Well if the old saying is true, there should be a lot of flowers next month..
I wouldn't call Ada a metropolis for good weather, but usually but this time of the year, the village usually has it together. This hasn't really been the case for the 2011 spring season. At the beginning of the month, I went to Seattle for PRSSA National Assembly. Apparently the rain followed me back to Ada.
I can count on one hand the amount of beautiful spring days we've had this month. We haven't been able to have a cookout, because that witch mother nature would put out the fire. We haven't been able to attend any ONU softball games, because the field is under water. I tried to indulge in a nice night jog on the green monster a few nights ago. It would've worked out well if my shoes wouldn't have absorbed enough water to fill my bathtub.
This is the time of the year that we are supposed to dread leaving school for summer. I think everyone is excited for summer right now, because they're hoping that it will bring nicer weather. This is my last spring quarter, and I was completely looking forward to it. Needless to say, you've let me down Ada.
So this blog is a message to you mother nature: Get it together. You have three more weeks, and I expect nothing but your A game. No more rain. No more sleet. No more thunder and lightning. Give us sunshine. Give us a nice spring breeze. Give me a sunburn.
Looking forward to you stepping it up.
Love,
Joe
Friday, April 29, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Organization Goals
While reading David Meerman Scott's The New Rules of Marketing and PR, I came across an interesting quote:
That's exactly what we marketers and PR people do. We fill our lists with balls and lose sight of the goal. But you know what's even worse. Our coaches (the management teams at our companies) actually encourage us to focus on balls (like sales leads or press clips or Web site traffic statistics) instead of real organizational goals such as revenue. The VPs and CEOs of companies happily provide incentives based on leads for the marketing department and on clips for the PR team. And the agencies we contract with - advertising and PR agencies - also focus on the wrong measures (Scott, 2007, p. 115-116).
I think this is such an important point to make. Taking a campaigns course right now, I really understand the importance of process. Before this year, I didn't really understand the difference between goals and objectives. I also didn't take into consideration that objectives need to be measurable and realistic.
From my experience, practitioners make two common mistakes while establishing a campaign. First, practitioners either confuse strategies and tactics or focus on strategies and tactics before solidifying their goals and objectives. The other common mistake is that practitioners and marketers don't take into full consideration what needs to occur for the campaign's objectives to be successful.
As public relations practitioners, it is our duty to express the importance of establishing strong internal and external relationships and how critical that is to campaign and organizational success. From Scott's readings that's the message that I resinated with me. I think today, we focus too much on results and figures and not on the relationships that need to be formed in order for those results to occur.
That's exactly what we marketers and PR people do. We fill our lists with balls and lose sight of the goal. But you know what's even worse. Our coaches (the management teams at our companies) actually encourage us to focus on balls (like sales leads or press clips or Web site traffic statistics) instead of real organizational goals such as revenue. The VPs and CEOs of companies happily provide incentives based on leads for the marketing department and on clips for the PR team. And the agencies we contract with - advertising and PR agencies - also focus on the wrong measures (Scott, 2007, p. 115-116).
I think this is such an important point to make. Taking a campaigns course right now, I really understand the importance of process. Before this year, I didn't really understand the difference between goals and objectives. I also didn't take into consideration that objectives need to be measurable and realistic.
From my experience, practitioners make two common mistakes while establishing a campaign. First, practitioners either confuse strategies and tactics or focus on strategies and tactics before solidifying their goals and objectives. The other common mistake is that practitioners and marketers don't take into full consideration what needs to occur for the campaign's objectives to be successful.
As public relations practitioners, it is our duty to express the importance of establishing strong internal and external relationships and how critical that is to campaign and organizational success. From Scott's readings that's the message that I resinated with me. I think today, we focus too much on results and figures and not on the relationships that need to be formed in order for those results to occur.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
YouLove. YouTube.
I think this year, I began to realize what an incredible social media site YouTube is. It used to be that Facebook consumed too much of my time. Now YouTube is giving the social networking site a run for its money. YouTube has also impacted older generations..
This year has been pretty crazy for my parents, especially over the past four months. They both have a lot on their plate both personally and professionally. Unfortunately, they weren't able to make it to watch me play this year. I love seeing my parents in the stands, but I completely understand. Lucky for them, one of my teammates father made it to most of our tournaments and films us. Mr. Woodward is very good about promptly posting highlight reels on YouTube. My dad was telling me about how much he enjoyed being able to watch the highlights and how important it was to him.
YouTube has served as my personal rewind. American Idol performances, volleyball highlights and Rebecca Black music videos are all staples on my channel. It means a lot that my parents can watch me play, even though if it's through a YouTube highlight video. I look for YouTube to play an even more prominent role in the social media world.
This year has been pretty crazy for my parents, especially over the past four months. They both have a lot on their plate both personally and professionally. Unfortunately, they weren't able to make it to watch me play this year. I love seeing my parents in the stands, but I completely understand. Lucky for them, one of my teammates father made it to most of our tournaments and films us. Mr. Woodward is very good about promptly posting highlight reels on YouTube. My dad was telling me about how much he enjoyed being able to watch the highlights and how important it was to him.
YouTube has served as my personal rewind. American Idol performances, volleyball highlights and Rebecca Black music videos are all staples on my channel. It means a lot that my parents can watch me play, even though if it's through a YouTube highlight video. I look for YouTube to play an even more prominent role in the social media world.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Edgar
Dear Blogosphere,
Meet Edgar. He's the newest edition to the Clarkson family and my new best friend! He is a poodle-boxer mix (Yeah, I know), and he is the greatest thing this side of the Mississippi. He's little camera shy and has a fascination for chewing on everything.
January was a tough month for me. A week after I returned to school from Christmas Break, my parents called me and told me that they had to put down our dog Smith. Smith and I were extremely close. Smith was 15 years-old and was an integral part of the Clarkson family and my childhood. Right before I slipped into a state of depression, my dad informed me he got my mom a puppy for Valentine's Day. Edgar and I instantly hit it off. Even though he'll never replace Smith, he's doing a great job filling the void.
My favorite thing about Smith was that he never had a bad day. He was always there to greet me with a huge smile on his face. Smith was more than a dog, he was my best friend and had an innate ability of always making me feel better. I never had to worry about him talking about me, ditching me for his new girlfriend or not texting me back.
Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy said that "dogs are miracles with paws." You can't put a price on the amount of love you can receive from a dog. I'm looking forward to Edgar's stint in the Clarkson household and can't wait to get a pup of my own.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Recruiting with Coach Witte
Recruiting with Coach Witte
In this podcast, Abby Schaller and I sit down with Ohio Northern Women's Volleyball Head Coach Kate Witte to discuss the recruiting process and how it's changed throughout her two decades at Ohio Northern.
In this podcast, Abby Schaller and I sit down with Ohio Northern Women's Volleyball Head Coach Kate Witte to discuss the recruiting process and how it's changed throughout her two decades at Ohio Northern.
Observation
As I read Brian Solis' "Engaged," I stumbled upon a far too familiar topic. Solis touches on observations and how important it is while engaging in social media. He identifies the importance of accurately identifying the target markets' demographics and psychographics.
Demographics and psychographics have been a common theme in my academic journey this quarter. In addition to the relevance the topics have when it comes to social media, the terms have been tossed around frequently in my campaigns, marketing/GIS and consumer behavior courses. The concepts have been crucial to my studies this quarters. I touched on this a while ago, but research is so important to the practice, and as I continue in my preprofessional journey, I'm starting to realize that even more. An understanding of what influences a target market or public is essential in order to effectively communicate with them.
Solis emphasizes that "we learn, earn credibility, and procure strategic intelligence through immersion - before we have an official agenda." This couldn't be closer to the truth. When we focus on collecting information about the demographics and psychographics of our target publics, we are doing so much more than collecting research. We are strengthening the entire communication process as a whole, in turn creating stronger, more meaningful relationships with our internal and external publics.
Demographics and psychographics have been a common theme in my academic journey this quarter. In addition to the relevance the topics have when it comes to social media, the terms have been tossed around frequently in my campaigns, marketing/GIS and consumer behavior courses. The concepts have been crucial to my studies this quarters. I touched on this a while ago, but research is so important to the practice, and as I continue in my preprofessional journey, I'm starting to realize that even more. An understanding of what influences a target market or public is essential in order to effectively communicate with them.
Solis emphasizes that "we learn, earn credibility, and procure strategic intelligence through immersion - before we have an official agenda." This couldn't be closer to the truth. When we focus on collecting information about the demographics and psychographics of our target publics, we are doing so much more than collecting research. We are strengthening the entire communication process as a whole, in turn creating stronger, more meaningful relationships with our internal and external publics.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Ref 101
In reflection of my pre-high school volleyball career (club and high school), I must have been sincerely unpopular among the referees in Pennsylvania. I used to complain about EVERYTHING! There wasn't a call I agreed with. Frankly, I was just extremely unpleasant.
Enter ONU Men's Volleyball, and that all changes..
As part of our team fundraiser, each year we host two weekends of junior olympic volleyball tournaments. We completely manage the entire tournaments (ref, confessions, set-up, tear down). We are all Ohio River Valley certified officials. It's a great fundraiser, and we've experienced a lot of success.
With that said, being a referee has completing changed my outlook on playing the sport and officiating. Officiating is a thankless job. You can never make everyone happy. You have complete strangers yelling at you aggressively. You are expected to know and see everything. I will say that I am a completely different player because of my experience with the OVR. My patience, understanding and support for officials has drastically increased. It's a tough job, and I can appreciate that now.
I learned quickly that my officiating career with most likely come to an end after I live ONU. It's just not for me. I love watching and enjoying volleyball, and as an official you have to worry about so many other aspects of the sport. It works for some people, but not me. I will say that I WILL NOT be the parent who screams and yells about every call. We all know a few.
Enter ONU Men's Volleyball, and that all changes..
As part of our team fundraiser, each year we host two weekends of junior olympic volleyball tournaments. We completely manage the entire tournaments (ref, confessions, set-up, tear down). We are all Ohio River Valley certified officials. It's a great fundraiser, and we've experienced a lot of success.
With that said, being a referee has completing changed my outlook on playing the sport and officiating. Officiating is a thankless job. You can never make everyone happy. You have complete strangers yelling at you aggressively. You are expected to know and see everything. I will say that I am a completely different player because of my experience with the OVR. My patience, understanding and support for officials has drastically increased. It's a tough job, and I can appreciate that now.
I learned quickly that my officiating career with most likely come to an end after I live ONU. It's just not for me. I love watching and enjoying volleyball, and as an official you have to worry about so many other aspects of the sport. It works for some people, but not me. I will say that I WILL NOT be the parent who screams and yells about every call. We all know a few.
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