Public Relations

Talking Points: What are you talking about?

Rae Hostetler · May 22, 2015 ·

If you’ve ever worked with a public relations professional chances are you’ve heard the term talking points. Honestly we also like our FAQ documents. And yes, we are used to clients asking why they need these.

For some clients putting words onto paper seems like an exercise—and perhaps it is just that. When we exercise or practice in sports, trainers and coaches are looking for us to retain muscle memory. I think about my sons who throw shot and disc in track and field. They practice for hours to get the right stance, spin and throw. They do it over and over and over. Getting just the right form means the difference between placing and falling to the bottom of the pack.

Talking points are just the same. They are your practice round and game plan designed to:

Keep your story on message

Whether your company is announcing a merger, new product, new service or making a difficult announcement, leader often know what the story behind the decision is. When they decide to share the story, it can sometimes become muddled and difficult to follow if they haven’t outlined the message ahead of time. Go back to the sports analogy. Pro sports players prepare ahead for the game. Professional business leaders should do the same.

Keep your staff sharing that same message

Before anyone outside the company hears your news, have you told the people closest to you internally: leadership, their staff, clients, vendors and so on? Having a prepared set of talking points for key staff who need to share the story ensures everyone is saying the same thing you are telling to news reporters, for example.

Keep you comfortable

Talking points also can be a good security blanket to keep you comfortable. During news interviews, reporters often ask questions that take an interviewee off track. I’ve seen and heard it happen. When the news story appears the client says, they didn’t cover the story the way I wanted them to write it. Often the reason is because the client did not want to prepare by creating talking points and thinking through possible questions before the interview. When a client is well prepared, the interview and the story sound and read much talking their talking points.

Talking points keep everyone saying and hearing the same story on your big announcement. They allow your team to prepare to share your news as you’d expect and want them to practice and complete the game plan for your announcement.

What’s a PR professional relationship really look like?

Rae Hostetler · Apr 27, 2015 ·

I got a text message a couple of weeks ago from a friend out of state. She’s a business owner who operates a company providing STEM education to preschoolers. Hot business! She wants to grow it. Trouble is, she cannot find the right public relations company in her city. Her text to me said she was shopping around for a professional partner and asked for details on what to expect in a relationship. That’s not an easy text reply, so a phone call to her provided the following conversation to help her search (good information for any business leader):

First my friend asked what should show up on a PR professionals invoice? She assumed it’s similar to the legal profession. Yes, that’s true, but all PR professionals have different styles. Her prior PR professional was invoicing in 15 minute increments and that made her uncomfortable every time she called. She’d also been invoice for missing a phone call due to a family emergency (she did call 20 minutes late). She didn’t know that would show up on the invoice. I told her she needed to speak up to ensure a sound relationship. Ask questions. It’s the only way a relationship works.

So what does a relationship look like on an invoice? Our company has relationships with customers who pay for service by the hour, by the project or by retainer.

Hourly services typically are ad hoc and can create a hair-raising experience when the client gets the invoice. A few clients still request this arrangement. That ok. We believe in giving the customer what they want.
Projects are scoped and very focused on the task requested.
Retained clients have a plan and we act as an extension of the client’s team. We have focused goals and provide regular status reports with details on progress reports.

Every client has different needs and goals, so these options are just that-options. I told my friend to ask about how someone would invoice her explaining as the customer she has the right to know.

Speaking of invoices, ask your potential public relations professional how they invoice. If you have an ongoing relationship, invoices should be issued with regularity and there should be no surprises. An agreement should outline frequency of invoices. The invoice should state what you’re being billed for in time increments. For example, two hours of time to research and write a news release.

Planning ahead is key, I told my friend. She has critical ongoing communications and projects she is asking someone to manage—branding, website development/design, newsletters and social media, to name a few. A plan does not need to be reams of paper. It needs to be a blueprint that allows her and the pr professional to manage the work in partnership.

She asked, where do I find a good pr professional who is honest and ethical? I did a quick internet search and found her local PRSA website. The Public Relations Society of America board for her city has several independent public relations professionals listed. Small business owner’s do well with sole practitioners, so the match seemed to make good sense.

My friend let me know late last week that she’s met with someone who seems to be a good fit. The possible new pr professional partner is drafting a plan to derive a summary of the relationship. This will serve as her blueprint for work and invoicing and the overall relationship.

New public relations business in a strong economy

Rae Hostetler · Apr 21, 2015 ·

Our blog has been quiet for over a year. WOW! I didn’t realize I’d taken that long of a break and shame on me. Truth be told, we’ve been busy. The economic climate turned for the better. Clients reengaged and we’ve focused on their needs. Business is strong! Thank you.

So what have we been doing?

Full-service public relations. Many of our clients are business owners or leaders. They’re great at what they do and their core business, but most admit they’re not strong communicators. We’ve been creating teams by hand selecting public relations professionals. Together, we’re creating public relations strategies and working in partnership with clients to execute them. Instead of hiring, our clients choose to work with us as their marketing communications department.

Expanding into internal communications. For many years, our team has been known for its external communications services—media relations, websites, social media, sales team support, for example. An opportunity to work with Rolls-Royce managing and supporting internal communications in manufacturing operations came along last year. Through a secondary company that provides public relations staff support, we’ve expanded into internal communications. We have a solid team in place creating positive culture change.

Whether you’re looking to get into public relations or have communications needs, we’d love to hear form you. The economy is strong and we’re ready to grow with it. Call or email us.

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.