How Will a Teen Trend Affect the PR Profession?

By: Kim Nielsen

 

I recently read a summary of a study released last week by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, examining the writing habits of teens. Among the findings in the study, there is one that I find particularly disturbing – 64% of teens admitted to using informal style and slang in school assignments. The informal elements included such electronic communication standbys as lax capitalization and punctuation, abbreviations such as “LOL” and even emoticons.

 

If students fail to realize that school assignments merit a more formal writing style than everyday communications among friends, how can we be sure that they will be properly equipped to write as PR Professionals (or other members of the business world, for that matter)?

 

As electronic communications contribute to the continued blurring of the once distinct line between personal and professional communications, what can we do to assure that our own writing doesn’t fall victim similar trends?

 

Although I don’t know how all of this will play out, my feeling is this – when in doubt, err on the side of the more professional/formal.

bizMe – A Girl’s New Best Friend

By: Sarah Nohr

If you haven’t already heard about it, please do yourself a favor and subscribe to the updates on one of the hottest new online magazines out there: bizMe.biz.

This has quickly become one of my favorite quick-reference guides that I point other young pros to when they’re looking for real-life business advice. My friend, Amanda Guralski, is the publisher and founder of this unique site that offers young professional women advice on everything from fashion to interview techniques to budgeting to keeping fit in the office world.

One of my favorite posts from the Spring issue was “Budget: No pain, plenty to gain.” As a working girl on a budget – who spends about 600 hours a week working in Excel for her clients anyway – I certainly could benefit from organizing my finances a bit!

Also: keep watch for more on bizMe and PRSA Young Pros in this year’s events calendar. We’ve got some fun stuff brewing!

Are You Graduating In May?

 

By: Sam Sova

It’s mid-April, which means that it’s time for graduation for thousands of PR professionals. If you are graduating, do you have a job already? If you do, congrats! If not, I came across this awesome blog post from The Marketing Minute that gives some really good insight on things you may overlook when sending application information to a company. Even if you are not graduating, these tips can really help the basic do’s and not to do’s when applying for a job. Enjoy!

 

 

The Best of the Best

By: Laurie Peterson

 

The Southeastern Wisconsin chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) annually hosts an awards banquet honoring the best of the best in Milwaukee public relations.  The awards will be formally announced on May 20 during the Paragon Award Banquet . 

 

Annually our firm, along with several other Milwaukee agencies, corporations and nonprofit organizations submit entries in the hope of being recognized for their hard work and, in most cases, creativity and strategic thinking. 

 

To be honest, Paragon award recipients might not be in the company of Dave Umhoefer and other Pulitzer Prize winners, but the awards symbolize and celebrate the strength and vitality of Milwaukee’s public relations industry.

 

If you can’t make it to the banquet, be sure to check the PRSA Web site following the May 20 event for a complete list of winners, and perhaps take a moment to congratulate the winning professionals for their work. 

 

As a budding pr professional, I am proud and excited to be part of such a thriving industry.  I look at the winning campaigns and tactics each year as inspiration, as I continually search for opportunities to grow into an award-winning professional. 

PRSA Health Academy Conference

By Sarah Nohr

We work in a multigenerational workplace. Traditionals, Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y. The problem? We all tend to market to ourselves. Meaning we in Gen Y tend to think that by starting a new group on Facebook will actually attract the 60-year-old woman in need of hip replacement surgery to call the hospital for more information. (Well, perhaps we’re not that stupid.) And our managers in the Baby Boomer generation still think that placing an ad in a newspaper is a foolproof way of attracting college grads to apply for a job opening.

After my return from my three-day retreat in Chicago at PRSA’s recent Health Academy conference, my head is full to the brim with new ideas on how to improve our strategic marketing efforts at my company by tailoring messages to different generations. Of course, being a low man on the totem pole, implementation of my eager efforts is not entirely likely. Why? Because I’m a Gen Y. I’m eager and driven and want instant gratification for my great ideas. I want my superiors to notice my efforts and tell me I’m brilliant. At least, that’s what the Baby Boomer presenter told me at the conference.

Here’s a rundown of some of the other things we Gen Y “kids” are supposed to attribute to ourselves. What do you think? Accurate?

Generation Y (Ages 6-28)

• We are entry and mid-level careerpeople; college and gradeschool students
• We are very motivated and competitive, but need regular reinforcement from our managers that we’re doing a good job
• In general, we like our family, our parents and our grandparents (much more than Generation X did)
• We are followers. We tend to do what everyone else is doing – like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
• We don’t trust others because our parents (Baby Boomers and Gen Xers) taught us that “the world is not safe”
• We like it when you ask us for our opinion at work – it makes us feel important
• We HATE face-to-face communication at the workplace but excel at group/social events and digital communication
• We value deals when you market to us (2-for-1, dollar menu, etc.)
• We don’t watch prime-time TV; if you want to reach us on TV, target us on cable
• Only less than 10 percent of us are not Web-dependent - meaning 90 percent of us would NOT survive without the Internet
• We are the leading producers of all Web-generated content
• Our brains are wired for complexity – we really can check our e-mail, listen to our iPods, text and have a conversation with you at the same time
• We like instant gratification. Mail-in warranties do not appeal to us.
• Many of us have multiple e-mail addresses and when you swamp us with too much junk mail, we’ll switch our e-mail address on you
• Males of our generation are VERY hard to reach – via phone, mail and e-mail (believe me – I know!)
• We will eliminate your company as a choice based solely on your Web site – in less than 5 seconds