Brad Marley

It can be incredibly hard for PR pros to be creative.

We all have these grand ideas for the next viral video or unique ways to use new technology to tell our client’s story. But when we sit down to put those ideas in motion, we get bogged down by the minutiae that can plague our industry — time entry, six rounds of approvals, etc. — and our creative juices stop flowing.

It’s frustrating.

For a profession that prides ourselves on being creative, we sure are an extremely process-driven bunch, aren’t we?  So aggravating.

Sometimes it seems like a small miracle that we get to actually implement an idea here and there.

But fear not, fair readers. (All 17 of you.) There is a shining beacon of creativity that should give all of us hope for a better, more creative future.

And it’s the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

*record scratch*

Yep. The CDC.

Last May, they revealed “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse.” It was an emergency preparedness guide taken to the next level.

With their tongue firmly planted in their cheek, the guide explained why it’s crucial to be prepared in the event of a zombie apocalyptic scenario, even going so far as to cite the Bible of surviving a zombie attack.

Oh, yeah: They also shared tips on how to prepare for real emergencies, too.

It was a brilliant PR strategy.

Emergency preparedness guides are boring.

Emergency preparedness guides with a pop culture twist are much more entertaining (and readable.)

(I’m not going to lie to you: I wish I’d thought of this.)

What really blew me away was the fact that a government agency would allow this idea to see the light of day. We think of large corporations and government entities as being dry and “by the book.” This was neither, which is probably why it got picked up by mainstream outlets.

To take it to the next level, they even released a graphic novel in October, just in time for NY Comic Con. A neat (and logical) next step in their continuing campaign to prepare people for emergencies.

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This initiative proves that you don’t have to be a small, nimble agency to pull off a surprising PR campaign.

If it’s a good idea and fits the overall goals of the initiative, it can be done.

So the next time you find yourself doubting your idea before it has been presented, because you think it will be shot down, take heart.

And think about zombies.

*This post originally ran in September of 2009. I wanted to run it again because I think it’s still relevant and it’s one of my favorite posts.*

When you become a parent, your life becomes exponentially more exciting.

Take me and my wife, for example.

The highlight of our day is watching Dexter after we put our daughter to bed. (We don’t want her exposed to the F word at such an early age.) And watching a show that makes you feel sympathy for a serial killer can cause your brain to go to places it shouldn’t, like where Dexter can teach public relations practitioners to be better at, well, their practice.

Rule #1: Adhere to ‘The Code’. The code of ethics, of course. Just like Dexter has a specific code he follows when choosing his victims, we must follow an ethical code when we go about our day-to-day business. You don’t want to be one of those professionals who thinks nobody will notice if they, I don’t know, misrepresent themselves for one little story. Bad things will happen, man. Bad things.

Rule #2: Pay attention to the spatter. When Dexter tests the blood spatter pattern caused by a candlestick being forced into a victim’s head, the result is a nonsensical pattern that only makes sense to a trained professional. When you’re crafting an e-mail pitch for a large swath of journalists, make sure there is a method to your madness. The results of a mail merge catastrophe can be deadly, and nobody wants to clean up that mess.

Rule #3: Be meticulous. When Dexter kills one of his victims, he makes sure his “kill room” is covered from floor to ceiling in plastic so none of the evidence leaks out, and he can, essentially, take the room with him when he disposes of the body.  In public relations, nothing is worse than being a sloppy professional. Spell check will only get you so far. Even if it’s something as simple as an e-mail to your colleague about a meeting, take the time to check for spelling and grammatical errors. Our words are what make us successful. Don’t disregard them.

Rule #4: Begin a relationship. One way to throw off the scent, if you’re a serial killer, is to have a public relationship, since we all know that’s like at the opposite end of the psychopath spectrum. Same goes in PR. Kind of. While we do write strategy, create campaigns and brainstorm possibilities, coverage is the name of the game. So, striking up relationships with reporters is a no-brainer. Without them, we don’t have a career, so it’s imperative that we deliver what we promise. The quickest way to burning that relationship bridge is if they view you as unreliable. Take the time to nurture it, then add water on a regular basis and watch it grow.

Rule #5: Don’t allow yourself to get caught. This is the most important rule of all — for both serial killers and PR practitioners – and it ties in with Rule #1. The account manager who thinks it’s okay to pay people to write positive reviews for his or her client’s product and post them on-line, or the account supervisor who gathers a stable of Tweeters to draft favorable “tweets” about his client, will always be caught. Yes, there is a time and a place for new tactics, but take a minute to think about what you’re doing before you do it. If the majority says it goes against some societal or professional norm, it probably does.

I like professional wrestling.

I’ve liked it ever since I was a kid pretending to be the “Macho Man” Randy Savage, jumping off my bed to drop elbows on my stuffed animal opponents.

Twenty-some odd years later, I still watch wrestling.

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There, now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about what WWE wrestler CM Punk can teach us about public relations.

I was listening to a podcast interview between Punk and sports writer Bill Simmons a few weeks ago (using one of the best apps ever invented) and I was taken aback by how Punk explained to Simmons that his job description is best-described as being a storyteller.

When you think of professional wrestling, you think of two (or more) meat heads in the “squared circle,” grappling with each other to see who will win a match with a pre-determined outcome. A male soap opera, some might call it.

But Punk has a different viewpoint. He understands that he is merely one player in the show; somebody who must be relied upon to advance the story forward. So whether he is tasked with getting the crowd to boo him or cheer him, that’s the role he plays.

What separates Punk from the rest is his ability to tell the story through his use of the wrestling world’s most popular medium: a microphone. He knows he’s better on the mike in front of thousands of fans than 99 percent of the other wrestlers, so that’s where he has chosen to make his mark.

Just like wrestlers, PR professionals are, for the most part, created the same. Most of us can write our way out of a paper bag. We’ve all landed at least one story pitching a reporter over the phone. And if you put a gun to our head, we could develop some key messages.

But the professionals who want to advance their careers can pinpoint what they’re good at, and exploit it. They know they can make a name for themselves by working harder at one thing, and rising above the rest.

They know this one skill will propel them to stardom.

Tomorrow when you get in the office, take a moment to think about what it is you want to be known for and work harder at it than anybody else.

And if you lose your way, just think of professional wrestling.

This awesome photo is courtesy of mediatejack

When I was in high school I secured a girl’s phone number kind of out of the blue, and decided that I would invite my friend over to witness the magic that was Brad Marley on the phone with members of the opposite sex. (Or, maybe this happened in college and I’m covering up how lame I was?)

He readily obliged, sensing an opportunity for hilarity, I’m sure.

As the telephone conversation quickly headed south, my friend picked up a toy airplane that he found in my basement and “flew” it out of control, which provided a helpful visual of the disaster that was unfolding before his eyes. Shortly after that demonstration, the girl I was talking to hung up. We never spoke again.

In a lot of ways, this is what happens every day in public relations. But within this form of adolescent rejection lies a strategy that will land you more stories:

Pretend you have a crush on the reporter. (Seriously.)

When was the last time you called a girl or guy you had your eye on without taking a few moments to mentally check-off the potential conversational pitfalls? Probably never, right?

As it happens, this is the same exact tactic you should take when you call a reporter. Sit down at your desk, write down every possible question they could ask, and make sure you have an answer. Or, at the very least, know who they can talk to if you can’t answer your question. (Yes, I know – you wouldn’t tell that girl in AP Geometry to call another guy for answers to the homework, but for the sake of this analogy, go with it.)

Not only will roadmapping the discussion help to make sure the conversation goes swimmingly, but it might get you an answer faster if the reporter has everything they need right away, which could lead to an amiable end to the talk.

Just, don’t blow it by asking them what they’re doing Saturday night.

One of the better public relations blogs out there is written by a “group of hacks” who all share a passion for social media and blogging.

They call themselves PRBreakfastClub.

I’ve been reading their posts religiously for a couple of months now, and, most of the time, I find their content to be timely and oh-so-relevant to what I am working on in my little corner of the PR world. I’ll even nod my head in vigorous agreement when they hit close to home, which is a lot.

Keith Trivitt, executive vice president of Sternberg Strategic Communications and a founding member of PRBreakfastClub, was nice enough to answer some questions for me. Six of them, to be exact.

Q: How did the PRBreakfastClub blog come together?

A: [Editor's Note: This answer written by @PRCog] We can probably trace PRBreakfastClub (PRBC) back to a tweetup last July – Masquertweet. As it turns out, all the founding members of PRBC were in attendance. I had the chance to meet everyone, but as it turns out, some of the other members didn’t. In fact, we didn’t get everyone together physically until early March 2010 – the same week as our six-month anniversary. From there, a morning discussion (centered originally around the hashtag #PRBreakfastClub, and eventually shortened to #PRBC because, you know, Twitter’s 140-character limit kept getting in the way) ended up taking place daily on Twitter among the communications folks. Once we had too many usernames on a tweet we adopted a hashtag … and the rest can be picked up from the PRBC about page :).

Q: When I’m reading your new blog posts, I’ll often think to myself, “Wow – we’re going through the same exact thing at our agency.” Assuming you can’t read minds, where does the inspiration from your blog posts come from?

Inspiration from our blog posts comes from a variety of sources. For the founding PRBC bloggers (e.g. those who started the site in August 2009), some of our inspiration often comes from our daily e-mail threads, which can often run up to 150-200 e-mails per day. Often, those are about industry-specific topics, especially in the tech and B2B spaces, since many of us work in those areas. In fact, a post I wrote last weekabout Blippy’s #EpicFail with the release of users’ credit card numbers actually came from an e-mail rant I sent out to PRBC founder’s e-mail group about how poorly Blippy was handling its response to the fiasco. From there, someone in the group (I believe PRCog) wrote back, “Good ideas for a post …” and thus, another PR-related post was born.

Other inspiration comes from what we know and love, both within the PR industry and in our own, personal lives, as well as inspiration from the many mentors we, as a group and individuals have. We have been very fortunate that while many of us are relatively young in the business (the average age of PRBC-ers would probably be around 27-30), we each have a terrific group of mentors that we lean on a lot for personal and professional help and inspiration. Folks like Arik Hanson, Heather Whaling, Jeff Esposito, David Mullen, Rachel Kayand many others I’m sure I’m forgetting, have been terrificly supportive of the blog and helped us in many ways during the past eight months.

Q: In your humble opinion, what are the big trends that are going to drive PR forward in the next, say, five years?

One of the biggest trends I think you will see in the coming year is the continuing blending of public relations and advertising (which I addressed in a recent video interview with Jeff Esposito), and frankly, not to hurt the feelings of my ad friends out there, but the re-emerge of public relations as the dominant force for brand building, brand affinity and reputation management for companies. One only has to look at Twitter’s “promoted tweets” to see how while yes, advertising will always play an important role in the development of brands and the successful means they reach and engage customers, PR is going to have to take a dominant role in this effort, as promoted tweets, inserted Facebook updates with embedded ads and some other social media ad platform we haven’t even heard of yet will all require really strong and successful messaging to reach their target audience and maintain a relevance (what Twitter is calling “resonance”) with that audience in order to stay atop our ever-growing social streams.

That messaging requires a strong public relations professional to develop and massage over time to ensure it’s reaching the proper audience and with the right tone, syntax and appropriate proof points in order to make an overall impact on a company’s growth and sales. In short, look for public relations to take a big leap over advertising in terms of the overall brand-building efforts for most companies. In the future, what companies say, and how they say it, will mean a lot more to consumers and customers than how flashy a company tries to portray its product/service.

Q: Again, in your opinions, what are the biggest challenges that we are facing in today’s PR environment?

Like any business, public relations and communications will always face some type of challenge or shift in priorities and practices at various points. Given the fact that a major portion of our jobs are focused on finding those shifts for our organizations or clients before they take place, I really feel PR pros are in a good position to always face any challenge that currently stands before us, or we may find down the road, and tackle those challenges in a proactive and strategic manner.

One of the biggest challenge I think we will face in the coming year is continuing to blend traditional PR practices (media relations, speech writing, etc.) with social media PR practices (brand engagement, social media education/execution, etc.), particularly since more and more companies are beginning to realize that nearly all facets of their business will need to become fully integrated traditional and digital/social practices to meet the ever-changing needs of customers, investors and primary constituents. Our main focus, and the main test ahead of us, will be to be at the leading edge of this movement, as we must always keep in mind that one of our primary value points to our employers/clients is our ability to provide strategic counsel, and that can often only be done if we are looking out for their best interest a step or two ahead of where the business is currently placed. That means we have to be proactively practicing integrated communications techniques, while also counseling other departments within an organization on how they can best incorporate integrated techniques into their work to truly meet the consumer and B2B needs of the business.

Q: Ten years ago, a dream placement would’ve been the front page of the Wall Street Journal or New York Times. While those are still ideal, how is the term “success” changing how you, as up-and-coming PR professionals, operate?

For many of us at the PRBC, success still incorporates major placements in the Wall Street Journal or New York Times. I don’t think that will ever change, as both those publications are most likely always going to be business and industry movers and shakers. What is more important, though, to many of us, is that we are providing our organizations and clients with a much more rounded and integrated approach to communications counsel. That means, yes, getting our clients into The Times or The Journal when warranted, but also creating and executing terrific core message platforms and points of focus for key audiences, delivering those messages across multiple social and traditional platforms and key constituencies and ensuring that in the ever more litigious society we all live in now, our clients’ best business interests are always kept top-of-mind, and I, frankly, don’t believe a complete focus on traditional media relations will successfully accomplish all of that. In order to reach these goals, it takes a far more strategic and holistic approach to public relations, one that blends traditional PR strategic and tactics with today’s leading social and digital strategies, and that’s what many of us in PRBC are focused on.

Finally, random question: If somebody was recreating the movie “The Breakfast Club” using you guys as the cast, which actor would you want to play you? (doesn’t have to be the original actors.)

I’d go with Emilio Estevez. Of course, I’d want him to play me in his pre-“Mighty Ducks” days . . . those were just odd.

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