How can you top last year's big show?

Hello everyone!

This week, I selected an article that provides comprehensive tips regarding maximizing attendance at a conference or trade show. Author Eric Nelson (2007) provides a wealth of information in his article. There are three key parts to creating a great conference: 1) location, 2) building camaraderie among participants and enticing them back each year with demonstrations of latest technologies within their field, and 3) a comprehensive marketing plan to reach as many attendees as possible. The remainder of his article focuses on specific action items a manager should take to flawlessly execute a conference event. These steps include direct mail campaigns, display ads, faxes, letters to members, media relations press releases, and leveraging internal publications (p. 11). Nelson closes by reminding readers that, "with today's professionals having more options for education, it's essential to implement a marketing plan that reaches your target audience and distinguishes your conference as the premier place to be" (p. 11).

Nelson, E. (2007, March). How can you top last year's big show? Conference marketing tips that produce results. Public Relations Tactics, 14(3), p. 11. Retrieved June 12, 2007, from Business Source Complete database.

P.S. I found another great article that was too old to meet the requirements for the assignment; however, I'll include the reference here in case anyone is interested:

Rhoa, R. & Blum, A. (1992, September). Giving back. Kiplinger's Personal finance Magazine, 46(9), 120. Retrieved June 11, 2007, from Business Source Complete database.

Internal Communications Is the First Step in a Successful PR Campaign

External PR campaigns “create awareness and support among a company’s or organization’s target audiences for its products, services, mission, philosophy and approach to doing business. It helps build credibility that advertising cannot” (Vass, K. 2007, p. 20). Vass continues to describe how integral an internal PR campaign is to the overall success of external PR efforts. She describes how to organize an internal PR campaign, and urges the reader to harmonize internal efforts with external branding efforts to fully take advantage of external PR campaign. I selected this article for this week’s blog because it struck me as extremely relevant. If the organizational communications department is at odds with the Public Relations office, the business will surely suffer.

Vass. K. (2007, March). Internal communication is the first step in a successful PR campaign. Textile World, 157(2), 20-21. Retrieved June 7, 2007, from Business Source Complete database.

Why employees are more trusted than the CEO

As companies work to refine internal communications tactics, social media and the power it carries is becoming an increasingly important way to communicate with employees. This week’s article discusses how the voice of the communicator affects the believability of the message. In fact, “a person like myself” was ranked 26% higher than the CEO as a credible source of information (Smith, 2007). Smith provides support for this result including the increased trust we feel for those “like” us. In addition, he ends the article with a checklist to follow to ensure strong internal communications through social media, and he suggests that the authentic voice of the employee created through social media can be used to create social marketing programs for external communications.

Smith, S. (April/May 2007). Why employees are more trusted than the CEO. Strategic
Communication Management (11), 3. 7. Retrieved May 29, 2007 from Business Source
Complete database.

Sophomoric? that's the idea

Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog. The article I have selected for this week details how a couple friends created a website called CollegeHumor.com when they were 18. The site is dedicated to sophomoric humor common among college-aged males. The article addresses the concepts related in chapter 4 concerning theories of culture. As the article states, "CollegeHumor is so focused that . . . it may be wholly incomprehensible to the over-40 set" (Fine, 2007, p. 24). The article discusses the unorthodox business practices employed by the leaders of CollegeHumor, and it illustrates how focusing one's communication toward one subculture can result in a successful business venture.

Fine, J. (2007, May 28). Sophomoric? that's the idea. BusinessWeek. 24.