A PR firm in Arizona lost an account when one of the partners sent a Tweet talking about “special ed” people. The client: Special Olympics Arizona. Read the full story here.
To quote a smart man, “Zoinks, Scoob!”
The bottom line is this: Everyone can read your everything. Including (especially) clients, employees, colleagues, bosses, family, exes, loved ones, hated ones. Everyone.
It should come as no surprise that your clients follow you online. They are investing a lot into you and your company… trust, resources, finances. They need to know that you value their business – on the clock and off.
To think they aren’t paying attention to your agency and your people falls somewhere between arrogant and ignorant.
I am NOT a recruiter. I am not in human resources. I am not a hiring manager.
But over the course of the past year, I’ve come across about 100 resumes of people looking to enter the PR and/or social media fields.
What I’m about to share with you is what I personally do when I’m sent a job application AFTER it’s been vetted by the proper folks in my organization. And remember, this is ONLY for those in the communications world.
- While applications should be emailed, I like to print out applications and take them with me to read out of the office. I like to go to a coffee shop where I can turn off the phone and focus on the task at hand. As such, if you can, it’s nice to put the cover letter and resume in the same PDF document. It requires printing ONE document instead of two. Not a big deal, but a nice thing.
- I will check your Twitter. I don’t care about Facebook. I’ll cross-check your LinkedIn to make sure it matches your resume. But I will read your Twitter feed. I’m not looking for anything in particular, but it helps me understand who you are. There is no formula or scoring system or anything like that. However, if you protect your Tweets, that doesn’t make me like you.
- I’ll took for when you graduated college. Does it matter? Yes and no. I want to make sure your professional experience is commensurate with what we need from that position. If we have an entry level job and you graduated in 2006, we may not be the right fit.
- I look for how long you were at each stop in your career. Everyone has a job they didn’t like and can consider a mulligan. Heck, I was with one company for just four months. But if you have bounced around many times, that may raise a red flag. You’d better be able to explain the constant job-jumping, because we’re looking for committed team members. If we don’t think you’ll stick around for a while, do you think we’d offer you a job?
- In my office, there are usually three steps in the interview process: written applications, phone chat and in-person meeting(s). Make sure you are well-prepared for all three, because if your application stinks, you likely won’t get a phone chat. And if you bomb the phone chat, you aren’t likely to get a face-to-face interview.
- Not getting a second interview isn’t always about you. Take heart – you can do well on the phone chat and not make it to the next round. If the person doing the interviews doesn’t think you’d be the right fit, they may not pass you along, no matter how much they like you. Feel free to ask them why you didn’t advance.
- Not all processes are created equal. Some positions can take days to fill, while some can take months. It’s a fact of life that can sometimes be out of the hands of the company.
- End well. Sometimes when you are interviewing for one job, the company may envision a slightly different role for you. Or may alter the job description to suit your talents if they really like you. Always finish the interview process positively, because you never know what possibilities may be out there down the road.
That’s exactly what popular DVD/Blu-Ray/video game rental service redbox did for their entire DVD catalog, effective nearly immediately. DVD daily rental prices would rise from $1 to $1.20.
True, twenty cents is not a lot, but the percentage increase is quite staggering.
The increase was announced in a plain-speak email sent to their customers this week, explaining that prices were rising and that this was first price adjustment in eight years. The letter also linked to a comprehensive “FAQ” style page outlining all of the changes and the reasoning behind it. It even used your IP address to show how the price increase affects you in your state, due to local taxes.
Redbox did a great job here communicating with customers via a succinct email explaining the changes and then providing a space where they answered every question most users would have asked anyway. At the end of the day, users should feel that the brand communicated with them openly and appropriately.
With that being said, I haven’t heard or seen much outrage from customers over the past few days. The learning lesson here is that if you provide a unique service, provide great value and treat customers fairly, they will stick with you during a potentially-challenging time.
While some brands lose customers over price increases, a well-structured communications plan can make customers feel like you are only increasing prices because you HAVE to. Price increases may not initially win you new customers, but a properly executed, simple PR plan can make sure it doesn’t cost you any business.
Second, a brand-new trailer for the new movie, “The Muppets,” was released, featuring more plot details than we’ve seen before, tons of celebrity cameos and more.
Currently, I’m working with several potential vendors who are looking to partner with my agency.
I work for an ad agency, and while we are as full-service an agency as I’ve ever seen, we don’t do EVERYTHING. As such, we rely on strategic partners, especially in niche areas, to help out.
In my mind, partner companies make us stronger, since we can then become a true one-stop resource. And I like to keep working with companies that do good work with us.
Getting that first project can be tricky.
So if you are trying to pitch any business to any agency, don’t make this mistake.
The #1 mistake made in pitching new business is NOT solving your potential client’s problems.
Our “problem” is that we need expertise and service in Industry X. So if you are in Industry X and can help, HELP!
I’ve dealt with many companies that ask ME what they can do for us.
Do you see the issue here?
I don’t know you or your company very well. I have no idea how you can help. I don’t know your world, although I may know enough keywords and concepts to ask general questions.
If you want me to hire your company, here is what I’m looking for:
1. Sales Process. Educate us about your company, but more than 50% of the process needs to be you figuring out what our needs are.
2. Written Proposal. Tell me how you think your services can be combined to solve whatever problems we have or needs we are facing. Put it in writing. My memory isn’t that good and I want something pretty to show my team.
3. Short and Long. Let’s start small. Modest budget, defined scope of work, reasonable length of time. And then reevaluate. If your company makes a true difference, then maybe we can talk about a higher-tier of service. Solve Problem #1 before trying to sell me on Solution #10
The bottom line is that companies need each other to thrive, but the pitching process is what makes long-term relationships. Solve my problems, make my work better, allow my clients to be happier…and you’ve got my business for a long, long time.
