Bylined articles can help build reputation and credibility

PR Tip – A thesis on the art of crafting a bylined article

February 19, 2015/in AM:PM PR, Influence, Tips /by Mike Phillips

Have you ever wondered about bylined articles? Well, wonder no more. I’m here to share my vast knowledge with you.

Bylined articles can be quite the handy public relations tool if you’re ready to try your hand and want to expand your reach. It’s also a tactic that’s as old as time. In fact, the top ten list on Moses’ Commandments was practically a bylined article sent directly from the heavens.

What are some more “contemporary” byline examples?

Most magazines and online publications (Huffington Post, Mashable, Entrepreneur, Inc., etc) use contributing writers to publish the level of content expected in today’s 24 hour news cycle.

A few of our clients’ bylined articles:

What is a bylined article, anyway?

A bylined article is an article that an entrepreneur, business leader or expert will write, often similar to an op-ed in format, intended for a specific target publication and target audience. If you have some helpful industry-related insight or an interesting perspective on current hot topic you are well-positioned to contribute an article.

What are the benefits of a good bylined article?

Getting an article published can:

– Demonstrate your expertise and thought leadership;

– Build your reputation;

– Expand your reach and grow your audience;

– Draw traffic via valuable links to your own website to improve your site’s rank; and

– Successfully spread your message or increase interest in your product or services.

What are some tips for writing effective bylined articles?

Write about what you know. Don’t stretch the limits of your creativity, write about something directly relevant to your experience or work. This will make your job easier and will help retain the interest of your target audience.

Research your target publications. Spend some time reviewing bylined articles articles to get a feel for the typical voice or format of a specific publication. Most sites also offer specific instructions for submissions including word count, accepted image file sizes, rules for hyperlinks and product sourcing.

Know your target audience. What media do your target audiences consume? Which have the most influence on your audiences? Target those publications and direct your writing at the specific audiences of those sites.

Make it timely. Many bylined articles are successful because the author is able to demonstrate knowledge or expertise on a given subject area. Often overlooked is the timeliness or newsworthy element. If you can tie your piece into a specific date, anniversary or current news event you’ll increase your chances for success.

—

Good luck!

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

Everyone Has an Audience

November 11, 2014/in AM:PM PR, Influence, Speakeasy, Tips /by ampmpr

How do you want your audience to perceive you?

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.

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

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

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.

Offer content that interests your audience and take the steps to optimize it.

SEO Tips From a Portland PR Firm

July 15, 2014/in AM:PM PR, Cultivation, Influence, Reputation, Tips /by ampmpr

Have a strategy and offer content with value to your audience

If you have a business or a brand, you must have a strong online presence. Public relations agencies are no different. Every business wants to stand out and show up on the first page of searches.

Businesses and brands face ever increasing competition to be noticed. With more than 1 billion active websites, consistent attention to Search engine optimization, or SEO, is key to raising visibility.

SEO is the process of affecting the rank of a website in a search engine’s “natural” or un-paid search results. The earlier and more frequently a site appears in search results list, the more visitors it will receive.

Basically, SEO encourages keyword use to increase traffic based on what people search for. However, there is a drawback. Focusing on keywords can stifle creativity.

At AM:PM PR, we write about what we’d want to read. We want what we write to be interesting, authentic, and worth our reader’s time. It’s always a bonus if we write something others find worth sharing.

It’s a complicated balancing act. How do you safely walk the tightrope between entertaining readers and attracting potential new clients with strategic keywords planted throughout the copy?

SEO Tips

Be Subtle – While keywords are important to search, don’t litter your posts with them. In this post all focus keywords are in bold. Words and phrases like “public relations,” “search engine optimization,” and “SEO Tips” are all terms that could bring people to our site.
Be Creative – Sensibility with keywords can attract visitors, but creative, useful content is what keeps them coming back. Try writing your post first without worrying about keywords and then add them where they make sense. While headlines should contain focus keywords, you also need to grab attention with them.
Be Mindful – Think like the reader you want to have. What do you want your audiences to think about you? What do you want to portray? Being mindful of how copy, relevant content, and keywords work together will help attract visitors and keep them coming back.
Be Visual – Google likes images. Adding images and properly naming, sizing and tagged them will help your rank and make your content more attractive and memorable.

Paying more attention to SEO does take time, but it’s part of today’s cost of doing business.

Interview Tip: Identifying Your PR Superpowers

June 25, 2014/in AM:PM PR, Influence, PR Jobs, Tips /by ampmpr

Manipulating the weather. Super speed. Telekinesis. We’ve all thought about what our superpower would be. While for many, this thought may not have crossed our minds since our pre-teen years, now is a good time to revisit the question: What would your superpower be?

A new trend on the job market is leading employers to be more creative in their interview questions. While a few years ago, the biggest trend interview question was, “what is your biggest weakness?” Now employers want to know your greatest strengths.

In the fast-paced, unpredictable field of public relations, having superpowers in your arsenal is essential to success. Knowing what they are and how to access the skills that set you apart from the rest of the team is the first step to finding your place amongst extraordinary PR professionals.

Why it’s a smart interview question:

It breaks the ice. Everyone knows that interviews are nerve wracking and a more off kilter question gives applicants a chance to take a breather and go off book.
It gives more insight about the candidate. This question is essentially just asking, what is your greatest strength? However, the format allows the employer to more fully assess the applicants personality by forcing them to give a more candid answer.
The answer is honest. It’s easy for an interviewee to say what they think their potential employer wants to hear and interview answers can often be overly rehearsed and impersonal. Being able to answer this question honestly conveys your strengths in a more honest, and personal way.

The reason this question works is because when you honestly consider the superpower you wish you had, it tells you something about your personality. The key to success when coming up with your answer is to identify the positive attributes of your personality that power represents and how they will be advantageous to your future employer.

For example:

“My superpower would be mind reading. I’m very in tune to people’s thoughts, emotions, and needs. It allows me to predict what clients want and need from me. It also gives me the foresight to address issues before they become a problem.”

or

“My superpower would be shape shifting. I’m a very adaptable person and I’m comfortable filling many different roles. To me, change is a good thing and I’m always ready to face a new challenge head on with fresh perspective.”

In public relations, skills like mind reading and shape shifting can be necessary. We never know what our clients are going to need, and as their communications counsel we need to be in their heads. PR professionals also wear many hats, the ability to shift into who your client needs you to be is a power highly befitting an important member of a PR team. In the new world of business, successful people are ones who can answer this question immediately and honestly. So give this seemingly silly question some serious thought and for your next job interview, prepare to break out your cape or your adamantium claws.

Having A Hard Time Earning Media Coverage? Take a simple stress test!

June 5, 2014/in AM:PM PR, Influence, Tips /by Mike Phillips

hasn’t written any letters

I recall, as a kid, watching expectantly as the postman marched down the hill to dump copious amounts of letters into our mailbox. After rifling through the stack I was consistently disappointed that none were addressed to me. Whenever I expressed my dismay, my Mom retorted this unwelcome refrain: “You have to write letters to receive letters.”

I think back to this every time I hear someone befuddled with unrealistic expectations for media coverage. After more than a decade in this business I’ve come up with my own smarmy refrain: “You have to create news to receive news coverage.”

To those with great hopes of earning media coverage, and to prevent earned-media hopefuls from having their dreams crushed like an 8-year-old without a pen pal, I offer a simple stress test for newsworthiness.

The three-step test:

1. Scrutinize: What are you doing that is actually newsworthy? Be hard on yourself.

* Is your story or product timely?
* Is it related to a current hot topic or trend?
* Is it NEW?
* Will a significant number of readers/viewers be affected by or interested in this news story?

2. Research: Who will be most interested in your story?

* Who is your target audience?
* What media does your target audience consume?
* Who do you want to cover your story? Have they covered it before? Do you know what types of news they are most interested in covering?

3. Reality Check: Are you putting a fresh coat of paint on an old idea in a desperate attempt to fabricate a new story angle?

If you’re perplexed by any of these questions, you have some work to do. Don’t despair. Just shift your efforts, do your homework, come up with a plan and make some news.

Easy, right?

Destination Branding For Small Cities

May 16, 2013/in AM:PM PR, Influence, Tips /by Mike Phillips

A review of Bill Baker’s latest book

At AM:PM PR we like to keep a pulse on trends and thought leadership related to the public relations industry, especially in subjects that we find interesting. To this end we hold weekly meetings we call “PR 3.0” where we invite PR professionals, job seekers and business executives to join us to talk about the latest developments in social media technologies.

However, we take this interest to all aspects of our work and last week I purchased a book by local Portland author Bill Baker titled “Destination Branding for Small Cities.” In this book Mr. Baker draws upon over 30 years experience working in over 25 countries helping communities with their branding and marketing. His book illustrates the case for the destination branding and marketing of small cities and towns.

Interestingly, the book arrived into my possession around the same time The Oregonian published an article saying Bicycling contributes $400 million to Oregon tourism. Do you think this isn’t destination branding? If anything, it’s a warning shot to all bike-related businesses in the region, telling them that they’d better rope themselves into the branding language if they want to take advantage of this large portion of the local economy.

The bike piece comes after a piece from CNN that says Portland is America’s top beer town. Then in the Huffington Post, Portland was cited in a study by Intuit as a top city for female entrepreneurs.

This could all be crazy coincidence, but in reality it’s the result of a successful destination branding campaign that has consciously (and sometimes, subconsciously) been part of the collective marketing efforts of cities and businesses in the region during the past decade. Bike lanes, pet friendly hotels, famous bands, beer tours, distillery row and words like “artisan”, “craft”, “eco” and even our food carts are all under the umbrella of a successful destination branding campaign. It’s successful because the campaign comes from the top down and is adopted by other businesses and organizations looking to take advantage of the media limelight. Further, our regional campaign is based upon an authenticity that builds when families move to the area seeking a quality of life that we foster and encourage in Portland.

I found the book to be thought-provoking and a must read for anyone sitting on the board of a chamber of commerce or related tourism organization – even if you aren’t directly involved in the marketing, public relations or branding committee. It’s important for people to have a better understanding of the principles presented in this book so they act as a resource, team player, or in the case of small businesses – identify the greater destination branding at play, and use it to their advantage.

For more: “Destination Branding for Small Cities.”

Missing a mentor today – Peter Morrissey remembered

August 5, 2012/2 Comments/in AM:PM PR, Frontpage Article, Influence, News /by Pat McCormick

A good friend and mentor died August 3. His passing reminds me again of how we’re formed by the people we admire.

I first met Peter Morrissey when our firm joined an international network of independent public relations agencies, Pinnacle Worldwide. Peter owned a firm in Boston that specialized in corporate reputation management and crisis communications.

It was easy to see why corporate executives trusted Peter. He was honest, whip smart and direct. He also was a teacher. He shared stories to illustrate lessons. And like a good Irishman, he had great stories to tell.

Among Peter’s corporate clients was Johnson & Johnson. He counseled the company and its McNeil Pharmaceuticals subsidiary when poison introduced into its Tylenol capsules killed seven Chicago-area residents in 1982. It’s now a classic case study in PR classes on crisis communications.

In addition to running his successful firm, Peter was the consummate good citizen. He taught at Boston University, was active in numerous community groups and served on the board of Boston Athletic Association, sponsors of the Boston Marathon.

I remember him most for what I learned listening to him. I suppose that’s why I enjoyed reading Rate Your Professor comments from students he taught at Boston University.

“Morrissey’s real-world experience as CEO of a highly successful PR firm makes his class probably the most useful I’ve taken at BU.“

“Professor Morrissey’s class was a great class. He brings his real-world experience of owning his own PR firm and working with big name clients to the class. Morrissey’s work in crisis communication especially is a case study for every intro to PR class everywhere.”

“I LOVE PROFESSOR MORRISSEY! If you want to go into PR, take as many of Morrissey’s classes as you can. Work hard, talk to him outside of class, and he will help you in your job search way more than Career Services ever could.”

Peter was the same way with his professional colleagues. He would help you any way he could. Mostly he helped me remember that, at its core, our profession is about serving our communities with integrity, honest communications and a commitment to do what’s right.

Peter taught that by how he lived.

Credit unions need to keep it real to woo Gen Y from banks

November 17, 2011/in AM:PM PR, Cultivation, Influence, Tips /by Allison McCormick

The Northwest Credit Union Association (NWCUA) recently invited me to present tips on reaching Gen Y. Like most organizations, they want to know how to attract the largest consumer group in history. With Occupy Wall Street and Bank Transfer Day leading the news, there’s never been a better time for credit unions to be heard.

The first step in building relationships with this generation is knowing everything about who Gen Y’ers are and what drives them.

Meet the Gen Y’ers:

Believe they can be and do anything.
Believe miracles are possible.
Want to live first and work second.
Care about servicing their community.
Don’t like to be told what to do or what’s cool.
Want to experience the world for themselves to develop their own judgement.
Don’t want to be marketed to.

Gen Y respects authenticity. If you want to be listened to, be real. This generation can see through B.S.

Where are they? On their phones. They are more than half of mobile users in the US. Also nicknamed the Connecteds and Net Generation, they’re almost all socially networked. They do everything online, including research before buying.

When purchasing a product or service they look for:

Low cost
Good quality
Fast service
An “experience”

Living in an era when information is everywhere and everyone is constantly connected, how can NWCUA members and your organization reach Millennials? Relate to what’s important. Know that they listen to their friends. They care about their community and they care about living life well.

Give them what they want and:

Differentiate credit unions from banks. Seize the 99%.
Offer tools for living well that Gen Y will want to use. Financial literacy hasn’t been taught to them in schools. Make money management “an experience” with an app that helps them manage their money and reach their goals of buying a house or traveling the world.
Communicate credit unions’ community involvement. Offer an online program teaching financial literacy and curriculum for teachers.
Engage them on social networks. Let them lead on Facebook, and be a real resource for them on Twitter.

As evidenced by the 690,000 people who dumped their banks in a single month around Bank Transfer Day, Gen Y will like what credit unions offer. Be easy to find, easy to use and make their decision to switch easy.

As for any other organization? Anticipate what members of Gen Y will want from you and what they’ll look for on your website. Don’t add fluff. Make sure to give them something that they can recommend to their friends without sacrificing their authenticity.