Timeless PR Advice From Media Guru Dick Jones

Note:  Dick Jones is one of the most experienced experts in the higher ed communication world.  He’s also a friend and colleague who’s helped Mansfield University land stories and features in everything from The Chronicle of Higher Ed, The New York Times and USA Today to numerous AP stories and a couple prime spots on NPR. So when he sends a missive to his clients, I pay attention.  I also asked him if I could use his letter as a guest blog post.

Here it is.

It’s time to oversimplify; to be glib and shallow. Why, after all, should I be different from anyone else? In national media relations for colleges there are five over-simplistic formulae that guide our work. These are:

Results: good.

Process: bad.

Advice: good.

Qualitative judgments: bad.

Events: maybe, but probably not.

The news media like stories with results. A study published in a journal qualifies. So does a new book, if you discuss the substance of the book and not just the fact that there is a new book. Numbers help. Admission applications are up by X. Deposits are up by Y.

The news media usually yawn at process. The faculty is debating a new core curriculum? Wake me when it’s over. A task force has been appointed? Call me when they have a report. We’ve received an NSF grant. Remind me about it when you’ve completed the research.

The news media like advice from experts. And all faculty and staff are experts in their fields. If they aren’t, why do you allow them to teach and serve students who are paying for the privilege? Take every opportunity to make your institution advice giver to the world.

The news media aren’t interested in qualitative judgments. Your college has a better freshman year experience than your competitors? Maybe so, but your competitors claim otherwise. And the news media have neither the time nor the inclination to dig deeply enough to settle the question. Now if you are the biggest, the smallest, the oldest, the newest—something that can be quantified—that’s different. (Tip: use advice stories to advance qualitative claims. “Here are four things students and parents should look for in a good freshman experience program, says Dean of Students Joe Blow.”)

The news media are less interested in covering or publicizing events than you think. This was always true. Now that there are fewer people in newsrooms it is even truer. Getting coverage for (positive) news events is no slam dunk even if the president and the deans think otherwise. Under exceptions see “football teams—undefeated.”

Armed with these concepts you are now ready to go into any meeting with faculty and administrators and quickly make yourself persona non grata when you spout them. I’m just kidding. Sort of.

Postscript: Social media is maturing quickly and these rules apply to these media as well.

Putting The Public Back in Public Relations: Part 2

I enter part two of the review of Putting the Public Back in Public Relations reminding you that I think the book  is  valuable.

Putting the Public neatly summarizes the demise of the traditional media and the rise of the social media and PR 2.0.

It’s  ironic that the authors understand and capture  well the new media and the need to communicate ideas  in a quick, concise, clear way that’s tailored to our particular audience, and it takes them 300 pages to do it.

-A 300-page novel is not outmoded.

-A 300 page book on social media is.  With more thought and a good editor it could have been at least 50 fewer pages.

-As soon as it’s published, any references to Robert Scoble’s posts, or Chris Anderson’s blacklist is not news.  In the PR 2.0 world, this stuff is ancient history.

Granted, the  book is both a guidebook and history. But 300 pages is still too long.

The authors repeat things over and over.  I’m sure they’re doing it to drive home their points.  But I, like others, am reading this book because I already read the leading blogs,  listen to podcasts (which is where I heard an interview with them, leading me to buy the book), engage in Twitter, read AdAge and Wired and and follow Scoble.

In the larger picture, these are niggling complaints.  The authors have done a service to a profession in profound evolution, providing a pioneering work that’s  a textbook for the future of PR.

As the authors point out, we’re in the time of a huge transition.  PR is in an era of telling stories and being a part of a community that we understand and contribute to.

With each chapter I found myself grabbing a pencil to mark passages where Brian and Deirdre offer up insight, truth and a clearer way into PR’s future.

Just as importantly, I’ve subscribed to their blogs and sites to keep up with the conversation that they initiated.

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, A Review

One of my favorites podcasts is FIR (For Immediate Release) with Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. I was intrigued with a recent interview  with Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge about their new book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.
I bought the book.
I’m working my way through it now. I say “working” because it’s not an easy read. I appreciate that. I’ve read so many breezy books filled with slogans, cliches and battle cries that having to really concentrate is a nice change of pace.

I’m reviewing this in two parts because it brings up a lot of issues in this time of apocalyptic transition in communications.

The book revolves around the concept of “PR 2.0,” coined by Solis. It takes a realistic look at what’s wrong with PR today (PR hacks, spammers, lazy “pros” who don’t know or care about the audience they’re pitching to).  I like it.  Call a hack a hack and go forward.  Show them how to improve and if they don’t, follow Wired editor Chris Anderson’s lead and blacklist them.

The book has five parts: “The True Value of PR;” “Facilitating Conversations: New Tools & Techniques;” “Participating in Social Media;” “A Promising Future;” “Convergence.”

The authors do a good job of looking briefly at the history of PR and how after 100 years it has morphed from “throwing it out there and seeing what sticks” to getting to know the “people formerly known as your audience,” participating in conversations and giving and taking.

It’s a huge  transition to go from a century of traditional media that force fed the masses to a global community of “tribes” as Seth Godin defines it.

I started my career as a reporter for a daily newspaper.  I also wrote review columns and did weekly radio shows.  I was an intimate part of the traditional media and I welcomed its downfall in the onslaught of  the rowdy, free-for-all world of blogs, podcasts, vidcasts, and Twitter.

Putting The Public. . . captures this transition very well.  In every chapter I learned something new.

There are also things  I take issue with.

More in Part 2.

Mansfield University’s Journey into the Social Media World

These are notes from a presentation I gave at CUPRAP in Oct. 2009, hoping they’ll be helpful to the audience and my general readers.

Started with podcasting in Oct. 2005. We began with the concept of weekly interviewing freshmen to get their experience, growth, learning first hand as they experienced it. We branched out into interviews with faculty, administration, other students, alumni. We’ve done more than 200 shows and get about 500 hits a month from 10 countries around the world.
Conclusion: Start with a solid concept, knowing your show will evolve. This is the way of social media: content must be good; evolution is inevitable.

Two years ago we began producing and uploading videos on YouTube.
Later, IT created a Mansfield YouTube channel so all videos are uploaded there.
We use Animoto. Upload slides, choose music and it will play the slides in synch with the music. We’ve had a lot of success with it.
IT created Mansfield Facebook page. They synched our news page with so whenever our news director posts a news release it appears on Facebook.
IT ran photo contests and drawings to attract fans. We have about 1300 fans, not bad for a university of 3500 students.
Created Mansfield Twitter. Jury still out on that.

Last spring I started a weekly half hour TV talk show called Conversations.
Concept: 1-2 guests that will be of interest to cable viewers. No special effects. Some B-roll to break things up. Sometimes we go into the field for interviews. Informal dress to avoid image of stuffiness. No ties allowed.
The show has no budget. The only cost is my time and the time of my producer to record and edit it.
We also upload the show to YouTube.

Summer 2009 I started the MU Blog.
Concept: 300 words or less. Can be read in two minutes, but have enough links that it can last two hours. I try to find off beat and human interest things. Try to include as many photos as possible. In one blog linked to photos, web sites, video and podcast.
Whenever I publish a post, I announce it on my Facebook, Twitter, & our internal daily announcement list.
The blog underscores another important concept — on the Web there is no  linear time. I can link to videos and podcasts done a year or two ago. To my blog audience, it’s all new.

The blog opens a whole new world of quick, direct writing, a world of subjects, and multimedia links.

September 2009 Terry’s Take, a 2-minute video news cast went live. Again, no budget. Terry records directly into a web cam, does very light editing and posts. Content is news of interest to faculty and students.

Our home page has become the center of all news activity. It’s where people  go to find news and answers.

in 2008 we formed the Web Advisory Group and meet monthly — the admissions director, news director, myself and IT folks.

The above sounds overwhelming, but you must jump into it. There are perceived challenges:
-the administration doesn’t understand the new technology or the social sites
-administration is wary of it and are afraid of losing control of the university image and message (they’ve already lost it)
-administration is wary of letting you take control because they don’t understand (teach them)
-you don’t understand the full scope of the new media (learn — quickly)
-you don’t have the technical expertise or experience to do a blog or TV show or podcast (well, learn it!)

Other Notes:
Traditional media is plunging into irrelevancy.
Students, parents, alumni, are talking about you in various social media settings.
You need forums where you can engage the above in conversations and share your institution’s stories.
You don’t shotgun your message out and hope people see it and believe it. They find you and if your message, your story is simple, real and sincere, they’ll follow you.

Quality has taken back seat to content. If you have good content you can get away with lesser quality. Cannot have bad content and bad quality.

Excellent quality with bad content is also worthless.

To stay up-to-date with social media, subscribe to:

www.bloghighed.org

Recommended reading:

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge. This is the book on how social media is reinventing PR.

Personal:

Questions?  Email me at dmiller@mansfield.edu Put in the subject heading CUPRAP

Note: CUPRAP is the best PR organization in the world.

My Turquoise Ring: A Brand Story

I wear a turquoise ring on the third finger of my right hand. I’ve had it for a couple decades. I discovered it in a kiosk in our local mall.

I have long, thin fingers and most men’s rings are too large, but I tried it on and it fit as if it were made just for me.

I thought it was too expensive, though,  and put it back.
I stopped by two weeks later. The price on it had dropped 25%. I decided if it was made for me, it would wait for me.
Sure enough, in another two weeks the ring was still there with an even greater discount.
I took a calculated risk, waited until it dropped another 15%. . . and bought it.
Over the years, many people have commented on it and asked me if I bought it out west. I’m always  honest and tell them the real story, which, in a mystical way, I think is much more interesting.

This ring waited for me!

In every single case I watch their expressions of anticipation melt into disappointment. They want to hear about a New Mexico Indian reservation and how I bought it from a native American artisan in the quiet glow of the sun setting over the golden plains.

That’s the image attached to turquoise.  It’s embedded so deeply into our minds and culture that any other story is a disappointment.

I recently became a trustee at our regional public broadcasting station.  Before a meeting I was talking with another newly named board member, a man obviously very cultured and well-traveled.  Making conversation he pointed to my ring: “I see you’ve been to Santa Fe.”

I thought it over quickly.  “Yes, I have.”  It wasn’t a lie.    We began exchanging stories of our travels there, the jewelry, how Santa Fe has grown, the beauty of New Mexico.

Some brands are so strong  that the myth is reality.

And the truth is just not worth the disappointment.