*This post is part of Bailey Gardiner’s Public Relations Tactics series, which highlights tools and best practices to ensure a successful public relations campaign. The series will run weekly.

So your trusty PR pro just set you up with a great opportunity to share your message with the public in a TV interview. While you know your company better than anyone else, it is important to note that a TV interview is much different from your day-to-day conversations and has its own set of rules and etiquette.

At Bailey Gardiner we work closely with our client Tiffany & Co.’s New York based corporate PR team.  They recently passed us a document reminding us of best practices for interviews and I found many of their points to be worth sharing.  Below I have compiled many of theirs, along with a few of my own, to help you work with your PR pro to make sure you have all your bases covered in preparation for a TV interview.

Proper Preparation for a TV Interview:
• Identify why the reporter wants this interview, not why you want it. This will help you determine what type of questions will be asked.

• Prep for the time you’ve been given and build your points around that, don’t try to squeeze too many points into too short a time frame.

• Learn about the reporter.  Will he or she ask you hard questions, are they high energy and likely to throw you off guard or will they be having a polite conversation?

• Learn about the station or show.  Do they take a political stance that may affect your interview?  Who is their audience? Cater your messages to that audience to maximize the outcome of your interview.

• Take advantage of the pre-interview. This may come in the form of a call the day before or a quick chat 20 seconds before you go on air.  If you communicate your message either in that interview or first thing in your interview, you are likely to steer the conversation in that direction.

• Always put your preparation before the media’s needs. If you feel ill-prepared to make a statement, buy yourself as much time as possible until you can do it right.  Contact your PR pro and be sure that you aren’t leaving the media with a “no comment” unless you absolutely, positively must.

• Less is more.  Simplify your message and be clear and direct.  Know the core points you want to get across and stick strictly to those.

• Support your points with facts, numbers or personal experiences that show the reporter and viewer that you were needed for this interview.  Be cautious not to overwhelm with facts and keep in mind that often while people are watching morning news, they’re only half watching while they get ready for their day.  Too many facts and figures will go right over their heads.

• “Off the record” doesn’t exist.  Whenever in the presence of media, speak carefully. This starts from the moment you reach the studio to your pre-interview and after (cameras may still be rolling).  The media aren’t bad guys but their job is to get all the info they can.

• Use your company name whenever possible. Avoid using “we” and “they” when you can replace it with your company name.  Some interviews are taped and if they are edited, your company name may get cut if not stated enough.

• Anticipate hard questions.  Practice not only your responses but your bridges to the points you want to be making.

PRSA Counselors Academy 2010 Spring Conference

As you climb up the ranks at an advertising or PR agency you become very good at whatever it is you do for your clients – write, pitch, manage, organize events, design things. What you don’t get very good at is learning how to run an agency. How do you deal with hiring, firing, client contracts, your first pregnant employee, your first lease, payroll and making a profit? The myriad items juggled everyday by agency owners are rarely discussed. Besides, everyone’s too busy on client work to think about that stuff.

When I discovered PRSA’s Counselors Academy about five years ago, I felt like I had finally found “Agency U,” the place where I could learn all the things no one had had the time to share. The annual Spring Conference, this year in Asheville, NC, is one big share. Before we had social media sharing, we had the Spring Conference. You need to know more about new business? Perhaps managing difficult employees? What trends should you be paying attention to in the coming year? It’s all discussed in an open and honest environment, peer to peer.

This year, we’ve got rock stars from PR, Social Media and Leadership attending the Conference:

Brian Solis, principal of FutureWorks and author of Engage, talking about The Future of PR and Social Media

Jay Baer, Social Media consultant and author of the Convince & Convert blog, leading a PreCon to help attendees Create Smashing Social Media Strategic Plans in 7 Steps

Randy Hall, founder of 4th Gear Consulting and organizational leadership coach, helping you Lead Your Business Through the Recovery

This year’s program is aimed at the future. Roundtable topics (always my favorite part of the Conference, other than the eating and drinking parts) include such subjects as Succession Planning; Building Talent Within; What’s a Social Media Community Manager?; and Agency Leadership.

If you manage or own an agency, no matter how small, and are looking for a group of peers who understand exactly what you deal with everyday, find a way to get yourself to Asheville on May 20th. There are discounts for hotel, air and early bird reg.  I’m just not sure what will leave you more inspired, the mountains in the spring or all the learning you’ll take home.

Advertising on Facebook has been a much talked about topic long before the social networking platform reached more than 400 billion users. Marketers were intrigued by Facebook’s ability to customize ads so that they are served to audiences based on gender, age, interests, education levels and marital statuses. But, as it turns out, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

In fact, Facebook ads are so precise that, with a little creativity, they can essentially be served to specific people. This allows for marketers to target niche audiences in a way that far exceeds web banners control, making Facebook ads a powerful advertising tool.

Here are some lesser-known ways to maximize your Facebook ads to help you reach your audience:

1. Target your audience by location

Advertise your local festival or location-specific product/service to people in a certain town by selecting specific zip codes that target users via their IP addres. You can even target audiences that live around a city by inputting distances from the metropolis center.

2. Target your audience by name and connections

You are applying for a new job and you REALLY want to impress your potential employer with your tech savviness. Set up a targeted ad and serve only to the hiring managers. Or, serve your ad by “connection” to reach people who work for a certain company, went to a certain school, belong to a certain club, etc.

3. Target your audience by what they’re talking about on Facebook

Say you are trying to get people to attend Comicon. You can enter specific keywords like “Neal Adams” “Spiderman Comic”, “San Diego” or whatever buzzwords will target your audience better to target them specifically.

4. Target your audience by language

Want to reach out to Hispanics, or maybe native Mandarin-speakers. Use this feature to speak to potential customers… literally.

5. Target your audience by birthday

Someone with an impending birthday is probably thinking about what they want to receive as a gift. This is a great way for retailers in particular to reach an audience who will soon be giving gift ideas to friends and loved ones. This type of reach also allows you to target by astrological sign.

What’s next? Some very popular Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia Wars are exploring new ways to host brand placements that benefits advertisers and users alike.

In the past few years we’ve seen more and more companies using social media contests to find brand ambassadors. Companies like Fiskars have had huge success using these brand ambassadors to influence public opinion in an authentic manner throughout the online space. Now BG is beginning to embark on a social media contest for one of our new clients, and to prepare I’ve been doing some research on what others have been doing and learning what has worked well, and not so well about each. Below I compiled three highly publicized social media contests and my thoughts on the positive and negative aspects of each.

1)  Murphy Goode’s “Really Goode Job”: The company posted job listings on all kinds of sites (everything from Craigslist to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Wine Blog,  The Cellarist) looking for a social media wine enthusiast capable of convincing the masses to sip, savor and tweet about the product.  To enter, contestants were tasked with creating and submitting a video explaining why they should be given the job.  Once submitted, the videos were uploaded to Murphy Goode’s YouTube and voted on by the public.

Positive: Excitement about the six-month job opportunity, and good PR,  led to over 2,000 entries and a ton of media buzz regarding the winery.

Negative: While the contest was described as social and social networks were used in judging, there was a grey area as to whether or not public/social voting really had anything to do with final selection.  Like many other contests, there was backlash because other contestants and voters felt the social voting aspect wasn’t weighted as high as it should have been.  Moral of the story: Brands should be extremely clear about how they’ll select their winners.

2) Coca Cola’s Happiness Ambassadors: Expedition 206 is currently underway as the top three “happiness ambassadors” chosen via social media travel the world (well, at least the 206 countries where Coca Cola is available).  As noted in Ad Age’s interview with Clyde Tuggle, senior VP-global public affairs and communications at Coca Cola, final candidates were not left up to chance.  After reaching out to multiple experienced marketing firms, Coca Cola acquired their top 60 candidates from around the world (based on social media experience and knowledge).  Of those 60, 18 were interviewed in the U.S. and the final nine individuals were then FINALLY presented to the public as three teams of three for social media voting.

Positive: Coca Cola knew the caliber of contestants they were seeking, and instead of hoping the public would find them on their own, they narrowed the playing field to keep the brand happy and allow the public to make their final selections.  Having done their research, it is expected that the content, along with public interest will both be a high success.

Negative: Now that the three ambassadors have been chosen, the public is also in charge of recommending sites and activities for the ambassadors to carry out.  However, I have to wonder if people will lose interest if the ambassadors don’t choose a recommended activity.  And, with most marketing plans, we like to have a decent idea of the outcome.  As for this campaign, Ad Age’s Natalie Zmuda said it best: “In the case of Expedition 206, there’s not yet any clear sense of how the program will deliver or what brand awareness it will generate.”

3) Groupon’s “Live Off Groupon for a Year” Contest: If you aren’t yet familiar with Groupon, they are an amazing organization offering city-specific hospitality coupons.  The increasingly popular company is going to pay $100,000 to an individual that can live off of Groupon deals for one full year.  (Think 50 percent off sushi, or $25 dollars off teeth cleaning).

Positive: While only brave apply, Groupon has done an excellent job at describing who should not apply.  Their rules and description of the contest are written so there really isn’t any confusion about how this may inconvenience the “winner.” With constant curiosity as to whether or not this Groupon lifestyle is really livable, I predict this social media campaign will continue to bring new and returning readers to check on our “chosen one.”

Negative: The selected individual will only win the $100,000 if she successfully survives with nothing but a laptop, cellphone, and an unlimited supply of Groupons.  What if the individual fails?  Does the campaign just end if and when he slips up and uses his own cash to buy McDonald’s without a Groupon?  I guess that’s the excitement of this whole campaign.  We’ll have to wait and watch…

What do you think are some other brand ambassador programs that have demonstrated the power of social media?  Are there any brands that you’d like to be the brand ambassador for?  Please share your opinions in the comments.

We just hired our newest public relations intern, Kristin, a few weeks ago. A senior at San Diego State University, Kristin has already proven to be a great addition to our PR team. And because Bailey Gardiner takes great pride in its internship program (we mentor, train and guide our interns so that by the time their internship is over, they’re ready to take on the world of public relations), we are always looking for the cream of the crop, the best of the best, or in other words, someone who we think will represent BG well.

I spent a few weeks collecting a lot of resumes, cover letters and writing samples from SDSU, USD, UCSD and other university applicants. It was a great process and I wanted to share a list of things I learned as a hiring manager that you may want to consider when applying for an internship (or a job for that matter). You can also read this hiring blog post we wrote last year for additional information.

The top 5 tips on how to land an internship in public relations

1. Follow Directions. Provide the requested materials in your application. We asked for a cover letter, resume and writing sample. That’s it. Pretty basic. Don’t send additional materials even if you think they are going to help you get your foot in the door. It will do the exact opposite.

2. You will be “Googled.” Before submitting an application or resume, search for yourself on Google. See what comes up. You may want to edit a few things, but remember, what happens on the Internet, stays on the Internet.

3. Use Social Media tools. List your LinkedIn profile, Twitter handle, Facebook page (if public) and any other resources you would like to share to demonstrate the quality of your network, experience and knowledge of social media. Be sure these profiles are up-to-date and appropriate for a hiring manager to review. We don’t want to read that you’re the champion of beer guzzling for your fraternity or see pictures of you doing questionable things with your friends. If it’s not something you want to share, make it private.

4. No stalking allowed. Don’t call, email, Facebook or stalk if the hiring notice says, “No calls or emails. Really.” Reference #1. Follow directions. Calling me repeatedly or friending me on Facebook is a sure fire way to not get the job.

5. Do your research. Come prepared to discuss the clients we work with and some current work we’ve showcased on our site/blog. I want to know that you did your homework and that you at least know the types of clients the agency is working on.

I love Bravo TV shows. A lot. My newest addiction is Kell on Earth because 1) I love (and work in) PR and 2) I love fashion. To bring you up to speed, Kell on Earth follows PR fashion guru Kelly Cutrone and her publicists at People’s Revolution. While some of the stuff they show is pretty cutthroat (think tears, firing people, yelling, messy desks, meltdowns), it’s reminded me of a few truths about PR:

1. Yes, we sometimes work long hours: Junior Account Exec. Stephanie Skinner puts her heart and soul in People’s Rev, pulling 11-hour days and even choosing her job over her boyfriend.  While that’s not exactly standard, there are times when a publicist must work beyond the 8:30 to 5:30. This could include being up well before sunrise to make a 6 a.m. live, in-studio interview with a client, mingling at a gala fundraiser until 10 at night, or even pulling an all-nighter to put together a killer RFP.

2. We stay together till the end: In this past Monday’s episode, Kelly yells at Skinner for allegedly sending the new girl home early and tells her that at People’s Rev they stay together till the end. I LOVED Kelly for this. It’s important to remember that working at an agency, you work on a team. For example, the accounts handled by Bailey Gardiner’s PR team each have at least two people per account.  So, we’re in it together – for the good and the bad.

3. Small firms can deliver big results: People’s Rev (at the time Kell on Earth was shooting anyway) only had a handful of publicists but delivered fantastic results for big-name clients like Agent Provocateur and Genetic Denim. Hiring a big agency isn’t necessarily the answer to success. Creative agencies, like Bailey Gardiner, may be small in terms of number of employees but are big in terms of handling national accounts and providing stellar results.

4. Well, number four isn’t really a truth about PR at all but I guess you could say it’s a rule to live by in life: Don’t shop at Walmart.

The Art Alive invitation package for The San Diego Museum of Art is printed and will drop in the mail this Thursday. The Museum and patrons loved last year’s award-winning design so much – they wanted to use the same concept. Since repeating a design is boring both for the designer and the viewers, our challenge was to improve on the idea. Last year, Kelly shot the brush parts as giant, macro pieces. This year we shot the brush parts close-up to get a different look and feel. This project was started with a sketch of a full page ad (see Image 1.) with three brushes. Once we had an idea of the three brush shapes to be produced, we then did photography of the paintbrush parts.

Here are some of the steps to producing the red brush. Images 2., 3., and 4. show the raw photographs of what were used for the paintbrush handle, brush tip and petals. In Photoshop, I made selections of the elements using paths to drop out the backgrounds. Image 5. shows the five pieces that make up the entire brush. Image 6. is the composite of all the parts with a little more work done on the handle to make it fuller through the center like a real paintbrush. All the elements are on separate layers in Photoshop and work together to create the paint stroke and the brush. This modular approach to the paintbrush production allows the art to be manipulated to fit the many different layouts (image 7.) required during the Art Alive show at The San Diego Museum of Art. What do you think of the results?

I just read this great article about Nestle’s recent Facebook debacle and absolutely loved it. The short version of the Facebook disaster is this: Greenpeace is mad at Nestle over palm oil and a bunch of their members began taking to Facebook to express their outrage. They covered the Nestle Facebook Fan Page with wall posts and changed their profile pictures to altered versions of the Nestle logo to further make their point. The moderator of  Nestle’s Facebook page became flustered by the outpouring of hatred, and responded in a manner that was just a little too human. Comments such as: “Thanks for the lesson in manners. Consider yourself embraced. But it’s our page, we set the rules” certainly didn’t win him/her any fans. This whole mess draws attention to what I think is one of the least talked about, but maybe most important, aspects of social media – the social media crisis plan. Clearly, Nestle had no such plan ready.

But with no plan laid out, how could the moderator know how to handle such a delicate and heated situation? On one hand, I completely understand the moderator’s response (and even secretly applaud it a little, although I wouldn’t have gone there myself). Anyone who has ran a Facebook Fan Page for a client and had to deal with people’s inappropriate/rude/harsh comments, can tell you they are hard to cope with. Many times I’ve had to curb the desire to respond to an overly zealous persons complaint with a “Hey this is a FAN page. If you aren’t a fan, feel free to leave” or a “now why don’t you just simmer down a bit.” But as the Nestle moderator learned, angry people don’t appreciate sarcasm or rudeness, so I’ve refrained.

The challenge for many companies is that when crisis does break out in a social media space, it seems like there is no correct response.  Just regurgitating the public press statement probably won’t win you any engagement awards. However Nestle’s “human” approach, didn’t have a positive effect either. So what’s the right answer?

I’ve found it varies per client, but there are a couple of tactics we employ most often.

1. Ignore it. “What??!” you ask? I’ve learned that, sometimes, there is no good way to respond and any response is only going to anger your critics more. Things will die down, probably sooner than you thought, and definitely sooner than if you tried to jump in and defend yourself. Plus, sometimes, when you keep yourself out of the conversation, your fans will jump in and start defending you. What’s better than that?

2. Thank people for their comments and let them know you heard their concerns. If it is something like this Nestle situation, where clearly there were no new answers that would appease the members of Greenpeace, it is pointless to just try and re-state your position. Instead, just thank them for their thoughts and wait for next week when they’ve moved onto something else.

3. Respond with humor. This will only work for certain situations but often times humor can diffuse a situation. People don’t expect it and it can help put everything in perspective. This one is risky though because you have to ensure that your humor doesn’t border on rude or sarcastic. As we’ve seen, that probably won’t be effective.

So what do you think about Nestle’s response? How would you have handled it better?

Friday night was the Annual Addys Awards at the Se San Diego Hotel hosted by the San Diego AdClub, and it was a great night for Bailey Gardiner and for the entire San Diego advertising and marketing community. What a great showing of creative work by everyone involved! My particular favorite was the category for work-you-sweated-over-and-really-loved-but-the-client-didn’t-chose-it-for-some-insane-reason, or the more politically correct version “Ultimate Torture” Category.  And yes, we won an award in that category for a campaign we created for the San Diego Museum of Art that never saw the light of day (see our Creative Graveyard).

BG was also honored by several People’s Choice Awards too:

• Advertising for the Arts & Sciences – The San Diego Museum of Art
• Interactive Media – San Diego Hospice
• Agency Self Promotion – Bailey Gardiner website

Plus we picked up an award in the Elements of Advertising Category for our Rockrose new homes community Logo Design.

A fun night had by all – and kudos to our awesome creative team for their award-winning work.

We could not have done it without them!

A few of us had the opportunity to attend ExpoWest last week – the grand daddy trade show in the Natural Products industry – and judging from the attendance of both exhibitors and buyers, this segment is roaring back from the recession.  Everywhere we walked in the cavernous Anaheim Convention Center, we heard deals being cut, sales orders being written, and marketing spiels being perfected.  All to say, these are good signs that America is back to buying, and ready to commit to natural products and organic foods.

Our client Hero Nutritionals had a smashing show, and were very pleased with the turnout of customers, new prospects and media. And judging from the number of people interacting in their booth, I’d say it was a very successful outing for them.  As we toured through the wares of many exhibitors, we were impressed with the caliber of booth design, materials and overall savvy that many companies displayed. And surprised by the lack of materials that some others offered.

Overall the show was brimming with cool stuff, designed well and presenting a host of opportunities for creative marketing firms (ahem). Here’s a few of our favorites:

Sunfood – Great company selling raw and organic products like cacao paste and goji berries, and with style and panache. I even got a free tshirt.

Evolution Fresh – The freshest and most delicious organic/natural fruit drinks I have ever tasted. Love me some watermelon juice…

Mrs. May’s – Ridiculously addictive nut bars and crunches that are ripe (’scuse the pun) for growth. Could take off it a big way.

Sibu – OK this one is so out there that it has to take off big. Derived from the elusive Sea Buckthorn berry and grown only in the Himalayas, this product is good for your skin, hair and nails.  Tasty too – just like candy.

Honeynz – Pure New Zealand honey products, including delicious spreads made from honey mixed with apricot, cinnamon, raspberry and many other delicious natural fruits and spices. I predict this one will hit it big.

Kind Snacks – I love this company’s position and goal – to help the world through kind acts and nutrition. Wonderful use of cause-based marketing to create a movement.  Brilliant. And delicious.

Tetra-Pak – The most incredible innovation in packaging I have seen in years. This carton replaces the dastardly plastic bottles we all drink our water from. Buy stock in this company now.

Mrs. Meyer’s – Definitely one of the bigger brands on my list, this company does a fantastic job at marketing. Their trade show booth was a camper, with “Mrs. Meyers’ Kitchen” inside for all to see, complete with squeaky clean appliances, clothes line, and bright white linens.  Super fun.

We are all inspired to work more diligently in the area of natural products and with organic, eco-concious companies. It’s a growth market, and thankfully, one that is here to stay.