Business Card Tips [and examples] -

You should make your business card as professional, clean and simple as possible. This is not the time to have creative fonts and designs all over the place. Your business card should reflect your contact information and professionalism.

Stephen Brown, managing Director at Cohn & Wolfe, says: ” Claim your specialty, include business-related social media link, email and mobile number. The design should be clean with no frills. Do not have a picture of yourself.”

Mary Barber, a communication and PR professional, says: “The cleaner and simpler the better. Name and contact information. URL if applicable. Don’t cram so much it’s not easy to read.”

I think it is a good idea to have some kind of logo or personal brand logo on your card as well.

When considering the design of your business card, Valerie Simon, co-founder of #PRstudchat, says:  ”Consider your objectives when designing your business card. Who do you hope to hand it to? How do you want to connect with them?”

This is the PRSSA template for business cards from the Branding Identity Guidelines:

Above is the depiction of our National Committee cards. I think this is a great design because it is formal and to the point. Copy for this and for most professional cards:

Name
Position Title or Company

Address
Phone Number
Email
Twitter

Here is another very simple design I happen to like as well:

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Do not:

• Include social media links that are NOT professional
• Use hard-to-read fonts
• Use similar colors so no one can read your card
• Cram everything you have on the card

Business Card Etiquette [and examples] -

One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone comes up, hands me a business car and walks away. I want to have a conversation with you and I want you to let me know what you need or I want to build a relationship with you through conversation.

Do’s:

• Ask for a business card after a little conversation.
• Act interested when accepting the business card.
• Stephanie Kornblum says, ”Always LOOK at the card before putting away! Shows respect and consideration.”
• Make a note on the card of a memorable detail and date. This will help you remember them and gives you something to connect with them on for later.
• Say “thank you” and even compliment if you want.
• Make plans to connect with each other later.

Dont’s:

• Penelope Singer says,  ”Do not offer your business card, ask for theirs. Shows interest and lets you hold the reins.”
• With the above, don’t offer your business card at the beginning of the conversation. Give time for conversation.
• Do not just shove it into your pocket. Follow Do’s above.
• DO NOT just give it and walk away. Talk and make a connection.
• Do not give out old, stained or outdated business cards. Not a good impression.

I hope this post has been helpful, especially for upcoming conferences. There are a lot of resources out there for business cards and business card etiquette. VistaPrint and Moo have the best, and most professional, business cards out there (in my opinion). Invest in some!!

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Companies, like Target, are monitoring your buys and figuring out trends. They can tell which trimester of pregnancy you might be in by what lotion and what other items you are buying. They can tell if you are having a boy or a girl. They can tell if you are vegetarian, vegan, etc. Most birth records are also public, so the moment you have a baby… marketers already have an entire coupon journey planned for you and you will start to receive them immediately.

By simply studying buying trends, the stores we shop at are and will continue to send us targeting coupons and items based on our buying trends. This is a quote from Andrew Pole, statistician for Target, via the NY Time “How Companies Learn Your Secrets” article:

“We knew that if we could identify them in their second trimester, there’s a good chance we could capture them for years,” Pole told me. “As soon as we get them buying diapers from us, they’re going to start buying everything else too. If you’re rushing through the store, looking for bottles, and you pass orange juice, you’ll grab a carton. Oh, and there’s that new DVD I want. Soon, you’ll be buying cereal and paper towels from us, and keep coming back.”

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The Consumer Perspective:

Since this seems like new knowledge to consumers, there has been some expectant backlash with comments like:

“This is SO creepy!!”

“Stop going through my statistics and stop targeting me!”

“I do not want all these stupid companies to know all this about me!”

Consumers do not seem to be so happy about these types of situations. In reality, the situation with Target where they knew a man’s daughter was pregnant before he did… is not Target’s fault. Many are offering the solution of using cash to buy items instead of they won’t be “data mined” and that would probably work for a while.

The Marketing Perspective:

Genius. Absolute genius. Actual targeting of things consumers actually buy = sales. THE number ONE marketing goal is usually sales. Goal achieved!! This is what marketers do.

If marketers can actually get coupons, sale notices, etc. to consumers for things they will actually buy and be interested in, they are doing their job.

My perspective(s):

While I could definitely see this as being “creepy” and a little “invasive,” I think I would actually appreciate more targeted coupons. For example, while writing this post, I literally got an email from Old Navy about 20% off men’s polos. There’s a slight problem with this. I’m not male and I do not buy male polos at Old Navy. They’ve missed their audience here:

In my sincere opinion, mothers in need and any shopper in general would be MUCH happier to receive targeted coupons of things they actually buy instead of an email from Old Navy I got about 20% off men’s polos I will never buy.

What is your opinion on this? Would you like to receive more targeted coupons?

Having a website is more beneficial than just social media sites because when people want information and contact information, they will look for your website. Now may definitely be the time for a website makeover for you or your company.

This is an infographic from one of my favorite companies, HubSpot, on 12 things you absolutely must have on your website homepage:

Click image for original location on the HubSpot Blog.

Of course, it is always SO great to see friends and fellow PRSSA members as well. Below, I have categorized some of the top tips from the conference:

Top quotes and tips from the conference:

Networking:

“What makes you stand out? Know this when you’re networking!” – Stephen Brown, Cohn & Wolfe

“The key to networking is listening to others. It’s not really about you.”

“Look for different types of people to be in the inventory of your network.”

“Never start a networking conversation by asking for something.”

Listen 80% and talk 20%… Rule of thumb to go by.

Social media:

Make sure to scrub up your social media profiles! Professionals are looking.

In social media, engagement is the heart of the matter. Know where your consumers are and go there.

“It’s not all about numbers. Relationships = loyalty.” – Morgan Griffith

10% of the adult US population is on Twitter – remember that filter when you are listening/using Twitter data.

Interning:

Love to write, love the keyboard and love the monitor when you first enter PR.

Be willing to read, ask questions and learn.

“Be patient, be humble, have a raise your hand mentality.” – Glen Jackson, Jackson Spalding

Social media is very important. Porter Novelli doesn’t hire without social media experience.

Resumes:

Tailor your resume and make it relevant. Do not send a generic resume and ALWAYS be honest.

Have a relevant work experience section then another other work experience section.

Interviewing:

Send thank you emails and personalized handwritten notes.

Reading up on current events and your desired industry will help tremendously in interviews.

One of the first interview questions you could be asked is what do you *know* about the company… Research and prepare!!

Agency vs. Corporate:

PR professionals own the reputation in corporate. Marketing owns the brand.

In agency, you will work a few clients. In corporate, you become the expert on one subject matter.

You have less time to be creative in corporate. More long-term strategy.

Small agency’s are a great place to start. Gain more responsibility.

General Public Relations:

PR is not disconnected from business, so be knowledgable about business and be able to interpret accounting reports.

“PR is a tough, 24/7, very strategic business.” – Kent Landers

Research salary averages. PRSA and salary.com are good research resources.

Attitude and energy:

“Demonstrate you love what you do!” – Mickey Nall, Oglivy PR

“Know that you should learn from everything you do.”  - Gina Laughlin

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Related posts:

Brands, Businesses and Blogs on Pinterest

Pinterest: A Beginner’s Guide to the Hot New Social Network via Mashable

Reblogged from alishalambertpr:

Since public relations has become such a huge part of my life, I am constantly looking for opportunities that will give me real-world experience. I think this is the only way that students can really prepare themselves for their careers, especially in the field of PR! One of these experiences is with Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). I joined the organization in the fall of 2011 and have loved it ever since! I recently became the Firm Director for Catamount Communications, which is the …

This is a post from Alisha Lambert, Firm Director of Catamount Communications, from WCU.

I love her enthusiasm for PRSSA and for our Student-run Firm! She also includes reasons as to why YOU should attend National Assembly!

I added a new LKG logo yesterday after doing some serious thinking about what I wanted to represent and how I wanted to be represented.

Here’s what I made and ultimately chose:

I love it!! It combines a few of my favorite things: simplicity, my signature full initials and an anchor.

I chose the name “laurenkgray” to go by instead of just “laurengray” when I started my personal branding adventure because Lauren Gray is actually a pretty common name. I know TWO other Lauren Gray’s!

I went with laurenkgray to further identify myself and that is the name you will see on all of my websites, documents and more. My middle name is my mother’s name: Kimlen. It’s very different and I like it!

I also wanted to go with something simple. I try to keep things simple and concise in everything I do. I wanted it to look clean and identifiable.

The anchor is my chosen symbol. I’ve sailed some rough waters in my life, but I’ve always had people to anchor me down. I also have an anchor tattoo on my left side with the dates of my dad’s death and my uncle’s death. I also chose it because of this bible verse:

“Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.” - Hebrews 6.19

So although my new personal brand logo isn’t magnificent and isn’t anything too special, it represents me and what I’m about.

Hope you like it!

I like this new perspective. It’s interesting to see how over 80% of US Pinterest users are female, but it is more even in the UK and they have more male users.

This infographic is from the data visualization experts at Visual.ly -

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This is definitely an interesting infographic with some fun facts about email! This is an older infgraphic, from around 2008, but it still has some good information.

I didn’t know email was even thought of in the 60′s. I definitely spend more than 2.8 minutes on email every day though…. it’s more like 30 minutes to two hours every single day.

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When other people feel the need to spend a lot of time on you and trying to tear you down or make you look bad, consider it flattery. There’s a reason they are working so hard against you. When people spend a lot of time talking to you, complimenting you and researching you, consider that flattery as well!

Where’s all this coming from?

Recently, I was involved in a small “crisis” at my university where, as one of five Facebook administrators for our university social media, I was blamed for deleting posts and “censoring” students when that wasn’t the case at all. People will make claims against you that are not true. As they found out, it wasn’t even me who deleted the posts and it actually wasn’t me responding either; it was my boss!

After a few things played out, I learned a lot about this situation and learned a lot through this situation. I got to create an awesome blog for our SGA, something we had been talking about for ages, and I got more experience in dealing with negativity on social media!

Needless to say, even though this small situation may have started out seemingly bad, I got a lot of experience from it and added a brand new website to my portfolio. I also got to meet with top university officials, network more on our university and even made some new friends from the situation! A lot of good came out of this for me!

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Taylor Swift has a lot of people who fight against her and who try to bring her down… and she rises above. This picture is from one of her performances last year in DC when she wrote on her arm: “ “I guess to build yourself up so high, you had to take her and break her down” from Keith Urban. What a true statement!

What’s the lesson?

Even the bad situations reap some great benefits sometimes! While people may try to write blog posts about me and directed at me, it actually doesn’t bother me anymore! It’s something I can laugh about now… and I do!

While I’m writing this, I’m on the phone with a close friend and she says, “Well aren’t you spending time writing about them here when they don’t deserve it?” Well somewhat. This is more of a positive post on what came out of the situation and what I learned from it.

Few quotes on “enemies” and “haters”:

• “You have enemies? Good, that means you stood up for something.” – Eminem
• “Haters only hate the things that they can’t get and the people they can’t be.”
• “People cannot actually hurt you or affect you, unless you let them.”

My advice:

When you’re involved in something, it usually eventually goes away and fades out on its on. There might be someone who might not want to let something go for a while, so let them hold on. Just because they are wasting their time trying to tear you down, doesn’t mean you need to spend your time thinking about them or having anything to do with them.

Don’t be that person in 5… 10.. 20 years who is still holding on to something that should have been let go a week after it happened. Bitterness doesn’t make for a pretty future!

People are always going to try to tear you down and bring you down… so don’t let them and continue to build yourself up :]

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#wordsofadvice

Good luck to everyone in these types of situations!