Mike Maney

Tag: advice

  • The Do’s and Don’ts of Evangelism

    A good friend of mine who runs enterprise marketing for a top tech company recently asked me for advice to help counsel one of his executives on the differences between marketing and evangelism. The list below includes some of the top-of-mind tips I provided based on my experience:

    DO

    • Be human. Nobody wants to engage with a marketing droid. Be yourself. Don’t worry if a few warts show.
    • Educate and inform. Be a good source for people who may eventually buy or recommend your product to turn to.
    • Have a point of view. Make people pay attention and engage with you.
    • Know your stuff. Your community will smell fluff from a mile away.
    • Pick up the tab if you can. You’ll be surprised how far $200 at the bar or picking up pizzas for a hackathon or meetup goes.

     

    DON’T

    • Sell. Selling is the job of your sales team. Your job is to be an engaging human.
    • Overly worry about being loyal to your brand. Great evangelists help their community first, even if it means saying a nice thing or two about your competition.
    • Engage only when you need something. Influence is a two-way street.
    • Attend conferences only if you’re invited to speak. It’s not only conceited, but you’ll also miss out on great content and relationship building.
    • Expect anything of your community. Earn it.

    This is by no stretch of the imagination a comprehensive list. What do’s and don’ts would you include? Add them to the comments.

    (For more, check out my Influencing the Influencers deck on Slideshare.)

     

  • Starting out and standing out

    I’ve been very, very lucky throughout my career to study under some really smart people. But more than smart, they were generous. They took young flacks like me under their wings and taught us how to do PR right. They are a big part of the reason I try hard to pass down what I’ve learned to those just starting out in this profession.

    I’ve been an annual speaker at Rutgers and Trenton State (the college, not the penitentiary). And at the end of each talk, I make an offer to the students: send me your resume and I’ll comment on it before you send it off into the big, bad hiring world. It’s a way to help those who take advantage of the offer to stand out in a highly competitive and crowded field.

    This past week, Nicholas Intelisano reached out to interview me for a class project. He’s a student at Southern New Hampshire University taking my friend Jon Boroshok’s communications class (a decorated professor at that). The interview touched on what it was like starting out in the industry. Great questions and an engaging conversation. And, like always, I told Nick to send me his resume.

    He did. And it was a good one. Straightforward, clean, relevant background that showed me he wanted into this profession…despite what I told him I went through when I entered it 😉

    Nicholas Intelisano resume

    But there was something in Nick’s resume that made me wonder if it wouldn’t also work in a more creative, personal format. Yes, he’d still need the straight forward resume to submit to the HR and keyword bots, but…what about trying something like this:

    “My name is Nick Intelisano. I’m about to graduate from the prestigious SNHU school of communications this May — on the good side of the Dean’s list (and President’s list), not the Animal House side.

    Come May, I’d like to turn my vast years of experience as a professional PR intern into a full-time, ramen-flush gig. Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. What I really want is a foot in the door to start what I hope will be a long and successful career in PR. That’s where you come in.

    Over the past two years, I’ve gotten my feet wet at places like Regan Communications, Millennium Integrated Marketing and The Good Men Project. I’ve had hands on experience pitching stories, building social media calendars, monitoring and fetching multiple gallons of coffee (I waited tables to help pay for college, so that last one wasn’t that foreign). I’ve coached 4-6 year old children in pee wee soccer, so I’m well-prepared for the rigors of client relations. I’ve seen things. Things I won’t soon forget. Things that will come in handy should you give me a shot.

    Twitter, Facebook and Instagram? What self-respecting PR rookie isn’t steeply versed in navigating those communities? How about the requisite Microsoft Office skills and a dollop of Adobe Illusatrator? I’ve got them, too. Nouns and verbs? You can check out how I’ve used them as a staff writer for the Penmen Press student newspaper on my blog. Leadership? Bam! Founding member of the SNHU chapter of the PRSSA (though I’m less of a Bam! and more of hey-we-started-something-cool leader).

    If you’re looking for someone who wants into this business badly, I’m your guy. And I’m reachable at Nicholas.intelisano@snhu.edu.”

    So I ask you, my PR friends, any advice to give Nick as he tries to break into our ranks? Sound off in the comments.

  • 5 Tips: Starting out in PR

    5 Tips: Starting out in PR

    Paradigm Staffing’s Lindsay Olson recently posted a great question to Facebook:

    What is the best piece of advice you could give a new grad/entry-level looking to enter the PR profession? What do you wish you would have known when you started your career?

    I was lucky enough to start my career at one of the best shops and with one of the smartest teams in the industry: the corporate/issues team at Ogilvy & Mather (for those younger than me, that’s Ogilvy as in the David Ogilvy). Here are five of the nuggets of advice I contributed to Lindsay’s thread:

    1. Just get in the door. I started as an admin assistant for a top EVP at Ogilvy. You will see everything and be able to learn from it. Check your diploma at the door.
    2. If you aren’t a media junkie, become one. Everything from TechCrunch to WSJ to Politico to The Superficial. Make sure your knowledge of inane current events is a thousand miles wide.
    3. Blog. Get active on Twitter. Your peers — competitors — most likely aren’t. Companies hire humans, not resumes.
    4. Once you’re inside, take every opportunity that’s available to you. You can sleep* after you’ve made a name for yourself as a hard-working, get-it-done, creative team player.
    5. Make a list of all the free food, half-price drink happy hours around your new office. Trust me on this one. They money will come later.

    * I’m still waiting on the sleep part. Realize that the best in this business are always on.

    (Huge thanks to people like Henry Gomez, Steve Goodman, Ken Jacobs, David Tager, Russell Cheek ,Lisa Dimino and Brian Maloney for teaching me well.)