If you’re a PR person working for a sales-driven organization (and aren’t most organizations nowadays tied to sales?), have you ever stopped to think about how your work fits into the sales cycle?

At its core, selling is reliant on personal and non-personal communication to convince prospects to take a specific action. The sales team will rely on personal phone calls, visits and emails – as well as direct mail, newsletters, e-marketing … and many other marketing tools.

But, where does PR come into play? Certainly, it’s part of the prospect education process — which takes place during the earliest stages of the sales cycle. However, PR’s role doesn’t just end there. Here are three overlooked ways to align PR with the sales efforts:

1. In-sync messaging. As a PR person, you need to be in constant contact with the sales team so you understand what they’re hearing “on the ground.” What messages are resonating with prospects? Then, align your story pitches appropriately. It goes without saying that the economy is the hot issue right now. How does your product or service save money, increase efficiencies or maximize resources?
2. Smart community relations. The sales team has identified the next hot prospect … but is struggling to get a meeting with the right person. If you’re taking a strategic approach to your company’s community relations, you might be able to help. Research the prospect’s involvement in causes, organizations, events, boards and committees. Is there an opportunity for your company to also be involved or supportive? That might just be enough to get on the prospect’s radar.
3. Professional online networking. By now, you’ve hopefully bought into the importance of networking online. However, unless your sales team is full of early adapters or tech-savvy folks, they may not understand the value of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or other professional networking tools As a PR person, you should help them figure out how to navigate social media and leverage online networks to boost sales. For starters, are they actively participating in LinkedIn discussions? Have they asessed connections available through their network?

As PR people, we become that much more valuable to a company if we can demonstrate how our efforts are tied to the bottom line. What do you think — how else can we enhance (and accelerate) the sales cycle?

“Social media isn’t for our company. People might leave negative comments!”

How often have you heard some variation of that line of thinking? Unfortunately, the truth is that if someone has something negative to say about your company — they’re going to find a way. If not on your blog, than on some other social media outlet. That’s why companies need to incorporate “listening” into their communication strategy. People are talking — whether you’re participating or not. (For more on professional listening, see Chris Brogan’s post on growing bigger ears.)

The importance of listening was perfectly illustrated on Jeremiah Owyang’s blog. He wrote a post about the role corporate culture plays in a company’s ability/willingness to participate in social media. The post included an embedded presentation about IBM’s company-wide incorporation of social computing. But, the lesson about listening actually took place in the post’s comments. Jimmy, an ex-IBM employee commented on the post and used the forum to express his deep-rooted frustration with the way the company reacted when he needed time off to deal with a family crisis. His comments painted a very ugly picture.

And that’s why it’s important to listen. Adam Christensen — who, according to his blog, does “social media communication” for IBM — read the original post and the ensuing comments. Adam responded with his own comment to address the accusations:

By inserting itself into the dialogue, IBM diffused a potentially negative situation. Additional comments discussed corporate culture; however, IBM wasn’t the target of further criticism. We can only guess how the thread would have developed if IBM hadn’t jumped in. Maybe readers would have posted more attacks on IBM … or maybe not. We’ll never know — but is that a risk your company wants to take? If not, it’s time to start listening.

Photo Credit: David Plotzki.

Thanks in large part to Watson Wyatt’s groundbreaking study “Effective Communication: A Leading Indicator of Financial Performance” (conducted in 2003 and again in 2005) we know that effective internal communication is a key component to overall business health, productivity and profitability. For example, some of the study’s findings included:

• Companies that communicate effectively have a 19.4 percent higher market premium than companies that do not.
• Companies that are highly effective communicators are 20 percent more likely to report lower turnover rates than their peers.
• A significant improvement in communication effectiveness is associated with a 29.5 percent increase in market value.

Today’s definition of PR tends to emphasize external communication; however, internal communication is just as critical to a company’s success. That may be why the PRSA Orlando chapter held a professional development luncheon last week focusing on this very topic — featuring guest speaker Ron Hess, who certainly understands the benefits of internal communication.

Here’s the thing: Not one of these tips — other than making sure the Intranet doesn’t contain too much information — included anything digital. Nothing about creating a dialogue. Hess didn’t talk abut Facebook, Yammer, Ning, wikis, kluster or any other two-way communication tool that can strengthen internal communication.

By now, companies are starting to understand the value of incorporating social media to communicate with consumers — not at them. But, why are we only using these tools to engage external audiences? From an internal communication perspective, social media can help make the CEO more accessible, foster idea sharing, engage employees and strengthen corporate culture. Instead of just distributing a static e-newsletter or posting information on a bulletin board, why not apply social media best practices to internal communication? As one HR expert put it:

It’s a shame that we have so many of these new, wonderful communication tools we can use internally yet they are so underused. People leave their jobs and join and participate in social communities while at home, where they learn and grow and share and better themselves and others. Then they return to the office and it’s 1993 all over again. Or 1973, depending on the location.

Research supports investing in internal PR. But, even if you already have a strong internal effort, don’t get complacent. Think outside the box. It’s worth noting that the government — an institution not normally known as an early adapter — is embracing Web 2.0 to foster better communication (as detailed by Dr. Mark Drapeau here and here). If the government can figure it out, you can, too. So, how are you using social media to modernize your employee communication efforts?

The Apple PR machine is in overdrive. Just a half-hour after the New York Stock Exchange’s closing bell, Apple announced that Steve Jobs would be taking a leave of absence. Three initial thoughts:

• Will Apple be in full crisis mode tonight — hitting all the news outlets in an attempt to calm investors? Less than an hour after the announcement, Apple stock is down 8%.
• Apple isn’t known for engaging social networks. How will they respond to the countless blogs and tweets speculating about the health of Apple and its fearless leader?
• Can chief operating officer Tim Cook capture any of the Steve Jobs magic? Phil Schiller was unable to step in to Jobs’ big shoes at MacWorld. Will Cook have better luck? As Slate wrote after MacWorld:

It’s certainly true that Jobs’ style is central to the company’s brand and the fierce connection it forges with its customers. His product announcements prompt hundreds of millions of dollars worth of free press coverage and whip up greater and more loyal fans, generating ever-greater interest in the company.

Apple without Steve Jobs, it seems, will be just like Microsoft or Oracle, an ordinary tech firm with perfectly adequate products and no sizzle.

How will Apple manage this crisis? And, how will bloggers and citizen journalists impact the process? Seems like a crisis management case study in the making.

So, around this time every year, people start coming up with their New Year’s resolutions. Eat healthier. Work less (or more). Be a better friend or spouse. Take a vacation. But, New Year’s resolutions aren’t just for our “offline” lives. In this always-on, always-connected world, how do resolutions translate online?

Lose weight. Surely, you can stand to “trim the fat” in Twitterville, on Facebook or even with your LinkedIn account. Unfollow or unfriend people who aren’t adding value to your world. Don’t follow someone just because they follow you … or because they’re an influencer and you think you have to. Follow people who offer insight, engage in conversation and are open to learning.

Stop smoking. By now you know smoking is bad for you — just like you know that auto-direct messaging a new Twitter followerer is bad. But, some of you still do it. Make it your mission to stop smoking (i.e., stop spamming) in 2009.

Spend quality time with family and friends. Online translation: Spend more time with the people that matter in your life — personally and professionally. For PR people, bloggers and journalists, there’s #journchat. Whatever your industry, get to know the movers and shakers and thought leaders. But, also develop relationships with the rising stars and “behind-the-scenes” players. Take advantage of tools that help you add a personal touch. For example, Peter Shankman once said he spends a couple minutes every morning wishing his Facebook contacts a “happy birthday.”  It may seem like a small gesture, but it shows that you care.

Be helpful. On LinkedIn, join groups, answer questions and recommend smart people. On Twitter, help people who need assistance. Take an “open source approach” and make 2009 the year to share your knowledge. Remember, sometimes you have to give to get.

That’s just the first four. Check back on Monday for four more New Year’s resolutions to help your online life. And, feel free to add your own in the comments.

As our company ventures into more work involving social media and online brands, we have been making an effort to read everything on the subject that we can get our hands on. And, yes, that includes books. Admittedly, it seemed ironic for me to be toting around a hardback to learn about the future of what is going on online.

“Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World” by Don Tapscott challenges many of the stereotypes about millennials (those currently between 11 and 31 years of age). What I was most interested in was confirming what our staff has come to believe is an inevitable shift in our industry: that the interest in social media as the latest tool in communications was not a passing trend, but rather the way it is and will be in the future.

The most compelling case for this position came from Tapscott’s analysis of population and the Baby Boom Generation. There are now 77 million Baby Boomers, born 1946 to 1964, making up 23 percent of the U.S. population. Net Geners, or millenials, consist of approximately 81 million people born from 1977 to 1997, and currently make up 27 percent of the US population. This echoing effect, as it has come to be described, represents the largest swell in population in our nation’s history, and it stands to reason that what interests them is going to impact the way we do everything.

Tapscott points out that where Boomers passively watched television in their free time, Net Geners have grown up with the Internet – interacting and changing content and incorporating online tools into their lives. His look into Net Geners’ interests and tendencies, further reinforces a very different set of expectations – not only of themselves, but also of the brands they chose to align with. Some companies have taken notice and incorporated this change into their online brands and tools that speak to their customers. Many have not and are hoping it’s just a fad. If they’re wrong – it is going to take them a long time to catch up.

TechCrunch today put journalists and other news organizations on notice with Death to the Embargo.

We’ve never broken an embargo at TechCrunch. Not once. Today that ends. From now our new policy is to break every embargo. We’ll happily agree to whatever you ask of us, and then we’ll just do whatever we feel like right after that. We may break an embargo by one minute or three days. We’ll choose at random.

How did we get to this point? TechCrunch deals with PR people who “email a story to us as many as 20 times, and call every TechCrunch writer on their cell phones repeatedly. If we say we won’t write a story (which is most of the time), things often turn nasty.”

Sounds to me like we have a communication problem. According to TechCrunch, some PR people have “morphed into vultures” who will do and say anything to get a story published. Meanwhile, journalists are caught in a “race to the bottom” – pressured by a “competitive marketplace and decreasing advertising sales.”

Yes, there are some bad PR people out there. (Journalists, you have to admit that you’re not all perfect either.) But, just like there are excellent journalists who take the time to research stories and investigate real news, there are also good PR practitioners who simply want to help their clients communicate better.

Journalists: Continue to work with the good PR people. The ones who respect your time, deadlines and limited resources. PR pros: Be considerate of journalists. Understand that they are being forced to do more with less.

Also, keep in mind, there are two sides to every story. Just check out #journchat – a weekly discussion between PR pros, bloggers and journalists. Every Monday, these very people – who TechCrunch would lead you to believe are totally at odds with each other – engage in a fast-paced dialogue about important communication issues. This Monday they covered pitching tips, advice about navigating new media and general commentary about journalism.

#Journchat is real communication designed to break barriers and eliminate frustrations. As we all face mounting pressure from clients, readers and advertisers, maybe the goal should be to figure out how to work together instead of just ignoring professional standards and common sense rules.