5 New Years Resolutions You Should Keep For 2013
A version of this post originally appears on Views From 590, and is written by EDPR founder, Cory Stewart.
As you approach yet another year, it’s important to identify a few key items that you’d like to focus on improving at work. Even the best of us can fall behind on efficiency at times – but what’s really crucial is realizing your weaknesses, and working towards making them your strengths.
We’ve compiled a list of 5 things that you can implement immediately to start your year with a bang!
1. Meet with your boss and co-workers
Understanding what your boss and coworkers think about your current performance is of utmost importance. Make sure you have regular meetings to discuss what’s going well, and how you can improve (or make other’s jobs easier). You’ll find when you take the initiative to start these discussions, it sparks a better office morale – and perhaps even some gratitude from your co-workers!
2. Set realistic goals
There’s no point in setting goals that you know you can’t reach. Look towards the future with an open mind, and refer to past data and performance to effectively decipher what you think you can accomplish in the new year. Keep in mind that quantity isn’t always better than quality, and burning yourself out is not something that you or your employer desires.
3. Get organized
Tackle that filing cabinet, organize your computer files, clean up that desk, and clear out that inbox. Although we may not always realize it, a cluttered environment can take real effect on your job performance. Cleaning up and getting organized will help you keep a clear head to focus on your work.
4. Be more accountable
It’s simple really: if you say you’re going to do something, do it. Whether it be a follow up email to a colleague, or a monthly report – you want to make sure you establish yourself as someone who follows through. Not only will the person you’re connecting with appreciate it – but you’ll feel a genuine sense of satisfaction for completing these tasks.
5. Follow the empty inbox rule
At the end of each day, go through your emails and make sure you’ve responded to every one of them. If you can’t provide answers right away, write back and assure the sender that it’s on your list – and you’ll be responding in the coming days. Everyone appreciates reciprocal correspondence, and you’ll be admired for being on top of things.
We hope you can integrate some of these tips into your everyday work life, and wish you only the best in 2013!
Product Recall at Fisher Price: A Perfect PR Opportunity
There’s nothing worse for a consumer than hearing about a product recall. Many things go through your mind all at once, but primarily its: “Does this recall affect me?” If a consumer discovers that they are affected, it should be the company’s priority to provide information that is easily accessible and widely publicized on next steps consumers can and should take. The way a company handles a recall (mandatory or voluntary) on their products demonstrates the competency of their PR team, along with shaping the perception the market has on the company. If handled properly, a company can come out of a product recall unscathed, or perhaps with an even better public image.
Product Recall More Than Just a Migraine
Consider the Tylenol recall of 1982; the birth of the recall, that actually saved the brand from extinction in the end. Before Tylenol, product recalls were unheard of – but when reports began to surface that 7 people had died in Chicago after consuming cyanide-laced capsules of extra-strength Tylenol, the company could not remain silent. Instead the brand put consumers first, pulling all Tylenol from the market and offering replacement product in the form of the safer, tablet variety of Tylenol. It took 2 months for Tylenol to return to store shelves, complete with the now standard, tamper-proof packaging along with a killer media campaign.
This move was costly, carrying a price tag of $100 million for Johnson & Johnson (Tylenol’s parent company).
Consider the following statistics:
- Before the incident Tylenol held a 37% market share which fell to 7% after the recall – only to climb back up to 30% a year later
- Just before the recall, Tylenol stock was trading at a 52 week high, after a minor period of see-sawing it returned to these highs 2 months later.
Now let’s consider Fisher Price, arguably one of the most recognizable names when it comes to toys & toddler products such as sleepers and high chairs. It was reported today that the company is voluntarily recalling a seemingly long list of products for a variety of reasons. The General Manager of Fisher Price, Kevin Curran, has also released a statement on behalf of the company reassuring consumers & issuing an apology.
The language used in the statement shows that like Tylenol, Fisher Price’s main focus is consumers above all else. Their statement leads with the clever “Because we’re parents too,” which succeeds at establishing common interest with concerned consumers.
“Many of us here at Fisher-Price are parents, too — myself included — and we share your belief that nothing is more important than the well-being of our children.”
- Kevin Curran, Fisher-Price General Manager
A direct link is provided to the specific details about the recall.
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An Average Facebook User Has 229 Friends: 100 Social Stats From 2012
It’s almost sickening how much data is constantly rearing it’s head in regards to social media use. A new INFOGRAPHIC (published by CREOTIVO) has recently surfaced – offering 100 stats on social media use in 2012.
Some interesting insights:
- 40% socialize more online than they do face-to-face.
- There are more devices connected to the internet than there are people on Earth.
- People spend an average of 6.75 hours month on Facebook.
- Facebook is accessed by 7,000 different devices every day.
- 11 accounts are added every second to Twitter.
- Since 2012, 12 BILLION minutes have been spent using Pinterest on the web.
- Every second 1 new user joins LinkedIn.
- 30% of videos account for 99% of all YouTube views.
- 74% of brand marketers saw an increase in website traffic after investing just 6 hours per week on social.
All this and more in the INFOGRAPHIC below:
Instagram Out, SnapChat In? An App That Features Sexting Without Consequence (Yeah, Right)
Instagram may have made a critical mistake last month; with the proposed changes to their Terms of Service that stated the company would have free reign to sell users’ photos for advertising without consent or compensation. But as we all know, there’s always the latest and greatest next generation of apps looming in the shadows. The ‘next generation Instagram,’ as it has been dubbed, is called SnapChat.
There One Minute, Gone the Next
So what is exactly is SnapChat, and why does it have hipsters abandoning their collection of fun filters? Simply put, SnapChat is a way to share photos with your favourite people (on iPhone and Android) that will get to them 10x faster than a regular MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). Besides being faster, the ‘gimmick’ to Snap Chat is that the photos, or ‘snaps,’ are on a timer so you can control how long receiver of the photo actually has access to it before it disappears from their device. Perfect if you’re trying to organize a surprise for someone who has access to your phone! Of course the app does offer a save option on their preview screen or you can take a screenshot if you’re quick but the sender of the Snap will be notified!
Every App Has Its Dark Side
So you’ve downloaded this app to your phone where you can take ‘impermanent’ photos that will not (supposedly) be finding their way onto the greater World Wide Web, what’s the good in that? It seems the overwhelming answer is the ‘indecent exposure’ kind; which can be corroborated with a quick Google search. With a user demographic between the ages of 13-25 this news is more than a little shocking. SnapChat was recently featured on Good Morning America with the warning that yes the app may say that the photo is gone after the viewing time is up, but there are other ways to save the photo. The reporter on GMA cautioned parents to monitor what their children were doing on their phones considering sexting is becoming a larger scale issue with teens and young adults. Additionally, the SnapChat developers have stated they cannot 100% guarantee the instantaneous deletion of photos off their servers.
So yes, SnapChat can be fun when people want to send those obnoxious self portraits to their friends: but remember, nothing is fool-proof!
On that note, have you ever had a mishap where a photo found its way onto the Internet when you didn’t want it to?
Film Friday: What Is Involved In The 4 Step Sales Process?
Any entrepreneur should naturally be a good salesperson. In fact, the owner of the business should be the BEST salesperson – because who knows their product or service better? The following is a quick video that outlines 5 steps to securing and closing the sales process.
1. Establish Interest / Qualify
2. Establish Credibility
3. Establish Need
4. Offer Solution
The final step in this video is more of a hidden sales pitch to it’s viewers, but the first four are spot on. Have a look below as the above are talked about a little more in depth:
Paperless in 2013? Here’s Why It’s Possible!
Admit it, you always feel a little guilty when you print out twenty copies of that 10-page contract or proposal. If you don’t, you should. Working in an office environment, you’ll find ample opportunities to indulge in North America’s favourite past time – wasting paper. Sure, emails have cut down a significant amount of unnecessary paper use, but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t notice that the printer sure does get re-filled an awful lot.
This year all that is going to change. Atleast that’s what the strategic partners behind Paperless2013.org are hoping for. Heavy hitters like Google Drive, Hello Sign, Fujitsu ScanSnap have teamed up to provide a seamless organization of green-savvy crusaders striving to provide paperless solutions for small and large businesses alike.
How can you get in on the action?
It’s simple really – just sign up! Paperless2013.org will provide you with new monthly tips and services that will help enhance your green efforts. Google Drive is always going to be a fantastic tool (one we use constantly at EDPR), but we’re really excited about the prospect of using HelloSign – a paperless way of getting those pesky contracts signed.
Our efforts will continue in 2013.
From collaborating on documents in the office, to sending out contracts and agendas – we’re constantly optimizing and encouraging further use of technology to reduce our corporation’s carbon footprint. As we go through 2013, we’ll keep you updated from time to time on the different services we’re using to maintain our efforts – and shed some insight on what works, and what doesn’t. Here’s to a Paperless 2013 – now.. on to conquer the Diet Soda.
PR Highs & Lows of 2012: McDonalds, Coca Cola, LEGO, Burger King and Yes, Chick-fil-A
Before we look forward to 2013, we wanted to take one last look at the highs and lows of PR from 2012. Have a look at some of the note-worthy learnings from the year gone by.
This article was based on the article “Year In Review: PR Wins & Sins” from On The Fourth Floor. Mistakenly, this article originally appeared uncredited on our site. We take content ownership very seriously, and maintain a strong belief that credit should be given where credit is due. Our deepest apologies to those at rock-it promotions, and to owner Deb G.
Bring on the Big Buzz & Good Tidings
“Our Food, Your Questions” – McDonald’s
Everyone is familiar with McDonald’s, but there are definitely questions of where their food comes from and what is actually in it. To address the negative press surrounding their brand in 2012, McDonald’s launched the ‘Our Food, Your Questions” campaign. Customers & critics were encouraged to send in questions that were then answered by the McDonald’s team. Sure some of the answers see to be delivered with an all too happy tone, but the sheer honesty and transparency of this campaign made it an all around winner in 2012.
“My Drink’s Zero, Coke Zero” – Coca Cola
This year marked the 50th anniversary for the James Bond franchise and the release of their highly anticipated movie, ‘Skyfall’. To capitalize on the popularity of the franchise, Coca Cola came up with a way to get people pumped and feeling like a secret agent themselves, all in the name of free tickets to Skyfall. 70 seconds to reach platform 70? Not a problem for the guys in this video! What a great way to create word-of-mouth buzz for two of the most recognized brands in the world.
Every Little Boy Deserves Their Train Set - LEGO
PR win of the year has to go to LEGO. Over the years, we’ve all fallen in love with a specific commercial product: be it a pair of shoes or a favourite shade of lip gloss. Over time the product gets used up, or even falls apart – so we attempt to replace it, only to find out it’s been discontinued.
This was the story for James Groccia, an 11-year-old with Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. James is a part of a LEGO play group that helps him learn to socialize with kids his own age. So when James saw LEGO’s Emerald Night Train Set, he began to save his money and two years later he finally had enough. Unfortunately by that time, the set had been discontinued by LEGO and sellers on eBay were charging way above the original price. So James decided to write LEGO and explain his whole situation. Lo-and-behold, what arrived just in time for James’ 11th birthday but the Emerald Night Train Set. If that story doesn’t warm your heart, we don’t know what will.
Not Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining
So for all the good PR stories last year, there had to be the ones that made us cringe. Here are a couple of the examples not to follow.
“Here’s your burger, side order of dirt off my shoes” – Burger King
So we all did silly things when we’re teenagers, even at our first jobs. The thing is, we usually didn’t go too crazy, and we probably tried to be super discreet about it. Not so for some employees at Burger King. Not only did someone decide it was a good idea to stand in the lettuce bins, but they had someone take a photo AND post it to social media! Needless to say, the employees involved were caught and fired for this one.
“Don’t Worry, it’s Just a Little Wind” – American Apparel
Hurricane usually means secure everything and get somewhere safe for the duration of the storm. Not, “Oh look one of my favourite retailers is having a killer sale, better get on that!” That’s right, during Hurricane Sandy American Apparel decided it was a good idea to have an online sale. And the language they used in their advertising for the sale wasn’t what we call……… empathetic.
But the PR FAIL of 2012 has to go to:
Chick-fil-A (of course)
President and CEO of Chick-fil-A made it pretty clear this year that he holds a homophobic & anti-gay marriage stance. With a little digging it came to light that the Chick-fil-A charity, WinShape Foundation, perpetuated this stance with large donations to political organizations that are also opposed LGBT rights. This stance enraged Americans, driving them to stand together against Chick-fil-A, mayors of Boston & Chicago pledged to not allow any new franchises to open in their cities and San Francisco’s mayor warned the chain to stay away from them altogether. The company released a statement saying that any support of anti-LGBT organizations has since stopped but there is apparently no clear proof of this.
A Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words: Instagram’s 2012 in Review
Love it or hate it, Instagram has had a pretty phenomenal year. In 2012, Instagram grew to be THE app for all aspiring photographers out there or those who just wanted to share every second of their lives via photographs. What made Instagram stand out was the ability to filter photos, giving them a vintage, unique feel sometimes similar to an old school Polaroid camera.
Founded in October 2010, Instagram was exclusively available for Apple products (iPhones, iPads & iPods) until April 2012 when it was made available for Android platforms as well. April 2012 also marked the month that Facebook made a $1 Billion bid for the 13-person company. Approved in September 2012, Instagram is now an independently run department under the Facebook umbrella. Before the expansion onto the Android platform, Instagram already had 30 million registered accounts but in the 6 months that followed that number more than tripled to 100 million active users by September 2012.
Instagram has come under fire recently because of their proposed changes to their terms of service but the terms were revoked almost as quickly as they were announced in favour of a re-write. Nevertheless,
Yesterday (December 26th) the Instagram Community Team released their “Year in Review.” The team as compiled some of this past year’s most publicized and photographed about events throughout the world for everyone to look at. Click through some of the links below to marvel in what can be captured on your phone’s camera.
- Pamploma, Spain’s Running of the Bulls
- Olympic Opening Ceremonies, London
- Space Shuttle Endeavor, From Texas to California
And if you just can’t get enough, go check out the Instagram Blog.
Happy Holidays From Embrace Disruption PR!
As the year comes to an end, we have so many things to be thankful for. In our first year of business, we’ve been fortunate to work with some amazing people, products and brands. We can’t wait to share what’s next in the coming year with you – there’s just so many exciting things in the works!
Look forward to
Our office hours over the next two weeks:
December 24: OPEN UNTIL 1PM
December 25-28: CLOSED
December 31, January 1 & 2: CLOSED
Embrace Disruption PR thanks you from the bottom of our hearts, and wishes you a safe and HAPPY HOLIDAYS.
Film Friday: Google Analytics In Real Life
Google analytics recently released the following videos in regards to carefully analyzing the user experience of your website. Although extreme at points, there are some really key concepts that online retailers need to acknowledge about their shopping experiences.
Looking at user data is becoming increasingly important when attempting to properly engage your audience. Effectively analyzing patterns, and correctly identifying when and where user experience can be improved is of upmost importance.
Take a moment to watch these videos. Not only are they revealing, but also extremely entertaining.
