Yesterday Deon Daugherty with the Houston Business Journal called and asked if I would comment on a recent article in The Onion about the increase in job opportunities for recent PR grads in the fracking industry.

For the uninitiated, The Onion, which labels itself as a satirical news outlet, in some parts of society is viewed as a reliable news source, but in reality it is about a step below The National Enquirer.

Considering someone from the Fifth Ring team is on the phone with a reporter from the HBJ (seemingly) on a daily basis securing or staffing an interview, I figured it was the least I could do. Click here to read Deon’s blog post.

Of course, it didn’t take long to determine The Onion article was less than thorough and ultimately it got me thinking about a couple of things…

Specifically, where did the idea come from that companies hire PR people to shield them from controversy or help them come up with ways to keep secrets secret? This couldn’t be further from the truth. Most are wholly interested in helping their clients do the right things and generate compelling stories that advance the brand in some way.

Do we get called in to help (re)position the client in the best possible light when times are tough or when there has been a corporate misstep? Of course we do.  But rarely does that conversation happen without a PR pro seeking clarity and advocating for stakeholder visibility. Typically this comes with some sort of mea culpa and a plan to correct the issue.

Are there illegitimate PR practitioners who violate all manner of professional ethics and morals? Of course there are, but you have that in every profession.

Ben Franklin said “three can keep a secret if two are dead.” Given the nature of the digital world as we know it today, it is inevitable that secrets do not stay secret and wrongdoing will eventually be found out. So, companies—no matter the industry—would be well advised to heed the counsel of public relations people who are guided by a code of ethics that was written with the wellbeing of the general public in mind.

More often than not, the principles of PR are put to use to ensure a company or spokesperson doesn’t inadvertently say the wrong thing and thus create an issue when in fact there isn’t one.

The next thing that struck me was how can The Onion get away with referencing a “labor market report” without any mention of who authored the report or even the title? The article has gone on to be quoted or referenced on dozens of online sites with none questioning the premise of the report, article or the source.

One reporter, Susan Phillips of State Impact Pennsylvania, which contributes to WHYY and WITF, called it a joke.

If we do operate under the premise that the article is a bit of a ruse, then the following quote from The Onion’s story might be a great example of a person being quoted who should have utilized PR assistance.

Regarding recent PR grads, Bart Hobijn observed:

"These days, media-savvy professionals who know how to publicize questionable scientific data in order to downplay the environmental dangers of forcing toxic fluids into the ground can pretty much write their own ticket."

I don’t know how many “recent PR grads” you know, but I have yet to meet one who was a savvy enough to do what Mr. Hobijn suggests. I suppose the same could be said of economists and researchers who used questionable methods and data to assure the public that investing in banks who participated in credit-default swaps was in fact a sound, strategic investment.

That being said, the quote seems misinformed given the unsourced nature of the survey.  My guess is he said it as a private citizen and not in an official capacity, but The Onion portrays him as the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s spokesperson offering comment on behalf of the federal government.

Clearly the PR industry could stand to do a bit of good PR on its own behalf, but I would be willing to bet Mr. Hobijn is wishing he had a PR person helping him potentially dig out of a hole right now. If he does indeed need some assistance, I know some savvy folks right there in San Francisco who would be willing to help out.

 

 

Every once in a while I tweet music star, Taylor Swift, to let her know that I'd be happy to answer the phone if she ever wanted to call me. 

She never tweets me back. Besides becoming a Grammy nominated country music artist, I don’t know what more I can do to get her to notice me. Which is why I’m writing a blog post.

I need to strengthen my social media presence so maybe I might stand a chance, because power lies deep within credibility and numbers…and social media.

What are some things that we as practitioners should try to integrate into our social media life?

According to Forbes, we should be involved in a large number of channels such as YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter and LinkedIn and participate frequently.

CommPRO.biz has 10 tips of their own on what to do in 2012 for social media. Here are the ones I thought were the most important.

• Add search engine optimization (SEO) keywords to social media blurbs because by doing this it helps people find us.

• A social media icons to all of our websites to make our efforts easily accessible.

• Create and announce a “we’re going to the Moon” plan.

“The U.S. went to the moon because the president set the goal, called both industry and the citizenry to action, and would not take no for answer,” said Vicki Flaugher of commPRO. “Follow this example with social media implementation. Include everyone and set the bar high.”

• Produce more original content. As I said earlier, producing content is the way to become a social media presence, but this content must be original content. Be interesting!

• Stop all third person jargon. Social media needs the personal touch because as Flaugher puts it “would you consider it professional to introduce yourself in third person at a business cocktail party?”

• Above all – find the right people in your company to use social media, but also include everyone because they may have some ideas that will help.

To read all of commPRO’s tips, click here.

 

For the holidays, the Fifth Ring Houston team went out for dinner. Since we are communications professionals, we notice things that sometimes go unnoticed by the public-at-large.

Once dinner was finished, the waiter brought the check and an envelope with a special offer.  In an effort to have customers return, the restaurant provided diners with an envelope guaranteeing a prize. Service-type businesses such as restaurants typically give away coupons, but this was no ordinary BOGO (buy one, get one) offer. Instead, you had to bring the envelope back after the New Year and open it in front of your server. Then, and only then, could you receive your prize of some sort. Open the envelope before you were seated in front of the server and the certificate was null and void.

Even though we understood the premise of the offer, we instantly wanted to know what the prize was. A free meal? Two free meals? Even better, free dessert? The possibilities were driving the table crazy.

We even tried to peek, however the message we saw when we lifted a corner of the envelope was “No Peeking!” They knew we would be tempted and were one step ahead.

Hmm, this was tough. It made us all want to come back. The food was good, ambience casual and the service was attentive. It was then we began to appreciate the value in their incentive. They had the same thoughts we did and decided to act upon it to help retain their business.

Brilliant.

Too often companies fail to show the proof points or the “how” in their marketing communications. How is your product or service different from your competitors? How do you increase the number of hits on your website? Or how do you entice a reader to keep reading? For this restaurant it was how do you get all these people to come back again?

The answer on this night? The perceived value in the envelope.

What keeps your (potential) clients coming back for more? It doesn’t always have to be a prize, but it has to be something they value.

Learning your stakeholder’s value is no easy task, but the payoff can be just as sweet. It takes time, research, understanding and skill. Often, it requires the expertise of professionals like our Brand Positioning team. However, mere mortals—and PR professionals—can do this too, but it does take a little know how.

Now, in any regular blog, this is where you would get three to five tips on how to do this yourself, but clearly that wouldn’t be in keeping with the tone of this post. No, if you want to know how to hone in on what your audience desires, you’ll have to just come back next month, or give us a cal.

However, if you want to know what was in the envelope, it was a certificate for a free dessert!

As Operations Manager here in Aberdeen, it is not often that the chance to travel crops up (certainly not travel that requires my passport) – that tends to be left to my more client facing, business development or just plain jammy colleagues.

However, having recently introduced a new Operating System into our offices in both Aberdeen and Dubai, it was time for Houston to join us now that things had settled down a little. One small problem though – they don’t have an ‘Operations’ person on site to help with the set-up, training and introduction.

It was a tough decision to make but I stepped up to the plate for the sake of the ‘team’ and it was down to me to make the trip across the pond. The things I have to do for this company.

It was by sheer coincidence (honestly…no honestly) that my travel plans coincided perfectly with Thanksgiving and no sooner had I landed at George Bush Intercontinental and been escorted to my hotel that I was being picked up by Ed Davis, our Houston big-gun, top-dog, PR Yogi (that’s an in-joke) and taken to his place to spend the evening with his family and friends – all very lovely people it has to be said.

“Wear elasticated pants” was my only instruction prior to being picked up and, once I realised that it needed translating somewhat, I relaxed and ensured my belt had an extra couple of holes if required. They were required.

Turkey and all the trimmings welcomed me and my first Thanksgiving was a hugely enjoyable one with chat, watching football (well, the kind where they never really use their feet…and it’s not very ball shaped) and to finish things off, pie. Three pies to be exact - apple, pumpkin AND pecan. I’m still recovering.

So, within hours of arriving I had experienced the famous ‘Southern Hospitality’, and it has to be said it continued to the moment my trip was over and got back to the airport.

With our colleagues in Houston, namely Angelica, Heather, Jeremy (and Yogi of course) we have a fantastic team of talented professionals who not only made me feel very welcome but I could tell were going out of their way to ensure they were meeting all of their clients needs. They were obviously being as well looked after as I was.

I was hugely impressed by not only how well they all worked as a team but more generally how well they coped with such a busy workload and took it all in their stride. I’ve always known our Houston office to be a very successful one (indeed award-winning) – now I could see why.

It was not all play though (my timesheets will attest to that!) and I got down to the business of getting them up and running in the new system. It took a while but we got there in the end and they know that I am just a Skype call away as they settle in over the coming weeks and months.

When I managed to get away from the laptop either in the office or back at the hotel, food, unsurprisingly, played a major role. To be fair I was warned, but even I was surprised by the portion sizes. It was a real mixed bag – everything from Eggnog Cupcakes and Crab Nachos through to Beaver Nuggets (don't ask) and a hugely enjoyable BBQ ‘tour’ (yes, we did a TOUR of various BBQ joints at the weekend).

I even found myself one evening with Ed and his lovely wife Leah enjoying some delicious cuisine - but rather strangely, there I was, a Scotsman in Texas at a Japanese restaurant eating sushi called ‘The Crazy Irishman’!? Go figure, as they say.

So, with the job done and a vastly expanded waistline it was time to jet back to the UK (before I had to pay for an extra seat). Personally I’d like to give a huge thanks to the whole team over in Houston and to Ed in particular for his culinary 'guidance'.

If you get the chance to visit, take it.

If you get the opportunity to work with these guys, do it.

If you’re thinking of ordering a starter AND a main, think twice.

Andy

(Ed, Me, Jeremy, Heather & Angelica)

 

Weren't able to make it to PR Day 2011? Well, you missed out!

The day was full of wonderful speakers and meaningful messages. The theme for this year's event was - A Matter of Trust. Messages consisted of learning how to build trust after a crisis, establishing trust while delivering your message globally, trust in the news and creating trust via social media.

Fifth Ring played a big role in this year's event by being the energy breakout sponsor, providing a panel speaker and to top it all off, giving away the new Kindle Fire.

Below are a few pictures that capture the day's events:

During the Fifth Ring panel discussion, Ian Ord, Fifth Ring Director of Business Development, and Graham Makin, Director of Technical Marketing at Weatherford, discussed establishing trust while delivering your message globally. We pulled them aside afterwards to capture their words of wisdom on video. Please see links below to see what Graham and Ian have to say:

http://bit.ly/vMhZf8: Graham Makin discusses how to overcome challenging steps in communicating globally.

http://bit.ly/rEMerb:  Ian Ord discusses challenges with establishing trust with the media in different cultures and areas of the world.

Who would have thought that in 2008 we would be ranked as the 10^th largest PR firm in Houston?

We opened our doors in August 2008, a week later we had a hurricane, a month after that we had a U.S. financial market meltdown and the month after that we headed into the Thanksgiving  and Christmas holidays. Not a great way to open up a PR agency.  

In January 2009, we put it all in the past, and rolled up our sleeves and went to work. We didn’t stop running into 2010, and in 2011 the Houston Business Journal, the main business journal in Houston, announced we were ranked the 10^th largest in the Houston metro area!

We owe a great deal of gratitude to our global team who always offer assistance and expertise when needed.  

We also won the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Houston 2011 Mid-Sized Agency of the Year Award in June, so it is exciting to add another accolade to our name.

So the moral of the story is that in o rder to open an award winning PR firm, in our experience you should:

•  Keep a cool head despite any disasters whirling around you
•  Work hard
• Establish connections and relationships with businesses and people around you
• Keep your clients happy
• Share the success with your co-workers and anyone who has helped you achieve the success

Pictured left to right: Ed Davis, Angelica Nelson, Heather McKee

Congratulations Fifth Ring!

Social Media is a term you didn’t hear very often several years ago, today, however, it’s all people are talking about.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogger, Myspace, YouTube, Ustream and so many other social media sites are ripping at the seams with activity.

Whether you are a nonprofit or for profit, social media is important.

At Thursday’s Young Nonprofit Professional Network panel discussion, two of Houston’s most knowledgeable communications professionals on social media—Fifth Ring Houston PR Leader, Ed Davis and Principle of The Black Sheep Agency, Aimee Woodall--were set to take questions from 30+ nonprofit communicators in an sterile, classroom setting. However, due to a monster thunderstorm, most of the attendees failed to show.

With all manner of poise and grace, Ian Ord, Director of Business Development for Fifth Ring, quickly saw the lower turn out as an opportunity to take the event across the street to a local eatery, feed those who came and engage in a more intimate discussion on social media.

With the panel and its dozen attendees relocated, Ed and Aimee began the conversation by jumping into the top question on everyone’s mind: “How can I get my followers to be more engaged with my organization using social media?”

“You need to reach out to your followers, or those you want to follow you. The more you do, the more people will talk back,” advised Woodall “ Engagement does not happen over night. It is easier for people to make comments if you have met them face-to-face. “

Davis followed up with the suggestion of building “offline” relationships. Take the opportunity to meet people at social events, volunteering opportunities or any business function. Make the “offline” connection with them and then direct them to your social media channel, which will then help enhance your “online” connection.

Another suggestion Woodall recommended was to follow them on their social media sites and make comments to their posts, this will also help build your creditability with those you want to engage.

Here are a few other tips the panel shared on social media:

•  Carefully select your social media outlet depending on your message. See examples below:

o   Twitter is best used for “blind” outreach. This is a faster paced outlet

o   Facebook is great your reaching out to your loyal followers.

o   LinkedIn is for professional’s only

•  Pay attention to what your followers are interested in, explore all different subjects to see who is commenting on what and tailor your message to their interests.

•  Ask yourself, “who are you trying to target?” Once you know your target audience, listen and understand what they are saying before you engage.

 

 

 

 

 

The Fifth Ring Houston office has become involved in a special cause for our community, the Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (AVDA) Purple Light Nights™ campaign. We’ve been asking companies to support this cause by shining purple lights on their company's building during October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

AVDA works to break the cycle of family violence in Houston. Purple Light Nights™ started in Covington, Wash., in 2007 and has grown nationally. The color purple is recognized as the international color symbolic of domestic violence. Houston’s Purple Light Nights™ is our community’s first participation in the nationally recognized campaign. The goal is to remember domestic violence homicide victims in Texas (more than 100 deaths related to domestic violence 2009) and give hope to those who are still living with abuse.

Mayor Annise Parker has approved City Hall to be lit in purple from Oct. 1- 8, 2011. AVDA is also working to secure support from Houston Sports Authority, and team owners to light sports stadiums: Toyota Center, Reliant Stadium and Minute Maid Park. They are working to arrange an awareness game with the Houston Dynamo where they will pass out purple bracelets.

We invite all Houston companies and organizations to become a Purple Light Nights™ Community Partner by participating in the following activities:

1. Agree to floodlight your company's building with purple lights during October (ideally the 1-8 but it can be another week or for a longer period of time)
2. Advertise Purple Light Nights™ on your website and in your newsletter
3. Make available to staff and the public materials about domestic violence to be supplied by AVDA
   

 

In return, AVDA will advertise your company as a Community Partner on all campaign materials and on their website, list your company as a Community Partner on all press materials and provide you with all Purple Light Nights™ materials to be available to your staff and the public.

For more information about AVDA and the Purple Light Nights™ campaign, go to www.avdaonline.org

Thank you,

Heather

So here I am, my 10^th anniversary at Fifth Ring has just passed. So what’s happened over the past decade? Well, quite a lot as it happens…

On a personal front it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride (that probably wont be the last cliché I use so will make my apologies to Reuben Webb right now). I became a father (planned), had a car accident that resulted in an operation and 3 months off work (not planned), travelled to lots of nice places, made some great new friends and got back in touch with some old ones, contracted arthritis (by contracted I don’t mean that I raised a Purchase Order, I just have to now avoid that bumpy rollercoaster I mentioned earlier), fell in love with the game of poker (well I need to supplement my income somehow – hope the company Directors are reading this) and have struggled to sell my house during the worst market slump in  decades (40 months and counting). All of this with my understanding, patient and far better half Michelle at my side.

As for work, well, in my best X-Factor contestant voice, it’s been a journey (told you the clichés would continue). The company has grown dramatically from when I started all those years ago from an Aberdeen-only agency with around 15 employees to what is now a leading international B2B agency with additional offices in Houston and Dubai and a five-fold increase in staff numbers (give or take). Not all solely down to me, granted.

Our visibility, our offering and our expertise have all increased greatly and we’re now proud, leading members of the prestigious BBN network to help take us to that next level.

It’s not all been plain sailing though. Like all companies, we’ve had our ups and downs, our good times and our bad. I’ve seen people come, people go and even people return. Like everyone else, we were not recession-proof and it took its toll, but we’re coming out the other side stronger for it on several fronts. We’ve made some big strides of late, not least of which was to increase ties with our friends at IAS, an extremely successful, award-winning B2B agency from south of the border. Just doing our bit for Anglo-Scottish relations – it’s not been the same since Mel Gibson sacked York.

Don’t get me wrong, we’ve still got a lot of work to do and are already in the process of making some very positive changes to benefit both the company and our clients. You can’t stand still in this business without falling behind pretty quickly so it’s onwards and upwards for us (couldn’t resist squeezing in a couple more clichés there but hey, it’s true).

As for me, well I’ve gone from Production Co-ordinator to Production Manager and now Operations Manager over this period of time. Much of my work is now done behind-the-scenes but impacts on everyone and at all levels to varying degrees – though most people don’t realise it half of the time, which tells me I must be doing something right. Either that or they’re just keeping me on for my good looks and great sense of humour. I like to think it’s all of the above. Anyway, who else is going to organise and run the office sweepers, poker evenings and quiz nights?

As for what’s going to happen over the next 10 years - well, who knows? Life is just not that predictable. No doubt it will be full of twists and turns and highs and lows, with a few surprises along the way (though less of the ‘unplanned’ events please). Bring it on.

Now, does anyone want to buy a house…?

I was recently brought into the exciting world of PR working as an intern for Fifth Ring in Houston. Little did I know how much I would learn and gain from this experience.

Fifth Ring Houston opened its doors in August 2008, and in a short amount of time has flourished into a powerful Houston agency. Recently, Fifth Ring won a PRSA Houston Mid-Size Agency of the Year Excalibur Award, and it has been a pleasure being able to witness such success.

Fifth Ring has global offices in Houston, Aberdeen, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and Abu Dhabi, and it is amazing to me how seamlessly everyone works together and supports each other’s efforts. We know if we can’t find the answer here in Houston, we can rely on someone across the ocean to support us.

The office culture of Fifth Ring is very much work hard and play hard. If we’re not speaking with a client or discussing strategic next steps, it is often silent, except for the clicking and clacking of genius spreading through our fingertips! Of course, we occasionally come up for air and talk about the on-goings of the world and pop culture phenomenon, but we truly are here to deliver award-winning, results-driven public relations and marketing campaigns for our clients.

While at Fifth Ring, I have had the ability to write press releases and articles, work with media, and see the benefits our efforts have for our clients first-hand. Each day we are presented with new challenges, and each day we find better solutions. I am fortunate to be surrounded by individuals that challenge me and encourage me to expand my skills and learn different tools that will transcend into my future career.

Like many young women my age, I grew up watching the stereotypical chick-flicks and TV shows that portray public relations as an exotic, trendy, and fast-paced career. However, as I began to pursue my career in public relations I realized just how much hard work and dedication it takes to be in this industry, and let me tell you, I am up for the challenge.

Thank you,

Kelly Lawrence