Molly Thompson

Oh yes he did!  Author, entrepreneur, consultant, HARO founder Peter Shankman told Inc. contributor Marla Tabaka, “Twitter number count is just the new penis envy; it really doesn’t matter.”  Can I repeat that here?  Guess I just did…

Marla’s key takeaway in her article, “Toss Our Your Social Media Metrics”, after interviewing Shankman was that judging your success solely by your social media numbers is bad business - your bottom line may suffer if that’s your only focus.  A point Peter drove home oh so eloquently.  And if you’ve ever seen Shankman speak in person, or read his blog with regularity, you would not be surprised that he put it that way!  :)

But you see, when Shankman talks, people listen.  And that’s exactly his point.  Who cares if you have thousands of Twitter followers and Facebook fans?  Those are just numbers.  As Shankman points out, “Numbers don’t matter…What’s important is that you understand your audience, know what they want, and give it to them.”

I would argue that Marla’s article title is a bit misleading.  Agreed, it’s not about quantity of followers or fans, in most cases, but quality.  However, as an agency, we advocate tracking social media metrics that are applicable to each individual client and their specific (PR) goals and corporate objectives.

Most importantly, you can track and measure all the metrics and numbers you want…but then what?  You should routinely revisit PR goals to ensure they remain aligned with your corporate objectives.  By pulling relevant success metrics and tracking progress against those metrics on a regular basis, you can identify patterns and trends that show the most effective type of outreach and assess the overall performance of each strategy.  As a result, adjustments to strategies, tactics, and SEO approach can be made for future campaigns to ensure you’re continuously moving closer to your end goal(s).

Back in my elementary school days, we were all about the 3 R’s - reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic.  Hmmmm..maybe that was part of our problem?!?  These days, if you have school-aged kids, you’re probably very familiar with the national movement towards STEM-based learning - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.  Many schools, including elementary programs, have begun implementing STEM curriculum as part of their everyday learning.  And while it’s about time, women still have a LOT of catching up to do particularly in these fields of study and career paths.

I read a great article in BIOtechNOW by George Goodno on his perspective as to why women are underrepresented in scientific fields.  It was a follow-up article to his recent post on the systemic failure of public schools to prepare kids for science and math focused jobs.

Goodno points out that men still outnumber women three-to-one in science and technology jobs. But research shows that a lack of interest in science isn’t at the root of this particular gender gap: 74% of teen girls are interested in the fields of STEM and in STEM subjects.  So, do girls perform as well as boys in math and science?  You bet!  The American Association of University Women has shown that high school girls and boys perform equally well in math and science.

If this is the case, then why aren’t girls prioritizing STEM fields when thinking about their future careers? In Goodno’s opinion, 

I suspect this is another example of how public school systems, and universities for that matter, are not adequately preparing students for the requirements of today’s workplace.

Perhaps Goodno is on the right track on a national level, but my experience on a local level has been vastly different.  I have two young sons in elementary school in Wake County, NC whose principal and administration is dedicated to bringing in as much STEM-based curriculum and related learning opportunities as possible.  I’ve seen this range from a “more learning day” in my son’s kindergarten class who Skyped with Sea World’s Sea Turtle Rescue Center, to an after-school LEGO FUNdamentals class that teaches kids the basic principles of engineering, architecture, and physics.  Our school is getting ready to host a 2-day STEM Day in April where kids present research projects and professionals are invited in to share their expertise, their career choices, experiments with the kids, and more.  They get to check out bones, brains, rocks, bugs, fire accelerant-sniffing dogs, buildings, and more!

This is good stuff, people.  Who had the opportunity to do anything this cool when you were in elementary school?!?  Don’t you think this is the kind of thing that gets kids super excited about STEM?  To me, this is the connection that was missing when I was a young girl coming up in school.  I loved studying science and always made good grades in science class, but I never had the opportunity to meet interesting professionals and see interesting “stuff” that was going on in the field.  I never connected that “science class” could translate to so many different interesting fields of study and career options as I got older.  The same applies to technology, engineering, and math.

So that connection starts in elementary school.  That connection starts at the local level.  It starts by taking initiative in our neighborhood elementary schools and providing opportunities like those mentioned above to get the kids, both boys and girls, excited about opportunities in STEM study and careers.  It starts by parents giving of their time volunteering in schools, sharing their expertise, sharing their skills to make events and opportunities like this happen.  It starts by families supporting their school administration in their efforts to bring STEM-based learning to their kids’ classrooms.  Let’s start local, and grow this thing nationally.  Who’s on board?!?

Not a technology post today, more of a personal reflection at a sad time.  In my agency bio, I mentioned a high school prank that landed a mention of me on the 11:00 news after “disrespecting” our school’s special guest with a whipped cream pie in the face.  Thought it might be appropriate to explain how that came to pass…

The year was 1991.  Ragsdale High School, Jamestown, North Carolina.  Teachers vs. Students Trivia Quiz Fun Night in the school auditorium.  Packed house.  Little on the boring side, so the seniors decide we need to spice things up a bit.  

One of the guys received a ticket prize for a chance to  toss a whipped cream pie across the stage at the losing team.  Everybody digs in their pockets for bills and change and we scrape up $40 for a sucker person to detour said whipped cream pie into the face of our special guest and Trivia Quiz Fun Night emcee, Rich Brenner, FOX8 sports anchor and parent of two students at our school.  And who was that lucky sucker person?  You guessed it.  Moi.  Shoot, $40 bucks is $40 bucks, and I would have done (just about) anything for a laugh back then.  Fine tailored suit, 100% silk tie, camera-ready make-up, and carefully coiffed hair be damned.

It was my time to shine.  I climb the stage, ticket in hand.  The stage lights are bearing down on me.  Hundreds of eager faces staring eagerly at me.  My friends taking side bets as to whether or not I’ll really go through with it.  A teacher hands me a big, fat whipped cream pie.  Mr. Brenner (as he was known to me) all smiles, “Go ahead, Molly, give it a good toss over there!”  He was so trusting of sweet little ole me…You see, I knew “Mr. Brenner” well, I played soccer with his daughter, he was a regular staple on the sidelines.  He always gave great big teddy bear hugs, win or lose, always encouraging.  All the soccer girls hung out together, often in their basement.  

Thus, my knees were knocking.  Palms sweating.  Heart pounding.  Hands shaking.

“How do I hold it, Mr. Brenner?  Like this?”  And I tilt the pie around in my right hand, away from the losing team, directly towards his fine tailored suit, 100% silk tie, camera-ready make-up, and carefully coiffed hair.

“Yup, just like that,” he said, smiling a great big teddy bear smile.

I went home with $40 in my pocket that night.  He went to the 11:00 newscast with a (wet) fine tailored suit, (slightly) stained 100% silk tie, not-as-much camera ready make-up, and previously carefully coiffed hair, now crusty-whipped-cream-dried-sticking-up-in-spikes hair.  But boy did I get some big laughs!  From my friends in the audience whose $40 bucks I had just pocketed.  Not so much from the school administration and parent volunteers who had put the event on.  

All I did the whole way home was pray my parents stuck to their usual 9pm bed-time and weren’t waiting up for us to get home.  I just knew someone had called to tell them what I had done.  My sister and I rushed home…lights out, parents asleep.  Shew, one hurdle avoided.  Flip the TV on, news comes on…wait through 20 minutes of news until the sportscast.  There’s Mr. Brenner…and my oh my…does he look….DIFFERENT can you say!  So much so, his co-anchors have a great laugh at his expense and he has to explain why he looks so disheveled - thanks to his friend, Molly Hodgin!  What?!?  I made the NEWS?!?  Sweet!  I just went legend!  $40 in my pocket AND I made the news!  That’s high school history right there, folks.

But that was Friday night.  Come Monday morning, sitting in Physics class minding my own beeswax, taking notes.  In comes a student from the Principal’s office, he needs to see Molly Hodgin.  Teacher literally does a double-take - “Who?”  Folks, Molly Hodgin never once got called to the Principal’s office in 12 years of schooling.  A hush falls over the classroom.  Someone plays a trumpet death march as I make my way across the room.  

Worst 20 minutes of my life (well, maybe not so much) sitting in the principal’s office getting lectured about disrespecting the school’s special guest, did I know how much fine tailored suits and 100% silk ties cost and I needed to call and apologize (too late, my dad already made me do that over the weekend) and offer to pay to have everything dry cleaned (dad made me do that, too.)  Mr. Brenner ever-so-politely declined my offer.  Shew.  Would have cost me WAY more than $40 bucks!

Mr. Brenner passed away yesterday at the age of 65.  I’m so sorry to hear about that.  I will always remember what a big teddy bear he was.   And that he was still my friend, even after I stuffed a whipped cream pie in his face for $40 bucks and an epic laugh.  Rest in peace.

We’re glad to see that entrepreneurs are creating big business in the North Carolina, according to a recent report from the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED).  CED reported that 1,823 new high-growth companies founded in North Carolina since 1992 have created 40,560 jobs.  Of those firms, 397 have attracted $7.7 billion in private capital, raised from more than 600 funds, since 1997.  Now that’s big business!

As an agency, we were founded on the principle of wanting to connect with and support the growth of fellow entrepreneurial technology companies in the Southeast.  Our team came together with agency and in-house experience, from large corporations and small companies, but ultimately decided that smaller start-ups and entrepreneurial-backed organizations were going to be our sweet(est) spot.

In fact, just this morning our New Business team met to discuss how we can better serve this market with new Entrepreneurial Toolkit offerings.  We’re going to survey some of our contacts to see what your biggest PR-related business challenges are and how we might be able to help in the near-term, before you’re able to afford a full PR retainer.  Keep an eye out in the first quarter for an Entrepreneurial News Portal on our site, an eBook is in the works, and a webinar series will get underway once we get survey results back and know what you need help with!  Stay tuned for more info coming soon…

Channels on YouTube have been redesigned to provide more of a personalized user and management experience.  I recently logged into a client’s Channel to upload some new videos and up popped the new configuration along with a quick tutorial to walk you through the changes.

According to YouTube, the new Channel feed is the new distribution center for your Channel.  Any content shared (including video uploads, comments, favorites, likes, and playlists) are posted to your feed and seen by your subscribers on their homepage.  You can also Edit your Channel to give it a relevant name and description, which potential subscribers see when previewing your Channel.

No brainer tips for business users:  Don’t forget how important it is to regularly post fresh new content to your YouTube channel.  Make sure you’re tagging each upload with appropriate keywords.  Add links to other websites and accounts you have. These are simple, easy ways to capture your audience’s attention and turn a browser into a subscriber ready to interact and engage with your brand.

My take – very slick and streamlined, and a bonus as this workflow is very familiar to those used to navigating Facebook.  I LIKE!

…but we should be really good at what we do do.  (and that’s not a typo!)

In a recent PR Daily post, author Linda Forrest explains traits of talented PR pros.  She does a good job researching and compiling feedback from various sources on essential attributes of a good PR practitioner. 

She covers some general attributes every PR pro should exhibit: mutual respect with the media and industry thought leaders; transparency; informed and relevant outreach; flexibility; and so on.  There are also “human skills” vital to a PR pro’s success, including patience, congeniality, critical thinking, and ethics.

I agree these are no-brainer basic attributes every PR pro should possess (and really, don’t these apply to just about any career?)  However, I do think there are other qualities that are job-specific or specialties based on our particular areas of expertise and interest.

For example, I lead our agency’s biotech and healthcare practice.  Sounds fancy doesn’t it?  Not especially.  I just love anything and everything biotech, pharma, healthcare, science geeky.  It’s my thing, my specialty, I’m good at it.  Ask me about cloud computing or virtualization and you might get a blank stare.

As individuals, PR pros can’t be all things to all clients.  But as agencies, we should (and we do!) encourage specialized attributes and develop expertise unique to each team member.  Put us (Crossroads) all together and you get one h-e-double-hockey-sticks (I have young kids) of a team.  Of course, the Crossroads team members all exhibit the basic success traits outlined by Forrest.  And we all have basic understandings of any technology, product or service our agency represents.  However, we use our diverse collection of experience and expertise to the advantage of each of our clients.

How does your agency work for you?  Trying to be all things at once, or really good at what they do do?

Did you know…

• North Carolina is the third leading state for biotechnology with 528 companies;
• We have 110 contract research and testing companies — one of the world’s greatest concentrations;
• 60 agricultural biotechnology companies are headquartered in North Carolina;
• North Carolina boasts 13 publicly traded companies with a market capitalization of $11.8 billion;
• At least 75 companies are based on North Carolina university technologies (GO PACK!);
• 57,000 employees;
• 18 percent growth from 2001 to 2006, the fastest of the top 10 biotech states;
• Estimated $4.5 billion payroll;
• About 145 bioscience patents granted each year to companies and universities;
• Approximately 12 percent of all patents issued to North Carolina assignees are biotech-related!

For more on these stats and other great information on the health of North Carolina’s biotech industry, check out the NC Biotechnology Center.

David Ranii published a story in this morning’s News and Observer detailing how venture capital raised in the third quarter was down compared to recent quarters.  Quick recap of the N&O article:  Data released today by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association shows a total of 10 Triangle companies raised $43.9M in venture capital in Q3.  The largest deal in the third quarter was Crossroads PR client, digital CRO, Clinipace Worldwide (which raised $15M).  A second Crossroads PR client, 6fusion, also made the list, having raised $7M in the third quarter.

Having worked with many early- and mid-stage entrepreneurial companies, we see the ebb and flow of VC financing firsthand.  Ranii’s observation is that dozens of Triangle businesses, especially young biotech, medical device, and IT companies, rely on VC funding to add resources, expand product pipelines, and boost marketing and sales efforts.  As Ranii points out, “a single big deal – or lack of one – can make a huge difference.”

Agreed.  Expanding our agency’s biotech and healthcare practice has been a large priority, especially over the past year.  No doubt it’s a tough time to raise capital, but clients like Clinipace, Ajinomoto AminoScience, and others are in a really hot sector right now. 

Clinipace, in particular, has (luckily) not seen much of an effect from the economic downturn.  In fact, the state of the economy has created a bigger need from emerging and mid-market biopharma and medical device firms frustrated by traditional approaches to clinical development programs and looking to outsource studies.

We’ve been very busy developing and supporting integrated marketing, public relations, and social media campaigns for our biotech and pharma clients.  Business has been great for them – which is good for us!

Hopefully you read my last post on how to begin building a strategic PR program by developing key messages and complementary talking points.  Last week I had the unique experience of “practicing what I preach” to clients everyday regarding the importance of clear, concise messaging.  

Backstory…I’ve been doing this crazy TRX suspension training class with my awesome trainer Larissa Lotz, LOVE her, for about 2 years now.  One of our local ABC affiliate anchors, Tisha Powell, LOVE her, heard about TRX and wanted to check it out for one of her regular health and fitness reports.  

Which brings us to…Tisha and a cameraman came by Studio Revolution during a recent Monday class to film us in action.  Scary stuff!  Hello, TRX involves alot of sweating, spandex, and bad exercise hair…which was now going to be transmitted across the viewing area in full HD glory!  Luckily, Larisa had given us a heads-up they were going to be there, so we could either bail or apply a touch of make-up and get our TRX on for the camera.  She also wanted to know who would volunteer to do an on-camera interview after class.

If you don’t know me that well, then you should know I’ve never turned down a good camera opportunity!  ”I’ll do it!”, I eagerly volunteered.  After all, I’m in PR, I’m always telling my clients what to do in front of the camera or on the phone with media or analyst contacts.  Shouldn’t I be good at this kind of thing?

So I did my due diligence the night before.  I worked through a few different interview scenarios in my head, thought of different possible lines of questioning and how I could respond.  Reviewed basic TRX principles (key messaging!) Developed a few fun but relevant talking points.  Brushed over some of the standard media interview do’s and don’ts…don’t hum and um, do bridge back to key messaging, don’t look like a deer in headlights in full HD glory.

So there I was…all suited up in spandex.  Sweating.  Bad exercise hair.  In full HD glory.  Lovely.  But hey, I knew my talking points!  I’m bridging back to key messaging!  I know my stuff, zing, zang, zowie!  I went in prepared, felt confident, and I think I pretty much pulled it off!  

Practicing what I preach.  Do you think?  Check out the video here.  In full HD glory.

(Re-)Building a Strategic PR Program
Step 1: Messaging 

New clients and new business leads often want to know, “What’s the first step, how do we get started?”  Our first objective is to understand your business, the solutions you offer, your market, and your unique value proposition. 

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  Easier said than done.  You wouldn’t believe how many organizations, some that have even been doing PR for a long time, haven’t taken the time to step back and look at the mixed messages they’re putting out there.  The executive team says one thing, sales sells another, marketing markets this, and PR pitches that.  No one is on the same basic page to begin with.

We can’t help you build a strategic and successful PR program unless we fully understand your organization’s unique missions and goals…not only according to the executive team’s point of view, but also from sales, marketing, business development, and other groups, as applicable.  What is most important to each group in your organization and how can PR help each reach their goals? 

So what’s our first step?  Taking the time to get the message right from the very beginning.

PR is never a one-size-fits-all application. We might take a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a lot of the other to develop and/or fine tune your corporate messaging to ensure all company stakeholders are telling the same story about your company, products, services, and value props.  How do we do that?  In brief, by:

• Analyzing competitive communications.  Who are your top two or three competitors? How are they impacting your industry through PR efforts?  What kind of visibility do they have with media, analyst, bloggers, and other thought leaders and influencers? What kind of messages are they using to reach those audiences?  How do you compare and what potential opportunities and challenges will you face?
• Understanding your audience and influencers.  Who and what are the targets that influence your customers’ behaviors and purchasing decisions?  Once we’ve identified those influencers, we develop key messaging and unique outreach programs to effectively communicate with each of them.
• Developing key messaging. We love a good brain dump.  We’ll work closely with internal stakeholders to better understand your corporate strategy, objectives, and goals, your sales and marketing strategies and pipeline, as well as your company’s history, challenges, successes, and other relevant background.  Based upon this session and other research, we develop a clear, concise and credible corporate positioning statement and supportive messaging that best reflect your organization and serves as the framework for communicating with your key audiences. 

So that’s where we start.  Has your organization taken the time to take a step back and analyze these seemingly simple questions before diving in to a PR program?  What else do you feel is critical to analyze at this point in the process before moving forward?  Would love to hear your feedback!