IMC Intuition

PR Daily, published by Ragan Communications,  ran a great story today of how Bemis Manufacturing handled a potential PR nightmare by responding to a negative blog post with seamless customer service quickly and effectively creating a positive outcome for everyone involved — another gold star for honesty and transparency.

Read the story:  http://directions4success.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/negative-blog-spurs-positive-outcome/

Ragan’s PR Daily is my must-read-every-morning favorite that covers PR and social media – check it out:  PR Daily: Top stories from around the web.

A sponsor of this year’s Heritage Region Conference is Dulye & Co., an employee communications consulting firm. Learning about Linda’s Spectator Free Workplace™ concept was a good reminder of why employees are a key component of any Integrated Marketing Communications program – every employee is a brand ambassador.

One strategic tool in employee engagement is the ubiquitous Town Hall Meeting where the President and/or CEO of a company meets with all of the employees typically for a state-of-the-company presentation. Frequently, these meeting fail to achieve the goal of increasing employee engagement because the communication is one-way, with the leader pontificating, and employees listening in silence.

In her November 2009 newsletter, Linda Dulye invites communicators to attend her webinar, “How to Improve the Productivity of Your Company’s Town Hall Meetings”

http://www.dulye.com/free-webcast-effective-town-hall-meetings

Based on Linda’s conference presentation, I’d say this is a “can’t miss” opportunity to find out about strategies to promote 2-way communications at your next Town Hall Meeting. In fact,  Linda has blogged some ideas based on President Obama’s Virtual Town Hall Meeting concept:

http://www.dulye.com/follow-president%E2%80%99s-path-and-make-your-town-halls-2-way

Employees are our most important stakeholders, treat them with dignity and respect and they will enhance your brand as your front-line customer service representatives.

Dulye & Co., http://dulye.com/blog

Conference Day 3 —  It just keeps getting better

Tactical Transparency:  We opened the day with author Shel Holtz who shared his research and conclusions from his new book (currently on my Amazon Wish List), “Tactical Transparency.”  Transparency is the new reality in the web 2.0 world, yet business has delayed changing their strategies to take advantage of the benefits of transparency, because the concept is frequently misunderstood.  

Transparency is a requirement, because there are no secrets anymore.  Today, employees are the front line of PR.  Transparency is not full disclosure, there are many topics that should never be discussed in public, however, there are more issues that need to be addressed in open and honest conversations.

 Here are three among many great examples of tactical transparency:

• Paul Levy, “Running A Hospital”:   http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/
• Bill Marriott, “Marriott on the Move”:  http://www.blogs.marriott.com/
• “Nuts About Southwest”: http://www.blogsouthwest.com/

Get the book:  http://tinyurl.com/ShelHoltz

Writing for the Web:  I have been writing for the web since 1995, but I picked up a lot of tips for better copy and layout in Samantha Enslen’s Writing for the Web: Secrets, Shortcuts and Strategies.  Keyword:  Streamline

Preparing Messages for Information Overload Environments was presented by Julie Freeman, IABC President.  This presentation was a report on an IABC Foundation Research Study.  Information overload is defined as “A state where more information actually reduces your reasoning and decision-making.”  How well I know that!  The research provides 6 principles communicators can use to improve messaging effectiveness.

Link to study (free for IABC members, $99 value):  http://iabcstore.com/IABCRFRpts/overload.htm

Staying The Course While Running on Empty:  Mark M. Crowley, Director for Internal Communications at Sherwin Williams wrapped up the conference with his communications strategy for Sherwin-Williams, a company deeply affected by the slowdown in the automotive market.  He shared how he gets things done despite budget cuts and logistical nightmares communicating Sherwin-Williams global employees in multiple plants – we all left the lunch with new ideas on how to reach out more effectively to our employee audience.

After Mark, it was back to PA.  It is always such a great feeling to get to listen to and network with the best professionals in the industry.  My thanks to the Heritage Region and Cleveland Chapter  for the privilege of attending the Heritage Region Conference through their Member-At-Large Scholarship fund.  

I’m looking forward to our 2010 event in Philadelphia, PA!

IABC Heritage Region:  http://www.iabcheritageregion.com/

Day 2 of the IABC Heritage Region Conference started out with a presentation by Bob DiBiasio, PR chief for the Cleveland Indians.  My initial thought was yea, right, he’s pitching sports entertainment, I’m in  B-to-B industrial…well, after 30+ years in the business, Bob shared a lot of information that was pertinent for any PR practitioner.  He generously shared the key components to their 2010 business plan:  http://www.iabcheritageregion.com/conference2009/Presentations/Dibasio%20Presentation.pdf. 

An engaging speaker, he really warmed up the room when he said, “We all work for our websites.”  Isn’t that the truth?   He quipped that PR really means “Planning Right” or “Promoting Relationships.”

I attended an employee communication workshop with David Pitre that was just outstanding.  Here is a small piece of the research he shared with us:  “When we ask employees in surveys and focus groups, ‘What’s the one thing you would change about employee communication?’ they responded:

• Increase honesty, transparency and clarity
• Hold more meeting or face-to-face sessions
• Increase relevance
• Increase timeliness
• Streamline communication

 I have many notes to myself to take back to work!

 Gerard Braund entertained us at lunch with his talk, “When Social Media & Crisis Communication Collide:  When ‘it’ hits the fan.”  This was a light hearted journey through a very serious topic.  I had the pleasure of eating with Gerard at the Dine-Around and he shared his journey of developing this system over his past 20 years as a journalist and PR professional.  He has great tools in place that any organization can benefit from.

I was honored to introduce Dan Droz for “Strike Up The B.R.A.N.D.”  Dan is an animated speaker who took us on a journey understanding what great brands are and how they are built.  Here are his 5 attributes of iconic brands:

•  Backstory
• Relevance
• Archetypes
• Nomenclature
• Design

 We left with an additional CD, “7 Simple Principles of Marketing Leverage.”  All good stuff as I return to work and begin my 2010 communications plan.

I wrapped up the day with 13 Axioms for Surviving Interesting Times with Dr. Tamara Gillis, where she shared some of her latest research for a new IABC publication.  Stayed tuned for more information.

Like all IABC conferences, you really work from morning until evening and get an enormous amount of ideas for both your workplace and your career.  Where else can you get professional development in all areas of corporate communications in one day?

Looking forward to Day 3. 

Heritage Region Conference website, http://www.iabcheritageregion.com/conference2009/index.asp

I attended a Fleishman Hilliard workshop on Innovation as part of our IABC heritage Region leadership forum where presenter Kathie Thomas showed this quotation on brainstorming from ad man Alex Osborne:

“It is easier to tame down a wild idea…than to come up with a new one.”

More from my notes:

“Innovation without methodology is luck.”

“There is no innovation without leadership.”

 “Innovation begins with discovering an untapped need.”

 She went on to share an interesting concept on Creativity, by stating there are 2 Phases and 1 Rule:

 Phase 1—Diverge, the search for ideas

Phase 2 – Converge, where each idea is weighed

Here’s the Rule – Keep the two phases separate! They use separate sides of the brain.

 “Creativity is not linear.”

She used the example of the brainstorming sessions that start out great while everyone is diverging, then someone starts converging before phase one is over and it kills the whole brainstorming session and everyone leaves feeling like they wasted their time.

Been there, done that. 

Speaking of taming wild ideas, the keynote speaker at our evening reception, Terry Stewart, CEO of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, shared the history of the museum and the work that they do. 

The Silver Quill awards ceremony followed Terry, highlighting some of the many outstanding communication campaigns in our Regions – you really have to be here to see the work — it’s always an inspiration.

We ended up rocking with a group of young people made famous on You Tube – Recent ?- I probably didn’t spell that right – I’ll have to edit my post!  Day 2, its Recess!

Day 1 of the 2009 IABC Heritage Region Conference was a good day in Cleveland!

 Sunday, 5 AM. My interest is a holistic approach to communications, called integrated marketing communications (IMC), and most organizations only address a single aspect of the art.

The Ad federation covers advertising, PRSA is focused on PR, E-Marketing addresses all things internet – IABC offers professional development in all of those disciplines. Living in a rural area, regional and international conferences give me the opportunity to network with the world’s best communicators and set the bar higher for my own work.

IABC covers all the bases.  My roommate told me on the way out that I’ll feel really important when I get back — The truth is, I will be totally humbled, exhausted and really glad I went:-)