Why news writers should rewrite wire copy

When running stories from The Associated Press, it’s good to rewrite copy. Here’s a reason why.

STORIES TO NOTE – Here are several recent communication stories from the communications industry you should check out.
– Whatever Happened To Traditional PR?
– Is Social Media Killing the News Industry?

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Friday’s View From The Pugh column features communications news and notes. E-mail viewfromthepugh@yahoo.com to submit an item for consideration for a future column).

University of Findlay plans PR boot camp

Non-profit professionals are invited to attend “PR Boot Camp 2012” on June 12 at The University of Findlay. The daylong conference will focus on how to do more with less using public relations, digital media and innovative collaborations.

The Department of Communication at The University of Findlay is hosting the conference, which has been made possible with a grant from the Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation.

Delivering the keynote address, “Town and Gown: A Partnership of Excellence,” will be Dr. Janet Rice McCoy, associate professor of advertising and public relations at Morehead State University. Before returning to the university to teach, McCoy spent more than 20 years as a project coordinator, event planner, editor, grant writer, technical writer and trainer. With a passion for non-profit organizations, McCoy regularly integrates service learning into her teaching and actively engages her students with non-profit organizations (NPOs) throughout Kentucky. She also serves on the board of directors for the Girl Scouts of Kentucky’s Wilderness Road Council.

Registration is $10 and includes a continental breakfast, boxed lunch and a series of workshops conducted by experts in strategic communication, social media, organizational communication and grant writing.

Space is limited to the first 50 registrants. Those interested in reserving a seat should contact Barbara Glock at
glock@findlay.edu or 419-434-6982.

TWEET-UP PLANNED – The Columbus Social Media Club will hold a tweet-up 7:30 a.m. April 17 at Camelot Cellars Winery in the Short North, 958 North High Street, Columbus.

Admission is $5 and you can register at the event page.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Friday’s View From The Pugh column features communications news and notes. E-mail viewfromthepugh@yahoo.com to submit an item for consideration for a future column).

University of Findlay receives grant to host PR boot camp in 2012 for nonprofit agencies

The University of Findlay recently was awarded a $7,500 grant from the Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation to offer Communication Matters: A Public Relations Boot Camp for Nonprofit Organizations in Hancock County. The funds are made available from the Howard and Carolyn Marvin Fund, Norman and Jane Nicholson Fund, Findlay Industries Inc. Fund, Deborah Ruth Wall Fund, Marjorie Kuhlman Fund and Richard P. Barchent Jr. Fund.

The one-day workshop, which will be held in June of 2012, will address social media marketing; writing features and news releases; recruiting, training and retaining volunteers; developing teams; and grant development and writing. The keynote speaker is Dr. Janet Rice McCoy, who developed a similar successful workshop at Morehead State University.

During the spring of 2011, students in a communication class at the school interviewed leaders from 21 non-profit organizations to assess needs that could be addressed through communication. Public relations and marketing was identified as an area where non-profits could use extra help.

The workshop next summer will help non-profit staff members learn new ways to recruit and retain volunteers, promote agency services and develop relationships with other community members that could result in collaborative projects or events and sharing of resources.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Information from University of Findlay press release)

3 ways to make sure you connect with your audience

If you want to succeed in public relations and communications, you have to consider your audience.

It’s vital to your success as a company or organization.

At first glance, it seems like an easy task.

For example, a company who markets in retirement planning shouldn’t have a MySpace page.

That’s an easy one.

But what about the difficult issues?

Here’s a couple tips on how to make sure you understand what your audience needs.

– Plan before you launch a campaign

It’s easy to throw content out there before you understand how best to reach your audience. So do your homework first.

Are many of them on Facebook? Do they read their emails? Are they visiting your web site?

If you don’t know the answer, you can’t reach your audience.

– Publicize like crazy

You can make the greatest Facebook page for your organization, but the project would be a failure if no one knows about it,

Make sure your audience knows about your outreach tools and encourage them to share your content with others.

– Listen to your audience

It’s important to get honest feedback on your communications efforts.

Have a focus group and regularly check in with your stakeholders to see if your message is being heard.

What other tips can you share?

Three easy ways to have resolved Target’s PS3 pricing mistake …

Good customer service is hard to find.

And in this world of decreased profits and tougher competition, companies who properly use social media for effective customer service really stand out.

Amazon and Target can learn a lesson about proper customer service and could have generated millions in revenue at the same time.

Several weeks ago, Target mistakenly offered a PlayStation 3 system for $39.95 on their web site and Amazon picked up the same offer.

That’s a 92 percent savings.

Word spread like wildfire through the Internet late Sunday about the deal.

Amazon and Target both have policies on being able to cancel orders for mistaken prices.

While it’s not logical to assume that the companies should fulfill all orders and lose millions in the process, both companies missed a gold mine of opportunity in positive PR and customer service.

Here’s how they could have done it.

—- Proactive messaging —- No one appeared to be monitoring Amazon and Target’s social media pages Sunday night, so while hundreds of individual posts were commenting on the situation, there was no official response from the companies. As of Monday night, there was no official response from the companies, just individual e-mails canceling the orders. Already there is talk about lawsuits about the matter. Quick messaging from the companies on its social would have deescalated some of the lawsuit threats. Deescalating legal threats also keeps your legal department happy.

—- Give something away —- Target and Amazon lost millions in revenue Sunday night because they simply refunded the orders. As a company, when you have thousands of credit card orders with millions in revenue, the challenge becomes how to keep the revenue active in your company. A creative solution is offering a $50 gift card to Target or Amazon if the customer allows the order the remain on the card and the shipping charge would be refunded). Everybody wins here. The customer gets something more than they paid for and the company gets a positive impression in the customer’s mind. That leads to future sales.

—- Have some fun —- Businesses can have fun when they make mistakes. Acknowledge your errors. America loves self-depreciation. Target should have acknowledged their error right away, canceled the orders, offered $50 gift cards for the $40 charge and have a drawing for 50-100 PS3’s. It’s a positive way of responding to a PR crisis and would have gained positive media attention as well.

How does your company handle crisis? For many, public silence is how matters are handled.

But in today’s world of instant communication, silence often leads to escalated anger.