Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Did the first 22 signs make you smile? Laugh? Sigh? Shake your head?

[PR Daily published a story this year from PR professional Lauren Fernandez on the 11 signs that someone works in public relations. (The story originally appeared on Fernandez’s blog.) The article unleashed a flood of comments that PR Daily compiled into a second story (“42 more signs you work in PR“).]

Here are the rest of the signs. (You know some of these – okay, MANY of these – describe you.)

23. You engage in weekly conversations with your clients that start with, “Why weren’t we included in this WSJ article?”

24. You’ve heard all the lines about sleep: “Sleep is overrated.” “You can sleep all you want when you die.” “Do you ever sleep?”

25. You start your day by digging out of client and competitor alerts and checking email, all before you’re out of bed.

26. You check HootSuite in the morning before you get out of bed just to monitor what has been said about your clients overnight.

27. Every Friday around 5:00 p.m. you think, “This could be crisis time!” (And sometimes even look forward to a good one.)

28. You know what time it is anywhere in the world and every country’s phone code, all without having to look at a reference guide.

29. You’re afraid to go more than 15 minutes (max) without checking Twitter/Facebook/news feeds to make sure you’re not missing anything.

30. You rely on to-do lists (yes, plural) to get you through your day, but often don’t get to cross anything off until 4 p.m. (after managing a few surprise crises).

31. You wake from a dream in the middle of the night, rolling over to grab the pen and paper you keep on your nightstand to jot it down so you won’t forget an idea for yet another crazy PR stunt. Work on the mind during the day and work on the mind while you sleep!

32. You can’t look at or listen to any form of media without thinking, “My client should be on/in that.”

33. My iPhone is my girlfriend. My MacBook Pro, my best friend.

34. You’re the only person groaning out loud when reading the paper on the bus. How were we not included?

35. You check your smartphone before brushing your teeth.

36. People have asked you if you sleep in your office and you’ve actually thought about where you’d put the sleeping bag … if it ever got to that.

37. Checking of smartphones and news becomes an everyday routine before bedtime and in the mornings.

38. You read/hear about a company’s crisis and instantly think, “I wonder who their AOR is.”

39. You have one copy of the AP Stylebook at work, one at home, one on your Kindle and the app on your phone.

40. At cocktail parties, you speak in quotable sound bites.

41. You never plan meetings on Fridays afternoons or make personal plans on Friday evenings. You know that “the call” is coming at 4:45 p.m., and everything will need to be dropped anyway.

42. You actually take surveys. It’s good client karma, right?

43. You think and speak in 140 characters or less.

44. You call taking any photo a “Photo-op.”

45. Post-it notes are your lifeblood.

46. You almost die if your BlackBerry is sent for servicing!

47. Your friends think you’re crazy for your undeniable attachment to your social networks.

48. Client’s products are decorations on your desk.

49. You eat every meal at the office and have a shelf dedicated to your favorite snacks, most of which include some kind of protein or snack bar.

50. You work out at 4:00 a.m.

51. You watch televised press conferences for fun and to steal really good talking points.

52. Your morning consists of simultaneously pitching different campaigns, for different clients, across different media markets, and often, in different languages.

53. Something really bad happens and you’re the first to announce, “We don’t have problems; we have opportunities.”

PR Daily published a story this year from PR professional Lauren Fernandez on the 11 signs that someone works in public relations. (The story originally appeared on Fernandez’s blog.) The article unleashed a flood of comments that PR Daily compiled into a second story (“42 more signs you work in PR“).

Here are the first 22 signs – How many can you relate to? (And don’t lie! )

1. Your day starts and ends with a cup of coffee.

2. You can power-walk in 5-inch heels with your laptop bag while checking your BlackBerry.

3. Inside jokes with your colleagues will get you through the day — especially the insanely stressful ones.

4. You constantly engage in “PR is dead” and “the press release doesn’t have a place in business” arguments.

5. You are so used to putting the client first that you usually forget to eat lunch.

6. It’s detrimental to your health and workday when you forget your headphones.

7. You can toggle among a PowerPoint presentation, a press release, Twitter strategy and PSA outlines — all in an hour.

8. You recite billing codes in your sleep.

9. You preface Happy Hour with: “Sorry, I need to keep my phone on the table. I have to be connected to email and phone just in case.”

10. You know more about AP style than Microsoft Office. Because of this, you’re a regular in the IT department.

11. You proudly put “PR pro” in your Twitter bio, knowing it’s the one place you don’t have to explain your job.

12. Your speed-dials connect to the CEO, CFO, CIO, CRO and Arby’s.

13. Your BlackBerry sleeps with you every night. Your better half does not.

14. You no longer count calories — just your re-tweets.

15. You start to rock in your chair when you can’t catch a look at your BlackBerry over dinner.

16. “Relax” time is in the shower when you always seem to come up with the best PR pitches.

17. After your coffee, you spend 20 minutes deleting Google Alerts of clients, competitors and everything in between.

18. Your home number is on your office voicemail “just in case a reporter calls,” and non-PR people regularly express surprise that you’d let it out. You don’t understand why they even think that.

19. The first thing you do when you start your day is “communications triage,” and it often begins at home.

20. Your client wants to be on Oprah. Alternately, you are beyond grateful that this is Oprah’s final season — so you never have to hear a client say they want to be on Oprah again.

21. EVERYTHING in your life — from doing the laundry to playing a round of golf — is recorded in your mind in 15-minute billable increments.

22. You set three alarms to rise at 4 a.m. to make the early morning in-studio segment.

Sound like you? Standby for the remainder of the list – there’s more to come!

Do I matter? Does what I do matter? These are questions that many people probably ask themselves every day, both on a personal and professional level. If you’re working in the world of public relations and marketing, though, you may have reason to doubt the validity of your work, due to phrases such as “the press release is dead” and “PR is dead” being tossed around.

But as Doug Flora says, nothing could be further from the truth. In this article, “10 reasons PR matters,” he lists the following reasons why the importance of effective communications has never been more pronounced than in today’s integrated media environment.

1. In the social universe, messaging is key.
It isn’t enough to engage on social media, or have lots of “likes” and followers. If an organization isn’t communicating its key messages, then the social media effort is a waste of time. That’s where the professional communicators come in.

2. Reputation is a C-level concern.
Reputation is top of mind, even at the executive level, and especially at the biggest companies. We’re even seeing chief reputation officers being appointed. Good reputation management is good PR.

3. Crisis is chronic.
Recent history has shown us how crucial effective crisis management is. And in today’s fast-paced media landscape, an ultra-quick response with finely-tuned messaging is a must.

4. Visibility is a both an art and a science.
The rise of social media and SEO metrics have convinced some that brand visibility is solely a matter of numbers. However, good positioning is also the product of craftsmanship. We can’t forget that the quality and targeting of the message is of paramount importance.

5. Marketing people are not necessarily social media geniuses.
It’s popular to say that social media management is the domain of marketing. But social media is about communities and engagement, and the goal is to achieve earned influence. While PR has some work to do when it comes to mastering social media, it is still the best equipped to leverage the social message.

6. The media is alive and kicking.
The scenery has changed, but the media remains the primary influencer of public opinion. And while PR people have had to grow and adapt to keep up with the media’s new modus operandi, they are still the pros at this.

7. It’s the economy, stupid.
Many organizations, especially smaller ones, are on tighter budgets and don’t have as much to spend as they might like on integrated marketing. PR is the most cost-effective way to communicate to a broad audience. It’s just a matter of convincing this to clients and prospects.

8. Content and context
From blog posts to bylines to webinars to tweets, good content builds the face of the organization. PR should steer that ship because communicators know when, why and how best to send the message. Providing the right context gives content the chance to really flourish.

9. Values make your brand.
Especially in the era of the Global Village, an organization’s values are of utmost important to the public and make up a bigger portion of its brand strength than ever.

10. There is, in fact, a ROI.
But don’t just slap a dollar value on media placements and call it a day. Part of the challenge of communicating ROI is convincing the C-level that PR builds a reservoir of goodwill and that public confidence in a brand is the measure of that goodwill. Quantifying public confidence can be accomplished through a combination of surveys, media tone analysis, traditional ad values and circulation numbers, market penetration, brand buzz, etc.

So, say it with me: “I matter. What I do matters. PR matters.”

I see dead people!!

Why is it the killers and zombies are hanging out in the forest?  Jason of Friday the 13th fame and Brian Coles’ scary movie pick, The Evil Dead to name a couple.  Once again, friends go off to a cabin in the woods where zombies are waiting to eat them! I think I will stay at the hotel thank you very much.

Instead of multiple creepy zombies our final movie pick from Tiffany Whisner is about a super creepy girl crawling out of the TV in The Ring.  Kids are keeling over after watching a mysterious tape!  Glad I threw out my Halloween VHS recently…

Thanks for watching and Happy Halloween everybody!

I don’t like spiders and snakes!

Vance Vaden definitely does not like spiders!  So it’s no surprise that the creepy, crawly film, Arachnaphobia, gives him nightmares.  A large spider from South America hitches a ride in a crate to America and  people in town start disappearing soon after! Watch out Vance!  Spider lurking under your desk!

 

 

Believe it or not, the 2012 Indianapolis Home Show is right around the corner!! Fischer Homes returns to the Home Show as the 2012 Centerpiece Home builder.

Designed and fully-constructed by the Fischer Homes team, the 2012 Centerpiece Home will be built entirely inside Exposition Hall at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Fischer Homes will be showcasing its Stanton floor plan as the Centerpiece Home with a new Craftsman-styled elevation. The home features a two-story gathering room and gourmet eat-in kitchen with a diamond bay window.

So, would you like to get an inside look at the Centerpiece Home — everything from pieces of furniture that will be used to fabrics and bedroom themes? Well, now you can! As a special treat, a new blog will allow consumers to follow Centerpiece Home designer, Joy, and her decisions regarding the interior of the Centerpiece Home as she makes them.

Click here for An Inside Look! And make sure to follow this blog and share with others in the weeks leading up to the 2012 Indianapolis Home Show!  

The Indianapolis Home Show opens Friday, Jan. 20, and continues through Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012.

Today: Home Invaders!

Chris Mercier tells me she saw the movie, Wait Until Dark, when she was twelve.  This movie starring Audrey Hepburn is about a blind woman battling three men who break into her apartment.  Chris said she and her friends kept screaming through the whole movie! EEEEK!

The Strangers is a top pick for Tim Coulon.  This movie with Liv Tyler is about a couple staying at a remote vacation home where they are tormented by three masked strangers.

Be sure to check every corner of your house tonight as you don’t know who might be lurking in there!

 

 

 

 

The two movies on our list today feature a common element:  isolation

Shawn Sorrells is spooked by the movie The Thing, the version by John Carpenter.  He says the isolation and the fact you have nowhere to go and you don’t know who has been taken over by the alien made for suspenseful, scary viewing.

Chris Lloyd apparently won’t be winter  vacationing at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado.  The fictional place where, his pick, The Shining, takes place.  Chris is especially creeped out by the two little girls that beckon little Danny in the hallway.  Redrum indeed!

 

 

 

 

Since Halloween is quickly approaching, I thought it might be fun to share what movies frighten us here at Coles Marketing.

For Barbara Coles, Kevin Moore and myself, no movie makes us shudder more than The Exorcist.  Just the thought of that evil, head-spinning, green vomit spewing posessed little girl will send us out of the room!  In fact, the three of us has only seen the movie one time.  No desire to see it again.  Once was enough.

And, I might add, I HATE pea soup.