Monday, February 29, 2016

Lack of Diversity in the Advertising Industry: Jour 4470

What impact does the lack of diversity have on the advertising industry? That is nearly a loaded question. But to keep it simple, the impact is huge in my opinion.

For years we have basically seen the same ads over and over again. By that I mean, the ads are filled with the same type of people; White/Caucasian, slim fit, women or tall, buff men. There are so many cultures in the U.S. alone but yet we are only exposed to a few. It gives a false representation of society.

The Ted Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story” explains lack of diversity in advertising perfectly in my opinion. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave this specific Ted Talk in October of 2009. Her talk focuses on stereotypes and how different parts of the world are only exposed bits and pieces of different cultures that are not their own.

She shares the story of coming to America from Nigeria for college and one of the first things her roommate asked her was where did she learn to speak English so well. Adichie proceeded to tell her that English was a common language spoken in Nigeria. But, since the U.S. is only exposes the foreign speaking and poverty stricken areas of Nigeria, we assume all of Nigeria is like that.

My point is that our society’s reputation is based off what people see. Advertisers have so much power over how our society is perceived.

The employees in the industry have a strong influence on what viewers see. The lack of diversity in the work place could be considered one of the roots of the problem. According to the Marcus Graham Project, the amount of women in the industry has increased, now outpacing the men. I believe since the increase of women in the work place we have seen some positive changes concerning how females are portrayed in the media.

Some improvements:








Although, we have seen some improvements, I think we have a long way to go. We want to see change in the world, less racial and sexual profiling, and I think advertisers can help start that movement.


Citations:
Lee, Wei-Na, Jerome Williams, and Carrie LaFerle. "Diversity in advertising: A summary and research agenda." Diversity in advertising (2004): 3-20.

Drumwright, Minette E., and Patrick E. Murphy. "The current state of advertising ethics: Industry and academic perspectives." Journal of Advertising 38.1 (2009): 83-108.


Ryan, Gerard, Marcel Gubern, and Inma Rodriguez. "Recruitment advertising: The marketing-human resource interface." International Advances in economic research 6.2 (2000): 354-364.

Friday, February 26, 2016

How to use Pinterest Effectively






                                                     How to Use Pinterest Effectively

 

 

In the last few years Pinterest has taken the Internet by storm. In its early days there was actually a wait list to create an account. There is something for everyone on Pinterest. However, with that being said, it gets a little overwhelming and it can be difficult to use Pinterest effectively for your business.

After doing some research here are the foundational tips for using Pinterest effectively for your business.

 

1.)    Know your audience.

-          Pinterest is predominately used by millennial females. (according to AcuPoll Precision Research, inc) It is crucial to keep that in mind before deciding to invest your time marketing with Pinterest.

 

2.)    Make sure your boards are well organized.

-          Pinterest can already be overwhelming with the abundance of content. It’s important to keep your content clean and organized and user friendly.

 

3.)    It’s okay to look to other pinners for motivation or inspiration.

-          If you get stuck in a slump check out the users who are pinning your content and see what they are doing with it.

 

4.)    Make sure you include links that link back to your website.

-          Pinterest is a great way to link back to your website. If you have strong visuals, pinners will just about always click the link to learn more about that photo.

 

5.)    Include keywords and hashtags.

-          You want your content to be searchable. It’s important to include popular key words and hashtags in your posts so that they will pop when users are searching for them.

 

Those are the five basic tips for using Pinterest effectively for your business

 



Friday, February 19, 2016

Social Media 101

Social Media 101



            We live in a world that is driven and nearly controlled by social media. Being strategic communicators and our main client being the public, it only makes sense that PR professionals learn to use social media effectively, right?

            However, social media isn’t as simple as just posting or tweeting couple of times and gaining likes. Effective social media means engaging with your target audience. Key word here: engaging.

            Social media is almost like a science. It’s continuous; you never know everything about social media because it is always evolving.
           
            Here are four common social media tips for effective engagement.


1.) Do not schedule automated posts.
·      Automated posts seem easy and super convenient right? Don’t let that fool you. Post what makes sense on a particular day. Tragedies are never expected. If something tragic happens that is breaking news, you don’t want your first post that is shared to be advertising. It appears to be rude and insensitive.

2.) Never delete negative comments that are left by customers
·      Any company is going to receive negative comments every once in awhile. It’s inevitable. The smart thing to do is to respond to those comments and apologize. Ignoring them makes you look guilty.

3.) Don’t ever put your social media on the backburner.
·      Sometime it’s easy to put social media on the bottom of your list of priorities, but please don’t. Social media is such a crucial factor in good business. The generation today is very dependent on social media. If they are looking into any new business, even it is as simple as someone new to cut their hair; Facebook is one of the first places they go to scope it out. If there isn’t a strong presence, then that presents a red flag.


Those are the three foundational tips that are a must! Social media is only going to continue to evolve, don’t let it take control of your business.

Citations:


http://www.prnewsonline.com/water-cooler/2013/12/31/four-tips-for-effective-facebook-pr-engagement/

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Dos and Don'ts When it Comes to Reporters


PR Do’s and Don’ts



As public relations professional you are going to have to deal with a number of different people, one of the main people being a journalist. It is vital to your career that you build and maintain a positive relationship with journalists.  Public Relations professionals and journalists rely on each other, PR professionals are a great networking source for the journalists and journalists give clients of the PR professional some publicity.

According to Business News Daily, these are the few basic dos and don’ts to help maintain a positive relationship with your journalist.

Dos

1.) Personalize your pitch
            - The reporter wants to feel flattered, they don’t want to be just be another someone on your list. Learn the reporters name and address them. Make your pitch personal. Nothing will get your email the delete button quicker than having “To Whom It May Concern,” or even worse, the wrong name! So come on, do your research.


2.) Have a good subject line
            - Reporters receive tons of emails a day. Grab their attention by having a strong subject line. Provide some of your 5 W’s and a H in the subject line. If it fits their particular beat, then you have a better chance of them opening up your email.

3.) Research
            - When you are reaching out a reporter, research some of their previous work and make sure to reference that in your pitch. Again, flatter the reporter.


Don’ts

1.)  Argue with the reporter
            - If the reporter chooses not to write about your client or event, then kindly accept and move on. Don’t burn bridges.

2.) Be afraid to reach out in the future.
            -If a reporter did not write about your previous pitch, reach out to them again at a later time with a different one.



Along with the tips listed above, do these also, reach out to your client on social media, try and meet with them person if possible, and always stay positive.

“The benefit of being positive is that it increases the likelihood of your relationship to continue,” Dan Siegel of Stokepoint said.


These tips might seem like common sense, but they truly are the foundation of relationship building.



Works Cited:





Monday, February 8, 2016

Are Strategic Communicators Fulfilling their Obligations? (Jour 4470)

Advertising and PR have to constantly tread a thin line between informing the public and offending the public. Ad and PR and professionals are at some time in their career there will be a client that will either want to promote a product that will offend someone and then the PR professional will have to help fix that potential crisis.
      There are several different touchy topics that you have to be extra cautious of like; sex, body image, race, and ethnicity. The brainstorming and planning process take extra thought to make sure you execute the product effectively without offending the audience.
      The first company that comes to mind that is borderline offensive is Carl’s Junior. Carl’s Junior lives by the “sex sells” motto. Sure their commercial full of half naked women get the point across, but is it really necessary? There are plenty of other strategies that would have sufficed.
      Strategic communicators should have their client as their number one priority and with that, their obligation in terms of goodwill should be high. If you want your client to have a positive reputation, you must execute their products without being offensive to the audience. Communicators should put themselves in the shoes of the audience, if it is not something you would want to see, then don’t do it.

      I would say besides a few organizations or corporations (i.e. Carls Junior, Urban Outfitters, etc.)  are fulfilling these obligations.