The Wax Blog

These days, the only job that seems to keep me interested is the one that combines quite a bit of disparate activity. In PR, we are part counselor, salesperson, troubleshooter, secretary, creative, mediator…you name it and we do it. As a kid I wasn’t much different. I had two main career aspirations – surgeon and go-go dancer.  In some ways, dissection and dancing go hand in hand in the public relations business –  so maybe I’m not that far off from my childhood dreams.

When I was 4, remember it was the sixties and go-go dancing was all the rage. I had the COOLEST pair of patent leather go-go boots, and the shimmeriest shiniest mini- skirt you’ve ever seen. Me and my friend Sheri would practice go-go dancing on the stone wall between our houses for hours. This is not unlike the activity involved with a pitch. Dress it up, make it snazzy, tap dance your way onto the phone with an editor and then hit ‘em with your jazz hands. (Everyone, do your jazz hands now. You know you want to.) That’s the outward appearance of PR to most people. We’re glad handers, salespeople, we add the “ta da” to the “to do”.

But in reality, there’s quite a bit more surgery involved than people are aware of. (more…)

If you noticed a lack of posts, I had a good reason. I got married.

(To the guy on the right, not Elvis)

These days it seems like you need to have a bumpit to create new words. Sarah Palin might refudiate that remark but I think Snooki and her guidos feel it’s high time to get some Jersey Shore lingo into the Oxford English Dictionary. Personally, I told someone I had spent considerable time catharterizing this weekend – not to be confused with being catheterized or jazzercizing – after getting dumped unceremoniously by a friend. (Note to readers – at this point I do not have a bumpit)

Snooki has a future as an English teacher

It made me wonder how words evolved in the first place. How did certain words become accepted into normal use and eventually accepted in the main dictionaries we all use?  Like humongous. Or ginormous, or a zillion. For example, Humongous is in the Random House Dictionary as (more…)

I JUST LOOK OLD-FASHIONED

I was really flattered that Blogworld wanted to interview me based on a speaking proposal I submitted this year on selling traditional marketers on blogging and social media.  I realized there may be a disconnect but I’m not sure it’s on the side of the ‘old school’ folks. I think perhaps social media folks and bloggers don’t always understand how projects get approved and measured in the corporate world. Instead of saying “they just don’t get it” in a frustrated tone (and believe me, I’ve done this) it’s time those of us pitching blogs and social media to businesses of any size do what Stephen Covey advised us all those years ago…”Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”  Here’s a process for learning how to justify your latest social media project or new blog: (more…)

Without a good site strategy, it could be curtains for your PR campaign!

I can’t tell you how many times we’ve busted our butts to get media, especially bloggers, to consider a client only for them to tell me one of the following:

1. “Website took too long to load” or 2. “Couldn’t figure out what they do from their website” 3. “It’s all flash” or my favorite 4. “The website is down”

In public relations class we learned about the importance of understanding your ‘key publics’ – the audiences that include not only your customers but those that will heavily influence the success of your business. And that includes the media. Next step? Make sure all of your messaging is directed at least in part to ALL of your important key publics.

If you want exposure, the main way you’re going to get it is through media. The first place media will go is your website, but if they can’t find the information  they’re looking for, they’ll simply move on. So here’s a simple review list for your site – make sure you do this BEFORE you start promoting. Also, I’m providing an example of a company that gets it – the Natural Curtain Company. (more…)

A little over three weeks ago I was blazing down a hill in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, on the third of eight laps in an inline skating marathon. I remember thinking some not-repeatable thoughts as my left skate started to wobble, probably after hitting some negligible landmark like an acorn or twig. The resulting crash left me in the hospital (the WONDERFUL NY Methodist – can’t say enough great things about that place!) having surgery on my knee. Thankfully, there’s probably no permanent damage but I have been assigned to immobility for the longest time in my adult life, unable to bend the knee until the skin heals.

What does this have to do with my normally instructional, and maybe kind of boring, voice in this blog? Over the past month, I’ve learned some pretty cool things about my platform, new media and the kindness of supposed strangers. I think I’m going to be able to apply all these things in my work as I slowly recover. Here’s a list of just a few:

• My Twitter buddies expressed real concern and continue to check in on me while I’m getting better. I’ve only met one of them in person -  @segnavia who even brought me  a latte -  but the others – @writesourcing, @dogwalkblog, @laurihart @dcwired, just to name a few – really do care! I think this means that I’m engaged in what used to be a purely professional pursuit,  but what has now turned into a fulfilling daily experience, communicating with people I’ve never met all over the country.  (Alternatively, Facebook friends have not provided as much good cheer – interesting in that most of them I HAVE met in person.)

• Along the same vein, my personal voice seems to be more important than my professional one. Or maybe it’s the same as when I was starting out in sales – I was always told we like to buy from people we know. Perhaps I’ve been too standoffish on my blog and even on Facebook – maybe that’s why folks are not as engage or interested in ‘buying’ what I’m writing. I’m going to work harder to ‘show up’ in both those mediums in the same way I show up on Twitter

• Without as much energy, and in the beginning with a great deal of pain, I’ve had to really budget my time working and engaging in social media. Although I’m still catching up a bit, my work quality hasn’t really suffered. If  I can learn to take things more slowly – perhaps my  work will improve without my deadlines suffering.

And finally, this accident was fairly dramatic. From the crash, to the emergency surgery, to wondering if I’d need skin grafts and such there continue to be some major ups and downs with this thing. I think people love drama and my life usually has quite a bit of drama. There’s a lot of interesting, cool stuff that happens to me – and   I’m going to start sharing more in this blog and in my social media.

So stick around for more of my life, not just my professional advice,  in the future.  And here’s a teaser…eventually, I promise to tell you the stories about the Playboy bunny, Ralph Nader and my supermodel client phase. And MAYBE the one about David Hasselhof. But only after I tell @dogwalkblog first.