Author: Ketner Group

Recipe for the perfect PR campaign proposal

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Turning the elements of the best dessert recipe into a guide for making the perfect PR campaign proposal

I’m a brand new wife with a brand new husband. After 5 years of “testing the waters,” we dove into the marriage pool just last month. Everyone knows the best thing about getting married is getting presents, obviously (insert laughter here, drum beats and cymbal crash).

We registered for lots of baking toys, including glass cake pedestals, cupcake tiers, handheld mixers and pastry displays. Over the long Easter weekend, I started making my dessert cookbook, which contains recipes from celebrity chefs for the best New York style cheesecake by Emeril Lagasse, Boston cream pie cupcakes by Martha Stewart, Chocolate Intemperance flourless cake by Austin’s own Jeffery’s restaurant (a secret recipe) and many other delectable delights.

Upon organizing each sinful recipe, I noticed a commonality among them – other than the fact that all of them had my sugar-craving radar spiking off the charts. Each chef claimed that their recipe was the best recipe and all because they’ve made it unique by adding a special ingredient, baking it at an unusual temperature, or serving the cupcake sandwich-style with the cream spread across the middle instead of piped into the center.

In my professional life, I am not a pastry chef; I’m a public relations practitioner. However, I can use the secret to making the ‘best ever’ dessert recipe as a model for designing the perfect public relations campaign proposal.

Just as a baker wouldn’t try to win over an events planner with a simple vanilla cake with buttercream frosting, a public relations professional shouldn’t propose an “ABC, 123” PR campaign. There are box cake mixes you can buy at the grocery store, as well as “PR: Do it Yourself” books you can get at a bookstore. Businesses come to PR agencies for help because they’re looking for that extra know-how they can’t learn-how. The next time you’re lucky enough to be considered for becoming a company’s PR agency-of-record, take the time to hit pause on your email machine, blink a few times, crack your fingers and get started on this recipe.

Cook Time: As long as it takes and in as less time as possible (PR pros who charge by the hour will appreciate this).
Yields: A long lasting, resounding message, high return on investment and a happy client.

Ingredients:
Cake:

  • Research
  • Creativity
  • Examples
  • Proof

Frosting:

Born to be in PR? 9-year-old me takes us back to the basics

Posted on | by Ketner Group | 1 Comment on Born to be in PR? 9-year-old me takes us back to the basics

This past weekend, I trekked back to my old stomping grounds in College Station, Texas to co-host an old friend’s baby shower. (I am at that point in life where the appropriate response to a friend’s baby news is now “Congratulations!” rather than “Wow, how do you feel about it?” – it’s all still new to me.) Thankfully, my Mom and stepdad still live in the area, so I got some time away from baby talk to catch up and lounge around in their new-old 1930’s-built house.

On Saturday night, my Mom handed me a bag containing a few notebooks and papers that her Mom had passed off to her the weekend before. My Grandmom has been sloooowly cleaning out the old “clubhouse” over the years, a tiny-yet-huge closet in her house that my cousin and I had taken over for our childhood exploits. I think it makes her just as sad as it makes me thinking of the clubhouse being totally empty, since we lost my cousin 7 years ago, way too young. But about the notebooks. Our “T.V. Club” (for Taylor + Valerie, also known as the “Totally Fun Club,” of course) required a lot of planning. Based on the notebooks, you’d think all we did was plan – which was mostly the case, aside from the occasional spy mission or theatrical/choral performance.

When I was reading through one of my old club notebooks, circa age 9, I laughed to the point of tears at the ridiculousness of it. I’ve included an old page here (click through to read it bigger) that really got me thinking. As rudimentary and silly as these ideas were, they say something about who I was, and who I am. Aside from being a huge nerd, when I read it, I thought to myself, “huh, I didn’t even know it until I was three years into college, but I was kind of destined for this career.”

As with any career, there are certain must-have traits for those who want to be successful in marketing and PR. While diversity among the types of people and ideas is a must, these seem to be universally necessary traits/tendencies for professionals in this business. Sure, they might seem rather “duh” (#5 on my IDEAS list anyone?) but my mantra for 2011 has been “back to the basics,” and I think there are messages here that we all need reminders of if we want to try to strengthen the reputation of our own industry:

  1. Be proactive – I mean, really: One of our clients recently hired a new director of marketing, and in our first meeting, she was very concerned about trade show media appointments. She mentioned that at her previous company, the PR agency didn’t prep the executives with briefing books or confirm the media appointments before the show. Come on! And in a recent new business meeting, a company’s CEO told us that his PR firm didn’t proactively pitch or set media appointments at shows, and only seemed to handle reactive inquiries. The only excuse for that would be a bare bones budget, and even then, there’s a major communication gap going on. Speaking of which… Continue reading →

Ketner Group Reflections on NRF 2011

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Valerie, Catherine, Brittany, Caitlin & Jeff at Paramount Hotel in NYC
PHOTO: Valerie, Catherine, Brittany, Caitlin & Jeff at Paramount Hotel in NYC

Rather than one of us posting an exhaustive blog post about our experience at NRF 2011, we decided that each one of us Ketner Groupers who traveled to NYC for NRF could tell a little bit about our personal experiences and observations at the show. Please comment and let us know what you thought about the show, and whether you agree or disagree with us!

Jeff
Coolest thing I saw at NRF: The crowds, enthusiasm and overall positive tone of the show was in sharp contrast to recent years. It was great to see retailers turn out in record numbers, and our clients attending NRF certainly felt upbeat after the show. Perhaps the coolest thing at NRF, though, was what happened just prior to the show: the Retail Orphan Initiative’s SuperSaturday event drew nearly 200 attendees to hear from some of the best minds in retail technology, and the event raised approximately $300,000 to help fund programs for orphans and other vulnerable children worldwide. The retail industry is rallying around RetailROI.

Best thing I did in NYC: Rock N’ Roll Retail was once again the most fun experience at NRF. The level of musicianship and camaraderie at this event was over the top, and it was a blast to be able to participate. Hats off to Dave Weinand at RIS News for having the vision to put this together. The KG gang will be there again next year!

My thoughts on retail in 2011: Mobile technology was everywhere on the show floor. Mobile has become the #1 game-changer in retail technology, and it’s only going to continue to grow in 2011. There are two facets to mobile, though, as was evident at NRF: connecting with consumers through their mobile devices and also using iPads to further extend enterprise applications inside retail organizations. So while mobile can help retailers engage with consumers, it’s also going to help them become more productive.

Catherine
Coolest thing I saw at NRF: Although I didn’t get to try it out myself, the coolest thing I saw at NRF was the virtual dressing room that was set up outside the show hall. I’d heard of the virtual dressing room, but had never seen it in person.  Another cool thing I saw at NRF was a booth (the name escapes me) that had all kinds of shopping bags displayed – it definitely made me stop and look!

Continue reading →

My Experience Being a Part (and Learning the Ropes) of a Small Business: A Journey Full of Surprises, Nerf Guns, and Plenty of Chocolate

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When I first joined Ketner Group in 2007, I knew very little about running a business, and just enough about PR to convince them I was the best candidate for the entry-level position. I was given a gigantic desk in a room all to myself (one of the “perks” of small business I am glad we grew out of – it was so lonely!) and thrown into client work 8-5, 5 days a week, while all my friends were still off procrastinating away senior year. (I was the dork that graduated early.)

The past three and a half years have taught me more than I could have imagined, and one of the best parts of it has been learning bit by bit about how a small business is run and the secret ingredients to doing it right. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no financial expert, and my favorite parts of the job will always be client work and scheming with my co-workers, but an incredibly valuable part of working for Ketner Group has been learning much more than just PR: I’ve watched a small business grow, gain and lose clients (AKA revenue), and adapt to survive in a time when our entire industry was changing beneath our feet.

In order to avoid writing a novel, I thought I’d pick just a few things that make me proud to be part of this team:

Creating the kind of atmosphere you want to work in

I will be the first to admit our office didn’t always have the greatest atmosphere. Sure, it was a positive environment, but – being a small business – we just didn’t splurge on things like new furniture or décor. With clients that were mostly out of town at the time, we didn’t have many unexpected visitors, either, so the “image” of our physical office wasn’t terribly important. Then, 2 things happened. We got more local clients, and we hired more women. Continue reading →

The Family Business

Posted on | by Ketner Group

By Andrew Ketner, Intern

When I was growing up, I had no idea what my Dad did for a living. I knew that he went to work every morning with a briefcase and came home every evening in time for dinner. I distinctly remember an episode from my sixth grade Spanish class in which our teacher asked each student to state the occupation of his or her Dad. When it was my turn to speak, I frantically flipped through the pages of my mind’s Spanish-English dictionary and stumbled upon what I thought at the time was a suitable if somewhat incorrect answer: “A businessman.”

Fast-forward ten years, and I am now a proud employee of my Dad’s formerly unknown business. I never thought I would work for my Dad, much less for a PR firm, but I guess you could say that I didn’t have a choice. I was about to embark on a 7-week study abroad program last summer and was trying to find a job under the broad heading of “prelaw” that I could hold down for the remaining five weeks until the start of the fall semester. Turns out that no one wanted to hire me just for five weeks (surprise). So, whether it was because he didn’t want a jobless son or because he simply wanted to increase the male quotient at the office (see this former blog post), Dad hired me.

Fortunately for the both of us, I ended up really liking the short-lived gig and have been working at the Ketner Group since I graduated from The University of Texas this past May. I still plan on going to law school next fall, but decided very quickly after college Continue reading →

Ketner Group is hiring an Account Executive in Austin!

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The time has come for us to expand our team — we’re so excited, and we can’t wait to find just the right person. If you know anyone in Austin looking for a PR job that fits the below requirements, please pass this along!  To apply for the position, please email resume and portfolio or writing samples to [email protected], and please read the requirements thoroughly before applying. We look forward to meeting some of you.

Open Position: Account Executive
Start Date: Mid-June
Type of Job: Full-time, salaried
Salary: Based upon experience, please include requirements

Job Requirements
This position requires three to five years full-time agency experience and extremely strong technology and marketing writing skills. As a public relations and marketing communications agency specializing in high-tech clients (as well as other industries), the ability to distill technical jargon into a compelling message is absolutely essential. The ideal candidate must have strong experience in account management and media and analyst relations, including excellent pitching skills and the ability to build strong relationships with media and analysts. The position is ideal for a self-starter who can successfully multi-task, who possesses excellent interpersonal skills and is fluent in AP style. Candidates must have project coordination experience and the ability to work well with all levels of staff, as well as outside clients and vendors. Consumer and/or high tech PR experience is a plus. We are looking for someone with a passion for organization, detail and planning – and strengths in both strategy and execution.

This position will be probationary for 90 days, at which point, upon satisfactory review, a permanent offer will be made.

We are a tight-knit office with an upbeat, fun, and friendly culture and are seeking someone like-minded.

Primary Responsibilities for Account Executive:

  • Team and project management:
    —maintaining client communication
    —media pitching, as well as handling any incoming media inquiries
    —preparing regular client reports and attending client meetings
  • Heavy copywriting and marketing communications
    —researching, writing and distributing press releases to targeted media
    —researching, writing and placing white papers and other technical collateral
    —developing and writing promotional collateral and web copy
  • Development of creative tactical ideas and strategic planning, from traditional components to new media and social media
  • New business development, specifically undertaking research for new business proposals and presenting to potential new clients

Benefits:

  • Medical/Health Insurance
  • IRA program with employer matching
  • Paid vacation
  • Competitive salary
  • Wonderful work environment with a true emphasis on an enjoyable work/life balance

Where did all the men go?

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Some questions have no easy answer. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop?

Add another question to that list: What happened to all of the men in PR?

It wasn’t all that long ago that a bunch of men established the public relations industry as we know it today. Innovative businessmen like P.T. Barnum first pushed the limits of publicity, and were followed by enterprising young men like Edward Bernays and Ivy Lee, who met a need that executives all over the world didn’t know they had yet.

The world’s largest and most successful PR agencies were, not surprisingly, founded by men. Still today, the executive leadership of global media conglomerates and smaller, privately held PR firms alike is largely male. But one look around the office, and it’s obvious things have changed in the last fifty years. Our own Ketner Group office is a microcosm of this gender imbalance, with our lone male, our agency principal, outnumbered five to one. Continue reading →

Psychology of the User Experience

Posted on | by Ketner Group | 2 Comments on Psychology of the User Experience

Right after SXSW Interactive, I promised a comprehensive recap, and I have a confession to make – this  Word document has been sitting here in blog post purgatory for over a week (literally!) now, because I’ve realized that: A) I’m not an authority on this event, since it was my first time going, B) there are tons of great posts out there recapping the event as a whole (check out see Omar Gallaga, Jay Baer, and Chris Brogan’s helpful and thoughtful posts), and C) while SXSW was incredibly valuable to me overall for reasons I mentioned in the previous short post, there are only a few things that I took away as total “a ha!” moments in terms of bringing new ideas and practices to Ketner Group and our clients. One of those was definitely Brian Solis’ session on How Your Brand Can Succeed in the New Web, but I’d much rather speak about that after I’ve read his new book, Engage! – and how handy that I asked a question during the Q&A portion of the talk and scored a crisp hardback copy! Be on the lookout for my review on that book soon.

For now, I’d like to dedicate this post to the other session I felt most interesting and pertinent to the work we do here at KG, Stephen Anderson’s talk on the Art & Science of Seductive Interactions – basically, how we can apply the principles of human psychology to creating a better User Experience (which can apply to developing products, websites, etc.)  I love the study of psychology, and in fact I also recently discovered a great lecture series on the Mind & Brain from the University of Arizona available for free download from iTunes U – I highly recommend checking that out. Anyway, Stephen Anderson’s main point in his SXSW panel was that, when we are creating something for other people, we need to get back to the basics. What makes successful experiments, products, and campaigns work? Generally, at the root of it is human psychology. Are you building your product or website or campaign by starting with a basic assessment of what you want people to do and how you can incent them to do so?

Continue reading →

Ketner Group is a proud sponsor of Austin Twestival! (3/25)

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In case you haven’t heard, TOMORROW (3/25) is the big day for the Global Twestival! Caitlin and I (Valerie) will be there to show our support of the great cause  this Twestival benefits (details on that below) — and also to represent Ketner Group, since we signed on as a sponsor of the event.

We really hope you can make it out, too! Mark your calendars for 7pm tomorrow, Thursday, March 25 for Twestival Austin at Molotov downtown! RSVP here now.

About the Twestival (from the website):

On Thursday, March 25, people in hundreds of cities around the world will come together offline to rally around the important cause of Education by hosting local events to have fun and create awareness.  Twestival™ (or Twitter Festival) uses social media for social good.  All of the local events are organized 100% by volunteers (in Austin, this Twestival effort is being led by the awesome @michaelpearsun) and 100% of all ticket sales and donations go direct to projects.  If you would like to get involved, please Register your City, Register your School, or Volunteer  and we will get in touch.  Organizers will be given a handbook and invitation to our collaboration workspace.  Follow @twestival for updates.

Continue reading →

Ketner Group at SXSW Interactive

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From Valerie Caseys keynote on the Designers Accord - it was great!Hey everyone! I had a great time at SXSW Interactive and all the corresponding awesome events like Lani & Benn’s kick-off #BATHH (badass Twitter Happy Hour, for all of you non-Austinites) and Pinqued‘s #TechKaraoke.

Though they were certainly hit or miss, I learned a lot at some of the panel sessions (look for a full blog on the highlights next Monday), but the greatest part was getting to meet tons of new people in technology, social media, design, etc. — and seeing tons of my favorite smart people in Austin that I wish I could see way more often. (@MeanRachel, @elisewho, @chelseabot, @omarg, @daveiam, etc., etc. — I’m looking at you.)

Anyway, in case you missed my tweets representing Ketner Group at SXSW Interactive, please check them out, and look for my full wrap-up post on Monday. I know I’m a bit behind, but hey — you can’t fault me for taking a few days to focus on clients, can you?

Hope everyone has a great weekend — and for those in Austin, good luck with the music crowds!

Valerie