Category Archives: start-ups

Inspired by a Speech on Kindness and a Decal Application Task, I Raised My Hand for a Bigger 2024 PRSA Management Role

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I enjoyed being a part of the PRSA Silicon Valley team in 2023 and that was especially true the night of the annual Media Predicts event Dec. 6th at The Grand Bay Hotel on Redwood Shores. 

I had so much fun I raised my hand to be vice president of marketing for the chapter this year. In other news, Tara Thomas stepped up and will continue in the programs executive role. Yay team and I’m already looking forward to Media Predicts 2024. In other big news my South Bay buddy Mike Sanchez took on the PRSA SV Secretary role.

Part of the reason I like volunteering is that I’m a freelancer: PRSA SV gives me teammates and dare I say, friends. Face it. We do develop friendships at work. You spend 30 to 60 hours a week working so this is goodness.

I have partnered with other freelancers to serve clients and pitch prospects. I recommend it; the slight downside is you DM a lot which is time consuming. This could be an upside if you are friends. Having a bad day? Message your freelancer partner for a few kind words of support.

Truth be told, I also made friends working with my 2023 robotics software client. Our interviews were in person (TechCrunch’s Brian Heater, Mercury News’s Sal Pizarro, several broadcast. Shameless plug, i know.) and it gave me a chance to better get to know them. 

Anyhoo… back to Media Predicts. Head of programs Tara noticed my early arrival to the hotel and relaxed stance. Someone had plopped a glass of wine in my hand so I looked pretty ‘cushy.’ 

Everyone else is running around setting up with serious looks on their faces. Meghan Fintland was on stage practicing her welcome. Jeannie Entin was helping the 11 student volunteers get situated.

My typical volunteer roles are writing and editing: I’m an extrovert and it’s hard for me to ‘focus’ during events. Give me a great meal and a dance floor. The food was surprisingly good and we did leverage the dance floor and DJ at Media Predicts.

Flashback memory of another volunteer gig: I tried to staff the welcome table at a TEDxSanJoseCA event but was quickly pulled off because an attendee wanted to have a deeper conversation. I did better handling the publicity. At Santana Row, KTVU interviewed Gold Medalist Swimmer and Speaker Dana Vollmer. Dana who held the Gold Medal in the butterfly overcame a heart defect. The same reporter interviewed a scout leader when I volunteered at council. I enjoy working with broadcast. (Shout out to Sharon Chin, Scott Budman; the list of on-air friends whom I greatly respect goes on and on.)

Back to MP23. Tara quickly assigned me to window decal application. That went fine and the space looked captivating with the next level decor including the lit-up letters spelling PRSA. (Tara: The S is in my garage. Readers please see the S photo below.)

I finally felt useful on event night and the decals were not crooked. Yessss.

5 Honorees

Who got awards that night? PRSA Silicon Valley Chapter President Meghan Fintland and President-elect Jeannie Entin presented awards to three PR professionals, Camille Clark and Alannah McDermott co-honorees for Board Member of the Year and Jeremiah Lineberger who achieved the Young Professionals Award. An older person can win because the point is to be new to PR. In fact to this day I have no idea how old Jeremiah is. 

Former National PRSA President Gerry Corbett presented David Vossbrink with his PRSA Fellows Medallion. I was honored to be at Gerry and David’s MP23 table. (Some of my awesome table mates are below.)

Kindness Counts, According to Honoree 

Global PR Powerhouse Yvette Noel-Schure was presented the chapter President’s Unity and Purpose Award by Rochelle Nadhiri.

Noel-Schure’s award acceptance comments brought audience members to tears. The comment that stuck with me the most is, “The secret sauce is to continue to operate in kindness.” 

She mentioned several entertainers that she represents including Chloe X Halle, John Legend, and Jessica Simpson. Yvette Noel-Schure spent most of 2023 as the publicist for Beyoncé’s record-breaking Renaissance World Tour. To my friends who like Prince: She represented him too! 

The 2023 Media Predicts panel included Moderator Rochelle Nadhiri, Shawn Chitnis, Connie Guglielmo, Kayli Hays and Eric Savitz. That story with their comments is here. 

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Who am I? I’m Michelle McIntyre, the new PRSA SV VP of marketing, a PR freelancer, IBM vet, and author of this story. I’m accepting new clients in 2024. Please hit me up for a breakfast meeting to discuss how to get your business attention. I like Bell Tower cafe in Saratoga. If you don’t want to talk about work, the drinks at night option works too. I love going up to Berkeley!

Be aware that PRSA Silicon Valley is devoted to diversity and mentoring. We invite you to get involved and check the website for new scholarship opportunities. Proceeds from MP23 went to diversity programs.

Photo credit: I took them with my iPhone 14 Pro. Camile Clark took the first photo selfie-style. I can’t remember who took the one of the group of us but it was taken with my iPhone.

3 PR Tips for Pitching Trendy Newsletters like Newcomer

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Newcomer Founder Eric Newcomer was in Clubhouse today giving tips on pitching stories to journalists. Newcomer is a subscription based newsletter that covers startups and venture capital.

Newcomer wrote about tech for Bloomberg for six years breaking news on IPOs, fundraising rounds, and mergers and acquisitions. Being the Uber beat reporter got him a lot of attention. His image is boosted by his philosophy degree from Harvard College. (I view philosophy and mathematics as typical “genius majors.” Yeah, my son is a math major and tutor at UC Berkeley so I’m biased: I keep telling him to take a philosophy class because I think he’ll love it.)

Mr. Newcomer gave some tips for public relations professionals on how to work with him. This can apply to working with most journalists.

1)      When asked about how best to set up get-to-know interviews, which means there is no hard news to convey, he said that journalists do like to meet important people. He recommended that first it’s wise for the PR person to brief the writer about the person they want him to meet.

My advice is that sometimes a background chat does result in a story because something interesting is said. And if it doesn’t, be patient. A big news announcement will get more thoughtful attention after the get-to-know.

2)      On sending an email pitch, Newcomer said that it’s not practical to be able to answer everybody. My feedback on this and for new PR people is that if the pitch content is valuable a journalist will answer. What Eric Newcomer means is don’t get offended if he doesn’t have the time to send a reply email.

3)      Consider participating in stories outside the strategic plan. What he means is pitch a media outlet that is not on the typical “founder request list.” For example, it seems most founders want to get into the likes of TechCrunch, Forbes, and VentureBeat. But what if Newcomer.co site is a better target? Would it make sense for you as the PR professional to subscribe or even your founder? Mr. Newcomer did say he was up to 1,000 paid subscribers. Due to his background, the list is probably an influential and savvy bunch.

In summary, consider subscribing to one or more of these trendy newsletters. Many rock star tech journalists are starting them and reporting decent subscription results. Why not be innovative and shake up the standard tech startup target media list strategy? ###

Michelle McIntyre is a Silicon Valley PR consultant, IBM vet and a ranked future of work social media influencer. She has a ½ million Quora impressions and was the 2017 VLAB Volunteer of the Year. Thank you PRSA-SV for scheduling Eric Newcomer as a speaker. @fromMichelle on Twitter & @Michelle408 in Clubhouse

Make Boosting Your Self Confidence A New Year’s Resolution

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Confidence can be the difference between a startup’s or let’s face it any company’s success. Coming off a year of pandemic-related marketing woes like on my end, the cancellation of key conferences and the inability to schmooze over fancy dinners or coffee, how does a founder keep a winning attitude?

And is confidence the key to making it in 2021?

Experts say, yes, confidence is a key factor.

Confidence means security which leads to positive emotion: This results in better performance, says Tony Schwartz, the CEO of The Energy Project and the author of Be Excellent at Anything: The Four Keys to Transforming the Way We Work and Live. 

Schwartz, as quoted in a Harvard Business Review story, concludes that “insecurity plagues consciously or subconsciously every human being I’ve met.”

When I Googled the topic, “How to boost self-confidence” I uncovered a multitude of examples of admired well-known people who overcame their self-doubt.

Notable ones are John Steinbeck who sometimes thought his writing stank, Michelangelo who at first refused the Pope’s job offer to paint the Sistine Chapel due to not believing in himself and Abraham Lincoln who suffered bouts of depression. (Who knew?)

Michelangelo originally turned down the Pope’s job offer to paint the Sistine Chapel due to not believing in his own painting skills. Credit: Wikipedia Commons

They each ended up throwing themselves into their work to counteract these negative thoughts. And look where that landed them in history. On several “top of their game” lists, like favorite U.S. president.

We as entrepreneurs and business people can learn from these examples.

I’ve been taking note of solid advice from others involved in entrepreneurship to accommodate my entry into 2021 as a strong self-employed public relations consultant.

The first tip I latched onto as a new year mantra was from Thomas Ahn, founder and CEO of MAD Ventures of Victoria, British Columbia. MAD backs startups like artificial intelligence darling Layer 6.

At a founder round table discussion, when asked about his vision for the new year Mr. Ahn said his firm excelled at remote work before the pandemic. He said they’ll keep doing what they already do well, which I see as attracting and backing hot startups remotely, and do it with confidence.

For some reason the confidence part of his comment stuck with me in a big way.

I’ll add the tip to do more of something that you do well in 2021. Like if you are great at garnering attention via content marketing – like blogging to get your name out there – publish more blogs. That’s not to say spend more time on the task. Instead work smarter and not harder, like switch from 1,000 to 300-word stories.

C.J. Lipe, founder of Adminologist of Fremont, Calif., adds jump into 2021 with a positive attitude and set smart, measurable time-bound goals. Ms. Lipe says she finds her inspiration in affirmations and lectures found on YouTube.

Lastly, many news articles, for example, in Inc. said improving your style through a hair cut or a new outfit is a confidence booster, as is helping others.

In summary utilize a new confidence boosting tactic in 2021 and enjoy the business rewards that will result. Don’t fall into the sadness trap that has plagued many during these trying times.

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Michelle McIntyre is an award-winning freelance PR consultant, social media influencer and IBM vet based in the Silicon Valley. She enjoys sharing advice, from how to get your small business media coverage to gaining admission to elite colleges via social media. She boasts 485,000 views on Quora as of early January 2021. She’s @FromMichelle on Twitter.

5 Tips for Startup Founders Like Be Nice and Work with Friendly People

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Here are five premium pieces of advice offered by the speaker at my tech startup founders Meetup this morning. Alastair Hood, Ph.D., CEO, the founder of utilities analytics startup Verdafero had a unique angle to share. Founded in 2009, the company is web-based software that helps businesses more smartly manage their utility usage. 

What was unique was that Mr. Hood often peppered in comments about being nice and working with friendly people. I liked the tone of that and believe that I was hired several times as a PR consultant because I simply got along well with the marketing or PR leads or founders. 

Here were five key takeaways:

  1. Don’t take money from investors if you can help it. Their vision might not be yours. I’ve heard this time and time again. But my two cents is to scale big time after you gain a bunch of customers, you may need to take money from a trusted source.
  2. Always be nice to people, especially when bootstrapping. You may need a favor from them later. He shared that he ran into Mark Zuckerberg once.
  3. Don’t fall for the Silicon Valley bullsh– story. I believe what he meant was don’t think that starting a company is all glamour and big payouts. You have to work hard, meet with many customers and prospects and take risks.
  4. Look for other avenues to generate revenue while you are developing your solution. Perhaps a customer prospect would be interested in your consulting services while your software as a service or saas software product is being finalized.
  5. Work with people you like. You will spend a lot of time with them. Along the same theme, he added, hire a friendly attorney. I asked if all lawyers who work with startups require a major retainer and the response was, no.

It was seriously refreshing to hear about the importance of collaborating with nice and friendly folks. 

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Michelle McIntyre is the founder of Michelle McIntyre Communications LLC, an IBM vet and Silicon Valley PR diva. She loves to garner big attention for large and small companies including VC firms and has achieved 11 awards for outstanding results. @FromMichelle on Twitter

Worried About Ageism? Here are 2 Job Hunting Tips from PR Experts

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Fifty year public relations industry Vet Gerry Corbett hosted a PRSA-SV talk today called “Ageism in the Workplace is Getting Old” with guest speakers and PR Practitioners Patti Temple Rocks and Scott Monty. 

Patti Temple Rocks is the author of “I’m Not Done. It’s Time to Talk about Ageism in the Workplace.”

Here are stats and advice that was shared: It mostly revolved around applying for jobs.

Ageism is Worse During the Pandemic

Ms. Rocks says that ageism is worse now because companies are cutting budgets during the pandemic; one way to do that is to get rid of the highest paid most experienced people. She added that ageism is rampant in tech and at PR agencies.

The following statistics which come from the website Builtin.com were shared by the moderator. Only 10 percent of people ages 65-69 work. Half of people 55-64 are employed, and half notice ageism when they enter their fifties. 

How can seasoned professionals rise above being viewed as too old?

First, when you look for a job utilize your network. Cold calling a company probably won’t work. In fact one speaker believed that sometimes artificial intelligence algorithms weed out older workers’ applications automatically. If you contact people who know and like you, you’ll have a way better chance. Another speaker commented that even young people get ignored because they didn’t use a friend at the company to get an interview.

Secondly, tailor your resume for each opportunity. This makes sense because if you have been working 20, 30, 40 or even 50 years you have done a whole heck of a lot. Instead of listing everything, choose things that showcase activity and results that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. It’s hard work figuring out what to say and not say but it pays off. And you don’t have to list things chronologically. 

The speakers agreed that ageism at the workplace is common but there are ways around it. Be smart when you reach out to companies for work.

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Michelle McIntyre, the founder of Michelle McIntyre Communications, is a seasoned PR industry pro who helps tech companies and their VCs get attention. She has worked at IBM and three PR agencies including WE for Microsoft. @FromMichelle @PRSASV on Twitter

Thou Shalt Follow These 10 PR Commandments

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A commandment is defined as a divine rule. If you want to be a devout public relations professional, follow these 10 PR commandments in 2020.

Thou shalt spell check PR materials. Let pitch notes, press releases, client reports, blog stories, speeches, video scripts and so on sit overnight. Proofread it again in the morning or have someone else look at it. Sometimes editors will share an error-filled pitch or press release over social media to showcase poor communication that they have received.

Thou shalt keep thy PR message brief. Pitches more than 250 words might be hard for a top tier writer to comprehend. Some writers receive 400+ email pitches a day. Get to your point concisely.

Thou shalt surprise thy journalist. When you write a press release, ask yourself, did you include something new, interesting or surprising? Did you explain how it would improve someone’s life or improve a business process?

Thou shalt have a PR coverage goal. When you set out to garner attention for a company, concept or product, set a success bar. How much attention is considered successful? For example, your goal could be one feature print story, two TV news spots and five million impressions.  A tool like Meltwater could help.

Thou shalt not annoy an editor with too much follow up. Too many follow up messages might get you blacklisted by a writer. Use logic when following up. Instead of asking, did you receive the pitch note, ask something else like, are you back from holiday? Or, how was the trade show?

Thou shalt not abuse a mobile phone number. When a writer gives you their mobile phone number, don’t call it unless the situation is urgent. Typically people now can receive an email or direct social media message pretty quickly.

Thou shalt read a recent story by the writer before pitching. Read a recent story by the journalist before reaching out. If you don’t see any stories published in the past couple of years, they may not be worth your time. Maybe they took a job in PR, which is common these days. The exception is someone who edits but doesn’t have bylines. But lately it seems that editors publish as well.

Thou shalt not pitch via public Twitter profile. Journalists like scoops. They are not likely to discuss a solid story idea over their Twitter account for the competition to see. Some read direct messages but to send them a message they have to be following you. So it helps to have a quality Twitter profile and messages.

Thou shalt listen to what the writer wants. If a writer wants to only talk to customers and not the CEO, don’t keep offering interviews with the CEO.

Thou shalt say, “no” and add “try this instead.” When the lead marketing executive demands that you issue a press release on a drab, me-too, follow-on product, don’t be a yes man or woman. Offer a better idea like production of a video featuring a happy customer of the first product. Or write a pitch featuring a happy customer and success story: offer the customer as an interview source to a favorite writer. Mention the new product briefly as an aside.

Save the in-depth new product description for direct communications with customers and prospects and/or the right social media channels.

Boy praying photo:  Shutterstock

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Michelle McIntyre, an award-winning IBM vet and blogger is the president of Michelle McIntyre Communications LLC, a tech PR consulting firm in the Silicon Valley. McIntyre has served on several  nonprofit boards and was named VLAB Volunteer of the Year in 2017 for her marketing and blogging efforts. @FromMichelle on Twitter

 

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The First 3 Steps in A Startup’s PR Journey

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Publicity matters to your company because it affects reputation and influence and this might surprise you: it also boosts *SEO.

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Because of this, quality media exposure needs to be at the top of every startup founder’s priority list.

Let’s face it. It’s hard to hire and acquire customers without it. Before prospective employees decide to apply for a job, they look up a company online and check out what others are saying. If a company has had coverage, they are perceived as more important to the world.

So what’s a startup to do? There are many tactics to try. Here are three to start with.

1) MAKE AT LEAST FOUR MEDIA LISTS

Junior PR people usually get put on media list compilation duty when they serve a new client at PR agency. Long time clients usually have their lists compiled and updated already. When I worked at a PR agency in Palo Alto, California, in the early 90s at first I spent about half my time working with a database of about 5,000 journalists for a whole agency. This helped me learn how to build and maintain a quality list.

Early stage startup CEOs and their marketing VPs just beginning their PR journeys usually start with list making. And one just won’t do.

Here the types lists you might need: journalists and analysts attending your next conference. Top five to 10 industry-specific publications and newsletters. Thirdly, your regional list. Is there a local news journal that covers companies like yours? Like here it’s the Silicon Valley Business Journal. If you are in Dallas, it’s the Dallas Business Journal.

Lastly make your stretch list. Which media outlets are your absolute favorites? What is your dream headline and where do you want to see it? Did you always want to be quoted in Fortune? If you know what you want, you have a better chance of getting it.

2) ISSUE NEWS

Keep in mind your news does not have to be in the form of a press release. Write a 300-500 story and publish it on LinkedIn or Medium. Post it on your website. Write a few paragraphs and email it with tailored cover notes to 10 key journalists. Make sure it’s hard news. That means real news with details.  As an aside there are things called feature releases but you have to be experienced at PR to be successful with one of those.

The biggest journalist complaint is lack of details. If you are announcing a new product, say ship date and cost. If you have vaporware consider not issuing news about it. Try not to go “backwards” on this tactic. Don’t say, “We need to make some news. What can we issue a press release on?” Read what the local business journal people are writing about. It may surprise you. For example, a writer may be interested that you doubled your office space. They may not care that IDG gave you a newbie award.

3) INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO KEY JOURNALISTS

There are many ways to do this. But keep in mind that they are busy. A Venturebeat writer who covers tech news told me on average he files five news stories each day. That’s really busy.

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You can meet writers at a trade show by walking up and saying, “Hello.” You can go on a multi-city press tour: meet two journalists in four cities and tell them about your company.  You can send a personalized note to a handful of key reporters in your industry as well as a couple of regional ones. Ask, would you like to have a cup of coffee over a 10 minute get-to-know conversation? Say you are new to reaching out to the press and wanted to start out on the right foot.

Note that it’s easier to set up a meeting if you have a high title like CEO, are in a super interesting industry or have some hard news to discuss. Do not send a mass email though. That’s tacky and journalists can tell that when it’s happening.

An infographic in a 2019 Wendy Marx @WendyMarx blog post says mass email blasts are the sixth most offensive act a PR person can commit against a journalist. 

That’s about the gist of it. If you are starting out on your publicity journey do three things: make your lists, issue your news and then introduce yourself.

And if you don’t have time, hire a PR consultant or agency to help.

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*SEO is search engine optimization. When people search for what solution you provide you want your company name to come up high in the search. According to a January 24, 2018 blog post by Dorothy Crenshaw @dorocren “7 Reasons Why PR Matters,” “Established publications that link to a brand will boost search listings due to the sheer power of their digital domains.”

This PR tips article was written by Silicon Valley PR Consultant and President of Michelle McIntyre Communications LLC Michelle McIntyre. She’s an IBM PR vet and was recognized as #3 top PR pro to follow on Twitter in November of 2018 (Ragan.com). @FromMichelle Business2community syndicates her PR blog.  The two images used for this story were purchased from Shutterstock.

Two PR Trends Percolating Right Now; PR Industry Growth Holds Steady at 5%

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In case you missed it The Holmes Report reported in April that public relations industry growth held steady at about 5%. Here’s an excerpt from their story on this followed by two warm PR trends I see driving demand.

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“The research reveals that the Top 250 PR firms reported fee income of around $12.3bn in 2018, compared to $11.7bn for last year’s Top 250 ranking. That growth was underpinned by a rebound from the world’s Top 10 PR firms, which improved their toplines by 4.9% on a constant currency basis, compared to +3.3% in 2017, led by strong performances from BlueFocus (up 10.8% in constant currency terms), Brunswick (+7.7%), Ogilvy (+9.6%), FleishmanHillard (+6%) and Weber Shandwick (+5%).” (The Holmes Report, April 29, 2019)

That’s steady growth. But not remarkable.

Taking the what-is-happening-in-PR conversation further, here are two warm PR developments driving this growth. I’ll explain: either CMOs are hiring agencies and consultants to run campaigns focusing on these things, or the agency folks are recommending them to clients. I say “warm” not “hot” because these trends have been percolating for a while now.

Two warm PR trends right now:

  • THE RISE OF THE MICRO-INFLUENCER: PR professionals and their marketing counterparts are more aware of and paying more quality attention to those social media folks who have tens of thousands of followers. Companies like Tom’s of Maine and Banana Republic have especially been paying attention to this new frontier of marketing according to PR Daily. I like this definition from PR Daily:

Micro-influencers have more followers than most people—typically in the 1,000 to 100,000 range—but fewer than celebrities and established luminaries in fashion, entertainment or sports. They tend to have a very engaged, loyal fanbase in niche B2B or consumer categories, and they are affordable even for small organizations. Superstars might have more reach, but they have less time to engage with fans.  -(PR Daily, The Rise of Micro-Influencer Marketing, 2017)

  • GENDER EQUALITY AS A KEY FOCUS: With the Me Too movement being so prominent in most of our business lives — every day and sometimes hourly it seems — it’s not surprising that communications campaigns focus on treating women with respect. There are many aspects to this: paying them what men make, hiring more women and putting more on an executive board.

Here’s an example: Intel constantly mentions its focus on the importance of hiring more women. I see press articles quoting them saying this, for example, “Intel’s New Diversity Chief On the Secrets to Hiring and Retaining,” (San Jose Mercury News, Nov. 29, 2018) and friends have told me that Intel hiring managers have told them this.

In fact one male friend told me, “I talked to Intel about working there but the hiring guy said, unless you are a female, forget it. You won’t get hired.” Well that’s a little extreme and I’m not sure those were the words verbatim but as a women I’m generally okay with the idea. By the way, my friend got a job with an Intel competitor.

I do hope Intel actually did hire more women. I haven’t looked up their actual progress in that respect. I did read that they made huge progress in gender pay equality.

As an aside and while keeping with the theme of respecting women, oddly the PR industry still has a long way to go in pay equality. A 2016 PRWeek survey says that a male executive makes $125,000 while a female makes $45,000 less at $80,000. To quote Austin Powers, “Crikey!”

Oh and if it’s a PR pro in the Silicon Valley or San Francisco Bay Area, expect all of those numbers to be a lot higher. Everything costs more here and usually people get paid accordingly. To me $80,000 is more of a junior PR person’s salary. Managers and directors in the Bay Area should be paid over $120,000. Nonprofit publicists make a lot less of course; some work pro bono.

There are many other PR industry developments that go along with this steady growth reported by the fine folks at The Holmes Report. I will be writing about those in coming weeks.

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Michelle McIntyre is the president of MMC PR, a 6-year old Silicon Valley PR consulting firm. She’s an IBM vet with more than 10 awards for outstanding PR results, most in B2B tech, and a closetful more for community service. She’s considered a #collaboration and #futureofwork micro-influencer; as part of this she blogs for the Microsoft website from time to time. Follow her at @FromMichelle

The Holmes Report on the growth of the PR industry story, April 2019, is here.

PRWeek 2016 salary survey is here.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

My 7 Absolute Favorite PR Trends for 2019

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I zealously perused several impressive 2019 public relations trend articles and tips today. Here are my seven favorite tips. Most of them list who said it and an associated Twitter handle.

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Some of them are evergreen; others are more timely.  Happy reading!

1) Create your own news.

“Creating news that promotes thoughtful discussion of your brand is possible by commenting or riding on the waves of current news.”

Source: Critical Mention Blog

Follow @criticalmention

2) Artificial intelligence will continue to be a theme.

“AI will continue to be a theme in the new year, as we get a clearer idea of the role it will play and how it can help enhance what PR pros do.”

Who said it: Michelle Garrett

Source: Meltwater Blog

Follow @Meltwater and @PRisUS

3) The micro-influencer finally gets some respect in PR.

“I’m thinking that 2019 will be the year that the micro-influencer finally gets some respect in PR, particularly for those who toil in the B2B sphere.”

Who said it: Lou Hoffman, CEO, Hoffman Agency

Source: Meltwater Blog

Follow @LouHoffman

4) The lines between marketing, PR and fake news blur.

“Another big challenge is how to produce effective storytelling as the lines between marketing and PR blur and fake news and fact continue to battle it out.”

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Who said it: Melissa Hoffmann, Editor, PR News

Source: B2B PR Sense blog

Follow @WendyMarx

5) You can’t wield influence with freebies.

“We all know you can’t wield influence with cookies or taco lunches. You’re not buying a journalist’s favor by doing what most business folks do on a daily basis. But don’t shower journalists with freebies. It’s awkward, so it’s best not to place you or your client in that kind of position.”

Who said it: Ms. Kyle Niederpruem

Source: PRSA blog

Follow @PRSA

6) Make Siri and Alexa your friends.

“PR pros must become knowledgeable in how their clients can use AI for online chat and when their clients should not use it. We’ll be relied upon to help guide the flow of the text being used and when the chatbots should pass the conversation over to human employees.”

Who said it: Ebony Grimsley-Vaz of Above Promotions quoted by Michelle Kane

Source: Ragan Communications blog

Follow @RaganComms

7) Content will always be mobile first.

“The average American looks at their smartphone 52 times per day, according to Deloitte research, and more than a third admit to using their smartphones for work purposes ‘very/fairly often’ when they’re not officially ‘on the clock.’ More screen time means more opportunities for you to reach your (audience). But smartphone screens and mobile experiences are vastly different than what buyers get with a desktop or laptop.

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B2B marketers, in turn, are going to be rethinking the way they approach content experience and design.”

Who said it: Alicia Esposito, Content Strategist

Source B2B Marketing Zone

Follow @content4demand

8) Press relations alone won’t cut it in 2019.

Great public relations professionals will need to understand a myriad of modern communications techniques and adapt accordingly in 2019, if they haven’t already. These include blogging, quality social media engagement, thinking about online communications as “mobile first” and a hyper focus on images and videos. Yes, this means that a PR practitioner without a social media profile head shot or a private Twitter account should be sent to marketing jail.

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Who said it: Michelle McIntyre of Michelle McIntyre Communications LLC

Source: Michelle McIntyre Communications LLC blog

Follow @FromMichelle

(C’est moi!)

By the way, it is “who said it” and not “whom said it.” The trick for figuring out which word to use is to replace “who” with “she” and “whom” for “her.” Then ask, which one sounds better? Since “she said it” sounds better, I went with “who said it.”

Have a phenomenal 2019.

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Michelle McIntyre, founder of Michelle McIntyre Communications LLC, is an IBM PR vet. A 2018 Ragan.com article says she’s one of the Top 50 PR professionals to follow on Twitter. @FromMichelle

Photo credits: The top three representing chatbots, storytelling and mobile images are from Canva and the bottom one is mine.

Are You One of the 52 Million People Who Work At Home? Do It Right With These 3 Tips

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work at home lead photo purchased from Canva Aug 14, 2018

According to the State of the American Workplace Report, more than 40% of Americans say they spend at least part of their time working remotely, a 4% increase from 2012 to 2017.  Since a whopping 52 million* people work from home it makes sense to learn how to do it right. This article provides three tips on maximizing your remote work including one that may surprise you.

Why are there so many remote workers? Remote work means more flexibility and happier employees. It also saves time and money in areas like dry cleaning, gasoline, and day care. I know these benefits well: I worked at home for IBM for a decade and for the last five years for my own PR firm.

IBM’s old rule was that you were assigned a traditional office if you could be in it at least three days per week. My managers and closest coworkers were often in Boston and New York so this Californian usually was sent home to get her work done. That was a win-win. It saved Big Blue a lot of office rent money and I scored a bunch of awards for results. All that extra sleep due to not having to drive two hours a day to and from the office paid off in more energy and awards for results.

extra sleep quote graphic

Times, however, they are a changin’. Sadly IBM Corporate reversed their position on working at home. Luckily I left the company before this happened. I still “bleed blue” by the way; I don’t regret building my career there.

The good news is that many companies are still encouraging workers to stay at home. Some  established startups I’ve worked with are are mostly home-based. Executives tell me it makes it a lot easier to recruit. Worker retention is probably higher because employees don’t want to leave to change to an in-office role.

Here are three tactics I’ve used to be more productive and happier at my at-home job.

  1. Wake up early and take a shower. Don’t work dirty! You feel peppy and professional when you are dressed and feeling your best even if the only person who will see you that day is the FedEx delivery guy or gal. man showering purchased from Canva
  2. Decorate a teleconference wall. Make sure the wall behind you and above your head has attractive decor and the nice lighting. Test what it looks like before a video call with a client or prospect. One test I like is a laptop selfie. I learned this video conference tip from two under 30 CEOs, one in Austin and another Toronto, who had decorated their in-office walls. I thought, people at home should do that too!Home office bedroom wall decor photo purchased from Canva
  3. Get outside every day. Take a walk, run, swim or hike mid-day. Exercise during the work day even if it’s packed with urgent tasks. Remote workers who take on a lot of desk work have the challenge of getting a little lonely. Get outside for a shot of Vitamin D and energy and mood-boosting exercise. Additionally, attend networking groups a minimum of two times a month and invite your favorite client to coffee. When you have a lot of work and you aren’t pitching you clients this tends to happen. When you are wooing new clients it usually doesn’t happen. walk during a work break purchased from canva

In summary, if you are starting a company, don’t be afraid to encourage your workers to stay at home more. They’ll be happier. If you want the benefits of working at home like not having to sit in hellish traffic every day, consider moving to a stay-at-home job.

*How did I get this number? An August 2018 Statistica report said there were 130.64 full time U.S. workers in July. Forty percent of this is 52 million. Therefore around 52 million of us in the U.S. work at home either all or part of the time.

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Michelle McIntyre, an award winning Silicon Valley publicist runs Michelle McIntyre Communications LLC. She blogs for VLAB which brings together startups, established companies, VCs and members of academia to promote emerging tech like artificial intelligence. Follow her on Twitter @FromMichelle. Image credit: All are from Canva.