E-mail Etiquette: It Can Make or Break You

As we approach graduation and the time comes to apply for jobs, send resumes and ask for references, e-mail etiquette could just be what will make or break your future.

This might sound extreme, but potential employers, teachers and/or business professionals looking to possibly hire you or give you a letter of recommendation may be deterred by poor e-mail writing.

Most e-mails are not written correctly. Mistakes can vary, from grammar to punctuation to salutation, but a poorly written e-mail always receives the same results: an equally poor impression.

Check out Brian Zafron’s The Art of E-mail-Writing And How It Can Make or Break Your Business, a nice refresher on e-mail writing and etiquette.

Here, I want to briefly remind you of some tips for writing proper e-mails. Zafron goes in to more detail in his post, so be sure to check it out for further clarification.

Content

1. Make your purpose clear: Say what you need to say in as little words as possible. There is no room for ambiguity in e-mail etiquette. Period.

2. Brand with a meaningful subject line: A straight-forward, explanatory subject line will almost guarantee the receiver reads your e-mail. Confusing, spam-like headers will most likely end up in the trash.

3. Pay attention to tone: E-mails establish relationships with potential employers, business partners, teachers, etc. so it is important to have a compatible tone. Shaky writing might translate into a shaky relationship.

Style

1. Engage people with your sentences: Make your sentences strong; use vivid verbs and concrete language that won’t leave a reader asking questions or feeling confused. Basically, write your e-mails as if you are turning it in to your PR Writing professor; think about how he/she would grade it as an assignment and adjust accordingly.

2. Vary sentence length: No run-ons. Short sentences are better than long ones; this will keep readers engaged.

3. Don’t be a pompous jerk: A potential employer won’t be impressed by your ability to use a thesaurus, so stick to words you already have in your vocabulary. An extensive vocabulary can be an asset (especially for us PR writers) but, overly wordy, unnatural vocabulary can take away from the quality of your message.

Form/Technicals

1. Brevity is key: There it is again. Nobody likes long e-mails. In general, people don’t like to read. So make your e-mail quick and to the point.

2. CC with moderation: Only carbon copy (cc) to parties who are directly in contact with the subject of the e-mail. When in doubt, blind carbon copy (bcc) to conceal the names and addresses of recipients.

3. Throw on your John Hancock: Your signature at the end of an e-mail, along with contact information, provides a great touch of professionalism.

One last tip from me: Consult your AP Style Book. This is especially important for us aspiring PR practitioners who will be sending e-mails to professional PR practitioners.

Like I said before, send out e-mails as if your PR Writing teacher will be editing it. Mind all of these tips and your electronic mail etiquette really could make your transition into the real world of public relations, not break it.

Graduate School? Is it for you?

Spring term, the last term of a four year, undergraduate college education, is rapidly approaching. As seniors about to graduate we are faced with many difficult decisions: Do we move home and live with our parents? Do we travel around Europe for the summer? Do we get a job right away? Do we continue school and get a master’s degree or MBA?

Here, with the help of Les Potter, author of Les is More, I hope to aid you aspiring PR practitioners in the grad school, master’s degree, MBA decision making process. Les recently blogged about this process and offers great advice on whether or not to attend grad school, how to decide, figuring out why and choosing where. Check out his blog post for the whole story.

Les’ advice, that I second, is to ask yourself why do you wish to have a graduate degree? Your answer will lead you directly in to the next important question: in what do you wish to obtain a graduate degree?

Choosing a graduate program can be difficult. Tiffany Derville, assistant professor of Public Relations at the University of Oregon, recommends that students with a background and /or formal education in public relations may prefer the route of an MBA. Professional business skills can be a great asset to public relations knowledge. For those students who do not have formal education in the area of public relations a graduate degree in communications or specifically public relations can become extremely beneficial.

Here’s a tip: go work for at least three to five years in the real world of public relations before making a final decision about graduate education. This real world experience can hone your goals and objectives for your professional experience in public relations and provide you with hands-on experience that will help you in your later studies. Within those three to five years you might even find a job that offers tuition reimbursement programs for education that would further your business performance. Les recommends this in his blog and Tiffany seconds the recommendation.

The real world of public relations is out there ready and waiting for us future grads. I suggest we all take Les and Tiffany’s advice and experience this world for a few years. We have enough decisions to make in the next few months, so if we don’t already know that we want to attend graduate school after graduation, maybe we should take those few years of real world experience to figure it out.

One First Class Ticket. Final Destination: The Real World of Public Relations

Want to learn more about the real world of public relations? Want to meet PR professionals? Want an opportunity to observe public relations in action? Want to really sharpen your skills while building a resume and portfolio?

Look no further than your local college chapter of PRSSA. The Public Relations Student Society of America was founded by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) aiming to cultivate important, lasting relationships between students and professional public relations practitioners.

The mission of PRSSA is to enhance students’ knowledge of public relations, provide access to professional development opportunities and to serve the public relations profession by helping to develop highly qualified, well-prepared professionals.                                                                                                                                 (Image from prssa.org)

PRSSA offers great tools, opportunities and advantages for students planning to enter the professional world of public relations after college.

• PRSSA provides dozens of media for individual members to communicate with the Society’s national leadership; these resources provide opportunities only members can benefit from.

• PRSSA and its sponsors give away $20,000 each year to winners in national scholarship and award competitions.

• PRSSA offers students the opportunity to travel to exciting cities across the country and participate in professional and leadership development programs.

As students we often here, “PR is about who you know.” The most intrinsically valuable benefit of a PRSSA membership is the affiliation with PRSA. PRSA is the ‘who’ to know. With over 20,000 members and 124 chapters, the PRSA/PRSSA relationship offers you a vast majority of potential employers.

PRSSA currently has chapters in all but 5 of the United States. If your college has a PRSSA chapter, get in contact with the chapter president and find out when and where meetings take place.

PRSSA is a once in a lifetime, (4 years in college does feel like a lifetime) experience every public relations student should consider. This truly is your ultimate, first-class ticket into the real world of public relations.

Making Public Relations “Sticky”

(Image from madetostick.com.)

My PR writing education at the current moment is focused on “stickiness.” When I say “stickiness,” I am referring to making ideas stick; creating memorable ideas that will stand the test of time.

I am currently reading (or through the first chapter) of Chip and Dan Heath’s Made to Stick. This book illustrates why some ideas thrive and others die.

Mark Twain once observed, “A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.” There is truth to this observation, and the Heath brothers lay it all out in Made to Stick: Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus public-health scares circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important ideas—businessmen, educators, politicians, journalists, and others—struggle to make their ideas “stick.”

So how do we, as public relations professionals, make our ideas stick? The Heath brothers have found that sticky ideas have six key attributes in common: simplicity, unexpectedness, concretenes, credibility, emotions and stories.

Think: You are John F. Kennedy and your PR plan is to put a man on the moon.

Strategy:

“To become a leader in the space industry through a maximum, team-centered innovation to specifically target successful aerospace initiatives.” (Blah, blah, blah.)

OR…

“Put a man on the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade.”

Is this idea simple? Yes. Unexpected? Very. Concrete? Yes. Credible? The idea seems crazy, but the source is certainly credible. Emotional? Yes. Story? Yes.

Abstract, dense messages don’t motivate or inspire people. Concise, relatable messages do.

I suggest all aspiring, current and up-and-coming PR practitioners check out this book. It would be great for all of you advertising hopefuls, too. This book is opening my eyes to how I can make my public relations ideas stick. My PR plans will survive, not die, and yours should too.

A PR Look at Starbucks’ Environmental Impact

Pictured above: A Starbucks sleeve you get with your coffee so you don’t burn your fingers. It’s not just a “CAUTION: VERY HOT” warning though, it serves as PR for their social responsibility program:

“Starbucks is committed to increasing the amount of recycling in all our company-operated stores, but it comes with certain challenges. For one, we don’t oversee waste management in all of our company-operated stores and must rely on our various landlords to place a high priority on recycling, as well as track their efforts. In addition, some of our stores are located in communities where commercial recycling facilities are not available. Nevertheless, we strive to increase the number of company-operated stores that participate in a recycling program.”

When I received this sleeve on my usual grande, 1%, no-whip mocha, I noticed two interesting, “errors in judgement,” as I like to categorize them:

1. There is no recycle symbol on the sleeve
2. It says, “For single use only.”

The recycling symbol omission and “for single use only” statement seem to contradict everything else that Starbucks claims regarding their environmental policies and programs. All of us PR practitioners, current and aspiring, know the importance of effective message placement. The recycling symbol universally lets the public know the material they hold in their hand can be recycled. This sleeve gives the impression that we are not to recycle it, just throw it out with the rest of the trash?

Which brings me to my next point: I have been in various Starbucks stores- most frequently: the University of Oregon campus location in Eugene and various locations in Portland, Ore., none of which have any sort of recycling program implemented. I know recycling is a high priority in Eugene and Portland alike, and I also know that commercial recycling facilities are available in both areas. Each store has an ample garbage can to fit all the paper cups and post-consumer fiber sleeves, but no recycling bins.

I propose that Starbucks revamp their social responsibility PR program. Recycling should be a more important aspect of the Starbucks corporation and an effective PR plan to implement this would be a challenge Starbucks could successfully face head-on.

 

 

 

Stop AIDS, Love Life: An Example of Social Marketing

Social marketing is an important aspect of PR that all aspiring public relations professionals should be familiar with when entering the real world of public relations.

So, what is Social Marketing?

Social marketing is defined as: the application of commercial marketing technologies designed to influence the behavior of the target audiences in order to improve their personal welfare and that of their society. - Alan Andreason.

Social marketing is:

* A social behavior change strategy
* Consumer-focused
* Most effective when it activates people
* Targeted to those who have a reason to care
* Strategic and requires an efficient use of resource
* Integrated, and work on the installment plan

Stop AIDS, Love Life a campaign, which took place from 1999-2003 in Ghana, South Africa, aimed to increase awareness and knowledge about HIV/AIDS, contribute to more positive social norms concerning the disease and its prevention, and increase the use of condoms through specific social marketing strategies. Project objectives included:

* Promote and model HIV/AIDS prevention behavior

* Increase adoption of safer sex behaviors

* Decrease the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS

* Encourage compassion, care, and support for people living with HIV/AID

To achieve these goals, grassroots organizations in Ghana engaged in the following activities:

* Development and distribution of print materials.
* Production of an HIV/AIDS music video featuring Ghanaian hip-life, highlife, and gospel musicians with safer sex messages of abstinence, fidelity, and condom use.
* Testimonies featuring HIV positive Ghanaians telling their stories.
* Peer counseling workshops.
* Launch of Journey of Hope campaign.
* Things We Do For Love television series.

Surveys have showed that the Ghanaian public has had high exposure to these communication activities: 60% of men and 55% percent of women interviewed were able to, without being prompted, identify a slogan associated with the campaign.

This campaign illustrates the importance of social marketing and its effect on social behavior change. To read more about the Stop AIDS, Love Life social marketing campaign visit: CCP: Stop AIDS. Love Life. Campaign in Ghana.

(Information from a class lecture by Kelli Matthews, professor of public relations at the University of Oregon.)

images from www.m-mc.org

So, You Want a Future in Public Relations?

The Web site All About Public Relations with Steven R. Vanhook, provides an intensive guide for everything you need to know about your future in public relations.

The site offers career guides, jobs in PR, internships, PR tips and tools, and a thorough guide to several types of PR and how to master each one.

In this post, I will briefly summarize a helpful article about the future for public relations professionals, just for you graduates. I urge you to read the “Your Future in PR” article in it’s entirety on the All About Public Relations Web page.

Part 1: Where it is and how to get a piece of it

Good news for upcoming public relations professionals: job opportunities will remain strong in the years to come and the number of PR jobs is also expected to increase.

The future looks especially bright for PR professionals specializing in science, technology, finance, medicine, and international affairs.

The median salary for a PR specialist is about $35,000, though the upper 10 percent of PR specialists earn upwards of $71,000. (A helpful fact you were probably wondering.)

There will be no shortage of opportunities for public relations professionals with the proper education, experience and aptitude who are willing to work hard for their place in the industry.

Part 2: When the going is rough

The bad news: the number of PR job aspirants entering the field is growing faster than new job openings.

As communications is becoming ever more specialized, PR professionals will have to bring even more, and more specialized, skills to the employment table. Also, even though the pressures to specialize your skills before entering the work force are increasing, entry-level pay isn’t. PR pros have to work for many years before reaching the salaries engineer graduates might receive right off the bat.

Part 3: What you need to move ahead in PR

There are many ways to start and advance through a career in public relations, from opening your own firm to just having it plop onto your resume one day. The most straightforward preparation for a career in public relations is clearly outlined on the third page of the article. Click here to read the rest.

Part 4: Where to look for your career advancement
PR job seekers can find employment opportunities at various websites; All About Public Relations offers many links to various public relations jobs under “Jobs in Public Relations.”

Important things to keep in mind when seeking a job in public relations are: fundamentals of the PR industry and public relations ethics.

I’ll leave you with these words: the journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step, so make sure yours is in the right direction!

Yes, We Can: A Reminder About the Importance of Inspiration

For weeks now I have been wrestling with the idea of posting a page even somewhat related to the current presidential candidates, primaries, elections and so forth. I am not one to publicly discuss politics so I did not want to come across as promoting any one candidate over another. I am not here to promote or favor any political speech, candidate or party.

I am here to remind you about the importance of inspiration.

Obama’s “Yes, We Can,” speech was great the way it was, the first time he delivered it. Then, popular recording artist will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas created an inspirational message in the form of a music video; setting Obama’s speech to music and featuring various celebrities to spread the message, “yes, we can,” and the speech became even more impressive and inspirational.

The purpose of this post is not to endorse Barack Obama, but rather to remind you that you are now, or will at some point in your life, be a leader. As a public relations professional, as a student or just as a human being you will inspire someone.

A great post on Garr Reynolds’ blog, “Presentation Zen,” reminds that, while great communication skills (both written, and verbal) can pave the way for inspiration, that’s not all it takes. The ability to paint pictures with your words, to move people with your ideas and your vision will take you far in this world. If you fail to inspire, they will fail to listen, so never fail to underestimate the power you have to inspire.

Barack Obama does just that. There is no denying he is a motivational speaker. He inspires by painting pictures with his words. His dialogue moves people and paints the vision that we can come together as a nation to inspire change.

So, I urge you to watch the Yes, We Can music video by will.i.am and truly become inspired. Not just politically inspired but inspired in your life.

Public relations, like any profession, requires passion. Don’t underestimate your passion, use it as power to inspire.

 

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Never Stop Exploring: Why The North Face Needs Social Media

Every once in awhile a brand comes along that becomes so trendy, so popular, that it skyrockets, even beyond it’s intended target audience. Case in point: The North Face. So if The North Face has such popularity and trendiness among various groups of people, they are doing everything right, right?

Wrong. With increased popularity and trendiness came increased counterfeit production of The North Face look-a-likes. Originally, The North Face was a brand connected with high-performance mountain gear, climbing apparel, as well as biking, camping and skiing gear. Then, high-school and college-aged students began to grasp the trendiness of The North Face apparel when it began showing up in music videos, appearing in high-end retail stores and hitting the “main stream.”

This all sounds well and good for The North Face; until the website thenorthfaceguru.com came along and began producing counterfeit North Face items for a fraction of the cost. Unfortunately for The North Face, the logo is easy to replicate and their gear, however popular and trendy, is rather plain in it’s craftsmanship so replicates are easy to make.

Ok, so how does social media factor in to this crisis? Well, just for that purpose: crisis management. The North Face is a brand built around performance, enthusiasm and innovation. Nowhere in The North Face mission statement does it say “will settle for anything less than the best.” The North Face is an innovative brand. Their motto is: “Never stop exploring.” The owners have done just that and taken many brand-building risks and created many initiatives centered around “The North Face ideals.” This has included innovative in-store kiosks and an online magazine, Epic. These innovations are reaching The North Face’s active publics, but what about the aware publics who know they want to support the true North Face brand but don’t know how to go about doing so?

That is where social media comes in to play. From my own, personal standpoint, The North Face should play off of their online magazine, Epic, and start a blog. The information from both can supplement each other. The blog could be featured on the Epic website or even on the official North Face website. I also recommend connecting this blog with The North Face’s involvement in sporting events, such as The North Face Endurance Challenge Series.

Another great way for The North Face to connect with their target publics, as well as increase customer loyalty to the brand, would be to create a MySpace account. The account could feature what The North Face brand truly means and why it is so important to “never stop exploring.” The North Face website features some awesome inspirational videos of extreme skiers and snowboarders. Feature these on a MySpace page and the conversation about why The North Face is “so cool” pretty much starts itself. Come on North Face, live up to your motto and “never stop exploring.” There are really a lot of ways out there for The North Face to embrace social media, which I think should happen sooner rather than later; they just need to explore them.

Images from paragonsports.com

 

7 Tips for New PR Professionals

Finding a career in the field of public relations can be daunting, to say the least. Where do you start? What are you qualified for? And what the heck are you supposed to do once you apply?Luckily there are some tips, tools and techniques you can use to be prepared for applying, interviewing and eventually accepting your dream job in public relations. Here is some advice from Julie Brown, Director of Media Relations at the University of Oregon, that I would like to pass on to the world of upcoming, past and future PR graduates, with some of my own insight thrown in for good measure. 

1. Check Craigslist, Monster.com, Jobdango.com, etc. for job postings. If you see something you are interested in, apply online. This is how a lot of PR professionals, including Julie, find their careers.
2. Beef up that resume. Don’t lie. But, exaggerate and emphasize what you have done to prove you are worthy of a position. An impressive resume is what gets you an interview. So, if the only past work experience you have is waitressing, then explain how waitressing improved your time management skills, ability to cooperatively work with others, handle stressful situations and gave you excellent customer relations skills. 
3. So you got the interview? What do you do now? Dress for success. You should have researched the company by now, so you should know if they wear suits to the office everyday or if they all ride in on skateboards wearing jeans. (Don’t show up to the interview with your skateboard, wearing jeans) but dress appropriately for the company’s environment.
4. Bring an impressive portfolio. It’s not the quantity in a portfolio, but the quality. If you are really proud of one news release, one media list and one feature article you have written, include only those three samples. According to Julie Brown, a lot of the time an interviewer won’t even ask for your portfolio. “If you are really proud of your work and want to show it off, then speak up,” she says. “The more enthusiastic you are about your portfolio and more eager you are to show it off, the more impressed an employer will be.” 
5. Don’t only be excited about what’s in your portfolio, know it like the back of your hand. “What I noticed most in interviewing for entry-level PR positions, is when someone obviously didn’t have anything prepared,” says Julie. Practice for the interview, multiple times, before the interview. Know what you want to say and be convincing. If you believe in you, they will too.
6. Follow up. There is a fine line between being eager and excited about working with a company and showing it, and bugging them. According to Julie, if you apply for a position and haven’t heard back within a few weeks, don’t hesitate to re-send your application once a month. Often times, agencies don’t cycle through old applications, especially the entry-level ones, at all. So, keep sending your application to assure it will always be on the top of the pile. If you interviewed with the company and haven’t heard back within the time they told you they would “let you know,” a polite phone call wouldn’t hurt, just to remind them that you are interested.
7. Don’t be discouraged. Remember, a lot of people graduate with public relations degrees and you will find a job. It may take some time, but if you keep perfecting your resume and practicing your skills you should land a position in no time at all. 

These seven tips from a PR professional to future PR professionals should help make you a hot commodity in the PR job market. Once you utilize these tips and tools and land that dream PR job of yours check out the blog, Client Service Insights by Leo Bottary of Hill & Knowlton, to find eight tips for newly minted PR professionals, that will advise you on what to do once you have the job.