Communicating with Diverse Audiences

Know your audience.

It's a basic principle in public relations, but it can be interpreted and applied in so many ways.

At Thursday's Puget Sound PRSA Program on Communications and Diversity, our panel discussed understanding and overcoming social, cultural and language barriers to effectively and efficiently deliver messages.

The one piece of advice they all shared: Know your audience-- really KNOW your audience.

• Read the ethnic or specialty publications you're pitching if you can.
• Build a relationship with those publications by, not only sending news releases and pitching, but by purchasing ads when your budget allows.
• Get to know who the community views as leaders. Don't just look to the five or six mainstream ethnic leaders you hear about in the media all the time.
• Recognize the best ways to gain entry into a community. If you haven't built a relationship with a community, partner with groups the community trusts for your initial entry.
• Really take time to build relationships. Don't just pop in and out of a community when they have something you need.
• Work with public affairs specialists who know the community and can help you communicate effectively with them.
• Make a long-term commitment to building new relationships. If your budget only allows you to translate a news release or two, work to increase efforts in the future. It makes no sense to reach out to a non-English speaking community with one news release in their language then have no one available to answer questions if they try to follow up with your organization.

Thanks to:

• Panelist Vivian Phillips, (pictured above right), owner of her own PR and publicity consulting firm, Family Business, and recipient of awards for her dedication to community service and work toward racial harmony.
• Panelist Tim Wang (pictured above center), founder and principal of T.D. Wang Advertising Group, LLC., a full-service marketing and advertising agency focused on assisting companies and organizations targeting the Asian and Asian-American populations of the Puget Sound region.
• Panelist Rebecca Sears (pictured above left), who coordinates statewide consumer outreach and education efforts for Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna’s office.
• Panelist Michael Marchand, the director of public affairs for The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), representing Region 10 (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington) from the Seattle office.
• Puget Sound PRSA President David Blandford, with Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau, who moderated the program.
• Puget Sound PRSA Vice President of Programs, Tara Darrow, with Starbucks, who pulled together this excellent panel.
• The Seattle Times for providing an excellent venue.

Share examples of your best practices in our comments section!

Is Main Stream Media Suffering an Identity Crisis?

For those that know me, you know I am a big fan of community supported media. NPR, the News Hour with Jim Lehrer and of course Front Line are all great outlets to get some balance when on a steady mainstream media news diet like I know we all are. I am really excited to point out a series that starts that starts tonight on Front Line called, News War. Go check out the series on the Web; it is a great site and they integrate many new media tools to get viewers interacting with the content and connecting with other viewers. PBS does a great job of virtualizing their content and that is another area I am passionate about; but that is a topic for a future blog post. :)

So back to the News War.

What is wrong with the mainstream media? And to be fair, what happened to the promise of citizen journalism? So far it seems the explosion of blogs has done less to enable access to the truth and more to blow up sensational coverage of celebrities and voyeuristic mainstream news coverage. Off the top of my head TMZ.com, The Defamer and such come to mind. They have also had huge impact in political realm as we are all well aware. John Stewart weighs in as only he can - and what does it say about us that programs making fun of the news or news pundits are becoming some of the most popular shows on TV?

The four part series will investigate how federal prosecution has chilled investigative reporting, how the business of news today has changed in competition for eyeballs with new mediums and information vehicles cropping up every week. It will also look at the blogger movement and how the user’s appetite and preference for consuming information is changing.

Why does this matter to us? In large part becuase our reputation as a profession is forever linked to the reputation of the media, and vice versa. Often the relationship between PR and media is contensious but our individual desitinys are closely tied to each others success.

I hope you take the time to watch the Front Line series starting tonight and come back to this blog to weigh in.

Is it truth or hype? Are public relations tactics, like astro turfing, just as bad as 24 hour coverage of Anna Nicole Smith and the astronaut gone bad?

Perhaps once the series is complete we can get a group together for a showing? Maybe mix a cocktail hour with a showing of News War then have a discussion as a group on the implications for our profession? Post a comment and let me know what you think!

-Brian

Into 2007

As the president of a boutique communications firm, I spend a good amount of time absorbing information and trends then sharing the informaiton with my publics. What's my process? I read voraciously (current reading an awesome book on hospitality and customer service), surf the Web, talk (and talk), listen to music, watch TV, go to movies, engage in discussions, volunteer, eat lunch, day dream and brainstorm ideas with my team. I also talk to my husband and our two sons. My seven year old is passionate about the computer while my youngest can clearly tell when music is dance-worthy. I'm really interested in Second Life, My Space, YouTube, and Facebook, and am currently in-love with Danny Meyer's book on the finer points of hospitality. And, have you seen that peanut butter and jelly video craze? If not, check it out as an example of social media. Another resource that I use is the PR Tactics newspaper from PRSA. I really like what Rhoda Weiss, APR (2007 PRSA Chair) has to say about the profession. She speaks about how PR professionals are so much more than publicity machines. She again validates the growth in the profession. She reiteraties how we are tapped for our strategic thinking, problem solving, crisis prowness, stakeholder relationships, and communications leadership.

Erika

New hires and interns--Unrealistic expectations?

Thanks again to our host, Tim Smith at Wagg-Ed, and our guests, Professors Erica Austin and Bruce Pinkleton from the WSU Murrow School of Communication for all the great discussion last Friday.

Friday's debate over the popularity of public relations as a major and the increasing competitiveness for certification at the WSU School of Communications morphed into a discussion about the quality of public relations interns and new graduates from Washington state universities in general.

One high-profile forum participant, owner of a premiere local PR firm, said he prefers new hires from East Coast for their motivation and competitive nature.

Other participants voiced frustration at the amount of time spent educating and training new hires who seem to lack the initiative to "figure out the answer on their own" or even to proofread their work before submitting it for review by their superior.

Can you teach initiative, confidence, responsibility and innovation?

Is it fair to expect PR programs to do this?

Are these things as important as strong writing skills, solid research capabilities and the ability to conduct a strategic communications campaign?

As hiring professionals, what do we want our universities to teach? What's our top priority?

Is it the University's responsibility to teach students a work ethic and professionalism or do the PR professionals who hire these interns play a role?

Is it unrealistic to expect interns or students right out of college to be ready to enter the workplace without significant coaching and guidance from their new employers? Are we willing to mentor these young professionals?

What were we like as interns and/or new graduates? Have we forgotten what it was like to be just starting out?

What do you think?

So you want to work in PR?

The PRSA Puget Sound introduced its new "Issues Forum" for senior practitioners with a lively discussion about public relations education at Washington State University's Edward R. Murrow School of Communication.

Featuring special guests, Professor Erica Austin, interim director of the School of Communication, and Professor Bruce Pinkleton, who teaches 300- to 500-level public relations classes, this first issues forum, hosted by Tim Smith at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide in Bellevue, sparked a series of spirited conversations.

Those of us who love our jobs can understand why public relations is one of the most highly sought majors at WSU. In fact, communications is among the most popular majors at WSU and the 7th most popular major nationwide.

Nearly 600 students were enrolled in communications at WSU in 2005 with a combined GPA of 3.0- the highest in the history of Murrow School certification. As the competition rises, more and more students are turned away. Is this a problem?

If so many students come to WSU to major in public relations that the Murrow School is regularly turning away large numbers of students, should the University increase resources in this area to allow more students into the program? Or is it a good thing that the minimum requirements to certify continue to rise as the competition increases?

Getting Socially Involved

A member survey in 2006 shared that professional development and networking (can we say social!) were top member value. We pulled off both, and had an amazing number of well-received casual events where PR professionals could engage and meet each other. More to come in 2007!

International Conference in 2006

The chapter hosted a gathering for students at the PRSA International Conference in Salt Lake City in 2006. Central Washington University students were there in full force. Details about the conference themes, speakers and content (including an overview of Tavis Smiley's key note), go to www.prsa.org.

Definition of PR

Here's how Scott M. Cutlip, Allen H. Center and Glen M. Broom defined PR in "Effective Public Relations" back in 1978. Does this definition still apply? This book has been reprinted mulitple times with the same defintion. Should we re-examine it? What definition do you stand by?

"Public relations is a management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success or failure depends."

The Cost of Spin? Your credibility, Your Career

September is Ethics Month for PRSA-- but every day is ethics day for PRSA members who hold themselves to a strict code of ethics. This month, in honor of Ethics Month, the Puget Sound Chapter assembled an all-star cast of top-level media and public relations professionals to discuss how ethics impact credibility and ultimately, your career.

What? You missed it?

You're in luck...This hour-long program, hosted by the generous folks at KOMO 4 Studios and filmed on the set of NW Afternoon, will air on TVW on Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. then periodically throughout fall. After that, the program will be available on-demand via the TVW Web site.

This robust discussion was just warming up when our hour ran out. So, as promised, we're moving the discussion to our Blog. Watch over the next few days as we throw out some of the thought-provoking questions we discussed Tuesday.

Special thanks to John Hamer from the Washington News Council for moderating this debate and for driving the discussion with some hard-hitting questions designed to make us all take a hard look at our values as professionals.

First question: What's the definition of spin? And is it a bad thing? We'll introduce you to the panelists and share some of their answers soon!

400 In and Around Seattle

The PRSA Puget Sound chapter blog is the site for conversation about the PR community. Today, there are over 400 PR professionals in the Seattle-Tacoma-Everett-Bellevue-Olympia-Bremerton markets that serve in the role of PR practioner. The chapter represents a diverse set of interests and ideas about PR and includes members from agencies, corporations, government offices, non-profits and many more types of organizations. We are interested in inspiring discussion about the practice of public relations, as well as defining this ever-changing communications art form. Not always do we agree, but we are unified that transparency and information sharing is critical and necessary. As a community, we are focused on supporting each others' business needs and fine-tuning our strategic and tactical capacity through professional development. And, with almost 400 members, that is a lot of sharing!

Erika Schmidt, APR - eschmidt@frause.com
PRSA Puget Sound Chapter President - 2006