When I became president of the Kansas City chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators in 2008, I first learned about the top award that was given every year called the Arthur E. Lowell. I was in awe of these professionals throughout the years who stood out as Kansas City’s top communicator.
After all of the challenges of 2020, I was thrilled to learn that I had been named the Arthur Lowell winner for this year. Of course, it’s disappointing we can’t gather in person, which would have been so fun be with so many of my longtime KCIABC friends to celebrate!
Instead, the entire Quills Award ceremony was made into a video and distributed online this year.
When you work for yourself, you have to do awkward things like brag about yourself! But it doesn’t matter because I am so proud of this award that I wasn’t going to let this moment in my career go by without shouting it from the rooftops… or at least posting it on my website and social media!
And I need to give a BIG thank you to those who believed in me enough to nominate me for this award. Thank you for thinking that I deserved this honor!
Check out the video. Watch through until the end. There’s a fun (funny) surprise!
Mentee and mentor, Ashley Cleveland and Megan Neher
Stop for a second and think about who helped you decide on your career, find your niche, overcome a work challenge or embark in a new direction. There are a lot of people who we can consider mentors in our lives. Parents, teachers, family, friends, work colleagues along the way, bosses, clients, neighbors, pastors and more.
I’ve been thinking a lot about mentorship lately – both as the mentor and the mentee. I recently participated in an online fundraiser for a local nonprofit dedicated to supporting mentorship for Kansas City high school youth. “C” You In The Major Leagues was started by Kansas City Royals GM Dayton Moore to help local families in need and provide mentorship to a group of young high school men and women in a yearlong mentorship program.
A few of us who’ve been a part of the marketing efforts for CYITML were asked to record a video telling the world about a significant mentor in our lives. It was a challenge for me to choose just one person. And I started thinking about all of the people who’ve made a difference in my life. But mostly I started thinking about how I want to be someone who makes a difference in other people’s lives.
With my new master’s degree, I’m hoping to continue teaching college and be able to continue to mentor young professionals and college students as they feel their way through the college experience and then into professional lives in communications, marketing, PR, social media, etc.
This month I was asked to be a mentor as part of Digital Women Kansas City’s structured mentorship program. This professional development nonprofit pairs mentors and mentees in similar professions to work together. I’m looking forward to getting to know my new mentee, and I know I have a responsibility to offer feedback, share knowledge and listen.
Throughout the years, I hope some of the MNPR interns think of me as their mentor because I learned SO much from each of them. And that’s the best part of the mentor – mentee relationship. We learn from each other and ultimately build a strong friendship.
As an entrepreneur working out of her home, my internship setup hasn’t been a typical PR agency experience for college students. They usually get a taste of what it takes to be a PR pro, a business owner AND a busy mom trying to run her own business! Some may leave knowing this is nothing they’d ever want to do in a million years and a few others – the crazy ones – end up doing this very same thing!
For example, Ashley Cleveland is the Grande Dame of all interns. She started with MNPR as a college senior finishing at Park University, and stayed on with Megan Neher Public Relations after graduation for more than a decade. Called “Ashley the Intern” so not to confuse her with another Ashley in our family, she became an integral part of the business. Together, we produced quality PR work for a variety of clients. We took business trips, laughed… a lot, hosted many work events, developed secret acronyms, brainstormed, loved eating sushi and somehow managed to get our work done!
But before her, my very first intern was Erica Cohen and although she didn’t stick around immediately like Ashley did, she ended up joining MNPR years later to assist on a big client. I was fortunate enough to have Erica’s sister as an intern, Lauren Hensley, and her mom as a client. We continue to mentor each other to this day, depending on each other’s counsel.
Another standout intern: Maris Panjada was an overachieving college student juggling multiple jobs while getting dual degrees at UMKC. She was focused and knew what she wanted. I was inspired by her attitude and even was able to convince her to stick around an extra semester.
Rachel Pedersen was never an intern, but we have a mentor-mentee relationship after working together for so many years. She started at MNPR shortly after graduating from college as a part-time PR coordinator in addition to her full-time job. Today, she remains an enormous support to me – especially as my social media guru.
After 17 years in business and sometimes multiple interns a year, this list is only the tip of the iceberg. I’ve worked with many amazing young, up-and-coming professional communicators, and I love staying in touch to see where they land in their careers and watch as they grow.
Unfortunately, I met and hired one intern at a bar in Lawrence after drinking dirty martinis with friends. Not advisable! Surprisingly, I had to fire her a short time later, and then had to argue the point with her angry father who called me to try to save her job! Of course, this only guaranteed my resolve.
That hire aside, I’m confident that every single intern can report that they learned something working at MNPR… even if it is just the meaning of the acronym FIO. This is my mantra for all interns. Can you Figure It Out? 😊
PR firm assists clients with micro influencer partnerships
Kansas City influencers participated in a dairy farm tour in the spring of 2019.
Traditional media relations efforts are dwindling for public relations professional because there are fewer news outlets, and traditional journalists are becoming a scarcity. Small businesses have shifted their attention to where their consumers are getting their news, information and entertainment: on social media platforms and online.
Using media relations has long been a tool for small businesses because of its low cost and high return. This natural shift to citizen journalists, Instagrammers and bloggers, achieves today’s small business objective of reaching targeted customers.
Consumers have the ability to select which influencers to follow. This gives influencers a direct channel to communicate with a target audience! Clients have realized that the end consumer became more receptive to messages delivered by a personality (or friend) that they respect, trust and relate to, rather than watching an ad on TV being acted by a famous celebrity.
The new challenge is how to identify the influencer. Tracking down the contact information for the local newspaper, radio station and TV station was a fairly simple task in comparison to assembling a targeted list of key influencers with audiences that meet a small business’s marketing goals. Even so, small businesses understand collaborating with the right influencers who have a fan base that is relevant, makes digital influencer marketing the new best practice in public relations for today.
Now somebody has to cultivate the list of targeted influencers? Considerations include: size of an influencer’s audience, topic of influencer’s content, geography, engagement rates, what social channels they use, reputation, tone of voice in their content, and price.
Micro and nano influencers vs macro influencers How do influencers work? Many busy, successful working professionals, retired residents or stay-at-home-parents who have a passion for a hobby or topic make extra money as paid micro or nano influencers in their local communities. Sometimes it’s unpaid and they simply enjoy free dinners or gifts.
On the brand side, it can be a cost-effective method to launch a product, announce a startup or store opening, and retain attention over time because it creates online publicity with local and targeted audiences. A micro-influencer is an individual with 1,000 to a million followers, though they’re usually at the small end of that spectrum. Because their accounts are small, they’re seen as more relatable by their audience, and they usually are open to genuine collaborations with brands. A nano influencer has between 1,000 and 5,000 followers. These groups consistently gain higher engagement rates than macro influencers because of their authenticity, local relationships, true connections to their followers and personal involvement in a smaller, tight-knit community. Kansas City has a large number of food and lifestyle influencers in comparison to nearby large cities like St. Louis.
What influencer success can do for a brand Working with a micro or nano influencer, leverages the power of another person’s opinion to a targeted audience. It’s similar to the effectiveness of word-of-mouth marketing, online reviews and a friend’s recommendation. With all influencer outreach, content must tell a compelling story, grab the attention of the audience, show up in surprising ways and most importantly… use captivating imagery. Engagement is the most important element of influencer marketing. Examples of micro influencers working with targeted audiences might include: food Instagrammers or food bloggers, a local fashionista or wellness/fitness guru. Higher interaction between the influencer and the audience means that a connection is established and that the influencer is more relatable than a celebrity.
Another strategy is to cross topic when reaching out to influencers within a local community. For example, a shopping center might focus on lifestyle or fitness influencers rather than only reaching out to fashion-focused influencers. A restaurant might forgo an influencer event with only foodie influencers and instead focus on health and lifestyle influencers. This small, simple tactic extends the reach of the brand, opens up new audiences and allows for new story lines in the content.
Influencer marketing pitfalls Overall, marketers must remember to demonstrate authenticity, alignment and integrity when working with influencers. People follow influencers for inspiration, information, comedy, aspiration, ideas to solve everyday challenges, and so on.
SIDE NOTE: There’s been local criticism recently in regards to local micro influencers by Kansas City’s traditional media. However, times have changed, and news is covered differently in 2019. The lines have blurred between paid, earned, owned and shared media. As a former journalist myself, I’ve watched as things have changed dramatically in the past 25 years. It’s time for us to recognize influencers as professionals who work hard at their craft. (Every industry has a few bad apples.) Public relations pros have to make room in their strategies for a variety of tactics and influencer relations is a strong tactic for my clients.
Common pitfalls to beware of:
Despite being digital natives, young consumers value and seek out hands-on, real-life experiences to inform their purchases. As marketers, it’s important to work with the influencers to try to infuse real-life human connections into the content.
Some influencers receive criticism for lacking transparency in disclosing sponsored posts and brand partnerships and gifts. Others are criticized for overexposing and commodifying their kids and/or family.
Beyond close family and friends, connected consumers have mixed feelings about taking an influencer’s advice on what to buy. If the endorsement feels like an ad or too scripted, overproduced or inauthentic, consumers are turned off.
Some brands create too many rules and regulations when establishing a relationship with an influencer which stifles the influencer’s creativity and authenticity. We work with our clients to offer counsel and make this a smooth negotiation process.
Aside from a few pitfalls that diminish authenticity and reduce the human experience, influencers have inspired almost one-fifth of American consumers to make a purchase! And as PR pros, we can’t walk away from this tactic. For small businesses, it’s sensible to partner with micro and nano influencers who can inexpensively provide another marketing platform to build a relationship with consumers through authentic, creative online content. We don’t know how short-lived this opportunity may be.
Learning new things at my age has become common place. I thought that after college and by my 20s and even my 30s, I would become a “seasoned” professional (just read my bio, because it says I’m “seasoned”); and wouldn’t have to spend my days learning. Instead, I would sit back and counsel all of the less smart people of the world with my intelligence. Of course, I would get paid millions of dollars for this amazing “counsel.”
Well, for anyone who isn’t past their 30s… lucky you, first of all! And, secondly, you’re not done learning. Not by a long shot.
I’ve considered going back to school to get a master’s degree. I’d like to re-career some day and teach college. (Maybe if I become a college professor I’d finally be done learning!) But going to school is not the kind of traditional classroom learning I’m talking about.
I’m talking about the daily lessons I get from real world experiences. Things like:
younger professionals who school me on how to use the new technology in a meaningful way to reach target audiences.
online professional resources – I have a few favorites on vocabulary and grammar. (I know… I’m weird)
incredible professional organizations such as the Master’s and Independent Communicator’s groups within KC/IABC as well as the monthly meetings. These face-to-face meetings are a tremendous resource. I have truly benefited from learning lessons from these groups and still draw on these individuals when I have questions.
a new lesson from someone outside of my industry who is more than happy to tell me all of his or her secrets over coffee that I can use at my PR firm. (I’ve learned to do ad buying, fundraising, graphic design, websites and much more from these experts)
I was blown away yesterday when I sat down with a longtime friend who took more than hour out of her schedule to walk me through her decades of industry knowledge for a small client of mine. In exchange: a promise to help her out sometime and an inexpensive lunch. Obviously, I can’t become an expert like her in an hour but I was writing furiously to try to capture just a little of her vast knowledge to share with my client.
In turn, I try to always do the same for others. When I meet with small businesses who are looking for PR help, I offer them a short tutorial and even share my media list, knowing they may not have the resources to hire a PR firm or consultant. Why not offer them a lesson and pay it forward? After all, it has become clear to me… learning never stops.
