Inman Hacker Connect SF – Next Week (and $100 Off)

As I’ve mentioned before — if there is one event that’s truly applicable to readers here, it’s Hacker Connect.

Who: Join engineers, developers, designers, product managers, database architects, webmasters and technology executives from across the country for a deep real estate technology dive
When: August 7th, 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Where: Hilton San Francisco Union Square (333 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco, CA)
Cost: $299
Register: Here

If you look at the schedule here, you’ll see there are a wide range of tech topics discussed.

I’m making the trip to San Francisco on Sunday, and staying in town until my Friday evening flight back home. If you’re making the trip and would like to connect in person, shoot me an email at drew @ geekestatelabs dot com.

Lastly, note you may use the “geekestate” discount code to save $100 off the listed ticket price of $299 (if you use this link to register, the discount will be applied automatically).

Hope to see you next Monday!

The post Inman Hacker Connect SF – Next Week (and $100 Off) appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

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LinkedIn unveils top 10 Company Pages of 2017

LinkedIn has cemented its status as the premier business-centric social media platform.

For businesses keen on establishing an effective LinkedIn presence, the recruiting hub released its annual list of top Company Pages. The SlideShare lauds 10 organizations and points out what makes each successful on the network.

[RELATED: Join us for the Social Media #Mashup at Disneyland.] 

First up is Hays, a recruiting firm, which wins plaudits for posting practical tips for its audience of jobseekers. LinkedIn advises crafting content that’s “genuinely helpful” as opposed to promotional and self-serving.

Schneider Electric gets a shoutout for its use of stunning imagery. As LinkedIn states: “Visual is the new headline.”

When it comes to internal content creation, Nike lets its employees “just do it.” Rank-and-file workers can be your best, most compelling ambassadors.

Cisco exemplifies how larger organizations can use LinkedIn’s new Showcase Pages feature to spotlight separate brands or different aspects of your business.

Virginia-based DXC Technology gets a nod for cultivating meaningful, two-way conversations with followers.

Teleperformance India, which has more than 16,000 LinkedIn followers, makes the list for doing a nice job of highlighting staff wins, press coverage and pertinent organization news.

Hotmart is a Brazil-based platform for digital products. LinkedIn praises the organization’s consistent use of calls to action and links, which it claims can generate “45 percent higher follower engagement than updates without links.”

Many organizations fail to strategically use their Company Page’s real estate to pump up registrations for upcoming events, conferences and webinars, but not HP.

Biesse Group, meanwhile, is successfully riding the wave of video popularity. LinkedIn advises that video-based posts typically garner more engagement than plain text.

Rounding out the list is Woolworths Group, Australia’s largest retailer. LinkedIn applauds the organization for posting third-party content, which can “establish goodwill and authority with your audience.” It doesn’t always have to be about you and your business.

LinkedIn now has north of 500 million users (up 30+ million from last year). The platform continues to grow in popularity, stature and professional cachet. If you’d like to land a spot on next year’s top Company Pages list, heeding the tips mentioned above would be a great start.

Here are the top 10 Company Pages for 2017:
1. Hays 
2. Schneider Electric
3. Nike
4. Cisco
5. DXC Technology
6. Teleperformance India
7. Hotmart
8. HP
9. Biesse Group
10. Woolworths Group  

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8 ways to generate great blog posts from doctors

A couple of years back, I was asked to help my hometown, big city newspaper build a health and science section on its website—an ambitious project that included recruiting numerous health experts to blog. Researchers. Scientists. Professors. Lawyers. Patients. Doctors. Lots of doctors.

We were pretty excited when we managed to bring on board the team doctors from every major sports team in the city. But the excitement eased a bit when we slammed into a painful reality: Recruiting experts to blog is one challenge. Teaching them to produce readable—even compelling—blog entries is a whole different ballgame.

In the hope of saving you similar pain, here are some tips learned the hard way on how to coax strong content from doctors and other health providers:

Add patient stories. I remember talking with an adolescent health specialist early on who wanted to write an entry about teen pregnancy. Her draft made good points, but it was only when she added a story about a confused 14-year-old patient that it came to life. Stories are how humans learn and connect. Doctors and nurses spend their days on the front lines and have great stories to share. They often shy away from them, though, to protect privacy. Yes, there are privacy concerns in naming names and providing recognizable details, and you need to take them seriously. But that shouldn’t prevent you from finding a way to use patient stories either by asking for permission or disguising specifics to protect identities.

Take the reader behind the scenes. There’s a reason why there are so many medical shows on TV. Medicine is a fascinating world, and doctors perform miracles every day. It is routine to them. It isn’t to us. Let us in on it. Share the drama. Take us into the E.R., the surgical suite, the examining room. Talk about emotions. The patient’s family was crying. The nurse was smiling. Offer those little details that bring the scene to life. Give the reader some insight, a glimpse into that world.

[RELATED: Join us at Microsoft, and learn tactics and strategies to conquer all your biggest communications challenges.]

Don’t limit the blog to words. Blogs are wonderfully flexible tools for communicating. Video, audio, photos—especially photos—can all work in a blog. Use them all, when appropriate. Teach your experts to think about the various assets at their disposal. We spent several hours following a therapy dog on his rounds through a local rehabilitation facility. The resulting photo essay—complete with smiling faces and wagging tails—pulled in a huge audience and told the story much more effectively than text ever could.

Add personality, even humor. Encourage your writers to provide personal details. One emergency department nurse would send dry entries about the administrative issues she dealt with. Over and over. You work in the ER, I would plead. Share that experience with me. Give me a window into that life as a way of explaining the administrative issues, which are certainly important. Tell me the kind of stories that start with “You would not believe what happened today.” Encourage your expert bloggers to use first person, to talk about themselves, their background, their family. It will strengthen the connection with the reader, which is a major part of the power of social media.

Teach them all the blogging tricks you know. We wrote a brief email for each new recruit listing all of those lessons that most PR pros already know: Use lists and bullet points because people tend to scan, illustrate your points with examples, write in first person, actively invite comments, don’t lecture—invite conversation, etc. Those tips and more like them helped nudge our fledgling blog writers toward the sort of entries we were hoping to publish.

Share the numbers. If a blog entry garners impressive traffic, make sure you let the expert bloggers know. It will energize them for next time and will keep them focused on topics that patients want to hear about. Gently let them know when an entry is a dud, as well, all in the interest of building a readership. No one wants to launch their blog entry into the silence of deep space.

Respond to comments. Let your bloggers know upfront you expect them to respond to comments, when appropriate. Readers will be more engaged if they see the doctor is paying attention to thoughtful comments. Don’t expect the experts to track the comments. That is your job. But alert them when there is something they should respond to. Thoughtful comments are the holy grail of blogging and provide a great way to keep the conversation going. One blog entry we ran on breastfeeding ended by asking readers about the most unusual place they had nursed their child. That led to more blog entries and lots of energetic discussion. A whole series prompted by reader comments.

Know when to quit. Some experts—a lot of doctors fall into this category—are either not strong writers or don’t have the time it takes to craft engaging blog copy. That’s OK. Their skill is medicine. That’s where we as patients want them focused. Make it easy for them. The best solution is often to interview them, especially if you have a tight deadline. Run it as a Q&A with an expert, a format that is often more readable and interesting than an entry written by an expert. One morning when a local baseball player was sidelined with a knee injury we tracked down our knee expert, interviewed him and had a blog entry up within an hour or two of the news, much quicker than had we waited for him to write a blog entry.

A couple of years into blogging, a patient safety expert took a chance and wrote an entry for us on a young patient who died after swallowing medication patches. It was a harrowing story and well out of the range of items he typically wrote, but it garnered the most traffic he ever received and a featured spot on the main newspaper homepage. Doctors, nurses, researchers can all provide great expert content like that. They just might need some gentle handholding to get there.

Larry Blumenthal, a content strategist at Open Road Advisors, helps hospitals and other health-related organizations create digital content that gets read.

First published in March 2015.

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Report: What ‘influencers’ require to partner with brands

If you think “influencer” marketing is a joke or a passing fad, it’s time to reconsider.

A recent Linqia study found that 86 percent of marketers have used “influencer” marketing, and a whopping 94 percent have found the tactic effective.

As the skeptics join the converted on partnering with social media stars to boost campaigns, the questions turn to who—as in who should be your partner(s) on the exciting journey?

[RELATED: Join us at Microsoft, and learn tactics and strategies to conquer all your biggest communications challenges . ]

Marketing agency Clever published a study that asked influential social media users how they prefer to work with brands. The study found that those with large and engaged online followings prefer to feel brand affinity for their partners’ products or services. They want a degree of creative control and compensation commensurate with their efforts (if you’re looking for exclusivity, expect to pay up). These social media rockstars also value brands that tout diversity.

Clever reported the following findings:

· More than 80 percent of respondents charge a premium for 30 days or more of brand exclusivity.

· Brand affinity trumps compensation when social media users with large followings are choosing a program. For marketers, that means you should start with influential personalities who have already publicly spoken or posted positive comments about your brand.

· 80 percent of social media heavyweights said they prefer not to work with brand managers if they have to give up too much creative control.

· The bulk of influential online users’ income (71 percent) comes from sponsored content.

Facebook remains one of many social platforms where “influencers” are connecting with target audiences, but prepare to adapt your content and campaigns accordingly.

The platform recently announced incredibly positive earnings, but warned investors that growth may slow—for a good reason. The company is running out of space in its newsfeed, so it will probably turn to its messaging platforms, including Messenger and WhatsApp, to expand its advertising offerings. Other marketing pros can find success—especially when partnering with popular social media users—on Instagram.

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2nd + Main by Create Properties in Mount Pleasant

On the corner of 2nd and Main Street is the new 226 residence building composed of 23 studios, 145 1-bedrooms, and 58 2-bedrooms. Vancouver based, Create Properties brings a unique vibe to their properties where you can live, work and play. This development will feature: a green roof for residents with garden plots and storage for gardening supplies, electric vehicle charging stations, four artist studios, bicycle stalls, 13000 square feet of retail space, and culture space.

This fabulous development is situated within walking distance to the Olympic Village, close to breweries and dining spots.

The post 2nd + Main by Create Properties in Mount Pleasant appeared first on Vancouver New Condos.

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5 reasons to share your competitors’ content

Providing the best customer service and experience online means that you become consumers’ go-to information source, treating information like a product.

Thanks to the internet and mobile devices with web services, customers are now in complete control and can filter out the noise or messages that do not benefit them.

As a result, brand managers must build strong relationships with their audience by providing consistently valuable, relevant and helpful information—whatever the source is.

With the rise in popularity of content marketing, it is important to treat information like a product. If you do so, you can sell, cross-sell and up-sell more products and services, helping you drive business growth.

You must report on your industry just as mainstream journalists or modern online media sources do, in an array of formats, such as text, video and images.

Sharing or linking to your competitors, though counterintuitive, can work to your advantage. Here’s why:

1. Google frames your industry and your company’s identity.

Sometimes others’ content is better than your own. Neil Patel, co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar and KISSmetrics, links to his competitors multiple times a week, because he feels that is doing what is best for his users.

In his video, he explains that he puts users first and ensures they get a great user experience from his website, so they come back. Forty percent of his monthly traffic is from repeat visitors.

Patel says Google determines what your website is about when you link to your competitors and other industry sites. This linking helps Google determine where to rank your website. By linking to competitors, they might link back to you, boosting your search engine rankings.

[RELATED: Join us for the Brand Storytelling and Content Marketing Conference at The Coca-Cola Company.]

2. You convey confidence about your company.

Sharing your competitors’ content can show your social media followers you are confident in your company and the products and services you are selling.

Your company is a news outlet, so report relevant stories.

3. People already know your competitors.

Look at your company page on LinkedIn. It shows similar companies to yours (your competitors).

Your clients or prospects will probably ask industry analysts (such as Gartner and Forrester) about your competitors or similar companies anyway. By sharing and linking to your competitors’ content, you can control the conversation while conveying confidence that your brand has nothing to hide.

4. It increases trust and loyalty.

You build trust with your audience over many years. To keep earning that trust, you must share and create valuable, relevant content daily. Your audience will keep coming back for more and become loyal to your brand, because you provide helpful and insightful information.

Your competitors’ content is worth sharing—if it is helpful and informative.

5. It makes you better at what you do.

Sharing and linking to your competitors’ content can enhance your own content. The goal is to help your audience, so you must understand what your clients or prospects might be reading.

Ask yourself: What makes their content great? What makes it worth sharing? Can you use the idea(s) presented in their content and expand upon it?

Marcus Sheridan is known for answering his customers’ questions. He also writes about his competition a lot.

He wrote an article about the two major fiberglass pool manufacturers in his industry. The article has been read thousands of times, it ranks first for many keyword phrases, and most of the comments asked his company for tips about which brand to choose.

Sheridan’s bottom line: Stop caring about the competition and start answering customers’ questions, in part by linking to the best content available.

Be confident in your work, and don’t fear your competition.

By sharing and linking to your competitors’ content, you can make sure your readers and followers are more loyal. It also helps you become a go-to source of information and increases the likelihood of you getting traffic and shares back from your competition.

Remember, if it benefits your community, share it.

Matthew Royse is a digital marketing director of Forsythe Technology. A version of this article originally appeared on his blog, Knowledge Enthusiast.

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Reader Story: How Angela Travels the World as an Au Pair

One of the biggest challenges for people is saving up for a world trip. It can be daunting trying to save thousands of dollars for your next big trip. Yet I always say “If you can’t save, go work.” The world has an abundance of jobs that travelers can get. Millions of travelers fund their trips by working their way around the world. Today, I want to profile one of our community members who does just that. Angela works as an au pair. This funds her round the world travel dreams, let’s her stay in a place longer, and get to know a culture better. Today we share her story and tips for being an au pair.

Nomadic Matt: Hi Angela! Thanks for doing this. Tell us about yourself!
Angéla:I’m Angéla and I’m 28 years old. I was born near Lyon, France, and am the eldest of four sisters. After graduating from school when I was 21, I started working as an au pair in Germany. I wanted to get out of France and work with children, so this was the perfect job! Seven years later, I’m still an au pair, currently in Japan! I love what I do because I get to travel and work with children, the two things I love the most.

Were you always interested in travel? How did you get started?
Funny enough, out of all my big family (I have three other siblings and lots of cousins), I’m the only one who likes to travel a lot! Nobody around me ever went abroad for more than a few days, and especially not very far away. So I didn’t know much about traveling, except from watching movies and pop culture.

I didn’t begin traveling until I was 21. I guess it was because I never did it that I wanted to do it. I’d always dreamed of traveling the world and seeing the places I saw in the movies

How did you decide to become an au pair?
It happened seven years ago when I was looking for a job in France and after finding nothing interesting, I decided to have a look at the au pair thing. It sounded interesting — working in another country and living with a family. By being an au pair, I would be able to have a job, accommodation, food, lots of free time, and some extra spending cash. It was perfect. I could enjoy traveling without needing a lot of money because I could use the money that I would earn during my stay. It lets me travel without huge savings.

In 2010, I found my first host family in Germany and stayed one year with them. I loved the fact I could work in another country and use the free time to explore a new place. Plus, I get to work with children all the time, which is my field of work, so now I have accumulated years of experience. I was hooked after that first year, and decided to do it again instead going back to France to find another job.

Where have you worked as an au pair?
I’ve been to Germany, England, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden, and I’m currently in Japan. I stay from eight months to one year in each country. All of them have been great experiences. I’ve been lucky enough to stay with very good people, and everybody I met while traveling has been super nice.

My favorite place has been New Zealand. It’s simply breathtaking! The landscapes are unbelievable. I can’t recommend it enough. Canada is probably my next favorite. It is a relatively safe country to live in, the people are nice, and I love the cold winters. I got to try ice fishing and totally loved it!

How does someone become an au pair? Is it easy? Hard?
I personally think it is easy. Your main job is to take care of children, so you must be OK working with them, but other than that, the tasks are often easy enough and you have lots of free time. You work on average between 25 and 30 hours per week. All your weekends are free, as are the evenings as soon as one parent gets home. You may be asked to babysit from time to time, though.

Everything is included when you live with the family, so you don’t have many expenses. The only thing I paid for myself was my plane ticket (although you can be lucky enough to have a family that pays it for you). I never felt like this was a so-called “job” — more like helping out a family and being a part of it.

To become an au pair, you can either use au pair agencies or one of the websites like Au Pair, Au Pair World, International Exchange, and Go Au Pair. With an agency, you pay them and they do the paperwork, show you different family profiles, and put you in contact with them. All along your stay, they are in touch with you in case of any problem. It’s like any other job placement service.

On the internet, there are a lot of websites for au pairs. This is more DIY. You create a profile, search for families (they can search for au pairs too), and if one catches your interest, you start by sending a message, and from then, if both parties get along, you get in touch via phone, mails, Skype. There’s no third party involved. It’s between you and the family (so no one is there if something goes wrong). I’ve only ever used these websites, as it’s free for au pairs to join, and I’ve always been lucky in my searches for families.

What qualifications does someone need to be an au pair?
While it’s not necessary, it’s good to have experience with kids, because the families might feel more confident in hiring you, but other than that, you don’t really need much. Every family is different. Some will want you to have experience and will ask for references; others don’t ask for anything.

What’s the biggest challenge?
I will say it’s learning how to live with total strangers. You’re in a brand new country, with people you don’t know, and you’re going to spend six months to a year with them. It takes some days for everybody to get used to each other and to know how the family works. You need to learn to accept their way of living. Sometimes it can be really different from what you’re used to, and it takes some time to just be a part of it.

Also the fact it is not your own place is a bit of a challenge. You may live there for a long time, but at the end of the day, it’s still not your place. I find it always a bit hard to pretend it is. For me, it is my host’s home. You can’t have guests like you would in your own home. You hear the kids playing, running everywhere all the time, even on your days off. Sometimes the parents may leave the house a mess and you have to tidy it up, because you can’t stay a day in such a mess any longer!

Personally, I’m really easygoing and used to living in any kind of place with different people. I never felt that was a “challenge” — from my first experience all was smooth during my stays. Maybe I find it easy to get along with people, and don’t mind their way of living.

Is it hard as a Westerner to get a job outside of “the West”? I always thought Western au pairs only worked in other Western countries.
It is true [that Western au pairs are] mostly in Western countries. In Japan, it is not common at all, especially because here the moms are often stay-at-home moms, so they don’t need another person to do the job. Also, it is in their culture to not accept a total stranger taking care of their own kids.

The few families I could find in Asia have always been expat families. Often one parent got a few years’ contract with a company and moved abroad, thus they know what the au pair thing is. In Nagoya, where I am now, I know at least three au pairs, but I don’t think we’re much more than that. So if you want to be an au pair, you’ll find that most of the jobs are in Western countries.

Tell me about life as an au pair. What’s the pay like? How often do you work?
The pay depends mainly on the family and the country you’re in. But my salary was usually 300-400 euros per month. It seems to be the average for an au pair working 25–30 hours a week.

The work mostly consists of bringing the kids to school and picking them up, helping with homework, cooking and having dinner, bathing them, and getting them ready for bed. Some families may ask you to do house cleaning in addition (in which case you’re paid more for that).

When the kids are at school, you’re totally free. Most au pairs will take language classes, or do sports or other activities. I usually take some of this time to cook dinner and clean the house (if needed). Mostly I try to hang out with friends or visit some places nearby. When in a country where au pairs are popular, it is really easy to meet up with them, as we all have the same free time. It’s an easy job if you are good with kids, sensitive, and practical. And especially if you get along well with the family, there’s no problem at all!

What’s your one tip for people looking to become an au pair?
If it is your first experience as an au pair and you don’t know how you feel being away from home, my advice would be to start in a country that is near your own. That way if you’re homesick, it will be much easier to go back. And if you like the experience, you know you’ll be ready to start again farther away! I started in Germany, knowing that if anything happened I was just few hours away from home.

Other than that, nothing specific, except I can only recommend it! It is a really good experience living abroad and a way to get out of your comfort zone, as you’re going to live for a few months somewhere totally new!

What’s been the biggest lesson so far?
Never think traveling is not possible for you. I had no exposure to it while I was growing up and would never have imagined myself a traveler, as I was very shy and introverted. I think, besides shocking my family, I shocked myself when I went away. But when you go away, you realize how easy travel is and how many opportunities there are out there to make travel a reality.

I think that traveling is a good opportunity to discover new parts of yourself. It changed the way I am now. I feel more confident and more open to talking to strangers. It’s made me a better me!

You’ve be traveling for 7 years now. What’s your number one tip for new travelers?
Be friendly to people and be respectful of the country you are in. Respect is important, and people will accept you more if you are openly happy and curious to be visiting their places. Don’t judge. Learn to listen.

When I was in Australia, I was told numerous times that French people there were acting really poorly, being mean to animals and disrespectful of people and the environment. I can’t understand this type of behavior, and it made me ashamed and sad to learn that. It is so important to show respect and be kind to those in the country you are visiting. You’re a guest in their home.

****
Angela got a job working as an au pair in order to fulfill her desire to travel the world. When you have limited funds, find a job like Angela and use your skills or passions to earn money and keep you on the road.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to think outside the box a bit and figure out ways to use your passion and skills to get out there, escape the cubicle, and see more of this world.

Become the Next Success Story

One of my favorite parts about this job is hearing people’s travel stories. They inspire me, but more importantly, they also inspire you. I travel a certain way but there are many ways to fund your trips and travel the world. I hope these stories show you that there is more than one way to travel and that it is within your grasp to reach your travel goals. Here are more examples of people who found work overseas to fund their trips:

• How Oneika found teaching jobs abroad
• How Jessica and her boyfriend found jobs around the world
• How Emily taught English to fund her RTW adventure
• How Arielle found a job working on a yacht
• How Ceil got a job teaching in Saudi Arabia

The post Reader Story: How Angela Travels the World as an Au Pair appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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Make your words shine with tips from these PR experts

In the world of PR, words can be your best ally or your most dangerous enemy.

Compelling copy can land you in the headlines of major publications, but a poorly worded pitch can get your stories thrown out—or set you up for legal trouble.

Fortunately, you can ensure your writing is doing the former. Here’s what three experts recommend:

1. Lauren Pulte, corporate communications manager at Tronc , stresses the importance of maintaining your brand voice across all channels.

2. Greg Galant, CEO at Muck Rack, says brevity and clarity are key to catching the attention of journalists.

3. Colleen Newvine, product manager at The AP Style Book, recommends eliminating jargon and corporate-speak from your pitches.

You can learn more from these experts and other top communicators at the PR Writing Conference on Aug. 16-17 in Chicago. You’ll leave armed with the insights you need to make your content stand out in an increasingly crowded media landscape.

Join us and make your writing do more for your PR efforts!

Register here to save $100.

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Announcing PR Daily’s 2017 Corporate Social Responsibility Awards finalists

A commitment to social responsibility has a lot of power over consumers’ perception of your organization. It’s also important for employer branding, media coverage and a positive reputation in the community. If your organization has taken on a cause worth fighting for, communicating your efforts is vital. This year we’re assessing the work of brands and agencies from around the world in PR Daily’s 2017 Corporate Social Responsibility Awards.

We’re honoring the business practices, social impact initiatives and communications efforts that promote them. We’re excited to honor those who had the most exciting case studies of the year.

Our judges selected these finalists from more than 90 submissions to find the best campaigns and initiatives from around the world. Next the judges will review this pool of finalists to name the category winners of PR Daily’s 2017 Corporate Social Responsibility Awards. The PRDaily.com Special Edition announcing all the winners will be released on Aug. 28.

The PR Daily staff congratulates all our finalists and wishes you the best of luck in the final round of judging.

ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

Media Relations or PR Campaign

· Increasing Hands Only CPR Among Latino Millennials, Anthem Foundation with Sunshine Avenue

· Ranking Our Healthiest Cities with the American Fitness Index, Anthem Foundation with Sunshine Avenue

· Brain Smart, AMF Media Group with Natividad Medical Center

· Back-to-Work, SAP Korea/Weber Shandwick Korea

· Care Counts™ Laundry Program, Ketchum with Whirlpool

Report (Annual or One-Time) (Print or Electronic)

· Bank of America Corporation 2015 Business Standards Report and Environmental, Social and Governance Addendum, Burson-Marsteller with Bank of America

· Drawn to a Greater Purpose: Unum 2015 Corporate Responsibility Report, Full Circle Communications with Unum

· Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability Report 2016, Arrow Electronics

· Spirit of Responsibility, Republic National Distributing Company

· Nippon Paint CSR Annual Report, Nippon Paint

Social Media Campaign

· HPE Living Progress, Interfuse Communications with Hewlett Packard Enterprise

· #DoGoodWeek, Intersport

· Feed a Bee, Mastermind/BBDO/Porter Novelli with Bayer Crop Science

· Leaving Our Duckprints, Aflac

Stakeholder-Employee Engagement

· Give Back Time Off Program, ALEX AND ANI

· Provincial Employees Community Services Fund, Province of British Columbia

· Wildlife Photo Contest and Calendar for GM Employees, MSLGROUP with General Motors

· Bacardi Join No Straws Pledge, Bacardi Limited

CSR Video or Visuals

· Partner Video for BGCA and Maytag Brand, AgencyMSI with Boys & Girls Clubs of America

· Gender Equality Online Training, Sabancı Holding

· The Arrow SAM Car Pikes Peak Video: Innovating Lives by Empowering People with Physical Disabilities, Arrow Electronics

· More Than Green, Consumers Energy

· Feed A Bee, BBDO with Bayer

SOCIAL IMPACT

Cause Advocacy Campaign

· Celebrate CNY by Revitalizing Cantonese Opera, Times Square Limited

· TEB Family Academy for a Financially Fit Nation, Economy Bank of Turkey (TEB)

· Not an Exact Science: Advancing Gender Diversity in the Life Sciences, The TASC Group with LifeSci Advisors

· A Leu for a Brave Lion, Golin Romania with Lidl Romania

· Care Counts™ Laundry Program, Ketchum with Whirlpool

· Away from Blame: Cigna’s Initiative to Fight the U.S. Opioid Epidemic, Cigna

· Bacardi Join No Straws Pledge, Bacardi Limited

Community Affairs

· Helping Military Families on the Homefront, Pioneer Services, a Division of MidCountry Bank

· Giving Back, Domtar Corporation

· My Sister Project, LinkUs Communications with Coca-Cola Turkey

· CVIM, Teva Pharmaceuticals

· Shop With Your Doc, St. Joseph Hoag Health

Corporate-Community or Nonprofit Partnership

· Forestland Stewards, International Paper

· Greater Than Granville, Playa Hotels & Resorts with Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall

· SAP and GENYOUth, SAP North America with GENYOUth

· Volunteers In Medicine, Teva Pharmaceuticals

· Direct Relief, Teva Pharmaceuticals

· Community Partnership Program, Teva Pharmaceuticals

· Team8 Tour, UnitedHealthcare

CSR Event

· Celebrate CNY by Revitalizing Cantonese Opera, Times Square Limited

· Teva Tov, Teva Pharmaceuticals

Education or Scholarship Program

· Squaring is Caring, The Krystal Foundation

· No Barriers, Turkcell

· KEDS Academy, Kosovo Energy Distribution Service (KEDS) with Linkus Communications

· Five Years Out: The Arrow Electronics DigiTruck, Arrow Electronics

· Bread for Tomorrow, Golin Romania with Lidl Romania

· Inspiring Curiosity in the Next Generation of Scientists Through Science Education, Havas PR with MilliporeSigma

Fundraising or Philanthropic Initiative

· 2016 Johns Hopkins Medicine United Way Campaign, Johns Hopkins Medicine with United Way

· Jersey Mike's Subs Month of Giving, Splash Communications

· Impact Health, Get Involved, Citrix

Global CSR

· Key for Key, Concierge Auctions with Giveback Homes

· Delphi's 2016 Global CSR Initiatives, Delphi Automotive

· Teva Tov, Teva Pharmaceuticals

Public Health or Safety Initiative

· Honeywell Hometown Solutions & Safe Water Network—India, Weber Shandwick

· Shop with Your Doc, St. Joseph Hoag Health

· Ride to Safety—Campaign for Safer Roads for Children, ICICI Lombard General Insurance

· Care Counts™ Laundry Program, Ketchum with Whirlpool

· Cancer Prevention Awareness and HPV Vaccine Education, National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

· Direct Relief, Teva Pharmaceuticals

· Team8 Tour: Building Healthy Communities, CBS EcoMedia with UnitedHealthcare

BUSINESS PRACTICES

Employee Volunteer Program

· Anthem Associate Giving Program—Building Healthy Communities, Sunshine Avenue

· SAP Month of Service, SAP

· #WelcomeHome, Sunrise Banks

· 125th Anniversary Campaign, Merck & Co., Inc.

· Teva Tov, Teva Pharmaceuticals

· Community Partnership Program, Teva Pharmaceuticals

· Together for Better, Natixis Global Asset Management

Diversity and Inclusion

· Not an Exact Science: Advancing Gender Diversity in the Life Sciences, The TASC Group with LifeSci Advisors

· Everyone Matters, Dot Foods

· Innovating Diversity and Inclusion at MIA, Miami International Airport

· Back-to-Work, SAP Korea/Weber Shandwick Korea

Organizational Transparency

· Sustainability Report (Smart Report), Imagem Corporativa

· Tarion Makes Its Annual Public Meeting More About You, Tarion Warranty Corporation

GRAND PRIZE

Agency of the Year

· Burson-Marsteller

· Yulu Public Relations Inc.

Campaign of the Year

· Back to School, Garanti Emeklilik ve Hayat

· Color, Way of Love ART+, Nippon Paint

· Aflac: Perception Play in Social Responsibility, FleishmanHillard and KWI with Aflac

· Care Counts™ Laundry Program, Ketchum with Whirlpool

· Million Women Mentors: Mentoring Girls and Women for STEM Success, Tata Consultancy Services

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Are you following these 3 clothing rules for public speakers?

During the decade I've been blogging, I've written several articles about what speakers should wear. It's time for an update, because there's some new research on the science of apparel.

New research shows that formal business attire—suits for men and the equivalent for women—increases your ability to think big, abstract and creative ideas.

All of those are good for speakers, so suit up.

Be consistent, of course, with several other important aspects of dress: Dress better than the audience (but not too much better), and ensure your clothes are relevant to your talk.

For example, if you're at an entrepreneurs' conference in Silicon Valley and everyone is dressed in T-shirts and jeans, you might wear a sports coat. A suit would probably be overkill. Bankers, on the other hand, will expect you to wear a suit and a tie.

We negotiate better in suits than in casual clothing. If you're undertaking significant audience interaction, keep in mind that dressing up empowers you in several ways.

If you're speaking about creativity, however, a suit could indicate that you're not a creative type. In that case, balance formal attire with the iconic statement you're trying to make. Think of Steve Jobs' black turtleneck and jeans. He was signaling that he was different from the typical corporate executive, and it worked well for him.

[RELATED: Join us for the Employee Communications, PR and Social Media Summit at Microsoft.]

Another study (which researchers fondly call the "red sneaker effect") found that if you subtly vary your clothing from the norm—wear a red bowtie with your suit, or red sneakers with your academic attire—then people will perceive you as more powerful and competent.

This probably happens because the audience assumes that if you're able to break the rules a little, you have confidence and authority. If you break the rules too much, however, they'll see you as either clueless, crazy or incompetent.

Choosing what to wear is complicated, because attire is a primary way we signal our attitudes, social status, relationships with those around us and a host of other things. Clothing is a sign of status, profession and attitude.

Keep these three rules in mind, and you won't go wrong:

1. Always dress a little better than the audience.

2. Dress in a way that signals you're at the top of your profession or industry.

3. Dress in a way that subtly shows you can break the rules with impunity.

The trick is not to take any of these rules too far. Wear clothing that makes you feel comfortable, allows you to move easily and makes you feel like a million bucks.

My advice to clients is to always go to top-end clothiers and splurge on an outfit that makes you look fabulous. Bask in the sartorial splendor when all eyes are on you.

This post first ran on Ragan in 2016. A version of this article originally appeared on Public Words.

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How content marketing can make your branding efforts sing

Brand managers know they must make content marketing a part of their campaigns, but examples and statistics that show its power are only the beginning.

Anyone who starts on a journey into content marketing quickly realizes that it’s not enough to simply say that you’re doing it.

You must have a strategy.

That strategy has to connect into some organizational goals. Every piece of content has to have a purpose, lest you create it in a vacuum. Once you drill down to the tactical level, you have to know which types of content will fit your specific purpose. From there, you should have a robust measurement infrastructure with specific performance indicators that will tell you whether your strategy is effective.

It’s a tall order, but it’s possible.

[ RELATED: Join us for the Social Media #Mashup at Disneyland.]

To start, PR and marketing pros can attend planning and reporting sessions armed with the latest stats around content marketing. That’s where a recent infographic by Write to Done comes in.

It gives an excellent overview that speaks to why content marketing can be so effective and touches upon specific channels to provide insights and justifications—which can send you on your way to content marketing success. Check it out below:

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5 ways to write compelling content audiences want to read

Any time you're writing content, whether it's for your own site or for a guest post on another blog, you want to produce the best quality content you can.

All the same, even excellent content can fade into obscurity if you're not writing something original.

I could write you an excellent book-quality guide to pay-per-click marketing, but when there are a hundred other great guides and a thousand mediocre ones out there, how would mine gain any traction?

How do you guarantee that your content will be seen, will get the attention it deserves and not fall by the wayside? There are no guarantees in life, but you can certainly stack the deck in your favor.

1. Competitive research

It's hard to find a topic that hasn't been covered at length, particularly in a crowded, content-rich field like marketing. You must go narrow and cover topics that haven't seen a lot of love.

Whenever you have a topic idea, vet it to see what content already exists.

Related: The Best Way to Get More Results From Your Content

Is there a ton of high quality content already produced? If so, it might be a bad choice to write. Are there good articles out there, but they're light on content or out of date? These can be good opportunities.

Are there a few excellent guides available, but not a lot of competition? You can gain traction simply by approaching the topic from another angle.

If the existing content is deep, go broad. If the existing content is broad, go deep. Try to think outside the box, and approach your topic from a novel perspective.

2. Topic ideation

Every topic idea must come from a search. The way people find content on the web today is to have an interest and perform a web search. If no one is performing a search, it doesn't matter how good your content is; no one will find it.

Try looking for content ideas in places where people ask questions they want answered. What problems are people facing that they aren't able to answer on their own, and how can you bring a high-quality answer to them?

People perform web searches when they want to perform a task and when they want to gain knowledge. The former is great for landing pages and product pages, but less so for informational articles. Look for queries where people want to learn; that's where you get the most interest.

Related: 5 Strategies for Creating Epic Content Marketing on a Tight Budget

3. Post quality and length

Google rankings come from high-quality content.

Large scale algorithmic updates have been dedicated to analyzing and interpreting the quality of textual content online, and Google's algorithm has become very sophisticated. Short, cheap, mediocre content isn't going to make it big.

Don't cut corners. Put the time and effort in to creating your content. Cite sources, do research, analyze data and make it all significant. Don't worry about word counts and keyword density; write for value. When your content is a masterpiece, it will naturally float to the top.

4. Post quantity

In years past, it was a common marketing technique to vomit out hundreds or thousands of articles on every conceivable keyword you could come up with, just to get a web presence out there.

Google put a stop to this technique, and now it's often better to have a few great pieces of content. Big name blogs might only publish once or twice a week, but when their content is superb, every piece can rank high.

Related: 7 Ways to Get More People to Trust Your Content

5. Promotion

There's more to article promotion than setting up automatic social sharing from an RSS feed.

Sharing is a start, but promotion only ends when you stop. Reach out to other bloggers and show them your content. Find people asking about your topic, and share it with them. Pay for advertising to get eyes on the page.

Every piece has a place it can call home, and it's your job to figure out how to get it there.

Not every piece is going to make the big time. You aren't going to top the front page of Google with everything you write. With perseverance, though, most pieces of content can find at least a moderate level of exposure.

James Parsons is an entrepreneur, investor and content marketer. A version of this article originally appeared on Entrepreneur. Copyright © 2017 Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

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5 compelling openings for your next presentation

This article was originally published on PR Daily in July 2016.

Can your audience form an accurate impression of you in just two seconds?

The late Nalini Ambady, a professor of psychology at Boston's Tufts University, was fascinated by that question. To answer it, she and a colleague designed a study to test whether such "thin slices" of an impression could truly be accurate.

She filmed 13 instructors teaching their classes throughout the semester and, at the end of the term, collected student evaluations of those instructors.

Later, she edited two-second clips of those instructors and showed them—without volume—to students who weren't enrolled in those classes. The students were asked to evaluate the instructors using several criteria, including overall competence.

Her findings were remarkable.

Students who watched only a two-second video clip of the teachers formed similar impressions to the students who were enrolled in the classes for the full semester. (Ambady's work made its own impression, serving as one of the main sources for Malcolm Gladwell's business bestseller "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.")

Other studies have found similar results. Some show that first impressions are formed within seconds, while others find they take just a few minutes to solidify.

Whichever studies you believe, the end results tell a similar story: People will form opinions about you quickly and, once they do, those opinions can be difficult to reverse.

My newest book, "101 Ways to Open a Speech," is intended to help you take advantage of your next presentation's opening moments. In this article, you'll find five opens from the book that will help you grab your audience from the start:

1. The unexpected definition opening

In September 1980, just two months before Americans were to choose their next president, Republican nominee Ronald Reagan and incumbent President Jimmy Carter found themselves deadlocked at 39 percent apiece, according to a Time poll. The United States was mired in an economic recession at the time; inflation was in double digits, and unemployment was at near-record levels.

In an effort to paint Carter as out of touch, Reagan cleverly redefined three terms during a speech in New Jersey:

"[Carter's] answer to all this misery, he tries to tell us that we are only in a recession, not a depression. As if definitions, words relieve our suffering…If it's a definition he wants, I'll give him one. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his."

Rather than offer a classic dictionary definition of those terms, Reagan redefined them in an unexpected way that delighted his audience and earned enthusiastic cheers.

Redefining terms can have an oversize impact on your audience. If you're speaking to a group of "stay-at-home" parents, for example, you might redefine the term like this:

"Unlike most people, you know exactly what it means to be a 'stay-at-home' parent: driving to the park so your little ones can run around, taking them to the doctor, going grocery shopping, stopping at the art supply store so they have a project on a rainy day. When you think about it, I'm not sure why we're called 'stay-at-home' parents—we're rarely home! It would be far more accurate to call us what we really are: 'on-the-run' parents."

2. The newscaster 'tease' opening

News anchors are experts at keeping viewers tuned to their programs. Before tossing to commercial breaks, newscasters often deliver a compelling "tease" intended to hook people and prevent them from flipping to a different station.

Unless you've consumed unusually little mass media content, you've probably heard thousands of news teases:

"Did the local sports team win tonight's big match against their rivals? We'll tell you, next."

"A well-known politician got into a screaming match with reporters today. The video, after this break."

"Which movie just earned six Academy Award nominations and leads this year's pack? Our film critic has the rundown, right after the weather forecast."

This opening borrows from that technique by adding similar teases to the more traditional "summary open." For instance, you might begin a talk about the overall performance of the U.S. economy in the last quarter by saying:

"The market sent mixed signals last quarter. Today, I'll talk about why the stock market was up, why the housing market was down, and why consumer spending hasn't budged in almost a year. Along the way, you'll learn why Ford can't seem to sell big trucks this year, why France will have more homeless retirees in five years than we have here in the United States, and why one unusual but reliable signal tells us that the same stocks that led the recent rally may soon go bust."

In that example, the second sentence contains the summary opening, and the third adds the more engaging newscaster tease.

[RELATED: Speechwriters, join our LinkedIn group and meet the world's best executive communicators. Get free tips and strategies, too!]

3. The show of hands opening

One of the most overused presentation starters is the "show of hands" question. The problem isn't usually with the device itself, but with the ham-handed manner in which it's used.

Too often, speakers ask a question that leads nowhere:

"How many of you have used this new product? Oh, OK, great."

Worse, they ask a patronizing question:

"How many of you would like to earn more money?"

Audiences bristle at such condescension. Participation for its own sake isn't enough.

The question you pose should challenge conventional thinking, lead to a counterintuitive conclusion or add an unexpected dose of humor. It should allow members of the audience to see how their answers compare with those of their peers, perhaps leading them to reconsider their previously held positions.

Great opening questions must lead somewhere, so connect the audience's response to your next comment-and prepare several different transitions in case you receive an unexpected result.

For example, an expert in body image research might ask:

"If given a choice, who here would rather be completely blind-for the rest of your life-than obese?"

Assuming very few people raise a hand, the expert could connect the audience's response to the main point this way:

"It appears that this audience would overwhelmingly choose the gift of sight, even if that means living as an obese person. But you're not the norm. Research from Arizona State University found that one in seven women would prefer blindness to obesity. That tells you a lot about how much emphasis our culture places on physical appearance-and that comes at a high cost to our health."

4. The rapid-fire statistics opening

Statistics without context tend not to stick, so you might be surprised I sometimes recommend "drowning" your audience with a rapid-fire series of statistics that individually don't contain much context.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg demonstrated why that works when she opened her TED Talk with five quick statistics:

"The numbers tell the story quite clearly. A hundred ninety heads of states, nine are women. Of all the people in parliament in the world, 13 percent are women. In the corporate sector, women at the top, C-level jobs, board seats, tops out at 15, 16 percent. The numbers have not moved since 2002, and they're going in the wrong direction. Even in the nonprofit world, a world we sometimes think of as being led by more women, women at the top, 20 percent. We also have another problem, which is that women face harder choices between professional success and personal fulfillment. A recent study in the U.S. showed that of married senior managers, two-thirds of the married men had children and only one-third of the married women had children."

Sandberg's quick succession of statistics doesn't succeed in making any individual number particularly memorable-few audience members will remember the specific figures-but works for a different reason: Her drumbeat of data creates an overall impression.

For her purposes, it wasn't important that people watching her speech remembered any particular data point. It was more important that they remembered her broader points—such as the fact that professional women are underrepresented at the executive level—and if her opening statistics communicated that message to her audience, they served their purpose perfectly.

5. The non-expert quote opening

In 2009, New York-Presbyterian Hospital ran a series of television commercials called "Amazing Things Are Happening Here." The advertisements featured real people—including patients and parents of pediatric patients—who received care at the hospital.

Advertising Age called the campaign a "game changer," writing:

"While testimonials are hardly a new idea in hospital advertising, New York-Presbyterian's approach stands out. Shot in polished black and white, and lacking the tear-jerking background music that characterizes many 'testimonial' style hospital ads, the films are unadorned, intimate portraits of real former patients…Not only do they…not feature actors, the ads are unscripted and their subjects appear real and natural. Heather McNamara, for instance, mispronounces the name of the hospital in a way that any nine-year-old understandably might; it wasn't edited out."

You can quote a patient, a janitor, a customer, a "man on the street," a woman you once sat next to at a dinner party, your spouse's college friend, a stranger who experienced the same situation the audience finds itself in right now, or anyone else who is unknown—but has wisdom to offer—to your audience.

This opening also works for another reason: "real people" often do more to sway audiences than experts. In "Influence: Science and Practice," Robert Cialdini writes, "We like people who are like us, and we are more willing to say yes to their requests, often in an unthinking manner."

Quoting a "real person" to whom the audience relates can help strengthen the audience's bond with you; after all, you're the person who had the wisdom to regard a person the audience deems trustworthy as deserving of mention, so you will receive the credit from the audience.

Brad Phillips is president of Phillips Media Relations, which specializes in media and presentation training. He is author of the Mr. Media Training Blog, (where a version of this article originally appeared) and two books: "The Media Training Bible" and "101 Ways to Open a Speech."

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Second + Main – Plans, Prices, Availability

At a Glance

• located at the gateway to Mount Pleasant
• 12-storey mixed-use concrete building
• 226 residences
• 13,000 sq ft commercial space
• 3,500 sq ft artist production space
• 226 residences
• public plaza & cultural space
• walking distance to Olympic Village
• numerous nearby craft breweries

Where Life Intersects

Create Properties brings you 226 smartly-crafted homes, where vibrant culture and community connect at the centre of the City.

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Pricing for Second + Main
This project is currently in its pre-construction phase. Pricing has not yet been made public. For priority access to updates on Second + Main, signing up to our VIP list is strongly recommended.

Floor Plans for Second + Main
Finalized floor plans have not yet been released for this development’s 226 residential units. A mix of 23 studios, 145 1-bedrooms, and 58 2-bedrooms has been proposed. Interested buyers should contact me to discuss plans, prices, and availability.

Amenities at Second + Main
Second + Main has been designed around an outdoor public plaza to give it a maximum amount of sunlight throughout the year. A 3,500 sq ft artist production space fronting East 3rd Avenue is also linked to the courtyard to offer opportunities for cultural programming. A fitness room with an adjoining outdoor patio is located on Level 8. Level 12 features an amenity space with a large outdoor patio that includes two communal tables and a children’s play area. A green roof will also provide residents with garden plots and storage for gardening supplies.

Parking and Storage
Second + Main will provide 297 underground parking spaces, including 48 with electric vehicle charging stations, 19 for visitors, nine handicap, 35 commercial stalls, and four for artist studios. Two Class A loading bays are located underground, while three Class B loading bays are located at grade for residential, artist studio, and retail uses. Secure underground bicycle storage will be available with 329 Class A stalls. Another 12 Class B bicycle stalls are at grade.

Maintenance Fees at Second + Main
Details included with final pricing information.

Developer Team for Second + Main
Create Properties is a Vancouver-based development company dedicated to building exciting places to live, work, and play. By bringing their international finance, development, and construction management expertise together with the finest consultants and partners Vancouver has to offer, they work with the best to Create the best.

Expected Completion for Second + Main
To be announced

Are you interested in learning more about other homes in Mount Pleasant, along Main Street, or near False Creek?

Check out these great Mount Pleasant presales!

The post Second + Main – Plans, Prices, Availability appeared first on Mike Stewart.

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The 5 most popular stories on PR Daily this week

Mr. Scaramucci, we can help

Whether you think White House messaging is a chaotic mess or part of a cunning strategy to lob stun grenades at the news media, it’s clear that the new communications director fell on his face this week.

Anthony Scaramucci, praised just days earlier for a smooth performance in his first press conference, made the oldest error in the PR book. He vented to a reporter and backstabbed his colleagues in potty-mouthed language, and then seemed perplexed that his words ended up in print.

Later Scaramucci complained, “I made a mistake in trusting in a reporter. It won't happen again,” prompting one unkind observer to reply, “Isn't this Comms 101?”

We at Ragan Communications recognize that PR is hard, particularly for someone with little background in the industry. (Scaramucci was previously a financier.) Therefore, we’re offering the White House comms director free training at any Ragan event of his choosing.

Alternatively, we’d be happy to comp him six months’ membership in Ragan Training, allowing him access to free, online video lectures by leading industry practitioners. Either offer comes with a PR Daily-branded pen to take notes with—or to throw at the nearest wall.

Prefer to meet in your office?

If Scaramucci would prefer a strategic planning session with Mark Ragan, Jim Ylisela, Rob Friedman or other experts at Ragan Consulting Group, we’d be happy to offer the first one free of charge, right there in the White House. Bring in the boss! President Donald Trump is no slouch at his own gonzo style of communications, having tweet-bombed his way to the Oval Office, but he might be interested in tips for expanding on the harmonious communications we have seen across his administration.

Why are we so eager to lend Scaramucci a hand? Well, we’re patriots, first and foremost. Besides, that New Yorker interview was bad—really bad. It started with Scaramucci calling a reporter hoping to browbeat him into burning a source.

From there it went downhill. In a week in which the administration wanted to focus on its success against the MS-13 gang, everyone is instead talking about how Scaramucci called White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus “a f---ing paranoid schizophrenic.” He accused Chief Strategist Steve Bannon of engaging in anatomically improbable acts.

He gave The New York Times—never shy about covering the warts of the Trump administration—a pretext to break new ground in American journalism by printing language a demented sex offender (or Hollywood screenwriter) might use after smacking his thumb with a ball-peen hammer.

Others noticed as well. “Anthony Scaramucci’s vulgar New Yorker interview is beyond words,” howled The Washington Post. “How Long Can This Go On?” The Atlantic puzzled.

“One of Trump’s top aides viciously attacks the others, even as the president lambastes his own attorney general,” The Atlantic added. “Is there any limit on this administration’s dysfunction?”

You had one job

PR pros were gobsmacked both at the interview and at Scaramucci’s bitter tweet afterwards.

Oh my god. Rookie move, Mooch. Every #PR pro & spokesperson needs to read this. "Off the record" doesn't exist! https://t.co/oDlDdFZzXn

— Brian Hart (@BrianHartPR) July 28, 2017

Others offered pointers, but we’re not sure their counsel will be enough to right the ship.

You had one job. Any PR or Communications person should know that. Like the rest of the cabinet, you are unfit for the most basic position.

— Danny Deraney (@DannyDeraney) July 28, 2017

The administration’s close friends in the press, meanwhile, were making light of the Scaramucci kerfuffle on Friday.

According to pool reporter on Air Force One, @Reince45 and @Scaramucci did not sit together on Air Force One. It landed safely on L.I.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) July 28, 2017

Let’s just say the optics are not the best. That’s why we’re stepping in with this one-time opportunity for the beleaguered communicator.

More about our generous offer

Scaramucci may be wondering, so what’s with this conference deal? We are sure he would appreciate our Leadership and Executive Communications Conference, to be held Sept. 18 in Washington, D.C., an easy limousine ride from his White House office. If he would like a Groucho nose and glasses so he can slip in undercover, we’ll even scare up a pair.

We feel the White House comms boss might hit it off with some of our speakers, including executive communications chiefs from Honeywell, Samsung, Microsoft Canada, Walt Disney World Resort, McDonald’s and elsewhere. Be forewarned, however, that none of them have been quoted as promising to “f---ing kill all the leakers” within their organization.

To avoid potential awkwardness, we’ll do our best to keep our likeable White House guest from crossing paths with conference keynote speaker Sarah Hurwitz, former head speechwriter for Michelle Obama.

If he opts for the Ragan Training option, Scaramucci might be interested in our crisis comms or PR sections. May we suggest that he start with an area of his expertise: “Making Your Own News: How to use internal stories to create externalmedia opportunities.”

We also have a wealth of tactics and strategies for him to catch up on. You can catch them at your desk, on the treadmill or while doing household chores during the weekend.

But Mr. Scaramucci? Until we get you up to speed, don’t make any calls to the press.

@byworking

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7 PR lessons from ‘Psycho’

Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” doesn’t scream PR tips, but there’s more insights than first meets the eye.

Slash through the film and its production, and you’ll discover several shocking lessons that apply to communicators.

Consider these insights to boost your PR prowess:

1. Chop those gulps.

Before releasing one of his films to the public, Hitchcock screened it for his wife, Alma, a onetime film editor. She admired “Psycho,” but told Hitchcock that he couldn’t ship it to theaters as is.

Why? Because star Janet Leigh, who plays Marion Crane, gulps when she’s supposed to be dead. When Hitch examined the individual frames, he saw Leigh breathing, so he sliced out the gulps.

PR lesson: Don’t release crucial copy (or video) without having someone else review it. Doing so can ensure that mistakes don’t mar your efforts.

2. Listen to your staff.

Hitchcock originally believed the shower scene would be scarier if it were projected without underscoring. His go-to composer, Bernard Herrmann, thought otherwise. He convinced the director that shrilling violin strings would be the perfect accompaniment to the sound of knife slashings and Marion’s screams.

Herrmann was right.

PR lesson: If you hire the best, accept their advice.

2. Read the newspaper.

Crane flees Phoenix with $40,000 stuffed into her purse. She uses $700 to replace her car with another. At the Bates Motel, she wraps the remaining bills in a newspaper, which she perches on a nightstand.

When cleaning Crane’s room after her murder, Norman Bates, played by Anthony Perkins, tosses the folded newspaper into the trunk of her car before pushing the vehicle into a swamp.

PR lesson: PR pros must read newspapers to keep up on matters that might affect clients. You never know what’s inside until you look.

3. Think differently.

Originally Hitchcock planned to film Crane’s employer and his client discussing the stolen money and how to get it back. Hitchcock later realized it would be more effective—and would heighten the drama—if Crane imagined the conversation as she was driving.

PR lesson: Don’t do things the way you always do them. Aiming for something different can be more effective. Instead of announcing a new product or service with a news release, post a Facebook video that incorporates comments from customers.

[RELATED: Learn secrets and best practices to discover your brand's stories and write compelling copy.]

4. Plan ahead.

For most of his films, Hitchcock used storyboards to plan crucial shots and camera angles. Storyboarding presented a pictorial script to follow. It also reduced the time and expense of keeping crew and cast on the set.

With a storyboard, Hitchcock could provide specific guidance that would generate exactly what he wanted his audience to see on the big screen.

PR lesson: Thanks to YouTube, Facebook and other social media platforms, video content is a more predominant PR tool than news releases. If you want your videos to be effective, follow in Hitchcock’s footsteps. Plan your shots and follow an outline, whether it be a storyboard or a written description of what each key scene should show.

5. Update your associates.

Just before he is greeted by screeching strings at the top of the stairs at Bates’ house, private investigator Milton Arbogast (played by Martin Balsam) phones Marion’s sister to brief her about what he has learned so far at the Bates Motel. His next step is to interview Norman’s mother—which will end up doing him no good.

PR lesson: Keep your colleagues apprised of your progress on a project. You might become ill (or, in Arbogast’s case, have an encounter with a knife). Regardless, your associates can pick up where you left off.

6. Do no harm.

At the end of the film, Bates (a psycho if there ever was one), calmly sits alone in a courthouse room, ignoring a fly on his hand. A nearby psychiatrist explains that Bates has essentially become his mother, which calls to memory something Bates says earlier in the film: “A boy’s best friend is his mother.”

Inside Bates’ mind, his mother’s voice says she wouldn’t even swat a fly. If Bates’ mother had been so concerned with his behavior earlier in the film, Bates might not have been headed for the insane asylum.

PR lesson: As a PR pro, you should ensure that your efforts do not harm the interests of your client or the safety of your target audience. Your mother might be your best friend, but she isn’t necessarily a public relations guru.

Bill Spaniel is a PR manager.

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