PR Interviews – What to Do and What not to Do
Posted on | January 29, 2010 | brett turner
I was reminded recently when one of my colleagues decided to leave Jackson Marketing Group and move back to her home state, how few people actually prepare for a job interview. It never ceases to amaze me those that will enter an interview not knowing one thing about what we do specifically, who our clients are and/or how their skills can help us. In fairness, the ones that do research and come prepared almost always knock my socks off.
So I decided to write a quick blog post on job interviews from the PR perspective. Some of these rules can be applied when interviewing for any job. Some are specifically for public relations applicants.
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Beating the Butterflies
Posted on | January 15, 2010 | mike weston
“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” – Jerry Seinfeld
via Think Exist
Perhaps only one thing strikes more fear into a Creative’s heart than not coming up with the big idea. That one thing? Actually presenting that big idea. And let’s face it; rarely does an idea sell itself. So for 99% of the time, presentation skills are necessary. But the reality is most Creatives, from the obscure to the Boguskys, view these presentations with a mixture of fear and trepidation. We’re human after all. And like others of our kind we’re prone to developing the dreaded “butterflies”.
How to overcome that fluttering feeling in ones tummy may be as simple as recognizing and remembering a few things:
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6 Reasons You Should Be Interested in SEO
Posted on | January 1, 2010 | drew stauffer
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the practice of optimizing specific aspects of web pages in order to increase the overall traffic from the search engines. The majority of website traffic comes from the search engines, and if your site isn’t being found, then you can be losing out on incredible opportunities.
The benefits of SEO are numerous, but today we’re only going to focus on six areas: usability, code, rankings, traffic, cost and brand visibility.
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The Power of a Strong Brand Culture
Posted on | December 15, 2009 | mike zeller
Over the years, much good “how-to” stuff has been written about the subject of strategic marketing, branding and brand building, with the end game being to help marketers identify new ways to persuade more people to buy and become loyal to a brand, e.g. external marketing. But another very important and often ignored market is even more critical—the internal market—the very employees in a company or organization who can make or break the brand for the customers it is trying to attract.
John Wanamaker, the famous retail magnate considered by many to be the father of modern advertising, once said,
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; trouble is I don’t know which half.”
Look on the Bright Side – of Twitter
Posted on | October 2, 2009 | joshua lyall
I saw an interesting study today on brands mentioned in tweets – one of the big concerns many clients have is that by participating in social media they are going to get a lot of negative feedback or opinions expressed about their brand. This study provides strong support for something we’ve been saying for a long time – the vast majority of brand mentions are not even expressing opinions. This review of nearly 150,000 tweets found only about 20% actually expressed an opinion and two-thirds of those were positive opinions.
While your gut may be telling you there’s all kinds of negativism out in social media just waiting to attack your brand if you wade in, the facts just don’t support it. So now what’s keeping you from taking an active role in social media?
For any stat crunchers out there, here is the full research report.
Stop Selling and Just Answer the Question
Posted on | April 20, 2009 | melea mauldin
PR professionals are so often the victim of the vicious label “spin doctor.” The common thought is PR pros make people believe in your products or services, no matter how unimportant they may be in the lives of others.
If you are good at PR, there is no need for spin or even a pitch. All you have to do is tell the truth. Give out the information you have and answer questions directly and concisely. Really. No used car salesman tactics needed. No neuro-marketing research required. If the products or services are important to the audience, they will bite. The days of the hard sell and mass press releases are over.
With the rise of social media, and public relations merging and meshing into the technological world, being transparent and concise is absolutely critical. Take full advantage of the uber-niches that social media provides. Don’t pitch these people and talk at them. Engage and talk with them. According to the Bad Pitch Blog, participation is key.
Northland International Launches
Posted on | April 6, 2009 | drew stauffer
This past Tuesday Northland Baptist Bible College went through an enormous rebranding process by changing their name, logo and website to Northland International University. The announcement was made by Northland President Matt Olsen and Northland Chancellor Les Ollila during the week-long Missions Conference.
Northland International University was founded in 1976 and exists to train pastors, teachers, missionaries and godly laymen of tomorrow. Northland is located in Dunbar, Wisconsin, and enrolls 650 undergraduates and 100 graduate students, representing 45 states and 11 foreign countries.
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What Do Leading B2B Marketers See in 2009 That You Don’t?
Posted on | April 1, 2009 | joshua lyall
Twice a year, the Duke University Fuqua School of Business conducts a survey commissioned by the American Marketing Association. They sample marketing leaders at Fortune 1000 and Forbes Top 200 companies; nearly three-quarters of participants are at the VP, CMO or higher level. The February 2009 results were recently released and there was a clear contrast between the perceptions and plans of the B2B marketers and the B2C marketers.
Don’t Be an Entourage of Suck-ups
Posted on | March 19, 2009 | melea mauldin
When PRNewser interviewed social media innovator, Guy Kawasaki, at the South by Southwest Conference (SXSW) this week, Kawasaki made no apologies for still clinging to his PR firm. (See the originial interview at http://bit.ly/KHvbQ)
“I may know a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean I know every blogger. Take something like Mashable, they have ten reporters. I don’t know all ten of them. I don’t know which one is the most logical for me,” he said.
He pointed out that in addition to providing “arm and leg” support such as scheduling media briefings, PR pros should provide strategic-level thinking–which outlets to use, who to contact, clarifying the message, etc. ”You wouldn’t just buy QuickBooks and then decide to do all your books, you would hire an accounting firm. And this is the same thing, you hire the pros who know how to do it.”
Kawasaki also said it’s important for PR firms to “just beat the crap out of you and get you prepared for the tough questions.” He doesn’t want his PR firm to be an “entourage of suck-ups.” Kawasaki said it is PR’s moral obligation not to do this and to provide constructive feedback.
Is There Such Thing as a Full Service Agency?
Posted on | March 10, 2009 | drew stauffer
Ever wonder what a full service marketing and advertising agency can really do for your company?
Take a look at our promotional video and find out how Jackson-Dawson in Greenville South Carolina can take your company to the next level and incorporate your brand into every possible medium.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact Jackson-Dawson.
keep looking »What We're All About
Welcome to The Cure for Common Marketing, a Jackson Marketing Group blog dedicated to sharing insightful thinking, new ideas, technologies, what-if concepts, success stories, and book/article reviews about light speed changes in the B2B marketing universe. We encourage you to share your thoughts and opinions.