How I See It

Marketing in the Middle East: Images From My Trip to Israel

Lacey — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 21:10:33 +0000

I am fascinated by marketing, especially global marketing. Nearly half of the photos I took while traveling in Israel last week were of labels, advertisements or packaging of International and American brands. Below are a few of my favorites:

...and my favorite, that always makes me laugh...

Original post blogged on Lacey Haines Public Relations, Social Media and Technology Blog.

You know you belong in PR when...

Lacey — Sat, 14 May 2011 02:46:57 +0000

I recently became the mother of a sweet, adorable, 7-pound, 2-year old, Brussels Griffon. She was a stray and I fell in love with her the moment we met. We named her Penny.

I think Penny is the most perfect dog that ever walked the face of the earth, so naturally I want to tell other people about it. I have realized that other dog owners do not think to do this. They may post pictures on Facebook, but that's the extent of their dog's promotion. I, on the other hand, immediately posted Penny to The Daily Puppy, posting pictures, writing stories, and pitched her for Grown-up Dog of the Day. Within 24 hours, I received word that she had been accepted, and would be posted for the whole community to see.

Today she has been shared on Facebook over 60 times, received well over 1000 votes and more than 50 comments. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was doing PR for my dog. I realized that you belong in PR when it becomes as natural, and involuntary, as breathing. Please don't judge me. I love what I do (and I'm good at it too).

Original post blogged on Lacey Haines Public Relations, Social Media and Technology Blog.

Speaking to those"outside" the know

Lacey — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:26:58 +0000

Last week I was invited to speak at the Professional Aerial Photographer's Association's International conference in Las Vegas. Aerial photography is probably one of the most fascinating jobs around, but is also one of the most unknown. Most of us see aerials in a newspaper, or in movies or TV shows, but rarely do we wonder where they came from. When I speak to clients about social media, a main focus is on content. What content do you have, what should we have, where can we get it, who are we targeting, and how do we share it? This industry has nothing but content! That was a main focus in my talk, Social Media: A How To Guide.

The below presentation was created for an audience of small business owners, 95% of which had little to no experience with social media. In addition to being an intro to Twitter, I also touched upon how to use it, specifically when working with the media.

Social Media: A How To Guide for PAPA International

View more presentations from Lacey Haines.

I had a fantastic time, and my presentation went over really well! My goal was to convert 1 person in the crowd of 80. After all the buzz the talk got, I think that number went up to more like 30. And according to PAPA President, Patrick Belanger, my talk was one of the best of the weekend (according to the end of conference survey) and I'm already getting Twitter alerts from the attendees. Looking forward to the 2012 International conference cruise

Note: From 2006-2009 I managed the the PR/Marketing efforts for The 111th Group / ProAerialVideo.com, two ventures owned and run by Patrick and Julie Belanger.

Original post blogged on Lacey Haines Public Relations, Social Media and Technology Blog.

4 Twitter Tools To Bookmark Now

Lacey — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:57:56 +0000

MentionMap: Find Twitter users to follow based off your favorite users. The result is a very cool, informative and dynamic infographic. Harry McCracken, tech writer for Technologizer.com and TIME magazine, has a great map of relevant users in the tech community. See below.

TweetReach: How far does a tweet really go? This tool is perfect for businesses looking to determine ROI for their social media activities. Unfortunately, there aren't any benchmarks you can compare your results to. For example, my reach is 2,679 people with 14 tweets. Is that a good number? No clue. But it's higher than 1.

Twitter Symbols: I absolutely love this. Tired of standard tweets? Looking to express yourself with Webdings? Check out this site. Just copy and paste your favorite symbol into your tweet, and you're set. Twitter Tip: Only use one symbol at a time, and never more than once a day.

Tweepi: For the more experienced Twitter-er, Tweepi gives you a "database" view of multiple Twitter users at a time. Tweepi lets you create lists to view groups of people at once to compare their total tweets, followers, and Klout score. From Tweetpi.com, you can view their information, add them to an existing list, follow or unfollow them, @reply , etc. A great way of getting a larger view of your Twitter network.

Original post blogged on Lacey Haines Public Relations, Social Media and Technology Blog.

Be Creative: Connect with your customers

Lacey — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:43:22 +0000

Great example of how one small business connects with their customers/prospects monthly with beautiful, custom desktop backgrounds. Download the full file here. to add it to your computer. (Yes, it's on mine.)

Original post blogged on Lacey Haines Public Relations, Social Media and Technology Blog.

Top 3 Reasons to be a Joiner

Lacey — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:03:55 +0000

First posted on Bite Marks, Bite Communications

I’m a big advocate for professional organizations, and events, especially those for PR professionals. Beforejoining PRSA (Public Relations Society of America), I was vice president of my University’s PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) chapter. For a campus that only had a few PR courses, PRSSA was my key to getting into the field early. Now I am in my second year on the Networking Committee of PRSA Silicon Valley, and not only have the opportunity to learn and network, but also support the industry, and help others grow and get involved. For the skeptics out there, I’ve compiled my top 3 reasons why you should join (and participate) in a professional organization.

1. It’s Who You Know

Being a professional makes it difficult to make new friends, but it’s vital to your career development. You might think that “networking” is only for people looking for jobs or clients. While that is part of it, it’s not the whole story. Networking enables you to expand your social sphere, learn about different areas of your industry (tech PR vs. travel PR vs. consumer PR…) and have access to people and information you otherwise wouldn’t. Tweetups are a great way to do this. For example, I met one of the Silicon Valley Tweetup organizers on Twitter prior to an event, we met in person, and he introduced me to the head of the PRSA Networking Committee. A few months later, I was able to offer him as a professional reference for my job here at Bite.

2. Be better at your job

One of my favorite events hosted by PRSA locally is “Inside the Newsroom.” The panel of reporters (the most recent being from Forbes) talk about what they’re working on, how they like to be pitched, what not to do, and how to work with them. This was incredibly valuable, as we learned that Forbes was working on a Cloud feature in the fall, and was looking for contributed content. The session went over how the specific editors wanted to be pitched for this particular piece, and as a result, I was able to place two byline pieces for two of my clients in that feature.

3. Get some facetime

Living and working in the Bay Area provides PR people of all types the unique opportunity to have facetime with the journalists we work with everyday. A majority of the reporters I work with are based here, so why not meet them in person? There are tech events happening in San Francisco (and all over the country) virtually every month, and all it takes is a quick view on the Eventbright page or Twitter to find out who is planning to attend. It’s a great opportunity to grab a few of your co-workers, and work the room. Still skeptical? Consider this: Is it better to be the 9-5 agency, or an agency of social butterflies?

For those of you in the area, the next PRSA event will be thrown in conjunction with the San Francisco Bay Media Professionals on Wednesday, February 23rd at the Infusion Lounge from 5:30-8. Sign up for event updates with either local chapter here and here.

Original post blogged on Lacey Haines Public Relations, Social Media and Technology Blog.

Promotion is a lot like grocery shopping...

Lacey — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 05:59:23 +0000

Before starting any campaign, I ask myself "what are we trying to achieve here." Every client is different. PR goals are typically in line with business goals, which range from increasing revenue to increasing users. Whenever a client (or fellow team member) suggests a campaign or initiative that isn't in line with our current mandate, I compare it to grocery shopping. Anyone can blindly enter the supermarket and buy anything that looks appealing, but at the end of the day, you still don't have anything for dinner.

As digital integrations become more and more commonplace in the industry, it becomes painfully obvious which campaigns were executed with a clear goal in mind, and which were not. A good example of this is a promotion launched by the new AMC show "The Walking Dead." They are running a contest that gives viewers a chance to win a "stagger on role" on the show. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a die hard zombie fan, so I suffered through the commercials to find out how to enter. The rules: At some point during the Sunday program, a code will be given. Viewers simply have to go to a landing page (on the AMC) site, enter the code, and their contact information and press send. Upon doing so I quickly looked for the sharing tools. Obviously I wanted to share this great contest with my social networks. No. No sharing tools. No "Share on Twitter"; No "Post to Facebook"; No "submit to Digg." You would think that the goal of the network would be to increase viewers of this new program. The logical thing to do would be to give existing viewers the opportunity to become advocates, and share the show with their friends. It isn't that difficult to integrate these tools, but somehow AMC failed to recognize the opportunity. They went to the grocery store and bought a microwaveable dinner.

On the other hand, they have an active and engaged Twitter account at @WalkingDead_AMC with more than 26k followers, and an official Facebook page with more than 354k likes. These tools, however, were created to inform and maintain the existing fans of the 5-episode strong series, not increase viewership (I may be wrong, but you would assume a network with a new series would want that).

This can be easily remedied. Below are my top 3 recommendations for AMC:

1. Heard of chicklets? Add links to Twitter, Facebook and Digg that enable fans to seamlessly share information on the show, contest, video content, etc. with their friends
2. Use what you got! Add embed codes to the videos on the main site that enable fans to share them on their blogs.

3. Promote the newsletter! I've spent the last week obsessing over this show, and didn't realize until a few moments ago that a newsletter existed. In addition to encouraging e-mail signups, create an interactive newsletter that will live on Facebook. The newsletter tab will become the main page for the Facebook fan page and include the great content that already lives on The Walking Dead website. But since it lives on Facebook (where a majority of the show's fans already live!) it makes it easier for fans to share it with their friends.

The only way a show can survive is if it has a strong, growing community. I implore AMC to give their fans the tools to make that happen.

PS: Don't forget to to TiVo "The Walking Dead" (Sundays at 10:00 p.m. ET)

Original post blogged on Lacey Haines Public Relations, Social Media and Technology Blog.

Top 10 Things to Always Have For a PR Launch

Lacey — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 06:38:36 +0000

Over the years, I have had executed on successful launches, and not so successful launches. Regardless of the outcome, I always take a step back and evaluate what could have made the announcement better. Having primarily worked on the agency side of things, the success of a launch is dependent on both the performance of my PR team and the performance of my client. Below is a list of the top 10 things never forget when coordinating a product launch.**

1. FAQ / Q&A
Although the agency is typically tasked with creating the Q&A and FAQ, the document is based on information provided by the client. If you create this weeks in advance of a launch to have on hand for the pre-pitching effort, make sure to double back with your client the week of the launch to ensure that nothing has changed.

2. Announcement schedule
You can't depend on your client to fill you in. Most of the time, you have to ask the obvious questions, such as, "Are there any other announcements happening this week that we don't know about?" or "Any other promotions that may interfere with this announcement?"

3. Review Unit Details
If this is a pre-pitch, or announcement before the availability of a product, make sure to anticipate what the press will ask for, and find have the answers on hand in advance. This includes, "Are there review downloads available?" "Are there review units available?" "What is the process for delivering review units?" "If they aren't available on the day of the announcement, when will they be, and how many will we have?"

4. Expectations

Whether it's a new client, or an old client, you must be aware of what you're going to be judged against. If you aren't sure what the key # of hits is, or the target number of briefings are, or what your client deems the top 5 most important publications/outlets, you need to have a conversation with your client before you execute. Success is relative.

5. Who are our spokespeople?
Names, titles, bios, key talking points/areas of expertise.

6. Spokesperson availability
There is nothing worse than executing on a great launch, and finding out that your CEO is on a plane for the next 6 hours.

7. Who can answer my questions?
You shouldn't have to depend on your client contact to answer all of your questions. They are busy people too! Make sure they introduce you to other people within the organization who can quickly respond to your inquiries.

8. Where are you?
If you're working with a start-up, or company that has a small marketing/PR department, sometimes you only have one person you can work with. Make sure you know their schedule the week of the launch to ensure you're not left stranded with reporter inquiries only your client can fulfill.

9. Past media experiences
Make sure you can answer the following question: Who are the media "friendlies"? Are there any members of the media that your client has had a bad experience with?

10. Is there a demo script? Time to rehearse?
Demos can become routine if done the same way, too often, to the same audience. But what if you are trying to break out, and reach a new one? The transition of a tech product from the tech press to consumer isn't easy, and if you're able to score a demo, having a tech-focused demo will make it that much more difficult. Make sure you have demo scripts that appeal to each audience you're speaking with, and practice practice practice.

**Top 10 items collected over the past five years.

Original post blogged on Lacey Haines Public Relations, Social Media and Technology Blog.