Pierpont Communications, Inc.

Presidential candidates face a seemingly insurmountable challenge of managing perceptions, building advantageous relationships and glad-handing enough constituents to land in the Oval Office. Public relations and marketing efforts have always been an integral part of the campaign process but the evolution in expectations has been especially noticeable over the last half century.

We have seen many pivotal moments in campaigning, beginning in 1948 with the first radio broadcast of a presidential debate, drawing an audience of 60 million. Rolling on into 1960 – when television brought together Nixon and Kennedy in a debate that many argue led to Kennedy’s victory. More recently, 2008 saw many crucial moments in campaign history as the Obama camp positioned themselves as a trailblazer utilizing every form of social media to target their audience with a “Yes WE Can” message.

The common denominator across all of these campaign eras has been the steadfast teams of communicators standing on the sidelines to provide sound council on how each hopeful should strategically “brand” themselves. This branding takes shape in a variety of ways, from wardrobe to key messaging, tag lines, rallies, television ads, news articles, Tweets, Facebook pages, YouTube channels, Google+ accounts and on and on. Managing all of these facets comes down to effective strategy in controlling messaging and perceptions. Campaigning 101 teaches the following:

• Use key messaging to communicate consistent, clear and targeted messages of measurable ways you can impact and make changes to the current system. Messages of change and impact form the foundation of any strong political pundit’s campaign – balancing the budget, defense strategies and public services. Not one of our past president’s has won by advocating the status quo.

• Focus on persuading voters rather than educating them. When we look at persuasion versus education, it is important to realize that most Americans visiting the polling stations are impacted more with rhetorical speech than a lecture. Thus educating them is not a good use of funds or time.

• Follow-up on attacks with swift and immediate action. Being the victim of an attack is a foreseen obstacle in the political arena. Managing the attack at the outset by responding with positive messaging is the surest counter measure.

• Communicate within an established chain of command. Crises often spring from a break in the chain of command where someone who is unauthorized speaks to the media or leaks an unapproved message. Thus, operating within an established structure is imperative to the campaign’s longevity.

These high-level guidelines are the tenants of most campaigns, from city council all the way up to presidency. Managing them on a granular level is the challenge. As we watch the 2012 campaign forge full-steam ahead, it is increasingly interesting to see how the game is played by each camp knowing that it is all carefully crafted by the great minds of the flacks and agents behind the curtain.

Sara Aschenbrenner is an account executive for Pierpont Communications working in the public affairs and media relations practice areas. Sara has nearly five years of experience in community advocacy, civic engagement, reputation management and media relations on a domestic and global scale.

Did you know that 44 percent of Americans reported that their stress levels have increased over the past five years? Public Relations Executives are no stranger to stress – our industry ranks seventh on the list of America’s Most Stressful Jobs in 2012. Though to-do lists get overwhelming and work demands can seem never-ending, it is important to not let stress take over. However, this is a piece of advice that is often much easier said than done.

If you’re part of those 44 percent of Americans, here are some pointers that will help to relieve some of your workday stress.

Move
Adrenaline is a great thing! Take 30 minutes to walk around the building after lunch or squeeze in a gym visit after work to get your heart pumping, adrenaline flowing and most importantly, your mind off of that to-do list. Having a calm and relieved mind set is an effective way to plow through your work!

Eat dark chocolate
Dark chocolate is proven to reduce stress hormones such as cortisol. It’s also rich in antioxidants. Keep a stash of dark chocolate in your desk to enjoy throughout the week; it’s a great way to satisfy your sweet tooth while helping keep your stress levels under control.

“Me” time
This one may seem obvious, but use your off-work time wisely to enjoy things you like to do. Set aside an hour or two after work to read that book your friend suggested or see that movie you’ve been wanting to watch.

Volunteer
Few things are more rewarding than helping somebody in need. Getting involved with a nonprofit is a great way to support your community and build relationships with local leaders while taking your mind off of the day’s stressors.

Laugh
Laughing not only lowers stress but also strengthens the immune system by releasing health-enhancing hormones. Take a few quick breaks throughout the day to watch the trending funny video on YouTube or rent a comedy to watch after dinner.

Jam out
Never underestimate the power of music on your mood. Listening to your favorite songs can take your mind off of just about anything. So if you’re good at multi-tasking, have Pandora playing in the background during your work day.

Want to know more about managing stress? Then read Pierponter Subhrata Barot’s blog post on how you can deal with stress in a fast pace environment.

While I can appreciate the occasional ropes course and Kumbaya singing by a fire, the fact is that company retreats consisting solely of recreational activities rarely result in a positive, long-term impact on the company.

If you are taking the time and money to bring your entire staff together, you want a retreat that leads to results. I’m not saying you should cut all the comrade activities, but rather set clear goals for what you want to accomplish at your retreat and sprinkle in the fun parts as a reward for everyone’s hard work.

Fortunately, we recently had the annual Pierpont retreat, which has provided great examples to illustrate these points. Here are four things your retreat should be:

1) Open – Plan the meeting agenda, but not the outcomes. Use the time together to genuinely look at the company’s status. From there, try to ask questions like, “What are we missing?” and “Where can we improve?” to generate honest and unique perspectives.

This year’s Pierpont retreat also happened to be our 25th anniversary. We reflected on how the company has changed during that time and then focused on “Where will Pierpont be in the next 25 years?” We took this time to brainstorm ideas from the practical to the wild on where we envisioned the company’s future. This conversation sparked great ideas in goal-setting.

2) Candid – Don’t avoid potentially heated topics. Instead, encourage people to respectfully and responsibly air conflicts. Real agreement is built when different points of views collide into constructive criticism. When people express their true feelings, productivity increases.

At the Pierpont retreat, we broke out into groups of five to discuss our ideal work day. These sessions allowed people to voice issues they encountered daily, the impact they had on their productivity and provide recommendations for dealing with these issues. Understanding one another’s preferences and thought processes can lead to a more productive team.

3) Informal – Keep it loose and keep employees’ minds active. You want to stay on topic and schedule, of course, but if a productive discussion comes up, don’t necessarily cease it right away. Keep a schedule, but be open to slight adjustments of 5 or 10 minutes if a great conversation arises.

Also, make sure employees are comfortable and having fun. In between sessions, we did Pierpont employee trivia and networking tips. These “mini-breaks” kept the mood light and it added some good laughs.

4) Conclusive – The worst part of any long meeting or retreat: you spend all day discussing great ideas and then nothing gets done. This is the perfect way to plan for disaster. Instead, everyone should leave knowing exactly what they are expected to do.

At the end of our retreat, we assigned small teams to each goal and resulting tasks, and then we set deadlines for accomplishing them. This simple step alone will take a retreat from a potential waste of time to a productive meeting directly impacting the business.

With these tips, you can plan a company retreat that will lead to decisions, actions and most importantly, results – all while maintaining an enjoyable atmosphere.

What would you like to see at your next retreat?

Mashable reported recently that online dating fraud increased by 150 percent this past year. This means users of online dating services have been harassed, directed to questionable sites or had exposed personal information to unsavory characters. If the photo, description or conversation from a user seems too good to be true, it might just be. Regardless, always be careful about the information you disclose in a dating site.

Now, on to the Digital Influence Weekly…



Pierponter Jen Pearsall and I were recent guest lecturers at an MBA-level integrated marketing class. One of the subjects for the evening was social media and how it’s used to cultivate a personal brand. One student raised the question everyone faces at some point: How does one manage their personal and professional identities online?

Professionals, old and young alike, continue to weigh the pros and cons of making personal connections through social networks. You never know what common interests with others will bring in terms of new business leads.

However, there is a time and place for everything and every social network serves its own specific purpose. Facebook, especially with the new Timeline feature that can chronicle a person’s life since birth, is built upon personal lives and close circles of friends and family. This would be the most appropriate place to post vacation photos, music videos, baby pictures and such. If a business’s Facebook brand succeeds, it’s due to the engagement driven by users who allow that brand to be part of their personal lives.

LinkedIn has always been the online rolodex on steroids. LinkedIn allows you to create professional business profiles managed by the user allowing them to be found by recruiters, business prospects, current clients and colleagues. Fleshed out LinkedIn profiles traditionally show up favorably in Google results, which further helps you to demonstrate your influence and thought leadership online.

But would you ever combine the needs these social networks serve? Wall Street Journal blog Digits recently posted about BranchOut which connects recruiters and employers to you through Facebook. Would you really want a future employer to see your Facebook profile or to see who your connections are? Remember that just because you may have strong privacy settings, your friends might not. They can still post inappropriate photos and stories, which could be exposed to the world and hurt your credibility.

Here are some tips to help you effectively manage your multiple personalities online:

1) You control the profiles you create. That means you decide what information you share and which social network you share it with.

2) Learn your privacy settings for every social network. Having a good understanding of these options will allow you the freedom to post your personal life online with a degree of security and privacy. When in doubt, see tip #1.

3) Talk to your friends about how you show up on Facebook. It’s ok to let the people in your life know that you don’t want certain pictures of you or revealing status updates posted online.

4) Set your own guidelines for connecting with professionals. If a client wants to connect on Facebook, politely explain that Facebook is just for close friends and family, but that you would be happy to connect via LinkedIn or some other appropriate social network.

5) If you use a program like TweetDeck or Hootsuite to manage multiple accounts for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., do not send all your status updates to each network. While these programs can save time when posting to multiple networks, certain updates may not be appropriate to the social network or online community you have created.

So remember, if you plan on doing anything embarrassing this weekend, keep a low profile.

Every Valentine’s Day, people and businesses send gifts and warm-hearted greetings to show their love for those important to them. But do your clients know just how much you appreciate them? While you may regularly bring a client stellar results, taking the time to show a client how much they’re valued can solidify your professional relationship, changing you from a valuable resource for their company to an absolute asset.

This doesn’t have to be a grand gesture – the simplest actions can go a long way! These five ideas are sure-as-Cupid’s-arrow ways to show clients you care:

1. Give referrals. The best gift you can give is new business. Know anyone who could benefit from your client’s services? Refer them or arrange an introductory meeting on their behalf.

2. Check-in regularly. Many times, we get so wrapped up in client work that we forget to check up on the relationship in general. A quick phone call to ask “what’s on your mind?” and “what else can we do for you?” ensures your clients that you really care about the business relationship.

3. Remember special dates. Keep track of clients’ birthdays, anniversaries and other important dates. Sending a card, a personal note or even a phone call on those dates makes a client feel special. Never underestimate the power of a handwritten note!

4. Nominate them. Have an outstanding client? Nominate the company or its executives for an industry award. If you win an award for work done on their behalf, be sure to offer them a seat at your table and include them in the celebration!

5. Be a resource. If you see an article, book or website that could be helpful or interesting to your client, send it their way. Whether they find it useful or not, it demonstrates to your clients that you’re always thinking of them.

Valentine’s Day only comes once a year, but showing client appreciation should be an ongoing effort. Show your clients you care year-round and they’ll return the favor. How do you show the love for your clients? Let us know by commenting below!