Imagine you’re listening to a choir or a musical group and everyone is singing from a different song sheet. It will sound terrible. There wouldn’t be any synchronization amongst the group. You would be likely to run for the exits. Listening to a group that uses the same song sheet would obviously be a different listening experience (so long as choir has some singing ability!). “Song sheets” in …
How to Encourage Faculty to Engage in External Communications
"Our school punches below its weight." "Our school is not as visible at it should be." "We need to strengthen partnerships and engage more broadly with the business community." These are common refrains I hear from university presidents, deans, marketers and other school leaders. I would argue that it is virtually impossible to move the needle on these concerns if faculty are not engaged …
Lessons on Running Communications Workshops from Nikhil Dey of Genesis Burson-Marsteller
One of the best parts of my job is running communications workshops for clients. I am always keen to learn from others who do similar work. On that note, I am delighted to have picked Nikhil Dey’s brain on this topic. Nikhil is President of the award-winning India-based PR agency Genesis Burson-Marsteller (part of the global firm Burson-Marsteller). Among Genesis Burson-Marsteller’s services …
Academics: Create Content by Leveraging Different Assets
Terrific - as an academic you understand the importance of creating content for public audiences. (Watch this video if you need to be convinced why creating content from your research is good investment of your time). But maybe it is a challenge for you to identify ways to create content in a time efficient manner. Before you begin creating content, it is important to first think through your …
How Researchers Can Adopt a PR Mindset
By Kevin Anselmo Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired magazine, noted the following in a BBC story: “Truth is no longer dictated by authorities, but is networked by peers. For every fact there is a counterfact. All those counterfacts and facts look identical online, which is confusing to most people.” Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year in 2016 was post truth: an adjective defined as ‘relating to …
How to Make Your Bio Stand Out
Look around the web at various schools and research organizations and you will see a variety of different ways in which bios are presented. Perhaps you think your bio is stale. Maybe you haven’t updated it in many years. Or alternatively you might be curious to know about other compelling ways that faculty members and researchers write their bio. Here are some tips and ideas from others that you …
Podcast Episode #65: Thoughts on Revamping Your Bio
A researcher, academic or expert’s bio is important real estate that often times is neglected. A compelling bio can go a long way towards supporting strategic goals, both at the individual and organizational levels. On episode 65 of FIR on Higher Education, I highlight common mistakes to avoid and interesting examples to consider. Links highlighted on the episode: Example of a scannable …
Podcast Episode #62: How to Benefit from Medium
Have you experimented with Medium, the online publishing tool owned by Twitter? Not happy with your results? If that is the case for you and you want to discover how to change this narrative, then you will want to listen to FIR on Higher Education episode 62. Paul Redfern and Carina Situs from Gettysburg College delve into the strategies and tactics that have contributed to the school’s success …
Podcast Episode #60: IMD Professor James Henderson on How to Create a Compelling Lead Magnet
How do we get more butts in seats? This is a question many in marketing and admissions grapple with to some extent. A related question is how do we improve the quality of the students attending our school. Key to addressing these questions is lead generation. One way to generate new leads is by creating a compelling lead magnet: offering a valuable form of content in exchange for a new …
Podcast Episode #59: The Importance of Media Monitoring
The success of a PR program depends on monitoring. We need to have the tools in place to know not only what is being said about our brand, industries, competitors and audiences. We also need to have the appropriate systems to share intelligence with our different stakeholders, whether it be senior leadership, faculty, alumni, students and the communications team. Episode 59 of FIR on Higher …
News Headlines and PR / Communications Implications
The following is a summary of some news stories from the past two weeks and the implications for PR professionals / communicators. Story 1: Live Streaming Summary: House GOP leadership shut off microphones and the video feed to C-SPAN leading to a sit-in by Democrats who started using Facebook Live and Periscope to film the protest. C-Span turned to the Periscope feed used by some of the …
Podcast Episode #57: Research Impact Tips from Kudos Co-founders Charlie Rapple and Melinda Kenneway
How do you measure research impact? This is among the topics discussed on episode 57 of the FIR on Higher Education podcast with guests Charlie Rapple and Melinda Kenneway, co-founders of Kudos, a web-based service that helps researchers and their institutions and funders maximize the visibility and impact of their published articles. During the interview, we also discuss the genesis of …
Integrate Content Into The Customer Experience
One of my former communications colleagues in Switzerland always used to say “savoire-faire et faire-savoir”, meaning “know how and make known”. All too often, we don’t do this when it comes to our communications assets. Strategic communications is about strategic dissemination. If you generate amazing media visibility, you need to communicate this to your audiences across all your different …
Podcast Episode #56: Lessons from Ken Starr’s Media Interview Debacle
The media interview is not the right time to be reviewing answers and going over tactics! Ken Starr, the recently ousted president of Baylor University following an investigation into the mishandling of sexual assault at the school, and his media adviser Merrie Spaeth, founder of Spaeth Communications, learned this first-hand. In a KWTX News 10 interview from earlier this month, a journalist …
9 Media Relations Tips from Journalists at Tech Crunch, the AP & More
Guest post by Michelle Lewis A room full of journalists from publications such as Fast Company, TechCrunch and Triangle Business Journal who are eager to share their advice is a PR pro’s dream. Needless to say, I was excited to have the opportunity to attend Experiential Communications’ media event on entrepreneurship and innovation on March 22 at the PNC Triangle Club at the Durham Bulls …