Media Relations Archives - Page 11 of 12 - Ketner Group Communications

5 SXSWi Sessions PR Pros Shouldn’t Miss

Posted on February 6, 2012 | by Ketner Group

Image provided by SXSW.com, photo by: Brittany Ryan.
It’s T-minus one month and six days until Austin’s most anticipated conference of the year. South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) begins Friday, March 9 and the whole city is preparing. Hotels have tripled their rates and are mostly booked, the city is organizing the transportation routes and local Austinites are planning their schedules and thanking their lucky stars they live close by.

I’m excited Ketner Group is sending a couple of us to SXSWi—I can’t wait to absorb all of the marketing, new media and technology ideas and advice everyone has to share. The session line up looks really interesting, and the only thing that disappoints me is that I can’t be in more than one place at the same time. You should see my schedule on the SXSWi. The site lets you star the sessions you find interesting and adds them to your “My SXSW Schedule” tab in your account. There are places where I have five sessions at the same time—that’s just not possible.

This got me thinking, “I wish someone would read through all several hundred sessions and let me know which ones are a MUST-SEE as a PR professional.” Apparently, bottles aren’t big enough to hold genies and leprechauns are really hard to catch. So I read through every single session description and starred my favorites. If you’re a PR pro, I would recommend starring the following sessions for yourself:

“Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas”
Presenter: David Meerman Scott (Best-selling author!)
The rules have changed. The traditional PR model—sticking closely to a preset script and campaign timeline—no longer works the way it used to. Public discourse now moves so fast and so dynamically that all it takes is a single afternoon to blast the wheels off someone’s laboriously crafted narrative. Enter newsjacking: the process by which you inject your ideas or angles into breaking news, in real-time, in order to generate media coverage for yourself or your business. It creates a level playing field—literally anyone can newsjack—but, that new level favors players who are observant, quick to react, and skilled at communicating. It’s a powerful tool that can be used to throw an opponent or simply draft off the news momentum to further your own ends. Marketing and PR expert and bestselling author David Meerman Scott prepares you to launch your business ahead of the competition and attract the attention of highly-engaged audiences by taking advantage of breaking news

“We Made This, and it’s Not an Ad”
Presenter: Robbie Whiting, Director of Creative Tech & Production, Duncan/Channon
What if agencies and marketers created products and services, not just ads? And what if they made these things for themselves, not just for clients? They do. But tackling things like product design, creating new businesses or building complex real-world experiences requires a creative, technical, managerial and entrepreneurial spirit more associated with Silicon Valley than Madison Avenue. It demands new roles, agile approaches, external partnerships, technologies, investments and compensation models that can drive even the most hardened finance director crazy. And in some cases, it may even require a complete reboot from the ground up. The ability to make something that isn’t an “ad” is no longer optional in modern advertising. But it’s certainly not easy, either. So what can we learn from the makers, technologists and agencies already playing in this space? Turns out, a whole heckuva lot.

“Get Lit: Why Story Matters”
Presenter: Jill Meyers, Editor, American Short Fiction
You built a product. It’s amazing, brilliant, even earth-shattering. You know it, your team knows it, your mom knows it. So why doesn’t anyone else seem to get it? The answer may be that you haven’t told them the right story. As it turns out, good writing is hard to come by, and people who are good at making things aren’t necessarily the best at telling their story. But don’t worry: you can learn! In the world of fiction, we’ve been thinking about story–and how to make it powerful, visceral, and beautiful–for a long time. This panel will bring the practices and structure of fiction to help you transform your idea, product, or service from the mundane to the sublime. Continue reading →

What Will Retailers Do with 2.7 Million Tablets?

Posted on November 8, 2011 | by Jeff Ketner

If anyone needed more proof that mobile is the hottest trend in retail, RIS News reported this week that the percentage of consumers who made purchases with mobile phones doubled from 2010 to 2011, from 9% to 18%. STORES devoted almost its entire November issue to mobility, too. These are just a couple of additional proof points for the meteoric rise of consumer mobility, which Retail Systems Research describes as the “most galvanizing force (in a positive way) we’ve ever seen in retail.”

Mobile technology is changing the retail landscape in ways that haven’t been seen since the rise of e-commerce. However, the trend that’s captured my attention lately is what’s happening with mobile devices inside the store – and more specifically, how retailers are using smartphones and tablets inside the stores.

A recent research study from retail analyst firm IHL Group included a fascinating statistic. According to IHL’s survey, more than 2.7 million tablet devices will be shipped for use in North American retail and hospitality by 2015, an increase of 450% over current rates. These figures don’t even take into account the handheld devices that retailers are scrambling to roll out in mobile POS deployments.

The bottom line? Get ready to see millions of tablets and smartphones in retail stores in the next few years, along with fundamental changes in everything from the physical layout of stores to the way that consumers interact with store associates.

61% of retailers surveyed by IHL Group rate mobile technology as their top priority, so what we’ve seen so far in store-based mobile systems is just the beginning.

Early mobile deployments at retailers such as Urban Outfitters, Home Depot, Nordstrom and others have focused primarily on the ways that mobile can improve the store experience. These retailers are looking to mobile devices to get their sales associates out from behind the cash wrap and onto the sales floor, where they can interact with customers, guide the shopping experience, look up product reviews and ratings, and check inventory on out-of-stocks in order to save the sale. Early deployments are promising, but the changes we’ve seen so far are just the tip of the iceberg. Continue reading →

Surprise! You’re in Public Relations.

Posted on October 19, 2011 | by Ketner Group

“Surprise!” is what should be written on your diploma upon college graduation. As is the case for many careers, public relations is one thing taught and another in practice. Earlier this month, I accepted an invitation to speak to the University of Texas’ student-run Tower PR group and was brought back to my college days—days of hope, dreams and eagerness to start a fabulous life in PR.

After meeting such wonderful, enthusiastic future PR professionals at UT, I started comparing what I thought a career in PR would look like at 21 to what it actually is after nearly 5 years of going from internships to account coordinator and executive roles to senior account manager. Now I love my job and I’m sure I chose the best career for me, but one thing is certain: At 21, I had not even a clue what I was in for.

“PR is glamorous.” SURPRISE! It’s not. At all. PR professionals get no public credit for the good work we do, and that’s the way it should be. You work hard all day to win positive publicity for your clients (hardly ever for yourself), and a job well done may or may not be met with praise. PR is very much a “behind the scenes” or “backstage” role, so people who crave being the star of the show should think twice about choosing this underappreciated career.

“PR is all about party planning.” SURPRISE! I wish I could plan parties for a living. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been approached by someone wanting to get into event planning. Party planning is a large, successful industry and is mastered by event planners, designers, caterers and others. It’s a whole other tamale. In fact, it’s on a whole other plate. In PR, you’re immersed in activities such as crafting a corporate message, managing client relationships with media and analysts, and writing case studies, press releases and articles. On the rare occasion that a client throws a party and needs your help, they will likely be looking for your assistance in promoting the party to a targeted community. Continue reading →

Ketner Group Journey- The Beginning

Posted on October 4, 2011 | by Ketner Group

My name is Catherine Mitchell and I’m a senior public relations student at UT Austin. Knowing that graduation is slowly sneaking up on me in December, I decided that I needed more experience in the public relations Industry before I could truly know which path to choose when I graduate. This leads me to the beginning of my journey with Ketner Group!

I have held previous PR internships with outstanding companies, but still I longed for experience in an actual agency whose sole purpose was PR and marketing. I had been to quite a few interviews at other agencies, but when I walked through the door here at Ketner Group I instantly felt at ease. Everyone at the office was friendly and energetic. My interview didn’t feel like a formal “what are your strengths and weakness” type interview, but more of a two-way conversation where I felt comfortable to be myself and got to learn more about the people in the agency. Choosing the place I wanted to intern was a no-brainer!

Ketner Group deals mainly with B2B technology clients, which is definitely a different field of PR that I imagined myself working in. However, I have found that I really enjoy learning about different IT developments implemented by Ketner Group’s clients.

Merely seeing how a public relations professional spends his/her day at work has provided me
great insight into the field. The opportunity to sit in on conference calls and meetings with
clients has shown me how to build and maintain strong relationships with clients. I have learned through observation the importance of presenting knowledgeable council to the client while still maintaining a casual enough tone to keep the meeting friendly. When I’m at the office I literally feel like a little sponge trying to absorb all the information I can!

Being surrounded by professionals who really love what they do has made interning at Ketner Group a really positive experience thus far. People really aren’t lying when they say the best way to learn is through experience. I now know that I enjoy working in a boutique agency where everyone is more than coworkers- they’re friends.

When I Grow Up I Want To Be…

Posted on September 23, 2011 | by Catherine Seeds

I’m not going to lie. Sometimes my job is hard. In fact, it can be downright frustrating and still causes me to shed a few tears now and then. Twelve years working in public relations has taught me to have thick skin and to keep pushing forward when things get tough, but I still have days when I can’t wait to get home and pour myself a tall glass (or two) of my favorite white wine. And I’m not the only one who feels this way, either. According to The Huffington Post, public relations is ranked one of the top ten most stressful jobs in America, right alongside our friends in advertising, commercial pilots, architects and EMTs. PR executives must consistently prove our worth to clients, for fear if we don’t, we’ll get the boot. (We must also be perfect spokespersons and pitchers for the media, for fear of being “that PR person” – but that is another topic all together!)

We must educate clients who don’t understand that it is not always about how many clips you get, but also includes the importance of developing and nurturing relationships with media, analysts and industry though leaders. We must be all things to our clients: spokespersons, advisors, cheerleaders, editors, trainers, devil’s advocates, educators, writers, lead generators, pitchers, networkers, brand ambassadors, sometimes psychologists, travel companions, and dare I say, friends.

So, imagine my surprise when I read a CNBC report about the Top 10 Hated Jobs in America (as surveyed by CareerBliss). Public relations was nowhere to be found on the list, instead, it was marketing managers and VPs of sales and marketing. According to the survey, directors of sales and marketing (who typically manages the company budget, public relations and employee training) reported the second-highest level of job dissatisfaction due to “lack of direction from upper management and an absence of room for growth.”

I’ve been working in the PR agency world for my entire career, so I am not naïve to think that marketing managers and directors have it easy. I know they don’t.

Continue reading →

New KG Intern Sara on Her PR Degree and Internships

Posted on September 13, 2011 | by Ketner Group

“What’s your major?”
“Public relations.”
Classic response: “Great! …What’s public relations?”

Needless to say, a typical explanatory conversation with fellow students, family members and friendly coffee house employees gets old. But to be honest, I wasn’t even sure what public relations was until I came into my freshman year as a PR major at the University of Texas at Austin. I knew Samantha on “Sex and the City” was in public relations. She seemed to have a cool job. Why not go for it?

As a junior public relations major at UT, I have learned that this business is demanding, fast-paced and a daily challenge. This was definitely the industry for me! The fall semester has just begun, but my Public Relations Techniques course is turning out to be one of my favorite classes. In this group project-based class, we work on analyzing and suggesting ways to enhance a specific non-profit organization in the Austin area. I am so excited to work with Ventana del Soul, a local non-profit that works with socio-economically disadvantaged families and at-risk youth in Austin to provide training services and job coaching in the culinary arts industry. As a firm believer that food (more specifically, chocolate) can fix almost anything, I can’t think of a better organization to provide public relations advice and counsel.

Outside of classes, I’ve gained experience by working with the College of Communication Career Services (CCS), the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center and the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB) and I was ready to see what life was like at a public relations firm. During my time at the CCS, I worked on promoting the event to students and faculty of the university and wrote press releases to send out to The Daily Texan and other neighboring university newspapers. At the ACVB, I worked on various sales proposals in order to bring more meetings, conferences and conventions to the city of Austin. From the moment I moved to Austin three years ago I have been hungry to learn more about this city and what makes it tick. Working at the ACVB only encouraged my obsession with the “Live Music Capital of the World” and I gained valuable knowledge of the city and the hardworking people who help to make it the greatest town in Texas.

I am very passionate about environmental conservation and I hope to one day be able to use my PR degree to promote sustainable and ecologically friendly products and organizations. My internship at Ketner Group will allow me to hone my PR skills in a professional setting and I am so excited to be a part of the team!

KG Productivity Tips Series, #1: Minimizing Distractions

Posted on September 1, 2011 | by Ketner Group

The topic of productivity needs no fancy introduction — everyone who runs or has stake in a business worries about it, and everyone wants to be better at it. At Ketner Group, we take pride in our balance between productivity and play, because, well, you know what they say about all work and no play. Below, a few of the Ketner Groupies have shared our favorite productivity tips. In the next couple of weeks, we’ll cover what works to keep us organized and on-task.

Brittany: Multitasking Doesn’t Work, Sorry
The first step of recovery is to admit you have a problem, and the problem in this case is multitasking. I have learned—the hard way—that I am not much of a multitasker. Sure, the human brain is capable of some multitasking, like listening to the radio while driving or stirring a cooking dinner while talking on the phone. But it turns out that multitasking in the office doesn’t work very well (and it’s not just me!), and there’s a lot of science to prove it. In a Time magazine article, writer Claudia Wallis explains the research: when people try to tackle multiple tasks at once, “or [alternate] rapidly between them, errors go way up and it takes far longer—often double the time or more—to get the jobs done than if they were done sequentially.” Worse still, research from the University of North Texas found that multitaskers actually lose time because “the brain is compelled to restart and refocus” as it switches gears.

Instead of trying to knock out five projects every five or 10 minutes, admit to yourself that multitasking doesn’t improve your game and discipline yourself to dedicate larger blocks of time for each project. Remove environmental distractions such as the Internet, a cluttered workspace or verbal interruptions. Continue reading →

Austin Got a Tattoo, and it spells Social Media

Posted on June 22, 2011 | by Ketner Group | 2 Comments

Have you heard? Mashable has challenged us to celebrate this year’s Social Media Day by proving why our city is the most social media savvy city in the world. Is it even a contest? When you think of social media’s birth of innovation and its spirit of togetherness while celebrating oppositeness, and find you still have the energy to be enthusiastic about it all, are you from LA? New York? London? No. You’re from Austin, baby.

That’s right. Home to the geek producin’, barbeque lickin’, music lovin’ masses, Austin, TX, is the birthplace of social media acceptance. Austin lifted the concept of social media from its crib and nursed it to maturity, accepting it as a part of its own flesh and blood, because that is what it has become. To Austin, social media is an organic life force, an interwoven fiber of networks that has been braided into nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Social media has tattooed itself upon our city and to prove it, we’ll give you the “A, U and S, the T and I to the N” of why Austin is the most social media savvy city in the world.

A is for Apps. Austin is a playground for social integration app developer companies. Anything from smartphone games for consumers to mobile web integration apps for businesses are created here. Many smartphone app developers call Austin home, including Qrank, Gowalla and Pangea Software, developer of the iPhone game Enigmo, which was one of the most downloaded apps in 2008.

U is for User-Friendly. For years, the City of Austin and other community groups, like the Austin Wireless City Project, have been campaigning for free wireless throughout the city. In 2006, the City of Austin partnered with the World Congress on Information Technology and Cisco Systems to provide high-speed, outdoor Internet wireless access to select areas in town. Austin’s emphasis on the importance of providing complimentary wireless access to citizens highlights its commitment to fostering an online, social and sharing community.

S is for SXSW. “South by Southwest” is probably the largest contributing factor to our argument that Austin is the most social media savvy city in the world. In fact, people from all over the world travel to Austin to spend one week of every year at the SXSW Interactive (SXSWi), Film and Music festival. According to SXSWi, attendees get “five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology…showcasing the best new digital works, video games and innovative ideas the international community has to offer.” In fact, one of the most successful social media debuts at SXSWi was Twitter. That’s right, Twitter introduced its recently launched concept in Austin, TX, in 2007 to a very receptive crowd and has since grown so successful that the term, “Tweet,” has a place in the Merriam-Webster dictionary (as a noun AND a verb). Foursquare, which actually launched its location-based service at SXSWi in 2009, is another SXSWi success story. There is a reason that SXSWi in Austin is the go-to show for innovative technology companies to teach, learn and share ideas. Continue reading →

My Take on Technology Innovation – Then vs. Now

Posted on June 2, 2011 | by Catherine Seeds

I’ve been in the PR business, specifically working for high tech PR agencies, since the beginning of my career. If you’ll allow me to reminisce, the year was 1999 and, oh, how different things were! PR agencies were recruiting new college graduates left and right to support their booming businesses. At that time, high tech companies were willing to pay PR agencies very large monthly retainers to get ahead of the competition. Each team member had their place on account teams – even on down to the low man/woman on the totem pole who was in charge of cutting hard copies of every single media clip for the client, gluing the article to a brand new white sheet of paper (with a sticker of the agency logo at the top left hand corner, of course) and put all of them in large clip books for the client.

Technology-wise, in 1999, I got my very first cell phone to go along with my new “grown-up job” working as an account coordinator for a large PR firm in Dallas. I believe it was one of those cute Nokia 5100s – probably a red one. I’m fairly certain that I was using AOL as my Internet provider, e-Commerce was the next big thing, and Google was on its way to becoming a household name. I was single, childless and living in a world where technology innovation was at an all-time high.

The year is now 2011, and our world is so completely different. Technology is cooler, faster, and smaller! No longer do you need a desktop or a laptop – tablets and smart phones are all the rage. Anything you need to know you can practically access it from your iPhone, iPad, or Android. Social media has become a way of life, and now, consumers can actually purchase products and services right from their smart phones. The majority of my co-workers are of Generation Y, or Millennials, a generation who grew up in the age of technology innovation. Over the past four years, I have had to adapt to the *new* way of doing my job at Ketner Group – starting with ditching those large clip books! I now work half of the time via my smart phone and have learned how to use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn so that I can help my clients implement the best social media strategies. There are a lot of things that I don’t know, but I’m learning, with the help and encouragement of my Millennial co-workers.

Things are also different in 2011, compared to 1999, because I’m a different person. I am now a wife, a homeowner and a mother raising the next generation – Generation Z or the Net Generation. This generation was not only born during the most recent technology boom, but they are learning how to use those technologies at a younger age compared to previous generations. My six-year-old daughter learned how to use a laptop when she was two. My two-year old son can play games on my Android phone. When I take a picture of my kids with my smart phone, my daughter always asks me if I’m going to post it on Facebook. I often wonder what new technologies my children will be using (or perhaps creating!) as they get older. What will social media look like in 10 years? Will we all be working via a 3D tablet device while the desktop and laptop find homes in junkyards and museums? When we go shopping, will the shopping experience be something like the Tom Cruise movie “The Minority Report” where hologram employees greet us with personal welcomes and promotions as we walk in the store?

Ragan’s PR Daily recently did a study which concluded that most young people would give up their sense of smell before technology. According to the report, social media has already impacted the way younger generations relate to the world around them:

“Social media is having a powerful (and somewhat paradoxical) role in the quest for doing the right thing. On a personal level young people believe they have a strong notion of the difference between right and wrong…but this is increasingly informed by the values of the Internet. Their new moral framework will continue to transform everything around us from the laws that govern our lives to our workplaces.”

Since the beginning of time, man has always found a way to do things better, faster, stronger. It’s just the natural progression of things – and the report by Ragan’s PR Daily is a true mirror to the fact that the younger generations depend greatly on technology, enough so that they would (in theory) give up their sense of smell. I for one don’t need my technology that much – but for Gen Y and Gen Z – it has become (and will become) a large part of who they are and how they live. Old school video stores (a la Blockbuster Video and the like) are on their way out – now we have Redbox and Netflix. We no longer make trips to the record store, but rather buy our favorite songs and albums at the click of a button. The old way of doing things is just too slow and just not as efficient.

But I wonder, is it possible that the old way of doing things can sometimes be just as good, too? I think it can be, and that’s what I’m trying to teach my kids, who are a part of Gen Z. I hope that their moral framework is based on the values of what my husband and I have taught them and not reality TV or what their friends are saying on Facebook and Twitter. I hope that my children will always appreciate the meaning and tradition behind writing hand-written thank you notes instead of an email, or that they will always make time to call or visit their parents instead of sending text messages. I know that I have a large challenge in front of me, raising children who will probably be 10 times smarter than me – but I’m pretty sure that we can find a way to make the new and old live under the same roof. Do you agree?

Category: Media Relations