Archive for the ‘PR’ Category
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
I read an interesting post on PRWeek about the latest and greatest on the worst environmental PR crisis of our time. The Huffington Post had a much more direct approach to the issue. The New York Times had a good blog post on this, too. Great, so now we’re fighting with each other from across the pond instead of trying to work together to fix this.
It does anger me to see this finger pointing game carry on. It’s as if we’ve asked incapable people to lead and manage our world, and our environment.
While I don’t understand fully the politics behind the issue (we’ll probably never know all the facts), I do know that finger pointing is not a healthy PR tactic. It is a miserable - and very temporary way - to place the blame somewhere else while the crisis continues and evolves. The fact is that oil keeps spilling… and spending time and energy assigning blame to politicians, or whoever else, won’t stop its horrific effects.
If PR is about establishing and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships, containing issues and dealing with them with leadership - then I think the way we are approaching the BP issue is incorrect. We’re not simply failing the public here. We’ve failed our environment.
Far more concerning is the uncertainty of how to resolve the issue. When leadership is absent, finger pointing and petty talk begins. How sad is that, especially as our our eco-system is desperately still trying to hold on.
I’m also worried about the effects of this that our children will face in a time when references to BP or British Petroleum won’t matter. Do we get what we deserve at this point?
My daughter is too young to understand what the spill is about just yet, but she’s grasping the importance of social responsibility. I took her to the beach last week and we were having fun splashing around in the shallow water. She saw a plastic Publix bag floating nearby and said to me firmly, ”Mommy, that’s inconsiderate!” She’s so right.
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Tags: bp crisis, bp or british petroleum, crisis in the gulf of mexico, eco-systems, finger pointing and bp, florida beaches oil, florida wildlife, oil spill
Posted in European Destinations, Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, social media | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 11th, 2010
I received this topic as a request to write a blog post a few days ago. Anyone who has some connection or experience at a hotel can become an ambassador. Employees, for instance, are probably the top ambassadors of the hotel and its brand. Repeat guests, corporate clients, and community members are also excellent ambassadors.
What happens however when the ambassador is a celebrity chef, or award winning sommelier who works at the hotel? Obviously, there is much PR value to be had from a celebrity who is sought after to do TV shows, interviews, etc., to promote the hotel. And this is absolutely fine, as long as the hotel’s message is in line with the PR strategy.
The fact is that many chef celebrities need media training. Period. As PR professionals, we cannot expect a chef, or sommelier, or GM to know all the right answers on camera. They may be very reserved, or overly enthusiastic, to the extent of blurring the hotel’s message. It’s clearly the PR team’s responsibility to train and make them understand the message and help them deliver it. For instance, talking points are great but they must be repeated, especially on camera, where a quick cooking performance could take all day to shoot, but is edited down to a few minutes.
Striking a balance between respecting the celebrity’s value in the hotel, and appreciating their talent is important to do in this process. Through media training techniques PR pros help the celebrity look good as they plug in the hotel. Yes, there are exceptions of chef celebs who are great PR ambassadors because they just get it right away. There are others who require more attention.
Either way, arm yourself with patience and tact when prepping a celeb.
Of course, if you’re in PR and reading this, you already know that it’s one thing to say this and another to actually follow through with it!
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Tags: celebrity chefs, employee ambassadors in hotels, hospitality media training, hotel ambassadors, hotel pr, media training, pr and hotels, social media PR, sommelier in hotels, tv shows for hotels
Posted in European Destinations, Hospitality, Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, Top Accommodations, social media | 2 Comments »
Monday, June 7th, 2010
I was reading some of the public comments from today’s report in the New York Times about the oil spill, “Dispersal of Oil Means Cleanup to Take Years,” and I couldn’t believe how many people are upset with so many different parts of the issue. Many regret who they voted for in 2008, others are still upset with BP’s inconstintency, others outraged at how many years the clean up will take, how much it will cost, and so on. Like many others, I continue worrying about the future of our coastlines.
The latest information about the spill shouldn’t come as a surprise, of course so much oil has spilled - certainly its enough to keep us busy for years. However, the saddest part of the article, at least to me, was how Admiral Allen described that “we’re not dealing with a monolithic spill,” but how the hundreds of thousands of oil patches are now referred to as an enemy. Specifically, “an enemy that changes.”
Meanwhile, isn’t it interesting how the drill was initially going to be an answer to our alternative sources of energy? The answer now floats in the hunders of thousands patches of oil on the water, “oil that has broken into so many patches across the surface of the sea and spreading out in so many different directions.”
Let us put that into perspective.
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Tags: bp pr nightmare, crisis in the gulf, florida wildlife, new york times oil spill, oil and water, oil spill gulf, pr crisis management
Posted in Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, social media | No Comments »
Sunday, May 30th, 2010
My daughter likes eating fish at least once a week. I fondly remember how fascinated she was at 12-18 months every time that “green” BP commercial came on with the catchy song, “make the day a little better… say hey!” What a terrific campaign that was.
I have held up writing a post on the oil spill in the Gulf, mainly because I wanted to allow some time for my outrage to subside, but mostly, waiting for the final solution to an environmental problem that a number of incapable people in positions of perceived power have created.
Living in Florida, it is heartbreaking to read about the current and potential effects of this catastrophe. The PR person in me though is extremely disappointed in the manner this crisis has been handled… passed off on, mishandled, and without concrete answers. The situation is out of control, and getting control is the first step to containing a crisis. Over a month has passed since the drill in the Gulf and the information the public is getting is, at best, scattered, vague and murky. Where is the messaging? Where is the preparation for a crisis of such magnitude? With an obvious lack in issues management from BP, I think that spending time finding one person to blame isn’t the point. There probably isn’t just one person solely responsible for the drill, but several who contributed. So, why aren’t we seeing those people in hip boots trying to salvage coastal wildlife and assuming social responsibility? Where is the human element in this entire situation? Oh, but no, it’s so much better to send useless robots to plug concrete stubs to plug the oil spill.
Finger pointing continues as our beaches and wildlife erode at the dawn of the 2010 hurricane season. I read theories of how the spill can actually help the biodegrading process, but that doesn’t have me convinced when I see the pelican drenched in oil just because he is searching for food in his habitat. I don’t see the BP CEO anywhere near there, either.
Clearly the PR process needs to be better managed, and research on this should have been better conducted. Maybe BP will finally close down after all this. Maybe BP will keep throwing us millions to advertise about our gloriously oil spilled beaches. Maybe Anna will stop liking fish. Maybe BP and the government will continue down playing the issue.
Or, maybe they are holding out for something groundbreaking and earth shattering to happen. Say hey.
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Tags: bp, earthbreak 2010, florida coastline, gulf of mexico, hurricanes and oil spill, issues management, oil spill gulf, pr crisis
Posted in Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, social media | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
I was talking to Ann Manion yesterday, a highly regarded hospitality consultant, who focuses on hotel reputation management with her new company Hotel Advantage. She and I were on the phone for nearly an hour talking about independent hotel trends as it relates to PR, content, messaging and the complex world of maintaining an excellent reputation in a rich media world.
We both have similar perspectives on hospitality, though practice different areas in communication. We touched on several topics and found that it isn’t easy to manage a hotel’s reputation, especially when the property is independently owned and managed. It takes a dedicated effort to respond properly to anything from horrific reviews, poorly positioned articles, and bad blog posts that unfortunately GMs have no control over in a social media environment. As the old saying goes, when you can’t control what happens around you, you can still control your reactions (or ”freactions” as I like to call them).
Sometimes hotels take poor reviews very personally, and it’s tempting to lash out and become defensive on a response post on TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc. While a response is the right course of action, it should be well thought out and positioned in a constructive way. Chances are you may lose the guest who had a negative experience anyway, but the way you respond will speak mountains to those potential guests who read the thread for years to come.
Ann had some excellent points on hotel reputation management via social media media, and how important it is to train the right staff to guard a hotel’s message. Keeping things viral isn’t enough, it is about maintaining quality in the overall social media marketing strategy. Right now, there is still too much information out there on the web that should be shaken out.
And unfortunately, there are still many independent hotels who don’t feel ready to grasp the opportunities social media can offer in the travel and hospitality world. However, the more hotels understand the concept of content quality in the social media sphere, the more hotels will be apt to give it a try.
I believe that the ones who have created a social media strategy (and actually followed through with it), even as a simple means to market their message, have not looked back.
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Tags: bad hotel reviews, hospitality social media, hotel marketing communications, hotel pr, hotel reputation management, responding to poor reviews, social media PR, tripadvisor andd hotels
Posted in European Destinations, Hospitality, Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, Top Accommodations, social media | No Comments »
Monday, May 17th, 2010
We talked about Foursquare a couple of months ago, and since then the app has been more and more popular! It’s a digital form of crowd sourcing, and the popularity of becoming “Mayor” of a place, shop, store, hotel, restaurant, or any other location is quickly becoming competitive.
What does this new app mean for hotels, and how can they use it as a marketing tool? Okay, so first it’s probably a little too soon to know exactly who your Foursquare users really are, although you already know that they are tech savvy, have a smart phone, and more than likely are avid Facebook and Twitter users.
Depending on the social media strategy of the hotel, Foursquare could be an excellent outreach tool, especially when it comes to offering Foursquare “specials.” For instance, some restaurants are offering free appetizers for those who “checkin” on a certain date and show their phone to the host. My friend Mark Johnson of HotelChatter posted an article about which hotels are using the app to promote deals and specials.
The immediacy of Foursquare is very attractive, as well as the potential of guests randomly running into someone they know. The deals are a good thing, too. Collecting badges and becoming mayor are a whole other story, though there are multiple marketing opportunities for hotels to capitalize on frequent and loyal Foursquare users.
By the way, from my 3750 approx Gmail contacts 15 are now using Foursquare - nearly twice as many from almost two months ago!!
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Tags: digital crowd sourcing, facebook and hotels, foursquare and hospitality, hotel mayors foursquare, hotel pr, hotels and foursquare, social media PR
Posted in European Destinations, Hospitality, Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, Top Accommodations, social media | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
One of the main reasons I started my own PR practice with a focus on hospitality and travel is that I wanted to communicate messages about the unique, personal, memorable - and sometimes quirky- hotels and destinations in the world to the avid traveler. I wanted to help small, independent hotels tell their story to travelers who sought a different experience than the mainstream chains. My philosophy has been that the luxury in travel is not in the money one spends, but in the richness of the experience.
With that in mind, there’s a distinct difference in practicing PR among the types of hotels, and it each type has strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats from a PR perspective (indeed, I am referring to a SWOT analysis… it’s important to do before undertaking any major marketing / marcomm initiative).
For example, in my experience I have found that the main challenge of doing PR for independent boutique hotels is that you must create a name that resonates with its brand positioning. Plus, you really only get one chance to get it right, so your strategy must be studied and executed carefully. Therefore, the PR process is very different between launching, say, an unknown, 15-room boutique hotel in Easter Island, versus a business Starwood hotel in London.
The destination of the hotel is also an important ingredient in the PR campaign, regardless of the type of the property, and whether or not it is new to the travel market. Corporate hotels (chains) may sometimes be less challenging to do PR for because they are already members of an established brand with generally predictable coverage in the pipeline (print/online/social media).
However, independent, boutique properties who invest in PR call for a fresh strategy, that talks about a new experience, a new travel opportunity, and a new perspective to the potential guest. Sometimes it’s the story behind the owner, or the exclusive travel niche a property has that starts conversations. It might be about how the owner gives each guest a personal tour, the success of the compost program the hotel implements, or the taste of the organic coconut water at turndown that stands out. Whatever the angle, the key is to provide quality, interesting and continuous information to the media (and social media) and tailor your PR efforts accordingly.
Regardless of the property’s size, preference, or type, as PR practitioners specializing in hospitality we must build and maintain great relationships with the appropriate tourism boards, tour operators, as well as press and social media who report on the destination… and then in turn the hotel. I have found that incorporating holistic, destination-focused PR strategies for the independent hotels I have worked with so far have yielded not only continuous results and success, but also healthy, long term relationships.
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Tags: hospitality pr, hotel media relations, hotel pr, luxury travel, social media pr for hotels
Posted in European Destinations, Hospitality, Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, Top Accommodations, social media | No Comments »
Monday, April 26th, 2010
Stay tuned for the new look of Didi Lutz PR!
Meanwhile, I received an interesting email from one of the loyal readers to my blog who was asking what I thought about opening fake Twitter accounts for companies just to increase the number of followers. Even though something like a fake account can be more or less harmless, where does it weigh in on the ethics scale?
As a rule of thumb in my practice, I believe that if you have to question something it means there’s a reason to do so. Just like with false reviews on TripAdvisor and such sites, fake accounts on social media networks are supposedly created to increase stats and numbers to influence the public perception of a company. I have emphasized several times in my posts that the quality of followers on Twitter/FB outweigh the quantity. Specifically, I think that Twitter is what you make of it, and how you can find a way to make it work for you. I don’t see how fake accounts help in any way other than for stats, but if marketing/PR strategists are smart they will look beyond the number of followers per month, and look at the quality of the dialogue, posts and communication on the Twitter page to determine success instead.
Twitter’s popularity has already decreased, so going through the process of creating false accounts to show higher numbers in followers doesn’t make much sense anyway.
Follow me on www.twitter.com/dd300
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Tags: fake followers, fake twitter accounts, pr ethics, public relations and social media, quality posts on twitter, social media PR, twitter followers, twitter pr
Posted in European Destinations, Hospitality, Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, Top Accommodations, social media | No Comments »
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
I was reading a good book about the new rules of PR and Marketing last weekend, and it made me think how much the IMC field has evolved in less than five years. It made me a little sad that the science/art/business of PR has to play by new rules in order to be strategic. Most of all, I am sad because the lines between PR / Marketing / Advertising are once again blurred… even though we were so close to understanding their key differences. However, reality is now, and I find that the new rules for PR success are not unreasonable. Below are some that have stood out in my mind from my readings, and from my own experience so far:
- PR pros no longer pitch exclusively to media. The direct-to-consumer communication takeover is fueled by social media, taking up most of PR practitioners’ time and effort.
- Press releases aren’t dead; they are completely redefined as something similar to ”consumer releases.”
- The one-hit PR wonder on the Today Show, Oprah, TIME is pretty much a thing of the past. The trend of pitching to bloggers with SEO loaded text and the idea of offering up constant news in the online world is becoming more appealing for many companies. While everyone would love to have a Newsweek editorial endorsement, companies find it more strategic to appear in multiple (albeit lesser known) outlets where SEO is key.
- PR folks are changing their lingo. Terms such as fact sheet, media advisory, and broll are not necessarily common terms for everyone. The language of a “consumer release” is different than the structure of a traditional press release.
- Social media etiquette. All users should have this, but PR people should set the example as communication professionals. Uploading high-quality content that addresses the message well, while be open to comments and feeback is important.
There are other new rules and subrules to follow as we bypass the media filter and talk directly to consumers these days. These new rules are taking over quickly, and drastically changing the way we practiced in our field. If you are a PR person out there, I’m interested in hearing how you think this will affect your career.
Here’s my question: Do you still want to be in PR now that we’re asked to essentially morph into direct marketers, who happen to possess great writing skills, just so that we can publicize SEO content to users? Since everyone can become a journalist these days, how does that affect your practice, and will that also mean that everyone can become a self-proclaimed PR person? Has that already happened? Do your skills help you stand out in PR, or are you feeling the urge to reinvent yourself within the field?
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Tags: gurus, high quality content, imc, marketing and pr, new rules of pr and marketing, pr branding, pr misconceptions, pr skills, pr writing skills, self-proclaimed pr people, seo content, the new press release
Posted in European Destinations, Hospitality, Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, Top Accommodations, social media | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
The changing environment in publishing, reporting, and journalism have shifted they way we communicate to our audience as marketing communications pros.
It could be because, traditionally, nearly 90% of content filtered through media outlets was provided by PR sources anyway. It may be because, these days, everyone is a reporter of some sort with blogs and self-promoted text. Or, it might be due to the social media direct-to-consumer revolution that has changed the process of information creation, and content distribution.
The point is, both the publishing and PR fields still need great writers, and we need great reporters to add credibility to the stories we pitch. Credibility and high quality content is going through its own crisis right now; so called “experts” and “gurus” post free, SEO loaded text, making it difficult for the public to distinguish accurate from non-accurate information.
Media relations is falling into the endangered PR skill set. While the practice of PR will always remain alive, albeit ever changing, media relations must survive as a tactic for strategic communications. Five years ago, you could call or email a story idea to a reporter, and gradually build a relationship to place newsworthy stories. Now, those reporters are laid off doing something else, and we’re left with fewer reporters and outlets to contact. Those reporters who have survived don’t have much time for many story ideas, because they are so backlogged with other stories. We’ve ended up pitching bloggers and consumers directly on Facebook, Twitter, and the like. This tremendous shift in the PR process is an issue that affects most industries across the globe.
If something isn’t done to filter content in a way that factors in credibility and accuracy, this crisis will fully implode… changing not only the manner in which we write, read, and receive content (whether it’s news and/or infotainment), but I expect it will also influence the way the public interprets that content.
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Tags: content, credibility and pr, credible content, filter content, media relations in crisis, pr skills, pr writers, public opinion, public relations, publishing crisis, social media direct to consumer
Posted in European Destinations, Hospitality, Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, Top Accommodations, social media | No Comments »