What to Look For in a PR Rep

Posted on September 25, 2012 by krwatson

There is a plethora of PR companies to choose from, so how do you decide which rep will work the hardest for you? Here are some key characteristics to look for:

Someone with media connections. Many PR companies simply send out press releases through wire services and call it PR, but if you ask the majority of media professionals, you will find that most have never even heard of the most popular wire service sites. Real connections are a PR professional’s most valuable asset. Their name and respect among the media is what will get your name in the news.
Someone whose clients are frequently in the news. It may seem obvious, but note how often a company’s clients appear in the news. Is it sporadic or do they get their clients monthly coverage? What they’re doing for their current clients is a good indicator of how often you can expect similar coverage.
Someone who stays calm and takes action. PR professionals need to have the ability to stay calm and productive in stressful situations so that they can manage any PR crisis efficiently. If you know individual reps at a company, follow them on Twitter. Look for a rep who can turn any bad situation around, not a rep who tweets about how ruined his or her day is. When life gives you lemons, your PR rep should be able to get you an interview – or even an endorsement deal – about the benefits of lemonade.
Someone who offers guidance. Does the PR company offer media training and consultation? Without these services, you may not look or sound your best during interviews. It is your PR rep’s job to work with you on polishing your interview skills, yet this service is often overlooked. Find someone who takes the time to consult with you before every press opportunity.
Someone who puts their clients first. PR doesn’t end at five o’clock. You want a rep who will hop off a treadmill to take a call from a reporter at nine o’clock at night to secure coverage for you. You want a rep who goes above and beyond to think of creative ways to promote you and who puts their company and clients first. And finally, you want a rep who will tell you the truth instead of what you want to hear. Otherwise you will find out the hard way that that blouse really was too sheer under studio lights.

Tweet me your thoughts! @krwatson

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PR/Social Media Internship: What I Learned

Posted on August 14, 2012 by hayley

“Love what you do and you will not work a day in your life,” is something I have heard for as long as I can remember, but being told something is much different than actually experiencing it for yourself. As my last week as an intern for Anchor comes to an end, I find myself thinking back to three months ago when I first started this amazing internship. This opportunity has provided me not only with knowledge and experience and relationships that I value, but also has shown me what passion and love for a job actually feels like.

From attending PR events and news segments with shows such as GMT and CW’s Eye Opener, to writing press releases and helping social media campaigns flourish, I have had the opportunity to learn what PR in the real world is all about, not just what a text book or professor says about public relations. I have learned that the key to any PR, marketing, or advertising strategy is to know your audience and how to engage with said audience. I have learned that in order to be successful in this profession you must build personal, mutually beneficial relationships and be the type of person that when people think of you they say, “I can count on [her or him] to be there when I need them.” My boss’s actions showed me how important these qualities are and she receives many opportunities because of her dedication to be readily available, flexible and willing to find other help if she was not able.

I enjoyed coming into work every day knowing that I was going to be greeted by cheerful good mornings, energetic music, people who love working as much as they love laughing, a dog who would do just about anything for a belly rub, and of course the guarantee that if I sneezed, I would receive a thoughtful “bless you!” I was always excited to be at work and was eager to know what the next day had in store for me, what I would learn and get to experience next. I know I am lucky for that. What I take away from my Summer at Anchor is 100% more valuable and relevant than any textbook could teach me.

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How Disney Provides Consistently Stellar Customer Service

Posted on August 3, 2012 by krwatson

By Guest Blogger Stephen Blandino. Follow him, like him. Blog first posted here.

In a previous post, I shared my family’s unbelievable experience with Disney Customer Service. You can read about our experience right here. So how does Disney create stellar service?

I recently read Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service by the Disney Institute. The book provides some great insight into the practical systems that drive uncommon service. Here’s a quick overview of the three ingredients that drive Disney’s service:

The Service Theme: Disney begins with a “Service Theme” which defines and communicates the purpose of the company and creates its public image. Disney’s Service Theme is: “We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages, everywhere.” In essence, a service theme declares the company’s mission and how and for whom that mission is accomplished. Your service theme “acts as a promise to your customers and a purpose for your employees.”

The Service Standards: Service standards, or service values, are the “how” of the service theme. They are the “operational criteria” that make the consistent delivery of the service theme possible. Disney has four service standards:

Safety: Providing for the welfare and peace of mind of guests.
Courtesy: Treating every guest as a VIP–a very important, and very individual person.
Show: Seamless and exceptional entertainment for guests.
Efficiency: Smooth operations of the theme parks and resorts.

The Delivery Systems: You can have a service theme and understand your service standards, but without the right delivery systems, none of it will come together. Disney uses three delivery systems to provide safety, courtesy, show, and efficiency:

Cast: This is Disney-speak for “employees.”
Setting: Setting is described as, “The environment in which service is delivered to customers, all of the objects within that environment, and the procedures used to enhance and maintain the service environment and objects. More simply, setting is the stage on which business is conducted.”
Process: Processes are “a series of actions, changes, or functions that are strung together to produce a result.” Processes include things like guest flow, communication, and service attention.

So how does this entire customer service system work together? The Service Theme is like true north. Again, it provides the promise for guests and the purpose for employees. To ensure the Service Theme is being accomplished, the Service Standards and Delivery Systems are incorporated into an Integration Matrix. In other words:

How does the CAST deliver Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency?
How does the SETTING deliver Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency?
How do the PROCESSES deliver Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency?

Below is an example of the Integration Matrix used with Disney Vacation Club. Across the top are the delivery systems (Cast, Setting, and Process) and along the left side are the service standards (Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency):

Each part of Walt Disney World has an integration matrix that shows how service standards are delivered by the cast, setting, and processes. If you want to learn more, check out Be Our Guest or the Disney Institute.

Question: What is missing in your organization–Service Theme, Service Standards, or Delivery Systems? How can you improve each one?

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Extraordinary Events & Design on CW’s Eye Opener

Posted on July 26, 2012 by krwatson

Our client, Julie Eastman (owner of Extraordinary Events & Design), was featured on CW’s national morning show, Eye Opener, this morning. We had a blast filming with host Danielle Vollmar and loved how the segment came together. Julie never disappoints on camera, benefitting from our media training and consultation PR services.

Watch the feature here:

Here are a couple of snapshots of the final room:

: Julie added throw pillows, a larger lamp to anchor the corner, coffee table books & candles, and simple DIY artwork over the couch: fabric over cork board!

: Julie decluttered, rearranged, added a throw rug, pillows, art, candles, and books in the living room. For a simple dining room centerpiece, she spray painted vases, grouping them together over a mirror atop a scarf.

Don’t forget to “like” and follow Julie!

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What Captain Jack Sparrow Can Teach Us About Public Relations

Posted on June 22, 2012 by krwatson

“The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can’t do.” – Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Jack wasn’t referring to Public Relations, but this idea easily applies. I recently spoke with a Career Services professional at a local university who was surprised that I do not require applicants in my department to have a related degree.

Why? I have a Bachelor of Arts in German, not Ad / PR. From what I have learned, most universities teach press release templates and that’s about it. They don’t stress the importance of being responsive, creative, helpful, and a good writer. In my opinion, personality beats out experience every day of the week. If I interviewed Applicant A, who has a degree in Public Relations but isn’t personable or a good writer, and Applicant B, a Theatre major with a sparkly personality who happens to be a great writer, Applicant B would get the job, hands down.

We are seeking driven people who understand our brand and have the vision to take Anchor far. Experience and a portfolio certainly won’t hurt, but it’s not the only thing that matters to us. We recognize that spark, that something special in individuals that makes them outstanding creatives. It doesn’t matter what you have done. It matters what you can do. So the question is: What can you do?

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Pinterest: Not Just a Hobby

Posted on June 20, 2012 by hayley

For those of you who have not caught on, Pinterest is a platform through which people can share images and visual content by pinning them to a board that others can then look at and share on their page by ‘repinning’. When my boss first told me that I would be pinning things for our clients, I was a bit shocked and even had to ask her how to use it. Although most people would assume that as a 21-year-old female I would be an expert at Pinterest, I had never used it. The truth is that, like a lot of companies and businesses, I was stuck in my old ways of Facebook and Twitter.

For the past year, I have stereotyped Pinterest as a typical girly pastime, but now that I have had the chance to use it and see what it can do, I think it is necessary for any visual company to have their own account. If a business can not only interact with their clients in a fun and entertaining way and represent their brand uniquely, why not embrace it?

Just like any social media outlet, there is strategy behind what is pinned for a business. Here are some of the tips and tricks that I have figured out:

Know what your target audience is pinning and what they are interested in
Always source to give photo credit
Pin regularly
Use detailed descriptions on your images with key words
Comment on and like other pins
Remember you can create “fresh” content with pictures of your own
Ask followers to pin with you on your website and other social media sites too
Generate awareness
Research what other companies in your field are pinning
Include links on pins that lead back to a landing page or your home page

Do you follow any of your favorite businesses on Pinterest? Do you enjoy their pins or not?

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PR from an Intern’s Eyes

Posted on May 29, 2012 by meghan

After wrapping up my second week as a PR and Social Media intern for Anchor, I’ve realized something: most people don’t actually know what PR really is. There are all different perceptions of the world of public relations, ranging from the glamorous life of Samantha Jones on Sex and the City to the basics that they teach us in the classroom. Coming into my internship, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

I knew I would be assisting with social media and would have the opportunity to attend and assist with other “PR events” that came up, but I honestly did not fully know what that would entail. I’m sure every future PR intern dreams about living life like Samantha Jones – power lunches, schmoozing with the wealthy and powerful, and attending fabulous parties and events. This, however, doesn’t seem much like the life of any intern I know. On the other hand, judging by what I had learned in my marketing and communications classes, my internship would involve writing lots of press releases to a mass audience and making coffee runs.

In these short weeks, I’ve learned a lot. My job and the world of PR entail a little bit of both of these concepts, but also so much more. In class, social media is kind of a side note; no one really teaches us how important it is and how to use it effectively. At Anchor, I have learned that it relates to almost every aspect of PR and marketing. On top of the importance of social media, I’ve learned the number one rule of public relations: know your audience. This comes from knowing your brand and how you want the public to perceive it, knowing who would most benefit from your brand, and how to attract them to the brand. This takes so much more than mass marketing through press releases and self-promoting Facebook and Twitter blasts. It takes careful research, planning, and most importantly, building personal relationships, which is more than can ever be learned in a classroom or from a TV show.

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A Day in the Life of an Intern

Posted on May 22, 2012 by hayley

When I tell people that I am a PR & Social Media intern for Anchor Marketing and Design, I seem to get a few blank stares. What exactly does a social media intern do? Well I’m not sure if this is how it is for everyone, but a day in the life of an intern at Anchor is, let’s say… unique.

In school (I’m a senior in college) we are taught how important social media is for companies, but I never realized how much work and time it took to interact on these sites in a valuable way. Unlike your own personal page where you can post whatever you want, whenever you want, a company’s page has to produce relevant, interesting information in a timely manner without having too much or too little presence. We are also taught that the majority of public relations is writing press releases, but the real key to PR is building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships.

At Anchor, I get to explore and learn the best ways to execute social media and public relations strategies in a laid back, entertaining environment. I help come up with different ways to connect with our clients’ audiences via social media and research content I think would be appropriate for our clients to post via Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. I do all this while I listen to music, play with our office dog Gabby (who loves a good belly rub) and watch my bosses throw it down in a fun game of ping-pong. I receive play-by-plays of important luncheons and dinners while eating a scrumptious cupcake with my boss, attend events that are hosted for or by our clients and get to go on set for news segments!

A lot of internships consist of coffee runs and making copies, but not at Anchor. I am glad I get to learn how to do these beneficial and critical tasks all while enjoying myself and the people I work with.

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Social Media: A Conversation

Posted on March 30, 2012 by krwatson

“A conversation” truly is the best way to describe social media. Josh Kilmer-Purcell hit the nail on the head when he said that social media has gone from a broadcast model to a conversation model in the March episode of Anchor Chat. “It’s not a broadcast medium. It so damages your brand to not answer every question on your Facebook page,” explained Josh.

Josh Kilmer-Purcell discussing social media on Anchor Chat

So many companies and brands want to use their social media platforms only to crank out press releases, coupons, and other promotions. These things can appear on social media but shouldn’t be the only thing pages post. After all, no one likes That Friend who only talks about himself! Engaging your target market with questions and sharing industry news with them are two simple ways to position your brand as both an expert in your respective industry and a concerned listener.

I cannot stress this enough: Do not delete negative posts. Josh has it right: it damages your brand to delete those concerns. Negative comments are opportunities for your brand to demonstrate exemplary customer service. Let those voices be heard. Answer them. Have a conversation with them. You’ll be glad you did in the long run.

At a Social Media Club Fort Worth seminar in Summer 2011, Social Media Delivered CEO Eye Mayer Orsburn told the crowd that brands should only talk about themselves 20% of the time. The other 80% of posts should be engaging and dynamic content relevant to your brand. Telling fans to constantly “buy this” or “buy that” isn’t as powerful as providing solid content that will make fans want to buy this or buy that. The Beekman 1802 Boys, for instance, try to answer every comment on their Facebook page. When fans feel like their voices are being heard, they’re more inclined to support the Beekman brand by purchasing a product because they feel like the brand is supporting them as a customer.

Do you run a Facebook brand page? Comment below and tell us what your page is, what industry your brand is in, and how you engage your fans in conversation.

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