Crains Cleveland Business Article: Montrie Rucker Adams, president and chief visibility officer, Visibility Marketing Inc.

Purple2Originally Published in Crains Cleveland Business: November 16, 2014

Earlier this year, Crain’s Cleveland Business formed an 11-member minority advisory board to provide objective, constructive input on minority-based issues for Crain’s. The Crain’s Business Diversity Council has met regularly since April. This is one in a series of profiles of its members.

Montrie Rucker Adams is a seasoned communications professional, yet she still has had her abilities called into question despite her qualifications.The president and chief visibility officer for Visibility Marketing Inc. of Beachwood said diversity and inclusion are issues that still need to be addressed. “No matter where you are, there’s this segregation that seems to naturally happen,” she said. “It’s still going on, it’s still happening. … It’s the 2000s and people are still running from each other.” Adams, who also has worked as director of publications for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District; as manager of marketing and public relations for the Health Museum of Cleveland; and as editor of Kaleidoscope magazine, is not one to sit back, however. Not only is she a member of the newly formed Crain’s Business Diversity Council, she’s been involved in a variety of community organizations and efforts, including the East End Neighborhood House and Continue Life Inc., a homeless shelter and transitional housing program for expecting and parenting young women.Adams also is passionate about her work with the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women at Case Western Reserve University.

“I am truly a women’s advocate,” she said. “When it comes to women, we’re still just treading water … sometimes just standing still.”

She even has made inclusion part of her everyday work at Visibility Marketing, implementing a practice of what she calls “Smart Inclusion.” It builds off the concept that innovation requires collaboration that crosses boundaries that we used to avoid or ignore.

Too often, she said, it is human nature for people to look for people like themselves — whether it’s in news coverage, the world of business or other circles.

“It’s the same old, same old,” she said. “That’s what happens when you don’t open your circle wide enough.”

It’s for that reason that Adams is encouraged by the Crain’s Diversity Council and her involvement with it. “It’s a positive step in the right direction,” she said.

Adams, a Northeast Ohio native who now lives is Richmond Heights, earned an undergraduate degree in business administration and psychology from Baldwin-Wallace College and her master’s degree in business administration (marketing/marketing management) from the University of North Carolina.

She and her husband, with whom she works at Visibility Marketing, have two children, ages 11 and 13.— Amy Ann Stoessel

How Whole Foods Built Awareness on Pinterest

whole foods on pinterestPinterest is growing rapidly, with more monthly usage than Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ combined. Time spent on the site averages 77 minutes, compared to Facebook’s 10 minutes.

Whole Foods (WF) didn’t just pin randomly to create their robust community of followers. They had a system:

  1. Growing the community. WF devised a video series for its boards on such topics as urban farming which did not focus on their brand: the aim was to tie the brand to specific food cultures. The urban farming board was entitled: “How does your garden grow?”
  2. Keeping their board topics broad to pull in more people: vegetarians, gardeners, “shop locally” proponents, etc. They built on their broad base by creating boards that were Whole Foods Market-related, like products or recipes using the brand’s products.
  3. Fewer boards with more content vs. numerous boards with fewer pins: They used keywords to find the most popular topics.
  4. Using images to drive traffic to the website: Photos of dishes were repinned often and the recipe ingredients linked to the WF website.
  5. Story telling: WF raises funds for the Whole Planet Foundation, which helps farmers in developing countries through microcredit transactions. Defining this organization was helped by using maps, showing people who benefited from the program and pictures of their food products.
  6. Infographics: Were popular repins, so they expanded their content by adding text to their photos.
  7. Collaboration: Pinterest is for people to share based on what they love. As accounts followed each other, they added to each one’s boards. WF partnered with them to produce events.

Think about how your company or organization can take advantage of this growing social media tool. Remember the old saying: A picture is worth a thousand words.

 

1961 Boston Globe TV Commercial Portrays the Life of Stay-at-home Moms

The 1960’s-era stay-at-home Mom was much different from today’s Moms. In 1961, the Boston Globe hired the ad agency BBD&O, who hired Bert Stern, to shoot a one-minute ad for the paper. Its target: the stay-at-home Mom.

Click to view the ad:

boston globe ad 1961 Continue reading 1961 Boston Globe TV Commercial Portrays the Life of Stay-at-home Moms

Know Your Audiences

If you are contemplating a public relations career, there is a lot to think about. Most people believe public relations is just networking and building relationships. They may believe it’s taking someone to lunch, hitting the golf course or tennis courts, or eating at trendy restaurants and bars. That’s not it. There is much more to it.

For public relations to work, you have to pay attention and know in whose hands you need to get that vital piece of client information. You have to know and understand the client’s audiences.

Reading both magazines and newspaper in print and online, subscribing to blogs, watching television, and other sources of media, etc. – you need to find out who the key players are that report on a particular business industry.

If we represent an author, we would not send out a press release or contact a reporter/writer in the technology field. If we represent a music artist, we wouldn’t contact a writer who writes for corporate entities. Most of us have clients in various industries so we need to have an arsenal of contacts in all fields.

It can take several emails or telephone calls before we can even get to the contact person. However, using key words in an email or voicemail to get their attention might speed up the process. By merely mentioning an article they’ve written or an award they’ve received – that could be the ticket to getting your foot in the door.

However, if time goes by and we haven’t connected – we may have to be a little more persistent. Send a follow up email asking if they received the first one, or drop them a note inviting them to lunch – we all have to eat. Be subtle – you don’t want to look like bothersome pest.

What happens when you finally get that meeting? How will you take advantage of the time you spend with them? Know that media professionals are always looking for new stories and subject matter. Good stories and subject matter. Be creative. Add a special twist to the new product launch. What is new and innovative about it? How can it help the reader? What will it do to make the reader’s life better? This is the information they need to have. Their audience is the reader. That’s the appeal.

If you have more than one client in their field of interest – kill two birds with one stone, talk about all of your clients. Be prepared – develop a brief overview of each of the clients. Have electronic information ready to share that includes your client’s expertise, products and/or services, website and any other information that will help them make a decision. If a client has products – it might be a good idea to have a few giveaways handy.

A public relations professional has to know audiences. You must know your audience: media professional, client… and you must know their audience, the end-user.

Cameras and Twitter…The New Weapons of Choice

Here’s the scenario: You are sitting at a business conference chit-chatting with a business colleague about something between the “boys.” Someone in front of you overhears your conversation, takes offense, shoots you and your friend (with her cell phone camera), tweets your photo with a comment about you and your friend’s conversation and now, your career is dead (hers too).

What was not expected was how quickly the tweet went viral, that it would get back to your boss and that you would lose the job you love because unbeknownst to you, you violated the conference’s Code of Conduct. You’re not sure you even read it.

adria richards twitter

The shooter and twitterer didn’t see her pink slip coming either.

This scenario actually happened last week between Adria Richards, developer evangelist at SendGrid and developer Alex Reid of PlayHaven. To read the full story, click here

Big Brother is here and watching your every move. With cameras on every cell phone, it’s hard to get away from Big Brother. What bothers me is that we’re not safe anywhere. Where are the rights of the individual who just happens to have a yuk-em-up conversation with friends?

Now, I’m not defending Mr. Reid. He and his friend should have carefully chosen their words. However, I’m wondering if Ms. Richards, warned the two that they were offending her. From the article, it seems she just turned around, pointed, shot and tweeted.

There are many lessons in this scenario. A few are:

  1. Always be on your best behavior on company time…no matter where you are.
  2. Always read, read and read again your company’s and any other’s participation agreement. Apparently, these Codes of Conduct are taken seriously.
  3. Always be on your best behavior, period.
  4. Big Brother is always watching…

Do I think anyone should have been fired? No. Everyone should at least get one warning. This social media world in which we now live is so new. We’re all getting used to it.

The age-old sexism issue that Ms. Richards cried is real and may be growing stronger. From the looks of the photo, she was out-numbered. Hers is a field where few women dare to tread. Is it because of sexism? Ms. Richards had a right to be offended. She had a right to voice her discomfort. But, did she have the right to take a photo of Mr. Reid and tweet it without his permission?

What do you think?

Be More Visible – Be Informative

Whether it’s a blog, Facebook message, tweet on Twitter or an update on LinkedIn, always be truthful and avoid overkill.

  1. Write a blog or an article. Start with a trade magazine. Send a tweet. Inform your clients and potential clients about what your company is doing, the latest advancements in your industry and general information. Comment on blogs. Search your industry or area of expertise and read what others are saying. Post your comments and links to your blog site.
  2. Post it. Always put the information in your blog and on your business Facebook page. Remember to tweet your followers and let your connections on LinkedIn know about it.
  3. Conduct a seminar or demonstration. If you know, what you know, what you know… then share it. It’s one of the best ways to boost your credibility. Not sure of where to begin? Start with your local community. Many offer a variety of classes to residents and non-residents, such as computer literacy, tax tips, retirement strategies, cooking, health and fitness and, “how to start a business.”
  4. Produce a video. Make it short and to the point. Post it on your website, YouTube or make a DVD to sell or give away.
  5. Send a press release to the media. Are you offering a new product or service? Are you proud of an accomplishment? Is a special event planned? Do you have a great human-interest story that involves your product or service? Let the media know. They are always looking for positive stories.
  6. Write a book(let). Pass along your knowledge and pay it forward. Speak about your book. Mention that you are an author on your email page, business card or website. When you meet someone, tell them about your book. Now is not the time to be shy. Have a book signing. These can be held at coffee shops, in bookstores (obvious), out of your car (not so obvious). Always carry books with you and always be ready to talk about it. People are thirsty for knowledge and will be happy to take a drink from you.
  7. Write a white paper (or whitepaper). These are authoritative reports or guided that often addresses issues and how to solve them. White papers are not as costly as books (many are downloadable from websites), yet they can be very useful to the end user.
  8. Pick up the phone. Call a former client. Call a potential client. Just call. Remind them that you are still around and available for business.

More Elements of an Effective Press Release

Press releases are still important methods for disseminating information to key target audiences. Though social media has evolved into viable methods to reach desired audiences, the press release is not dead.

The Release Date

This is the date your release is distributed. Many feel the date is important because it can indicate whether the release is current or newsworthy. Many media outlets want to be the first to report on what is newsworthy.

The Body – Who, What, When, Where and Why

Media outlets are very busy and don’t have time to research additional information on the release topic. The body of the press release is going to have the important information they need when deciding to share the story. The more information provided, the less work will be required and the happier they will be.

The lead-in paragraph should briefly detail the press release purpose. It should include the five W’s – Who, What, When, Where, and Why.

  • Who or What is the press release about?
  • If it’s about an event, When does it take place?
  • Where does it take place?
  • Why is this newsworthy or why is it happening?

When sending your release, stick to the facts. You don’t want to overdo it with technical or industry jargon. If the information is difficult to understand, it may wind up in the “circular” file.

The second paragraph should provide additional supporting information, such as details about the people, products, services related to this news item.

If the press release is not about you and your business, but about your client – make sure the company name, contact information, address, telephone numbers, website URL, and any other information that will help the reader if there are questions.

Important tips:

  • Proofread, proofread, proofread… and get someone else to proofread your release. I once worked at a newspaper. We were required to have our coworkers read our information. Our biggest fear? To type pubic instead of public.
  • Always use correct grammar and punctuation.
  • Even though the information has been proofread, still spell check the entire document.
  • Never type UPPERCASE letters.
  • If you can accomplish the press release in two pages … great. A one page release is even better.
  • If available, use pictures and captions. If emailing the press release, be sure to attach the image in the appropriate sized JPG format so the media does not have to contact you later for it. You should include a statement giving them publishing approval and photo credit.
  • Do not add into the body or attach any HTML, embedded codes or MP3 audio files. Most will not open the files for fear of computer viruses.  If a journalist needs this information, they will contact you. You may include important links that will provide pertinent information.
  • As often as necessary, do not attach the press release to the email. For the same reason above, include the release in the “body” of the email.

Always know why YOU are sending the press release.  Remember, press releases are for the press or  other information distributors, to inform them of an event, new product or service that you want shared with their audience…which is ultimately YOUR audience.

Don’t Hit Send! Your Press Release Headline is Boooring

If your press release subject line or headline doesn’t reach out and grab the reader, there’s a good chance it won’t get opened. So don’t send it. Do this first:

1) Write for your audience. If you’re sending a “press” release, then your audience is the editor, producer, publisher… the main decision maker for your target audience. I know you want to reach men who wear socks with sandals, women over 35 who still live at home or teens who have never tweeted. However, you have to grab the attention of the gatekeeper so that your real audience will get your message.

2) WIIFT? – It’s that simple. You have to tell the reader, in the headline, how they will benefit from the information. What’s In It For Them?

Write this: SEVEN PLACES TO HIDE YOUR MONEY SO THAT YOU WILL BECOME A MILLIONAIRE

Not this: HOW TO SAVE MONEY

Media professionals read hundreds of releases. You have to get their attention and be honest about it. Don’t use bait and switch tactics by writing a headline that you think will catch the person’s eye only to offend them after they’ve read through it. Delete!

3) List it. Make it easy on the editors and break down your content into lists…if you can. If you’re selling a product, can you list its benefits to fit a list of seven or eight? Maybe nine?

If you’re pitching a story about the latest and greatest most reverent vacuum cleaner, you may write:

SEVEN WAYS TO CLEAN YOUR HO– USE WITHOUT LIFTING A FINGER or

FIVE THINGS THE NEW WACKY VAC WON’T DO

They love lists. It easily spells out the benefits of the product or service and they are easy to process.

4) What’s Trending? If your goal is to get your product or service on a major talk show, then think about how it relates to what’s trending now. Can you tie the Wacky Vac to the latest industry buzz? The economy? You might write:

UNEMPLOYED, CITY MAN TAKES WACKY VAC AND MAKES THOUSANDS IN ONE MONTH

5) Short, to the point, especially for SEO. Keep search engine optimization in mind, i.e, browser searches. Your Internet rankings determine your exposure. When you’re crafting the most awesome headline, keep in mind that Google only recognizes the first 65-70 characters in their search results, Yahoo 72 and Bing 65. These numbers are subject change, so stay on the lower side.

There you have it. A list of five ways to create a not-so-boring headline. Don’t run with the first headline, write, re-write and write it again. Test it out. Ask a few people to read it before sending it out. If your release ends up in the delete file, you’ve wasted your time.

Then you can write a release about how not to waste your time writing boring press release headlines.

Are Bloggers Journalists

Journalists enjoy certain legal protections. One is the Shield Law.  The Shield Law protects journalists from forced disclosure of confidential sources of information.

Many bloggers consider themselves journalists  – individuals who report, write, edit, photograph or broadcasts news.  Are they protected by the Shield Law or, is the law extended only to accredited reporters from news organizations?

Forty states and the District of Columbia uphold the Shield Law which varies from state to state.

In August 2011, TechnoBuffalo.com, an Irvine, California-based website published from an anonymous source, a report that contained photos of Motorola’s new Droid Bionic phone. Legal action was then taken against TechnoBuffalo.com by JohnsByrne, a printing company located in Niles, Illinois. Hired by Motorola, JohnsBryne asked that TechnoBuffalo be ordered to disclose the name of the source that provided the image.

In January 2012, the judge ruled that TechnoBuffalo.com did not meet the standards in the state media privilege law, which protects journalists who refuse to disclose their confidential sources.  TechnoBuffalo.com was ordered to turn over the information.

TechnoBuffalo.com then filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider and in a surprising development, the judge reversed his initial decision.

As social media begins to evolve, there will be more cases similar to that of TechnoBuffalo.com’s.  The courts will continue to receive new media cases.

We are treading on new territory. With it will come opportunities to re-write the law books.

 

Writing a Press Release? Here’s What Not to Do…

A press release recently entered my inbox with the word “confidential” glaring across the top. My first thought was that the writer knew nothing about press releases. I also noticed that not one of the recipients in the email was a member of the “press.” My second thought was that my first thought was correct.

Before sending out a press release, first know what it is, then know its purpose. Read on…

A press release is written or recorded information sent to media outlets announcing newsworthy information. Media outlets include journalists at traditional news outlets, as well as other individuals who read and report the news. In the new information age, this can include bloggers and other forms of social media.

Press releases typically are used by public relations firms to attract favorable media attention for clients or provide publicity for events, products or services. Some companies have internal public relations and/or marketing specialists who handle this function. There are also non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals who send media announcements.

Now, knowing the above, the word “confidential” should never be on your press release. An announcement is never confidential. If it is a “press release,” make sure at least one member of the press is a recipient.

It’s also important for the release to include the following:

  1. An attention grabbing headline
  2. The release date
  3. A few paragraphs about the who, what, when, where and why of the press release
  4. An “About” section on the company, organization or individual providing the information
  5. A closing mark such as “###” which indicates there is no more information
  6. The sender’s contact information – name, address, telephone number, email address, website URL and any other information that makes it easy for the recipient to ask questions or get clarification

I will elaborate on the above six points in subsequent blogs. Stay tuned…

Why the Tiger Should Have Roared

The first rule in public relations 101 is When In Doubt, Say Something!

When Tiger Woods’ Cadillac Escalade hit a fire hydrant and a tree in the wee hours on Black Friday, the 33-year old golf phenom decided  to take the vague route when asked, “What happened?” He didn’t even bother to answer the police.

A note to all of you who want fame and fortune: If the media comes after you and asks questions you don’t want to answer, answer them anyway…or at least tell them when and what time you will talk to them.

When you say nothing, the public and the media begins to speculate. You don’t want that to happen. You want to stay in control and when you don’t talk, the media has the upper hand.

Tiger posted information on his Web site. But that may have been too little too late. The media has already gotten into the public’s minds. The rumors started to fly through the air before Tiger could swat them with his nine iron.

“His wife caught him cheating and ran after him with a club,” “She knocked his window out trying to knock his head off,” “Tiger was raised by a black man who always told him never to hit a woman, so he fled instead.”

These are all speculations.   We won’t know the real answer to what happened that day. Unfortunately the rumors will continue to fly.

Until the Tiger decides to roar.