Our professor continued to discuss how each of us needed to take what we had learned about branding/marketing businesses and apply it to ourselves. She assigned some reading; in particular a book entitled You, Inc.: the Art of Selling Yourself by Harry Beckwith  that discussed applying sales techniques to effectively ‘sell yourself’ to potential employers and then went on to talk about things like appearance, resume building, well-roundedness, etc. It was kind of like the information you get in high school when you’re presenting yourself to colleges for admission.

It wasn’t until about a year and ½ into my life at Broadreach PR that I got a better understanding of what a ‘personal brand’ actually means and how it’s a lot more than making sure I look presentable and sound competent on a daily basis, because, let’s face it, everyone can master looking presentable and sounding competent, whereas developing and maintaining a personal brand that stands out and works for you goes far beyond that.

A personal brand is like a company’s brand- it shows other people who you are, what you value, and how you think. It’s the image you project to the world that can help build your road to success or undermine your reputation into the depths of failure- ok that was a bit dramatic, but essentially it’s true.

The first step in this personal branding process for me was to actually step back and figure out what my goals were. I’m not saying a goal like ‘I’d like to run a marathon (which I would), but ones like “When people are looking for brilliance in PR, I want them to think of me” or “The words I want people to associate with me professionally are: reliable, creative, and efficient.” Similar to needing some solid business goals before starting a sales program, you need personal goals to give you a direction to travel in; from there you can figure out how to go about shaping your personal brand.

Stay tuned for pt 2 of the personal brand journey- Who cares? And accepting the fact that not everyone is going to like you.

~Kate

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Anyway, one of the things we decided to do as part of this ‘team lunch time’ idea was to blog about our experiences at the restaurants we visit. People are starting to ask us where to eat in Portland now and since we’re a social group, it just made sense. So, here we go.

Last month we checked out the Olive Cafe on Commercial St. LOVED IT! Our waitress was attentive, knowlegeable and uniquely intuitive. (Linda was coughing when we came in and she immediately brought water for her before we even all seated). The atmosphere was welcoming with a bit of contemporary mediterranean style. We especially liked the classic-looking, chocolate brown bar, it might have been seen a bit too big for the space, but i thought it tied the room together nicely. Lastly, the food was great! They had lots of vegetarian options, which I loved, and we all left with happy tummies.

Olive Cafe, well done. I’ll be back soon.

Keep a look out for future reviews and if you see the four of us walk into your establishment, best bring your A game.

Later!

~Kate

Kate Bachman

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After looking into these so called awareness ribbons, it made me wonder what others would think when they saw a purple, blue or teal ribbon.  Are they effective at explaining what you are supporting?  Do they have any meaning?  Do they open up a conversation on what you are supporting?

I want to hear your thoughts.  When you think you know what color ribbon represents a cause, take a look at this color chart and see if you are right.  Next do some research on other color charts and you will see that some disagree on what color represents a cause.

Now,  let’s hear your opinion.  Voice your opinion on our Facebook question.

~Joanne Jordan
Broadreach Public Relations

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19 Commercial Street

-Joanne Jordan
Broadreach Public Relations

Joanne Jordan

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Most organizations, though, rightfully have a more sophisticated and sensible approach to their brand and public image: They want to people to understand their points of view and be aware of the good things they are doing.

The best way to accomplish that goal is through authenticity.  Be honest, open and yourself, as you put your best foot forward.  It’s not all about attracting notice of any kind.

Even so, that reality doesn’t keep people who should know better from shooting themselves in the foot.

You saw that misguided attitude – all press is good press — in the recent ham-handed approach of some Super Bowl ads. Groupon, an online coupon company, seemingly made light of the plight of the people of Tibet, endangered whales and deforestation of the rain forest.  Millions of dollars spent; few friends made.

The wrong thinking also was front-stage in the recent tweet of Kenneth Cole, an entrepreneur who said, “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online…”  Now, that’s the way to harness the power of social networking. Anyone following that hashtag is going to run out for new shoes and accessories, and love your brand for life. Not.

Cole immediately apologized, and Groupon tried to explain things away in their blog.

Still, it’s pretty clear from behavior like this that not everybody has been reading Dale Carnegie.  You make friends and influence people by having a good set of values, working hard, treating individuals with respect and honestly telling people what you have to offer.  That’s the core of PR and building meaningful, lasting relationships.

– Eric Blom, APR

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After further consideration, I realized that this broad answer didn’t really address the client’s needs. Below is the rule of thumb we’ve experienced over the past few years on advising clients when sending press releases:

List your agency contact if you do not have the resources to handle the press, aren’t trained or are hard to reach. Example:

Contact:           Linda Varrell, Broadreach Public Relations

(207) 846-3826

lindav@broadreachpr.com

• List an internal company contact, which can be company spokesperson or subject matter expert depending on the content of the release, and your agency if you are hard to reach, not always prepared but still want to establish media relationships internally.  Example:

Contact:           Mary Smith, Client Company

(207) XXX-XXXX

Email address

-or-

Eric Blom, Broadreach Public Relations

(207) 846-3826

ericb@broadreachpr.com

• List just your internal company contact if they are comfortable with the press, accessible (this is key) and have established relationships with the media folks.  Example:

Contact:           Mary Smith, Client Company

(207) XXX-XXXX

Email address

This may seem like Public Relations 101, but it is important to make sure you have the right contact person who will be accessible, prepared and trained to speak with the media when the opportunity to tell your story presents itself. The best and fastest way to build strong media relations is to be available, open and honest in all of your communications with journalists.

– Linda Varrell, APR

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Still, everyone recognizes that these are sensible precautions.  In the same way, you should be doing a few small things to ensure that your reputation is protected from disaster, such as an employee incident, product problem or some other unforseen event. Here are some tactics that will help keep your reputation from burning down:

• Smoke Detector: Monitor your reputation and how others view your organization, in a systematic, sustained way.  Use Google alerts and social media search tools, such as Addict-o-matic, Social Mention or Twitter search, to find out what others are saying about you.  Ask employees and others to let you know what they are hearing.
• Fire Extinguisher: Develop a plan for how to respond to protect your reputation, in case of an emergency.  Put in writing who will respond and how they will behave.
• Firefighting: When something bad happens, address it head on.  As with a fire, a crisis is likely to consume everything in its path until it is doused.  Hoping a problem will go away or won’t be noticed seldom solves the problem. Get your message out.
• Emergency Contact: If you find yourself in a real bind, reach out to professionals who have previously navigated crisis situations and helped clients protect their good name.  Enlist your allies, such as industry partners and vendors, too, in defending your organization and helping you rebuild your brand.

– Eric Blom, APR

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A company needs enough Public Relations capital built up over time in order to protect against reputation risk. Take Toyota’s current PR crisis for example; we all know what happened; unsafe cars on the road, company delays in notification, deflecting responsibility and then finally owning up to situation, with more coming out daily. As a Public Relations and communications professional, I watched this unfold very carefully. Is Toyota going down?

• Why were Toyota vehicles having so many safety issues in the first place?
• Why did their CEO wait so long to advise the public?
• Why did he try to deflect and shift responsibility to his underlings?
• Why is there still more coming out?

Upon closer analysis, I would venture to guess, that Toyota is not going to go down. The reason? They have a strong net operating PR capital. They have built up their PR capital from the inside out over time, with long-term loyal customers, dealers, vendors, employees and much more. In fact, Toyota is presently going on the offensive with authentic and appealing marketing strategies that are putting all of their built up capital to work.

My understanding from some NE dealers is that they are having some of their greatest sales months ever. True or not, it leads me to believe that Toyota will survive this hit to their reputation, though they may have to invest a great deal over the next few years in building their capital back up.

Public Relations is about building and fostering long term relationships with your audiences and stakeholders; which doesn’t happen overnight or with one great story or even with a great number of fans or tweets. A company’s reputation is at risk in the same fashion as its financial situation and must be attended to on a regular basis. To illustrate further, let’s take the financial model and apply it to PR in terms of relationships.

• Leverage current assets – Is what you have working for you? Are you building new relationships?
  What value are you providing in today’s marketplace?
• Monitor current liabilities – Who do you owe? Where have you fallen down in delivering value? What relationships have you lost?
• Perpetuate and leverage your long-term assets – Are you maintaining your long-term relationships? Are you telling your authentic story? Are you building a tradition of successful and consistent messaging and branding?

In business, “we earn our right to do business every day,” by building up our PR capital over time with a focus on engaging your assets for the long term.

Next segment: How companies can get started in building up their PR capital.

Best,

Linda

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Take for example, how I became a PR Specialist here at Broadreach.

When I graduated college in August of 2008 with a degree in Integrated Marketing Communications, I knew that I was going into tough job market, but I wasn’t actually that worried. I left school thinking that finding a job would take maybe a couple of months – I’d send some resumes out, go through a few interviews and then land a job. I was a fresh and ambitious young woman- how hard could it really be?

And then reality, coupled with an impending recession, gave me the who-know-what kind of slap in the face.

6 months, hundreds of resumes, 5 online job hunting websites, 2 staffing agencies, practically every family member and friend on the hunt for me and I still had nothing.

It was around December of 2008 that my Mom came home from her church and told me to email my resume to the brother of a family friend whom I had never met. Within a week of that email I had an interview with Broadreach Public Relations founder and President, Linda Varrell.

Thursday, January 3, 2009. Starbucks. This is when and where I met Linda for the first time. Having a very general idea that she was in public relations and was looking for an assistant, I was hopeful, nervous, and a little desperate. We talked for a little over two hours about my experience, goals, and interests and about her company.

I started at Broadreach PR on January 8th, 2009.

Networking is all about our interconnectivity as professionals and people. I got an interview with Broadreach not because Linda had seen my resume posted on monster.com or from a staffing agency, but because my mom knew someone who had a brother who knew Linda.

Yes, it’s a bit convoluted, but you never know what circles people run in and who happens to be friends or colleagues with whom.

I later found out that the man who recommended me to Linda was the older brother of my high school soccer coach. (Good thing I lettered that one year. . .)

Lessons learned:
1. Be friendly and treat people kindly, because you just never know.
2. Networking happens everywhere and with anyone because “networking” is just a more professional way to say “personal interaction”.
3. Do not disregard any line of relationships for networking. I never thought my Mom would be the one to help me land a job, but she did.

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If you offer a solution to someone’s problem and are standing right in front of that person, you have a far better shot of getting the job than a competitor down the street.

Of course, you can’t spend your days sitting on your prospects’ doorsteps, waiting for them to call out your name. You can, however, keep your business front-of-mind with strategic networking efforts that include as many of the following three elements as possible:

• Face Time: Nothing is as powerful as an in-person meeting, and nothing is more annoying than an individual in your face, trying to sell something. So, find ways to spend time with potential clients without giving them the hard pitch. Listen more than talk. Go to their events and attend those activities that they are likely to attend, and ask to meet them for a cup of coffee to catch up with one another.
• Information: Tell the business community – especially those with whom you have a relationship — about the expertise you offer and the work you do. Update social networks regularly, author a blog, speak at events, teach classes, provide expertise for news stories or through online professional sites, write columns for business publications and make sure those people who are in your network understand what you have to offer.
• Outreach: Regularly touch base with people you know. The note you send may have nothing to do with the call you receive. Someone who had forgotten about your existence until they heard from you may just need your services. Share information of interest through email. Write and distribute a newsletter. Remember birthdays.

Okay. So, the last one is pure Dale Carnegie, and none of this is rocket science.

But there’s a reason that Woody Allen’s advice is so often repeated, quoted and misquoted. It’s a simple message that most people don’t apply, at least with the sophistication and energy required by today’s complex social and business networking environment.

– Eric Blom

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