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How to Find a PR Internship

Posted on May 2, 2016 | by Ketner Group

This blog was written by our intern, Cambria Sawyer.

That whole “chicken or the egg” question may be archaic, but it’s more relevant than you think.

Walking into your freshman year at a university and landing that first internship is not particularly high in the priorities list – but it should be. When it’s all you can do to find time to feed yourself in between classes, class projects and research papers, how can something that seems so far away be so immediately important?

The thing is, when it comes to internship interviews, you need some experience to prove you’re up for the job, which is kind of hard to do, considering you’ve never worked anywhere before. Classic chicken or the egg.

But the puzzle can be solved, and here’s how:

Experience
Get involved early. This is how to get over the “lack of experience” hump.

First things first, join a club. This is why starting early is such a big deal, because it takes a while to absorb enough information from that membership to be worthwhile. For public relations students, joining the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) is an excellent starting point. As a member, you will have the opportunity to participate in third-party mentorship programs, volunteer activities, networking events and PR agency tours. In other words, the good stuff.

The organization doesn’t have to revolve around PR either to be meaningful, but PR is always relevant to any group wanting to stay afloat. Run for an officer position that handles communications, PR or social media for a club. Any way you can get your hands on some real-life application of the things you’re learning in class will make you a stronger candidate.

Resume
You can be the most qualified person they interview and still not get the job. How? The way you present yourself can make or break you, and it starts with the first impression you make, your resume.

First, make sure it’s one page. It shows that you can pinpoint what is important and convey it concisely, and in reality, it’s just easier to read.

Second, make it your own. No need to glue sequins on it or anything, but find a way to personalize it in a way that reflects who you are and helps you stand out, but is still professional.

Third, do not send it off as a Word doc. While converting it to a PDF shows a heightened level of professionalism, it also safeguards the formatting of your resume. It may look fabulous to you on your Mac computer, but your interviewer is seeing awkward spacing and weird margins on their PC.

Interview
There is a reason people interview candidates instead of just look at a resume; they want to see what you’re like.

Here are three steps to ace the interview:

Research. Make sure you become familiar with the company and the interviewer, if you know who it is. If they specialize in something, look into that industry a bit. Read up on the clients they work for and what kind of work they do for them. Check out the interviewer’s LinkedIn page to understand their background and what they do at the company. Your choice to research correlates with the amount of investment and ingenuity you will bring to the job – something an employer definitely wants to see.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Ask Questions. This one is pretty straightforward. Actually have some questions in mind when they ask the standard, “do you have any questions for me?” This shows that you’re engaged, inquisitive and are there to learn more – which is the whole point of the internship in the first place, right?

Be Yourself. Sorry for the cliché, but it’s important. Be professional and unique, but not in a way that misrepresents who you are as a person. If you get a job pretending to be someone you’re not, it won’t be a good fit. When you get a job offer from your future employer to whom you were completely genuine with, both you and the company will grow – because that office is exactly where you should be.

Happy interviewing!

To Press Release or Not Press Release, That is the Question

Posted on April 18, 2016 | by Catherine Seeds

As PR professionals, our main goal is to drive and secure coverage for our clients. As Ursula the sea witch from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” says, “It’s what we do. It’s what we live for!”

In our last blog, we talked about the value of the modern press release and the benefits releases generate for PR campaigns. But according to our friends at NonProfitPR.org and as PR folks worldwide know, press releases are not always the best course of action and can often be just a big waste of time and money. See below for examples of when to not go down the press release path:

Announcing an event
Many companies, private and public, often use a press release to announce an event such as attendance at a conference or the launch of a propriety event. Even though you’ve taken the time to craft a release and send it to local media, rarely will you see these releases published among general media. Instead, consider listing on a community page or industry calendar. You can also utilize social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to highlight the news of your event and motivate your network into action.

Announcing a great story
When you have a great story to tell, look beyond a press release. Whether it’s to highlight a successful implementation with a customer or a longer feature story on a specific topic or trend, writing a release may give you some coverage, but there could be a better way to highlight this news. This is the perfect opportunity to give the scoop to a journalist to write a more in-depth story and publish your news. Not only do you begin to develop great media contacts, you end up with a great story about your organization.

Sometimes it’s just not newsworthy
Some companies assume they have to send a particular number of press releases each month or year in order to engage in strategic public relations. It’s never a good strategy to send releases simply to fill a quota. Sending the media lots of non-newsworthy releases (awards, speaking opportunities, small product updates, etc.) could cause journalists to stop reading your news altogether. When this happens, even when you have something truly newsworthy, it’s possible you still end up with no news coverage through no fault of your own. It’s much better to objectively analyze the worthiness of your announcement from a reporter’s perspective and then decide if a release is really the way to go.

There are many ways to have your news heard beyond the press release. From utilizing social networking, industry calendar listings and even pitching directly to journalists, picking the right strategy can provide better coverage and more public awareness, all at a more efficient cost.

New Year, New Site, New Baby!

Posted on February 10, 2016 | by Ketner Group

This has been an exciting couple of months at Ketner Group. As we covered in our last few blogs we had a very successful NRF with 11 of our 18 clients attending, making announcements and holding over 80 meetings with analysts and media.

Jeff Meets Jack! Behind the scenes, our team has been furiously working on building this brand new site that you see today. Countless hours went in on our end cultivating the content and working with Creative Pickle to create this beautiful site! We thank them for their patience and creative leadership.

Thirdly, and most exciting, we are happy to announce that our fearless leader, Jeff, and his wife, Molly, are
now grandparents! Their daughter and son-in-law welcomed Jack Andrew Winterroth in to the world at 9:30pm on Wednesday, February 3. He is a healthy 6 pounds and 12 ounces. We are thrilled to welcome this newest addition into the Ketner Group family. Congratulations Jeff, Molly and the entire Ketner clan!

How to Create an Authentic Brand: a Speaking Engagement

Posted on December 14, 2015 | by Ketner Group

This blog was furnished by our Nashville-based Account Manager, Kirsty Hughan.

I recently gave a talk at Center 615, a Nashville office and co-working space dedicated to supporting local small to mid size businesses. As a marketer passionate about brand identity and marketing strategy, I was excited to speak to my community about a subject that makes me extremely excited: how to create an authentic brand.

In addition to the work I do with Ketner Group, I also support small businesses through my company Seamless Marketing. In both realms I am highly focused on what makes a brand unique and you’ll often find me asking a slew of questions focused on uncovering more than the basic who, what, where, when, how and why. All of my questions are aimed at discovering the authentic voice and identity that makes up a business.

The wonderful thing is, this exercise can easily be completed by the business itself, which is exactly what my talk, and this blog post, was and is about. The basics in creating an authentic brand? Establishing (or refining) your authentic voice, mastering the art of the gut check and creating a brand strategy.

Establish your voice

The process of defining your brand should begin with a brainstorming session. These work best in spaces and people that promote creative thought. For me, that’s alone in a coffee shop. For you, that may be in front of a white board with a team of your most creative colleagues. Start by coming up with words associated with your brand. What makes it what it is? Why is it different? No ideas are bad because as you work you will naturally refine your voice, crossing off words and terms that aren’t specific enough. Consider your final list your Adjectives Associated With Your Brand, an integral part of your Brand Identity.

Master the art of the gut check

As you work through the process of establishing your voice it’s likely you’ll have moments of anxiety, nerves or joy. Listen. Anxiety is always a sign that you’re on the right track because it’s your body telling you to pay attention. Is the anxiety because the list you came up with makes you nervous because you start to ask questions like, what if people don’t like this? Or is the anxiety arising because the words you’ve brainstormed don’t feel like you? Be specific and listen to your gut reaction: the first anxiety means you’re on to something.

Whenever we get really specific about our brand we naturally begin turning people away. Your company likely cannot be B2B and B2C for small, mid and large size companies. In turning people away you automatically become more appealing to your audience: your customers want you to be focused on their problems. By listening to our gut we can get very specific about who we are, what we do and who we want to work with, meaning we are well on our way to executing our Brand Strategy.

Create a brand strategy

Good news! Defining your voice is the first step in your Brand Identity. To flesh it out for your Brand Strategy it’s simply a matter of defining the Who, What, Where, When, How and Whys of your brand. Why do you provide value? To whom? What do they receive in return? Why are you different from your competitors? Get specific as you develop the essentials in your Brand Identity: Mission, Vision, One-Sentence Description, One-Paragraph Description and Adjectives Associated With Your Brand.

When you’re ready to develop your Brand Strategy, make sure to evaluate everything: blogging, website design, social media, email marketing, public relations, advertising and events. The likelihood is you won’t be able to invest deeply in every portion of marketing—even large businesses no longer have big budgets and big teams. As you consider each opportunity that you will implement, remember your gut check. Does blogging make you feel stressed out and nervous because you hate writing? It may not be a great investment for you to execute.

The other thing you want to consider is the value in each marketing opportunity. Will investing in that opportunity create new business? If blogging will create new business but it makes you stressed, it’s a natural fit to assign to someone else on your team or to an agency or contractor.

Once you’ve established the value and execution of each portion of marketing, make sure you check your budget and ensure that it aligns with the value of the opportunity. If blogging will only deliver one lead a year and is going to cost $500/month, does it make sense to invest in?

The last, and now simple, step is to use your Brand Identity, Brand Strategy and Budget to develop a Marketing Calendar, assigning campaigns and events to each month. This will be a straightforward process now that you know the essentials of your brand. Even better, it will make executing your marketing strategy seamless.

Meet Adrienne Newcomb

Posted on June 24, 2015 | by Ketner Group

Hi there, Adrienne Newcomb here! I’m the newest addition to the Ketner Group team. I joined Ketner Group this month as an Account Manager and so far, everything is off to a great start!

I’m originally from Fort Worth (not Dallas) and have lived in Austin for close to nine years now. Like many others, I moved to Austin to attend The University of Texas at Austin (Hook ‘em), and when my four years at UT Austin studying public relations were up, I couldn’t quite find it in my heart to leave.

I began my PR career as a communications specialist at Mental Health America of Texas (MHAT), where I had previously interned during undergrad. Much of my work at MHAT was spent planning events, raising funds and working closely with board members. Just before I decided to leave MHAT, I spent some time working with an ad agency on website redesign for the non-profit. Through that experience, I knew I wanted to the next stop on my career path to be at an agency.

I decided to take a leap of faith and quit my day job at MHAT without my next full-time opportunity lined up. Luckily, I quickly landed as an intern at what was then WPP Team Dell (and now PPR Worldwide), Dell’s communications agency of record, where I began my dive into two new worlds: agency life and enterprise technology. After a few months crash-course in both and working with a large, worldwide client such as Dell, I was hired full-time. During my time at PPR, I obtained valuable PR experience and was also introduced to the world of analyst relations. My experience included coordinating 1:1 briefing schedules for hundreds of influencers and executives at Dell World and managing the ins and outs of day-to-day activities and client relationships.

Now for the fun stuff!

I’m a dog mom to Mackey, a red and white piebald, miniature dachshund who I adopted last year through a rescue group. Our favorite activities include snuggling on the sofa and strolling along Shoal Creek. Feel free to request photos and videos, I’m happy to share.

I’m also an aunt to two beautiful girls who are eight and almost two. They live in Fort Worth, but I usually see them once a month or so. Again, photos and videos available upon request. Speaking of family, I have an older brother and younger sister, making me the middle child. According to the experts, that explains a thing or two.

In addition to my fur and human family, I’m an avid reader (feel free to send over any recommendations, or we can nerd out over our recent reads), an aspiring home decorator and an overly involved Texas Ex.

And here I am, the newest addition to the growing Ketner Group team and now you know a little about me. I look forward to meeting you and getting to know you, as well!

Looking back on SXSW Interactive 2015

Posted on March 31, 2015 | by Ketner Group

Originally posted on PRSA Austin Chapter website.

SXSW Interactive celebrates its 21st year in Austin, Texas.

Every year, South by Southwest Interactive brings together the most innovative, entrepreneurial and accomplished individuals to showcase their products and ideas in front of eager audiences. 2015 was certainly no different.

A number of PRSA Austin Chapter board members were in attendance and answered a few questions about their experience. Check out their insight below:

What was your favorite session/panel at SXSW Interactive and why?

Sara Lasseter: I immensely enjoyed the panel on the Next Generation of Retail Innovation with the CEOs and founders of StitchFix and Rent the Runway. They had wonderfully insightful commentary on the state of retail and ecommerce operations, as well as where they see their innovative companies going in the future. As a woman in the technology industry, it was inspiring to hear the obstacles they faced in a male dominated startup/venture capital world.
Madison LaRoche: My favorite panel of SXSWi was on Reinventing the Cooking Show, in which representatives from PBS Food, ingredient sourcing show Original Fare and online cooking site ChefSteps.com discussed their experiences with digital cooking and food content. Regardless of their goals or plans for how their content would be consumed, all agreed that the digital format allowed for flexibility that was nonexistent in the time of Julia Child. Versus broadcast TV, the digital format allows for greater audience participation, allowing for content to create a feedback loop and a channel for dialog not previously available. At the close of the panel, the message was clear: stay true to the story you want to tell and maintain your authenticity in order to build and maintain brand equity. This lesson rings true well beyond the foodie content culture.
Erica Schuckies: My favorite session was called Entertainment and the Edge: Post Millennial Culture. Ian Pierpoint and Jack Horner (who both had very sexy English accents, by the way) provided insight into the minds of ‘Generation Edge,’ which consists of individuals born right after the Millennial generation (after 1995). Pierpoint’s research into this group showed that kids today are more socially aware of the pitfalls in our society and feel a responsibility to make positive changes more than any other generation (at least at their age). Horner described this generation as “rebels with a cause,” acting against the norm to make life better for not only themselves, but also their peers and future generations. Generation Edge is also more thoughtful of what they post on the web and social media; as Horner so eloquently put, “posting less shit.” Let’s hope this is true for all our sakes.
Alison Kwong: I really enjoyed the Lyft keynote on Monday afternoon. CEO and co-founder Logan Green is such a smart, articulate spokesperson who was very clear about his company’s story, vision and key differentiators from his competitors. It was apparent in the messaging and what he said about the marketing and plans for growth and future expansion. I also enjoyed Charles Barkley’s panel about staying relevant in the digital age. As a well-respected member of the sports media, I thought his perspective on why he doesn’t participate in social media was interesting as most of his peers and athletes do. The main takeaway was that authenticity and honesty go a long way in the media, especially in the sports industry.
Catherine Seeds: My favorite session by far was What Fashion Can Teach Women-Led Companies, which included a panel of the CEO and co-founder of Birchbox, the founder and CEO of Reformation Apparel and the founder and chief editor of Snob Essentials (Great blog on hand bags, by the way, if that is your thing!). This was a wonderful session on how these women have differentiated themselves and their companies by the way they communicate and engage with their customer base and by knowing exactly what their customers (mostly women) want and expect from these fashion and beauty brands. The panel discussed the social media effect on their companies, advice to other women on successfully launching their own companies, and some of the challenges they’ve faced as women-owned companies.

What were the trends that stood out to you while attending the Interactive portion?

Alison Kwong: Big data and analytics; the Internet of Things and how it drives innovation; the importance of good content.
Catherine Seeds: Retail tech was HUGE this year at SXSW.
Sara Lasseter: How to harness big data; mobile tech, of course; the customer experience.
Erica Schuckies: Customization of EVERYTHING, from wearables to user experiences to marketing & advertising; short-form video and social platforms catering to this concept (Meerkat, Meerkat, Meerkat); mobile-first mentality.

Did you Meerkat at all during SXSW Interactive? If so, what did you Meerkat?

Madison LaRoche: I downloaded Meerkat but was too scared/busy/uninterested to experiment with it at the time.
Erica Shuckies: Same as Madison – I downloaded the app with all intentions of Meerkatting my life away. To be completely honest, I kind of forgot about it most of the time, especially in moments that would have been perfect for it.

What was the coolest/most unique thing you saw during the Interactive portion?

Madison LaRoche: Unfortunately I didn’t see many amazing brand executions at SXSW this year, but to be honest, I wasn’t looking for them as hard as I have in the past. One of the most interesting panels I attended was the last Interactive Keynote of 2015, in which Dr. Astro Teller, captain of moonshots for Google[x], gave a passionate speech on failing with purpose. At his “moonshot factory” – a sci-fi-esque arm of Google devoted to exploring new technology to solve global problems – Teller encourages his colleagues to fail fast and harness those failures as learning opportunities toward success. He gave case study after case study of huge, time-intensive and expensive projects in which failure was part of the process to figure out what doesn’t work to get to what does. Though these examples were fascinating on their own, the best part of the speech was Teller’s extraordinary tenacity for and promotion of this “fail fast, fail often” approach. During the Q&A portion at the end, an obviously inspired but desperate attendee asked via Twitter how a company without the luxury and budget to fail could harness this approach. An exasperated Teller exclaimed that this poor soul missed the whole point of the talk, which was the simple fact that failing at the START of something (and being able to fix it) is much cheaper than failing at the END (when it’s simply too late to do anything about it).
Catherine Seeds: My colleagues and I had the opportunity to sit in on a session with the editor of Lucky Magazine, Eva Chen. She was fantastic and very down to earth. Here is a great write-up on her.

If you weren’t able to attend the Interactive portion of SXSW this year, we did the hard work for you and compiled a list of some great SXSWi recaps. Be warned, there are plenty of Meerkat mentions.

How about we all meet back here around this time next year? Until then, we will be catching up on sleep, nursing our blisters and over-tweeted fingers, and putting our learnings to good use!

Oops, We Did it Again (and Again, and Again)

Posted on September 16, 2014 | by Catherine Seeds

We’ve all heard (or have perhaps said) in one way or another the expression, “I would love to have been a fly on the wall when….” On more than one occasion, I’ve often found myself wishing I could have been privy to certain conversations that led to decisions being made about this or that. One of the many items on my bucket list, as my friends and co-workers know very well, is to sit in on a Saturday Night Live writer’s meeting and just take in all of the crazy creativity. Ah, to be a fly on the wall at that meeting!

But, as a PR professional, I would also love the ability to travel back in time and have the opportunity to observe and even participate in the meetings that have led to some of the most terrible PR blunders. In recent months, major apparel brands have manufactured and tried to sell items that, for anyone with half a brain, would be received as offensive, tacky and downright unethical. Let’s take a look, shall we?

Just this week, Urban Outfitters came under fire for selling a “vintage” Kent State University sweatshirt that included what appeared to be fake bloodstains – referencing the horrific events that took place at Kent State in 1970. The retailer quickly released an apology and explanation, “…the red stains are discoloration from the original shade of the shirt and the holes are from natural wear and fray.” You’d think Urban Outfitters would have learned their lesson by now, after trying to sell a crop top shirt with the word “depression” written all over it, or the time they tried to sell a t-shirt that said “Eat less” across the front.
This past summer, fast fashion retailer Zara decided it would be a good idea to sell a child’s pajama shirt that strongly resembled the uniforms of Jewish people imprisoned during the Holocaust. It gets worse, but stick with me – the shirt was black and white, and featured a six-point star on the chest. In researching this blog, I’ve learned that this was not Zara’s first rodeo into offensive fashion. In 2007, they released a handbag that included four green swastikas, which was apparently overlooked before production.
Beloved shoe brand Adidas created a line of “kicks” in 2012 that featured – I can’t even believe I’m writing this – plastic orange chains that could be wrapped around said shoe-wearer’s ankle. Of course, the shoes were criticized, with good reason, because of their resemblance to shackles worn by slaves. Adidas said publically in response that the designs were not offensive, but just the result of designer Jeremy Scott’s outrageous vision. As we Southerners say (in the sarcastically meant way, and not the way that my sweet mother means it,) “Bless their hearts.”

What I want to know is, who decided these (and countless other examples – I’m looking at you, Abercrombie & Fitch) apparel items were a great idea? We never know what goes on behind closed doors; however, one would think that in these meetings and creative sessions there would have been at least one person that should have said, “Hey guys, this is a really bad idea.” And if that idea made it through the filters of those initial meetings, you would think that someone in the C-suite group would have put a stop to it immediately. And, theoretically, if everyone else in the company decided “said shirt, with said offensive design” was a real winner and would make the company a ton of money, I would hope that a public relations executive would have gotten wind of it before production and done the right thing.

In life, we are all faced with decisions – some of them much easier to make than others. As PR professionals, it is our job to make sure the public-facing aspects of whatever company or person we represent is done so in the best and the most honest and ethical way. Our recommendations are not always the most popular, but they are in the best interest of the company and should be listened to.

While the above-mentioned blunders were likely the result of multiple checks and balances gone wrong, the PR teams certainly fell down on their jobs in the worst way. The worst offenders are those from Zara, Urban Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch who let these “mistakes” happen again and again. In my job, when we make a mistake such as including the wrong boilerplate in a press release or quoting the wrong spokesperson, we take steps to make sure that it never happens again. If I were the spokesperson for these retailers, I would do everything in my power to make sure not a single piece of merchandise could be mistaken for a horrific historical event or crime against humanity – never, ever again.

Do what’s right, do what’s ethical and all will be well – I promise.

September is PRSA’s national ethics month. For more information on PRSA’s code of Ethics, click here.

Seven Snarky Ways to Avoid PR Success

Posted on July 22, 2014 | by Ketner Group

Guest post by: Andris Media Group

timthumb Alright, let’s just jump right in!

1. When your PR people call or write, don’t return those pesky phone calls or emails promptly. Journalists aren’t, after all, working on deadline or anything, so there’s no reason to be respectful of their time.

2. Don’t get your PR team involved in branding meetings and brainstorming sessions. Heaven knows, they have nothing to offer in that regard.

3. Don’t ever, whatever you do, include your PR team in marketing meetings. Marketing and PR people should never be expected to work together. They should always be kept in separate rooms, and the marketing people should get the nice furniture with the special snacks. The two disciplines should never work in concert, right?

4. Don’t question your PR people if all they’re doing is taking orders from you like a child takes orders from a nanny. Your PR people aren’t hired to act as your ‘other’ brain, to offer ideas and to be in touch with what is and isn’t newsworthy or current and trending. You already know all that. You already know everything! You just need someone to boss around, and you’re happy to pay them to take orders, STAT.

5. Don’t make a personal introduction to your new PR team to any journalists or news people to whom you are already connected. Wouldn’t be silly to reach out to a trusted journalist on behalf of your PR team? It might get you some attention when handled deftly. And who wants attention, right?

6. Don’t give your PR people access to your social media team or encourage them to work together in any way. Heaven knows you didn’t hire those PR folks to help shape your message or widen your audience, did you? Now that would just be silly.

7. Don’t take constructive criticism from your PR team. Ever. They should always be your cheerleader and never tell you how they really feel. After all, an absence of critical feedback articulated well concerning any challenges ahead would make you feel stupid – like you’re not one of the popular kids. OOOH. Yuck.

It’s obvious this piece is written with a lot of snark and a tongue planted firmly in the cheek. However, we urge you to heed our advice. If you don’t understand PR –don’t hire a PR team to help you understand it. PR does not happen in a silo. It’s a group effort and it’s well worth it. So, please: do your research before you sign on the dotted line. Learn what it means to have PR people working on your behalf, and then help them help you. You, and your bottom line, will be much happier along the way!

Photo: An adapted photo (addition of speech bubble) originally by Sergio Vassio Photography, at flic.kr/p/7XxXwx

Meet our newest intern, Justin Joe!

Posted on May 27, 2014 | by Ketner Group

Hello everyone!

jkj_photo1 I was born and raised near the Texas Gulf Coast in Lake Jackson. The town may be small, but being near both Dow Chemical and BASF oil plants, I got to meet many families who would transfer in on business. My family worked in-depth with the school district. My mother was and still is a teacher and my father was a clinical psychologist for the schools and probation systems in Brazoria, Wharton and Matagorda County. As a result, my family life revolved around education, and it is a subject that makes me feel the most at home. Both my parents are also musicians, and my father self-recorded and produced two full-length rock albums. I often remember certain periods in my life according to the musical phase I was in at the time. There’s not a lot of music I haven’t heard or can’t tolerate!

The strongest element of my family is my cultural heritage. I am a biracial Asian American and fiercely proud of it. Although my dad made my mom and I huge snobs when it comes to Chinese food! When I entered college in the fall of 2010, I was able to turn my fascination with cultural identity and diversity into an academic and professional adventure. I find public relations, marketing and mass communication in general very fascinating because of the interdisciplinary nature of the work. I’ve yet to meet someone in this field whose passion is exactly the same. In the sense, I feel there is room for growth as a professional and as a person. The highlights of my collegiate career have come from my relations with the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), of which I am president of Texas State’s Chapter.

Culturally speaking, Texas State is a heavily Hispanic university, so our Chapter has had the privilege of working with many culturally diverse students and organizations. With PRSSA, I have had the opportunity to hold events for Spanish media and documentary filmmakers, as well as draft the first hurricane warning system for the Gulf Coast’s Spanish-speaking population. I have lately concentrated my studies towards East Asia, primarily with personal interest, but also because of the similarly in the growth of the two regions’ media.

Skyline of Seoul, Korea — My dear Seoul, I shall visit you again very soon!

I compounded my two passions, music and Asia, and recently published my honors thesis discussing the cultural phenomenon known as the Korean Wave in South Korea. My ultimate high point in college was when I visited Korea’s capital, Seoul, for a brief period of observational study. I specifically studied Korean pop music–K-Pop–and discussed how it has become one of the key marketing mechanisms for South Korea’s national brand. This thesis also examined K-Pop’s movement to the West and how it has and might be received in the future. Since I was young I knew music had power, and this was just too perfect an opportunity to pass up! I intend to continue my studies of the Korean peninsula into graduate school.

I joined Ketner Group because I saw a kindred zest for branding and communications, the same elements I saw in my research. I hope to gain insight on B2B communications, an area that largely ignored in collegiate curriculum. I’m looking forward to a fun and productive stay with Ketner Group!

Four Ways to Refresh Existing Website Content

Posted on April 1, 2014 | by Ketner Group

Guest post by: Gini Dietrich, CEO of Arment Dietrich and lead blogger at Spin Sucks.

In late 2011 and early 2012, the Public Relations Society of America undertook the big task of redefining public relations.

Before this happened, the industry was working with a definition that was 40 years old. It hadn’t been reviewed since 1982.

In 1982, E.T. came out. John Belushi died. Knight Rider was a popular television show. Prince William was born. Seven people died from taking cyanide-laced Tylenol. The first issue of USA Today was published. And the Times “man of the year” was the computer.

A lot has changed since 1982. Not only have TV shows and movies grown up, so has Prince William and an entire industry. Social media has completely turned the PR industry on its head and technology is changing more quickly than ever before.

The evolution of technology is so fast, it’s reaching millions -and even billions-of users in no time at all.

Consider this: It took older technologies years to reach 50 million users…and then just a few months as it evolved.

Radio: 38 years.
TV: 13 years.
The Internet: Four years.
IPod: Three years.
Facebook added 100 million users in just nine months.
iPod app downloads hit one billion in nine months.

Nearly every year we have a new social network introduced. Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, SnapChat. The list continues to grow and it’s not only the job of communicators to keep up, it’s your job as business leaders to stay abreast of the changes so you can lead your team during the digital age.

Websites are about the Customer

Technology is creating some amazing opportunities for all of us, but also causing some distress. You used to have a PR team (internal or external) that focused on employee communications, media relations, reputation management, financial reporting, the annual report, public affairs, and maybe some events.

Today PR professionals also have to be knowledgeable about web development, mobile marketing, search engine optimization, content marketing, and more.

The web, it turns out, is extremely important in the job of a PR professional. Much more important today than it was in the previous decade, as new technologies are introduced and companies are struggling to figure out how to add the latest and greatest tool to its overall marketing strategy.

It used to be your website was an online version of your corporate brochure. But times, they are a changin’. Your website now needs to be a living and breathing document that changes consistently (at least once a week, according to a Hubspot study^⁠) and becomes less about you and more about your customer.

Refresh Existing Content

The first place you want to start is your website by taking out the French – the we, we, we (oui, oui, oui – get it?!?).

Find the French. Depending on how you like to work, you can either print out every page of your website (not very green, but it works) or you can go into your content management system and do a search. Look for every word that is about you. Look for “we,” “our,” “us,” and similar words. This is the copy you’ll have to rewrite.
WIIFM. What’s in it for me means the copy you rewrite becomes about the customer, instead of about you. You tell them what your organization does for them. You use words such as “you” and “your.”
Testimonials. Update your testimonials. Some of you will have them in text as a quote. Get these on video. We have a client who held a user’s event a couple of weeks ago. They hired a videographer to spend two hours at the conference and the marketing director got users on video talking about who they were, what they do, and how they use the client’s product. The stories ended up being really compelling. One user rescues dogs and finds them permanent homes. He talked about that and then spent 30 seconds talking about the client’s product. Mailchimp also does this really well. Rather than have the customers talk about how much they love the email software, they talk about their own businesses or interests or hobbies and how the product fits into their lives. Very compelling stuff.
Case studies. This is what we’ll call social proof – the reason another person should buy from you. Most case studies are boring text with nothing interesting in them. Make them multimedia. Add images. Add charts. Add infographics. Even think about whiteboard automation. Make them so interesting, prospects can’t wait to buy.

Once this project is complete – and it will take some time – you can focus your energies on other owned media, such as white papers, webinars, blog posts, and videos.

To learn more, check out Gini’s latest book – Spin Sucks – on sale this week!

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Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. She is the lead blogger here at Spin Sucks and is the founder of Spin Sucks Pro. She is the co-author of Marketing in the Round and co-host of Inside PR. Her second book, Spin Sucks, is officially here!