First Amendment Speech Protections: Not Who, But How

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

Does the First Amendment protect speech depending on who is speaking or what is being said? Should it make a difference if the speaker is a human being or the Huffington Post?

first amendment freedom of speech The First Amendment protects speech depending on what is being said and in what context.

Although restrictions can certainly be applied for public relations and advertising pieces identified as “commercial speech,” for the sake of this argument, let’s focus on the base question of whether or not your protections should be limited due to the amount of public exposure and influence you carry as an individual or media outlet.

The value of the speech being conveyed should always take superiority over one’s economic or political standing and allow all speakers the same freedoms and protections in favor of allowing content and ideas to “enter the marketplace of ideas” as exemplified in Near v. Minnesota.

The Court’s decision to protect Near’s right to free speech shows that even though content may be deemed unfavorable by the government, prior restraints are unconstitutional since they limit one’s ability to make citizens aware of important public issues. This protection can be applied in both the case of the individual as well as in the case of media outlets like The Huffington Post.

One timely parallel would be the Obama administration and its inability to censor Fox News simply because they believe the network is bias in its coverage of certain events or public figures.

In this same instance, it could be argued that The Huffington Post could violate this freedom of speech by publishing information about the locations of law enforcement roadblocks in Boston during the recent city-wide lock down. In this case, the online news site could be charged with presenting a “clear and present danger” to the law enforcement officials in the city by providing sensitive information to the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. In this hypothetical situation, The Huffington Post could also be liable for the “imminent, lawless activity” that would occur as defined by Brandenburg v. Ohio.

One should note that during the actual news coverage of the manhunt, reporters opened almost all of their live reporting segments with a disclaimer stating that they could not share specific information in consideration to police safety.

first amendment social media Nowadays, I question whether or not there is a difference between the “influence” of an individual and that of a reporter from a media outlet.

In today’s digital society, anyone can disseminate information to the public simply by posting a video on YouTube or having a tweet go viral—something I’m sure the Founding Fathers didn’t take into account.

If public relations and marketing professionals have given bloggers and social media a new level of influence in the professional industry, shouldn’t the hierarchy of influence for speech protection be reevaluated to reflect these changes? Now that the individual can just as easily share mass communication messages using online mediums, should they be held to the same standard as “members of the media?”

How do you think First Amendment speech protections will evolve to encompass the digital arena?

Yasheaka Oakley

Yasheaka Oakley is an independent consultant specializing in public relations, social media, and online marketing via her website, YOakleyPR.com. You can keep up with her on social media by following on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can also subscribe to her e-newsletter by clicking here.

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What is Public Relations ROI?

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

According to James E. Grunig, “Today’s public relations professional is focusing a great deal of attention on showing that an investment in public relations has a positive financial return on investment (ROI).”

In truth, the pressing need to prove public relations ROI can be attributed to a variety of things, including: the lack of theoretical application in the practical realm, the lack of an industry standard for measurement, and the continued reliance upon related fields (marketing/advertising) to help define the worth of public relations activities.

Bob Batchelor suggests that such foundational disparities will allow other fields to continue to belittle public relations as a “less significant field” and undermine public relations’ ability to produce financial returns as a viable organizational function in the eyes of top management.

How do They See Public Relations?

According to R. K. Otterbourg, “when the average corporate executive discusses public relations, he actually is referring to its varied tools and methods” (outputs) rather than its outcomes.

In their 2011 article for the PRism Journal, Return on Investment in Public Relations, Tom Watson and Ansgar Zerfass highlight the fact that the Dictionary of PR Measurement and Research define ROI as “an outcome variable that equates profit from investment” and that the term is “often used very loosely in PR.”

Although it has traditionally been used in relation to capital and sales, it could be argued that public relations’ return on investment should not be measured by quantitative results alone, but should include qualitative outcomes.

While scoring charts, like those promoted by Ketchum, are positive means of measuring public relations outcomes, the majority of public relations practitioners are still utilizing ineffective measurement models that promote the dominant role of marketing and advertising.

In a survey conducted by Watson and Zerfass, in-house practitioners reported that their organization “did not have an ROI formula (78.3%), with only 21.7% using one.” Of those that did report ROI, the paper identifies advertising value equivalence-based formulas, “sales link to public relations activity, tonality of media coverage and a media ranking system” as the most popular methods used to show value.

Grunig’s survey suggests that public relations adds value when it uses symmetrical communications to develop and cultivate relationships with strategic publics. The article also suggests that public relations messages “increase cognitive concepts of brand image, reputation, or identity which increase organizational value beyond tangible results.”

This paper implies that public relations’ outputs create outcomes that “decrease the cost of litigation, regulatory legislation, and negative publicity” which solve the problems and satisfy the goals of stakeholders and management.

Even though an empowered public relations function is supported by both Grunig and Otterbourg, explaining the value of public relations activities outside of marketing and advertising has become increasingly difficult for public relations practitioners in the small business and nonprofit environments.

On these levels, management wishes to see quantitative measures more than anything, since they commonly operate on the local or regional level and aren’t heavily influenced by federal legislation.

For public relations in the small business arena, Otterbourg suggests that value and success is directly dependent upon top management’s commitment to public relations activities and willingness to educate itself on the immediate versus long-term benefits of public relations.

While it is clear that not all public relations professionals understand how to show the value of their efforts in relation to business activities, a review of articles published on industry websites (PR News) and by associations (PRSA) shows that the academic research to identify and explain the correlation between public relations and business results is still in development.

It is my belief that this issue has been given a significant level of importance in the industry, especially since more clients are asking practitioners to prove the return on investment. That being said, it is my expectation that the answer will be presented on the corporate level, first, and for small-to-medium sized businesses at a later date.

At first, this may appear to benefit the industry as a whole, but, as Dr. Huang-Horowitz suggests, not all corporate models are suitable for small businesses and nonprofit organizations. When the industry final decides on a means of measuring public relations ROI, will it be applicable to small-to-medium sized businesses or will it only cater to big budget corporations?

Will this new model hamper PR professionals from being able to effectively perform public relations tasks in these environments due to the fact that they are attempting to mimic big-budget case studies?

If you have an opinion on this matter, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Yasheaka Oakley

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Donna Cutting in National Oil and Lube News

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

Congratulations to Donna Cutting, CSP, for this successful placement in National Oil & Lube News—a magazine that caters to the quick oil change and fast fit sectors in the United States. This review of her book, The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red-Carpet Customer Service (Wiley, 2008) (which is available on Amazon) will be made available in-print to more than 25,500 owner/operators and online via the National Oil & Lube News website.

A Wise Investment: Making the Time to Read

by Kara Bishop – May 2013

“The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red-Carpet Customer Service” by Donna Cutting

donna cutting celebrity experience Donna Cutting is the president and CEO of Red-Carpet Learning Systems, a consulting firm that provides tools and training about how to engage employees in improving the customer experience. In her book, she combines the best practices of Hollywood with those of the business world, providing simple and effective ways to achieve the following:

Make red-carpet first impressions on new customers.
Give them what they want, and earn customers for life.
Generate buzz and positive word of mouth.
Improve customer service performance by putting employees first.
Treat customers as stars and wow them, creating repeat business and referrals.

“The book is an easy and fun read,” Cutting said. “Yes, it has a ‘celebrity’ slant, however, the meat of the book is in the stories of real-world companies providing their non-famous customers with star treatment!”

An interesting excerpt from the book talks about a customer’s experience at Wilsey Auto Service, Inc. The customer told Cutting that this auto shop goes through the extra step of cleaning her car inside and out every time she brings her car in for service. If they’re pressed for time and can’t clean her car, they give her coupons for a full-service carwash and detail. It stood out for this customer, because no other auto shop had ever offered her such service. She never goes anywhere else and is always telling her friends about the experience.

Cutting uses the story above to help expound on her “And then some” concept: giving the customer extra value to their service by spending a little more time and effort on the customer, thus, earning their loyalty.

For more information, visit: www.donnacutting.com.

Life is busy and full of obstacles and stress. However, making the time to read and further your learning is a valuable investment that will pay off. It may seem like a daunting task to open a book, but what if you learned something that increased your efficiency, therein, making you less busy? We all know there’s value in that, so make some time to squeeze some reading in, knowing that you’re wisely investing that time.

The full article is available online and in the May 2013 issue of National Oil & Lube News. If you’d like to read Kara Bishop’s other business book suggestions, please click here.

Yasheaka Oakley

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Measuring Public Relations with The Barcelona Principles

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

public relations barcelona principles Many public relations professionals are calling the Barcelona Principles “the first step toward establishing standards for measuring public relations.”

According to a recent study conducted by media measurement company CARMA and PR News, communications professionals are making some progress toward implementing measurement strategies based on those seven principles.

The Barcelona Principles

Importance of Goal Setting and Measurement
Media Measurement Requires Quantity and Quality
Advertising Value Equivalency is Not the Value of Public Relations
Social Media Can and Should be Measured
Measuring Outcomes is Preferred to Measuring Media Results
Business Results Can and Should be Measured Where Possible
Transparency and Replicability Are Paramount to Sound Measurement

Are standards for public relations measurement even important?

I believe that Dr. Walter K. Lindenmann (2003) said it best when he wrote, “media measurement determines whether or not the key messages, concepts, and themes disseminated via the media do, indeed, receive some measure of exposure as a result of public relations activity.” As one of the main tools of public relations, the ability to measure media coverage and the effectiveness of public relations activities is very important and standards for doing so must be set for all practitioners to utilize.

According to Lindenmann, establishing “clear program, activity, strategic and tactical objectives” is the first step to setting a standard for measurement. Once PR professionals develop a consistent means of identifying the correlation between goals and objectives, they can create a standard of measurement that will help PR professionals validate PR’s relationship to business objectives. This will also release public relations measurement from its dependency on other professional standards, like advertising value evaluation.

Dr. David Rockland of Ketchum says that, “the ‘banning’ of AVEs (the practice of placing a value on PR as the cost of purchasing the same amount of advertising space)” has received the most industry attention. He even notes that, during the meeting in Lisbon this year, AVEs were no longer listed as a priority for public relations standards and measurement because, “It is a dead issue; we agreed they are wrong in 2010, and now we need the client and practitioner education to make them go away and replace them with valid metrics for media, target audience, and business result measurement.”

Which Barcelona Principles offer the best chance to accomplish a standard?

public relations measurement Linda Childers Hon and James E. Grunig (1999) suggest that “a growing number of public relations professionals have come to believe that the fundamental goal of public relations is to build and then enhance on-going relationships.”

In their attempt to engage publics, PR professionals use a variety of communication tools, which often rely on earned placements coordinated via media relations activities. It could also be argued that, in their attempt to validate public relations activities to top management, PR professionals are constantly trying to prove return on investment in public relations.

It is my belief that, of the seven Barcelona Principles, the two principles regarding media measurement and business results will gain most of the industry’s attention. When I consider the immediate, practical needs of the industry, I am convinced that public relations practitioners will push for a standard of measurement that they can utilize in the work place more than they will strive for academic enrichment. This disparity between the practical and academic realms has persisted on the educational and corporate levels, so I can only assume that it will surely trickle into the Barcelona Principles debate even as the industry slowly advances toward acceptable industry standards.

If you have suggestions on how public relations practitioners can utilize The Barcelona Principles in their everyday practice, please feel free to leave a comment below! I would love to hear them.

Yasheaka Oakley

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Story Pitching & Choosing the Right SEO Keywords

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

Story Pitching & Choosing the Right SEO Keywords

LinkedIn Is Getting Smarter!

If you haven’t noticed it already, you’ll soon start to see a number of changes on LinkedIn.

The professional networking site will now utilize a new unified search feature that will serve up a list of people, companies, jobs and groups all in one comprehensive page of results.

The site will also add an auto-complete feature that will produce better results overtime. The more you use it, the better the auto-complete will become at predicting the type of content you want! Check out these updates and get ahead of the competition.

5 Tips for a Great PR Story Pitch

Every public relations professional knows how to write a traditional news release, but how much do they know about the elements of a successful story pitch?

Here are five tips from PR News, PRSA, and Cision that you can use the next time you try to pitch a story to a journalist.

One point that I really enjoyed was the fact that “journalists aren’t waiting by the fax machine” anymore! Now 88.6% prefer to receive media pitches via email—go figure.

3 Free SEO Tools for Identifying Target Keywords

Marc Purtell of says that, “Choosing the right target keywords builds the foundation for an entire SEO campaign. If the right keywords with the highest potential for return are not selected, the foundation of the campaign will be weak.”

Purtell suggests that small businesses with limited budgets use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool, Google Analytics, and Rank Checker to make informed decisions on keyword targets and set up successful search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns.

Yasheaka Oakley

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5 Tips for a Great PR Story Pitch

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

Every public relations professional knows that a story “pitch” occurs when you contact a journalist or blogger and offer them a description of a potential story.

While this may be one of the most utilized public relations skills in the business, it’s hard for young professionals to understand and develop this skill without having first participated in an internship with a PR agency or firm that practices it regularly since one can’t learn story pitching from a textbook.

As unfortunate as this may be, facts are facts: You need experience story pitching to make it as a public relations practitioner. I’ve compiled a list of 5 tips and resources for writing, packaging, and pitching stories to the media for young public relations professionals. If you have any additional suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below sharing your expertise and additional resources.

Familiarize Yourself with the Journalists

Your communications professor has said it, your internship supervisor will say it—everyone will tell you this—a careless story pitch can ruin your relationship with a journalist or blogger. Think about it, if I write a blog about public relations, social media and online marketing, why would I want to receive a story pitch about a cheese and cold cut promo at the local deli?

Alison Kenney of Lindsay Olson.com says that, “If you ask any reporter for tips on pitching them, 9 times out of 10 they’ll say, ‘read my writing.’”

Don’t be the public relations person that blasts large lists of journalists with irrelevant content. Research topics journalists at your desired outlet usually cover, and review what’s currently trending at that outlet and with some of its competitors. Familiarize yourself with some of a blogger’s work by reading at least 3 of their most recent articles related to your topic. This will not only help identify who the best contacts are at each outlet, but ensure that you can comfortably communicate why this story would be well-suited for their portfolio of work.

Here’s a tip: Check out the tags at the bottom of most online articles—are your client’s keywords there?

Identify Your Top 10 Journalist

Dr. Malayna Williams of PWR New Media suggests that you maximize pick-up by targeting journalists wisely and getting permission from bloggers prior to sending a story pitch and Jeremy Porter agrees. Porter, who is currently an editor of Journalistics, says that, before you even start pitching your story, it’s best to “know without a doubt the top 10 journalists” you’re targeting for the story. He says that this will reduce the amount of time wasted blasting a story pitch to a large list and give the pitch a greater chance of being picked up by larger, more competitive media outlets.

This will also allow you to focus your efforts on a select number of journalists, making this task more manageable and allowing you to better tailor your efforts to each professional’s preferences. You can always refer to your original list of journalists for additional pitching opportunities if you strike out with your Top 10.

Make it Relevant to Readers

When it comes to story pitching, Kenney suggests that you remember the saying, “If it bleeds, it leads.”

Just like the journalists you’re pitching, it’s important for you as a public relations professional to always keep the target audience in mind and be ready to clearly communicate the unique qualities of the story in relation to the readers’ concerns. Today’s online content has a heavy focus on how the audience will interpret the information, so be ready to answer the following questions: What would make someone share this information with their followers? Is this something another person would find helpful or is it too advertiser-oriented?

In her article on digital public relations story pitching, Miranda Miller suggests using an introduction that “states your unique value proposition upfront in one or two sentences. Tell the reader who you are, why you’re a valuable source of information specific to their audience, and what you bring to the table for this specific piece of content.”

Send it in an Email

Journalists aren’t waiting by the fax machine for your news release. In fact, according to Dr. Williams, the majority of journalists never get their releases via fax, RSS feed, or traditional wire services.

Cision‘s 2011 digital influencers survey (featured on the right) supports this new trend by highlighting the fact that almost 89% of journalists would rather receive a story pitch via email than by any other means.

Make Easy to Access & Share Graphics

According to Dr. Williams’ study, about “85% of journalists will cover a story if the release includes easy-access to images” and if the “content that is easy to grab and reuse.”

That means that today’s story package should not only include all the traditional public relations add-ons, but should also some Web 2.0 content as well. Here are some of the assets journalists stated they prefer to receive with news releases during story pitches:

Easy to repurpose materials like backgrounders, bios, and fact sheets (92%)
High and low resolution images available for download (85%)
Information about the brand’s social media accounts on 2-3 platforms (46%)
A link to a relevant blog post discussing the topic being pitched (46%)
Embed code for transferable video (42%)

Image via PivotComm

Yasheaka Oakley

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Can the Blackberry 10 Save a Company?

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

On January 30, 2013, Blackberry, formerly known as Research in Motion Limited (RIM), hosted its BlackBerry 10 launch event where it revealed the new Blackberry 10 smartphone and operating system top management hopes will save the company from sharp declines in market share.

During his report on the launch event, Mashable editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff wrote that BlackBerry “did all it could today in its bid for relevance” and suggested that President and CEO, Thorsten Heins was “pushing the once-dominant mobile brand into an invigorating, though uncertain, future.”

In its third quarter of fiscal 2013 report released on December 20, 2012, RIM shared that revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2013 was only $2.7 billion. This showed that revenue was down 5 percent from the $2.9 billion reported in Q2 and down 47 percent from the $5.2 billion reported in Q3 of fiscal 2012.

Although the Q3 adjusted net loss was $114 million, Heins called RIM’s new direction “an exciting time” and suggested that Blackberry’s “carrier partners, application developers and employees are all looking forward to unveiling the innovation and excitement of BlackBerry 10 on January 30, 2013.”

While the company seems to be putting forward a very positive vibe with the Blackberry 10, it has openly acknowledged how important the U.S. market will be to its turnaround efforts. CEO Thorsten Heins told the AP, “You got to win here to win everywhere else…We’ve lost market share quite a bit, to put it mildly, and we absolutely need BlackBerry 10 to turn us around.”

Alicia Keys for Blackberry 10

During the BlackBerry 10 launch event, Heins announced that Blackberry had appointed a new Global Creative Director for the company: Alicia Keys.

Ulanoff likened Keys’ role at Blackberry to that of a “brand ambassador” and suggested that Keys will serve as a motivator for other “iPhone junkies” who were longtime Blackberry users that grew tired of the innovation gap between Blackberry devices and other smartphones. The company hopes that Alicia Keys’ support of the brand and apparent willingness to re-embrace BlackBerry will urge other consumers and businesses to do the same. After the announcement, Keys was quick to share the news with her 12 million followers on Twitter, as seen below.

First official tweet from my new #BlackBerry10 baby!!!;-) #keepmoving # forwardthinking twitter.com/aliciakeys/sta…

— Alicia Keys (@aliciakeys) January 30, 2013

The star is also clearly being used as a promotional lure, which was made apparent by The BlackBerry Z10 Keep Moving with Alicia Keys Sweepstakes that started on March 4 and ended on March 20, 2013.

The contest’s grand prize package included two new BlackBerry Z10 smartphones, airfare for two adults to London, two nights’ accommodations, two tickets to an Alicia Keys concert (on either May 30 or 31, 2013), £500 in spending money, and an exclusive VIP Meet & Greet with Alicia Keys (ARV: $8,350 US).

The contest didn’t require that you make a purchase to enter, but participants were required to log in to their phone carrier account (AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile) to access the entry form. Upon reviewing the official rules you won’t be surprised to find that “by entering this Sweepstakes, you understand that you are providing your information to (your phone carrier) and you authorize (your phone carrier) to transfer the information you provided on your Entry to Sponsor for the purposes of administering the Sweepstakes.”

What better way to find out just how many users per major American provider are interested in your new smartphone? Blackberry plans to conduct the grand prize and first prize drawings on March 27, 2013, so expect to hear more about the winners and the sweepstakes VIP Meet & Greet in the future.

Blackberry 10 Will Save RIM?

In Lance Ulanoff’s opinion, “The Z10 ascent and Blackberry’s rise from the ashes will be slow.” In his Mashable review of the Blackberry 10 and Blackberry OS, Pete Pachal agrees. Pachal states that, “BB10 is also coming way late to the smartphone game, and it’s unclear whether it will ever get the support it needs—from consumers, businesses and developers—to really succeed.”

Other technology writers are of a different opinion. CNET‘s Ben Parr says, “BlackBerry is betting its future on the Z10 and its new OS, but they won’t be enough to prevent the company’s inevitable demise.” Parr places a great emphasis on the BlackBerry’s mobile app offerings, which at the time were limited to just 70,000 apps—a drop in the bucket when compared to Apple and Android’s massive app libraries of about 800,000 apps each. The fact that the range of mobile apps on the Blackberry 10 may not effect consumer opinion until they take a look at some of the popular apps that were missing, such as: Google Maps, Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, and Instagram.

Fearing that consumers wouldn’t welcome the new smartphone without access to their favorite mobile applications, Blackberry issued a press release on March 21 stating that the BlackBerry 10 now offers more than 100,000 applications to customers. A pretty timely announcement since the smartphone was scheduled to debut in the United States on AT&T (starting at $199.99) on March 22, 2013.

Forbes tech journalist, Larry Magid had the following review for Blackberry 10:

While there have been some reports of an anticipated surge of defectors from Android and iPhone, I don’t see that coming in large numbers, at least in the U.S. market. If anything I see a lot more people switching over to Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 than to either the Blackberry Z10 or Q10. Apple and Google should pay attention to the reemergence of BlackBerry but I don’t see anyone losing too much sleep in Cupertino or Mountain View.”

According to Richard Piasentin, BlackBerry’s vice president and managing director for the U.S., the Blackberry 10 is only the beginning. During an interview with TechnoBuffalo, Piasentin explained, “We will be deploying many devices into the market, Blackberry 10 is the beginning of something larger than just the smartphone business.” This type of forward-thinking could prove beneficial if the company can continuously produce phones of this quality and increase their value in the competitive technology market.

Feel like sharing your opinion about the Blackberry 10? Send a tweet using the hashtags #Blackberry10 or #TeamBlackberry to show your love. If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can tell your friends that you’re still loyal by using the #TeamBlackberry tab available on the Blackberry Facebook Fan Page.

Yasheaka Oakley

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Measuring Social Media ROI — Is it Even Possible?

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

Can You Measure the ROI
of Social Media & PR?

10 Ways to Measure the ROI of Public Relations

According to Everything PR, “The times when PR ROI was difficult to measure are long gone.”

While many executives still consider ROI in financial terms, there are now many other things that can be considered when calculating the return on a PR investment like immediate PR mentions and outcomes, social media metrics, and long-term outcomes.

Case Study: The Target-Neiman Marcus Holiday Collection

Ever consider the financial story behind the Target-Neiman Marcus Holiday Collection?

Read this case study discussing the “ultimate designer collaboration,” Target released in Q4 of 2012 and decide if it was a financial failure or a public relations win that created millions of impressions, drove traffic to the stores, and created brand impressions for both companies.

5 Steps to Calculate Social Media ROI Using Google Analytics

While marketing professionals have recognized the mandate to be socially engaged, the monetization and ROI of social media to support business goals still eludes many.

Many marketers struggle to quantify their efforts and demonstrate ROI, unaware that this data is readily available to them through Google Analytics Social Reports.

Yasheaka Oakley

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Facebook 2012: A Much-Needed Annual Review

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

This review is a response to Facebook, Inc.’s Form 10-K, which was filed on February 1, 2013 for the period ending on December 31, 2012.

After reviewing the information shared by Facebook’s executive team during 2012 Earnings Conference Calls, and in their Form 10-K, it is my suggestion that Facebook’s management team utilize a graphically-enhanced presentation to deliver their annual report to stakeholders.

Emphasis should be placed on Facebook’s main products: news feed, timeline, graph search, messages, photos, and videos, groups, events, and pages. These products should be presented in a manner that highlights their contributions to Facebook, Inc.’s ad revenue and total revenue during 2012 and appeases shareholder concerns regarding Facebook’s ability to meet this foundational shift.

After the initial drop in the value of Facebook, Inc.’s (FB) public stock offering, shareholders and financial analysts expressed the desire to hear more about Facebook’s plans to make its mobile offerings more competitive.

As a new mobile company that started 2012 with mobile applications (apps) that featured no advertisements in apps, it is our belief that emphasizing the growth and adaptation of each of these products to improve mobile engagement and increase the value of advertising money spent for each minute spent on our mobile apps will be well received by shareholders if expressed in a manner that exemplifies an understanding for their concerns.

Due to the fact that the company previously had no advertisements on mobile applications prior to Q3, and reported that revenue from mobile advertising represented more than 23 percent of Facebook’s total ad revenue during the fourth quarter (a nine percent increase over third quarter), analysts and users speculate about the future of the company’s use of advertisements in the news feed and ads on the right-hand side of the Facebook website. Since comments from the financial community have shown a great deal of concern for the role advertising revenue will play in Facebook’s future, especially considering ad revenue’s aggressive growth during the fourth quarter, an increased level of disclosure would certainly benefit Facebook.

Financial analysts’ feelings of hesitancy and speculation, directly affected the company’s image and valuation on capital markets. After the Q4 Earnings Conference Call, Facebook (FB) stock dropped by more than three percent. According to Forbes, there was a flurry of downgrades from the sell-side following the company’s fourth quarter earnings report.

Although Facebook’s overall ad revenue of $1.33 billion was up 41 percent year over year, analysts suggest that this drop in valuation is due to the comments shared by the financial community online, as well as the responses given during the question and answer session. Concerns about the company’s spending habits grow as top executives announce that investments in research and development will rise in 2013 and may push profit margins.

The investor relations team should also suggest that emphasis be placed on management’s dedication to additional research and development and understanding that there is a need to bring in more revenue so that earnings won’t be greatly weakened by additional R&D spending in 2013. To support the need for additional new hires and spending, the executive team should highlight Facebook’s three-point strategy in regards to building the best mobile product, building platforms and services that leverage the social graph, and building a strong monetization effort.

Although long-term goals certainly show corporate consistency, there are important benefits that could be obtained by voluntarily disclosing information that shareholders and financial analysts have continuously expressed an interest in knowing. Numerous analysts made a point of commenting on the brevity of Facebook’s financial releases. The company could certainly benefit from simply increasing the quantity and quality of disclosure in a manner that attracts information intermediaries like brokers and financial analysts and target Facebook’s desired investor base. Once Facebook’s management team addresses these concerns, the company will be able to develop better relationships with financial analysts and attract serious buy-side investors.

The objective of the 2012 annual report is to encourage a renewed faith in Facebook, Inc.’s Board of Directors and executive team’s management ability and vision for growth. To do so, it is suggested that the executive team focus on the following factors: product and service quality, marketing prowess, and customer satisfaction. By giving priority to these shareholder concerns, Facebook will not only improve its corporate image and valuation on capital markets but also epitomizes why FB stock will increase in value faster and more substantially than a dollar in other companies in our industry.

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Advancing Towards Public Relations Management

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

I found Bruce Berger‘s (2007) study on factors that practitioners believe relate to professional success in public relations to be very interesting. I paid special attention to the educational requirements section of the study since the findings discussed are considered an ongoing issue in the public relations field.

According to Mitchell Friedman‘s (2012) article in the PR Journal, the Commission on Public Relations Education reports that academic programs need to “prepare students for the evolution of public relations from a set of technical skills into an increasingly strategic, professional, and management-focused effort.”

I often find that young professionals who have just graduated and are just starting their careers in public relations question whether or not they need more experience, what types of experience opportunities they should pursue (internships, full-time work), and whether or not participating in a graduate program would benefit their careers.

The variety of responses presented in Berger’s survey were expected, but the details presented were encouraging. Of the 21st century skills highlighted by the 1999 Commission on Public Relations Education, I found that I had already established a basic or proficient knowledge base for many of the suggested skills, but the ones I would like to pursue most are “problem solving and negotiation” as well as “management of people and resources.”

With over 22 percent of respondents indicating that “holding a decision-making position” is a definition of professional success, I believe that I need to refine my problem solving and management skills to later qualify for such positions. Although I am participating in this MA program with the intention of developing my strategic communication and management skills, it was encouraging to see how some of my other strengths like networking (22.7%) and teamwork (22.6%) measured up against other professionals.

The 2006 Commission report also suggested that young professionals “join a professional or pre-professional organization” so that they can build “integrity as team participants and leaders.”

Taking advantage of this advice, I took the liberty of joining the Public Relations Student Society of America as well as the American Marketing Association in 2012. The first was to address my need to continue developing as a public relations professional.

Joining the AMA serves to address the ever-present relationship (and sometimes battle) between PR and marketing. Since public relations is often overseen by marketing departments, I believe that joining this professional association will help build an understanding of this underlying relationship and assist me as I seek further development opportunities within this field.

After reading Roger Martin’s article How Successful Leaders Think, I immediately started comparing my own character against what Martin suggested was a “successful leader.” Last year, I had the opportunity to take a Myers-Briggs personality assessment and found that I was an ESTJ-type (Extrovert Sensing Thinking Judging).

The assessment suggested that I was “realistic, decisive, and quick to implement decisions” and went on to state that ESTJ-types often focus on “getting results in the most efficient way possible.” This made me wonder how I would measure up to Martin’s conventional versus integrative thinking model and made me wonder how my current processes could be improved to reflect more integrative and effective decisions.

At first, I appreciated the suggestion that one discard as many factors as possible so that they can focus on issues of priority. It seemed like a very logical approach for a public relations professional who deals with numerous audiences and complex influences, but when I read Martin’s suggestion that one “seek less obvious but potentially relevant factors” and “consider multi-directional relationships among variables” I definitely agreed.

His suggestion that reducing one’s exposure to factors that may not be influential in that moment in time, but could be affected by a decision was very insightful. I am now encouraged to reconsider my audience selections and how disqualified audiences may later respond and influence the success of a campaign. It has been my observation that it is often the interest group that you didn’t consider that has the loudest (and most vengeful) response to an issue.

Yasheaka Oakley

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Crisis Communications: Oscar Pistorius

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

Paralympian Oscar Pistorius is currently the only suspect in the alleged “premeditated murder” of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Thursday, February 14.

According to reports shared by CNN, Pistorius claims that he was not wearing his prosthetic legs when he heard sounds in his bathroom. Robyn Curnow et al. write, “Feeling vulnerable in the pitch dark and too scared to turn on the lights, the track star pulled his 9mm pistol from beneath his bed, moved toward the bathroom and fired into the door.”

It wasn’t until after he shot through the door three times that Pistorius called to his girlfriend to call the police, only to realize that she wasn’t in bed. Upon entering the bathroom, he found her bleeding from gunshot wounds. In his statement to the police, he said, “I tried to render the assistance to Reeva that I could, but she died in my arms…I am absolutely mortified by the events and the devastating loss of my beloved Reeva.”

While both sides agree that Pistorius did shoot Steenkamp, the issue rests in whether or not the act was done intentionally (after a heated argument as the prosecution suggests) or by accident (as Pistorius claims).

Oscar Pistorius was released on bail on February 22. In a report shared by USA Today, Magistrate Desmond Nair is quoted as saying, “Pistorius is not a flight risk and does not show ‘a propensity for violence’ or constitute a risk to the community.” In his closing statements, the magistrate highlighted Pistorius’ willingness to cooperate with the legal proceedings and stated that was a factor in his decision. Pistorius’ court date is set for June 4, 2013, giving prosecutors and investigators three months to prepare for Pistorius’ next appearance in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court.

Oscar Pistorius’ Reputation & Sponsorships

Despite all of the negative publicity, Pistorius is best known for this motivational image of him running with Ellie Challis, a five-year-old who lost her hands and lower legs at 16 months after contracting meningitis.

This image, taken before Pistorius competed in the 2012 London Olympics, helped increase awareness of the hardships families face in obtaining prosthetic limbs—highlighting young children and families that could not afford to purchase limb replacements annually and the challenges they face with insurance companies.

Mike Hendrick, founder of the Mineseeker Foundation where Pistorius is an ambassador, recently supported the athlete in an interview with civilsociety.co.uk. Hendrick told the online media outlet that, “I’ve known Oscar since he was 18 and all our experiences with him have been very uplifting and good…Oscar Pistorius is a man of ‘deep humility and respect for life.’”

On February 20th, The Guardian (UK) reported that “Oscar Pistorius was estimated to receive endorsements worth more than $2M a year” and that, although sponsors initially stood by the athlete, many companies were announcing that they were dropping Oscar Pistorius.

According to the Bulldog Reporter, the eyewear maker, Oakley emailed a statement to Pistorius’ management team saying, “In light of the recent allegations, Oakley is suspending its contract with Oscar Pistorius, effective immediately.”

KeJuan Wilkins, a spokesman of Nike Inc. (which was highlighted as having made Pistorius’ carbon-fiber blades during the Olympics) shared that the company has “no plans to use him in future ad campaigns” and the Associated Press points out that a 2007 Nike Internet ad showing Pistorius starting to sprint in his blades with the caption: “I am the bullet in the chamber” has already been pulled (featured below).

As the details of Reeva Steenkamp’s shooting continue to be investigated, Pistorius’ agent canceled all of his scheduled races and his team has posted media statements on Oscar Pistorius’ official website. Some suggest that the sponsors are making an unfair example of Pistorius, especially in the case of Nike, since the company previously stood by Lance Armstrong, who admitted to doping earlier this year; Tiger Woods, who admitted to numerous affairs and sex addiction; and Michael Vick, who went to jail for illegal dog-fighting.

Although he may be painted as a murderer in the media (as exemplified by this week’s cover of TIME magazine), Pistorius still has supporters online. An article in CNN sited posts from users on Twitter who stated they believed Pistorius’ story after reading the affidavit and a simple search for “Oscar Pistorius” produces multiple opinions from around the world.

Many are weighing in on the athlete’s role in Steenkamp’s death, but Oscar Pistorius has remained quiet on his social media accounts. His Twitter @OscarPistorius hasn’t been updated since February 13, the night before Reeva Steenkamp’s death.

What would you suggest for Oscar Pistorius’ public relations team?

Yasheaka Oakley

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Case Study: The Target-Neiman Marcus Holiday Collection

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Yasheaka Oakley

With the promise of “Expect more. Pay less.” Target Corporation is an American discount retailer on a mission to make Target the “preferred shopping destination in all channels by delivering value, continuous innovation and exceptional guest experiences.”

In an effort to continue its initiative of offering great designs that “don’t have to cost a fortune” and appeal to a diverse audience of consumers, Target has established partnerships with well-known and emerging designers like Isaac Mizrahi.

Introducing the biggest retail collaboration to-date!

On October 16, 2012, Target Corp. announced its collaboration with Neiman Marcus to produce an “unprecedented holiday collection” that featured “24 of America’s preeminent designers” and more than 50 products. The initiative was hailed as “the ultimate designer collaboration” and was highly anticipated by consumers, bloggers, and analysts.

On November 1, 2012, Target shared its October sales report with its shareholders. It stated that the quarter-to-date sales were $16,601 million in sales and its third quarter earnings report provided shareholders with a fourth quarter earnings guidance that said, “the company expects adjusted ESP of $1.64 to $1.74 and GAAP ESP of $1.45 to $1.55.”

Target’s expectations for the Target-Neiman Marcus holiday collection were discussed in greater detail during Target’s 2012 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call on November 15. This included members of the media, financial analysts from well respected institutions such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co, as well as Target Chairman, President, CEO Gregg Steinhafel; EVP of Merchandising and Supply Chain, Kathee Tesija; and EVP, CFO, John Mulligan.

During the Q3 call, Steinhafel stated that the Neiman Marcus collaboration was at the “top of the list” for merchandising and marketing plans in the fourth quarter. Steinhafel confidently shared that, “With more than two billion media impressions…this event is clearly creating a lot of excitement.” Tesija supported Steinhafel’s positive outlook and Target’s expectations for the line when she said, “Like any limited time offer, we expect these items to sell quickly, particularly given the amazing media attention that they’ve already received.”

Steinhafel closed the conference call with an excited tone and positive remarks by telling shareholders, “We’ve got a great plan. Our stores are read. Our teams are ready. We’ve got a great value offering, and some really inspiring merchandise. So we believe we’ll profitably take market share this holiday season.”

With prices starting at $7.99 and peaking at $499.99, the holiday line included items that both retailers identified as “great value at affordable price points” and launched on Saturday, December 1, 2012.

Products and prices that don’t meet customer expectations

In her article for Business Insider, Margaret Bogenrief called the venture “an inflexible ‘fashion experiment’…with massively mismatched price points for consumers with pinched pockets” and criticized the 2012 collection for its inability to assign the correct mix of product variety and price points. The collection was not well-received by shoppers or bloggers alike, and on January 1, 2013, Neiman Marcus and Target slashed the prices of the entire Target-Neiman Marcus Holiday Collection up to 70 percent off the limited-edition retail price.

Target spokesman Joshua Thomas told Forbes, “Taking risks means being ready to accept the things that work, and the things that don’t work” and admitted that even though the items were of a high quality (made from real silk, hand-blown glass and 18k gold), “maybe it was [priced] a little too high” for Target shoppers since customer satisfaction and interest in the line was low. The Target spokesman also shares that Target believed that the performance of the line had been affected by the timing of the holiday collection’s release and stated that, “We believe we created a price barrier. This is clear given the strong uptick in sales once the collection went on sale at 50 percent off.”

According to fashion blogger Becca Alexander, the success of retail collaborations “is based on a lot of factors like the designer chosen, price point, quality and availability of the collection online.” In Alexander’s opinion consumers need to feel like they’re not only “getting a great designer piece, but that it’s priced right,” which was a constant complaint shared by consumers and bloggers online.

Although she believes the customer experience shouldn’t suffer, Alexander admits that, “Collaborations are becoming more about the marketing opportunities, less about the sales. Large brands like H&M and Target need the ‘street cred’ that comes with working with respected and up-and-coming designers” and that the collaborations are “more about the attention these collaborations draw.”

How did Target’s Q4 end?

In a January 3, 2013 financial news release, Target reported that net retail sales for the five weeks ended on December 29, 2012 were $10,214 million and that the fourth quarter-to-date sales were $16,397 million—$204 million less than the quarterly sales reported in October. Although Target’s stock (NYSE: TGT) was considerably low on December 29, 2012 (at $58.57), it has since risen to $61.17 per share (as of January 30, 2012).

CEO Gregg Steinhafel told investors that, “December sales were slightly below our expectations, as strong results late in the month did not completely offset softness in the first three weeks,” and that, as a result, “we expect Target’s fourth quarter 2012 earnings per share will meet or somewhat exceed the low end of our prior guidance.”

Steinhafel defended Target’s fourth quarter performance by placing a continued focus on non-financial factors like customer satisfaction, customer service, and the company’s brand strength as a retailer that provides affordable and fashionable clothing during Target’s report of December 2012′s sales. Steinhafel told shareholders that, “Profitability for December benefited from our continued focus on achieving an appropriate balance between price investments and driving sales,” but, “Target will continue to focus on profitably growing Target’s market share by combining unique merchandise, convenience, value and an unbeatable guest experience’ in 2013.

While many analysts label the Target-Neiman Marcus Holiday Collaboration a failure, retail analyst Carol Spieckerman considers the holiday line an overall win for Target. Spieckerman says that even though much of the product didn’t sell, the Target-Neiman Marcus collection “created impressions, drove traffic to the stores, and created more brand impressions.”

Target Corporation just held its Q4 conference call on February 7 and expects to release more financial information concerning its fourth quarter of 2012 on February 27, 2013.

How do you think the Target-Neiman Marcus Holiday Collection performed?

Photo credits via / via / via

Yasheaka Oakley

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