Thursday, June 30, 2016
4 ways PR pros can look good when others fail
Target ran into just such a trust issue back in 2013 with its massive data breach, affecting an estimated 110 million customers. General Motors lost its customers’ confidence in early 2014 after ignition switch problems forced a series of vehicle recalls. In May 2016, Mitsubishi Motors’ Tetsuro Aikawa resigned from his position as president after the company admitted to rigging fuel-efficiency tests for years.
These mistakes have had lasting consequences on each company’s image and its pocketbook. But what if those mistakes ran industry-wide?
So much of business is about taking care of customers. If you do a good job, they’ll reward you by beating a path to your door. But when your image is tarnished, those crowds scatter.
As a startup, you're well advised to navigate cautiously around your industry’s public image. For better or worse, you will be tied to it, and you must invest enough in the optics of your business to become the exception to the rule.
Related: 3 Steps to Repair a Damaged Reputation
Conquering a spotty industry rep
Two industries that have long suffered from the bite of a bad rap are manufactured housing (a.k.a. trailer parks) and payday loans. They’re plagued with negative images when, in reality, they provide valuable services that clients can’t get anywhere else.
Years ago, we wanted to build a mobile home park, but everyone said, “Oh my God, what a nest of crime!” To determine whether that was true, we studied 100 residences in a middle-class neighborhood and compared them to 100 mobile homes in three parks. We went to the police station and asked for police reports for a particular time period in both areas, and found there were far more police reports generated from the single-family homes.
Unfortunately, you won’t always have relevant statistics to rectify your own industry’s unfair image, so you have to be energetic and creative to find the correct comparison showing a balanced perception to the public. Here are four steps to help you get started:
1. Participate in trade groups.
Though instinct may tell you to distance yourself, now’s the time to present a united front. Band together with like-minded entrepreneurs in your industry, then work together to create best practices for your trade group.
Look for ways to develop consistent levels of ethics and services, so customers know what to expect going forward. Do outreach on why your industry is important and what niche it serves in the lives of your customers.
2. Share best practices with competitors.
Half of all business is basic: Take care of the customer. Businesses with bad raps often earned them because they failed to focus on the basics. Although the following advice sounds counterintuitive, share what you learn with the competition.
When best practices are deployed, the whole industry benefits. This allows you to focus on your business, rather than deal with the aftermath of someone else’s.
Related: How to Clean Up an Online Reputation
3. Turn to other industries.
Look at what other industries have done when you're struggling with a poor public image. Ask yourself, “What problems was that particular industry facing?” Then, evaluate your own to determine whether it applies to you. If their response strategy worked, steal it! Then adapt it to fit your industry.
Look at the fast-food industry, for example, which is consistently under fire for causing health problems such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and even infertility.
In response, companies have added healthier options to the menu. (McDonald’s announced it was testing a kale breakfast bowl on select menus last year.) Other companies such as Chipotle have reframed the language around the industry, calling itself “fast casual” and offering higher-quality foods at a small price bump.
4. Grin and bear it.
There may come a time when you’ll just have to accept bad news. We had a building flood once, and there was nothing I as a business owner could have done to change the situation. So, do the best you can to help people around you; sometimes that’s all you can do.
Related: The Steps Businesses Can Take to Avoid a Serious Social-Media Blunder (Infographic)
Managing your reputation is a process that never ends. Listen to what people are saying, and correct what you can. Work with others to develop best practices for your trade as a whole, which will benefit your entire industry.
Otherwise, the chances are good you’ll be dealing with the same problems for a long time.
Chris Burnam is the president of StorageMart. A version of this article originally appeared on Entrepreneur. Copyright © Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
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3 tips for making your mark as an executive communicator
As an executive communicator, you have the power to establish executives as credible and trusted public figures, but doing so requires going above and beyond the commonplace.
Here are three ways you can craft vibrant, compelling addresses for your execs:
1. Be familiar with the speaker’s personality. Your speeches must sound authentic.
2. Build strong relationships. This ensures you’ll have access to executives when you need it.
3. Use humor appropriately. Identify which topics lend themselves well to a joke—and when you must exercise caution.
These are just a few of the practical insights you’ll hear at our 2016 Leadership & Executive Communications Conference on Oct. 18–19 in Washington, D.C. You’ll also hear from experts from The White House, The Coca-Cola Company and KPMG.
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Why do we lie?
Interviewer: "What's your biggest fault?"
Candidate: "I'm honest"
Interviewer: "I don't think that's a problem!"
Candidate: "Who the hell cares what you think!"
OK, more serious answer. No, we should not always all be honest. Sometimes there are little white lies that make people feel good (or, at least, not bad) at no cost. Other times, lying is a deeply moral act:
"Are you hiding Anne Frank in your attic?"
"No" is the correct reply, regardless of whether it is true.
And sometimes we lie to save our own lives or our own senses of self. These are probably OK too. If we each had a really honest sense of how important we are in the grand scheme of things, the suicide rate would be a lot higher.
Finally, as Terry Pratchett noted, believing in little lies is practice for believing the big ones - like truth, mercy and justice. And humans need fantasy to become the place "where the falling angel meets the rising ape".
Read other answers by Peter Flom on Quora:
- What are the biggest lies you can tell in the fewest words?
- Can the US President lie to his people?
- Under what situations should we tell lies?
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What are the best words or phrases you've coined or believe you did?
My friends heard this and their favourite song for a while was, ' I can't get no gratisfaction.'
I actually have some really fond memories of this fella and hope wherever he is, he is gratisfied.
Read other answers by Chris Bishton on Quora:
- What are some less-offensive satisfyingly abusive things to say, like 'You irrational infant' as opposed to 'You fucking asshole'?
- What words in English sound as though they should mean one thing, but actually mean something else?
- Is there a special word for people that come from your country or region?
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Which of the habits that you've adopted has done the most to improve your life?
For as long as I can remember, each day has included an awesome workout. I look forward to my gym time - it is mine. All mine. Nobody gets to interrupt my sacred CrossFit or awesome long run. Nobody. It is my therapy and my sanctuary. I work out professional and personal problems during this time. And, I get to jam out to whatever I feel like. It is awesome.
I sweat. I love it. Every single day.
Read other answers by Elsa Schraeder on Quora:
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If you hit someone while you're driving, would you flee, or would you help the injured person, especially when it is not your fault?
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Have you ever gone on a date with just yourself? What did you do, and is it really weird?
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What was the greatest struggle you've had to overcome or are trying to overcome?
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30 jobs in the PR and marketing world
Employers on the hunt for talent this year might want to focus on branding.
According to LinkedIn’s Top Attractors list, a few factors determine which companies and agencies attract and retain talent.
Suzy Welch contributed to the project. She said:
I’ve been working with LinkedIn over the last few months on a project to understand which companies excel at both luring and keeping jobseekers. The result is an eye-opening ranking of the companies dominating the talent game. [When] scanning the list, it doesn’t take long to see the two qualities common across all of the winners: They have an energized culture and offer a chance at career enhancement.
Aside from a high-energy workplace or opportunities to advance, the list’s top attractors had three additional commonalities:
Its founder is calling the shots
Is your marketing agency or PR firm led by its founder? If not, LinkedIn data suggest that could be why there hasn’t been an influx of new talent.
“The vast majority — 65 percent — of the top 20 attractors have their founders at the helm, most of them bearing names that are as familiar as family,” Welch said.
Wharton Business School professor Adam Grant attributes the attraction to a brand’s identity. The more established a brand, the more appealing it will look to job seekers.
“People are drawn to a company with a strong identity—they want it to stand for something distinctive and enduring. The founder is a symbol that it will.”
Glamourous brands attract top talent
If you’re seeking a new opportunity, odds are, you’re looking at what LinkedIn calls “household names” or brands.
Data suggest job seekers are being wooed by familiar branding tricks. According to Welch, many gravitate toward organizations where news is breaking, the economy is growing and the future is forging ahead. A well-known reputation is key.
From Welch:
Consider this: Of the top 20 companies to land on the Top Attractors list, only three wouldn’t be considered household names. Even as you go down the list, well-known brands dominate, with, for instance, Dell at No. 22 and Estee Lauder at No. 30.
Immense talent seeks generous benefits
Although an organization’s draft beer selection might not be the sole reason someone accepts a position, organizations are getting creative when it comes to perks.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Reach staff with personally relevant emails.
Welch said:
Some of them you’ve heard of —health club memberships and extended maternity and paternity leave, for instance. Others are more unique, such as dog-friendly offices and free cooking lessons in every cuisine under the sun (at Google), and coverage for sex-reassignment surgery (at Pandora.)
Marketing and PR pros seeking a generous and “glamourous” environment should consider a new technologies marketing manager positon with Amazon (No. 5 on the top attractors list).
Candidates should be prepared to identify and evaluate partnership opportunities and own the development of value propositions, core content, marketing and go-to-market strategies for new developer programs.
Not the job for you? See what else we have in this week’s professional pickings:
AV producer— Netflix (California)
Marketing and digital communication coordinator— McFarland Clinic (Iowa)
Associate content manager— About.com (New York)
Public relations assistant— Harper Pierce (Missouri)
English copywriter— TransferGo (United Kingdom)
Senior associate, web content marketing— Discover Financial Services (Illinois)
Content marketing specialist— Navistar (Illinois)
Social media and community manager— Twist (New York)
Brand assistant— American Greetings (California)
Community content manager— Penton (Colorado)
Marketing communications assistant— Four Pillars Marketing (Ohio)
Marketing manager— Myfone App (Denmark)
Media specialist— Merkel (Pennsylvania)
Marketing coordinator— Dialogue Direct (Illinois)
Travel editor— BBC Worldwide (New York)
Brand management director— Capella University (Minnesota)
Digital communications manager— Zalando (Germany)
Brand marketing manager— Sutter Health (California)
Freelance copywriter— Appear Here (New York)
Assistant media planner— JMC Brands (Ohio)
Content and CRM marketing specialist— Plexuss.com (California)
Social media manager— The Social Client (France)
Marketing assistant— JBL Group (Georgia)
Public relations account executive— Matter Communications (Massachusetts)
Marketing executive— Bauer Media Australia (Melbourne)
VP of social media— PageGroup (New York)
Video product marketing manager— Aquent (California)
Marketing manager— Synexus Clinical Research (United Kingdom)
Account executive— iostudio (Tennessee)
Copywriter, content specialist— Iris Worldwide (Illinois)
If you have a position you would like to see highlighted in PR Daily’s weekly jobs listing, please email me at clarel@ragan.com.
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Are Germans proud to be German?
However, I feel some patriotism. It's best described as similar to being a loyal supporter of a football club. You are happy when they play well, and annoyed when they let the side down. When I am in a foreign country and some tourist behaves like a jerk, I really hope they aren't German (if only because my foreign partner would gleefully point it out to me!) . When I look at the result of the European elections and I see the voter turnout in Germany is rising, I think "well done us". Patriotism should just not be taken too seriously.
Read other related questions on Quora:
- Why is it taboo for Germans to say that they are proud to be German since WW2?
- Are Germans proud?
- Are Germans proud of their history?
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What's the tl;dr of different countries' entire history?
Made a living from selling lumber and iron, while fighting with every single neighbor—preferably on their home turf—until things went downhill and deciding that nobody should be fighting at all, as it's not fair. Do you hear me? Stop fighting!
(Psst! Do you want to buy our fighter jet? Extra cheap, only for you, if you know what I mean!)
(*cough* )
Right... Um... We now make a living from the manufacture of cars, furniture, songs, apps and from outsourcing boring stuff to other places.
(AA guns?)
Read other related questions on Quora:
- How does the concept of "TL;DR" impact 21st-century communication?
- What is the TL;DR of the Chinese history?
- What is the tl;dr story of Bismarck?
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Miss Teen USA pageant cuts swimsuit competition
To bolster the empowerment of young women—and boost its image—brand managers at the Miss Universe organization will no longer require contestants to don swimsuits.
Athletic wear will replace the bikini in the yearly competition.
The Miss Universe organization made the announcement this week. Pageant organizers for years have defended swimsuit competitions as a way to showcase contestants’ athleticism, but for the 15-to-19-year-old girls in the teen competition, it started to feel a bit exploitative.
Miss Universe president, Paula Shugart, said in a memo:
This decision reflects an important cultural shift we’re all celebrating that empowers women who lead active, purposeful lives and encourage those in their communities to do the same. Our hope is that this decision will help all of Miss Teen USA's fans recognize these young women for the strong, inspiring individuals they are.
The shift places a greater emphasis on health and wellness instead of strictly physical appearance.
RELATED: Free Webinar: Journey to Excellence: Online Health-Care Reputation Management.
Reigning Miss Teen USA Katherine said in a statement:
[I’ve] spent a lot of time in athletic wear. This new direction for Miss Teen USA is a great way to celebrate the active lives that so many young women lead and set a strong example for our peers.
The Miss USA and Miss America pageants have no immediate plans to nix the swimsuit portion of their competitions. But Julianne Hough, host and creative producer for the Miss USA pageant, indicated to USA Today that the competition may go away from the swimsuit portion “in the next few years.”
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What is Soka Gakkai International (SGI), what do they practice, and what is Nichiren Daishonin?
Thank you for the A2A.
The short answer is that Nichiren Daishonin was the genius who recognized the common aspects of life that apply to everyone, and turned the five-word distillation into a method usable by anyone, for free.
The SGI is the organization that teaches the method devised by Nichiren.
Let me start with the source, Nichiren Daishonin.
He was a monk in thirteenth century Japan, and his family were fishermen. That gave him a commoner's view right from the start. Since he was bright, his family sent him to a Buddhist monastery for schooling. In that monastery he got the desire to become wise, and to help humans overcome suffering. He studied for almost twenty years at different sources.
He studied history, and many sutras from a variety of sects. He came to realize that the Lotus Sutra was the teaching that could help every person overcome the delusions that beset them by using their own inherent abilities.
The Lotus Sutra was already respected as the highest teaching of Buddhism, yet it is very figurative, and somewhat convoluted because it was composed for Indians whose understanding required allegory, and parables that explain the psychological content of a message, more than any factual record can convey. However, Nichiren recognized that the title of the Chinese translation of the Lotus Sutra (Myoho Renge Kyo) contained the essence of the meanings in only five words.
Nichiren recognized that those five words are the distilled understanding of how life works independent of time, place, and circumstance. He therefore advocated that humans can divest themselves of delusions, and generate great lives by chanting the title, to which he added the verb Nam.
Chanting engages the entire body, and uses what we now call neural plasticity to enlighten a person to the realities of hiser life, independent of the psychological state, wealth, class, geography in which that persons life takes place. This activity creates an awareness of innate value, and a determination to use life to the fullest to create value for the individual, and hiser surroundings.
The effect of this gift to humanity was that the government, colluding with sects that supported the rulers, and gained patronage from them, saw that the philosophy of control, and confusion, that were being promoted by the popular sects of the time, were going to be threatened. They did not want a method that would empower all humans, including commoners, and women, to achieve dignity, and value. So they immediately set about to kill Nichiren.
They continued to try to kill him. They persecuted, and exiled him, but his message was too powerful. Nothing worked. He was gaining more, and more adherents to his philosophy of individual empowerment. They turned on his lay followers, and exiled them, and took their property, and tortured, and killed.
That didn't work well either. Nichiren achieved his life-goal and left many letters, able followers, and inscribed many mandalas to serve as mnemonic devices for people to fix their attention to what works in life.
The teachings survived, in various states of influence, until two teachers, named Makiguchi, and Toda, in 1930 recognized that the teachings of Nichiren could become the key to a prosperous, happy, war-free world. This kind of world can only be created with a teaching, and specific method, that respects all life, and engages every human exactly as heshe is, and enables that individual to release the innate power of awareness that we all have, and power of compassion that we can all learn.
These two teachers were very well educated and knew that the world is full of delusion, and great concepts. They also hated war, and realized from their study of history that politics, and war, do not create peace.
The prime matter of importance is to replace the delusions with awareness of what is true for everyone. They saw that the method devised by Nichiren exactly fit the need. They set about to build an organization to teach the Nichiren method of chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo whenever, for as long as one needs in order to achieve the desired results. Nichiren also advocated reciting two short sections of the Lotus Sutra, along with chanting, twice a day.
This activity is enhanced when it is done while looking at a copy of the mandala originally inscribedby Nichiren.
Mantras are very familiar to Asians, and Makiguchi, and his disciple Toda, recognized that this method can release people from their suffering, help them build great lives, and establish open-hearted communication across all divisions of humanity.
They had such deep conviction that they refused to yield to the mind-control methods of the militarist government of Japan, and were imprisoned.
Makiguchi died in prison, and Toda was released in early 1945, with severe illnesses.
Toda set about to rebuild the organization and named it Soka Gakkai. In 1960 his disciple, Daisaku Ikeda, took the teaching to the world and, in 1975, founded the Soka Gakkai International (SGI).
SGI now has millions of members in 192 countries, and territories, and world institutions all over have recognized Daisaku Ikeda, and the SGI for the great work for humanity.
Because the group is still based in Japan, and most of the very senior leaders are Japanese, or Japanese trained, there is still a social-habit influence in the presentations of the teaching. There is great effort to adapt to the local usages, yet such changes do not happen overnight.
What is of utmost importance is to realize that just having great ideas does not change more than the surface of peoples minds. Real change occurs when the needed replacement of delusions with value, wisdom, compassion happens despite the emotional storms to which we humans are subject.
If you want more information, from a variety of perspectives, google "gshpower."
You can also use this link.
Or
Read other answers by William Ranger on Quora:
- Does chanting "Nam myoho renge kyo" really work?
- What is the science behind Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo? How does chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo help you improve your life?
- What makes Soka Gakkai so popular in Japan?
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5 tips for summer media relations success
The season can be a challenging time if you have PR initiatives that must move forward. With many reporters on vacation, your media outreach can take even longer than usual—especially with Independence Day right around the corner.
Pitching can be anything but a picnic during the summer months. Follow these five tips to try to make the most of it:
1. Planning is imperative.
Trying to choose the best date for an announcement? Study your calendar. Unless your news has a tie-in to these holidays, avoid major summer holidays, such as the Fourth of July and Labor Day—as well as the days immediately before and after.
RELATED: Think like a journalist to get your story covered at our PR Writing Conference.
If you’re making a tech-related announcement, for example, give yourself time it so it doesn’t coincide with a holiday. This will help you achieve maximum visibility. If your news involves a holiday-related trend, deliver your pitch a week or two before the holiday.
2. Allow extra time.
Reporters can be on vacation, so it’s a good idea to build in extra time on pitches during the summer months. For instance, if you usually pitch news a week before an announcement, give yourself two weeks. That way, if a journalist is out of the office, you’ll still have time to follow up.
3. Avoid the dead zone.
Both Independence Day and Labor Day fall on Monday this year, so you can expect the Friday before to be quiet (you can almost hear the crickets chirp!). Some reporters might take off the Tuesday following to create an even longer weekend.
Once they return, their inboxes will probably be filled to the brim with pitches. You don’t want your pitch to get lost in that sea of email, so wait another day or so before sending it.
4. Think about Christmas.
Believe it or not, it’s not too early to think about winter holidays. Gift guides for many print magazines are already in the works. If you have a product that fits in that category, start pitching your gift guides now. Have product descriptions and high-resolution photos prepared and ready.
5. Cover your time off.
If you’re in charge of working with reporters for your organization or client and are planning to take a vacation, have a plan in place should a reporter get in touch during that time.
Ask someone to cover for you and have basic resources ready for them to use for reporters’ requests. These materials should also be posted on your organization’s newsroom, making it easy for both the reporter and the co-worker covering for you.
Don’t leave your clients in the lurch. Give them plenty of notice so you can complete any work they need done before you go. If you’re a consultant leaving for an extended period of time (more than a week or two), consider asking someone, like a trusted consultant colleague, to fill in for you. That person should be on call, should your clients need anything.
These tips can help you make the most of your summer PR initiatives so you can get back to your sunbathing.
Michelle Garrett is a PR consultant and writer at Garrett Public Relations. Follow her on Twitter @PRisUs or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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Campus Media 101: What You Need to Know to Reach Student Journalists and Their Audiences
We’re at the cusp of a new generation reaching adulthood. Is your content reaching them?
The up-and-coming Generation Z (also called Gen Z and Centennials, born 1998 or later) are starting to turn 18 on the heels of the late-year Millennials (born 1981-1997), and both generations together already boast about $650 billion in purchasing power.
Given the potential revenue derived from this market, and the research that shows Gen Z will be even more powerful and larger than Millennials, the question in any marketing and PR pro’s mind shouldn’t be “Should I reach young adults?” but “How should I reach young adults?”
One answer may surprise you. Rather than focusing solely on social media and mobile, as brands tend to do when considering younger markets, you can target 18- to 22-year-olds at student-run media organizations on college campuses.
The college newspaper. The university radio or TV station. Community college newsletters or magazines. All of them contain content created and curated by students on that campus.
These are not trade journalists looking to cover the higher education industry; they have their place at other publications. These are students who are traditionally straddling that generational divide and sharing their content all across campus.
Campus Newspapers: The Digital Revolution Is (Also) Here
Let’s consider the campus newspaper in more depth. While some publications have reduced print frequency in the face of the changing media landscape, the amount of content being produced by their newsrooms has not changed. It has gone digital.
Campus newspapers all across the country are still being tasked with curating and creating content for the campus community on the whole; now, the format is split between website and print editions.
Research from re:fuel has shown how effective it is to reach students at their campus newspapers. Students use their newspapers for more than just campus news; they use it to make purchasing decisions (33%) and to find coupons and promo codes (more than 50%). Moreover, they usually share each print copy with at least one other person, so distribution is maximized.
Broadcast: Increased Collaboration Between Campus and Local Media
Broadcast media also is branching out more online, so the websites associated with the college-hosted radio and TV stations show the same volume of content that might be prepared for on-air dissemination. But many student-run broadcast media organizations engage even beyond the campus walls by partnering with community television and radio stations.
Take WOUB, for example, out of Ohio University. According to its website, WOUB-TV is “a non-academic unit of Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication” and a PBS affiliate. It covers local news stories stretching across 55 counties in 4 states, in addition to content for students.
Furthermore, WOUB-TV’s sister radio stations, WOUB-FM (an NPR affiliate out of Athens) and WOUB-AM (a community radio station that broadcasts BBC content, among other items) are part of the overall Ohio University Public Radio network.
While these organizations have listeners and viewers outside the university walls, students are heavily involved with content selection and comprise a solid portion of its audience.
College Media Content: Tailor to Students’ Interests
The students who work in these on-campus media organizations cover some of the same beats as journalists in media organizations all around the country: local to national news, yes, but also health, technology, politics, finance (student loans, anyone?), employment, entertainment, etc.
Further, research has shown that Millennials – and Gen Z is expected to follow suit – use ad blockers for most of their content.
Ads don’t work, but content that matters does.
If you are able to get your content in front of the reporters and editors deciding what content will be placed in print publications, broadcast on TV or radio, and added online, you can bypass advertising’s hurdles and reach your target audience.
When considering your communications approach with the generations that are rapidly beginning to represent a bulk of the consumer economy, don’t get stuck focusing on social media and mobile alone.
You know where the students are – go after them. Download our Quick & Easy Guide to Sharing Your Press Release with the World and learn how to prepare and distribute press releases that will grab the media’s attention.
Author Alexa Hoffman is PR Newswire’s senior product manager for US distribution, which reaches thousands of student journalists as part of the broadest group of US-based journalists, consumers, bloggers and investors in the industry. Follow her at @PRNlgbt, where she co-curates PR Newswire’s Twitter channel dedicated to LGBT news and culture and connect with her on LinkedIn.
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Crystal Pepsi is coming back—via ‘The Oregon Trail’
On Wednesday, PepsiCo said it was bringing back the clear cola for a limited time. Canadian consumers can buy a bottle on July 11, and it will be available in United States on Aug. 8.
To make fans of the 1990s even more excited, Pepsi is bringing the bottles back via virtual “Oregon Trail” wagons. From its company blog :
To kick-off the Summer of Crystal Pepsi, the brand will release "The Crystal Pepsi Trail" online, a take on the popular 90s computer game "The Oregon Trail." Can your wooden station wagon make the journey? Log on to www.crystalpepsi.net starting July 7 to play The Crystal Pepsi Trail.
"We've always had a special place in our heart for Crystal Pepsi, and there has been a huge groundswell of support to bring it back," said Stacy Taffet, Senior Director, Marketing, Pepsi. "What better way to celebrate this iconic 90s cola than to introduce a new take on one of the most beloved games of the decade. Totally rad!
RELATED: Learn best practices to create powerful integrated marketing campaigns.
Crystal Pepsi was brought back in December, but only for a limited time. Consumers had to enter a sweepstakes in order to win the beverage.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the drink’s more-permanent return is an attempt to boost falling profits:
It is the latest bid by the No. 2 soda player behind Coca-Cola Co. to win back consumers. PepsiCo’s U.S. soda sales fell 2% in the 52 weeks ended June 18, worse than the 0.6% decline industrywide, according to Wells Fargo, citing Nielsen store-scanner data.
Declining sales aren’t just affecting Pepsi’s products, WSJ Journal reported:
Per-capita soda consumption in the U.S. is at a three-decade low as more consumers switch to bottled water and other beverages, including energy drinks and teas.
Though Pepsi hopes nostalgia will boost revenue, not everyone is excited about Crystal Pepsi’s return. Many Twitter users reminded their followers why the cola originally only lasted from 1992-1994:
Look, if you want to bring back something from the '90s, bring back Kurt Cobain, not Crystal Pepsi.
— (((Mark Campbell))) (@MrWordsWorth) June 29, 2016
"Crystal Pepsi" sounds like the name of a troubled teen-turned-anti-vax activist mom
— Erin Gloria Ryan (@morninggloria) June 29, 2016
Crystal Pepsi was disgusting in 1992 & I don't expect it to be any better when they bring it back next month..
— Ryan Linville (@Linville34) June 30, 2016
Can we all just agree that Crystal Pepsi was terrible? And yet, here we are. https://t.co/pbotGXNtms #badnostalgia http://pic.twitter.com/2c3xNDW739
— Jackson Murphy (@jacksonian) June 30, 2016
The announcement follows another by Pepsi: The company is bringing back its aspartame-filled diet drink. In a statement, it said:
Consumers want choice in diet colas, so we're refreshing our U.S. lineup to provide three options that meet differing needs and taste preferences. The third option is Pepsi Zero Sugar, formerly known as Pepsi Max.
Pepsi isn’t the only cola company to recently embrace the past. Coca-Cola’s reintroduction of Surge was met with much excitement, urging the company to also bring back Hi-C’s “Ecto Cooler” drink.
As more food and drink companies look to revive sales that are in the doldrums, we might continue to see more products from the past reappear on store shelves.
What do you think about Pepsi’s decision to bring back the iconic cola, PR Daily readers?
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The Facebook live event is sold out
Unless you’ve already registered to be there, the only way to take part in our
Social Media & Storytelling Summit at Facebook is to sign up for the webcast.
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Why is the Scotland Yard called what it is despite not being located in Scotland?
Once King James VI of Scotland also became King James I of England this no longer became necessary (1603). Most of Whitehall Palace burnt down in 1698.
After 1829 Great Scotland Yard, as well as buildings in Whitehall Place (where Middle and Little Scotland Yard previously stood), became the HQ for the new Metropolitan Police. Because the police station was around the Great Scotland Yard side the name just became shortened to Scotland Yard.
The Met relocated in February 1967 to its present location in Broadway (soon to relocate again, back to the rear of Whitehall on Victoria Embankment).
The mounted police still have their stables in Great Scotland Yard.
I originally posted this answer under the question:
What is the origin of the name "Scotland Yard"?
Read other related questions on Quora:
- Is it a good thing that the Met is selling New Scotland Yard?
- Why is the Scotland Yard so popular and revered?
- What is the origin of the name "Scotland Yard"?
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Proper spelling and grammar in emails: It’s important
I’m compulsive. I want to edit everything I see and hear. It doesn’t matter if it’s copy on a cereal box or song lyrics on the radio. (Why does John Mellencamp sing, “I cannot forget from where it is that I come from”? That extra “from” has bothered me for 30 years.)
Typos and incorrect grammar in emails drive me insane. (Nothing more embarrassing than responding to someone’s rant on Facebook and discovering a typo in what I posted.)
Imagine: Some people don’t even notice typos!
Many people don’t care about, or even notice, such things. Two researchers at the University of Michigan—Julie Boland, a cognitive psychologist specializing in language comprehension, who shares my obsession, and Robin Queen, a sociolinguist who doesn’t— wanted to find out why.
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The pair uncovered an earlier study in which college students vetted a potential new colleague on two versions of the same email—one of which was filled with errors. They also found another researcher at UM had studied how spelling errors in online peer-to-peer loan requests affected getting a loan. (The writers of error-strewn messages were perceived as less conscientious, intelligent and trustworthy and were less likely to get a loan.)
So that’s why I didn’t get that job!
Boland and Queen added a personality test that measured five traits: extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness and neuroticism.
Their study asked participants to judge 12 email responses to an ad for a housemate, and rate the senders as potential housemates on traits including intelligence, friendliness or laziness.
There were three versions of each message (a total of 36 different emails). One version included some typos, one contained words people commonly confuse, such as “there” for “their,” which the researchers call “grammos,” and the third was error-free.
The recipients were adults of various ages and levels of education, factors which had no bearing on how recipients perceived the writing errors. Nor did recipients’ use of electronic media. What mattered was the recipient’s personality type.
Hopelessly neurotic? Fine. It doesn’t make you more judgmental.
People who scored low on agreeability were more bothered by the grammos. And people who scored low on extraversion were more bothered by both typos and grammos. (That’s me.) The recipients’ level of neuroticism was irrelevant.
The college-student participants who were heavy users of electronic media were less sensitive to errors, as were those who also claimed to spend time reading for pleasure.
If you’re conversant with the common texting and tweeting abbreviations (lol, btw, wtf, etc.) and alphanumeric combinations (h8, 2day), grammar and spelling become increasingly irrelevant, at least in electronic communication.
Boland and Queen caution that they studied a small sample and that their subjects’ perceptions were based on the fact that the writer of the emails was unknown to them. The short email was all they knew about the sender.
Surprise: Your friends make allowances for your carelessness.
So someone who knows you will be more forgiving of your email errors. They already have an opinion about how smart you are (or aren’t). Social media-savvy college students don’t care.
In business, where you likely communicate with strangers, or with clients who pay you to be intelligent and articulate, a perfect email is crucial.
One last piece of advice from a compulsive editor: spellcheck is great, but it’s no substitute for proofreading.
Bob Keane is the Editorial Director at JConnelly, a communications and marketing agency in New York. A version of this article first appeared on JConnelly’s blog.
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What do Americans think of Australia?
- Americans who think Australia sounds awesome because they've read In A Sunburned Country.
- Americans who think Australia sounds awesome for some other reason.
- Americans who have been to Australia and found it awesome.
It's odd now that I think about it, but in 35 years of living in the USA, I've never heard anyone say one bad word about Australia. The general impression I get, and that I think a lot of Americans get, is that it's sort of a cross of some of the better aspects of the US and England, with just enough opportunities to be killed instantly by nature to give life a little spice.
Read other answers by Phil Darnowsky on Quora:
- What do Americans think of Austria?
- What are some major differences between the USA as portrayed on television vs. the real USA?
- Who is the best American?
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7 key components of successful content marketing
Most brands are upping their investments and output for content creation and dissemination, but that doesn't mean all those dollars are well spent. The effectiveness of your content marketing will depend heavily on your brand and its marketplace.
For example, according to 2016 reports from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, B2C marketers rank e-newsletters, in-person events, illustrations and photos, and social media content as their most effective tactics. Meanwhile, B2B marketers list in-person events, webinars, case studies and white papers as their most effective tactics.
Effective content marketers aren't defined solely by which channels and tactics they use. The best content marketing comes from those who respect and embrace both the art and science of the discipline. Whether they're marketing cars or candy canes, the most effective content marketers share the following characteristics:
1. They respect basic journalistic principles.
To some, it might seem blasphemous to equate marketing with journalism, but the best content marketers recognize that many tenets of good journalism should apply to their content efforts.
According to CMI and MarketingProfs, 66 percent of B2C marketers have an editorial mission statement, although only 39 percent have documented it. However, among the marketers who ranked their organizations as being most effective at content marketing, this percentage of documentation rises to 50 percent.
Editorial mission statements within marketing organizations help to establish a culture in which content is understood and respected. Furthermore, they underscore the importance of creating content in a thoughtful fashion.
Content will deliver value to a brand only if it delivers value to the consumer, and consumers are not unaware of bias when it comes to content. They want information presented in an objective manner and based on documented facts, not a brand's contorted version of those facts. The best content marketers do their research and cite their sources.
2. They're not afraid to get emotional.
Like good journalists, good content marketers respect the need for objectivity and accuracy, but they know that emotions are what drive people. Even the driest content can be infinitely improved when given a human face.
You have about two seconds to capture someone's attention, and your likelihood of accomplishing this is much greater if you appeal to their emotions. The emotion you choose to tap—humor, fear, shock, compassion—will depend on the underlying story you have to tell.
The key to effective content is leading with emotion and letting the story unfold from there.
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If you ask someone whether they'd like to talk about insurance, you're likely to be knocked over by the force of their derisive laughter. If you instead tell them the story of the family that lost everything except their dog in a devastating tornado, you have their attention. Then you can put it to use.
3. They go outside their comfort zones (and demographics).
At some point, every aspiring author will be told to "write what you know," but if you're a content marketer, that advice is best ignored.
What you know doesn't much matter. It's what your target audience knows that is most important.
Who are they, and what moves them? What common experiences do they share, and how can your content speak to them in a meaningful way?
Don't assume your own world view applies here. Talk to your customers, and channel their experiences when creating content. Better yet, let their experiences become your content.
4. They think across multiple channels.The best content isn't created for YouTube, Twitter, Instagram or some other channel. The content might live there, but the story behind it should run much deeper and manifest itself in different ways on different platforms.
The best cross-channel brand stories exist at the nexus of art and science.
The art involves the creation of compelling and meaningful assets that can be disseminated across various channels. The science comes in when you use analytics to find your core audience, distribute your story and refine your narrative as the campaign unfolds.
The most effective content marketers create consistent brand narratives across multiple channels and devices. The calls to action should vary by channel, but the underlying theme should be unified so that each new piece a consumer encounters builds on—rather than repeats—the previous one.
As noted before, the best content marketing is a fine blend of art and science, but that doesn't mean the artists should handle one side while the scientists handle the other. The most effective content marketers aren't afraid to dabble in both.
So, how do you take something qualitative, such as a social media post, and turn it into something quantitative?
Without a solid metrics strategy in place, it's hard to know which pieces of content are contributing the most to your marketing efforts.
The right metrics for your campaign will vary according to your objectives, but Salesforce Pardot offers 14 useful factors to consider in its content creation guide:
- Unique page visits
- Downloads
- Time on page
- Inbound links
- Shares
- Comments and interactions
- Cost per click
- Cost per lead
- Lead generation
- Annual contract value
- Influence
- Conversion rates
- Followers or subscribers
- Growth
You don't need all of them, and maybe the best metrics for you aren't even on this list. Choose wisely, but most important, make sure you choose something.
6. They meet to discuss their strategies frequently.Effective content marketing doesn't happen by accident, and it certainly doesn't happen in a vacuum. The most effective content marketers are part of a team whose members work in concert.
According to CMI and MarketingProfs, 48 percent of content marketers meet to discuss their content strategies on a daily or weekly basis. Fifty-five percent of those who rate themselves as most effective in content marketing meet with this frequency.
Furthermore, B2C marketers who meet daily or weekly are more likely to consider their meetings valuable (70 percent) than those who meet bi-weekly or monthly (54 percent).
7. They look beyond sales.Finally, as noted before, it's important for content marketers to carefully track the success of their efforts. This starts with basic metrics on content effectiveness such as those listed earlier. But such metrics must feed into broader organizational goals for marketing.
It's no surprise that "sales" sits high on the list of ultimate goals related to content marketing; 83 percent of content marketers cite sales as an important goal.
The most effective content marketers place more importance on brand awareness (91 percent), followed by customer retention and loyalty (86 percent), engagement (86 percent), and then sales (82 percent).
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Wednesday, June 29, 2016
9 simple public speaking tips
Employees present to clients and a few managers and worry about impressing their team and closing the deal.
Student speakers endure a different nervousness. Their presentations are to classmates. The nervousness is about the stigma or respect that may stay with them all through school.
Other students and faculty who judge you know the pressures you are under. Here are tips to improve your presentation delivery.
1. Familiarize yourself with your subject.
Go through your presentation repeatedly. Learn all you can about your subject so you can deliver your deep knowledge of it confidently.
Your presentation will come off as more interesting, because the audience will intuit that you’re saving them time by keeping a considerable number of facts, ideas, and arguments in reserve. Your audience will sense that you know more about the subject than they do.
2. If you can choose your own topic, choose a topic you feel comfortable with.
Choose a topic you can comfortably talk about or are an authority on, something you know well or love very much. This will give you enough boldness to present beautifully.
3. Believe you will do well.
Believing in yourself is critical since it shows in your body language. Your expectation of doing well is a language that your audience will respond to instantly and clearly.
4. Look at your audience directly.
It might not be easy to do this from the beginning even if you are thoroughly prepared.
Cast your glances almost randomly until you settle into your speech. When you’ve caught and held them, establish direct eye contact to judge their understanding of what you’re saying. This will help you change your delivery pace if need be.
5. Don’t read from a sheet.
Notes, a quick reminder of your point, are better than reading from a sheet. Reading from a sheet dulls your presentation, makes it sound boring and suggests unpreparedness.
Prepare a list of subject headings that you can fill out as you speak. It shows you know what you are talking about.
6. Deliver your speech at an unhurried pace.
It will help your audience assimilate your ideas easily and keep their attention on you. It will also make you appear confident.
7. Speak clearly.
Regulating the level and tone of your voice keeps your audience interested. Project your voice and speak firmly without shouting. In the important passages, reduce your volume to get closer attention from your audience.
8. Control body gestures.
Speakers tend to make excessive body movements and hand gestures. Control both to increase your composure and organize your delivery. Use hand gestures mostly for emphasis.
9. Be interactive if you are allowed to do that.
Ask questions that will draw responses and interaction in the form of questions from the audience.
Jack Danielson is a recruiting and business development expert and consulting writer at Satellite Broadband ISP.
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What is the best advice your mother ever gave you?
When I was almost 5 years old going to Kindergarten in Hong Kong, my mom was surprised to see a red welt on my left cheek. She asked me and a little girl from my class about it and we told her that my teacher had pinched my cheek for me being naughty and talking too much in class.
Let me digress to explain my mom to you so you understand why this event stands out in my mind and what an amazing person my mom was despite all of the challenges life threw her way. My mom has a 4th grade education from India. Her family needed her to help at home so that was what she did. She learned how to speak, read, and write English herself. We were very poor and living in a very foreign place for Indians and in 1975 when this happened, you did not act the way she did.
My mom's eyes grew wide and she grabbed my hand and ran us both up the stairs to the second floor and started banging at the locked classroom door. The teacher asked who it was and my mom said:
"I am Sanjay's mother and I am going to kill you for laying a hand on him!"
The door did not open and my mom called the police and filed a report. This was after 20 parents and kids gathered to see what was happening and the teacher was screaming frantically for help. The teacher may still be hiding behind that classroom door for all I know- she was that scared. Of course I couldn't go back to that school and my mom's temper has put me in awkward situations subsequent to this example, but there is force more powerful on earth than someone who is willing to risk anything for their family. Insane maybe, but powerful yes.
My children have seen this in me when they are wronged and I hope they understand that fighting for what is right, decent, and fair is not just something you read about in textbooks. Fighting for your rights sometimes requires actual physical fighting.
Read other answers by Sanjay Sabnani on Quora:
- What do parents miss most about when their children were younger?
- At what point do you start talking to and treating your children like adults?
- My 15-year-old daughter told me she was "disappointed" in me as a mother. What should I do?
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What's the last thing you said to your mom and dad?
- "Mommy, there's a snowstorm starting outside and we need to go home. We might not be able to come visit tomorrow, depending on the road conditions, but I know they will take good care of you here. ... I love you, Mommy." She died two days later.
- "I have to go back to Oregon for a few weeks but I promise I'll be back soon and I'll come to see you then. I love you, Daddy." He died about ten days later.
Those are the last things I said to them while they were still alive. But I still talk to them almost every day.
Read other related questions on Quora:
- What are some of the irritating things said by Indian moms?
- Why do moms manipulate things when complaining to dads?
- What was the best thing that you have done and your mom/dad doesn't know about it?
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Would electing Donald Trump be as bad of an idea as electing Richard Nixon was?
No. It would be much worse.
OK, Nixon was a crook and a paranoid. He extended the war in Vietnam, supported genocide in Pakistan, appointed Henry Kiss-of-death, implemented the "southern strategy", was a former ally of Joe McCarthy, slandered Helen Gahaghan Douglas and so on.
But Trump would be worse. Rather than being paranoid, he's a narcissistic, petulant and immature dickhead. I don't agree with Ted Cruz about much (in fact, the following may be the only thing we agree on) but he's right when he says that Trump is not fit to be in control of the "button".
Read other answers by Peter Flom on Quora:
- Does Donald Trump have similarities with Teddy Roosevelt?
-
Is there any real difference between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton?
-
How much will Sarah Palin's endorsement help Donald Trump?
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A marketer’s guide to data mining
Big data can be the solution to even your most complex marketing woes.
Consumer behavior, revenue reports, brand awareness and social media analytics are only some of the big data that marketers frequently track.
Though most marketing pros are aware of the power of measurement, many struggle to turn those statistics and figures into an opportunity to expand — or improve.
Instead of glossing over your next consumer insights report, consider its potential value and dig in.
A Paladin white paper dissected the importance of data in today’s marketing strategies:
Knowing the intricacies of your customers, their behavior, how they use your products, how well they know your brand and how they perceive it provides total insight into your current success and potential for growth.
Here are some highlights from the white paper and how to use various metrics to your organization’s advantage:
Use data to expand
Paladin suggests 54 percent of digital marketers named the all-encompassing term “big data” as a top priority in 2015. According to the white paper, however, big data doesn’t do much of anything — unless you know how to use it.
From Paladin:
Having access to business intelligence from external sources like industry and market news reports, technological advancements and consumer behavior means your business analysts and market researchers can identify your place within the market and determine how to get — and stay — ahead of the game.
Performance data and sales reports have little value if only a handful of employees are assigned to analyze them. To expand and get ahead, Paladin suggests divvying things up:
Distribute this data to your executives — your CEO, CFO, COO, CMO, and VPs — and it becomes the launch pad for a highly effective sales and marketing strategy. [Successful companies have used data to] identify its most valuable customers, tailor messages to each segment to boost sales numbers and predict revenue.
Once senior-level marketers and decision-makers had access to big data, 80 percent noted a positive change in revenue.
Improve your products and processes
Customer insight is an increasingly important component in marketing strategies.
“After all, the more you know about how customers use your goods and services, the more prepared you’ll be to meet their needs,” the white paper states.
How can you obtain or compile that information?
Here are nine types of big data every marketer can mine:
-
Sales figures
-
User information
-
Contact center data
-
Customer service channels
-
Customer reviews
-
Sites/blogs for competitor analysis
-
Industry journals
-
Market research
-
Social listening
While much of that information is readily available for most businesses, a difference can be made when the right people know what to do with it.
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“When your aim is to enhance your product line or service offerings and develop a more effective go-to-market strategy, call on your CMO, VPs, directors, sales leaders and account managers to take the reins,” the paper advises. “They should be able to boil all that customer data down into a rich product development and sales resource.”
Once you’re comfortable with an expanded customer base or improved product, ask whether you’re prepared to meet the increased demand. From making new hires to ironing out the flaws in your production process, deeper customer insight often leads to improved businesses strategies.
Big data = the secret to brand building
How do brand managers and content marketers increase brand awareness? They often rely on data.
Paladin reports that U.S. marketers spent roughly $12 billion in 2015 on data and data-related solutions. Forty-three percent said they control all of their organization’s customer data.
To really boost your brand and increase its online presence, you must understand how your customer interacts with your brand. Your data must go deeper than simple demographics or identifying your target audience.
Here’s how Paladin suggests you dig:
Before you can shake someone’s hand, you need to know they’re in the room with you. Data such as site visits, ad views, clicks, survey responses and focus group results tells you how, where and when to engage your customers so you can devise an effective brand strategy, determine the optimal advertising mix and succeed on social media.
Don’t draw the line at simply figuring out who your customer is. You must learn why they’re interested in your brand and how they got to that point.
What approach to using big data have you taken, PR Daily readers?
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Airbnb fights back after San Francisco registration proposal
Lawmakers in San Francisco have made it increasingly difficult for Airbnb operators to register for the necessary permits to continue using the site to rent their homes (or rooms in their homes) to travelers, according to the company.
A post on the Airbnb Action site alleges that “the Board of Supervisors recently passed a hastily-crafted proposal requiring Airbnb to remove all unregistered hosts.”
It didn’t stop there. The city will fine Airbnb $1,000 a day, starting next month, for every unregistered host that it allows to use the site. The move has prompted Airbnb to get the feds involved by suing the city to reverse its decision.
Airbnb says that the process is broken, and the city acknowledged as much. At issue is the complicated registration process, as the Airbnb site details:
These hosts have been asked to register with the City, but the ever-changing and confusing process simply doesn’t work for many residents, particularly senior citizens, people who occasionally share their space, work several jobs, and have limited time for repeated in-person application meetings.
To share your space in San Francisco, a homeowner must do the following:
- Obtain a separate short-term rental business license.
- Compile multiple original documents to provide proof of residency.
- Schedule an in-person appointment at the Office of Short Term Rentals.
- Register in-person at the Office of Short Term Rentals and pay fees.
- File quarterly reports documenting the dates and length of every stay and demonstrating the number of nights a host slept in their own home.
- File an annual inventory of all property in their home used in any way as part of a short term rental in order to be taxed on items like their sheets, blankets, pots and pans. As assistance, hosts are given an 90+ page manual intended for big businesses and instructed to inventory any belongings used by guests, right down to forks, knives, sheets and shampoo.
In the lawsuit, Airbnb claims that the city’s actions violate the Communications Decency Act, which prevents government entities from holding a website liable for the actions of its users. Airbnb says that it should not be held accountable for any illegal listings on its site.
New York City has been similarly unfriendly to the company. Laws enacted in 2010 prevent anyone from renting a whole apartment for fewer than 30 days—and heavy fines can befall anyone who is caught doing so.
More legislation is on the books. The State of New York is considering a bill that would hold the hosts liable—up to $7,500—for listing an illegal rental.
As for its fight in San Francisco, courts will generally side with the website, as it has with Google and eBay in the past—deeming those sites were not liable for the actions of their users.
However, this won’t necessarily fix Airbnb’s problem. San Francisco might decide to pivot and follow New York’s example of targeting the users who list illegal rentals.
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Volkswagen settles in multi-billion deal
When it comes to repairing a damaged reputation, Volkswagen has a long road ahead.
Volkswagen executives are starting to learn the extent of their punishment for the emissions testing scandal that recently rocked the auto industry.
In a record settlement that marks the beginning of the company’s woes, it will pay an estimated $14.7 billion to buy back the diesel cars that were designed to cheat emissions tests or to compensate those who elect to have theirs fixed.
Deputy Attorney General, Sally Yates called it:
The most flagrant violations of our consumer and environmental laws in our country's history. We cannot undo the damage that's been done to our air quality, but we can offset that damage.
There isn’t a quick fix for the affected cars, whose software detects when an emissions test is taking place and changes the car’s output.
Owners of those vehicles who want their cars fixed (assuming that a fix is eventually approved) can expect compensation between $5,100 and $10,000. Buybacks will cost Volkswagen between $12,500 and $44,000.
"We're getting VW's polluting vehicles off the road and we're reducing harmful pollution in our air, pollution that you never should have been emitted in the first place," EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said at a press conference.
RELATED: Keep your cool in a crisis with these 13 tips.
Volkswagen will also have to pay $2.7 billion to support environmental cleanup and another $2 billion toward zero-emission cars.
"We take our commitment to make things right very seriously and believe these agreements are a significant step forward," VW chief, Matthias Müller said in a statement. "We know that we still have a great deal of work to do to earn back the trust of the American people. We are focused on resolving the outstanding issues and building a better company that can shape the future of integrated, sustainable mobility for our customers."
The settlement requires Volkswagen to ensure that 85 percent of the cars in question are fixed or off the road by July 2019.
This isn’t the end of VW’s trouble. The company (and individuals) could still face criminal charges and civil penalties for violating the Clean Air Act.
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Quiz: Commonly misused or misspelled words
Instead of another article about usage, let’s see how you fare with a quiz.
Read the list below and make note of which words or phrases are incorrect—either from misspelling or from misstatement. Check your answers at the end.
RELATED: Improve your writing today with this free guide.
Definitions and usage guidance came from Oxford Dictionaries, Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster.
1. Alterior motive
2. Augurs well for the project
3. Brussel sprout
4. Caddy-corner
5. Center around
6. Conversate
7. Coursing through my veins
8. Cut and dry
9. Derring-do
10. Digestive track
11. Dire straits
12. Door jamb
13. Doughnut
14. Duct tape
15. Easedrop
16. Fine-tooth comb
17. Harebrained
18. Home in
19. Mute point
20. Old wise tale
21. Per say
22. Sleight of hand
23. Thunder and lightening
24. Wet your appetite
Answers:
1. Incorrect. “Alterior” should read “ulterior.”
2. Correct.
3. Incorrect. “Brussel sprouts” should be “Brussels sprouts.”
4. Incorrect. “Caddy” is not correct; instead, use “catty” or “kitty.”
5. Incorrect. Things don’t “center around,” but rather “center on” or “revolve around.”
6. Incorrect. It should be “converse.”
7. Correct.
8. Incorrect. It should be “cut and dried.”
9. Correct.
10. Incorrect. It should be “digestive tract.”
11. Correct.
12. Correct.
13. Correct.
14. Correct.
15. Incorrect. “Easedrop” should be “eavesdrop.”
16. Correct.
17. Correct.
18. Correct. “Home” is to “focus in on a target”; “hone” means “to sharpen.”
19. Incorrect. “Mute” should read “moot.”
20. Incorrect. Instead of “wise,” it’s an “old wives’ tale.”
21. Incorrect. “Per say” should read “per se,” meaning “by or in itself.”
22. Correct.
23. Incorrect. “Lightening” is incorrect; “lightning” is correct.
24. Incorrect. “Wet” should be “whet,” which means to “stimulate an appetite or desire.”
How did you do, PR Daily readers? What words or phrases cause you trouble?
Laura Hale Brockway is writer and editor from Austin, Texas. Read more of her work on PR Daily and at impertinentremarks.
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Being: If you were a form of information, what would it look like?
As information comes and goes I think I would look like a quilt, made from old photographs connected by bits of leaves, twigs and lavender, all bunched up with sewing and knots made of too much dwelled upon angst, a real bumpy road to rub your hands and feet over. There would be old fur, fresh flowers and buttons that would sing or hiss. But the weaving would be crisscrossed and crazy but connected.
Read other answers by Sheri Fresonke Harper on Quora:
- How can it be argued that language and logic are two major tricksters in matters of understanding?
- What is meaning of this quote: “The way out is through the door. Why is it that no one will use this method?” -Confucius?
- Do you forgive easily? Have you ever forgiven someone who wronged or hurt you in a way that you thought could never be forgiven?
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3 Reasons Earned Media Still Rules
There is one commonality in business, regardless of your industry or market.
Strip away labels like business-to-consumer, business-to-business, government, nonprofit, etc., and you’ll find the same thing on the other side of the content you create and conversations you have: Communities.
The communities that make up your brand’s audience are built around personal and professional networks, mutual interests, even devotion to individual influencers. And to connect with these communities, you need trust.
Without trust, your content won’t be noticed.
Without trust, your sales funnel won’t fill with new leads.
Without trust, your top and bottom lines won’t be met.
You can’t force trust, though. You must earn it.
It’s not surprising, then, that a new white paper from Outsell, Inc., shows the marketing methods rated most effective by B2B and B2C senior marketers are “pull” methods – methods that empower users to opt into their interactions with brands.
The findings from Outsell, a research and advisory firm focused on media, information, technology and the business of data, reveal a fundamental shift away from intrusive tactics, such as telemarketing, autoplay video and TV/radio ads, towards user-initiated behavior.
“In the research we conducted with Outsell, 81% of senior marketers said that earned media was more effective than paid media,” says PR Newswire’s Senior Vice President of Marketing Ken Wincko (@KenWincko).
“Because of this, today’s CMOs and their teams must go from a push to a pull strategy – leveraging earned media through advocacy, third party experts, press releases and other tactics that build communities.”
While these earned media tactics may be more labor intensive than paid media, many brands are waking up to the reasons they’re a must.
Audiences crave authenticity.
In narrowing down which company they’re going to hand their money to, customers research who you are, what you do, the opinions others share about you and how it all compares to your competition.
Anything they find that can be construed as fake or deceptive puts the trust your audience places in you at risk.
Audiences view natural and organic earned media as the most authentic form of marketing because it’s coming from someone else. A verified source who lends credibility and authority to your message.
Paid media isn’t what it used to be.
We’re entering an age where audiences are not just ignoring, but actively blocking advertisements. According to research released by eMarketer last week, 69.8 million Americans are predicted to use an ad blocker this year. And in 2017, that figure will grow 24.0% to 86.6 million people.
Earned media, on the other hand, resonates with customers because it’s grounded in quality content and meaningful relationships.
As one CMO shared when surveyed by Outsell, “We are shifting from paid to earned. We’re starting to see the needle move with more sharable content, more invitations to speak at conferences vs. paying to speak, more press coverage vs. paid advertorials.”
Earned media delivers leads.
Earned media isn’t just helpful for building brand awareness. In the Outsell report, B2B and B2C marketers rated public relations more effective for lead generation than push tactics such as print, mobile and native advertising.
“In earned media, influencers self-select and have a multiplier effect influencing many others to convert at higher rates than paid media. This makes earned media especially effective in increasing prequalification of prospects and increasing engagement with the right prospects,” writes Outsell Affiliate Analyst Chuck Richard.
To gauge earned media’s lead gen impact, Ken recommends moving beyond traditional metrics. “Shares, likes, followers, earned media coverage are important, but contribution to pipeline and revenue will better demonstrate marketing impact,” he says.
Of course, marketers can’t rely solely on earned media. Instead, it should be used – in combination with paid and owned methods – to amplify your overall growth strategy.
“It’s time for marketers to rebalance their spending and deploy more resources toward earned media and advocacy, placing them at the center of a multichannel marketing experience,” says Ken. “For instance, when PR Newswire employed an integrated mix across paid, owned and earned channels, we saw dramatic results. Content downloads increased by 5X and our conversion rate increased by over 40%.”
“When we added PR to the mix, we increased downloads by two and a half times.”
Learn more about earned media’s expanding role in the marketing mix by downloading The Earned Media Opportunity. This free white paper prepared by Outsell for PR Newswire offers new data and earned media tactics that will help you fuel customer trust, awareness and lead generation for your brand.
Author Amanda Hicken is PR Newswire’s senior manager of strategic content and managing editor of Beyond PR. Follow her on Twitter @ADHicken for tweets about marketing, the media, Cleveland and comic books.
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