Interesting… An RFP for the National Endowment for the Arts recently required spec work, so the leading graphic designer’s association responded in a well-written letter.

The irony is quite strong here… that an arts organization would be requiring free work (and damaging an industry they are supposed to protect)!

This got me thinking… what exactly is PR? Do we all have a different idea of what it means to influence our publics?

On the way home from the conference, my friend and I got on a Southwest Airlines plane to go home. As we walked on the plane, we noticed a King of Hearts graphic that looked like it had been ripped out of a magazine taped on the wall near where the attendants stand. My friend and I both noticed it.

A few minutes after the plane took off, my friend leaned over to me and said, “That what the king was about!”

“What?” I responded.

She gestured to the passenger in front of us, who was reading a USA Today. A huge graphic on the newspaper showed Southwest as the king of the airlines.

We looked at each other and said, “Wow, that’s cool.”

No one made the these Southwest airlines employees proudly display their status as king. They ripped it out of the newspaper and taped it there because they were proud of their company. And we were glad to be on a plane with happy employees. I gained a new respect (and loyalty) for Southwest Airlines that day. No ad, press release or media relations effort would have made Southwest’s employees react this way. It was the best PR… however, this opportunity to feel and show company pride came as a result of Southwest having a hardworking PR staff, I’m sure. Southwest wouldn’t have gotten that kind of press had their staff not worked well with the media.

The best PR comes from doing good and then having someone who can share it with the world.

So I guess this is why we’re particular when we choose clients to work with; we need to first find a company who’s doing something good before we can help them share it with the world.

P.S. By the way, it’s interesting to note the reason I was on Southwest is because I’ve always had good experiences, and I felt dissed by American after they deleted all my hard-earned frequent flier miles after only 18 months without a flight.

Redstone said some things that were worthy to be quoted. So I paused the Tivo and took notes.

Here’s a few words of leadership wisdom from Sumner Redstone:

“What I look for in people are commitment, competence and character. Without character, commitment and competence are not relevant.”

“Get loyalty by giving loyalty, particularly if a person is in some kind of trouble or problem.”

“People who are successful and good at what they do are not arrogant.”

“Optimism is the only philosophy that’s compatible with sanity.”

I want to be trustworthy. And I thought this was a great list of what it takes for others to put their trust in you.

We are inclined to trust leaders…

• who are self-aware
• who take responsibility for their role in the relationship
• who demonstrate that they consider the best interests of others rather than just themselves
• who do what they say they will do
• who practice the values they tell us are important to them
• who listen and respond to our needs and interests

Wow… may God help me to be a person like this.

On the inside, however, it was just like every other direct mail seminar pitch, except of course it included two free tickets to admit us to this special event.

My husband and I both laughed, and I couldn’t quite throw it away. I wanted a photo of it for this blog (and to show my grandchildren someday).

Then I got thinking about it? Is the economy so bad that Donald Trump has to hawk educational seminars and give away free CDs? Or did some training company buy the rights to his name? At any rate, is it the type of celebrity endorsement that all PR people dream of OR does it tarnish The Donald’s reputation?

At any rate, I won’t be attending the free Trumpathan training event.

How do I know?

On company websites of all sizes, I find typos, outdated information, vague details, and very little about the people who work there and the products or services they sell. Sometimes its even a chore to find a phone number – hard to believe, but true!

Ironically when I make it through the red tape to appropriate person to interview for the article — usually a marketing director or CEO — then I am often sent a capabilities brochure on the company. These brochures are amazing: great photos, interesting text, and all the proof that this is indeed a professional company.

So why is it that the boss cares more about a printed piece stored in their backroom than the website which is available to entire world in one click? Because that’s what they see. They aren’t looking for information about their own company. They are looking to hand something to someone they meet. And yet, if they actually went to their own websites on a regular basis, I think they would be shocked at the less than professional image they are projecting.

So if you are part of a company, go to your website. Pretend that you are a first-time visitor. And if you can’t, ask someone else to check it out for you. Get their honest opinion. Then consider: what image do you want to project to the world?

I submitted it to one of my husband’s favorite personal finance blogs, GetRichSlowly.org. The editor, J.D. Roth, liked the post and offered to publish it. It went online yesterday at GetRichSlowly.org.

Yesterday, I got my Google Alert on Coleman Unlimited. The post was picked up everywhere! Plus, on the GRS website, it’s caused quite a stir with 54 comments already. This has really illustrated the speed and intensity of the web to me–no wonder newspaper reporters and PR people feel overwhelmed.

I was also surprised to find that not everyone thought my story was funny! Some thought I was smug. Others inferred that I was calling the customer service lady dumb. Still others loved it. Now that I have a little taste of celebrity, I know that, with exposure, comes criticism. It’s an interesting time for communications, that’s for sure!

Check out the post at Get Rich Slowly.

Uh-oh, I thought: PR disaster. Some auto-billing mechanism is creating a havoc.

Sure enough… The city of Attleboro, Mass. sent a nastygram to a 74-year-old blind resident threatening a lien on her house if she didn’t pay her water bill balance of 1 cent.

To make matters worse, the city was unapologetic and blame-focused when questioned by the newspaper. My mouth actually dropped open when I read the city’s spokesperson’s statement on the whole mess.

Read and be in shock: City Collector Debora Marcoccio said, “My question is, how come it wasn’t paid when the (original) bills went out?”

Yeah, how dare an elderly blind woman mess up her payment by a cent!

I was appalled as a communicator. How hard is it to apologize? The spokesperson only needed to say that the city’s water billing system has faults and that they would immediately settle the account, forgiving the 1 cent mistake. An apology supplemented by swift action would have saved the day.

The homeowner pointed out that paying the bill would cost her 42 cents just for the stamp. Not only does the city of Attleboro look like its made up of a bunch of jerks, but it’s also being made a laughingstock by the national AP newswire.

What a kind word–and action–would have done to save this city’s reputation in this situation.

Read the full article.

I especially enjoyed this short checklist:

• Did I stick to my allotted time?
• Did I develop and present purposefully?
• Was I thoroughly prepared?
• Did I capture attention at the very beginning?
• Did I positively influence listeners?
• Was I appropriately entertaining, or at least not boring?
• Did I end only once?

To read more, go to http://www.maximumimpact.com/articles/read/article_7_reasons_why_speakers_flop/.

Although I have a lot to say on website redesign, I’ll save that topic for a later post. Instead, I’d like to share the useful tips shared by Kurt Greenbaum, director of social media at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He writes a blog for the Post’s, Virtual St. Louis. Although Kurt’s tips were specific to St. Louis, I am going broaden them out so they’ll be useful anywhere.

Thanks again to Kurt for these great tips!

1. Use the news submission tools on your local papers’ websites. Many papers, like the Post, enable press releases to be posted or submitted on their website. The Post-Dispatch has a nifty feature, PR Zone, on its site, stltoday.com.

2. Read blogs. You can engage in your community by searching blogs or checking out those being offered by local media. Post comments, answer questions…The Post also is offering blogs now at their Blogzone.

3. Watch forums. Forums are usually more utilitarian, set up in a Q & A format. Again, you’ll be shocked to find out how much discussion is going on. What is being said about topics of interest to your organization? Anyway you can participate? Again, the Post-Dispatch (and many other metros are offering forums).

4. Use Google Blog Search. You can set up an alert that emails you every time someone mentions you or your organization in a blog or forum. You can create an RSS feed of those searches or get email alerts. Check it out at blogsearch.google.com.

5. Use Summize to set up specialized Twitter searches. Like Google, you can watch specific topics, set up an RSS feed to be alerted when anyone talks about your topic. Kurt shared that he uses Twitter feeds to stay on top of breaking news for his newspaper.

6. Use Google Reader. Set up your RSS feeds for a variety of websites that you want to watch. You can search the feeds you subscribe to in Reader. It’s a great way to monitor hundreds of websites quickly and easily. Check it out at reader.google.com.