Good looks are pricey these days, aren’t they?

Written by: Matija Petrović
Edited by: Christine Saifi 

                                  

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a rapidly evolving PR mechanism, which is already a must for all larger companies, and can be a big competitive advantage for any organization. But even a large company can be distinguished among competition through a strategically well-designed and properly executed CSR plan.

The problem is that many people and corporations nowadays think that CSR is all about who gives or spends more money, and they often tend to waste it, as a consequence of that perspective. Of course, we must be honest and admit that corporate donations usually have a secondary objective, which is beneficial, whether if it's motivated by tax deduction or simply by a need to get into consumers' good graces. However, as long as we do keep it as a veiled secondary objective, people won't mind.   

Firstly, we must focus on our goals, and by "our", we mean both the corporation's and the charity's. As soon as we determine that our causes are compatible and that the potential for mutual benefit exists, we can proceed. As Kimberly McCall stated on her website (www.MarketingAngel.com )- strategic philanthropy should "align itself with a cause that both reflects the ideals of the company and meets the needs of the charity". Thus, engaging in causes or activities that somehow, even slightly, contradict our company's work or principles, might be considered unethical.

Secondly, it's important to keep in mind that consistency is a key to success when we talk about CSR. Our donations must not be an occasional or a one-time thing. A recent survey from Aflac (the whole survey in the link) shows us how people stand on this matter:

·         81% of consumers are more likely to purchase from corporations who are active in philanthropic efforts year round as opposed to only in times of need.

·         86% of consumers are more inclined to purchase products and services from an ethical company.

·         75% of the consumers said they would be happier to work for a company with a strong CSR program.

·         69% of consumers are likely to purchase stock in a company well-known for its ethical standards.

Of course, many companies have insufficient funds; therefore they are limited and unable to support multiple causes constantly. However, we can always pick one or two that suit our company best or even use some alternative methods as cause-related marketing, which has proven to be very successful and is considered to be one of the fastest – growing segments in advertising and public relations. Cause-related marketing is different from corporate philanthropy as it does not necessarily involve a financial donation.

A good example of a cause-related campaign is the one that Starbucks started, named "Suspended coffee", offering their customers an opportunity to pay a little extra and support a fund for those who can't afford coffee. The campaign evolved into something much greater after a series of events, developing a so called "Pay it forward" movement (read more here: #AJO ).  Another example might be a campaign  "#HanesForGood" launched by Hanes, an American clothing company (mainly producing underwear and socks), who cooperated with The Salvation Army and Mark Horvath, and managed to donate millions of socks to homeless people throughout the years, with big help of their consumers.

In conclusion, undoubtedly - money is important, but no matter how much money we have, we must use it wisely, because in a delicate matter like this, the line between success and failure is very thin.

Change the way you think about Public Relations: Commit to a more personalized view for better results!

Written by Marija Nikovska, Marketing specialist

Have you ever considered what the true definition of PR is or what it could be? Let’s try to define both words that constitute the phrase: Public – the group or groups of people or parties we are addressing to, or conveying our communication message or messages to, and Relations – well, that is one tough word to give proper explanation to. However, here we meet with another word, encrypted somewhere between the Public and the Relations, and that is the Message. Thinking about it, can we also define the Message?! And can we level the importance of the message and the length of its reach in PR as the ultimate goal of every campaign? And what can a message be – is the message the written headline, or is it the cover photo on our client’s fan page? Or the message is the colour that dominates our campaign? Is the message hidden behind our CSR agenda, or is it handwritten on the 2016 Christmas greeting card? Or is it everything?! How can the message be given a broader view, and how much personalized can the message be when it is transmitted? We can talk about brand messages that are broadcasted through well-developed PR and/ or advertising campaigns, or we can talk about brand messages that are conveyed all the time, every second of the day, by people that are or are not aware of the process itself?! And we can talk about people messages, how they communicate through their specific lifestyle with everything that defines them as a concrete person?! 

Looking it from a broader and more likely a more personal perspective, aren’t the PR messages everything you do, what you represent, what you say, wear, your perfume, hairstyle and more? If a person wears a Prada bag does it show anything about him or her? Is it solely an expression of status? Or does it also convey a further, deeper message? But, does it also convey a message that the brand indirectly transfers to all the other people around? The Prada bag may be perceived as of financial standpoint, but it can also show the person’s character, it can be a reflection of one’s lifestyle and mind. Or how does the Prada bag compare to other bag brands – let’s say Michael Kors bag or Furla bag? Or how about a fake Gucci or Louis Vuitton bag? And how much people have the ability of spotting what is fake and what is not? Well, we can just assume that PR professionals are very much able to do so, and go even deeper, be psychologically driven to catch messages transferred in just 3-5 seconds after giving a complete first overview. Since the Prada bag it is not often combined with a coat from H&M, but rather an equivalent.  Here we could also add the ability or the psychological ability of other people to notice and perceive the messages every person carries, and we would ask if PR professionals are capable to do this now necessary psychological foreseeing and the analysis afterwards. And examine how much potential is hidden behind the above argued, helping us, PR professionals, into becoming more successful.

Though there is contradiction often applied in the above given statements, since sometimes more important of what you wear is how you wear it, here we talk about the tendency of messages being transferred both sides and the ability of people recognizing these messages. What acts as PR for us, and how we produce free PR for all the brands we live with? Some examples: what does it show to us if we see a gentleman driving a Volvo, wearing Zegna suit and Breil watch?  We also see a girl walking in Chiara Ferragni flats, with a Pomeranian in a plaid bag and Carrera sunglasses? How different these people are from a man and a girl with equivalent financial statuses, but associated with a completely different set of brands. While the Volvo shows stability and maturity, the Chiara Ferragni flats show free spirit, funky style and probably some Instagram addiction.

People create relations with the publics all the time, every day with the things they do, wear and drive, by conveying messages of the type a person they are. At the same time, brands or love brands freely communicate with publics all around the streets people walk – from New York to Tokyo. So, how much more the PR can be personalized? Directly or indirectly? And even more, it is not only about examining brands that can be just worn or driven, it is valid for every tiny detail that can be produced or serviced and found in someone’s life, home, office, leisure. And further how these PR messages can be and are associated with one’s background, through the things learnt in life, inherited, further expressed and posted.

The complete picture: It is all PR, a more personal side of PR. And it is all a message, whether we like it or not. Today, we just have to comply with it and learn how to identify and use it in our own benefit, and create professional opportunities. Since at the very end of the day, if we rephrase Al Pacino in the very famous Scarface, it would be: “The shoes Chico, they never lie”. J

MARIJA NIKOVSKA is a marketing specialist with extensive experience in developing abd implementing public relations and integrated marketing communication campaigns. Holding a master's degree in Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations from the University of Sheffield International Faculty, Marija has worked in the Advertising industry while now she is the Director of Managers' Academy in the city of Skopje.  She often visits the Department as a guest lecturer discussing topics of corporate communication and marketing.

Tatiana Loparski's Views on Contemporary PR (PART II)

Interviewed by: Elina Ketikidi

Tatjana  Loparksi studied at the St. Cyril and Methodius University in Interdisciplinary Journalism and she did her post-graduate studies at the Department of International Law and Politics at the faculty of Law. Currently Tatjana is in the final stage of acquiring her Master's degree in Marketing Advertising and Public Relations from The University of Sheffield International Faculty, City College. For 13 years she was working as a journalist for various national television channels in Skopje, as well as radio stations, daily newspapers and magazines. She served as  the Spokeswoman to the President of the country (2005 – 2006 ).   Tatjana has also a great experience in the field of Public Relations. She was a PR Manager at Image PR Agency, a Managing Partner of Omega PR Agency and now she is the executive director of her own PR company "Element PR  & Corporate Communications.  In early December Tatjana delivered an interesting seminar to the postgraduate students in Thessaloniki on PR Evaluation and Metrics.  

T
https://mk.linkedin.com/in/tatjana-loparski-9b612021

PART II

What do you wish you should have known before starting your career in PR?

Things are changing pretty fast in this profession. I did not have the education of PR, having in mind that I have finished journalism and also I had my postgraduate studies in International Law and Politics. I wish I would have the education that you are having now. At that period in my country the PR just started to evolve into a profession, so I was learning it while working it. I had a great challenge working as a Spokeswoman of the President of the country and I learnt a lot while working in such a position. I was stuck everyday with tones of papers that I had to read, with hundreds of questions that had to be answered and I was working for the State Institutions were mistakes are not allowed. But I learn a lot !

We are coming through the era of social media and digitalization. How does technology affect your daily work and how can you use social media to reach and impress traditional media? 

Several years ago we had some big arguments among colleges in my country about the use of social media. Great part of them thought it is a waste of time and something for fun. I was not one of them. Seeing how internet changes the flow of information, it was more than obvious that social media will make a revolution of communication. There are now social media that affects public opinion and make even crisis for some companies when they have some issue on social media. The future of this profession is in content creation, that will be distributed via Internet and some of traditional media. That is the natural way of creation of new media. See the history of communication and you will see the development. People started to communicate with signs and now we are almost a global village because we can easily communicate with the other part of the world without any problem because of technology.

Have you ever guided any executive decisions during a communications crisis? How do you know when to sound the alarm of a major communications crisis vs. less severe issue?

In crisis communication you have one first rule that you have to implement and that is centralization of communication channels. When crisis appears there is only one person that is giving information in the public. If you do not control that, there will created more problems. So make sure that you will have all the information needed and also make a plan for communication. You will know when it is high alarm crisis; you will be first news at all media. You will know, believe me !

What things do you consider when creating a PR plan to avoid creating a PR fail moment?

I like this phrase - PR fail moment. Do not think that every plan is a perfect one. It is changing material. When you will do something you will have to do also modification, so that is how you are avoiding PR fail moment. 

From 2005 until 2006 you were the Spokeswoman to the President. Which are the main differences being President's Spokeswoman from just being a PR manager in a company or organization?

The main things connecting both are that politics and business is the influence that they have on each other. When there is political misbalance and problems in the country it affects economy and in extend affects political situation in the country. You cannot work in PR if you are not into public affairs and dealing with problematic issues of your clients. That is why the essence of this job is to communicate, to build a network of people whom you trust and work with and of course to know your job. When you are a Spokeswoman for an institution such as the President's Office you are dedicated to fulfilling the duties of the office that you are working for, and that is mainly media relations, but when it comes to PR manager of the organization you are dealing with all audiences including media. Therefore, being a PR manager allows you to practice in full the PR profession.

The PR profession is changing. What about us? Necessary skills for the 2020 Public Relations expert

Our lives are transformed into digital lives; our communication, our work; our social relations have all been influenced and turned into a different direction from what we were used to. In such a world, where almost everything is connected with technology, PR and marketing professionals must change as well, acquiring new skills and competencies  Not very long time ago, PR professionals spent most of their time organizing events, building relations with opinion leaders, writing press releases and trying to place them – through networking with media people – in newspapers and TV stations. Building rapports with journalists were as important as breathing.  Needless to say that most of the principles and tasks of the past still apply today.  Networking is still necessary, event planning and press release writing are of imperative importance.  What has changed is the recipient of our messages: the customer; the reader; the viewer and the way they are engaged with the brands.

Preparing for and being competitive in a Public Relations Career

In a demanding and competitive corporate world, where the expectations are high, besides education which may vary and will be discussed in a future article, professionals must possess certain skills. But what are these competencies and how someone could build upon?

Writing Skills: Still, the number one skill is writing. Public relations was and will always be a writing function; the PR professional must be perceived as an expert in writing press releases, articles and features for internal and external media, presentations and speeches.  Putting thoughts and ideas into words is not an easy task; thus your writing must result the desired impact and engagement to the various audiences.

Strategic thinking: Being able to see the big picture and link your PR objectives with the corporate goal requires a well-developed  strategic view. This is a skill, which is acquired over time and certainly can be learned.

Ethics: In a world where corruption and unethical behavior is a usual phenomenon, practitioners operating under an ethical set of principles are needed as never before.   

Creativity: In today's cluttered environment, creativity has become a necessity. Only creative and remarkable messages will survive.  

Educated and always updated: Public relations and Marketing professionals need to be well – educated and study a lot in order to be updated in new technologies, new products and services, new tactics, competitors, and the internal and external environment.  

Communication Skills - Articulate: Enhancing your oral communication, speaking and listening is really essential.  You as a PR professional must ensure that your message is clear, credible simple, and within the right context.  Moreover, the knowledge of additional languages adds to the professional status of a PR expert.

Sensitive to people with a pleasant personality: A PR professional must be a people oriented person. It is still important to establish and maintain relations with all stakeholders, media representatives, opinion leaders, co-workers, competitors, customers, suppliers. A positive personality and an optimistic attitude along with a smile can open doors in this industry.

Familiar with new technologies and Social Media: Depending your sector, sites such as Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Vimeo, Instagram, Orkut, Wiki, or Twitter are used to defuse company's news and promote products and services.

Other skills and attributes include:

• Cultural agility and teamwork
• Multitasking
• Analytical skills
• Decision making and good judgment
• Well organized, with good time-management skills
• Self-confident
• Able to motivate others

What we do at the University of Sheffield International Faculty:

Both our postgraduate marketing programs, one in Marketing Advertising and Public Relations and the other in Digital Marketing and Social Media, are built around all the above principles. More than 90 students, in all four cities we are offering the programs - Sofia, Thessaloniki, Skopje, and Bucharest - are exposed to the latest trends in PR, Marketing and Social Media, while they are coached to implement through a series of workshops principles of communication in real life scenarios.    We first teach them the core principles of public relations and communication. From research to planning and organizing, and from implementing to evaluation. We teach them the importance of goal setting which derives from a comprehensive situational analysis and an identification of the target audiences.  Then we stress out the importance of setting the objectives in relation to the corporate goal and linking them with certain strategies and tactics, while we set techniques for evaluation and assessment. The ability to apply knowledge and turn it into skills has become a strategic pillar for all of our postgraduate programs.

Our students at Business Administration and Economics Department are developing decision making skills with a strong sense of ethics and integrity. Teaching however is not based on a single textbook but rather on a set of competencies necessary for the real world.

   

Dr. Dimitrios V. NIKOLAIDIS

Head of Business Administration & Economics Department 

Senior Lecturer in Marketing

___________________________________________

CITY College,

International Faculty of the University of Sheffield

Business Administration and Economics Department

3, Leontos Sofou Str., 7th Floor, 546 26 Thessaloniki, Greece

Tel.: (+30) 2310 536 544 & 528 450 (ext. 103)    

Fax: (+30) 2310 282 384

Skype: dimitri.nikolaidis

website: www.city.academic.gr

Times Higher Education University of the Year

Tatiana Loparski's Views on Contemporary PR (Part I)

Interviewed by: Elina Ketikidi

Tatjana  Loparksi studied at the St. Cyril and Methodius University in Interdisciplinary Journalism and she did her post-graduate studies at the Department of International Law and Politics at the faculty of Law. Currently Tatjana is in the final stage of acquiring her Master's degree in Marketing Advertising and Public Relations from The University of Sheffield International Faculty, City College. For 13 years she was working as a journalist for various national television channels in Skopje, as well as radio stations, daily newspapers and magazines. She served as  the Spokeswoman to the President of the country (2005 – 2006 ).   Tatjana has also a great experience in the field of Public Relations. She was a PR Manager at Image PR Agency, a Managing Partner of Omega PR Agency and now she is the executive director of her own PR company "Element PR  & Corporate Communications.  In early December Tatjana delivered an interesting seminar to the postgraduate students in Thessaloniki on PR Evaluation and Metrics.  

 

As a Director for Public Relation at Element PR  it would be great if you shared with us the worst and the best (most exciting) time you had in your career path.

When you choose a profession and you find yourself after several years working in another sector, you can only see this whole experience under a different prism.  Every experience bad or good, it is something from which you can learn much.  You learn from your failures, otherwise it is wasted time and you will repeat all your mistakes. The most difficult time for me was opening my own PR Agency. When you have zero money it is hard to manage the stress and the lack of financial means. But, with hard work I made my best of it and I have managed to get big clients that showed trust to the company. The best moment is right now, when we as an Agency working for a client received international award for best CSR campaign in the country and that is an acknowledgment that you did something good and big putting your mark on society.  I have a client that always says to me: dream big to make big moves, but do it with small steps, not to fall down trying to cross obstacles. I am doing that every day in my job, going forward with small steps.

In your opinion which are the 3 things that a PR person has to be careful in his/her career?

First of all, never forget that you have to learn constantly. Don't you ever think that you know everything. You have to constantly learn and implement what you have managed to pull out as a new experience. Catch everything that you can from everyone as knowledge. People are the richest field of knowledge that you can explore. A PR person is all in one – communication wizard, psychiatrist, lawyer and friend to client, so do not think that you will know just communication.  When working in PR industry you have to know almost everything and to be in the line with latest news.  Every industry that you will work with is a new challenge for you. You have to learn everything about this industry, learn for competition, try to understand as much as you can, because the PR profession is not just media relations; it is keeping relation channels with all targeted audiences.  Make your own network, make your own rules of working, and of course remember - the client is always right, even when he is not. However, your job is to say what you think no matter of the consequences and product your client from a likely wrong decision.

 

When your company is hiring for an entry-level PR position, what makes a candidate stand out?

The starting point is if he has a will to work and to learn. The second thing is if he/she is aware that this is job without working hours and that you work 24/7 when necessary.  There are no secrets on predicting who is good and who is not. Of course, we are always looking for people with passion, eagerness to progress and develop, dedication and creativity.  We are looking for people they can fit with the company's culture and vision.

If you were entering this career path today, what do you think you would do differently?

I am not person that regrets for things. So, I wouldn't change anything.  I will change my way of doing business in the future. When the company is small there are advantages and disadvantages. So you just cannot afford to lose focus on your work and on the things that you're dealing with. And yes, it is a multitasking job, so get used to it and make list of prioritization so you can make it in this profession. If you cannot handle several things at the same time, try to find something more relaxing as job description.

Communication Crisis: Do social media change the game?

Written by: Johnny Nentev, 
Edited by: Matina Stamatiadou

Communication crisis can be defined as an unpredictable incident, which includes the name or the reputation of a company. In many cases, management tactics and their ways of handling such crisis prove to be insufficient. Thereby, there has to be a team and a well - organized effort that will take control of the situation, by planning and applying a communication strategy in order to avoid or minimize any possible harm for the company.

Better prepared than sorry!

There is no need to point out the fact that crisis occurs not only under unlucky circumstances, but also emerges as "attacks" from competitors or malicious people! Therefore, it is essential to be able to anticipate such occurs and it is more compelling than ever, for your company, to have a crisis communication plan. Follow the link to some incidents of crisis management: http://www.businessinsider.com/pr-disasters-crisis-management-2011-5?op=1

Form a team which consists of executive members of the company and start setting up your communication crisis plan. You should consider including the CEO of the company in the team; to communicate and cooperate with the PR manager & Legal department and make crucial decisions regarding the crisis. Train these people on how they should react when a crisis occurs and assign roles to them.

• Choose the spokesman carefully, making sure he or she is skilled and experienced for such a position.
• Always look for weaknesses or high risk areas within the company and try to fix issues that could cause problems in the long term.
• Often run brainstorming sessions about possible crisis and deal with worst-case scenarios to be as prepared as possible for a probable crisis. 

What about when crisis knocks on your door?

Let us assume that suddenly an "unwanted" event occurs bringing huge consequences to your business: 

Back in the old days, the respond team for crisis management would have taken action according to the plan for each role and public information officer would've gathered information for the incident, he or she would've drafted a press release and got prepared to answer questions from journalists. Then a press conference would've been scheduled, as it had been the main way for a company to respond to the media. Reporters would've captured the situation, they'd draft their reports and later news would have created so masses to be informed

Today, things have dramatically changed with the social media evolution.

Let's assume on more time that the same unpleasant event occurs today.  Do you think that people are going to be informed about the incident at the same way and that it would take the same time to do so? Of course, not! 

The reason is that everyone who has witnessed the event, is now capable of spreading information all around the web (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) and it happens instantly.

Now, when an event is taking place the eye-witnesses instantly share the incident with other people through the internet, Then the media get information from that sharing and serve it back to millions of people. That's also how the crisis respond team is gathering additional information about the incident. So, how is the communications team going to act under the pressure of social media?

Here are the 3 most important elements that the team should consider when acting: 

• Speed
• Engagement
• Rumor management

Communications team must respond immediately to assure the minimum level of company's damage and also prove to people that the team has the situation under control. At the same time social media research must be conducted and team must engage with the crowd's content as to show sensibility about the matter. Last but not least, rumor management is extremely important due to the existence of malicious people who will try and take advantage of the situation and harm the company, So be careful and respond immediately in order to prevent any harm. Social media has changed the way we perceive the world and must not treated just as an additional media channel. Communication managers should get acquainted with internet and social media because it is a powerful tool for managing communication matters.

Writing an Effective Abstract

By: Dr. Anastasios Karamanos

What is an abstract

An abstract is a self-contained, short, and powerful statement whereby the writer presents and explains all the main arguments and the important results and evidence of the complete work (an article/paper/book).

What is the purpose of an abstract?

Abstracts allow readers who may be interested in a longer work to quickly decide whether it is worth their time to read it. Also, many online databases use abstracts to index larger works.

How should I write an abstract?

Writing an efficient abstract is hard work, but will repay you with increased impact on the world by enticing people to read your publications. Make sure that all the components of a good abstract are included in the next one you write.

• Motivation:
  Why do we care about the problem and the results? If the problem isn't obviously "interesting" it might be better to put motivation first; but if your work is incremental progress on a problem that is widely recognized as important, then it is probably better to put the problem statement first to indicate which piece of the larger problem you are breaking off to work on. This section should include the importance of your work, the difficulty of the area, and the impact it might have if successful.
• Problem statement:
  What problem are you trying to solve? What is the scope of your work (a generalized approach, or for a specific situation)? What is the main argument/thesis/claim?
• Approach:
  An abstract of research work may include methodological approaches used in the larger study. How did you go about solving or making progress on the problem? Did you use simulation, analytic models, or analysis of field data. Abstracts may also describe the types of evidence used in the research.? What important variables did you control, ignore, or measure?
• Results:
  What's the answer? Put the result there. Avoid vague results, using words like such as "very", "small", or "significant." You should not provide numbers that can be easily misinterpreted.
• Conclusions:
  What are the implications of your answer? What changes should be implemented as a result of the findings of the work? Is it going to change the world (unlikely), be a significant "win", be a nice hack, or simply serve as a road sign indicating that this path is a waste of time (all of the previous results are useful). Are your results general, potentially generalisable, or specific to a particular case? How does this work add to the body of knowledge on the topic?

Other Considerations

• Use language that is understandable to a wide audience.
• Sometiemes abstracts uses passive verbs to downplay the author and emphasize the information. Check with your teacher if you're unsure whether or not to use passive voice.
• Do not refer extensively to other works.
• Do not add information not contained in the original work.
• Do not define terms.
• Meet the word count limitation.. An abstract word limit of 150 to 500 words is common. Ask the professor for a word limit.
• Any major restrictions or limitations on the results should be stated, using words such as "might", "could", "may", and "seem".
• Publications usually request "keywords". Think of a half-dozen search phrases and keywords that people looking for your work might use. Be sure that those exact phrases appear in your abstract, so that they will turn up at the top of a search result listing.

What to do next

Cut and paste: To create a first draft of an abstract of your own work, you can read through the entire paper and cut and paste sentences that capture key passages. This technique is useful for social science research with findings that cannot be encapsulated by neat numbers or concrete results. Isolate these sentences in a separate document and work on revising them into a unified paragraph.

References

Cremmins, E.T. (1996) The Art of Abstracting, Info Resources Press, MA.

Lancaster, F.W. (2003) Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and Practice, Facet, London.

Wilkinson, A.M. (1991) The Scientist's Handbook for Writing Papers and Dissertations.  Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall.