Rae Hostetler

Marketing Communications passwords–the keys to your brand

Rae Hostetler · Jan 29, 2014 ·

Do you have the keys to all of your marketing communications tools? It’s surprising how many professionals and business owners don’t know where their website is hosted, how to access their social media pages and how to login to their websites.

If you’re a business owner reading this, you’re probably thinking, why should I? I have staff that can do this. Question: what happens if that one staff person quits, gets hurt or just isn’t around the office the day you need help? They’ve got the keys to your brand. You’re locked out.

Having these passwords is similar to having details for all of your financial and banking information. If you can’t access your bank accounts (or they get hacked) you can’t do business because you’re sidetracked working with your financial professionals and banking reps. It’s the same situation with regard to a business’ online marketing tools. Your website, social media profile and email newsletter system are intangible assets for your company–your brand assets. A business today cannot grow without these tools and is potentially at risk, depending on who has access to your brand information.

Why risk it? Take a few steps now to secure the information and have it at your finger tips when it’s needed.

Create a document that stores all of your passwords: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, web host, email newsletters and so on. Be sure to include the website address, user name and password. Make a note what this system is used for in the business, too.
Do not save this document in a cloud or on your shared drive. Each person should keep the information on a hard drive (better yet a USB drive). Again–these passwords are similar to your bank account numbers. Keep them safe.
Create a team of people who have access to this information. Titles that make sense include management, owners, marketing communications professionals. Consider including someone it IT, too.
Create a process to update this document. Every so often it’s good to change passwords. Maybe a team member leaves the business or you’ve had to share a password with a third-party professional. Updating the password and providing the list again is important to keep your information secure.

We’ve been through this process several times for our clients. It can take hours of research and tracking to find this information if the client doesn’t have it readily available. It can hold up a marketing communications project for days or weeks. Conversely having the information and a process behind it provides peace of mind that your brand assets are safe and secure.

Dump the Jargon: Communicate Simply in 2014

Rae Hostetler · Jan 21, 2014 ·

It’s no secret I am not a fan of jargon!

Our corporate Hostetler Public Relations website even has images all over it to poke fun at public relations jargon. Since we’ve come up with those images and corny phrases, many more words and phrases have come into play in the professional communications and business word set. Can we all just say what we mean?

In a new poll of more than 500 marketing professionals, “synergy” tops the list of their most despised buzzwords, beating out “viral” (one of my most despised) and “best-in-class.” The poll is part of Webmarketing123′s 2013 State of Digital Marketing survey.

A recent Wall Street Journal article cites CEOs and the words they want to see go. Love it! Here are a few more.

Solution-Everyone has one no matter what industry, product or service their organization provides. This has been one of my long-time words on the do not use list. Find a better word.
Content Management-This is a term made up by marketers. It’s something us PR professionals have been managing for years—a client’s message. I researched the term to find out where it originated. I discovered it’s actually and IT term. It makes more sense in that profession.
Hashtag – I hear this term used in every day sentences. It’s a Twitter term. Let’s keep it where it belongs.
Offline – During meetings I hear people say, “Let’s talk about this offline.” Ummm… we’re in a meeting, not on the internet. That’s what I always hear in my head. How about, let’s talk about this later?
Viral – I know what it means in the business sense, but ICK! Viral means getting sick. I thought we want to communicate online and share the message without getting people sick.
Reach Out – I always see someone literally reaching out for me with their hands instead of just contacting me when this term is used.
Out of the Box–Another great image and another bad use of jargon. How about using new idea instead?

Over the years I’ve worked with several clients to help them understand they’re often using their own business terms to try to explain and/or sell a produce or service. As a result, people are confused, frustrated and simply not happy. So here’s my resolution in the New Year: communicate simply. I hope you’ll join me.

A public relations professional’s New Year’s resolution–Stop the jargon!

Rae Hostetler · Jan 8, 2014 ·

It’s no secret I hate jargon! Our corporate public relations professional website has images all over it that make fun of public relations jargon. Since we’ve come up with those images, many more words and phrases have been uttered in the professional communications and business world.

In a new poll of more than 500 marketing professionals, “synergy” tops the list of their most despised buzzwords, beating out “viral” (one of my most despised) and “best-in-class.” A recent Wall Street Journal article cites CEOs and the words they want to see go. Love it! Here are a few more that I’ve heard and vowed not to use.

Solution-Everyone has one no matter what industry, product or service their organization provides. Find a better word.
Content Management- This is a term made up by marketers. It’s something us PR professionals have been managing for years—sharing a client’s message (ok jargon word there) in various places, articles, interviews, websites, blogs, social media etc. I researched the term to find out where it originated. I discovered it’s actually an IT term. It makes more sense in that profession.
Hashtag – I hear this term used in every day sentences. Someone says, “I HASHTAG FunThingsToDoWithKids.” What? It’s a Twitter term. Let’s keep it where it belongs.
Offline – During meetings I hear people say, “Let’s talk about this offline.” Then I hear my brain say to me, “Ummm… we’re in a meeting, not on the internet. Wonder where offline is exactly.” How about just saying, let’s talk about this later outside the meeting?
Viral – I know what it means in the business sense, but ICK! Viral means getting sick. I thought we just wanted to communicate online and share the information without getting people sick.
Reach Out – I always see someone literally reaching out for me with their hands instead of just contacting me when this term is used. Just imagine this the next email you get that starts, “I’m reaching out to you today…” with hands coming for you from the computer screen.

My resolution in the New Year is to communicate simply. I’m curious, what words and phrases do you want to see go in the New Year?

Public Relations Consultant–It’s a bad phrase to describe a real pro

Rae Hostetler · Nov 1, 2013 ·

Although some professionals may call me one, I am not a fan of the phrase public relations consultant. The word consultant means to impart advice. I, along with many other public relations and communications consultants with whom I work, do so much more for clients. And often the clients are pleasantly surprised by the scope of connections and skills that turn their business outreach goals a reality.

Over the past 14 years working as a public relations professional, my style has evolved to become a professional who works as an extension of a client company’s staff. We’re a trusted partner. Clients confide in us, and yes we provide counsel. The best part is really what happens after the counsel concludes and the work begins. That’s when we become the tacticians. This is the list of everything we do and have done for clients.

Message Development–Ever try to write your company’s story? It’s hard! Is it real? Is it what your client and partners would say? That’s why we don’t just counsel a client to make a message. We make it for them. We interview employees, their clients, vendor partners and anyone else close them. We ask questions about what they think of the company, how they describe the people and more. That’s where the story becomes true and the brand becomes authentic. Then we write the message and present it to the client. We also help them integrate it into their communications systems via planning.

Planning–We don’t just tell clients what to do, we use the messages, identify their audiences, research the marketing communications options, write them down on paper (not just tell them), find out how much it costs and create a timeline. Maybe a client has someone on staff who can do the work. Great! We bring that professional into the process to create along with us. Maybe they don’t have someone to do the work. We have partners who do graphic design, photography, videos, internal communications and all of those other communications tactics that complement our integrated marketing and public relations expertise. I also co-own a company that helps client to find professionals at affordable rates.

The tactical work…

Writing–and a lot of it! Letters, news releases, websites, social media, blogs, byline articles, employee memos, company descriptions for websites/online and the list goes on and on.
Community Relations–We’re actually working with a client right now to craft a new community relations program. This project means consulting and meetings, yes, but it also means events, connections and ideas.
Working with reporters–There are a lot of them in Indianapolis and I am fortunate to have built great relationships with many journalists. If you want to have an article written and published, it’s not as easy as you’d think. It takes many phone calls, conversations and connections.
Trade Shows–A client recently decided it was time to get involved in trade shows. We created the trade show graphics, planned the communications, prepared their speaker for his presentation via editing PowerPoint slides and updating brochures (writing/graphics/printing).
Email newsletters–Writing and keeping up with the graphics to make the content readable and consistent with message is part of our weekly work flow.
Websites–Build it and they will come. So not true. We write the content and have partners who design and tech it out to our specs. Then we optimize it for Google and other search engines. Adding those blogs noted above keeps the content fresh and Google happy because you keep feeding content.
Meeting prep and planning-I’ve work with clients to prepare small business meeting forums–AKA Roadshows.
Photos–Some clients don’t have big budgets. I have a camera. I take a few photos and then they own the photos instead of buying them from a stock photo company or having a photographer come in to do staged shots. The latter, I’ve also coordinated for clients with bigger budgets.

This list could go on and on. So if your truly wondering what a public relations consultant in Indianapolis can do for your business… just ask them. Chances are they’ll do a whole lot more than you’d ever expect to help you achieve your communication’s goals.