations into their marketing mix. But many are curious about how to identify the right bloggers, how to disclose your relationship and how to measure the success of your efforts. Here is a recap of some of the most frequently asked questions.

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Tying your company into what’s already on the media agenda is a great way to boost the newsworthiness of your pitch angles.

McDonald’s struck an excellent balance this week when reacting to the benevolent neighbor who rescued the three abducted Cleveland women. Charles Ramsey mentioned McDonald’s in both his now-famous initial TV interview and his 911 call, which also went viral. He was the top trending topic on Twitter for almost a full day. Many in the Twitterverse hailed him as a hero and called on McDonald’s to figuratively shower him with Big Macs.

But the company showed appropriate restraint in its eventual tweet. First, they expressed support and sensitivity to the victims. Then, a subtle hint that they would “be in touch” with Ramsey. McDonald’s reps didn’t return calls asking for further comment — another wise move to avoid being perceived as exploiting the sensitive situation.

Continue reading " How Charles Ramsey, The NFL Draft And A Presidential Election Can Help You Land Your Next Big Media Hit "