The word impromptu popped in my head this morning as I was driving to work (I love that word!) which prompted me to consider ways to expand my vocabulary. I have been writing news for 10 years, and news writing is all about simplified words. While I like simple, I love words. When I am writing, I get energized when I find a word that has the exact meaning I wish to convey. Sometimes these words do not work well for news and I have to opt for a simpler synonym, but now that I am an academic news writer in the medical arena by day, I find that using perplexing words is widely accepted. While thesaurus.com and dictionary.com are two of my best friends, I think it’s time to begin some vocabulary exercises.
As I follow @dictionarycom on Twitter and (almost) always read the word of the day, I realize I need a way to get new words to stick. Just reading a “word of the day” is not getting the job done. In high school, I found that I typically learn best by writing something down. So, I have decided that in addition to discovering a new word, I will plan to write a couple of sentences using my new word and then at the end of each week, I will write a paragraph using all of my new words from that week or month. (Writing exercises … bonus!) This should be interesting; definitely stay tuned.
What exercises do you do to expand your vocabulary? Better yet, which words do you like that I should learn? Submissions will be happily accepted via the comments section or on Twitter @kandikreatives.
When I was in middle and high school, studies regarding the effects of watching too much tv revolved around attention span issues. Today, microblogging (ahem, Twitter) is considered a tool designed for folks with short attention spans. Give me lots of news, give it to me fast, and then let me move on.
Today, I discovered StatusNet, “the WordPress of microblogging,” according to TechCrunch.com. My first thought was, great too many short attention spans are degrading writing and leading to mass microblogs. Just what the Internet needed. And then I thought about my own blog. I haven’t exactly been a faithful blogger. In fact, I have several draft ideas in queue, but I can’t stay focused long enough to write a decent entry before I realize my idea is old news. (Is that an effect of my short attention span or an issue with the super-fast information highway?)
Giving this microblogging business one more second of thought before moving on, I realized why I think the service StatusNet offers will be a big hit for social media. It actually ties right in with one of my blog entries that hadn’t moved beyond the brainstorming stage yet.
When I was working on my undergraduate degree in mass communications as an aspiring public relations pro, my professors often asked why we wanted to work in PR. While my answer was that I liked the variety it offered, from writing to event planning to creating publications, my classmates often answered that they enjoyed working with “the public.” Wrong. Ten years ago public relations didn’t exactly involve working with the public. It was more about managing your public, or more specifically, managing your image within your publics. PR was a one-way relationship. You spoke, the public listened.
If I taught a PR class today and one of my students said she wanted to be a PR pro because she enjoyed working with the public, I would say she is in the right profession. From the Internet, to blogging, and now microblogging, PR has become a conversation between you and your publics. While you still manage your image, you don’t manage your publics. Instead, you work with your publics and they assist you in managing your image.
So, true, while a boom in microblogs may signal mass destruction in attention spans, I think it’s the next step for PR pros. Corporate blogs are just one more way for a company to talk a lot about “me” and hear a little bit from you (in the form of a comment.) Using a microblog will not only even the playing field, it also will create a conversation between you and your target publics – not the mass public.
Is a KandiKreatives microblog coming soon? Stay tuned.
Is my attention span at risk? Well, considering a tweet by @markraganceo turned into research, brainstorming, a blog entry, and several future tweets, I think I will keep “focus” in my vocabulary.
I received an email yesterday for help with a cover letter to apply for an entry-level position. The proposed cover letter prompted a tweet:
A tip on writing cover letters: don’t use exclamation points. I can’t even do it here for effect. Not professional.
As I considered the tweet this morning, I thought of a follow up tweet:
Cover Letter Tip 2: Express excitement for a job through your words, not your punctuation.
However, I wanted to provide an example, so tweet 2 remains untweeted and this blog post is in progress.
I am passionate about service work and have applied for PR-related jobs with several non-profit organizations. Since I always like to express my desire to support the work of an organization I am applying to, I could include this sentence in my cover letter:
I think the work you do in the community is really important!
However, that’s a fairly general statement, doesn’t tell the prospective employer much about my passion, and ends a bit harshly with the !
So, instead, I recommend revising the sentence to use words, not punctuation, to express my interest in working for the organization.
I attended a multi-cultural high school and did not often see victims of discrimination; however, in college I learned that integration issues are still alive and well. I think the work you do to educate the community on issues of race and discrimination and to promote understanding can make a difference. I hope to use my skills in public relations to promote your timely programs.
Ok, so now that I’ve reworked that exclamation point into a few sentences, let me analyze my work.
1. I turned a sentence with only one use of “I” into three sentences with four uses of “I.” I consider that a con, so I will likely want to rework the sentences to remove a couple of “I”s.
2. Instead of saying, “the work you do,” I used words that are either in the organization’s mission or very similar, including “race” “discrimination” “understanding.” This tells the employer I know about the organization and the work being done. Using detailed words also tells the employer this cover letter was written specifically for this position. Double pro.
3. I turned one sentence into three fairly long sentences. This is a con. Since this cover letter is for a PR job, I should consider using shorter sentences. Shorter sentences are easier for the reader to understand and retain.
4. I let the employer learn a little bit about me without going into more detail than I think is appropriate. Hopefully I now stand out from the other applicants and the interviewer wants to meet me to learn more about me. This would be a pro.
5. I used words like “you” and “your.” This is a pro.
6. I mentioned my skills in PR to let the employer know I understand this is an application for a PR job and not a position to implement anti-racism programs. This is a pro.
7. I did not go into detail on my PR skills because I will mention these briefly in a different paragraph. I will not, however, detail all or any of the skills the employer will learn by reading my resume. This is a pro. A cover letter should not be your resume in paragraph form. A cover letter is your opportunity to introduce yourself and tell the employer something s/he will not learn from your resume. This typically means you should tell the employer why you want to work for that company using the tips I already mentioned.
Also, especially in the case of applying for a job in public relations, I think the cover letter is the most important part of your application. Why? Because if you can’t brand yourself, how can the employer trust you to brand the company?
So, can my new paragraph improve? Sure. But with six pros and two cons, I think I’ll keep it.
What are your cover letter writing tips and examples?
I was sitting on the couch in my pajamas on New Year’s Eve watching the Vols get whipped and laughing at the Chick-Fil-A cows when a commercial came on that seemed so familiar, I thought it was de ja vu. Someone was eating fast food and had experienced dramatic weight loss. Are you picturing Jared? Then let me introduce you to Christine, the new face of Taco Bell‘s drive-thru diet which advertises you can lose weight by ordering items off the Fresco menu.
When I recovered from the de ja vu experience, my next thought was gross. Maybe you can eat fast food and lose weight, but get real, fast food diets are not healthy. So I complained … to my husband … who was a victim of being the only person sitting in the room.
Two days later I was at a comedy show being entertained by Karen Fitzgerald when I found myself laughing at her bit on the Taco Bell diet. And then the lightbulb flashed. Taco Bell is a PR Winner. The company’s ad campaign is a 100% gimmick targeted to women on the go, and I disagree with it.
Yet, it’s stirred a national conversation. See what was reported by ABC News.
So, Taco Bell, while I think your food should be an occasional treat (hey, just because I’m not a fan of the concept of fast food doesn’t mean I don’t like the food) instead of a daily food staple, I do think you are a PR Winner. You got my attention, you made me emotional, and I am one of the people talking about it. Well done.
Two weeks ago, I had a triumphant victory over my Canon Digital Rebel XT. I learned to shoot photos in manual mode. Determined, I dressed my daughter in her new red dress, set my camera to take an optimal photo in the living room, and began chasing my daughter around the house snapping photos (while trying to stop her from putting the lens cap back on the camera.) I wanted a picture for a Christmas card.
I downloaded the photos to my laptop and found the perfect shot – my daughter hugging her teddy bear. I visited the Photo Center on walgreens.com and began searching for an appropriate Christmas card design (which was no easy task, most of the designs do not say “Merry Christmas” these days.)
Saturday, I picked up my photos, and to my horror, they were bright red – except for my daughter’s red hair, which looked bright orange.
This is when I learned two lessons. The first is that for printing photos, you should first calibrate your computer monitor and then you should calibrate Adobe Photoshop to your computer monitor, otherwise your photos may print differently than they looked on the monitor. The next thing I learned is that the Walgreens Photo Center has an exceptional customer service policy.
With several people waiting in line, the young woman working in the photo shop took the time to try to color correct my photo. Then, she reprinted my card and didn’t charge me any additional money, even though the Kool-Aid-colored photo was my fault. This is Walgreens policy: 100% satisfaction guaranteed. See it on their Web site.
Congratulations, Walgreens Photo Center. Your are my PR Winner of the Week for your outstanding customer service policy and the excellent service provided by your employees.
Taking pictures in manual mode: check.
My next challenge: mastering monitor color calibration.
The cup sitting next to my desk (far enough from my computer to be out of the danger zone) is filled with ice and water, my beverage of choice. Dr. Pepper was my favorite soft drink throughout grade school and college, but today that prized status is wide open to competition. I still find the occasional Dr. Pepper to be a pleasant surprise to my taste buds, but as I only indulge every couple of years, I would hardly call that product loyalty.
Digital twin? I thought. Cool! I have heard everyone has a twin somewhere in the world, and Coke Zero has developed an application, available through Facebook, to help you find her (or him.) I had to try the application immediately. Here were my results (close, except for the eyes): http://bit.ly/6ZvINU.
Coke Zero, you have my attention.
It has been four days since I first used the facial profiler (yes, I will experiment again.) I still have not tasted the beverage, but that has more to do with the fact that I have been unofficially soft-drink free for days, even weeks now. But will I try Coke Zero? You bet. Maybe. I prefer drinks that do not use artificial sweeteners. But to the Coke brand, you are on my mind. Oh, and the Coke Zero commercial about suing yourself, that was hilarious!
Congratulations, Coke Zero, you are my PR Winner of the week. And as soon as I break my soft-drink fast, a Coke will be in my cup.
I like to talk about my favorite brands. I’ve been known to do it for free. That’s why I’m promoting the Just Say No to Pay Per Tweets on Twitter campaign.
Sure, it would be nice if Chick-fil-A (I’m a fan on Facebook) or Lenny’s (@knoxvillelennys) or Mimis Cafe (@mimis_cafe) or New Balance Shoes or any other brand I’ve mentioned for free would offer me a few bucks, but that defeats not only my intent but also the purpose of branding and great public relations. Implementing great public relations is my day job. Talking about brands I catch in the act of a great campaign is what I do for fun. (You would not be the first person to call me a geek.)
The formula to get me talking about your brand is simple. It reverts back to the earliest form of public relations: provide a quality product or service with good customer service at a reasonable price.
From being closed on Sundays to the Chick-fil-A cows, Chick-fil-A’s entire concept revolves around first-class PR.
Chick-fil-A has great (Christian) values, and the company does not compromise these values to make a few extra dollars. The fast food chain serves a great product, including the best french fries. Period. It does not serve any beef. The chain is closed on Sundays. Chick-fil-A is one-of-a-kind.
When I eat fast food (approximately six times a year) I always choose Chick-fil-A. The food is tasty and the sweet tea is sweet and fresh-brewed. Each Sunday on my way to church, I pass the restaurant and think, “Chick-fil-A sounds good, too bad it’s closed today.” So, when I need to choose a fast food restaurant any other day of the week, Chick-fil-A is already on my mind. On my last vacation, my travel plan incorporated rest stops only at Chick-fil-A.
The Chick-fil-A cows and the “Eat Mor Chikin” campaign are brilliant. Every time my husband sees a group of three cows, he says, “Look! It’s the Chick-fil-A cows.” We live in the country, so this actually happens quite a bit.
I am not a fan of billboards because they distract me when I am driving. Luckily, my husband does most of the driving, and it gives me the opportunity to see the latest Chick-fil-A billboards posted along I-40 in Knoxville. I look forward to these billboards. I crack up when I read the jokes on chicken, and I really love the misspelled words.
Congratulations, Chick-fil-A, you are my first PR Winner of the Week. You are a branding role model. I love the 12 Days of Christmas billboard, and I look forward to tasting your Peppermint Chocolate Chip milkshake!
I see good examples of public relations almost everywhere I look (even when I think I’m not looking.) With so many brands fighting for my attention, I want to celebrate brands that I think deliver great public relations.
So what is great public relations?
1) A brand that gets my attention.
2) A brand that I connect with – I remember it for either a positive or negative reason. Yes, even a negative experience can be great public relations if it causes me to remember the brand. Too many brands are forgettable.
3) A brand that compels me to talk about it – for free!
In the spirit of great PR, I will announce a PR Winner of the Week and tell you what I think that brand got right. I hope you will join me in celebrating great PR each week. Look for the KandiKreatives PR Approved checkmark.
Avoiding Facebook for more than two years has been pretty simple. I started by not joining Facebook, even when I got those tempting emails letting me know which of my friends (whom I have live contact with) had invited me to join. Next, I didn’t search Facebook to see if people I wanted to (re) connect with were members. Call me old fashioned, but I like having relationships with people, not computers.
On November 15, 2009, I stopped avoiding Facebook.
I was at a social networking seminar a couple of weeks ago and someone said that if you don’t find Facebook, it will find you. That person knew what he was talking about. As a public relations professional, I believe that credibility includes a proven track record in delivering messages to appropriate audiences through appropriate media. In PR, experience always outweighs education. Telling clients that I know how to use Facebook and understand its value is not nearly as effective as showing them. So, I joined.
Find me on Facebook and become a KandiKreatives fan.
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I was sitting on the couch in my pajamas on New Year’s Eve watching the Vols get whipped and laughing at the Chick-Fil-A cows when a commercial came on that seemed so familiar, I thought it was de ja vu. Someone was eating fast food and had experienced dramatic weight loss. Are you picturing Jared? Then let me introduce you to Christine, the new face of 