Fold, spindle, mutilate

It’s a world of bytes and digits, but paper just keeps on stuffing up the process.

I’m only slightly amazed at how impatient I’ve become with those who still keep filing cabinets. Yes, I have three myself—to store all the paper that everyone else piles on me.) I’m getting ready to move, and that means pushing an awful lot of hard copies. Just the preliminary packet of gobbledygook I received from the mortgage company was a termite’s feast of borrowers certification, privacy notice, credit score disclosure, Equal Credit Opportunity Act notice, occupancy certification, good-faith estimate, truth-in-lending disclosure, uniform residential loan application, and dozens more chunks of 20 lb. Hammermill totaling 36 legal-size pages. Heaven knows what awaits me at the closing itself. I’m glad I rented the moving truck for the full day.

So next Tuesday I do the walk-through of my new house with the project superintendent, who will make notes on paper and have me sign a paper punch list so he can issue paper work orders to fix the things that should have been done right in the first place if the workers had read the first round of paperwork I filled out for the people at the home showroom—who subsequently sent the wrong shutters and the wrong flooring because THEIR PAPERWORK WAS WRONG!!

I can move my phone service online; I can move my cable service online; but if I want to change from the phone company to the cable company, THAT requires paperwork. The cable guy is coming to my residence at the end of the day today to shuffle another ream or so in front of me, I’m sure.

All this made me sick, so I got a couple prescriptions and now I’m ready to file for reimbursement through my medical Flexible Spending Account. The third-party administrators won’t let me scan the receipts and the claim form and e-mail them in—the logical procedure for any sane digital practitioner. “We can’t accept inbound e-mails,” is their response. YOU WHAT??!!? No, I either have to mail in copies of receipts—with an actual stamp!—or fax them in. Who still uses a fax, for heaven’s sake? I suppose I could scan the receipts and then use my computer’s fax software to send them, but I have to fill out an electronic cover sheet and receive a confirmation and…it’s all too much like paperwork.

I never thought I’d say this, but maybe Lewis Black is not insane. He’s just been spending way too much time reading his PAPER!!

When you go to bed tonight, bless your computer (please don’t baptize it) and say a little prayer for your colleagues, vendors and neighborhood tradesfolk who are still up, rummaging through paper clips, staples and three-ring binders. Maybe create your own little prayer for a global digital environment. Just, please—don’t write it down.

—Steve Friedman

Technology allowance offers choices

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal regarding technology allowances for employees quoted one of our employees about his and how he spends it.

The article talks about some security concerns but overall, employees and employers find it positive:

“Corporate technology managers usually pick laptops, software and other technology for employees. Now some tech managers are finding workers can do a better job when they choose and buy the equipment themselves.”

Here at Airfoil, we believe in encouraging employees to try new and emerging technologies. Providing a technology allowance is just one more way of giving individuals the freedom to make decisions based on personal choices.

My technology allowance contributes a portion to a variety of gadgets: my Zune, my SmartPhone and Sirius Radio. How do you use yours?

-- Janet Tyler

Working with blogs requires relationships

Blogs have quickly become an important media outlet alongside magazines, newspapers and broadcast. In pitching this evolving medium, public relations needs to build a relationship instead of blasting a single email.

Would you expect a traditional reporter to grasp and get excited about what you’re pitching with just a single email? Of course not – it requires painting a verbal picture, delivering compelling and new ideas, and lots of follow up.  With bloggers, the new “quick hit” medium of ideas, proactive pitching is the name of the game.  In a recent PR Week Web Strategy webinar, Mike Manuel, social media strategist for Voce Communications rendered 2 key points and I have added 2 of my own: what I call the RABRs of blogging.

R: Research. Figure out which blogs are relevant to your overall media strategy. Get to know which bloggers’ opinions hold weight and watch their postings over a few weeks if you can.

A: Approach bloggers before you have to pitch them.  Manuel advocates making simple “e-introductions” ahead of time, that way when it comes time to send out a pitch or press release the blogger is familiar with you, your client and your agency.   Prioritize blogs just as you would traditional media.

B: “Build relationships, just as you would with reporters and editors who cover your client’s space.”

R: Reciprocate.  Bloggers rarely get paid for their missives. They blog out of interest and passion for their topics.  To reward them for their hard work, link to their postings from your clients' sites or blogs.

Continue building relationships with bloggers, and the next time you send out that pitch it might lead to a glowing and influential blog placement you and your client seek.

-- Ron Toledo

A different look at the evolution of telecommunications

Apple’s recent launch of the iPhone and the ensuing media hype got me thinking about all the great innovations of telecommunications.  I thought it might be fun to take a look at some significant telecommunication moments in time.

• Cavemen clearly needed no other form of communication other than grunts and aggressive hand motions
• Courier pigeon seemed to work well for most in the middle ages (or at least so Hollywood leads us to believe)
• Native Americans used smoke signals to warn others of pending danger or to borrow a cup of sugar
• Paul Revere rode his trusty steed hard to warn villagers of those darn Red Coats
• The Pony Express delivered gun duel notices to cowboys far and wide
• Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and sparked the interest of grade school kids everywhere to prank call others
• The rotary phone rotates 867-5309 in a matter of minutes
• The fax machine delivers instant cruise vacation package deals over the telephone line
• Zach Morris lights up Kelly Kopowski on his large cellular phone on Saved By The Bell
• Al Gore invents the World Wide Web and people communicate with each other all over the world using email, instant message, blogs, etc.

Now that the iPhone appears to be the next evolution in telecommunications what is the next groundbreaking technology? Please also feel free to add to my list of telecommunications advancements.

-- Allen Arnold

What I wish I learned in college

It’s hard to believe I recently celebrated my one-year anniversary here at Airfoil. As I look back and reflect on the last year – my full first year in the public relations field since graduation – I’m happy to see I’ve never stopped learning.

While it’s quite common to think you know everything there is to know about whatever your major may be upon graduation, and while that may be true for some fields (probably not, but I’ll take your word for it), it definitely isn’t true for public relations. Regardless of the theories, inverted pyramids and storyboards you learned to build through your college experience, there are millions of things you don’t learn. 

Here are the top few key insights I’ve discovered in the past year that might encourage the next inspired college public relations major to reconsider signing up for Underwater Basket-weaving 101 and taking something that may get you ahead of the crowd.

1. Business environment – One of the smartest things I did in college was making sure I had a decent background in the business field, not because I had a ton of free time, but because public relations is not just about writing all of the time. And I’m not talking about just marketing tactics. It’s good to be familiar with accounting, management, information systems and even law. It’s far too common that practitioners are focused on primarily the tasks deliverable from a writing or creative perspective. Hopefully at some point in your career, you also will be tasked with the responsibility of budgets, managing teams and understanding (and fulfilling) contractual agreements.

2. Getting “smart” on a client or industry – Whether media monitoring and finding your client in the news, or identifying significant trends that may affect your client’s industry, there is never enough time in the world to read more and “get smart” on clients. Not only is finding these nuggets of information a step in the right direction, but knowing how to use the information is even better. “How is this information relevant?” or “How does our client fit in?” are good questions to help you get started; then you need to decide the best plan of action for your new found intelligence. What works best with this information when paired with my client’s initiatives? A pitch, rapid response to a reporter or keeping it in the “evergreen opportunities” folder are just some of the ways pieces of intelligence can be used to your clients benefit. While it may be difficult to practice this ever-important exercise when not actually in the public relations environment, it’s definitely a mindset to prepare yourself for when you enter the field – not to mention the habit of always reading and learning what’s going on in the world will definitely be to your advantage when it comes to client service.

3. How to pitch – It doesn’t matter how many journalism or public relations theory classes you take, learning how to formulate and execute a successful pitch is the unsung hero of the public relations field. While it would be nearly impossible to teach students how to pick up a phone and call a reporter (and to know how annoying it may be to the reporters) – it’s never too early to learn about how to formulate a pitch. Unfortunately for most, this doesn’t happen in the classroom; as it happened for me, it will most likely take place at your first desk at your first job in the field. There are no predetermined rules on how to best formulate a great pitch other than to offer a solid hook or lead to get the writer interested in what your client can contribute. Most of that is dependent on (a) what the topic is and knowing how much to offer upfront and (b) your relationship with the reporter – that is, if one even exists. With the objective of not getting too deep into the process, I recommend asking either a practitioner you know or journalism/public relations professor you trust to offer up guidance or samples to get you off to a good start in learning this process before it’s your job.

If you are fresh into college or fresh out, be prepared to continue learning even after you have that diploma in your hand. It’s always easy to shrug off the suggestion that you never quit doing homework, but I can’t reinforce enough how true it is.

Prepare yourself in any way you can, whether it takes place during internships (which are highly encouraged in this field), in the classroom, or in your free time. “Learn more” about fields outside of public relations; you never know when you’ll have the seemingly impossible task of balancing a budget, pitching the latest interactive promotion by a highly visible company or the importance of data backup for small businesses during hurricane season, or representing a company working specifically in the underwater basket-weaving field.

-- Megan Martenka

The prospects for mobile TV

Last Thursday, I went to a Churchill Club event in Mountain View, Calif. thought I was going to be in a room  filled with old men discussing the future of business but doing little about it, because they’re trying to understand it.

Au contraire.

My first event as a young public relations professional was far from boring and actually more enlightening than I’d ever have thought it would be. The question aimed at presenters, panelists and observers was, Mobile TV: Will the Cell Phone Be the Next Mega TV Market?

According to the six presenters, MediaFLO , Roundbox, SurfKitchen, Penthera, Mobile TV Alliance and Packet Video, mobile TV is going to be the hottest feature since the camera phone—or is it?

One presenter happened to have caught both my eye and my mind. MediaFLO had no fancy tutorial, no live demonstration, but a sort-of commercial that explained where MediaFLO, along with its competitors, is headed.

Roundbox has this neat technology where they allowed the user to see the games activities in real-time -- it wasn’t the average broadcast. For example, the demonstrator showed an actual baseball game going on, but instead of it being live television, it was presented as a video game with a baseball representation. This specialized content provides for a technology that the user can only get through mobile TV. Roundbox, thinking two steps ahead, is providing a demand for a technology not seen anywhere else.

Most companies offered similar services. Some differed, but not by much. Mobile TV Alliance has scrolling news going across the cell phone screen, while Penthera offers both mobile TV, as well as online TV.

A few testimonials, a few program samples and some image snapshots along with some empowering background music told me all I needed to know. Mobile TV is great, but will its success will be short lived? It will be interesting to see how this industry plays out in the future. Will people add this to their existing bill? These same questions may have been around when dial-up Internet access came into existence.

The panelists, who included researchers and analysts, addressed issues of financial necessity and popularity. One analyst explained how, although the technology is nifty, it’s pricey. Another panelist brought up the point that, although some carriers provide mobile TV, not many cell-phone users subscribe to the service because of its cost and lack of either promotion or generated demand. For about an hour questions went back and forth about the future of mobile TV, when to me the answer was pretty obvious. Everybody could use some public relations around here.

I’m not too sure where they’d start, what messages they’d create or where they’d go, but I do know that if they had an idea and created a demand from and with that idea, PR could work miracles.

In my opinion, only with PR could mobile TV become the next mega TV market.

-- Jenny Smelyanets

Why PR agencies should converse in the blogosphere

Blogs are all about building relationships. A first step is subscribing to blogs and monitoring them, but then it needs to go to another level. Actually get in there, comment on posts and start a conversation. 

As usual, we were reading some of our favorite blogs last week when we saw a shout-out from Robert Scoble, encouraging PR people to come and meet him while he stood in line for the iPhone. He also requested Starbucks, which our agency does PR for in the Midwest.

 

So we grabbed the camera, a latte, some agency schwag and of course some information about our clients. He said we were the only PR people to get the hint and his message.

Now I can understand if you are not local that it wouldn’t make sense to travel for a brief visit. But if you are local, and there are more than a handful of PR agencies in the valley, why wouldn’t you come out to represent your clients?

-- Scott Vallee