May 06 | Ashley, Public Relations Account Executive
For its first CHA Craft SuperShow in Anaheim, the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) looked to position social media as a priority to help increase awareness of and excitement for its consumer show event. CHA selected Patterson/Bach Communications to launch its CHA Craft SuperShow social media initiatives in fall 2009.
May 05 | Ashley, Public Relations Account Executive
Ashley Krauser, Patterson/Bach’s public relations account executive, competes year round in Eventing. Eventing, often referred to as the “equestrian triathlon,” is a test of horse and rider in three phases: dressage, stadium, and cross country.
May 05 | Ashley, Public Relations Account Executive
Patterson/Bach has hired Cameron Thomas as Interactive Media Director, as the agency focuses on expanding its Web Design department.
Apr 26 | Ashley, Public Relations Account Executive
I often hear people refer to public relations (PR) professionals as “spin doctors,” meaning they ‘spin’ or manipulate information to persuade public opinion for or against something or someone. It’s also a common misconception that PR pros always have an agenda and are rarely truthful. Therefore, journalists, and the public in general, are weary of trusting PR practitioners.
In reality, the role and responsibility of PR professionals is to guide an organization or individual to make ethical decisions and attempt two-way communication to develop and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with each key public. PR pros are actually accountable for all of our actions and decisions made for our organization(s) and ourselves. PR pros strive to practice public relations in an ethical manner, following the Public Relations Society of America’s Code of Ethics. PRSA, the industry’s overseeing association, can revoke practitioners’ memberships if a professional does not adhere to its Code of Ethics. Although a PR pro may practice PR without being a PRSA member, membership is important and one of a list of credentials people should look for when choosing a PR counselor.
PR professionals have specific education and experience to strategically manage many communications challenges. Most PR pros have studied and graduated with a degree in public relations from communication colleges across the U.S. It’s important to remember that these professionals have been taught the appropriate way to communicate a message to a diverse list of target audiences, as well as how and when the message should be delivered.
As professionals, we endeavor to educate the public about PRSA’s fundamental values, including, “…advocacy, honesty, loyalty, professional development, and objectivity…” Helping people understand the many disciplines within public relations (i.e., charitable giving, community relations, and employee communications, to name a few), and see us as communication facilitators, not barriers, contributes to increased trust and respect for our industry.
Mar 02 | Ashley, Public Relations Account Executive
Patterson/Bach’s public relations team believes in encouraging organizations to establish and maintain a comprehensive public relations program. Many times, our team receives only one request from an organization or business in regard to what it wants to achieve through a public relations campaign: proactive media relations.
While we understand the importance and value of media relations, it’s also our job to educate clients on other public relations disciplines, including, crisis communications, community relations, internal relations, and social media, among others.
As public relations counselors, we have a responsibility to inform clients of all available resources when we develop and implement a comprehensive public relations program tailored to help achieve an organization’s goals and objectives.
With so much emphasis on media relations, it’s easy to forget the positive impact of having (or the consequences of not having) a comprehensive public relations program in place, so we’ve decided to take this opportunity to remind you of a few key benefits:
Now, more than ever, organizations should consider implementing a comprehensive public relations program that prioritizes key initiatives to consistently meet the needs of internal and external publics, ultimately strengthening the core business and producing long-lasting results.
Dec 16 | Ashley, Public Relations Account Executive
Our public relations team frequently meets with clients to discuss social media initiatives and opportunities. We ask a variety of questions, including why clients want their organization to be on an online network, what they could achieve through an online presence, and how much of their resources are they willing to dedicate to this effort.
Clients’ answers to these questions are often surprising: from “…because our competition is,” to “…because we want to have a lot of followers and fans.” Many responses demonstrate a lack of understanding how social networking sites operate and the types of online communities that are available for their specific organizations. Clients also usually fail to incorporate their brand platform, mission, goals and core values into their answers; whereas, they rarely make this mistake with traditional media methods.
How would you measure success on a social networking site? The number one response we receive is that success should be measured by the amount of fans and followers an organization has. While it is possible to create programs that increase the number of followers/fans on FaceBook or Twitter and other networking sites, it’s not a solid, long-term strategy for the following reasons:
• When focusing on quantity, quality is lost. Concentrating on quality over quantity is critical to maintaining two-way dialogue. It’s difficult to maintain ongoing conversations when there are a multitude of different conversations occurring, all aimed at you.
• Inability to effectively listen to your audience. A key element of social media is sharing and listening. Proactively listening to feedback to hear what people say about your brand will allow your organization to create immediate resolutions to problems or criticisms. If your utilizing any social network, you should hear, read, listen, and respond to individuals; as well as implement change and organizational operating strategies when necessary.
• Short-term promotions should be incorporated into a long-term strategy. When the promotion ends, these fans often disappear too. Your social media activities should not be solely focused on short-term promotions. The focus should be on building long-term relationships that lead to loyal brand followers. Promotions can help build this concept, but should not be your only strategy. When you focus on your relationships, you will receive a greater response when you create a short-term promotion and call to action.
• Talk with me, not at me. If your followers/fans just wanted to hear you talk, they would visit your Web site, which is an online portal for your organization to do just that—talk only about itself for a never-ending period of time. Your web site doesn’t allow for real time, two-way dialogue. If customers didn’t want to provide you feedback, your Web site would be the most popular online presence.
Long-term social media plans should be well-developed strategies and tactics that support your organization’s goals. A goal on a social networking site shouldn’t be to have numerous supporters, because your organization will have a weak relationship with each individual. Build a great foundation so that it will grow, and when it does grow, people are having a really positive experience. If you implement social media correctly for fans 1 through 100, then you will have set a great precedent for the rest of your fans/followers.
Our clients’ social media programs focus on the strength of their relationships within online communities. When an organization is new to social media, our goal is to provide a good foundation that enables a business to commit to a long-term plan. If you need a partner to start or grow your social media efforts, contact me at Ashley (at) pat-bach (dot) com.
Nov 18 | Ashley, Public Relations Account Executive
Another exciting Halloween has passed, and the Patterson/Bach team held another successful pumpkin carving contest on Friday, October 30.
Tension filled the air in the P/B office as Brian Margolis, director of marketing, Linda Williams, chief financial officer and Ashley Krauser, public relations account executive, spent the weeks leading up to the contest in fierce competition, vying for the grand prize – a 5 pound bag of Halloween candy.
Brian and Linda tied, scooping up the winning title, and copious amounts of candy, with a total of nine out of ten points.
It was all fun and games when the pumpkin presentations took place. The entries were encouraged to be creative, and take advantage of every edge they could get by designing and presenting their pumpkins by using candles, strobe lights, decorations and even painting.
The winning entries, shown in the picture above, was titled “Ode to the BBQ” and “Linda Pumpkin Title here.” It was a giant pumpkin cut in half, filled with charcoal, dry ice and strobe lights with a grill on top of the structure, where three miniature carved pumpkins sat skewered. Linda’s pumpkin was an ornately carved witch.
The sky was the limit when designing the pumpkins – well, the limit was actually $29.99, the most anyone could spend on a carving kit if they chose to do so. Other restrictions in the competition included no professional carvers, pre-carved pumpkins were not acceptable, and pumpkins must weight less than 275 pounds (a requirement that surely was easy to follow as nobody would like to carry around a 275 pound pumpkin just for fun).
Mindy Bender, production goddess, Shawn Dennis, Senior Art Director, judged all participating pumpkins on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being terrible and 10 being spooktacular. The categories for judging were creativity, craftsmanship and illumination.
Congratulations to 2009’s winner, Brian and Linda!
Sep 28 | Ashley, Public Relations Account Executive
Social Media, also known as User-Generated Content (UGC), allows organizations to connect with key publics in Web-based communities. These communities, which usually require registration from each user, allow for real-time interaction among organizations and their current and potential clients.
There are universal benefits to participating in social networks and increasing your brand’s online presence: it’s free and provides 24/7 access to your brand, real-time information dissemination, exposure to unlimited potential customers, and an ability to deliver prompt customer service to clients while managing relationship expectations.
Prior to charging forward with a social media campaign, an organization must first understand the minimum commitment necessary to deliver success. Like most efforts, you get out of it what you put into it, and it’s better to have no social media presence than a poor one.
It’s important to recognize and use social media tools for your specific organizations or risk losing profitable business opportunities. A crucial, initial step for any organization wanting positive ROI from social media is taking time to research and evaluate Internet-centric media applications against its mission, vision, core values, target audiences, goals, and product or service. It may be difficult to choose appropriate online networks and tools for conducting business and increasing brand awareness. A simple, effective way to begin your research is to survey your target audiences regarding which networks and tools they use.
Once your organization commits to actively participating in a social media community and has identified which tools to utilize, you must set guidelines for all employees who are participating in your social media effort.
Last, but certainly not least, it is critical to provide valuable, relevant information about your organization and industry on a consistent basis in any online network. Understand how to engage users and develop trust and credibility.
Patterson/Bach can help you determine your minimum commitment, research your audiences to identify the most appropriate and effective tools and applications, develop employee guidelines, and generate valuable, consistent content. If your organization needs help getting started or increasing your social media efforts, contact Patterson/Bach.