Author Archive

It looks like Michelle has tagged me in one of those social media, blogging games. The rules of the game in this one are to post 7 personal things about yourself, and then tag seven other people.

Since BlogCampaigning is a primarily written by both Jens and I (nobody has heard from Espen in months), I decided that him and I would write 7 things about each other.

Parker Mason’s 7 Things About Jens “Schredd” Schroeder:

1.) Easy, ladies! No matter how much you love his greasy hair and thick German accent, Jens is fully committed to his girlfriend Jenna. They met in Australia, and he’s going to visit her there for three months this spring.

2.) Jens once told me the funniest story that I’ve ever heard. It was so funny that I laughed about it for two hours before I fell asleep laughing. When I woke up in the morning, the first thing I thought of was the story and I laughed for another two hours. I couldn’t even eat breakfast, and when I ran into Jens at school later that day I started laughing again. The only reason I’m not retelling it here is because you need to hear it from Jens. If you ever meet him, buy him a beer and ask him to tell you “the story.”

3.) Jens isn’t very good at any of the Guitar Hero games.

4.) He is, however, one of the world’s foremost experts on the subject of video games of the 80s from communist Germany.

5.) He is a member of the Turbojugend, which is the fan club for a Norwegian punk band called Turbonegro. In an age where most people don’t even know anyone that owns a jean jacket anymore, Jens wears his Turbojugend jean jacket regularly and proudly.

6.) The posts Jens writes for BlogCampaigning need to be edited prior to going live so that I can make sure there isn’t any offensive content. You’d be surprised at how necessary this step is.

7.) Once Jens hit a guy with his car and broke the guy’s leg. However, even the injured party agreed that it wasn’t Jens’ fault.

Jens Schroeder’s 7 Things About Parker Mason:

1.) When a girl in Sydney took a picture of her friends with Parker accidentally in the background she told everyone not to worry because she had Photoshop and could easily remove him from the photo. Parker was slightly offended.

2.) While working at the same company as my girlfriend, Parker tricked her into calling the Australia Zoo and asking to speak to “Steve Orwin.” This was shortly after Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, founder of the Australia Zoo,  passed away as a result of stingray-related injuries. (Parker’s note: it isn’t like that was the ONLY joke I played on Jenna while we worked together – she should have seen it coming.)

3.)  The only German words that Parker knows are swear words and dirty phrases that I taught him.

4.) Parker once lost his patience when trying to explain the concept of “poetic terrorism” to a very nationalistic Chinese classmate. To bridge the cultural divide, Parker delivered an impromptu lecture on the topic to his classmate then made him watch Fight Club.

5.) He lived in Japan for a year.

6.) He never got me into surfing and the amount of sport he does never fails to amaze me. Then again when it comes to sports I’m incredibly lazy.  (Parker’s note: when it comes to everything but video games and his studies Jens is incredibly lazy)

7.) His reaction to the news that I was awarded a research scholarship for a trip to Australia was full of colorful language, and driven by jealousy. He also likes to call me schlampe,  which is German for “b*tch.” (Parker’s note: really? I always thought it was a term of affection. But considering number 5 on your list, that makes sense)

In short, the two of us are glad that we met while attending school in Australia a few years ago and like being in touch on a regular basis as we draft the occasional post for BlogCampaigning. We hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at the BlogCampaigning editorial board.

Who are we tagging? How about:

Chris Clarke, Rick Weiss,  Amanda Laird,  The Berling Image,  Malte and Anthony, Claudio, and Tzero.

-Jens and Parker

Occasionally we’re lucky enough here at BlogCampaigning to have someone guest write a post for us. The latest person to share their knowledge with our readers is Malte Goesche, CEO and cofounder of Iliktotallyloveit.com, a website that “allows users to publish and share products with the broader public which they find cool, innovative, exceptionally beautiful, or just weird. Included with every item is a link to an online shop where it can be purchased.”

He’s written a post for us about how his company got a great deal of publicity without the help of PR companies or newswire services.

If I say it is not that hard to get into the pages of the Financial Times, you might not believe me, even though it only took two well-written emails to get there. Of course, I’m leaving out a lot about building a startup (from having the idea to build the product and get funded), but this is supposed to tell you more about how we built and established the brand of iliketotallyloveit.com.

Out of our team of four,  one of my jobs was to get our name out there. Since I didn’t take PR & Marketing 101 I just did what I thought would be the way to do it: find publications (online and offline) that I liked myself and found suitable,  then get in touch with the the right person at each publication, approaching them as directly and personally as possible. It sounds easy, but I think my naivety back then saved me from making many mistakes (I guess that’s what these 101 classes would’ve been good for). I didn’t write press releases or generic emails. By browsing through the chosen publications I found out which authors would be the right fit and then I went ahead and introduced myself via email as what I was back then: a student who had a website with some friends and who would be happy to hear some feedback or a have some review their site. I wasn’t pretentious, didn’t lie and never bullshitted anyone. People seem to have appreciated that a lot.

I believe that approaching people on an eye-to-eye level is very important. When you are writing (I intentionally don’t use the term pitch here due to its spammy connotations) to a smaller blogger you don’t want to come off as the big-headed founder of a startup, just as another internet/tech savvy person/fan who wants to share what he created with others. Be approachable and open to people. Even if whomever you reached out doesn’t write about you right away they might remember you and get back to you once your startup is just the one they need to write about at some point. To go back to the article in the FT, in this case I was lucky, because I emailed the journalist right when she was researching a piece going into our direction. Sometimes a little bit of luck helps.

When writing that email try to keep it short and simple. Remember that you are writing to a human being and don’t just copy and paste some impersonal marketing piece. Let the recipient know that you did your research about her/him and why you think that they could be interested in your product. Just imagine you are meeting that person face-to-face somewhere and act/write accordingly.

After putting in weeks and weeks into researching journalists and bloggers and then writing emails, quite a few publications wrote about us and we also started to write few press releases. I don’t really know about press releases. We did spend the money on sending one out through PR Newswire once with zero response. Unfortunately, it was just a waste of time and cash; as a small startup €800 is real money. Here I think it depends on what your product is and I believe it can’t hurt to try it once. If the ROI is satisfactory, great and if not you know where you can save some money in the future and you’ve  learned a lesson.

I like to rely on my personal mailing list that I built and keep building. Sending a message out through it every few months has always brought good results.

Some people will also tell you to hire a PR agency. That of course depends on so many factors. If you are a small startup you might not want to spend a monthly flat fee (I found that they usually started at around $10k for mid-sized agencies) for many services you might not need, but it all depends. If no one in your team wants or can handle the PR work this might be the right type of thing to outsource. Some startups grow so fast and have so many press requests coming in that it makes sense for them go down that road. I can only speak for us, and say that so far we haven’t needed a full blown PR and marketing package. Although we did spend some money to get some advice from a few experts, I believe there is nothing we can’t handle ourselves.

Well, this post was very long considering that my main message is actually very short: Try different approaches and see what works best for you. Do some PR A/B testing, carefully evaluate the results and sort out what didn’t do the job. Learn those lessons and keep moving forward. Or, as the world’s best basketball player Michael Jordan once said:

“I have failed over and over and over again in my life – and that is why I succeed.”

Feel free to email Malte at malte (at) i liketotallyloveit.com, follow him on Twitter (he’s @malte) or to read his blog at Blog.iliketotallyloveit.com. Don’t forget to check out iliketotallyloveit.com!

What do you think of Malte’s thoughts on getting coverage?

Hopefully, everything is working out and you’ve arrived at BlogCampaigning after our transition.

I haven’t had time to customize this template, but at least we’ve got our RSS Feed going (subscribe here).

-Parker

Guest post: Hans Geelmuyden is a partner and leading senior adviser at the norwegian public relations agency Geelmuyden.Kiese. Since 1989, he has acted as adviser to major Scandinavian projects involving power changes both in the public and private sector, and he is often employed as a lecturer in strategic communication.

In journalistic circles, trusting communication advisors is not considered quite comme il faut. I’ve worked as a journalist and an editor myself and trust both occupational categories. So why is the trust not mutual?

An editorial in “Klima” (“Climate”) magazine no. 2/08 may illustrate the point. The editor, Tove Kolset, writes as follows: “I’m holding an interesting document in my hands: “A green car population demands political action.” Behind this brochure is Volvo Passenger Cars in Norway, assisted by the communication agency Geelmuyden.Kiese (GK), called in to put the message through. To be honest, I must admit that I felt more positively towards the brochure before I noticed GK’s involvement.”

Is there anything apart from prejudice behind Kolset’s distrust? Does she feel herself to be cheated? The information in the Volvo report is based on facts and research which Kolset is free to check. Kolset documents no faults in the factual information. She simply dislikes that Volvo has been assisted by professional communication advisors in making the report. Would it seem more satisfactory if the car manufacturer had done the job on their own without outside assistance? Or is it the very professionalism that’s bothering her? Should Kolset prefer the brochure to be produced by an amateur team from the middle of nowhere?

Economists are taught that perfect information is the basis of a perfect market. As neither perfect information nor perfect markets exist, communication advisors do. Each and every second, a battle over interpretations and interests is being fought in our society. Communication advisors as well as journalists participate in this battle, but in different roles. I trust journalists because I appreciate their role as guard dogs for the general population.

For myself, I claim no ideal purpose. Communication advisors represent the interests of one party. This is legitimate as long as these interests are openly presented. One-party interests should obviously be thoroughly examined. Journalists seeking knowledge do just that. They’re checking several sources and have little to fear from communication advisors. Journalists who instead reject information on the basis of emotions and prejudice are unprofessional, as are communication advisors out to fool to public.

Hans Geelmuyden

This is “the topic” in the UK-blogosphere these days.

“If my recollection is right, it was Guido Fawkes who first broke the story on Peter Hain’s campaign funding on the afternoon of 3 December HERE. It was this story which provoked Peter Hain to contact the Electoral Commission. If Guido hadn’t run it, would Hain have come forward? I doubt it very much”, sais Ian Dale.

Daily Telegraph-blogger, Mike Fealy agrees:

“In my view (although Guido and I disagree quite profoundly on many fundamentals), his supreme value as a blogger is that he knows how to follow a story. Undoubtedly he kept a lot of psychological pressure on the former Secretary for Works and Pensions, etc, directly and vicariously through his readers/fans/detractors in the Lobby. But he also dealt a number of exclusive and strategic blows along the way, breaching that increasingly thin veil between legitimate news and comment. Let’s hope that he is given the credit he deserves. Iain Dale is already calling it a first major scalp for a blogger, and I cannot disagree”, says Felay.

via greenslade

- Espen

Parker’s last post raised a question I have been toiling with for some time: what do I do with my Facebook page?

I joined Facebook in my last year at McGill  in 2004. At that time, only students from certain post-secondary schools were able to join; I mostly interacted with friends from US because of the inception at Harvard. (For a more thorough historical account, click here.)

At that time, the site served a redundant purpose alongside Friendster, its more dominant cousin.

 We all know the story since then. Particularly over the summer of 2007, it seemed as though everyone I knew was suddenly Facebooking. In addition to connecting with distant friends, it quickly became the primary mode of communication for my local network: organizing birthday parties, starting groups based on jokes, and uploading shameful pictures.

Then I entered the world of Public Relations.

 Suddenly, I began acquiring professional contacts through the site and suddenly, my profile seemed ill-suited as a résumé.

Most recently, I acquired a mentor through the CPRS program. Excitedly, I looked up my mentor and saw that she was on Facebook. Before adding her, however, I hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s the kind of contact you should have on Facebook,” murmured one friend. Another friend echoed those sentiments, “Be careful who you add.”

So, how do I reconcile the fact that my social life on Facebook preceded my professional life?

I have de-tagged unsavory photos and removed (most) contentious jokes. I have considered limiting profile access for professional contacts, but that seems shady and duplicitous. I have also thought about having two different profiles: Workjess, meet Partyjess.

I welcome any suggestions you may have. Shall I add my mentor?

 Thanks for reading BlogCampaigning, guys!

- Jess

Landing a job in a top Public Relations firm is a dream more and more young people are trying to turn into reality. In Norway, the PR industry has grown at an almost astronomical rate in the last few years. So has the number of people looking to get a foot inside the industry door.

Unfortunately, the industry seems to recruit most of its people either from within the industry, or from corporate businesses or media outlets. Numbers published by the organization for Norwegian Communication Consultants, NIR, in 2002, show that of the people that were recruited by Norwegian PR consultancies, only 11 percent came directly from the universities. If we are to believe that NIR’s numbers are still relevant, the PR consultancies only hire 10 new graduates every year. For new communications student graduates, the dream of landing a job within the Public Relations industry can therefore feel years or decades away.

I know how it feels, standing on bare ground with nothing but a university degree and a burning desire to get my first job. Five months ago I finished my degree at Griffith University in Australia and moved back to Norway to get a job in Public Relations. I had no clue about how to do it or where to begin.

As a blogger, I therefore did what felt most natural to me – I started searching for articles and blog posts that could help me get an idea of what to expect.

I scrolled through dozens of blog posts on the topic and found that most of them were very helpful. Some explained what I could expect when looking for a job within the PR industry. Others taught me something about how I could attack the situation, what I should focus on when writing a resume or application letter or how I should address the consultancies when applying for non-advertised positions.

Based on what I had read on blogs and what I learned from talking to other people, I put together a strategy on how to achieve my goal.

A couple of weeks ago I finally got a job (editors note: emphasis on FINALLY). After two rounds of intense interviews and a debate with the other applicants in the interview process I took part in, I received a phone form the consultancy, a respected Norwegian PR-consultancy, and was offered a job as a junior consultant.

To pay back what I feel I owe the other bloggers that helped me in the chase for my first job, I therefore wish to continue helping newly graduated students land their first communication job by offering my best tips on how to land your first Public Relations job.

Summarized in a few steps, based on my personal experiences during my job search, is some advice on how to land your first Public Relations job:

1: Choose your ground
Establish an overview of the Public Relations industry in the region where you are applying for work. Put together a list of the firms that you most would like to work for and see who advertises jobs. Personally, I based my list on firms that could help me develop my Public Relations practitioner skills and that valued ethical standards that I could relate to.

2: Talk to people
Ask people within the industry what you can aspect to achieve with the academic background that you possess. Ask them what they look for in their employees and see how you fit their criteria. Talk also to people about how to write an application letter and what to expect during the interview process. Try locating someone that is used to recruiting people, and ask them for good advice.

3: Understand your own capabilities
This is probably the most important advice I can give you. It is really important that you take some time to reflect upon your own personality and your own capabilities before you start applying for jobs. There are some questions you’ll just have to know the answer to if you want to land any kind of job. These are questions like:

-What are your goals in life?
-What do you want to achieve with the work you do?
-Where do you see yourself within three years, five years, or ten years?
-What kind of a person are you – Do you like to be in charge, are you a good listener?
-How’s your social intelligence, your work ethic, your social life, your learning abilities, your cooperation skills?
-What motivates you?
-Why are you applying for a job in PR?
-What are you good at, where can you improve? How do other people see you?
-What do you see in a good leader?
-What can you offer your future employer? – What can you offer that no one else can?

If you can’t answer these questions before you go into an interview, you can be sure you will never be able to credibly answer them during the interview.

4: Writing the resume
Use the answers you came up with in section 3 when writing your resume. Sell yourself – but keep it short. Look at the resume as a bullet-point media release.

A good way to structure the resume is to divide it into the following sub-headers:

-Personal Information (name, address, phone, e-mail and date of birth)
-Education (list your university degree and GPA – if it is worth mentioning, if not, leave it out)
-Achievements (at your university or in sports etc)
-Work Experience (in reverse chronological order, with your most resent listed first)
-Positions of Trust (held within relevant organizations etc)
-Key Skills
-Personal Qualities
-Other Skills (spoken and written languages, computer skills etc)
-Interests (blogging, reading books, surfing etc)
-References (contact your references before listing them)

5: Applying for the job
You can either write an open application letter to a company you find attractive, or you can apply for an advertised position.

No matter what you do, there are certain simple rules you need to follow. In your application letter you need to answer three simple questions:

1. Who are you?
2. Why are you applying for a job at this company?
3. What unique (but relevant) skills or experience can you bring to this company?

Write in a simple, formal style and keep the letter short. Show the receiving person that you are able to express yourself clearly and concisely (Editors note: something we sometimes have a problem with here at BlogCampaigning). One standard A4 page should be enough to answer all the questions above. Remember, you do not want to bore your reader.

6: The interview-process
When going to an interview, BE PREPARED:

-Read about the company and the people that are interviewing you.
-Prepare some intelligent questions that you want to ask the company about – three or four should do it.
-Be an active listener: Relate a question or an argument to a topic the interviewees have referred to earlier in the interview – Take notes if necessary.
-Show them that you can engage in a conversation, not just answer questions!

More and more interviews are case based. It is therefore a good idea to think of relevant topics or scenarios that you might be asked to analyze or reflect on during the interview. Remember, most questions that are case based do not have a set answer. The interviewer is interested in analyzing how you react to a question – How you resonate, how you handle pressure, and how you approach the question.

To sum up my post: The best advice I can give you is to smile and be yourself. Try to engage in a conversation instead of only answering questions. If you’re a blogger, that should not be a problem.

Here are some other blog posts along similar lines that might help you out:
If you’re looking for a job don’t blow it with your application letter

List of social media interview questions

So you want to work in PR

How to get a job

Steve Cody also has some good tips; however, I’d take some of them with a pinch of salt. I’d definitely leave these ones out:
- send a hand-written thank you note.
- write a press release about the firm having already hired you and send it along with the thank you note.

Good luck!

-Espen

It’s the 10th anniversary of the word weblog! I’ve decided to post my contributions to the blog roll to celebrate!

PR Conversations

Much like our own BlogCampaigning, the contributors of PR Conversations seem to take pride in their international perspectives. They have twelve different authors from all over the world. This blog was recommended to me by Ira Basen and that means a lot because he’s a pretty smart dude. What I think is particularly cool about PR Conversations is that they predominantly regard public relations as a profession and that seems to permeate their posts and comments. I like their stance.

Strategic Public Relations

I liked Kevin Dugan’s use of the word pwn in his post about Brandweek. His blog centers around public relations-meets-marketing tactics. I find it particularly pleasant to read because he writes in short bursts and incorporates lots of pictures. (Layout does a lot!)

Radical Trust

If you know anyone who is on the cusp of delving into social media, but has reservations, please direct them to Collin Douma’s blog, Radical Trust. According to Collin, what holds a lot of companies back from making the social media leap is a question of trust towards the consumer and a feeling of lack of control. Collin has a lot of experience in internet platform development and is currently the Chief Strategist with the Social Media Group, Canada’s first agency dedicated exclusively to social media. This guy knows his stuff. As a former philosophy student myself, I particularly appreciate his analytic tone.

Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

It’s about time we had a luxury lifestyle blog around here!

- Jess

The Norwegian media magazine, Propaganda, reports today that the Norwegian School of Management (BI) in cooperation with The Norwegian Communication Association will establish a research center focusing on corporate communication. BI Center for Corporate Communication will be working to professionalize communication in Norwegian companies and organizations. The Center is the first of its kind in Norway, and will be aiming to form the foundation for future Norwegian communication studies.

- Espen