Inside PR 3.01: Pleasantly Plump with Nestle Purina

July 18, 2012 • Gini Dietrich • PR

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As one of the Silver Anvil finalists, we had the opportunity to talk to Tom Lindell, who worked with Nestle Purina on their Project Pet Slimdown.

Beginning the conversation by giving us some stats (did you know more than 50 percent of pets are overweight??), Tom talked about how pet obesity mimics our lifestyles and how the epidemic is much larger than human beings.

It’s as simple as feeding them too much food (or giving them table scraps), but also not getting them the exercise they need.

So, working with Nestle Purina, they started a program to address obesity in pets. They discovered it’s a challenge to address this with pet owners and that people need support and encouragement from both veterinarians and friends. But that they also needed the solutions and inspiration to address the issue with their pets.

Project Pet Slimdown did two things: helped vets talk about the topic with their clients and provide pet owners the tools they need to help their furry children lose weight.

A series of webisodes followed pet owners along a three-month – which showed success, struggles, and weigh-ins – a Fighting Pet Obesity page on Facebook, and other social media helped to tell the story.

When we asked Tom the three things other PR pros can take away from this campaign, he said:

1. Tap into cultural relevance;

2. Inspire people vs. berate them; and

3. Recognize it isn’t easy and that it takes time to change the conversation around an issue.

Listen to the full interview to find out what he means by those three things.

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Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

Inside PR 2.96: Lee Odden’s Optimize

May 11, 2012 • Gini Dietrich • PR

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At the recent Digital Impact Conference in New York, roving reporter, Martin Waxman, caught up with Lee Odden. Lee, as most of you know, is the CEO of TopRank and the author of new book, Optimize.

Lee has been talking to PR professionals for a long time about how to diversify not only their thinking, but also their skill sets.

As a side note: I (Gini) met Lee for the first time in Orlando at the PRSA conference last year. And he described to me how, many years ago, he was talking about search engine optimization at PR conferences and everyone looked at him with blank stares. He said this past year was the first time many were jumping out of their seats to ask questions about how to incorporate SEO into their content and storytelling.

During his interview with Martin, he discusses how he’s now pushing our industry to think about the why instead of the how.

He begins by discussing his content marketing trilogy, which is: Where do your audiences look for things, how is it that they consume content, and what are their preferences for sharing.

He goes on to say, of course, sales is part of every objective, but when it’s a content program, your goals should also include gaining a social share or a referral, which leads to new audiences who buy.

Optimize is about how to approach reaching particular audiences by thinking about what they care about, their pain points, and their goals. This forms an editorial approach that ties together marketing and public relations.

Listen to Lee talk more about this…and his soothing voice that will make you a fan for life.

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Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.93: PRSA Digital Impact Conference Recap

April 11, 2012 • Gini Dietrich • PR

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Martin Waxman and Joe Thornley join Inside PR from the PRSA Digital Impact Conference in New York City and pull Gini Dietrich in via Skype because she was back from Norway just the day before and couldn’t make the trip to the Big Apple.

Based on the interviews Martin and Joe were able to secure, we have a lot of great content coming up for you!

Some things to look forward to include interviews with:

* Mattias Lufkens who, for many years, served as the social media director for the World Economic Forum at Davos. He gave a keynote at the conference that showed a case study on building an online presence. He talks about how he built the social media efforts for Davos and how he eventually grew a team focused only on video, blogging, social media, and web efforts surrounding the annual event.
* Katrina Klier who is the worldwide marketing director for Microsoft. She catches up with Joe to talk about how Microsoft is moving past community and building kinship.
* Gina Hernandez who is the executive director at the Society for New Communication Research, where she is responsible for sponsoring original research and advanced thinking on social media.
* Lee Odden, who talks about his new book, Optimize.

And much more!

During the next few weeks, we’ll air these interviews so you benefit from the conference presentations, even if you weren’t able to attend.

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Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.89: We Love Pinterest!

March 1, 2012 • Gini Dietrich • PR

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This week on Inside PR, we discuss Tony Clement’s visit during Third Tuesday. We also chat about the pros and cons of Pinterest and begin to touch on the copyright issues (which we’ll focus on in a subsequent episode).

Open Government and Social Media

If you know Joe Thornley, even peripherally, you know his life’s work has been dedicated to open government and Canadian politics. Because of that passion, he was able to secure Tony Clement for Third Tuesday last month (which I discovered rarely happens on the third Tuesday of each month).

Tony, for those of you non-Canadians, is a federal politician, president of the Treasury Board, Minister for the Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario (FedNor), and Member of Parliament of the Conservative Party.

He discussed open government, social media, and transparency for politicians.

Joe, who doesn’t agree with Clement’s policies, found himself really respecting the conservative politician, whose methods he admires.

And Martin Waxman added how Clement talked about how he’s using social media to be human, authentic…and himself. He has a plea for all citizens as other politicians get on the social bandwagon.

Pinterest

I LOVE PINTEREST!

A tool with endless possibilities, it reminds Joe of the early days of Twitter, when the platform left it to us to make it what we wanted it to be instead of trying to cram us into something they wanted it to be (cough, Google+, cough).

We discuss how to use it both personally and professionally, as well as a couple of case studies that show sales conversions early on.

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We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Gini Dietrich, with extremely detailed notes from Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.86: Politics and Social Media

February 2, 2012 • Gini Dietrich • PR

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Right now the United States are in the middle of GOP Presidential race and it’s an interesting time, to be sure.

That’s why our interview with Mary Barber is so timely.

Mary, if you don’t know, is the founder of The Barber Group, which is headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. As a side note: Alaska is having its coldest and most snowy winter on record. While it’s scary for the residents, some of us (who love snow) are living vicariously through Mary’s Facebook updates.

Last year, Mary worked with a team of communication professionals to mobilize around a candidate.

But not just any candidate…a write-in candidate who won.

It was the first time a write-in candidate has won anywhere since 1954.

We won’t ruin the interview for you, but you’ll want to listen to see how they mobilized many people to get out the message, had a message of the day, and how they were each responsible for one platform and one audience.

She also discusses how they integrated online conversations with tried and true offline tactics, such as walking a district.

Don’t miss the announcement of Jay Baer and me keynoting Counselor’s Academy this year. We discuss the topic during the podcast. What we didn’t discuss is Jay will provide the expertise and I’ll provide the color commentary. And you’ll receive a copy of Marketing in the Round!

If you run a PR firm, get to New Orleans in May!

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Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.80: Relevance Drives Influence

December 7, 2011 • Gini Dietrich • PR

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We had so much fun at the PRSA International Conference in Orlando because we got to talk to so many smart people.

This week we have another smart person to share with you: Pierre-Loic Assayag, the founder and CEO of Traackr.

Martin Waxman had a chance to chat with him in the Traackr booth about what they’re doing, how relevance drives influence, and what types of analytics are now offered through the tool.

During the conversation, Martin asked Pierre-Loic what three pieces of advice he had to offer to PR professionals.

He said:

1. Be open-minded. The new media list looks a little like the old media list, but it’s not. Be open to the new influencers you aren’t used to seeing and welcome surprises.
2. Nothing replaces hard work. This is one we really like because he talks about how what they do makes the repetitive process easier, but they’re not replacing good PR.
3. There is no silver bullet. As easy as it is to want to rely on some of these tools to automate our jobs, there is no silver bullet to online influence. In order to engage people in a meaningful way, you have to rely on good old relationship-building skills.

He also talks for a few minutes about the alpha list they just launched, which is a way to give control to influencers so they can define their own lists.

At the end of the episode, Martin, Joe Thornley, and I discuss a blog post that is making the rounds right now, “Are Women In PR Just Grown-Up Mean Girls?”

I thought it would be interesting to get the opinion from my male counterparts, but Joe was too chicken to say anything beyond, “No! That’s not true!”

The point we all agreed on, though, is our industry is so focused on media relations, which is just a tool and not everything that we do, that it’s hard to escape that notion.

Enjoy the show!

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We’d love to hear from you.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.77: Jay Baer Talks Corporate Culture

November 17, 2011 • Gini Dietrich • social media

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This week, Jay Baer, of Convince and Convert and The Now Revolution fame, is our guest.

We interviewed him at the PRSA International Conference in Orlando last month and thought now was a great time to run it.

It’s 2012 planning time so we discuss with him the things people ought to remember when using the social tools, trends to watch, and what to consider for next year.

A few things you want to pay particular attention to while you listen:

– His keynote topic at the conference was the goal of corporate culture in speed, authenticity, and response, not about social media.
– He talks about how social media success isn’t about the tools and technology. It’s about corporate culture and being social instead of doing social.
– He wants you to remember that the tools always change. If you focus on the tools, when they die, go public, or get bought out, you’re going to be left with the smoking wreckage of a plan not focused on strategy.
– He says the goal is not to be good at social media. The goal is to be good at business, using social media.

We ask him what are the three things he wants you to take away and he outlines them for us.

We also discuss how, as consumers we have so much more information about at our fingertips, it’s important for companies to be sustainable, human, approachable, and engage to help us make our decisions.

Ending with what’s next for Jay Baer and the four words Martin takes away every time he hears Jay speak.

It’s been said multiple times during the podcast, but if you’ve never heard Jay speak, you’ll quickly understand why he’s one of the industry’s most sought-after experts.

He walks the walk, is highly engaging, and is really, really smart.

Enjoy!

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We’d love to hear from you.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 2.73: Live from the PRSA Conference

October 20, 2011 • Gini Dietrich • PR

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Coming to you, live, from the PRSA International Conference…and we’re all in Orlando together.

It’s a far better experience to record in person than with Google Hangouts and our Zoom recorders. Body language is easier to read, even though we use video, and we can play off one another better.

We hope you agree!

Soledad O’Brien was the conference opening keynote where she talked about diversity and media relations.

She, as she says, is a “mixed race person.” Her dad is Irish and Australian and her mother is black and Cuban. During her keynote she describes systemic racism and how far we’ve come, but that we still have a long way to go.

Her parents were at Johns Hopkins and living in Baltimore as an engaged couple. They couldn’t get married in Baltimore because, in 1958, it was illegal. So they got married in DC and lived illegally in Baltimore as an interracial couple.

You may be wondering what this has to do with the communication industry.

The PRSA conferences have always had programming that drives toward a greater purpose. Our job is about serving more than the master; it’s our job to not accept things as they are, but to communicate views in order to move things forward.

The keynote Soledad set the right tone for the conference and for any kind of organization…that is: communications should serve as a higher purpose.

She also talked about storytelling being the foundation of everything. She said, as PR professionals, we have to tell her stories and then trust her to take our stories and create something useful for her audiences.

It really bothers her when she is pitched by people who haven’t bothered to watch what she does. She says it’s offensive to receive those kinds of pitches and this is something the three of us discuss at length during the podcast.

Also some news for Joe and Martin at the end…so don’t tune out early!

Coming soon: Interviews from old friends and new, including Pierre-Loic Assyag, Dan Tisch, Shonali Burke, Abbie Fink, Jay Baer, Mary Barber, John Devaney, Eric Schwartzman, and more!

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Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pron Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Inside PR 271: Complimenting Your Competition

October 6, 2011 • Gini Dietrich • PR

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Last week we had a really good comment from Yasin Akgun.

He asked:

Hi guys. I was wondering whether you could answer my question in your next show:

I’m managing the Twitter presence for a B2B company and was wondering whether I am being naive in thinking that Tweets praising or being positive about other brands’ products is OK and good BR (business relations) as well as PR. For example “just seen the Incentive range from Rival Company, stunning stuff!”

I hope the question isn’t one of these where I go back and think “wow how naive was I”. I just believe in fostering good relations with other organisations regardless of the stereotypical negative business attitude of “us and them, theyre our rivals”.

So Martin Waxman begins the discussion by asking, “Should you be tweeting positively about your competition?”

The discussion is lively as we don’t all agree.

Joe Thornley has a point about the early days of social media and how we all shared freely…until we realized we could make money from teaching companies how to incorporate the social tools into their larger marketing programs.

He goes on to say the business world doesn’t see competitors as friendly and, when you give away too much information, they consider you naive. He said he’d rather be silent than compliment or diss them.

Gini Dietrich disagrees and says, while social has allowed her to gain credibility and thought leadership in order for Arment Dietrich to compete with the global PR firms, it was Counselor’s Academy that made her realize there are benefits in working with your competition, instead of against it.

And Martin balances the two by discussing the difference between friendly and cutthroat competition.

He also suggests that complimenting your competition online is really a business decision your company leaders need to make and not something you can do without discussing with them first.

We also touch on the Ragu “crisis,” which was created by some spam tweets and a few upset daddy bloggers. And we discuss the features and benefits of the new Delicious.

We also learned some very sad news. Barbara Nixon, a friend to all three of us, and long-time Inside PR listener, learned last week that her 22 year old son, Kyle, passed away unexpectedly. Our hearts go out to her and her family right now.

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Reminder: Inside PR will be recording live from the PRSA International Conference in Orlando on October 16 and 17. We’ll also be interviewing speakers and participants. So, if you’re planning to be there, let us know and we will grab a sound bite with you.

And, RSVP for the TweetUp on Monday, Oct. 18. The first drink is on us!

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Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pron Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.