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Whether as a speaker at a big event or a participant in a small meeting, we all have an audience.

Everyone Has an Audience

How do you want your audience to perceive you?

Everyone has an audience. How do you want to influence yours?

Everyone has an audience. Do you know who your audiences are? What do you want them to learn from you? How can you influence them?

On Your Feet co-founder, artist and accidental movement starter, Gary Hirsch, got AM:PM PR’s Speakeasy guests pondering these questions and shared some ideas for influencing our most important audiences.

Popular corporate consultant, improve pro, artist and bot army general teaches AM:PM PR's Speakeasy guests a few things about engaging audiences.

Gary and his partners have been hired by Intel, Disney, Nike, Apple, P&G, The British Ministry of Defense, a small band of Northern Californian Buddhist monks and so many other organizations to use improv to improve communication, leadership, idea generation, brand building, organizational development, and collaboration. He shared some of what he’s learned from these enviable experiences.

Learn by observing

gary hirsch audience

You can learn a lot by observing audiences.

“I often go to plays and sit where I can inconspicuously see the audience’s reactions,” Gary said. “People behave completely differently than they would on their own. Audiences are an interesting and unique organism.”

Start paying attention to audiences of any size and try to understand what influences them. What catches and keeps their attention? What do they seem to want? Try shifting your perception away from the traditional audience/speaker relationship and to make the audience the focal point.

We’re all creators of content. We all have audiences. How can we make the most of those interactions? How can we ensure the impact we hope for?

Let go 

gary hirsch domino effect
Don’t be afraid others will steal your great ideas. Openly sharing your ideas and expertise can give you credibility and build your reputation.

“Letting go” helped shape Gary’s philosophy as an artist and professional communicator.

“It’s so easy for us to hoard information and ideas. We grasp on to the idea of intellectual property,” he said.

Gary had an epiphany with his Bot Joy, business. What started as a small totemic art project for On Your Feet clients grew into little bot armies  hidden around cities across North America and Europe. Demand for these little bots grew with orders from fans and from more cities who wanted a little joy spread in their own region.

In order to grow and feed the demand he needed help. He decided to invite others to build their bot armies. He realized by letting go, the importance and impact of the Bots could outlive him.

Applying the creative principle of ‘letting go’ to the professional world your work can have greater impact, too.

More lessons from Gary and On Your Feet:

  • Inspiration can come from anywhere
  • Listening is hard work
  • Things almost never go (or feel) like you think they will, and this is (almost always) a good thing
  • Trying something different can be better than trying harder
  • Stories help create meaning
  • T-shirts can make good uniforms

Learn more about Gary and how you can steal some of his ideas at BotJoy.com.

Make sure you get invited to our next event by joining the Speakeasy Facebook Group page.

gary hirsch with dominos

 

 

 

 

AM and PM discussing Comcast's damaged reputation

AM:PM PR Chiming in on KGW-TV’s Comcast Story

 

After a cringe-worthy customer service call with Comcast went viral on the interwebs, KGW-TV asked AM:PM PR to talk about what it could mean for all businesses with customer service. AM:PM co-founder Allison McCormick spoke with Channel 8’s Joe Smith about the power of today’s customers and how businesses should be thinking about every customer touchpoint.

 

Introducing Mike Phillips, Lion Tamer.

 

Mike P AM:PM PR

Mike visiting Bey Mosque in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Legend says if you drink the water, you will have to return someday. He was doing research for a book project.

With the bittersweet news this week that Jake Ten Pas, our beloved Minister of Propaganda, is leaving us, comes one rosy reason to recognize that we have the luck of the Irish.

Longtime AM:PM PR friend, Mike Phillips will be joining our merry band of characters as we move in to our new space on February 1. He’s been a regular fixture at PR 3.0 gatherings, but he also worked with us at our previous firm. We’ve always hoped to be able to talk him into joining our circus.

Since his internship with the McCormicks five years ago, Mike’s explored the ins and outs of public relations working with regional wineries, restaurants, travel and tourism bureaus, and a national food client.

More recently, Mike’s built a healthy practice in book marketing and publicity through work with several publishing companies. His book marketing specialty work, known as The Neo Com Group, will continue in addition to his AM:PM PR practice.

Mike’s Irish ancestry alone would make him a great match for us. Among his many talents, Mike is an accomplished musician, long leading a local band, the Fenbi International Superstars. His Irish music prowess will add more energy to our annual St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, this year (March 15) celebrating the opening of our new space on SE 20th and Clinton.

Mike will join AM:PM PR in an account manager, client development role we like to call “Lion Tamer.” We look forward to working with him again and know you’ll appreciate his creativity and warm personality as much as we do.

The Cyrk

Movin’ on up, to (a new part of) the East Side & Joining The Cyrk

As much as we’ve loved our time in the Buckman Neighborhood – rubbing shoulders with the mad scientists of Distillery Row, descending like locusts upon local eateries such as Robo Taco and Vivo, and working with neighbors Bremik, Tapalaya, Po’Boy Art and more – it’s the dawn of a new year and a new era for AM:PM PR.

We survived an overinflated panic surrounding a misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar, and we figured why not treat ourselves to a new space. Not to toot our own horns (TOOT!), but it’s a doozie.

At the beginning of February, we’ll take up residence in the Cyrk Building on southeast 20th and Clinton. For those of you who’ve yet to cast your eyes on this miracle of modern building techniques, feel free to drive by and check it out. It’s a gorgeous space that we’ll share both with our brothers in arms at 7/Apps and our clients EE Northwest. The latter owns the building and was kind enough to approve our tenant application. We’ll try to keep the noise level down.

AM:PM PR joins the Cyrk-us

For those of you who understand how calendars work and are wondering about the omission of a little thing called January, well done. That was a test, and it’s nice to see that you were paying attention. As construction is finished up on our new space, we’ll be going back to our roots.

Just as in the early days of AM:PM, we’ll be a bit like the French Resistance, except with public relations instead of freedom fighting, and minus the Gauloises. We’ll meet at a variety of our favorite coffee shops, restaurants and watering holes, keeping the client work that’s our bread and butter firmly intact. You likely won’t notice much difference unless you meet us face-to-face, in which case the password is “Le Coq Sportif.” Also, feel free to give us suggestions for great coffee shops that can accommodate large groups of mostly serious professionals.

During the next month, we’ll keep you updated on our activities and the construction’s progress via the usual channels: our blog, Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. We’ll also be getting to know our new neighbors. We’ve already visited St. Jacks, Compote, The Night Light Lounge and more, and look forward to getting to know them and their tasty offerings even better.

When we get moved into the new space, we don’t expect you’ll miss it. We’ll have a hard time not crowing from pride about our new digs, and of course there will be office-warming festivities to attend to. Keep an eye out for something occurring around St. Patrick’s Day.

We’ll also be working on new job titles and a high-flying new concept for the website that will highlight the subtle circus theme of our new digs. Prepare yourself for the greatest communications show on Earth, or at least in Portland. In the meantime, Happy New Year. We hope you’ve got as much to look forward as we do.

 

bundling PR services

Rethinking how we sell our PR services

marketing agency blueprint

As AM:PM PR approaches its second birthday, we’re changing how we sell our services. We’ve packaged services for clients – creating a prix fixe menu of options rather than the usual ala carte list.

PR services
We think bundling PR services and pricing them clearly will make it easier for clients to understand what they’re buying. It also recognizes how different the practice of public relations has become in the 24/7, constantly connected world we live in today.

Historically agencies based their pricing on billable hourly rates, much like lawyers and other professionals. Clients that have little experience using public relations agencies struggle to understand why services are billed hourly. Those with more experience may understand billable hours, but many don’t connect hours billed with results achieved.

The truth is that not every hour we work produces the same benefit for clients.

Over the Holidays, I read a book (The Marketing Agency Blueprint) and shared it with my colleagues. It triggered our effort to rethink how we price what we do so it makes more sense to our clients – and to us.

 

service bundling

Much like Progressive, we think bundling our services together might help us better serve our clients’ needs.

“The traditional billable-hour system is tied exclusively to outputs, not outcomes, and assumes that all agency activities … are of equal value,” declared Paul Roetzer, the book’s author and founder/CEO of PR 20/20 in Cleveland.

Today’s communications landscape has radically changed the contents of our PR toolkit. It requires us to be full-time listeners, even for our smallest clients. In the digital world, opportunities and risks don’t wait patiently for open times in our schedules.

Our ability to help a client requires a high level of trust in us, as communicators and strategists. Trust takes time to build. Our service packages anticipate that we will work with the client for a minimum of six months. It’s a step away from casual dating. It signals our priority is on building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.

We’re eager to talk about these packages with prospective clients, and learn from them whether this new format helps them better understand what they will get in working with us. Like everything in our business, the packages are subject to change. Our hope is that they will form the foundation for some great relationships.

Spreading the news

New website causes media sensation, freshens breath while you read

The word is out. Thanks to Gawker blogging about it, Perez Hilton tweeting a catty remark in regards to it, and Lady Gaga wearing an outfit made entirely from computer screens displaying it, you’ve by now heard that AM:PM PR has a new website.

First of all, we want to make it clear that this isn’t how we wanted to roll out the new site. We wanted you to find out by us telling you about it right here. But, as the recent media circus has made undeniable, the cat’s out of the bag. We might as well address a number of questions/misconceptions that have already popped up in our conversations with the media.

Claim: The website is based on complex numerology decoded from a previously unpublished section of “The Wu-Tang Manual.”

Reality: This is true.

Claim: Using AM:PM PR’s website can help cure depression, freshen breath while you read.

Reality: Again, this is true. Perhaps we’ll move on to some misconceptions.

Claim: Staring directly into Alexis’ eyes in the group shot on the homepage can make you go cross-eyed.

Reality: OK, also true, but only in extreme cases. This isn’t going well. Let’s give it one more shot.

Claim: This website revamping is a shameless promotional ploy for Pat’s upcoming, last-minute presidential run.

Reality: While Pat does have designs on world domination, and his common-sense perspective would certainly make for a refreshing alternative to some other candidates we might name, he won’t be running for president. At least not in 2012.

Speaking of Pat, stay tuned to this site for his upcoming blog post, which will offer an in-depth look at our new package-pricing system, and how we think that it will help us help you to reach what science has coined “maximum awesometude.”

In the meantime, know this:

– Yes, our new site will better emphasize the strategic relationship we have with ace app developers 7/Apps.

– No, you won’t be able to control our new website with your mind, a la Clint Eastwood’s jet in the film “Firefox.”

– Yes, site design and navigation have both been improved, creating an experience that one critic has called, “THE feel-good action-packed romantic rollercoaster thrillride of this year or any other.”

– No, no McCormicks were harmed during the making of the new site. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

– Yes, you will still have access to all the same great videos, hyperlocal storytelling, and dangerously sharp snark as before, but now it will have 30% less MSG.

Stay tuned, friends, family and cabal mates. The future is now, but we’re only leaking it one day at a time.

5 things Occupy Portland needs to do to make a difference

I find the Occupy (insert your city name here) movement intriguing. And I’ve pondered what I’d do if the group were a client. I thought more about it after getting an email last week from an Occupy Portland participant sent to several other Portland PR firms, including AM:PM PR.

“Occupy Portland has recently formed a Policy, Vision and Strategy Committee,” the email read. “The group consists of people from within and without the camp, including several heads of nonprofits, professors, and business and labor leaders. The purpose of the group is to come up with short and long-term strategies on a large scale to help the Occupy movement advance in a positive direction that brings real and lasting change to America for poor and working class people. We would love to benefit from your knowledge and experience. If anyone from your organization is interested, could we meet for coffee so we can talk it over and I can answer any questions you may have?”

 

occupy portland

Photo courtesy of Crystal Beasley

If you judge PR success by the volume of coverage generated, Occupy Portland is doing well. It’s made the news every day since before its inaugural march and initial encampment October 6. It’s effectively used its website, Facebook (nearly 17,000 likes), YouTube (837 subscribers, more than 161,000 total video views), Flickr (nearly 2,300 photos posted), and Twitter (nearly 6,500 followers) to keep information about the protests moving to, from and among its participants, supporters and the community.

Protestors list plenty of reasons for their frustration: government bailouts of big banks; companies with billions in profits that pay no corporate taxes; shrinking benefits and higher health care costs; pervasive and persistent unemployment; and their key rallying point – the growing wealth of the richest 1% while the 99% are losing ground.

But that may be too many messages, and so far there’s been no clear call to action. As days pass, questions about what’s next are increasing.

Public sympathy for the protests remains high. Still, as the email noted, the group has yet to determine its long-term strategy for achieving real and lasting change. It won’t be easy to shape strategy because participants disdain traditional leadership. Instead, organized political interests have started connecting with the movement, seeking a share of the public stage built by Occupy. The movement risks losing control of its own credibility or having it co-opted by others with a better-defined mission.

To make the real and lasting changes they seek, the Occupy organizers need to move from civil disobedience to civil discourse. And I’d offer the following counsel:

  1. Define the purpose and mission of the movement. If the core of the protests is income inequality, that message is being muddied by the proliferation of other significant but tangential concerns.
  2. Debate the proposed direction internally to honor the democratic processes used by the movement. Vigorous debate will help further clarify the group’s purpose and mission.
  3. Decide. After a fulsome debate, get to the verb. Choose the direction and the primary goal. Accept that not everyone will agree.
  4. Declare to the wider community where the movement is headed. The debate and the decision will allow message clarity and consistency – essentials to developing momentum.
  5. Deploy the talents of the people who are part of the movement. Once purpose, mission and messaging are settled on, there’s a foundation for advocacy and action plans. Many talented people have been empowered by participation so far and their talents should be tapped to energize directed action.

David Sarasohn’s November 2 commentary in The Oregonian notes, “‘What’s next?’ is not a hostile question.” Having the answer could give the movement direction. Absent an answer, it’ll be little more than a crowded campsite stuck in the mud of a Portland park.

 

Twitter sliced

Twitter becoming critical tool for crisis communications

by Camrick Clark

As any firefighter will tell you, the best way to put out a fire is to prevent it. But when something does catch on fire, a quick first response can help keep things from going up in flames.

Using Twitter for crisis communications is fast becoming a critical component in any company’s strategy. Twitter is as much about preventing an isolated issue from becoming a full-blown crisis as it is about communicating quickly to key stakeholders and the public once a crisis has happened.

twitter image blue

Crisis communication is a public relations activity that, with careful planning, rarely needs to be implemented. Still, it’s very important to have a plan in place when an emergency rears its ugly head. When a product fails, an accident occurs, financial crisis arises or natural disasters happen, whatever the case may be, crisis communication plans keep the peace and give direction to chaos.

Social media has changed the landscape for the development of crises and offers a critical communications channel to address and abate a crisis. Social media can blow up a situation in a matter of minutes. When a story breaks, people are actively looking for answers, and more people than ever are turning to Twitter for those answers.

As in all business communications, Twitter needs to be part of a broader strategy, and one of a variety of channels you use to listen and share with your employees, customers, clients, and industry. This is true both when it comes to prevention and when it is time to react.

How to use twitter for crisis communications:

  1. Educate – Bring yourself and your staff up to speed on how Twitter works and the social norms of the platform.
  2. Plan – What will you do when something bad happens? Identify and plan for crises you can foresee, and those you’d never expect. Think about thinks that could happen to you – disasters, etc., and crises that are self-inflicted – product recalls, hazardous materials spills, etc. Who will be the one to speak on behalf of your company? Answer these questions and more by creating a crisis communications plan.
  3. Listen – Good communicators are always good listeners first. In other words, you won’t know what’s happening unless you’re actually listening. If you’re not on Twitter, then you won’t know who’s talking about your brand in that space, much less take part in that conversation. You shouldn’t join Twitter just to react to an issue. Creating a presence pre-crisis helps develop a network you know shares an interest in you and what you do.
  4. Be Active – Become part of the online community. Don’t wait for the building to be burning down around you to engage your public. Prevention is always better than reaction. There are also many great free tools for tracking what happens on Twitter. Use those to preemptively ease into the conversation before a crisis even hits.

Twitter, faster than earthquakes?

Just like a AM:PM PR Speakeasy roundtable

The Best King Arthur Story Ever – The 442

– by Jake Ten Pas

You know that story about the Round Table of Arthurian legend arising from the knights demanding to all be treated equally? Total nonsense. I wasn’t there or anything – I had a previous commitment at Morgana’s place – but I can tell you exactly what happened. It went a little something like this:

Arthur: Can you please pass the gravy?

Sir Lamorak: (who was sitting at the opposite end of a very long table): Eh? You like to shop at Old Navy?

Arthur: No, the gravy. The gravy! Can you pass it? And what is this Ye Olde Navy of which you speak?

Sir Lamorak: Inexpensive yet chic? I quite agree. I got this tunic there in several fun summer colors just last week.

Arthur: Did you just call me weak? Guards!

And after Sir Lamorak was beheaded (this is only one version of the story, mind you), Arthur decided that it’s just much easier to have a conversation if everybody is seated in a circle. A large circular table was constructed, gravy was passed without bloodshed, and they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

Or is it?

Last week, we hosted our weekly social media Gabalot, better known as PR 3.0, at 442 Soccer Bar on Hawthorne. It’s quickly become one of our favorite places to host the event for a number of reasons, all of which could prove instructive to other bars, pubs and nosheries looking to attract the patronage of businessy-type people such as us. So, without any further ado, a list of five reasons why we frequent 442:

1)   They’ve got a great circular seating area where roughly a dozen folks could sit, hear each other talk and keep a lively conversation going between them. Places that only have long, skinny tables simply will not work for a good group discussion. They end up breaking up into individual conversations about good TV shows, as opposed the big, dynamic group discussion about TV shows we prefer.

ampmpr-speakeasy-at-442

2)   They play great jazz music in there, but they understand how to work the volume knob. Few people on Earth are more obsessed with music than I am, but there’s just something about being forced to scream like a character in a natural disaster movie to be heard that tends to distract from the finer points of a good confab. Keeping the music at a reasonable volume encourages your customers to enjoy each other in addition to your tunes.

3)   The bartender, who I assume is also the owner, is a total character. He refers to everybody as either “Pretty lady” or “Nice guy,” and he is always friendly and welcoming. Big groups tend to spend a decent amount of money, and his strategy is endlessly more effective than that of some other bars, where you’re treated like yuppie scum if you walk in with a brief case or without a mustache and sarcastic T-shirt.

4)   442 features tasty Bosnian food. While this isn’t directly related to us holding our meetings there, it doesn’t hurt. And if you like to watch soccer games (Personally, I do not, but my coworker Erin is an aficionado), I’d imagine they go way better with Cevapi than hot dogs.

5)   442 has both a full bar and a killer selection of European beer. Normally, I only drink bourbon, but when you have the option of drinking a giant frosty mug of draught beer from the homeland of the owner of the bar – or thereabouts – I highly recommend it. And yes, I realize that any domestic beer is probably from the homeland of the owner of most U.S. bars, but now you’re just being difficult. Finally, unlike point number four, point number five IS directly related to us holding our meetings there.

The End.

Really this time.

Unless it isn’t.

Distillers at AM:PM PR's first anniversary party

First Anniversary Party Video

 
 

Scenes from AM:PM PR’s first anniversary party mingle with fire chief Pat McCormick’s speech to the friends, clients and family that showed up to support us and the community that is our home. Included among the participants were members of Distillery Row, Cascade Brewing, Zanzibar Cellars, Eat Your Heart Out Catering, Phoogoo, and the creative minds associated with PoBoy Art and Chris Haberman Art.