Never let it be said that PR people are either lacking in a sense of humour, or that they are out of touch with the latest online and social media trends.

In defence of this position I present to you exhibit A: a YouTube video entitled “Stuff PR People Say” which is fashioned in the manner of one of the latest YouTube sensation (Stuff) Girls Say which has had millions of views in recent weeks.

This neat little video has captured some priceless PR moments and expressions that I am sure we are all guilty of saying in the course of a hectic and fast-paced day in the life of the exciting world of PR.  These include: “Am I on speaker?”,  “Did you get my email?” and “you’re following me on Twitter, right?”

I commend this video to you, which was created by the clever folks at Hunter Public Relations of New York.  It makes enlightening viewing, particularly if you work in PR or are interested in doing so some day.  You can view it in full here

It did prompt me to think of what would be the top 5 phrases overheard here at Publicity Queen headquarters (otherwise known as PQHQ) and they are:

1. “No, didn’t you see it, it was on the FRONT PAGE!”
2. “Oh yeah, he’s one of my Twitter contacts, I can definitely get in touch with him today.”
3. “They said they would run it in the next issue.”
4. “Just got the proofs back from the photoshoot, they look AMAZING!”
5. “Well, the Herald Sun ran it, and then talkback radio got a hold of it, and then…”

I would love to know the 5 most often overheard expressions in your office.  Be sure to drop me a line and share.

Yours in PR

Having worked in PR for entrepreneurial companies for many years, where I have worked hard, with the support of my team, to generate media interest and coverage on our clients’ behalf in a tight and highly competitive media market, it was a complete shock to the system to work with someone for whom the media, quite literally, could not get enough.  The exposure and attention that George Clooney received, sadly was at the expense of the other five stellar business leaders who also attended the Global Leadership Forum in Sydney, including Martha Stewart, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, music industry mogul Russell Simmons, and pioneering webpreneurs Jeff Taylor of Monster.com and Michael Fertik of Reputation.com

These exeriences are now the subject of front page news, as Publicity Queen this month is featured in glorious colour (red, of course!) on page one of January’s PR Report.

In the article, you can read all about exactly what it was like to get up close and personal with Mr Clooney (an experience I highly recommend) and also the curious experience of being at the centre of a media maelstrom, the proportions of which I have never previously encountered.  Big thanks to Glen Frost of Frocomm for the shout out – love your work!

You can also read all about it in full at the news article on Publicity Queen‘s website, so feel free to click here to read more.

Yours in PR

Their recent ‘Share a Coke’ campaign encouraged consumers to write in and submit names of people with whom they would like to share a Coke.  Just as a casual observer, I have watched people as they waited in line at the supermarket, turning around the labels on many bottles of Coke in the hope that their own name, or that of their partner or child or friend, or even themselves, would appear – it would be a difficult proposition to turn down a drink that quite literally had your name on it.

I also saw many friends uploading to Facebook photos they had taken of bottles of Coke with their names on or of friends and family, and all of this activity does much to reinforce the power of the brand, by personalising it.  The campaign has been a runaway success – according to Trefis.com, there was a 92% increase in the number of posts on the company’s Facebook page with 29,000 posts about the campaign itself.

This approach makes good sense - the more disconnected we are, by geography, by shortness of time – the more we seek out connectedness and the personal touch.

One can also apply this personalisation strategy to social media, and in particular, to the use of Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you are using Twitter (as I do) to make connections with people, in order to generate more followers, it pays to invest the time and to get to know the people you wish to connect with, and to tweet about the topics they are interested in.  And it throws up another challenge too, in that I have my doubts that this strategy could be used on behalf of a corporate twitter account per se, but is highly effective when conducted by an individual, on behalf of a company.  Which makes the case, that I have long believed, in maintaining a dual-track system for Twitter – save your corporate account for disseminating media releases and blog entries, and making corporate connections; while also tweeting on a personal level for sharing personal insights and making personal linkages.

The same goes for LinkedIn.  When you identify crucial people that you wish to connect with, don’t just click ‘connect’ and expect people to add you to their list of contacts.  When you write to them, personalise your message, and explain how it is you heard of them, or share an insight that you know may be of interest.  This small investment you make will pay big dividends, and has enabled me to make connections with critically important people whom otherwise would have remained out of my league.

So, in essence, learn from our friends at Coca Cola, and get personal in your social media outreach, and you too will reap the benefits.

Yours in PR

One man who well and truly is FOP (finger-on-pulse) on the local media scene, with an enviable black book of contacts, and who last year predicted with remarkable accuracy major changes in the radio industry is Brett Debritz.

He wrote recently about his predictions for what will be ahead for the media industry this year, and I have extracted some interesting highlights for you.

Among his predictions are:

* Continued drift away from old media will continue, with tradional radio audiences exploring online alternatives.

* Increased pressure on advertising expenditure with greater results-based evidence on media outlets to provide quality research on exactly who is tuning in, and how to reach them, again with pressure moving from traditional channels to online outlets.

* Ongoing volatility for on-air talent as viewers have both little patience for both hosts and programmes that don’t ‘fire’ straight away.

* Further consolidation of managerial power in media companies.

* Increased pressure on the Fairfax Radio group, underlined by the need to make inroads in the Sydney market.

* Questions lingering over the long-term viability of digital radio with issues persisting over lack of access for regional and remote areas and the need to breakdown the dominance of analogue radio reception in motor cars, which is where most people tune in.

* Increased commercial pressure upon the ABC.

* Enhanced market position for community radio offerings.

* The power of radio stars waning (the Kyle Sandilands saga has surely assisted this trend) with increased need for traditional media to engage their audiences through interactive and social media to lock in the loyalty of the listening community.

To read Brett’s insightful comments in full, click here  If you have your own predictions about what this year has in store for us, write and let me know!

Yours in PR

It’s not until I sat down and thought through just what we have achieved in the last 12 months that I realised just how busy and productive we have been.

Here are my personal highlights of our achievements at Publicity Queen over the past 12 months:

• PQ Expands – due to new client acquisitions and overall growth in the company, Publicity Queen established a presence in NSW for the first time through hiring PR gun Valerie MacIver, based in Sydney.  This means Publicity Queen now have consultants stretching across a vast expanse of the Australian Eastern Seaboard – including Qld’s Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne.
• PQ Makes Front Page News – this year we maintained our strike rate in generating front page news.  We did this for our long-time client, the Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal, securing the front page of mX in both Brisbane and Melbourne on the same day! We also made front page news twice on the Daily Telegraph in Sydney for media coverage of the Global Leadership Forum.
• PQ features in Herald Sun – this year also saw a major feature article on me and Publicity Queen featured in Melbourne’s most-read newspaper, the Herald Sun; as well as an interview with me appearing in MyBusiness magazine.
• 12 Months of Queentessentials – 2011 was the first year that we ran a complete annual set of our much-loved Queentessentials e-newsletter, featuring many fascinating interviews with such media heavyweights as Deb Thomas, Steve Speziale and David Astle to name a few.  Stand by for February’s first edition of Queentessentials for 2012, which will be filled with useful and entertaining snippets from the world of PR.
• Making new friends – this year saw the power of association demonstrated in real terms, as Publicity Queen partnered with The Growth Faculty to bring to Australia George Clooney, Martha Stewart and four other leading business leaders and innovators for the Global Leadership Forum.  This event generated extraordinary interest and coverage for us (as well as a picture of George and me that is framed and sits proudly on my bedside table) and will propel us into an entirely different league in the PR game in Australia.

Our challenge for 2012 will be to harness the momentum that we created in 2011, as evidenced by the achievements listed above, and use these to create further growth for our business in the next 12 months.  I am excited to think about what those achievements will be by the time I write this same blog post next year.

Happy New Year to all of our readers, clients, friends and supporters, and I’d love to hear from our readers what your highlights of 2011 might be.

Yours in PR

Being in the word business, this is fascinating to us, and our friends at News.com.au have commissioned a snap poll, asking for nominations for word of the year for 2011.

It’s interesting…  here are the words they have suggested:

* Occupy
* Debt
* Minority
* Ear-Bashing
* Planking
* Winning
* Gestational Carrier
* Siri

Clearly, from reading this list of suggestions, there are people and events associated with these words.  Few will forget the use of ‘ear-bashing’ by the President of the United States during his visit, and of course the originator of ‘winning’ needs neither an introduction nor further publicity.

For me it might be, ‘inspired’ due to all of the amazing people I have met this year, or ‘golden’ in view of some choice opportunites that have come to pass, or maybe just… George.  Regular readers of this Blog will need no further explanation.

I would be interested to know which word sums up 2011 for you, and I wonder what words will be appropriate to sum up the new year that is about to start.

To participate in the News.com.au poll, click here

Late mail: Talk about having your finger on the pulse… as a neat corollary to this story, the Herald Sun just posted a story, sourced from the Plain English Foundation, that outlines Australia’s LEAST favourite NEW WORDS of the year, including:

* Inland Tsunami
* Fugitive Emissions
* Free to Roam
* Negative Good

To read the article in full click here.  So, which words sum up 2011, and which ones are your own personal least faves, let me know?!

Yours in PR

For years now, Publicity Queen has handled the promotion of the Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal for Queensland and Victoria, and this year we had the great idea of featuring two of our clients in a Christmas cross-promotion in collaboration with mX.

The result is the stunning image that you can see on the left of screen – featuring Lydia Lim from Soul Mystique – the dynamic dance and illusion duo that we have worked with this year, creating for them opportunities for media coverage including a return appearance on the Seven Network’s high rating show Australia’s Got Amazing Talent.

Lydia looks smashing in this picture, dressed entirely (almost!) in gift tags provided by the Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal.  This image appeared on Tuesday on the front covers of mX in both Brisbane and Melbourne, reaching hundreds of thousands of busy commuters on their way home from work.

I encourage all of you who have multiple clients in diverse fields (or even in complementary ones) to think about ways that you can harness the contacts, content, visuals and events of your clients, partners and staff so that you can get a double-whammy through cross promotion, just as we have done here.

It has spurred me on to think about many more wild and wonderful ways that we can bring together all the members of the Publicity Queen family, generate some publicity, and build that spirit of inter-connectedness between us all.  Stay tuned!

Yours in PR

Well, you heard it first, George was spotted in Sydney with these two beauties… Publicity Queen’s very own Sally Romano (me!) and Valerie MacIver.

It was a great pleasure to meet the man himself who gave so generously of his time during his stay, and did much to raise awareness about his good works in support of war-torn parts of the world.

It would be fair to say, this pic is going in a frame and then STRAIGHT TO THE POOL ROOM!

Yours in PR

The arrival of the Hollywood megastar had Sydney’s media all a-Twitter, with coverage starting early courtesy of Edwina Bartholomew of Seven’s Sunrise programme, who did an early live cross from the venue.

Clooney, pictured left with Emmanuel Acouth of the South Stars Basketball Team scored extra points by donating his sizeable appearance fee to his human rights advocacy work, in particular the Not On Our Watch Project, which focuses attention on the prevention of crime and supports the world’s most vulnerable people.

In an interview with Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, Clooney said: “What I am trying to do is continue to keep a satellite that we’ve been using to monitor war criminals on the border between the south and north Sudan. We’ve been trying to keep an eye on them.”  “It’s not cheap but we’re doing something governments can’t do because that would be called spying.”

“I kept asking why can you Google my house, and not Google war criminal’s homes. It seems like these guys should be afforded the same amount of celebrity as I am. That seemed fair.”

Clooney was just one bright spark in a firmament of stars that descended upon the harbour city yesterday, including homemaker turned tycoon Martha Stewart, webpreneurs Jeff Taylor and Michael Fertik, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and music industry entrepreneur, Russell Simmons.

Publicity Queen was proud to support the event, and to continue their collaboration with The Growth Faculty, who continue to do great work in bringing to Australia the very latest thinking in innovation, entrepreneurship and business knowledge.  The next must-see event to mark in the diary is the National Growth Summit scheduled for 14-15 March 2012, that will feature an all-star lineup of business thought leaders including:

• Jim Collins, author of best-selling business management book – Good to Great and lecturer on the subject of company sustainability and growth;
• Fred Reichheld, business author and business strategist best known for his research and writing on the loyalty business model and Loyalty Marketing;
• Lucy Cornell, Designated Linklater Voice Coach, Master of Applied Science in Voice Research;
• Halley Bock, President and CEO, Fierce Inc – a leadership development and training company that drives results for business and education by developing conversation as a skill;
• Jack Daly, expert and world leader in sales management with 20 years of proven field experience, and
• Verne Harnish, aka the “Growth Guy” – CEO of Gazelles, Inc and of Young Entrepreneurs Organization (YEO), author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Fast Growth Firm.

To find out more about the National Growth Summit click here  I’ll be there, and I hope to see you too!

Yours in PR

I think what happens sometimes it that politeness gets in the way of clarity.  The absolute worst offenders in this game of manners are the British.  They are the undisputed championsof the understatement.  You could imagine asking the Queen how her recent visit to Australia went.  “Did many people come out to see you, Your Majesty?”, “Oh yes, I did see a few here and there,” she might reply in a self-deprecating way.  Translation: “Didn’t you see, there were thousands and thousands!  I was well chuffed.”

Contrast this with our American friends who commit the ‘hooray for everything’ crime of overstating the case and are the worst offenders in the use of corporate goobledigook, particularly when it comes to business and sales.  “Buy now at this once in a lifetime, never to be repeated offer that will totally change life on this planet as we know it.”  Well, perhaps but not quite.

And so it is that there is a new list of English translations of expressions used by British people that explain, what people say, and then contrast this with first what they actually mean, and then finally, what the listener might have misunderstood them to have meant in the first place.

For example:

British person says: “I only have a few minor comments”
What they actually mean: “Please re-write completely”
What the non-British person understands: “He/She has found a few typos.”

It would be fascinating to develop a similar matrix for what Australians say and what others understand.  For example:

Non Australian asks: “Did you enjoy the Christmas party this year?”
What an Australian says: “Not half!”
What an Australian means: “It was great, thanks for asking”
What the non-Australian understands: “Hmmm… not sure…?”

This exercise is a pertinent reminder for all of us to go boldly into the bravery-filled world of clear speech.  To read the article in full, complete with hilarious misunderstandings of Brit-speak click here

Please feel free to share with us your communication and mis-communication corkers.

Yours in PR