Posts Tagged ‘Indianapolis public relations’

By Tim Coulon, Vice President Creative, Coles Marketing Communications

When it comes to shooting photos for business purposes, pictures often really are worth a thousand words. But based on the quality of photographs encountered in newsletters, brochures and even advertisements, many companies are speaking to their customers in tongues.

Professional photographers produce the finest pictures, but there isn’t always the time and budget to hire one. Point-and-shoot cameras can often fill the void for simple day-to-day business purposes, and more people are carrying smartphones that can take high-resolution photos.

The problem is the business people wielding these cameras make many common mistakes, resulting in pictures that are out of focus, badly composed or over-exposed by flash. Fortunately, most of these issues can be corrected with the following advice, plus a little bit of practice!

• Don’t be afraid of retakes. The great thing about digital cameras is there’s no film to waste. The first picture you take probably isn’t the best one. Take four or five photos, and weed through them on your computer for the best one.
• Always shoot on your camera’s highest resolution setting. You can decide later to shrink a photo down, but you can’t improve a low-res picture once it’s taken.
• Don’t take the name “point-and-shoot” too literally! Many people assume wherever they happen to be standing is the best place to take a picture. Walk around your subject, looking for the best angle and lighting.
• Avoid leaving too much space around what you’re shooting. Move in or zoom in until you’re framed fairly tightly around your subject.
• Watch out for distracting objects or people in the background. You don’t want to take a portrait of your CEO with an “Exit” sign right over his/her head!
• Excess motion can result in blurry or bad photos. Anchor your body when you’re ready to shoot. Press the shutter button smoothly — don’t stab or jerk the camera. It might even be a good idea to hold your breath.
• Avoid shooting a person straight on, looking directly into the camera. They will look stiff and uncomfortable. Have them turn their body at a slight angle and swivel their head toward the camera for a more natural, candid look.
• You can even have your portrait subject looking away from the camera. If you do this, frame them slightly off-center and include more of the area in the direction they’re looking. This “look space” effect results in great environmental portraits.
• Don’t stand someone up against a wall to take their picture. It will resemble a police mug shot and create a shadow halo around their head.
• Use your point-and-shoot’s autofocus function wisely. Most digital cameras allow you to press the shutter button halfway to set the focus. You can then move the camera around to change or improve the composition. Aim first at what you want to be in focus, press the button halfway to lock it in, and move around until you like what you see. Then press the shutter the rest of the way to take the shot.
• Focusing with a smartphone camera is a little different. On most smartphones, you can tap the screen on the object you want to focus on. Then press the shutter button to take the picture. Otherwise it will just focus on whatever is in the center of your screen.
• Smartphone cameras have a wider aspect ratio than regular cameras, resulting in a long, skinny image. Avoid holding the phone upright while taking a picture, unless you’re photographing something tall like a building or a basketball player.
• Your camera’s flash function is best when used about five or six feet away from your subject. If you’re too close, they’ll be blasted with light and washed out. If they’re more than 10 feet away, the flash won’t reach them. Try to use natural light whenever possible.
• If you’re photographing outdoors, bright sunny days aren’t the best choice. Shoot on an overcast day or in the shade for the best effects.

Looking for experts behind the lens? Check out what photography services Coles has to offer!

Yet again, CareerCast has listed PR as one of “The 10 Most Stressful Jobs of 2012.” Are you surprised? Ahead of PR were enlisted soldier, firefighter, airline pilot, military general and

police officer — and rightly so. So why are public relations and marketing professionals so stressed out? This article from PRNewser boiled it down to the top five reasons:

1. Clients. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. From “unrealistic expectations” to limited budgets, respondents talked about how difficult some clients can be to work with. Based on our unscientific observation, this was the number one reason for the industry’s tension.

2. Constant change. Media changes never stop. And technology always has something new to offer. But there’s more to it than that.

“’Doing’ PR is stressful because: You’re working toward a creative vision that changes as it develops,” @Vivacions told us on Twitter. On top of that, there’s a ton of multitasking to be done.

“PR is so stressful because you often have to have a hundred different balls in the air at one time, and you have to be able to make that look effortless to your clients. Demands and expectations are high, budgets are often low, and dealing with the media can be challenging and draining!” wrote Erin Nevicosi in our comments section.

3. Because that’s the way relationships are. @AmyPR tweets, “…it’s based on relationships with people, and everyone is so different & [you] have to manage emotions.”

Commenter Heidi Groshelle says it’s also the number of relationships. “We are managing multiple relationships: Media, Analysts, Clients, Our Team, Advisors.”

4. PR personalities. “Cuz we touch everything. And we’re Type A control freaks,” @JennPet told us, an attribute that we’ve actually heard before.

“The type of personality required to make a great PR pro wants to please everyone from the client>media>customer,” said @MeganePR.

5. Lack of research. Frank Walton makes a case in the comments for the need for more data about outcomes.

“PR people know the principles of the practice and have past experience to draw on and (often) good intuitions. But we have just about no evidence, no data to predict the outcome of a PR tactic or strategy,” he writes.

Other stressful careers that made the top 10? Event coordinator, corporate executive, photojournalist and … taxi driver. And check out what stress factors were measured to create the top 10 list.

You’re sitting at your desk, viewing a website for your favorite brand. Just then, you have to run an errand where you’ll be sitting in a waiting room, and you want to view that same website on your mobile phone … but, can you? It all depends on the website.

With our on-the-go society, it’s a safe bet that many people not only have a desktop computer or a laptop but also have access to the Internet through an iPad or tablet device as well as some variety of smartphone. With all these devices and the constant desire for information, it is becoming more popular — and sometimes essential — to create a website that can be easily viewed on all devices.

“Having different versions of the same website makes it easier for the user to navigate the content no matter which device they are using,” says Kevin Moore, our multimedia designer here at Coles Marketing. “Without having different versions available, the user is limited in being able to view all content, such as video and images.”

For one of our clients, Dealer Services Corporation, Kevin has designed three different versions of their DSC Unplugged site — for the desktop, iPad and the mobile device. Certain content has to be designed specifically for each of those three versions. For example, the main difference between the desktop and the iPad version of DSC Unplugged is in places where Flash is used on the main site, still images are used on the iPad version because it doesn’t support Flash. And the mobile site is a significantly sized-down version of the main site, highlighting the core content from the site with little or light use of images.

What’s the best part? The site will detect which kind of device you are using and automatically take you to the particular version you need for the best view. I even tried it on my trusty BlackBerry, and sure enough, after typing in the main website address it took me straight to the mobile version of the site.

And with all the new devices and upgrades of older devices appearing at a quickening pace, it becomes a must to start considering the use of different versions of your brand’s website. Otherwise, you may not be reaching all possible consumers who are grabbing their phone or tablet and going on their way — without seeing your website. Need help with retooling your website and making it tablet and mobile-friendly? Let us know!

Good manners=
“Say please and thank you.”
“It’s not nice to stare.”
“Keep your elbows off the table.”
“Don’t speak unless you’re spoken to.”

These might be some of the things you heard from parents and grandparents as you were growing up. Manners and courtesies seem to change as society evolves, but the basics remain the same. And how would those common courtesies apply to today’s world of social media?

Check out “10 things your grandmother can teach you about social media” from Eric Fulwiler.

1. Mind your manners. Social media is still social. Even though we are interacting in a virtual space, the same traditional social rules, laws and faux pas still apply. If you act like a jerk, don’t expect many friends.
2. Tuck in your shirt. How you present yourself is just as important in the virtual world as it is in the real world. Make sure you are always aware of how you appear to others.
3. Send a thank you card. People still appreciate being appreciated. It really doesn’t take much to convert an acquaintance to a friend, which will offer exponentially more value. A simple thank you or any genuinely human interaction of gratitude goes a long way towards this goal.
4. Keep your elbows off the table. Acting respectfully in front of others proves that you value them, which will usually make them value you more. And in social media, it’s all about value.
5. Turn your music down. Don’t contribute to the noise. Listen to whatever you want in your own personal space, but when your personal preferences start to become a distraction to others, people will tune you out.
6. Finish what you started. Any way you look at it, engagement is a commitment. When you make an effort to become part of a community, it’s not only up to you when or how often you interact with other members. If you put yourself out there as a friend, be prepared to be there when people reach out to you.
7. Finish your vegetables. There are some aspects of social media that aren’t sexy. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t important to your growth and health. Make sure you are keeping up with the essentials and not just chasing that buzz you get from a social sugar high.
8. Whatever happened to a good old fashioned…? Sometimes all these new gadgets and thing-a-ma-bobs aren’t as important or effective as we make them out to be. Sometimes a good old-fashioned email, phone call, or even in-person “get-together” can accomplish things that social media can’t.
9. A man is only as good as his word. The currency of social media is trust (or social capital). And if people can’t trust you, you have no value to them.
10. Think twice before you speak. You can always say something, but you can never take it back. Especially in social media where everything you say can be heard by anyone, forever, there are just too many “finites” to not reconsider everything you say before you say it.

Let Grandma’s old-fashioned advice help you, and in return, you can help her tweet.

Politics and sports – Two things I try not to pay too much attention to and certainly try not to get into discussions about, probably because I’m not too knowledgeable about either subject. But unless I totally cut off all my exposure to the news of the world – which sometimes I try to do – there’s no way I was able to miss two of the biggest stories capturing the public’s attention, involving two men: Herman Cain and Joe Paterno.

Herman Cain – a Republican presidential hopeful
Joe Paterno – one of the most well-known and respected football coaches in college history

And what scandal topic are they both involved in? Sexual misconduct.

I read a very interesting article by Aaron Perlut regarding the commonalities between the two scenarios, especially highlighting the crisis communication issues with each.

“Joe Paterno will soon be followed by Herman Cain into retirement, one due to his action, and one due to inaction. And while each case obviously veers well beyond just communications planning, it was a lack thereof that catapulted them to a level that could have been avoided and greatly limited the damage.”

A well-thought-out communication plan is a MUST – for any organization, company or celebrity/public figure. As we have so clearly seen in both cases, scandals – and the poor communication surrounding them – led to two high-profile demises.

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.”

Brent Keller, group manager for the Indianapolis Home Show, is pleased to announce that 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.

“We are so excited to be invited back to showcase at the Indianapolis Home Show. We are planning something really special this year with the home and merchandising,” said Brian Fannin, Director of Marketing for Fischer Homes. “The design elements will translate from the outside to inside the home. We believe it will be especially memorable. We hope to hear lots of ‘WOW’ as guests tour the home. We think ‘chic’ and ‘farmhouse’ will have fresh meanings after seeing this home.”

Since 1980, Fischer Homes has been building homes and delivering an exceptional customer experience in neighborhoods throughout Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. In 2009, Fischer Homes brought a fresh new look to Indianapolis with their designs and stylized exteriors. They are now building in more than 20 locations in Carmel, Geist, Fishers, Zionsville, Westfield, Noblesville, Avon, Center Grove and Greenwood. The company doubled its sales in 2011 and forecasts 100% growth again in 2012. All Indianapolis Fischer Home buyers have indicated they would refer a friend to Fischer Homes.

“Fischer Homes brought a fresh perspective to home building at last year’s Home Show with the Centerpiece Home’s unique features and special interactive opportunities,” Keller said. “We are excited to partner with Fischer Homes again for the 2012 Indianapolis Home Show, and we look forward to what this year’s Centerpiece Home will offer to our attendees.”

“Indianapolis has welcomed Fischer Homes to the city. Our success and customer satisfaction is a public trust that we want to maintain and build upon,” said Tim McMahon, Senior Vice President of Fischer Homes Indianapolis Division. “The Home Show is a wonderful opportunity for Indianapolis to learn about the incredible offerings that Fischer Homes brings to this market.”

The Indianapolis Home Show opens Friday, Jan. 20, and continues through Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Admission is $13 for adults, $3 for children ages 6 to 12 and free for children 5 and younger.

For more information, call 317-705-8719 or visit the Indianapolis Home Show website at http://www.indianapolishomeshow.com/.

Kevin Kennedy Associates, an expert consulting service located in Indianapolis, unveiled the firm’s new campaign ad at the Indianapolis Bar Foundation Golf Tournament at the Hillcrest Country Club. According to Director of Business Development and Legal Affairs Tanya Stohler, who attended the tournament, “Our Experts Got An Early Start,” showcases the Kevin Kennedy Associates’ (KKA) highly qualified scientific and technical experts who have the depth of experience attorneys need in the courtroom or in researching a case.

“Expertise is about more than diplomas, credentials and pedigrees,” said Chief Executive Officer Sharon Kennedy who leads the Indianapolis-based global consulting firm. “It’s about people. It’s about their integrity, their knowledge, and their experience.”

Consultants at KKA are leaders in their industries and disciplines. This valuable combination of knowledge and experience makes them more effective as expert witnesses and enables them to address real-world challenges in process development, failure analysis, forensic investigation, patent infringement, and manufacturing.

“We understand that attorneys prefer to work with experts whom they know or are known to their colleagues. Because we share that preference, we don’t just blindly forward resumes. Our approach is to carefully select the right expert from our proprietary 600-plus network to best match the needs of our clients. Kevin Kennedy put his name and reputation on his business, so we ensure that our experts meet his standards for integrity, quality and excellence for our clients – in advance,” CEO Kennedy added.

Indianapolis-based Coles Marketing Communications was selected to develop the new campaign. Business owner and President Barbara Coles leads a team of professionals who provide expertise in public relations, creative, word of mouth and videography for clients who come from a diverse array of industries from real estate to technology to legal.

One common question among friends, colleagues and potential clients is "what do you do?" You would think it's an easy answer, and in some cases it is. For instance, "I am a plumber" or "I am an electrician" are pretty self explanatory.  But, what about "I am in marketing" or "I am in marketing communications"?  It's sometimes hard to boil our type of business down to one or two sentences. In 1985, Coles Marketing started out as a public relations firm.  As growth occurred and client requests changed, we adapted and grew. Along the way, we added media buying services and a creative department. Recently, I ran across a term that will give you a better understanding of how our business has changed in recent years.

A definition of content marketing is below from Wikipedia.

"Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential consumer bases. Content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action. Content marketing has benefits in terms of retaining reader attention and improving brand loyalty."

Wikipedia continues with the following information.

"Many content marketers choose to create new information and share it via any and all media. Content marketing products frequently take the form of custom magazines, print or online newsletters, digital content, websites or microsites, white papers, webcasts/webinars, podcasts, video portals or series, in-person roadshows, roundtables, interactive online, email, events."

So while we maintain our roots as a traditional public relations and advertising firm, gaining credibility and reach for our clients.  We also realize the importance of maintaining and/or retaining brand loyalty. At Coles Marketing, we continue to stay on top of the latest marketing trends and adapt and grow with our clients. And in this ever adapting world, we don't mind adding a couple more sentences to our "what we do" explanation.

As a public relations professional, I send several news releases a week; and I always wonder — Will my news be used? Will the release make it into the hands of the right writer? Will the news be interesting enough to our local television producers to make air? Or does the release fly out into the news release abyss and never return?

Kevin Allen has an article highlighting some of the top reasons a reporter will delete your press release. According to Allen, here are a few ways to guarantee that a reporter will absolutely not read your press release, or discard it quickly:

• Send it to their personal email. You don’t want to be bothered at home and neither do reporters. Sending them messages through their personal account is like calling their home phone or knocking on their front door. It’s intrusive and annoying — don’t do it. (Unless, of course, the reporter has instructed you to contact him in this manner; then by all means do it.)
• Include the phrase ‘For Immediate Release.’ [which I do! Uh oh!] I delete any messages that have the phrase “For Immediate Release,” because I’ve simply never read a good press release that includes it. If you disagree with this, by all means, let me know — just don’t use my personal email.
• Fail to personalize it. If you don’t want a reporter to read your press release, just send the text of the release as the body of the email. At the very least, PR pros should acknowledge that they know the reporter’s name and his or her work and that they sent the press release because they had read the journalist’s stuff and know what he or she covers.
• Include a ton of copy and don’t hyperlink. I’ve seen several press releases that, instead of having hyperlinked phrases, include full, clunky URLs. This makes you look as though you don’t know what you’re doing and that you have trouble using email. Also, good pitches needn’t take up a full page. Pare it to the essentials, and I’ll know right away whether it’s something I would cover. Don’t make me read through a bunch of boilerplate nonsense before I get to your point.
• Include a typo. As soon as I come across a typo in a press release, I discard it. End of story. If you can’t bother to spell-check or proofread your pitch, how can I assume you’ll get the facts straight?

I’m sure there are countless more tips on how to attract — and annoy — today’s reporter, producer or other intended audience with your news release. But, with so much information out there to gather and absorb, you might as well start making some changes to make sure your release gets released.