Ms. InterPReted

The holiday season at year-end can be spiritually fulfilling and laden with good cheer . . . but it's also a time of over-booked calendars, never-ending "to do" lists (both personally and professionally) and -- in the agency business -- year-end tasks coupled with plans for the upcoming New Year Q1 that might derail well-meaning intentions to take peaceful R&R with family and friends.

Every PR professional encounters workplace stress at any time of the year . . . but what happens when stresses go into overdrive and start resulting in deeper, more negative impacts on one's mindset, energy level and an ability to bring one's best self to their teams (and to their own personal lives)?

In this episode, Kelly and Mary Beth share what some of the unique challenges entail of founding, launching and sustaining over many years a thriving public relations agency . . . and how both employers and employees alike should be more aware of one another's challenges and needs in order to create a healthy workplace culture, conducive to great business results and healthy mindsets year-round.

Links:

• Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag in social media
• Discover Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/ 
• Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR https://twitter.com/fletcherpr 
• Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher https://twitter.com/kdfletcher 
• Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest https://twitter.com/MaryBethWest 

About Mike McClamroch:
A Knoxville, Tennessee native, Mike McClamroch has been East Tennessee Foundation’s chief executive since 2001. With his constant emphasis on excellent stewardship of the resources entrusted to the Foundation and on top-notch constituent services, Mike has overseen dramatic growth in the asset size and grantmaking of ETF. 

Prior to leading ETF, Mike practiced law and was an active volunteer with a variety of charitable organizations in the Knoxville area. In 2019, Mike received The Legacy Award for outstanding philanthropic leadership, presented by the Great Smoky Mountain Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. 

In Episode 12, Kelly and Mary Beth welcome Mike, who talks about the combination of passion, focus and expertise community foundations like East Tennessee Foundation deliver to the fabrics of local communities nationwide.

 
Mike discusses:

• How and why philanthropy is relevant… now more than ever
• Why it’s so important to merge what you’re passionate about with your vocation (and how he’s personally accomplished this outcome through his leadership career path with ETF)
• How Mike’s personal collaboration with the late Lady Vols Head Coach Pat Summitt resulted in a national legacy through creation of the Pat Summitt Foundation (housed at ETF), to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s
• How charitable organizations serve strategic needs in any community (and how public relations professionals can broker necessary relationships and programs to meet those needs)
• The types of nationwide community needs that philanthropic donors should consider when undertaking the task of investing dollars for local community impact
• What types of communications challenges community foundations encounter, in seeking to advance their missions
• Why careers in philanthropy are a direct path toward action-based impact… making the biggest differences to the most people
• Why measuring impact is essential
• Top mistakes that well-meaning philanthropists can easily make in the process of participating in charitable work / giving
• What “the new model” of charitable giving entails
• Why it’s important for employees of companies to be involved in the corporate giving process – such as by serving on a grant panel
• How the power of endowment works as a core function of ETF to generate permanent grant-making opportunities, with benefits to grantees, donors and communities
• How Millennials and women are helping drive philanthropy today

Links:

• Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag in social media
• Discover East Tennessee Foundation (ETF): http://www.easttennesseefoundation.org/ 
• Discover the Pat Summitt Foundation (housed within ETF): http://www.patsummitt.org/ 
• Follow East Tennessee Foundation: @ETFoundation https://twitter.com/etfoundation 
• Follow the Pat Summitt Foundation: @WeBackPat https://twitter.com/WeBackPat 
• Discover Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/ 
• Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR https://twitter.com/fletcherpr 
• Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher https://twitter.com/kdfletcher 
• Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest https://twitter.com/MaryBethWest 

Marshall keeps listeners laughing as well as riveted as he shares:

• How his memorial cartoons in 2018 of the late First Lady Barbara Bush and President George H. W. Bush became overnight, national media sensations while being embraced by the Bush Family (Marshall will be speaking at the Bush Presidential Library in December 2019);
• How his 9/11 cartoons helped unify a grieving nation; and 
• How Jesus's Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) served as a catalyst to change Marshall's life in the face of adversity -- including a serious bout with cancer, 18 cycles of career lay-offs in the newspaper business and the occasional animosities and even personal threats against his safety when a disenchanted reader fails to find either humor or good-natured irony in his work. 

 Kelly Fletcher, Mary Beth West and the whole Fletcher PR team join Marshall in wishing everyone a safe, blessed Thanksgiving holiday.

Links:

• Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag in social media 
• Follow Marshall Ramsey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarshallRamsey 
• Follow Mississippi Today: https://twitter.com/MSTODAYnews 
• Follow Dave Ramsey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaveRamsey 
• Discover Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/  
• Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR https://twitter.com/fletcherpr 
• Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher https://twitter.com/kdfletcher 
• Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest https://twitter.com/MaryBethWest  

In Episode 10 (Part 2 of 2) of this interview with PRCA Director General Francis Ingham, Francis explains the tough realities – and shocking repercussions – of taking a stand in the Bell-Pottinger ethics-violation case in 2017. 

Links:

• Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag
• Join PRCA today:
  • Information about International Individual Membership 
  • Information about International Corporate Membership 
  • The link to join PRCA
•  Discover Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/ 
• Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR https://twitter.com/fletcherpr 
• Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher https://twitter.com/kdfletcher 
•  Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest https://twitter.com/MaryBethWest 
•  Follow PRCA-UK on Twitter: @PRCA_UK  https://twitter.com/PRCA_UK 
• Follow Francis Ingham on Twitter: @Ingers1975 https://twitter.com/Ingers1975
•  Follow PRCA’s #PRcast podcast: https://lnkfi.re/prcast 
• Find out more about PRCA’s new Schools Outreach Programme: http://news.prca.org.uk/prca-launches-schools-outreach-programme/ 
• Visit PRCA’s Newsroom to learn more about PRCA’s consistent, effective advocacy for the public relations profession: http://news.prca.org.uk/home/

In Episode 9 (Part 1 of this two-part interview), Kelly Fletcher, MPRCA, and Mary Beth West, MPRCA, welcome Francis Ingham, MPRCA – global leader of PRCA and Chief Executive of ICCO – who explains many issues of critical importance to the global public relations profession... like the importance of non-partisanship in professional associations, ethics in strategic communications, mental well-being among professionals working in high-pressure PR jobs, diversity & inclusion (and how D&I must factor into meaningful workforce development strategies to go beyond mere lip service in the PR field).

Watch for Part 2 of this interview in the next episode of #MsInterPReted, when Francis delves into the topic of ethics and PRCA's most world-renowned case study of accountability standards for ethical compliance -- the expulsion of Bell-Pottinger.
 
In Part 1: Francis discusses:

• How PRCA’s explosive growth is impacting the industry, in service to the highest standards of public relations practice;
• Why having an international outlook in the public relations profession is essential today, to help tackle the global industry’s shared issues and challenges;
• Why “taking a stand on issues that matter” is one of PRCA’s most important tasks… and how PRCA most recently helped forge a positive reversal-of-decision by an elected member of the Scottish Parliament who planned to serve part-time for a lobbying firm (an overt conflict of interest);
• Why professional membership associations that use their platforms toward overtly political or divisive ends have “lost their way”; 
• How PRCA is undertaking the issue of mental / emotional well-being for public relations professionals, conducting its own research on this topic and providing tools to help agencies and employers to address these matters for their teams;
• How PRCA’s Apprenticeship Program and its just-announced Schools Outreach Programme (to younger ages) seeks to bring diverse communities into the PR workforce;
• Why the U.K. Government tasked PRCA-UK with assisting in Brexit preparations (and how PRCA is undertaking this task in a non-partisan manner). 

Listen for Part 2 of this Interview with Episode 10 of #MsInterPReted, when Francis explains the tough realities – and shocking repercussions – of taking a stand in the Bell-Pottinger ethics-violation case in 2017. 

Links:

• Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag
• Join PRCA today:
  • Information about International Individual Membership 
  • Information about International Corporate Membership 
  • The link to join PRCA
•  Discover Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/ 
• Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR https://twitter.com/fletcherpr 
• Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher https://twitter.com/kdfletcher 
•  Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest https://twitter.com/MaryBethWest 
•  Follow PRCA-UK on Twitter: @PRCA_UK  https://twitter.com/PRCA_UK 
• Follow Francis Ingham on Twitter: @Ingers1975 https://twitter.com/Ingers1975
•  Follow PRCA’s #PRcast podcast: https://lnkfi.re/prcast 
• Find out more about PRCA’s new Schools Outreach Programme: http://news.prca.org.uk/prca-launches-schools-outreach-programme/ 
• Visit PRCA’s Newsroom to learn more about PRCA’s consistent, effective advocacy for the public relations profession: http://news.prca.org.uk/home/

Links:

• Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag
• Marc Nelson Denim: https://marcnelsondenim.com/ 
• Follow Marc Nelson Denim on Twitter: @MarcNelsonDenim 
• Find Marc Nelson Denim on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcNelsonDenim/ 
• Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/ 
• Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR 
• Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher 
•  Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest

In this episode, Kelly Fletcher and Mary Beth West warn against a tactics-centric marketing / PR plan, which generally yields money ill-spent, piecemeal results and little cohesiveness with overarching business goals . . . hardly a formula for success. 

Strong, strategic systems of promotional communications and brand reputation-building require marketers, the C-Suite team and boards of directors to engage in a meaningful, data-driven process.  Kelly and Mary Beth reveal the critical elements. 

• Kelly and Mary Beth explain:
  • How Marketing / PR RFPs go wrong with prescriptive tactics seeking a price list, rather than seeking agencies that offer a research-based, strategic approach
  • How to avoid misspending marketing dollars
  • Ways that social media methodology requires special treatment, given how fast-moving it’s changing
  • Why “the process is the product” in strategic communications development
  • Timing considerations to bear in mind when seeking to develop a strategy ahead of the necessary execution timeline
  • How competitive and situational analyses must factor in and how to engage input from the larger team
  • What a strategic mindset looks like through the marketing / PR lens and how it can be cultivated – and making sure the PR / marketing agency delivers the goods strategically with a “fiduciary” level of care for the marketing budget

Links

• Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag
• Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/ 
• Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR 
• Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher
•  Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest 

About Mark Weaver
Mark Weaver started his marketing career as a blogger, photographer and social media influencer in the motorcycle industry.  He moved to Knoxville, TN, from Louisville, KY, where he created digital marketing content for GE Appliances. He has a BA from Purdue University in Communications with Minors in Computer Technology and Organizational Leadership & Supervision. 

Now as content marketing manager for Radio Systems Corporation in Knoxville, TN (home of the Invisible Fence®, PetSafe® and SportDOG® brands), Mark has dreamed of living in Knoxville to be in a city full of personality and surrounded by so many opportunities for outdoor adventures and activities.

Mark loves exploring nature with his wife and two kids. He loves to travel and experience new cultures, snowboarding, mountain biking, and of course dogs! Fun fact: Mark won the Showcase Showdown on the nationally televised game show “The Price is Right” and sold the two cars he won to live in Uganda, Africa to help out orphanages.

Show Notes

• Kelly Fletcher and Mary Beth West explore Mark Weaver’s insights about why influencer marketing “isn’t just the future; it’s the NOW.”  
• Mark explains:
  • What “influencer marketing” is by definition
  • How he started on his pathway as an influencer himself for the motorcycle industry
  • How influencers tap into the trust factor that impacts the buyer’s journey
  • How Mark is managing the influencer strategy and selection process at Radio Systems (which includes the PetSafe®, Invisible Fence®, and SportDOG® brands) with specific tools that all strategic communicators might consider for their technology toolbox
  • Why Instagram commands a lead role
  • Why huge budgets may not be required to achieve significant results
• Kelly also discusses the Julius / Lippe Taylor “State of Influencers Report 2019” Report; the role of macro-, micro- and nano-influencers; and the ethics / Federal Trade Commission legalities of influencer marketing transparency.

Links

• Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag
• Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/ 
• Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR 
• Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher 
• Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest 
• Follow Radio Systems Corp on Twitter: @RadioSystemsCor 
• Follow Mark Weaver on Instagram: @markrweaver 
• Find Radio Systems online: https://www.radiosystemscorporation.com/ 
• Learn more about the Julius (@JuliusWorks) / Lippe Taylor (LippeTaylorPR) “State of Influencers Report 2019”: 
  • https://blog.juliusworks.com/state-of-influencers-report-2019-julius 
  • https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/influencer-marketing-is-maturing-heres-what-you-need-to-know-300867546.html?tc=socialpost 

Brand and CEO activism exists as a so-called strategic extension of brand awareness and engagement campaigns, often targeting younger audiences in particular and seeking to score loyalty points with consumers in general.

• But is the #BrandsTakingStands advocacy trend a consistently reliable strategy in the marketing toolbox, with big pay-off potential?  After all, major and minor brands alike now are sinking big money into activist stances for the almighty marketing campaign.  

• Or is #GetWokeGoBroke another trending hashtag for a valid reason . . . with cautionary tales littering the marketing and reputation-management scene, given that too many brands are “stepping in it” and getting CEO activism irreversibly wrong – with disastrous financial results? 

At what point is the commercialization of activism an inauthentic enterprise . . . only ratcheting up public divisiveness and other side-show issues (such as children / youth being used as campaign pawns) in our already divisive and hostile society, news media and social media environment?

Mary Beth peels back the actual data of two fairly recent, highly publicized studies sponsored by well-known global PR agencies that tout CEO activism as a categorical “Must-Do” item in strategic communications . . . 

And as Mary Beth and Kelly reveal, there is undisclosed fine print as well as hidden asterisks to each study’s publicly reported data, telling an entirely different story than the one being promoted in agency news release headlines and Tweets favoring aggressive corporate activist stances. 

Kelly and Mary Beth offer cautionary points and expose how some PR firms may overtly promoting their own revenue-generating bottom lines instead of clients’ best interests. 

In this episode, Kelly Fletcher and Mary Beth West uncover:

• Does it make sense to go political with your brand?
• What are the risks… or the rewards… and what should be the ethics of PR firms as they guide their clients?
• Does corporate activism position client companies in a contrived manner as “The Hero” – when more modern storytelling techniques eschew this approach as a brand-development best practice?
• How do you make this approach successful in today’s era of echo chambers and tunnel vision?
• Are there “safe” issues – like equal pay or women’s rights?  Or does ANY sociopolitical issue pose a risk of unintended rabbit holes, misinterpretations and consequences?
• Might social activism ideas and tactics actually fly in the face of #PRdiversity values?
• How did the University of Tennessee recently hit a major PR home-run using activism in a non-political and highly effective way?

Links

• Mary Beth West’s published articles on this topic:
  • “Spin Cycle: #PR Firms Push #CEO #Activism with Selective Data”:
    • https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/spin-cycle-pr-firms-push-ceo-activism-selective-data-mary-beth/ 
  • “Rise of 'Do-Gooder' Marketing Can Pose Reputational Risks”:
    • https://www.knoxnews.com/story/money/business/2019/04/11/public-relations-nikes-corporate-social-responsibility-has-risks/3069953002/ 
• Follow the "Ms. InterPReted" conversation via the Hashtag: #MsInterPReted 
• Follow Fletcher PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR 
• Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher 
• Follow Mary Beth West, MPRCA, on Twitter: @MaryBethWest 
• Website: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/ 
• Learn more about the Fletcher Team Process: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/about-us/process/ 

In the Tourism World, effective public relations, marketing and brand-storytelling make the world go ‘round to drive visitor interest, overnight-stays, destination ticket sales and positive economic outcomes.  

And that reality is only amplified across the Volunteer State: Tennessee, where tourism is a major driver of statewide as well as local economies.

Join Fletcher Marketing PR Founder and CEO Kelly Fletcher and Senior Strategist Mary Beth West, as they take #MsInterPReted on a tour of the Tennessee Whiskey Trail, with special guests Chris Fletcher (Assistant Master Distiller of famed global brand Jack Daniel Distillery of Lynchburg, TN); Alexandra Castle (Master Distiller – and the first female master distiller in Tennessee – of Memphis-based Old Dominick Distillery); and “Peaceful Side of the Smokies” Tourism Director of the Smoky Mountain Tourism Development Authority, Kim Mitchell (Fletcher Marketing PR client). 

Together, Alex, Chris and Kim explain “whiskey mystique” and share with Kelly and Mary Beth the finer points of brand storytelling with whiskey’s unique identity as part of Tennessee culture and Southern lore – and how the female market segment is such a growing part of Tennessee tourism as well as the spirits industry. 

Don’t miss the Tennessee Whiskey Trail’s “Grains and Grits” Festival in partnership with the Smoky Mountain Tourism Development Authority, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, 6:00-9:00 p.m., in Townsend, TN.

In this episode, Kelly Fletcher and Mary Beth West uncover:

• Why their home state of Tennessee is a must-see on the global tourism map . . . and how PR, marketing and brand storytelling are essential parts of generating tourism’s economic impact
• The competitive impact of the Tennessee Whiskey Trail (in friendly competition with the Kentucky Bourbon Trail 
• What makes distillers like Chris Fletcher (Jack Daniel Distillery) and Alex Castle (Old Dominick Distillery) excited about going to work every day as part of Tennessee’s growing and dynamic distilling community
• The role of events like the upcoming Nov. 2, 2019, Grains and Grits Festival on the Tennessee spirits scene (watch for upcoming coverage in Wine Spectator!)
• How visitors to Tennessee can immerse themselves in rich, diverse experiences on the culinary, music, cultural and social scenes 

Links

• Kim Mitchell, Director of Tourism, Smoky Mountain Tourism Development Authority (@PeacefulSmokies): https://smokymountains.org/ 
• Alex Castle, Master Distiller, Old Dominick Distillery (@OldDominick901): https://olddominick.com/ 
• Chris Fletcher, Assistant Master Distiller, Jack Daniel Distillery (@JackDaniels_US) https://www.jackdaniels.com/en-us/visit-distillery 
• Visit Knoxville: https://www.visitknoxville.com/ 
• Tennessee Vacations: https://www.tnvacation.com/ (https://twitter.com/TNVacation) 
• Tennessee Whiskey Trail:  https://www.tnwhiskeytrail.com/ (https://twitter.com/TNWhiskeyTrail) 
• Grains and Grits Festival: https://grainsandgritsfest.com/#info 
• https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/ 
• Follow Fletcher Marketing & PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR
• Learn more about the Fletcher Team Process: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/about-us/process/ 
• Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @MaryBethWest Use the hashtag #MsInterPReted to join the conversation!