Gearheads: The Sterling Communications Blog

Free Advice

Tomorrow, the National Student Leadership Conference will bus 16 high school students to Sterling Communications' headquarters. Visiting from around the country, they're interested in journalism and mass communications and will learn a bit about what we do as well as some skills they might need to get an internship or job in public relations.

We've been lucky to visit several clients recently to help them ramp up their social media efforts. The workshops have been well received and are producing some good results, which we'll be sharing with everyone soon, but with the students tomorrow. The professions of PR, marketing, advertising, and reporting are changing, and we're eager to discuss it.

However, in preparation, I kept coming up with random bits of advice that wouldn't neatly fit in the presentation. They weren't skills, exactly, but lessons I learned one way or another in school and as a reporter, ghostwriter, marketer, and account executive. Let me know what you think and whether you have something to add.

Reporters polled by PRSourceCode name Sterling a 2009 Top Tech Communicator

We broke out the sparkling cider and cookies this afternoon after PRSourceCode's Cole Smith (second from left) personally delivered a plaque to Sterling to recognize our inclusion to its Top Tech Communicators rankings. We are listed fourth among small-sized agencies. We also had one of our account supervisors (er, me) :) honored as an individual Top Tech Communicator. Click here for a list of all categories and winners.

This honor marks the second time in the three years for our agency, following a No. 2 listing in the mid-size category in 2007. Survey results were based on responses from more than 500 folks within the IT and business editorial communities. The survey asked them to recognize agencies who are responsive, proactive and thorough in their work. We're honored that the reporters, editors, bloggers and analysts we reach out to on a daily basis thought so highly of our work. High fives all around!

A Conference for the Creative

Although I have yet to attend a TED event personally, it sounds as though this year’s TED Global lived up to expectations. In reading through Carole Cadwalladr’s article in the Guardian, I’m struck by how different this tech conference is from all others. As a PR agency, Sterling researches hundreds of shows each year to determine where industry influencers will be, and where to highlight our clients best work.
 
TED stands up against the rest because not only is it exclusive, but the event also brings together the best and brightest from tech’s tangential industries (entertainment and design). By inviting creative types to what would otherwise be just another tech convention, TED enables companies (and the bright people who drive them) to collaborate across industries. As the recession continues to weigh heavily on attendance at conferences worldwide, event organizers would be wise to take a new spin off of TED’s creative business model.

Embracing the Evolution of the PR Industry

As we approach Sterling’s 20th anniversary at the end of August (BTW, how did THAT happen?), I’ve been reflecting on how PR has changed in the past two decades. For your reading enjoyment, here’s a quick look at the stark differences between PR in 1989 and PR in 2009:

1989:

• Press releases were printed by the hundreds and sent via US Postal Service or FedEx'd to media/analysts. (We used to have “envelope stuffing” parties in the conference room. Paper cuts and glue highs!)
• News was often released in the US first, and in other markets 1-2 weeks later (or not at all).
• Bacon’s was the only media reference guide and it was a bound paper document with content that was updated quarterly.
• Clipping services sent manually clipped pieces of coverage, sometimes months after it occurred.
• FAX machines used thermal paper (shiny paper that curls and eventually the print on it fades to nothing).
• Press kits were all paper-based.
• Sterling's PR professionals did client work on disks we inserted into three shared Mac SEs.
• All trade and business press news outlets were print-based.
• Precious few PR folks had email accounts (yes, Sterling did).
• All pitches were phone-based because very few media folks had email accounts.
• Cell phones were sighted only rarely, and they were about the the size and weight of a brick.
• Home networks did not exist.
• The Web did not yet exist (outside of a CERN project, that is. The Web didn’t become a publicly available service on the Internet until 1991.)
• Comdex was 2nd largest tech trade show in the world (behind Germany’s CeBIT), and was by far the largest show in the US

Agency Outing to Clean up Beach Litter

Earlier this month a team of Sterling employees and their families braved a cold morning in Half Moon Bay to help clean up litter at Francis State Beach, part of our community outreach program. For two hours we picked up abandoned soda cans, discarded cigarette butts and flyaway plastic wrappings. We also found clothing, broken toys, birthday party streamers and balloons, parts of a grill and a diaper. Although most of us expected to find more trash than we did, we finished our morning with full bags (pic above is a look into one of those bag)s.

For humans, beach litter is an eyesore but it can also be dangerous. One Sterlinger found broken glass the size of copy paper, but only one tiny corner was sticking up out of the sand. What if a beachgoer stepped on that! And then imagine what else might be buried below a layer or two of sand. We also only cleaned up trash we found on the beach. Much of the debris left behind has already been swept into the ocean and carried by the currents, some of which obstruct propellers of recreational boats.

Of a greater impact is the effect beach litter has on marine wildlife, endangering  cute animals like seals, dolphins, whales and turtles, as they ingest plastics or get tangled in them. Read more details about the problem with marine debris here from the California Coastal Commission.

Please, when you’re visiting the beach this summer, take out what you bring in. Be aware when unpacking groceries for your picnic that the receipt might just fly away. And if you see a piece of garbage that didn’t make it into the bin, go ahead and help make the beach a prettier and safer place by picking it up and helping it reach its final destination. 

Hello? Any Non Smart Phone Users Still Out There?

Apple’s recent iTunes App Store one-year anniversary celebration made me pause and think about the fact that not only do I not have an iPhone, I don’t have a smart phone! Yes, it’s true, I have a Razor, and you know what? I’m proud of it! Yeah, sometimes I bear the glare of interested onlookers, especially in a professional setting, wondering who IS that and WHY does she have that ancient piece of machinery. Well, I’ll tell you.

Apple may have celebrated the download of 1 billion applications from the iTunes App Store and Nielsen may have reported strong smart phone growth, but I stand by my flip phone that only has text and talking capabilities. The truth is, I already spend the bulk of my life in front of a computer, and when I leave work at night, I want to sign off and take a break (no, I don’t want the app for that). Do you really need access to your email or Twitter at dinner, at a movie or running in the park? I submit that you don’t. There might be occasions where I’m waiting for a final approval on something over the weekend or late at night where it might prove useful. However, I’ve managed all this time, and yes, I’m still effective at my job. 

The bottom line is that I don’t feel like something is missing, and I work in a deadline driven field. I sometimes think that the only reason people buy smart phones is to appear more important, the cool factor or because everyone else has one. I do strive for balance in my life, and I feel like not having a smart phone helps to accomplish that.

I'm prepared for the sea of protest this is sure to inspire - so, tell me if you have a smart phone and why, and if you don't, why you're holding out...like me!

Publish at All Costs?

No one can deny that journalism has changed significantly over the last five years. In a recent article in the American Journalism Review, Editor Carl Sessions Step examines how staff reductions and the emphasis on real-time reporting have created new journalistic standards. So what does this mean to PR?