Top three PR books from 2010*

I read a lot of books about public relations and marketing last year, and here’s a quick shout out to three of my very favorites. Just a little prediction: most of the the books on the 2011 list will be about social media (I already have three lined up!).

Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out On How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans (November 2010)
by Wendell Potter

This was an over-the-holidays read, and I’m almost finished (look for a review soon) but I had to include it on this list. Potter is the former head of public relations (or self-proclaimed “spin-meister”) for health insurance company CIGNA. His congressional testimony after he stepped down from his position blew the whistle on the PR practices of the insurance industry in combating everything from their own bad publicity to the watering down of President Obama’s healthcare plan to the annihilation of President and Hillary Clinton’s efforts two decades ago. Potter takes us back into history to examine how some public relations tactics within the health insurance industry has negatively influenced the passage of a universal healthcare option for years to the benefit of the insurance industry. Potter points out that his chronicle isn’t indicative of the PR field as a whole, but I worry not everyone will be so forgiving of the entire industry.

Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead (August 2010)
by David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan

The Grateful Dead empire and the story of its evolution contains tons of progressive marketing ideas, and this books captures them all. I blogged twice in 2010 about this great little book (lesson one and lesson two). Also, after you read it, get on iTunes and search for podcasts with Scott and Halligan; one of my favorites is an August 13, 2010 interview from Blog Talk Radio’s The A-List with Jennifer Lindsay. (The A-List is an interview podcast with social media and marketing movers and shakers.)

How We Decide (January 2010)
by Jonah Lehrer

In order to be effective and successful PR and marketing specialists, we need to understand the psychology behind why people buy, what’s important to them at each life stage, and how they come to conclusions in general. Lehrer explains the use of our rational and emotional sides of the brain, and how each factors into how we decide. The single-most important factor in building better decision-making skills, he says, is making mistakes: the best decision makers are “students of error.” That is, making mistakes is a good, necessary thing: it allows us to reconfigure our brains so that the next time, we get closer to making the right decision.

*Addition to original post! Social media focused books lined up for 2011 include: The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business by Tara Hunt; Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business by Erik Qualman; and Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods by Shel Israel.

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One year later: blogging tips for beginners

In his 2009 book How We Decide, Jonah Lehrer tells us: “Unless you experience the unpleasant symptoms of being wrong, your brain will never revise its models. Before your neurons can succeed, they must repeatedly fail. There are no shortcuts for this painstaking process.”

Along the same lines, a friend at a PR firm told me once that it took about a year for her job to click 100%, for her to fully get into the groove of working with and understanding her specific clients. There’s also the theory in the advertising world that it takes seven interactions before we start remembering something.

Then there’s that age-old philosophy that’s actually scientific fact Lehrer explores: you have to learn from your own mistakes, no matter how many “how to” articles you absorb.

All of this applies to blogging. This month marks the one-year anniversary of this blog, and to celebrate, here are some blogging tips for beginners. I know, I know: we all have to make our own mistakes, I just said that. But that doesn’t mean I can’t offer some tips in hopes that even just one will stick with a beginner blogger.

If you’re a beginner blogger, feel free to send me a link to your new blog. I’d love to check it out! And good luck.

What exactly is your blog about? Choose a topic and stick with it.
I blog about public relations, which includes a lot of other marketing niches under the PR umbrella. If you check out my early blog posts, though, you might not realize that. I talk about recycling and clipping coupons; all great topics, but they don’t belong in the public relations area of expertise. But I’ve learned and adjusted accordingly.

If there’s something you really want to write about, see if you can fit it into your blog topic area. For example, I wanted to do an Earth Day blog, so I wrote about volunteering at a local Earth Day celebration and discussed the importance of community relations. The more you blog, the better you’ll get at coming up with ideas. In fact, by the end of your first year, you should have an ongoing list of blog post ideas because it’ll come so naturally.

Blog consistently and frequently.
Don’t get lazy with your blog and only toss up content once a month. No matter the reason for creating a blog (establishing expertise, career growth, personal endeavor, whatever), it gives us our online identity. And lazy isn’t a characteristic you want associated with your identity when someone Googles you. Here’s where the mantra “under promise, over deliver” comes in handy: don’t publicly announce that you’re going to blog once a day. That’s potentially a promise many of us can’t deliver on. But force yourself to blog at least once a week. Even if you have only two readers, you don’t want to disappoint them.

Always include an image with your blog post. Always.
We all love looking at pretty pictures that correspond with the text we’re reading. Always jazz up a blog post with an image that fits nicely into the aesthetics of your blogging platform. My blog posts contain an image that goes along with the topic of the post. It’s always located in the same spot and is the same size, for consistency and even branding purposes.

What if you’re six months into your blog, and you haven’t published photos with your entries? You’re not screwed. Go back and put photos in there. Blogs aren’t like magazines, where all decisions are final. All blog posts are (hopefully) going to keep popping up in search engines, so there’s no time like right now to go back and make sure each look as sleek as possible. That said, don’t go and rewrite a blog entry, or delete one you’re ashamed of. But do learn from your mistakes.

Don’t let an initially small readership get you down.
This is an important lesson: unless you have thousands of individuals awaiting the launch of your blog, readership will increase slowly. Be patient. To begin, promote your blog posts on Facebook, Twitter, Technorati, and other online tools. The secret to increasing readership goes back to our second tip: don’t get lazy with the frequency of your blogging. The more content you have posted, the likelier it is search engines will turn up your content when someone uses a term or word associated with your post.

And this idea leads to tagging: tag the hell out of your blog posts. Tags are keywords that help folks find your blog posts when they look for something in search engines. Tags also help you connected with those you’re blogging about, especially if she or he has online alerts on their name or works, which can lead to new readership.

Must-read PR books for the summer (or really anytime)

I recently Googled “must-read PR books” and found some good lists. Since PR and marketing is refined and updated quite a bit, in addition to incorporating constantly changing consumer trends and figures, I don’t read many books about the subject that have been out for more than two or three years. So, without further ado, here’s a list of five books that are on rotation with me right now: four I’ve read, one I’m currently reading, and all my versions of good “beach reads!”

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer (2010, Mariner Books): In order to be effective and successful PR and marketing specialists, we need to understand the psychology behind why people buy, what’s important to them at each life stage, and how they come to conclusions in general. Lehrer explains the use of our rational and emotional sides of the brain, and how each factors into how we decide. The single-most important factor in building better decision-making skills, he says, is making mistakes: the best decision makers are “students of error.” That is, making mistakes is a good, necessary thing: it allows us to reconfigure our brains so that the next time, we get closer to making the right decision. Or the more correct decision. Your brain’s neurons actually think about what they could have done differently so that next time they know what to do. The brain always learns the same way, accumulating wisdom through error. The really fascinating part of about this book is the author’s stories of folks whose brains lack the ability to learn from their mistakes: sociopaths, gamblers, and others on the fringes of society.

 

Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom (2008, Doubleday): I first listened to this book about a year ago and fell in love with it and Lindstrom. Since then, I’ve listened to it at least three times and have passed it onto friends. Lindstrom is a pioneer in “neuromarketing,” first incorporating lessons like the ones offered by Lehrer (above) to figure out what makes the brain tick when it comes to consumerism. Lindstrom takes his research a step further in actually examining the human brain as it reacts to certain stimuli, like advertising and product placement. Guess what? His research has concluded that, among other such messages, anti-tobacco messages not only do not work, but actually encourage more tobacco use. If you’re a smoker or have ever smoked, this really isn’t so surprising. Think about it.

Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior by Geoffrey Miller (2009, Viking): I’ve purposely put these books in the top three because they share a common thread: exploring the psychology behind consumerism. Miller applies evolutionary psychology to modern-day consumerism. I’m just 100 pages into the 300+ page book, but his message is becoming clearer: Why have we lowered ourselves to purchasing symbols of wealth, intelligence, and strength when evolution has given us ways of doing this without going into debt? Furthermore, if we go into debt purchasing symbols of wealth, these symbols are rendered false and therefore potentially misleading and dangerous when it comes to mate selection.

Here’s a thoughtful quote I’ve highlighted and underlined: “If we buy products primarily as signals of our underlying biological strengths, their signal effectiveness—especially as carried by brand recognition—is, logically, paramount, while their efficiency in serving their normal purpose (as a garment, appliance, or vehicle) is only of secondary concern.” He then says, “The fact is perfectly clear to every marketing professional, but it must remain perfectly obscure to most consumers” (85).

Manager’s Guide to Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations by Barry Callen (2010, McGraw Hill): This is a textbook and guidebook for any PR pro. Its initial messages are basic, and so it’s a good source for beginning professionals. However, we all need refreshers from time-to-time, and this is a fabulous place to get them. Tip: for more seasoned PR pros, start in the back. The more advanced, “hard” marketing is there.

 

 

The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott (2009, Wiley): I’ve saved the best for last. Scott’s book is my Bible, and just like every other person who loves the book, my copy is covered in highlights, ink and Post-It notes (see to the left?). Much like the Manager’s Guide above, The New Rules covers basic techniques in marketing and PR; again, good for beginnings and great for refreshers. It does, however, go a step forward to offer case studies and examples of the lessons he provides. In addition, the origin of the book shows that Scott doesn’t just speak from a textbook: the man knows his business. The book began as posts on his blog, and he actively sought input from readers. Combining his experience with input from outsiders, he created this book. Which is always either in the backseat of my car or in my bag. Thanks, David, for such a great book, in case you’re reading this. And I think you just might be!