What has Your Association Done for You Lately?

by Christina Felton, Vollmer Public Relations Austin 

You may ask yourself: Why should I join a professional association? Are associations worth my time and the cost of the membership? The answer is yes. There are many benefits to joining and participating in associations specific to your occupation.

Many are surprised to find that the costs to join associations are minimal and are often combined with discounts on event registration, continuing education courses, complimentary newsletters on industry news and a multitude of networking opportunities. Most importantly, professional organizations are formed to unite and inform industry professionals who work in similar occupations about critical changes and updates to their specific areas of practice.

For instance, the heated healthcare debates have left many professionals feeling uncertain and concerned about potential changes to their occupations and, more specifically, to their industry licenses. With critical changes lurking around the corner for many practitioners, healthcare associations fight for the rights of professionals through education and legislative advocacy.  Two of our clients are great examples.

The Texas Podiatric Medical Association (TPMA) and Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association (TSHA) are both committed to ensuring quality care is made available to the citizens of Texas. With more than 600 members, TPMA promotes the understanding and awareness of podiatrists and seeks to secure the enactment of fair laws for the practice of their members through regulatory and legislative processes. For many Texas podiatrists, TPMA has been an essential part of the growth of their practices.

Likewise, speech-language pathologists and audiologists who join TSHA benefit from the ability to maintain their Texas state license through continuing education opportunities.  TSHA members also can regularly monitor the issues that affect their jobs, licensure and reimbursements. For members, TSHA serves as a voice at the Texas Capitol, advocating to legislators to promote their professions and the consumer’s right to quality care.

Another key benefit to belonging to an association is networking with your peers at association meetings and social events. Aside from the opportunity to meet individuals who share a common interest, membership can also spark new connections within your industry.

For businesses and practitioners who rely on referrals and recommendations, an association membership can become a great source of new business, simply as the result of attending events or having a listing in membership directories. Many association directories are distributed outside the core network, further increasing business opportunities.

The bottom line is that professional organizations are worth the investment. Whether you are a small business just getting started or an established practice, a well-run association can provide the information, leadership and support necessary for greater personal and professional success.

Back to the Future or What I Learned in the PR Wars

by Helen Vollmer, CEO Vollmer Public Relations

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Er . . . what I meant to say was, “Wow, the world of PR is completely different than when I started in this business.”

So, am I talking out of both sides of my mouth when I tell you that both of the above statements are absolutely true when it comes to my profession and the role it plays in the world around us?  Perhaps, but hear me out.

First, the way we operate in public relations is completely different than when I was a young whippersnapper starting out at Ruder Finn more than a few years ago.  With content now in the hands of the public as much as, if not more than, in the hands of traditional media, the rules of the game are changed forever.

We don’t talk so much about media outreach anymore as we do influencer outreach.  Our communication strategies are guided by an ever-expanding universe of individuals, associations, social media applications, policymakers and, yes, journalists who have the power to change the course of a discussion and impact outcomes in powerful ways.   Transparency has forced better, more consistent and more dynamic communications.  It also has given public relations and public affairs experts a seat at the C-level table, as captains of industry have realized that leadership is as much about communication as it is about knowledge of their business.

The world has become flat through technology; however, communicating to a host of important audiences via a myriad of distribution channels is extraordinarily complicated.  And, frankly, this makes the role of a public relations practitioner more important and relevant than ever before.  Public relations counselors must understand the nuances of a situation and be able to dig at a granular level, as well as offer views from above the storm clouds.  This is what good PR people have been trained to do:  address individual niche audiences and develop communications techniques for specifically addressing their needs.

This is where I started, literally, in this business.  Public relations is and always has been about developing means for communicating in meaningful ways targeted to make a difference in outcomes. Of course, what is meaningful today is different than it was 5, 10, 15 years ago.  Typewriters and liquid paper may have gone the way of the dinosaur, but surveys, sampling events, grassroots promotions and brokering meetings with people who can help your cause are all still effective PR cornerstones.  The means for reaching people via these techniques has evolved, but what tugs at the human heart for a change in perception or a purchasing decision comes from an old-fashioned understanding of what’s important to whom.  And communicating effectively, whether it’s via Twitter, the editorial page or on stage at a trade show, is all about the audience, not the sender of the message.  Some things never change.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? The Future of Sites Such as Facebook and Twitter

by Mary Kate Smither, Vollmer Public Relations Dallas

Each day, I log on to my computer and seem to discover that another social media site has launched.  Along with questions about what the site offers, whether I should join and how I’ll find the time to manage my account, I’ve also started to wonder about the business side of the ever-growing universe of social media.  How can all of these sites possibly sustain themselves, become profitable and ultimately grow?

This caught my attention again recently when I read in the Los Angeles Times that Facebook had become profitable ahead of its original predicted date of 2010.  With the addition of 150 million users, for a total of 300 million users in less than nine months, there’s no doubt that Facebook has seen astronomical growth and success.

But how did Facebook do it, and how will other sites like Twitter follow to achieve equal, or even greater, long-term success?  According to a recent article in Advertising Age, keys to Facebook’s success are: its continued user growth, with a fastest-growing demographic of users 35 and up; its low overhead, with a total of 1,000 staff members, or one engineer for every million users; and its strong advertising partnerships with companies such as Microsoft.  Facebook also continues to work on developing its own advertising model to achieve greater benefits from brands wanting to use the site as a vehicle for engaging consumers and other businesses.

Meanwhile, it appears that Twitter is taking a stronger look at advertising as its road to profitability, as well.  As has been noted in recent reports, Twitter’s changes to its terms of service have paved the way for advertising and possible future revenue.  As founder Biz Stone stated in a recent blog post, Twitter is interested in keeping its options open.  Other reports relay that Twitter may begin working with verified corporate accounts as a way to begin driving revenue, with The Wall Street Journal citing companies like Dell and Starbucks and their already popular tweets that help further their brands and build business. It will be interesting to see how sites like Twitter can learn from the current success of Facebook and build their own winning models.

In the meantime, we can all breathe a deep sigh of relief as our Facebook addictions remain alive and well. Friending, sharing, becoming fans of our favorite brands and causes are all still possible--at least for now.

The Most Important Partner Relationships

by Micah Reeves, Vollmer Public Relations Houston

Earlier this month, I was asked to write an article about our partner relationship with Microsoft. While that is a great topic, I find it difficult to write about it right now. While a relationship with Microsoft is important, it is not the most important to me at this time.

My relationship with my employer, Vollmer Public Relations, is having a much larger impact on my life at this time. You see, my father is undergoing surgery to replace part of his hip, which he broke a couple of weeks ago when he fell. Looking back over the past few years, it seems I have spent quite a bit of time in hospitals with various family members. I have had the joy of seeing my son’s first moments and the disappointments of cancer, stroke, food poisoning, and malpractice from treatment in a foreign country. Through everything that has happened, I have seen compassion from many people - especially the people I work with at Vollmer.

These days, it seems like most companies are mainly focused on the bottom line and forget how that line gets driven. People are the cogs that make businesses run and are essential to success, regardless of what a company is doing. The most valuable commodity for most companies is their employees. Even with this simple truth, many companies forget that people are human and have issues that affect their lives and work.

I believe that a direct correlation can be drawn between the productivity of an individual employee and the way that employee is treated by his or her employer. If a company supports its employees through their personal challenges in life, the company will receive more from the relationships with them. I am grateful to work for a company that recognizes this.

Working for Vollmer over the past nine years has shown me many things, and top amongst them is that we are a family. I have never worked for another company where the leadership of the company truly cared about their employees’ personal lives. Vollmer’s leaders commit to their employees, not only on the professional side, but on the personal side of their lives, as well. I don't know what the future holds for me, but I do know that I have a family at Vollmer, one I can count on for support. That is very comforting to know at times like these.

My father just came out of surgery and is doing great. It turns out that the fracture was caused by a tumor from the bone cancer. To everyone at Vollmer, I want to say “thank you” for everything you have done for me and my family through all of this. I couldn’t imagine working with a better group of people.

Reputation CPR

by Tony Shelton, Shelton & Caudle, the Communication Training &  Crisis Counsel Division of Vollmer Public Relations


CPR and crisis communication have the same goal – survival.

A while back, the American Heart Association updated its guidelines for CPR.   The old guidelines were good, but the new ones emphasize the need for harder and faster chest compression to increase victims’ chances of survival.

A crisis planning and training program can be thought of as the CPR of company survival.  An important part of that program has to do with communication. Companies that want to increase the chances their reputations will survive when the worst happens must know how to communicate even quicker than before.  Also,  they have to know how people are communicating today.

Here are four steps you can take now to make sure you’re not still looking for email addresses when the world is tweeting about the downfall of your organization:

• Do a Vulnerability Analysis - Where are your weaknesses, not just in the operation, but in your reputation?   What have your customers complained about?  What are the near-misses you’ve experienced lately?  Have your competitors faced any crises?  It’s great to learn from your own experience, but it’s smart to learn from the experiences of your peers, so you don’t have to experience them firsthand.
  
  
• Test Your Internal Communication - Have you smoothed out the communication between management, operations, legal and PR?  The need for speed has always been great, but these days you have minutes, not hours, before your story is being told by others. Make sure your communication won’t come to a halt because a member of the team retired three years ago and hasn’t been replaced on the contact list.
  
  
• Get to Know Social Media -  Whether or not your company “allows” employees to engage in social media, you need to know what’s being said about you. At least start monitoring a few sites, including Twitter, YouTube, Technorati and Facebook, and set up free Google Alerts to come to your inbox.   Use the search features.  You might even discover a small complaint and be able to address it before it becomes a crisis. (Note:  Even email is going out of style.)
  
  
• Update Your Communication Training – Make sure that your crisis-communication training includes a company-specific scenario with a social media component.    You can be sure that the next real-life crisis will.   After the training, use the outcome of the practice to find any holes in the communication chain.

The basics of crisis communication remain the same:  You need to get out there fast and show the world somebody in the organization is paying attention and doing something useful to address the crisis.

What’s new is that you no longer can control the news about your company.  The best you can do is be part of the conversation.  But that’s hugely important.

It can mean the difference between surviving and not surviving when your company’s reputation starts to “flatline” in the digital world.

Vollmer Video Series: Branding in this Economy

Vollmer Public Relations Dallas GM Denisha Stevens talks about the importance of branding in the current economy.

Vollmer Video Series: Pitching the National Media

Vollmer NYC GM Judy Haveson talks about successfully pitching the national media.

Wording of Letter Apparently Kills Deal to Buy Hospital

by Tony Shelton, Shelton & Caudle, a division of Vollmer PR

"My baby, she wrote me a letter.”   ...from The Letter by the Box Tops

These days, when your “Baby” is much more likely to text or tweet you than write, the nuances of letter writing can seem almost old-fashioned.

Everywhere, that is, except maybe in business. According to news reports today, the Harris County Hospital District backed out of a deal to buy a medical complex in southwest Houston from the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, and the decision was based largely on the tone and wording of a letter sent by Memorial Hermann.

According to the Houston Chronicle, some apparently offensive elements of the letter included: use of demands and deadlines, the use of boldface type and “at least one exclamation point.”

Whatever the real impact of this one letter, it does give us reason to reconsider some basics of approaching the business letter.

• First we need to ask: What objective do we want this letter to achieve? Move the other person to act? Put him on the defensive?
• If there’s a negotiation going on, also consider how other communications are progressing, including phone conversations and face-to-face meetings.
• Who is the specific recipient of the letter? What’s the personality of that person, as well as of the organization? Is he or she open to direct language or likely to react strongly to something that seems like a demand?
• What’s the tone? Can we use neutral words, such as “challenge” instead of “problem”? Such choices can help soften the tone, which might have come across as accusatory or derogatory. (It’s also generally a good idea to skip the boldface type, underlining and exclamation points – all of which can seem like “shouting” on the page.)
• What’s the likely reaction to the letter you’ve drafted? If possible, show it to someone who’s not intimately involved in the negotiation and get an opinion.
• Finally, ask: If we’ve got tough issues to hammer out, is it really better to put them into a letter or should we try to work them out face to face?

If you’re in doubt, involve a communication expert. Vollmer’s counselors often work with companies and organizations involved in negotiations, mergers and acquisitions, as well as crises of all types.

Remember that a letter lacks the emotion and nuances that color conversation. That’s why it’s even more important to carefully consider every word -- and every exclamation point, too, Baby!

When Kanye Takes the Mic From You

by Linda Edwards, Shelton & Caudle/ Vollmer Austin

From shoe throwing to town hall smack-downs to a Congressman heckling the President to Kanye West grabbing the microphone at the MTV Awards, public speaking requires ever more courage and grace. It used to be: Come to the podium if you care. Now it's: Come to the podium if you dare!

These days, more and more city governments, police departments, and even universities are turning to communication consultants to train staff to deal with hecklers and hostile people. Such instruction has always been a part of communication training, but now it has begun to play an even bigger role.

So what’s a public speaker to do? Here are a few tips for those planning to speak at a public meeting or other venue where heckling is a possibility:

• Know your topic well. What's the meanest question somebody could ask you about it? How would you respond to it?
• Acknowledge in advance that an interruption might happen, so you won't be rattled if it does.
• For a single outburst, just ignore it. Keep going.
• If the heckling continues, remember to breathe. Relax. You're still in control.
• Quickly zero in on the essence of the heckler's complaint or question. Is it cost, safety, accountability? Others may have a similar concern.
• Address the essence of the interruption - briefly.
• For example, you could restate the purpose of the meeting and the proper time and place for people to state their concerns. (If there will be time at the end for questions, say so.)
• Or try using phrasing like this, "I understand people have strong feelings about this issue. However, if we're ever going to find a solution, we've got to discuss it in a respectful way. All I ask of you right now is that you hear me out."
• Don't wait for a response. Immediately pick up where you left off.
• If the heckling continues, stay calm. Repeat the steps above.
• And most important?  Never invite Kanye West.

Sometimes humor can go a long way, such as when President Bush commented on the size of the shoes hurled at him during a news conference in Iraq. However, for most of us, attempts at humor amid tension can fall flat. (And, of course, you’ll want to resist the temptation to respond in kind.)

There's another basic thing each of us can do: Resolve to be civil and employ more self-control about what we say and how we say it, whether in a crowd, in person -- or on the internet. Emotional, snarky outbursts, like shoe throwing, rarely result in a useful exchange of ideas.

At least Rep. Wilson kept his shoes on.

Shelton & Caudle Crisis Counsel & Communication Training is a division of Vollmer Public Relations.