Two Dozen Rules for Responding to Media Queries

All firms with more than one employee should have a clearly written media policy that spells out who in the organization may respond to media inquiries, what kinds of information can or should be released to reporters and what information must be kept confidential. It's important to assure your employees that talking to the media and establishing good relationships with reporters can and should be constructive. Reporters need you as a source of news and background information as much as you need them to give you publicity and clarify your point of view.

Freedman, David M. and Janice E. Purtell. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations

Types of Social Media Measurement

Social media measurement sounds like an inherently good idea. Management likes numbers, and if we can measure it, we can manage it. So, all this new online activity should be easier to understand, once we measure it. There's only one problem: What does social media measurement mean? Like social media itself, it is an evolving term with multiple definitions based on the needs of different constituencies.

Gilliatt, Nathan. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>Social Networking

Unbundling the Blog

Whether you're grappling with how to reach out to bloggers discussing your industry or contemplating creating a corporate blog, it's vital for you as a communicator to understand what's being said about your company in cyberspace—and how to play an active role in the dialog.

Taylor, Helen. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Blogging

Understanding "Micro Media": Subscribing to RSS Feeds

For the last 19 years, Keith Moore has hosted a conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, called "How Colleges and Universities Can Obtain National (and Regional) Publicity." In a sign of the times, this year's conference included a session in which we focused not on getting into the major mass media, but on the capabilities of the machines that sit on our desktops. In short, we looked at the evolving world of so-called "micro media," tools that are enabling us to create new online communities in ways never before possible.

Forbush, Dan. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>RSS

Use an Audit to Link Communication to Performance

Traditionally, a communication audit serves as an assessment of past performance, where the report of results highlight the strengths and weaknesses of internal communication. Based on this analysis, the communication department must determine where to invest its time and resources in the future.

Williams, John A. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Careers>Management>Communication

Use Presentation Copy--Headlines, Decks and More--To Reach Flippers and Skimmers

I'm often amazed at how much energy writers put into perfecting the analogy in the 32nd paragraph of their piece when those same folks toss off a headline in the 17 seconds before happy hour on a Friday night. The sad truth is, most of your readers will never see the 32nd paragraph of your brilliant copy. But many more of them will read the headline.

Wylie, Ann. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Writing>Newsletters

Using E-Mail as a Management Tool

We’ve all heard stories about people who clicked “send” too soon. But here’s a story you may not have heard. One of our clients described an e-mail message he recently received from upper management at his company. The message had some information about how to request annual leave and plans to landscape the building. The message ended with these words: “By the way, you have a new boss. The product development team’s new director will be James Yang. Margie Esposito, the former director, left last Friday.” Obviously, the cardinal rule of using e-mail as a management tool is “know when to use e-mail.” Some messages, like a sudden change in upper management, should be delivered in person.

Rudick, Marilynne and Leslie O'Flahavan. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Careers>Management>Online>Email

Using E-mail To Make Your Pitch

Gone are the days when you called a reporter, mailed a letter or sent a fax and expected to get a callback. These days, more reporters than ever are relying on e-mail to review news pitches or story ideas. Pitching by e-mail is sometimes more difficult than sending a pitch letter by standard mail or calling a reporter on the telephone, because with more and more e-mail being sent these days, yours needs to stand out from the rest. Here are tips on how to make your pitch stand out in the maze of e-mail communications that reporters, and other media contacts, receive each day.

Lee, Terry and Rich Brant. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email

Using Measurement to Enhance Employee Communication

The role of an employee communication professional is, at its core, fundamentally simple: We're in the business of designing and executing messaging to achieve a desired effect with a specific audience. How successful we are is driven by a number of factors, including appropriate use of media, timing and messages. By understanding these factors, we can target communication much more effectively. The key to understanding these factors effectively is simple: Ask.

Cooper, Marc. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Workplace

Using New Media to Tame a Crisis

New media have drastically altered the way we communicate, particularly during a crisis. With the blogosphere, Web 2.0, Second Life and social media sites like Flickr, Twitter, Blogger, Facebook and MySpace, it seems that a new way to spread information crops up on a daily basis. Since crises can originate or be perpetuated online, communicators must incorporate social media into their existing media monitoring efforts.

Griffin, Chip. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Multimedia>Crisis Communication

Using Return on Investment Analytics in the Planning Process

I once had a client, who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty, who called me one fateful day with some bad news. There had been a terrible clerical error. The US$300,000 marketing communication budget, which had taken weeks and months of planning to produce, had been submitted as a US$30,000 budget. It had been accepted as a US$30,000 budget. Someone had dropped a zero along the way, and it had been set in stone.

Elrick, Merry. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Management>Planning>ROI

Using Social Media and Blogs to Your Advantage

Consumers no longer have to rely only on mass media for information. More often than not, they are turning to colleagues, friends and other people they trust for advice on what products and services to buy, generally trying to avoid sales people altogether. Understandably, this is what makes social media so effective, and one of the reasons why it can have such a positive impact on your bottom line.

Buchanan, Ryan. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing>Online

Visually Speaking: Adult-Only Publications

Corporate photography was once the realm of adults only. Just a few years ago, it was surprising to see a picture of anybody under 40 years old in an annual report or capabilities brochure, much less someone under the age of 12. But nowadays, photos of children are showing up more and more often in all kinds of corporate publications, and as you might suspect, photographing children requires a totally different approach than shooting the CEO.

Salvo, Suzanne. Communication World Bulletin (2008). Design>Graphic Design>Photography>Visual Rhetoric

Visuals and Specialization Present Possibilities for Handling the Information Overload Crisis

Professional communicators and attorneys have long stood side by side as both fought to win in court—one in the court of law, the other in the court of public opinion. These two sometimes wary compatriots, however, are now beginning to partner more frequently to garner the best results for the executive suite.

Larkin, T.J. and Sandar Larkin. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Document Design>Visual Rhetoric>Charts and Graphs

Web 2.0: The Medium is the Message, But What's the Result?

Let's face it: These are tough times to be a professional communicator. Our audiences have taken the reins of what is indisputably the dominating mass communication medium of our era: the Internet. Web 2.0, characterized by social media applications for peer-to-peer collaboration such as YouTube, MySpace and Wikipedia is challenging all of our basic assumptions as communication practitioners. The astonishing rise of social networking structures and content is in effect challenging the very existence of the traditional corporate communication function.

Kealey, Caroline. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>Social Networking

Web Conferencing Tips

Despite the Internet's emergence as a mainstream business tool, web conferencing can still be a daunting experience for first-timers and even seasoned presenters. For today's business professionals, it's not the technology that makes them apprehensive, but the knowledge that familiar ways of presenting are inadequate to execute an effective web conference. Provide someone with useful information and a little preparation, however, and that person can host an effective, efficient web conference.

Murray, Krysta. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Teleconferencing>Videoconferencing

Web Site Redesign: From Stagnation to Rejuvenation

When surfing the web these days, you often come across web sites that suffer from stagnation—they look old, obsolete or appear to have been designed by an amateur. Your web site needs continuous improvement to capture and engage your visitor’s attention. If not, he or she can easily click away to your competitor’s site. Here are twelve steps to help prevent stagnation.

Drost, Herman. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Design>Web Design>Redesign>Rhetoric

Web Site Stats: A Look Behind The Numbers

In the dot.com boom of the 1990s, an electronic goldrush began as companies flocked like new age prospectors seeking to plant their stake in this digital revolution that has today transformed the ways companies communicate and do business around the globe. Because the web is becoming a viable communications channel, it's important that communications professionals understand how the content they're putting up on a web site is delivering to users the kind of value that is realizing a return on their investment.

Gannon, Joseph P. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Web Design>Audience Analysis>Log Analysis

What 25,000 Employees Globally Say about Communication Effectiveness

Towers Perrin has brought together a group of leading companies to establish The Communications Effectiveness Consortium and annual benchmarking study. This study assesses factors that drive employees’ perceptions of communication effectiveness. The resulting tool provides guidance on the best return on investments for an organization’s communication resources.

Woodall, Katherine and Charlie Watts. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>International

What Are the Bloggers Saying About You? Practical Tips for Communicators

The influence of bloggers and their readers has erupted into campaigns that have affected large, well-known companies and brands—Wal-Mart, Kryptonite Locks, Land Rover, Sony. Smaller firms could suffer even more, like the New York camera retailer that went out of business. Don't let this happen to your organization.

Papacosta, Donna. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Blogging

What CEOs Want—and Need—from Their Communication Executives

With corporate raiders, financial analysts and institutional investors all demanding "performance, performance, performance," CEOs are looking for creative communication executives who can help show that the direction they are taking the enterprise is guaranteed to increase shareholder value.

Shulman, Barry. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Careers>Management>Business Communication

What Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy Is Right for Your Company?

Clearly no company today can afford to be oblivious to the needs of the community and society of which it is part. And certainly, in this age of corporate accountability and transparency, no organization can be perceived as pursuing its own commercial goals at the expense of the greater good of society.

Hatcliffe, Mike. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations

What Is a White Paper and How Is It Used?

White papers have grown from just another piece of collateral to a super-powered marketing tool. Everywhere you look in marketing, you will see something labeled a "white paper."

Stelzner, Michael A. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Writing>White Papers

What Makes a Story a Story?

When I review internal publications, company or product endorsements, case studies demonstrating customer successes and other print and online communications that purport to convey stories, I find they're often missing crucial story characteristics. They tend to be descriptive of situations instead of relaying actual stories about what occurred. So, what is a story, what is its basic structure and what considerations go into crafting it?

Silverman, Lori L. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Writing

What the Public Sector Can Learn from the Private Sector

Not all corporate executives are willing to admit to a mistake or to own up to a weakness, of course. We’ve seen plenty of how-not-to examples in recent years. But experts in corporate crisis communication will invariably give the same advice: If the news is bad and it’s bound to get out anyway, put it out yourself and show that you care. So why is it so hard for politicians? Despite years of digging themselves deeper into a hole when faced with bad news, politicians have not learned their lesson. The best course is always to release bad news yourself and to take responsibility and apologize as appropriate.

Pine, Mel Harkrader. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Crisis Communication