Guest post by Laura Scholz, president of Scholz Communications.

When you first start your solo PR practice, bartering services can seem like a win-win. You get amazing experience, exposure, and valuable services; your “clients” get your professional expertise at virtually no cost.

During the past three years, I’ve traded for web design, haircuts, Pilates and yoga classes, personal training, head shots, nutrition advice, office space, and more than the occasional meal. Having started my business with zero savings and zero capital — in the middle of a divorce, no less — these types of relationships were crucial to helping me manage my budget AND move my business forward. And I would say the same was true for those on the other end of the barter.

But as my business continues to grow and my time becomes more limited, I’m starting to question the value of trade for all involved. I think everyone enters trade with the best of intentions, but with never-ending to-do lists and nonstop schedules, you have to set priorities. And that means paying clients come first – often to the detriment of good relationships with quality people who have nothing but the best intentions. So, how do you decide if trade is right for you? And if it is, how do you make it a truly mutually beneficial relationship? Following are five tips for business bartering.

1. Be selective. Choose your trades carefully. Go with businesses and people who represent your brand and reputation. Remember  you don’t have to accept every trade opportunity that comes your way. It’s okay to say no.
2. Be realistic. We’re all busy professionals, juggling client work with personal and professional obligations. It’s easy to take on too much, and unfortunately, unpaid work can fall to the bottom of the priority list. Be selective about your clients but also realistic about what you can accomplish for them given your other responsibilities. Over-promising is the easiest way to ensure a relationship goes south.
3. Sign a formal contract. In the early stages of my business, I did entirely too much business with nothing but a virtual handshake to seal the deal. Not any more. Every one of my clients signs a contract stipulating terms, duration, and deliverables. It may seem like a formality, but it gives both parties clear boundaries and expectations.
4. Establish boundaries. Every project and every contact needs a beginning and end point, with clear goals, deadlines, and outcomes. For example, my contract with my Pilates and yoga studio is for six months at a set amount of studio credit per month and outlines specific deliverables. This ensures  I complete the work for them in the allotted amount of time, but it also means we can renegotiate terms or choose to part ways at the end of the contract. Which brings me to my next point, which is…
5. Have an out. There’s nothing worse than an open-ended “I’ll help you if you’ll help me” agreement. While entered into with the best of intentions, it breeds laziness on both sides and sets you up for an unpleasant parting. Unfortunately, I’ve been there, and it’s really not the ideal way to end a friendship or a business partnership. Be clear about the terms of your relationship, but also give yourself and your “client” an out so you can end the contract if either party is unhappy – without permanently damaging your relationship.

What are your experiences with trade? Other lessons you’ve learned or tips you’d add? Any success stories you’d like to share?

Laura Scholz is the president of Scholz Communications, a boutique firm that helps creative sector entrepreneurs brand, promote and grow their businesses. When not busy working or writing for her own blog, she enjoys running marathons with the Georgia Chapter of Team in Training, consuming massive quantities of cheese dip, and virtually celebrating wine:thirty with the Arment Dietrich team.

Picture a CEO in a suit, with a cigar in his mouth, saying to his PR team: “Our customers don’t know what they’re talking about.”

I witnessed this reaction from a CEO (ok, sans cigar and suit) when he received unfortunate news from his PR team. Word on the street about the current customer experience was, um, bad. Really bad. Some tweets had recently tied the company name and “customer service fail” together. They were editing as fast as they could on the company Facebook wall, but it was hard to keep up with the influx of tirades.

This company was excellent at selling. They sold and sold and sold some more. They were growing – fast. But the dirty underbelly of all that rapid growth was a total lack of attention to their current customers. These customers were seen as practically pests – cogs in the wheel of their marketing machine.

They were moving employees out of important roles supporting the operation of the customer experience into marketing-focused roles. The website was quickly moving from a support center to a sales center. Calls to the support center were fielded by new, inexperienced, and untrained support personnel who only cared about the $14/hour.

The PR folks were doing their best to sound the alarm, but the CEO refused to see the connection. “It’s not a PR problem unless (trade journal/industry analysts/Wall Street Journal) gets wind of it.”

This was at the dawn of the current phase of the “Power to the People” period we’re in now. But companies still aren’t paying attention. Be grateful for feedback directly from customers – even in public. Those complaints via Twitter and Facebook are the proverbial canary in the coal mine. Recognize their importance, and pay attention! Otherwise, you could have PR nightmare on your hands – just like Gini Dietrich wrote about in her post Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines: Crisis via Twitter, “no amount of policy can quell a firestorm created on Twitter if not handled in the right way.”

So what if you start seeing some external indicators that something is wrong with your customer experience? Here’s a three-step battle plan.

1. Respond publicly and then try to take issues offline.

Don’t respond with a “gee, thanks for telling us” without trying to connect with a customer you can help. (I wrote about United’s failed attempt at connecting with customers as an example of this.)

2. Make sure you have a way to internally connect the appropriate people and departments.

Don’t just forward a complaint from a customer to the right department – follow up and make sure there’s action on it!

3. THANK the customer for complaining.

This might be the last thing you want to do, but truly, customer feedback is vital to NOT losing customers. Providing feedback to the customer also shows you care, you’re working on it, and you’re not sacrificing loyal customers with new, shiny ones!

If there was ever a time to overreact to the singular customer complaint, it’s now. Who do you admire in this arena? Who’s doing it well?

Jeannie Walters has been focused on the customer experience for more than 15 years, consulting to companies big and small on their retention strategies. She is currently principal at 360Connext, speaker, and mom to two young boys. You can find Jeannie on Twitter (@jeanniecw) discussing the important and the mundane.

Guest post by Ryan Knapp, a recovering linguist

What if I told you there is an innovative communication tool that allows you to talk with millions of new people in a way you’ve never been able to before? What if I told you this new way to communicate would integrate seamlessly with all forms of social media you currently use?

What innovative tool would I be talking about?

Language.

Language is the most basic, yet forgotten, tool for communication. I’m not talking language in terms of writing copy or producing press releases. I’m talking about English, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, French, Arabic, and the other 6,909 languages spoken in the world today.

In a time where everyone is clamoring to figure out the newest technology to help increase their network and get the word out, most completely ignore the opportunity to learn how to communicate in more than one language.

Monolingualism – the ability to speak only one language – is extremely common in countries where English is the native language, especially in the United States where only 17% of people are bilingual.

Why is this important?

Social media has broken down the initial contact wall on a global scale. We now can connect with a buyer in China or a CFO in Norway with a click of the mouse. Making the initial contact has never been easier.

Instead of the initial contact wall, the language wall is built when we tap that company president from Brazil on the shoulder and lack the ability and linguistic tools to understand him or her when they turn around.

You may never be a polyglot – someone who uses many languages fluently – but learning how to say hello and a few words in multiple languages will extend your network further than Twitter, Facebook, and any other social network combined. In fact, it will open you up to different social networks you didn’t even know existed.

You want to talk about standing out in the job market? Minor in a language in college or take a class now. You want to find new clients? Learn (or find someone who speaks) the language in a new target market. Looking to increase your media coverage? Hit up some non-English magazines, blogs, and websites.

My self-taught native fluency in Spanish allows me to communicate with around 500 million Spanish speakers, effectively covering the Western Hemisphere. In Polish I can open up a conversation with another 40 million and in Catalan I can make 6 million people in Barcelona smile. Without my ability to speak Spanish, roughly 35% of my leads and contacts in soccer would be gone.

My advice? Don’t fear language. Go find a local continuing ed Japanese class, or reach out to a local college and take that French class you’ve been thinking about. Open your mind and ears.

So why not learn a second language yourself or use one in your company? There’s no better time than now.

It’s easier said than done, right? Or is it del dicho al hecho hay mucho trecho?

Editor’s note: HUGE congrats to Ryan on his new job and a BIG move from Buffalo to Kansas City. All you KC peeps look out for him! He’s going to need some local friends!

Ryan Knapp is a recovering linguist who writes “my life in soccer,” a look at the (sometimes not so) beautiful game, at www.ryanjknapp.com. When he’s not working 14 hour days and teaching himself random languages, you can find him out for a swim, bike, or run as he prepares for his first 70.3-mile half-Ironman in August and a 140.6-mile full-Ironman in 2011.

As a recap, what you can expect to see every day:

* More content under communication, advertising, marketing, social media, SEO, and business growth

* Guest bloggers every day

* Expert Q&As

* Industry innovations

* Comment of the week

* Giveaways and contest

All of this will remain free, but be watching later this year for a subscription-based, behind-the-scenes Spin Sucks that will garner you access to more content, discussion groups, brainstorming, and access to experts.

Tell us what you think, what you’d like to see more (or less) of, if you know experts you’d like to see interviewed, if you’d like to guest blog, and if you’ve seen an industry innovation you’d like to see highlighted. This blog is evolving to help you do your jobs in the above six categories so tell us what you need from us.

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter…we’re Spin Sucks!

Guest blog by Paige Worthy, a magazine editor for three horticultural trade publications

Remember Highlights magazine? It was in every single doctor’s office when I was kid. There was a black-and-white cartoon in each issue called “Goofus and Gallant” that was about two very different little boys. Goofus was bad: He pulled on puppies’ tails and played pranks. Gallant was great: He spent his free time helping old ladies cross the street. Goofus made Gallant look even better. And Gallant made Goofus look that much worse. 

Many people in my life have reminded me of Goofus and Gallant: Friends, men…PR professionals.

Gallant PR people know my editorial calendar and offer to write me stories aimed at positioning their clients as experts, not peddlers of goods. Their Monday morning emails ask how my weekend was. They know how to relate.

Goofus PR people? They send a PDF attachment that I have to spend half an hour reformatting before it’s usable, or they fax me — yes, fax — some bizarre blast about advances in soybean crop management. Sometimes they even send an email to my address but directed at a competitor. Mistakes happen, yes. But I’m not printing that.

Gallants send me releases for products my readers will actually want to sell in their stores: Innovative gardening gloves, new landscape edging, breakthrough insect repellents.

Goofuses got my email address from the press list of a trade show I attended two and a half years ago and wants to sell me a snow blower.

I’m pretty active on my professional Facebook and Twitter accounts, and a lot of PR people have connected with me there. Gallants know the difference between personal and professional, between good information and just plain TMI. They show goodwill: They retweet my interesting posts, direct interesting news at me to pass on to my readers. They’re polite and courteous, and know when enough is enough.

Goofuses? They invite me to their Farmville homestead and want me to join their Mafia. They clog my stream with repetitive posts and cluttered, hashtaggy, overly linky tweets. They send auto-DMs when I follow them back. (And if any of you are training companies on social media and think that’s OK…you’re fired.)

I adore the Internet. Nine times out of 10, I’d rather send an email than make a phone call, and I think everyone should be all over the social media thing. It is not a fad.

Five hundred words are not enough to cover that. Just remember: Being online might make it easier to blast information to the masses indiscriminately, but that doesn’t make it acceptable behavior.

Remember the “relations” in public relations, and don’t forget the “social” in social media.

If you want a successful PR pitch, don’t be a Goofus…your editor will thank you.

Paige Worthy — yes, that’s her real name — is a Chicago-based writer and editor. By day, she’s managing editor for Lawn & Garden Retailer magazine. At all points in between, she tweets as @paigeworthy and blogs at www.paigeworthy.com about life, love, and the pursuit of jeans that fit. (It’s not as easy as it sounds.) She can be reached at pworthy@gmail.com.

Connection, conversation, and engagement. Even transparency and honesty. Open your door, pull up your windows, let people in and take a peek around, and decide if they want to work with you or, better, want to refer their communities to you.

It’s changing the way media relations (or publicity) is conducted because no longer do clients have to rely on a PR pro’s Rolodex to get someone to pay attention to them. And no longer are the critics and influencers the traditional journalists. The critics and influencers are all of us – we can rate and review products and services online, we write blogs, we even write editorials that can be featured in places we garner a lot of attention.

I say all of this because I had an odd situation I want to share…while we all fully realize I am not a traditional journalist. I write this blog, I write for two other business blogs, and I write for three trade publications. I don’t have tremendous influence, but I have enough in certain circles to make a difference.

Several weeks ago, I submitted an article I write for a monthly trade publication. Before I sent it to my editor, I sent it to my friend, who I interviewed for the article, for a quick look and approval. My friend is the social media expert at his company and does a phenomenal job showing real business return-on-investment so I wanted to showcase his work in my article, in order to give other companies in the industry some solid ideas they could steal.

A few hours after I sent the article to my friend for his approval, I received the following email from his PR firm:

“In the future, could you contact us first if you plan to feature any of our clients in Publication Name?”

Now, I have a relationship with their client, directly. It’s MUCH easier for me to go directly to him vs. tracking down their PR firm and going through them. This is the case for any influencer – traditional and new. And, until recently, I ran a very traditional PR firm. I would fire one of our account managers if they sent an email like this to a reporter or blogger.

It is the job of communication professionals (no matter if they’re traditional or digital) to facilitate conversations, not get in the middle of them. Likely the PR firm wants to take credit for the story and, if they’re contacted first, they can add it to their clip report. This is not in the best interest of the client.

Heck, it’s the job of any service business to facilitate, not get in the way.

So, I ask you, am I off my rocker or does it make sense that we should facilitate conversation, even if it means we don’t get to take credit?

Image credit: SEO Consultants

There are many reasons you should be prepared to talk to the media; a new opening, a new employee, an award, a new product or service, or some intellectual property; all of which give you plenty of time to prepare for a media interview. But what if the unplanned happens, such as a crisis? Are you prepared to talk with the media? Do your employees know what to do when a reporter calls?

Warren Buffet was quoted telling his Salomon Brothers employees, “If you lose money for the firm, I will be very understanding.  If you lose reputation for the firm, I will be ruthless.” Everyone in your business represents your brand, your reputation, so it’s important for everyone to understand who talks to the media and what the policy is should a reporter come knocking at your door.

A media interview is a great opportunity to tell the world about your business, through third-party credibility. But just like an employee handbook, a social media policy, and a business plan, it’s important to have a media plan in place that covers:

1. Who talks to the media? Designate a spokesperson. Usually there are at least two spokespersons – the CEO (or someone in the c-suite) and a senior-level communication professional (can be internal or can also be your PR firm).

2. What to do when the media calls, or stops by a location. The policy should detail how to handle the reporter’s request and list phone numbers and email addresses of the spokespersons.

3. Practice makes perfect – or as my piano teacher used to say, “Perfect practice makes perfect.” Practice different scenarios.  Make sure everyone knows what the policy is. Quiz them, if need be. Practice, practice, practice.

To read the rest of the story and find tips on practicing and preparing for media interviews, visit the Arment Dietrich PR toolbox. Scroll down to “Hotel Executive” and click on the second link, “Media Interviews: How to Prepare Yourself for the Unexpected.”

I’m having an identity crisis and I need your help.

It’s no secret we’ve changed our business model this year to incorporate social media into our traditional communication firm. All along I’ve been saying that PR deserves a place at the social media table, that so much of it is about relationships and messaging, which is what our industry has been doing for centuries.

So why is it, then, that the PR industry isn’t all over this? The global PR firms have begun to hire social media planners or experts to help them, but it seems like it’s just a “have to do this so we’ll hire someone” kind of thing. I’m not sensing a strategy or a change in the way the businesses operate, mostly because I think even the big firms look at social media like most companies – they don’t get it and don’t like giving up control of the message (which we know is just a perception).

Am I off my rocker or do we have a severe competitive advantage now that our business model completely incorporates social media….and has for a year?

Jeremy Probert, a guest columnist with Ragan , yesterday wrote an article titled, “Why letting staff remark publicly is an idiotic idea.” When I read that title, two thoughts flashed through my brain: 1) Surely this title is sensationalism and I’m going to buy into it by reading the story and 2) The wise words of my friend Amber Naslund, “Why would you let your staff answer your phone, but not let them use social media?”

And then I read the story.

You simply do not allow employees free rein. You don’t; that’s accepted.

Then along come the social media strategists. “It’s all about content, it’s all about dialogue, it’s all about the quality of the      conversation”—free spirits in the digital age. Not for them the rules of the old guard—no, the rise of the Internet and Facebook and Twitter has changed the world, and we must move on or wither and die.

It appears that their lobbying—and the continuing spread of Shiny Object Syndrome—has convinced even the most conservative of organizations (Coke, anyone?) that they should be allowed to let employees post directly to the social media sites, without passing the sense/health check that is the PR department.

On first blush, it’s quite intriguing that a “20 year communication veteran” is so adamant against anyone not messaged or well briefed working with the media. That Coke and Ford would actually ALLOW someone not in the internal communication department to be brand ambassadors is insane.

And then I realized the poor man is old school.

He thinks people aren’t already talking about their company, their bosses, their peers, the products or services they provide and that those that do, publicly, have been messaged and briefed. And he thinks the social media strategists (some of whom ARE communication professionals) are advocating staff talking publicly because social media is the next new thing.

Here are the facts: Employees complain about their managers. Managers thinks executives line their pockets with what should be their bonuses. Customer service listens to customer complaints all day, every day. Some staff drink the kool-aid and believe strongly in the vision and the culture. Some don’t. But what all of these people have in common is they are brand ambassadors, the good and the bad, no matter if you give them “free rein” or let only those who are messaged and briefed speak.

They are telling their friends. They are telling their family. They are telling potential customers. They are telling potential colleagues. They are talking about the good and the bad. But now you have the ability to SEE and HEAR what they are saying.

Probert points to the Domino’s video incident from a few months ago as an example of what goes wrong when you let staff talk publicly. Those employees were not given free rein to speak publicly to the media. Their manager was not in the store. They created the video. It went viral. They got fired. Without social media and an easy way to upload video from a phone, this would have happened, but the only people who would have known about it were their friends. They would still have jobs and they would still be sneezing and spitting on your food.

I’m sorry Mr. Probert, we do not read your column and think you are “miffed that you’ve been edged out of the frame and that stuff is going on without you.”

Coke and Ford are two great, big corporations who know these kinds of things are already going on. Now they have the opportunity to decide what to do with the detractors (fire them?) and how to reward the brand ambassadors.  I think NOT allowing staff to speak publicly is idiotic.

The truth of the matter is, I agree (sorry Jeff!).

The article, which can be found at The Business Insider, states:

“I’ve worked as a senior corporate communications exec for three Fortune 500 companies and I’m confident in saying that 90 percent of PR firms add no value.”

I tell this story a lot, so if you’ve heard it, bear with me.

When I worked at Fleishman-Hillard in Kansas City, I was on the Ocean Spray account. I loved working on that business. It was a large account and we were doing communication for cranberry juice, which was an easy sell because of the health benefits. We created a campaign calling “The Art of the Ocean Spray Harvest” and commissioned three photographers to depict the cranberry harvest in British Columbia, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts (if you ever visit my office, you’ll see three of the commissioned photos framed on my walls).

It was a great campaign. Not only did we create a traveling art gallery, but we were able to sell photos (framed and unframed), postcards, stationery, and other trinkets with the cranberry harvest depicted and donated the proceeds to America’s Second Harvest. We gave away tons of samples of juice that year. We worked with city officials. We worked with art galleries in many major cities. And we worked hand-in-hand with the charity.

At the end of the program, we very proudly presented our results to the client. Three six inch binders full of stories that had run, gallons and gallons of juice given away, thousands of dollars donated to the charity…and then it happened.

The client looked at everything very patiently and then shrugged her shoulders and said, “This is great. But our sales are down and this very expensive PR program did nothing for us. We can’t afford to keep you guys on next year.”

WHAT?! All that work. Fourteen weeks of travel. THREE six inch binders full of stories. And we’re being fired?

That was the beginning of the end of my time at FH and the beginning of the time that I began to think there has to be a better way. Now when I hear, “We can’t guarantee results” or “We can’t make the media write your story” it makes my skin crawl.

The truth of the matter is, especially in today’s digital age, the right communication CAN affect the growth of your business. So if you hire us and we tell you news releases don’t work, it’s because we’re not publicists and your company or your CEO getting an ego stroke because we got you three six-inch binders full of stories isn’t going to affect business growth. It’s also because we’re not going to distribute a bunch of news releases, let the wires pick them up, and then tell you we did our jobs. It doesn’t work. Period.

I always say I love it when other PR people make us look good. I also love it when people change careers and go into PR because “it seems so easy.” I say have at it because you’re going in that 90 percent that add no value, leaving room for the 10 percent of us who run businesses AND do communication so we know how, and how not, to affect sales.