This past Monday, Oct. 14, my PR Tactics II class had the pleasure of having Steve Staedler in to speak with the class. I knew Steve was going to be a fun presenter when my professor mentioned that this was an opportunity to live Tweet, and Steve replied with, "Yes, and I am using #awesome."
Well, Steve's presentation did turn out to be pretty awesome! Business-to-Business Public Relations is not the most popular or glorified field of PR, and frankly I didn't know much about it before Steve's presentation. Steve is currently an Account Executive at LePoidevin Marketing in Brookfield, Wis. With a beginning at UW-Milwaukee, where Steve received a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communications, Steve has used his love of writing to get where he is today. At LePoidevin, Steve works with clients in the industrial and animal health industries, with big-name clients such as Snap-on Tools.
Steve explained to us that his daily activities include A LOT of writing. From fact sheets to news releases and whitepapers, Steve said that he writes almost 80% of his average workday. Steve also explained that in the world of B2B PR, social media really is not as much of a tool as it is in other areas of PR. The fact is that B2B clients aren't as active on social media, and when they are they are in it more for the communication with their own customers - not their suppliers or business partners. Steve also does a lot of "ghost writing" in his current position, where an "industry expert" is appointed and assigned as the author of certain publications to gain credibility, even though they were actually written by Steve. This showed me that Steve really has a passion for his work- even when he doesn't get the public recognition.
Steve gave us a lot of helpful advice and a brief run through of Cision, a software used by many public relations professionals to keep lists of media contacts and send out hundred of releases in the quickest, most efficient way possible. Steve also impressed upon us that it is very important to use keywords in press releases that will boost search engine optimization (SEO). Another tool Steve uses to track coverage, or "ink," on a certain topic or client is Google Alerts.
Steve finished up his presentation by giving us a case study to work on and then explaining the actual measures that were being taken to carry out the program at hand. I found this to be extremely helpful and a great learning experience.
All in all, Steve was an extremely personable and helpful presenter and I learned so much from his discussion with our class.
First off, I love the title! :)
ReplyDeleteI also thought that it was very helpful and a great learning experience when Steve brought his case study that he is in the process of right now. It got us to think like a real PR person and I found that interesting.
Second that... Love the title! I thought that it was so interesting that Steve took his own pictures for the case study that he was talking about in class... so cool! That must have been a great experience!!
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to have someone like Steve come in and talk with our class and have so much passion for what he does. So many people today are stuck in their careers and are just "trying to pay the bills" and it's refreshing to have Steve have so much excitement about his career!
ReplyDeleteI also have to say that I love the title for this blog post! I found that his explanation of a "ghost-writing" to be very interesting I had heard of "ghost-writing" being when the actually author is not announced, but I never really thought about the fact that the announced author was put on the story to be an expert and add credibility to a story.
ReplyDeleteHaley - I thought Steve's presentation was insightful and I loved that he was so personable as well! I totally forgot about his "#awesome" comment - hilarious! He had some great information!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like he shared great information and was a fun speaker to have in class. I'm sad I missed it.
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