“Reality” or Not, Eye-Rolling And Slouching Does Not Make For Good PR
I typically do not watch “reality” soap operas like MTV’s The City. If you miss a couple episodes, you end up out-of-the-loop, and I just don’t have time to “keep up” with the drama to stay entertained. I’ve got better things to do, such as job hunt and write blog posts 
However, I did stuble upon an episode of The City titled “It’s All Who You Know.” I decided to give the show about five minutes and was about to change the channel when I found something interesting– and PR-related– to harp on.
Mind you, the several minutes of the show I saw were the last, therefore, I had very little knowledge of what the heck was going on in the show. However, what kept me intrigued was how unprofessionally Elle’s Director of Public Relations Erin Kaplan behaved in the last scene.
In the scene, Ms. Kaplan is sitting (but more like slouching most of the time) in an office with Joe Zee (Elle’s creative director) to meet with a new hire (Olivia, who Erin clearly does not like) to go over some sort of assignment. See this article from MTV, which explains the scene in more depth and includes photos.
Okay, so I don’t know (or care about) what the beef is between these two — and nor should it matter in a professional setting — there is still no excuse for rolling your eyes at a colleague and slouching on-camera for the whole world to see, especially if you’re the DIRECTOR of public relations for ELLE MAGAZINE!
I soon learned that Ms. Kaplan is a cast member of The City. As Elle’s director of public relations, her participation in this show is putting herself out there as the image– the face– of Elle Magazine. Although I admire her obvious accomplishments that have earned her such an amazing, senior-level position at such a young age (she’s only 26 and Elle’s youngest ever director of PR), I feel that she needs to present herself more professionally on camera.
Good PR helps strengthen relationships between an organization (or a company, Elle, in this matter) and its public (Elle readers and, for this case, The City viewers). Ms. Kaplan may or may not have a specific “character” to portray on the show, but she should keep in mind that as her job title clearly explains, she “directs” the magazine’s public relations. Now, every time I pick up a copy of Elle, an image of Erin rolling her eyes will probably come to mind. I don’t care how “real” or “scripted” this show is, that’s just not good PR.
If the show wasn’t all about drama, no one would watch it. Not even five minutes. Not even me.
We all know image is a big deal in PR. I may even watch a full episode next time– and learn a thing or two.
My first fashion show was a success! It was also so much fun and I am proud to include my work on this event in my public relations portfolio.
In less than a month, I organized a fund-raising donation drive and fashion show to benefit three local animal welfare agencies. In this time, I:
- Did all PR and publicity for the donation drive and fashion show, which included writing and distributing a press release and creating and distributing flyers to local businesses.
- Motivated coworkers to use the Rescues & Runways event to drive sales and donations in the store and throughout the community.
- Recruited and coordinated 16 volunteer models.
- Organized fashion show logistics.
- Solicited donations from local businesses to include in three silent auction baskets. I put together two myself, and one was donated by a community member.
Standing with the overflowing donation bin. We collected over 200 pounds of pet food and supplies.
Successes:
- My press release was printed in the “Around Umpqua” section of Roseburg’s News-Review newspaper.
- The silent auction raised $112 for the three animal shelter partners.
- Received over 200 pounds of donated pet food and supplies.
Things I learned throughout the process:
- A fashion show is more work than it seems, especially in three weeks time! Although I willingly led my store in this project and went above and beyond the minimum expectations, allowing myself more time to organize and publicize the event may have reduced some stress and improved the outcome even more.
- People LOVE pets more than I thought: I was very pleasantly surprised by the generosity of pet-lovers out there. We received many last-minute donations and several huge bags of pet food. Moreover, many local businesses were happy to donate items for the silent auction baskets to benefit the animals.
- Finding models wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be: At first, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find enough models. However, after a while, I was on model overload (it seemed like everyone and their mom wanted to model)! If I ever organize another fashion show, I’ll know ahead of time how many models are necessary and how to effectively recruit them. Although 16 models was a lot (and therefore a lot of clothes and accessories to deal with), I felt it was a great number and allowed for the audience to see how many different styles are available at maurices and, most importantly, it gave the adoptable pets a lot of show time!
I’m so happy that Rescues & Runways event provided an outlet for me to use my PR skills at my part-time job.
You can view more fashion show pics on my Flickr stream.
As I continue my full-time job hunt in the PR industry, I will continue to organize fund-raisers and community involvement initiatives for maurices. A couple ideas I have for the winter season include a coat and toy drive to benefit local welfare agencies, such as The Salvation Army. I’m very excited to continue to help increase Roseburg maurices’ presence in the community as a leading fashion retailer that truly cares about its customers and community.
This Saturday, Sept. 12 at 12:30 p.m., a very unique event will take place at the Roseburg Valley Mall. A maurices fashion show to benefit three Douglas County animal welfare agencies will feature volunteer models wearing the latest maurices fall fashions, along with an adoptable pet! The event is part of maurices’ month-long Rescues & Runways initiative. More than 700 maurices stores across the US are holding pet food and supply donation drives and fashion shows to benefit their local animal shelters.
The fashion show will benefit Saving Grace Pet Adoption Center, New Beginnings SPCA and Umpqua Valley Humane Society.
Mooi, an adorable adoptable kitten at New Beginnings SPCA in Roseburg.
The stage will be set up inside the mall right in front of maurices (next to Macy’s). Music will be provided by DJ Rich of Roseburg. Audience members will receive a 20 percent-off coupon to use on a regular-priced item!
Fashion, fur and music will be quite the combination– and a first for the rather small mall– but it is all for a good cause.
A silent auction will take place during the fashion show, with all proceeds benefiting the animal welfare agencies. I’ve been very impressed with businesses’ and peoples’ generosity for donating to our auction baskets. We will have some great auction baskets up for bids, including a maurices-themed basket with a $25 gift card.
But this is not just a local affair. On a national scale, maurices has partnered with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to promote awareness of animal shelters and the increasing need they are facing due to the nation’s struggling economy.
The ASPCA will receive a minimum donation of $500,000 from maurices. Also, the campaign goal is for maurices stores across the nation to collect 500,000 pounds of food and supplies for their local animals shelters.
I’m very excited to see more and more donations come into the Roseburg maurices each day, and I’m hoping that with this weekend’s fashion show, the donation box will fill up– several times! Donations are accepted throughout September, and customers who donate receive one 20 percent-off coupon (or more, depending on how much donated). Items needed include: dog and cat food, cat litter, small blankets and towels, basic grooming and cleaning supplies, food dishes and stainless steel bowls. Cash donations will be accepted at the fashion show.
I’ve had so much fun leading my store on this event and I look forward to seeing the outcome. I put this thing together rather quickly (most stores are not doing their fashion show until Sept. 19 or later). The experience has taught me many lessons– and the show hasn’t even begun! I will definitely write another post highlighting the event and my experience.
Also, make sure to check out the photos of the event, which I will post on my Flickr stream.
I recently completed my summer internship at Portland Public Schools with the communications department. It was a great experience and made my summer very busy, to say the least.
I kept my part-time job as assistant manager at maurices in Roseburg and commuted Portland. I stayed with family in Beaverton for two to three nights each week while I worked at PPS. Let’s just say I-5 and I got to know each other very well over the summer (however, I still managed to get lost several times while navigating Portland). However, all of the driving was well worth the experience PPS gave me.
Some things I learned:
- That writing features can take a very long time, especially when you have ten people to contact and five of them are on vacation – or they just never call you back.
- The names and demographic information of each 80-plus PPS school. I acquired this knowledge by making each school its own charitable giving Web site (hosted by Nike and GlobalGiving).
- Kids say the darndest things. Example: I walk into fifth-grade classroom. Boy: “You’re hot.” OK….errr…thanks?
- Calling strangers eventually gets easier and less awkward.
Worst part about commuting: traffic (I'm a small-town girl).
I had never worked in an office setting before this internship, so I was worried about boredness and back pain. Although my back needed to get used to all the sitting, I was never bored at PPS. I really enjoyed the office atmosphere and everybody was so much fun to work with. Moreover, there were baked goods on an almost daily basis!
I was confident in my time-management skills before I began my internship; however, I’ve realized now that time can get even more difficult to manage when you have two jobs and make a three-hour commute twice a week. At PPS, I would have both large projects, as well as small projects assigned to me each day. It takes time-management and patience to juggle everything and still produce the best work. I feel that my experience at PPS gave me a great perspective on what is realistic to accomplish in day’s and week’s worth of work.
Public relations is not the sort of career that you can always leave at the office; in fact, for the most part, it follows you around like a puppy– a cute puppy, though. 
I’ve been hearing all about this “personal branding” business for quite some time now; however, until now, I never delved into it very deeply. I always figured, “I’ve got my Twitter, blog, online portfolio and interview suit. I’m good to go.” Well, all of those things might mean I’m prepared, but they are not what creates a personal brand. Which we all know is so crucial to getting a job in this economy (blah, blah, blah…).
I came across 10 Steps to Defining your Authentic Personal Brand- The Personal Branding Worksheet from the Visual CV Blog.
I realized that I need to stop avoiding all of this branding business and just brand myself already! What is there to be afraid of? Well, I guess there’s always the chance that someone won’t like my “brand.” But if that’s the case, then it’s really OK. You certainly don’t want someone — especially an employer — thinking that you’re something you aren’t.
Below I’ve filled out — as briefly as possible — the personal branding worksheet for all to see. I truly feel that it helped me understand my “brand” better. I have a clearer idea of my strengths and how I can market them to PR professionals and employers. I strongly suggest all recent grads to do this worksheet.
1. What is your vision and purpose?
Before clearly defining your brand, look externally at the bigger picture of your vision for the world, and then internally, at how you might help the world realize your vision.
Hmmm, what is my vision for the world? That’s a broad, deep and somewhat vague question! I’m just going to answer it like this:
I envision myself making the most out of every opportunity that the world presents me. I feel that having an open mind will be the key to helping me realize this vision.
2. What are your values and passions?
You have to know yourself and what you want and need before you can move forward. Your belief system and operating principles are at the core of determining whether an opportunity in front of you will be a good fit for you. If the passions that drive you aren’t met, you probably won’t be happy.
I value respect, and I’m passionate about people who care (wow, that’s an emotional sentence!). I know that these two aspects must be present in my future career for me to be happy. I’m a hard worker and I need to feel valued at my job or I will go somewhere else. I also find motivation — as well as apathy—very contagious. I must surround myself with people who care, or I will begin to not care. I’ve heard so many times that a happy, positive work environment is so essential to a happy and long life.
3. What are your top goals for the next year, 2 years, and 5 years?
Work on projecting what you intend to accomplish so you can put together a strategic action plan to get there.
My top goal for the next year is to secure a full-time position in public relations. In two years, I hope to have a more firm grasp on my “niche” and continue to grow my professional network. In five years, I’d like to be as “settled” as life will allow me. I mean, who doesn’t want a sense of security? However, at the same time, I understand that I’ve chosen a career that is always changing— and when things change out of the blue, I need to be ready.
4. Do a self-assessment of your top brand attributes.
What 3 or 4 adjectives best describe the value you offer? What words do you use to define your personality?
Attentive, motivated and curious best describe the value I have to offer. Friendly, honest and positive are three top words I feel define my personality.
5. What are your core strengths or motivated skills?
In what functions and responsibilities do you excel? What things are you the designated “go-to” person for? What would your company have a hard time replacing if you left suddenly?
For my friends and family, I’m the designated go-to person for proofreading and editing. I feel my best core strength is attention to detail. Of course, there are always those pesky details that you miss – mostly those that aren’t spoken or written. Therefore, I feel one of my strongest motivated skills is fact finding. I am curious and always eager to learn, and I think that’s what motivates me to continue growing.
6. Get feedback from those who know you best – at work, at home, anywhere.
The true measure of your brand is the reputation others hold of you in their hearts and minds. Notice how they introduce you to others. Ask them what your top brand attributes and core strengths are. How does your self-assessment jibe with their feedback?
Thank goodness for online recommendation formats, such as LinkedIn and Come Recommended. From looking at the recommendations I’ve received from past professors and internship coordinators, I know that I can always learn more about myself and my strengths from what others say about me—and to especially not sell myself short.
7. Do a SWOT (Strengths – Weaknesses – Opportunities – Threats) analysis on yourself.
Don’t dwell on your weak points, but keep them in mind so that you don’t move into a position where that function is the main thrust of the job.
Strengths: My positive attitude, attention to detail and professionalism.
Weaknesses: My tendency to take on too much and get distracted (mostly with social media, so that’s not that bad).
Opportunities: Resources such as networking events and social media are opportunities I take to differentiate myself.
Threats: My fellow class of 2009 graduates is my greatest threat. but I’m over that. Other than my main threats — the thousands of 20-somethings (and 40-somethings) on the job market — I consider myself as my biggest enemy. Because above everything, it’s up to me how I go about achieving my goals.
8. Who is your target audience?
Determine where you want to fit in (industry and niche area of expertise). Learn what decision makers in that field are looking for when they’re vetting candidates. Find out where those decision makers hang out and what key words will attract them, and then position yourself in front of them to capture their attention.
Because PR is an ever-evolving field, I want to fit in with the most up-and-coming and modern agency or organization. This requires having a curious mind and staying up-to-date with changes in the industry – and especially with social media. My Twitter tweets and blog posts are examples of how I am positioning myself in front of PR industry leaders. Increasing face-to-face networking is my next step.
9. Who is your competition in the marketplace and what differentiates you from them?
Determine why decision makers should choose whatever you’re offering over the others offering similar value. What makes you the best choice? What makes you a good investment? What value will you bring that no one else will?
After several interviews for very competitive positions, I learned that attitude and personality are huge differentiating factors. For the most part, my competition and I are at the same level of experience (about a year or less of professional PR experience outside of school). However, what one lacks in experience can sometimes be made up in attitude and initiative. A candidate may have an impressive résumé, but a sour attitude or lack of authenticity can hurt his or her chances.
It really is all about the total package. Moreover, I think that what makes a candidate the best choice varies depending on the job. In a broad sense, I feel that honesty is a great differentiating quality of mine. We can all work on our AP style skills, but not everyone can work on their honesty skills. Honesty is a character trait – and an essential trait for the ethically-conscious world of PR. My honesty not only makes me a good investment to an employer, but it makes me different because I’m showing who I really am and what I really think and feel.
Like the good ‘ol cliché goes: Honesty is the best policy.
Wow it’s been a while since I’ve posted.
I’ve been quite busy lately. When I’m not working my two part-time jobs (in different cities!) and interning for Ballet Fantastique, I’m usually having a lot of fun with my friends in the summer sun. However, I realize the importance of maintaining my blog, especially as I am still searching for my dream job.
I eventually stopped asking myself, “why me?” and realized that the best thing you can do about a less-than-ideal situation is accept it and make the best of it. I haven’t let myself forget where I am in life.
I may not have a full-time job in my field of public relations; however, I’m making the most of it. I was very fortunate to land a paid internship with Portland Public Schools this summer, where I’ve gotten a good taste of reporting and feature writing. It has been a lot of fun and a great experience (well worth the weekly drive to Portland from Roseburg).
I am also a part-time assistant manager at maurices, a women’s retail clothing store. Because maurices is a non-advertising company and bases its stores in small towns, there are plenty of community-based marketing opportunities. I’ve been with maurices since I graduated high school in 2005, so when I was promoted to an assistant manager in May, I knew that it would be an opportunity for me to not only learn valuable managerial skills, but to put my PR skills to use, as well.
I’m very excited about an upcoming Hometown Pride initiative called “Rescues & Runways” to benefit two local animal shelters.
The initiative is corporate-wide, meaning all 700 -plus maurices stores across the country will be partnering with their local animal shelters to help collect and donate a total of a half a million pounds of food and supplies. Another goal of the initiative is to help get animals adopted and into loving, safe homes.
This is my Lhasa Apso Zoe at eight months. She turned me into a pet lover.
I was very excited when my store manager made me the lead for this event, and I’m looking forward to making it as big as possible. Our store will be working with Saving Grace Pet Adoption Center and Umpqua Valley Humane Society to hold a donation drive throughout September, as well as a fashion show to help promote the donation drive and pet adoption.
I’ll be able to put so many of my PR skills to use for this, including community outreach, media relations and event planning.
I know I have a lot of work ahead of me to make this event as big as possible in the short time I have. I have this opportunity in front of me, so why not make the most of it?
With the increasing popularity of Twitter comes increasing amounts of noise. Applications like TweetDeck help make Twitter more user-friendly, and aggregators, such as Twopular, organize popular trending topics. Recently, an innovative Twitter tool was created to inform and educate us even more.
The creators of Twendz, the PR pros at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, call the tool a “Twitter mining Web application.” Twendz “mines” tweets of various trending topics to measure their sentiment based on scores determined by the positivity, negativity and neutrality of keywords. Sounds like a pretty complicated process! Props to WE.
Today, Miss California USA Carrie Prejean was the top trending topic. Unfortunately – but not surprisingly- for Ms. Prejean, the sentiment of many of the tweets was negative. But not everything is as overly-publicized as Miss California USA’s life. What makes Twendz useful is that you can learn about lesser-known topics, such as today’s #theBPNaretwats and #twitterpornnames, or any other hashtagged term or topic of interest.
I use Twitter as a news source, as do many other tweeps. With Twendz, I can learn about what other people are saying about topics. It would be great for Twendz to have a feature that aggregated tweets according to demographics, so that users can see what other people just like them (or completely opposite from them) are saying. The tool is in beta right now, so it is still evolving.
I think many people would agree that Twitter is more than just a fad. It’s here to stay, and I feel that tools like Twendz improve the future of Twitter by making it more useful for users. There are still many people that don’t “get” Twitter or have not figured out how to make it work for them. WaggEd’s Twendz improves Twitter’s relevancy and usefulness, especially for curious tweeters like me.
Have you taken a look at Twendz yet? What are your thoughts on the tool? I’d love to hear interesting ideas for how it can be improved and made even more useful. And I’m sure WaggEd would love to hear them, too!
Click the links to follow Twendz and Tim Sears, the creator of Twendz, on Twitter.
When I’m not keeping myself busy with the other important things in life – job hunting, eating, exercising, volunteering, sleeping, job hunting, and job hunting – I’m usually on the computer. With so many different social network accounts and no cable television in my apartment, it’s the best way to spend my free time. With social media, I build my personal brand through this blog and my social networks, all while getting smarter!
I stumbled into the blog Hightalk by George Snell. His post 4 Great Things About Social Media explains the exact reasons why I’m spending so much time in front of my computer!
Other than building my personal network, staying in the loop, and connecting with my friends and family, I learn so much more every day by engaging in social media. Whether it’s reading and commenting on blogs, Tweeting, or Facebooking, I’m always gaining knowledge about the things that interest me. It keeps me curious, which I feel is one of the strongest personal qualities recent grads can have.
Snell’s post claims that one of the best things about social media is that it introduces new ideas. Opinionated blog posts are on the World Wide Web for everyone to see- and challenge. I love to read comments on blogs because my mind expands so much from reading other people’s different and intelligent perspectives. I can even learn a thing or two – and get a good laugh – from Perez Hilton’s blog, which I’ll admit I’ve checked out a few times lately due to the Miss California USA fiasco.
After reading Snell’s post and reflecting on the Miss California/Perez Hilton/gay marriage circus, I feel that although social media has made me a smarter, more open-minded person, it has not made me a more daring person. (“Daring” in a sense that I’m going to post my deepest personal and political opinions).
Although many people use blogs to write (or rant) about their deep opinions on things (e.g. Perez Hilton), I prefer to use my blog as a professional platform and refrence for my peers and potential employers. I offer my thoughts on PR-related issues, my resume and links to my e-portfolio and social networks. I am an opinionated person, but especially in a personal-branding stage of my life, I feel that some of my opinions should be left out of the blogosphere.
However, for future posts, I will challenge myself to write about more PR-related debates and issues. After all, the opinion factor of blogs is what separates them from hard news stories. Plus, I think this move will make my blog “smarter.”
And that is why social media, and a little bit of Perez Hilton, has made me a smarter person.
I’m pleased with the results of this year’s PRSSA Bateman competition. My team received honorable mention out of 77 entries across the nation! This is the highest placing the University of Oregon has had in its three years of competing. View results here.
I’m proud to be part of a group recognized with such great schools, including the University of Florida and the University of Georgia, two top-notch Bateman players.
The top three teams (Loyola University New Orleans, Michigan State and University of Maryland) will present their work for the Consumer Bankers Association and PRSA in Washington, D.C., this spring. Best of luck to these teams!
I’m proud of the work we did and the legacy we began. We have made Oregon a real player in future Bateman competitions. A big thanks to Kelli Matthews, our advisor for the Lock Up Your Future campaign.
Moreover, the Lock Up Your Future campaign will continue in UO’s PRSSA chapter. With a new executive board chair and eager volunteers, Lane County middle schoolers will continue to receive helpful college readiness resources .
For more information about the PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition and what my team and I did for middle school students in Lane County, read my past entries Lock Up Your Future Locked it Up! and The 2009 PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition.
I’m beginning to truly feel that “going green” is transforming into a whole new business perspective that’s not even just about appearing socially and environmentally responsible. Going green is not that hard. I feel that as more folks are hopping on the “green” bandwagon, the movement is evolving from a yuppy fad to more of a different way of thinking – and life. Miss USA’s “green” crown is an example of a different way of thinking.
