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Perspectives Launch Party

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perspectivesApril 15, 2009 was the launch party for the Perspectives Book Series at Barnes & Noble in Clifton, New Jersey.  Course Technology PTR, part of Cengage Learning, and series creator and editor, Jason Miletsky, who is my business partner at PFS Marketwyse, published Perspectives, which is an innovative new book series that covers topics such as marketing, branding, managing employees, and increasing sales.

A total of four books currently comprise the series with each book written by two or more authors from opposing perspectives, such as agency/client, seller/prospect and employer/employee. The authors engage in a stimulating dialogue on a variety of business topics in question/answer format. In order to provide readers with the most candid and unfiltered information possible, the authors were not permitted to collaborate during the writing process. The result is both thought provoking and enlightening.

The launch was a complete success.  By the end of the night, about 150 people visited with four of the six authors in the series, Jason Miletsky, Marvin Miletsky, Michael Hand and Michael A. Fina.  Unlike many the other book launch parties in my career, this one was truly a PR 2.0 event.  Here’s what made it different from our parties in the past:

  • The PR team was shooting video clips for the Social Media Release (SMR) from the time we left the office, in the car heading to the event, when we were in front of Barnes & Noble and then during the course of the night.
  • Our photographer was onsite taking mobile pictures and uploading them to Facebook.  She tagged them all immediately and shared them with our networks.
  • Most of the guests or Perspectives’ “fans” admitted that they learned of the event on our Facebook fan page that was set up a couple of weeks prior to the launch party.
  • The SMR received 150 views before we even got to the party.

Of course, we know the PR 2.0 doesn’t stop here. Now, the authors will be blogging about the event and other speaker appearances moving forward and the SMR will be updated with more pictures and videos to further engage readers.  The PR team will also be announcing new updates on Facebook and continually sharing information and interviews with readers regarding important points of interest in the books.

If you’ve recently participated in a launch event, how did you make your party PR 2.0?

The Perspectives Series:

Interview in Perspectives Book

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I wanted to share my recent interview that appeared in a new book, Perspectives on Branding, part of Cengage/Thompson Learning’s, Perspectives Series.” I participated in this interview for a few reasons.  First, if you know me, I can’t say no to the opportunity to educate professionals and to discuss PR 2.0.  I was also happy to participate in this interview because my business partner at PFS Marketwyse, Jason Miletsky, is the series editor.

But, there’s another outstanding reason, different than any other interview in my career.  The series is based on various perspectives on a number of diverse topics (delivered in the form of questions).  Perspectives on Branding gives two very different points of view for each question; one from a marketing/branding agency expert who answers a question and the other from a branding expert, on the client/customer, side answering the same question.

Here’s a taste of my interview answering the question: What’s the role of PR in establishing and promoting a brand?

PR serves many functions for brands that want to increase awareness, manage reputations and build relationships with key stakeholders.  Although companies have valued PR for years, they do more so today because PR is one of the strongest tools in their interactive marketing arsenals.  Communication professionals have learned that the new PR 2.0 landscape allows a brand to interact one-on-one through social media tools including RSS, podcasting, streaming video, blogging and social networking, to name a few.  These 2.0 resources enable brands to talk directly with customers, prospects, media, and of course, new influencers or bloggers.

PR 2.0 is not a new principle.  As a matter of fact it’s been around for over a decade.  It’s only recently that a tremendous focus on enhanced Web 2.0 collaborative applications allow professionals to fully take advantage of the communications resources available in web communities.  Pre-Web 2.0, brands were using PR to go through the media and other important groups as credible third party endorsers.  Today, not only are professionals able to develop those relationships (for example, using 2.0 sharing tools to help journalists build their stories with social media releases – the SMR), but they are also able to interact with new influencers or bloggers in ways that were never possible and with more reach and impact.

However, bloggers, like other influencers, have expectations too.  Similar to media relations and a PR person’s approach to media outreach, there are rules of engagement with new influencers.  Brands can engage with bloggers to increase brand awareness and build relationships that lead to endorsements, however, you can’t just jump right into their conversations.  It’s very important to listen first, to hear what your influencers are talking about and what interests them, and then provide meaningful information or communication that they can then share with their followers or members of their communities.  In many cases, these very influencers are the people who buy a brand’s products/services. Because social media allows sharing in communities, brands are reaching people directly and can listen, learn, interact or engage in new ways to build awareness and brand loyalty through a great experience.

There’s more to the interview, so if you want to read the rest of my answer or to find out the other perspective from the client/customer side, then you will have to read the Perspectives on Branding book!

Using your expert branding perspective how would you answer the question, “What role does PR play in establishing and promoting a brand? And, is your perspective on the agency or the client/customer side?

PR 2.0 Applied to the Agency

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As a marketing and PR agency professional, I definitely discuss with my clients the importance of transparency and showing their human side.  I know that I write a lot about brands and how they must develop a voice and talk directly to customers and social media is a great way to do that.  So, I asked myself, “What has my agency done lately?  How have we been transparent, shared meaningful information and how have I, personally, furthered this quest to have conversations to build better relationships.

One really great way is to give back.  My agency is being more transparent, showing its voice and sharing through a service we call “Quick Clinic,” which is located on our website.  It may sound impractical.  Peers have asked me “Why would give information and advice away for free.”  My answer, “Because that is the nature and the benefits of social media communications.  When you give, you also at some point will be on the receiving end.  It really works.”

I thought of the ideas after a quick visit to CVS.   I noticed that there was a new service at our local store called “Quick Clinic.”  I thought to myself that it would be great to apply the same principle to marketing and PR and help people quickly with good pieces of information that they could use in their marketing programs.  My business partner, Jason Miletsky, had serendipitously set up a Meebo chat on our website.  We put the two together and formed our Quick Clinic, which occurs every other Thursday from 2 to 4:00 p.m.

Quick Clinic is not to sell anything, rather it follows the rules of social media and online communities…you are just there to help and give good advice or information so the party who has a question or concern can make a decision.  Our first few Quick Clinics were so successful, that now we have to limit conversations per quest to 10 minutes each.  We have marketers, PR people, entrepreneurs and business executives who visit with us and ask general questions regarding social media all the way to detailed questions about a situation they encountered and what would we have done if we were handling the situation.

Sharing information and helping people is the best way to build strong relationships and have people trust you. With all of the ways that we are educating our clients to better understand social media, my question is, “what have you done lately?”