Netiquette

Unforunately our Marquette PRSSA group was unable to make it to this year's national conference in San Diego this month, so I did a little research to see what the conference entailed. I wanted to see what other students thought about the presentations they were invited to. I came across this blog posting by a senior student at Ohio Northern University:

10 Tips for Networking Etiquette

It describes some very detailed tips for networking, some that I hadn't even heard of before. In fact, they make a lot of sense. I found a couple especially interesting:
4. Ladies should extend their hand to gentlemen first, allowing them to control whether they are comfortable with the exchange.
This is a neat point because, as a lady, I never thought that men might be uncomfortable with shaking a woman's hand...or vice versa in a networking environment.
8. If the first to arrive at a table for dinner, wait behind your chair or mingle until everyone is present before sitting down.
This is a great observation, because you never want to appear as though you are unsocial (even if you are a bit uncomfortable with meeting new people). Networking events give you an easy way in to breaking your shell and getting your name out there, because everyone is expecting to talk with and meet many people. There's no pressure!

A Rise in E-Commerce, an End to Personal Communication?

As the economy fluctuates and people’s hopes of it going on the rise follow a rollercoaster ride of constant humps, it has been recognized that e-commerce seems to be the way to go. According to an article by Newsweek Magazine Online, there has been an average of an 11 percent increase in e-commerce sales for U.S. retailers in the first quarter of 2009.

The increase of e-commerce sales speaks to the constantly changing nature of the consumer market today. As so many aspects of our lives can now be handled online, the internet’s appeal swallows many people’s hesitations to put personal information out on the web. Consider the following facts:
• In France, there has been a 26 percent increase in e-commerce sales in the first quarter of 2009.
• 35 percent of consumers who belong to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations buy goods and services on the Internet, up from 27 percent five years ago.
• European consumers save an average 17 percent if they buy electronic retail goods online rather than in stores.

If this trend continues, will in-store purchasing slowly diminish? Personally, it scares me to think of the great amount of capability the Internet already has. Personal and communal interaction in the marketplace is vital to how our society operates. Although an online nature makes everything seemingly easy and convenient, how will this affect the basic roles of buying and selling in the marketplace?

Online commerce will also affect competition. E-marketing strategies will have to continue to improve, as retailers will need to extend exposure online to reach the consumers who spend a lot of time on the web. Concurrently, e-commerce could conserve great deals of energy and time for both consumers and retailers; if most things could be bought with a click of a button, people wouldn’t have to leave their homes to make purchases, although they will have to wait for items to be shipped. I have recognized only a few of the effects that may result from the steady increase in e-commerce. What do you think? Do the negatives outweigh the positives?

Holidays, a time for family, food, and learning how to spend wisely

The holidays are approaching which means family time, lots of food and presents!!! But the economy is still struggling and this got me thinking, how are people going to balance needs and wants, and will there actually be any presents under the tree? A recent article in Advertising Age comments on this, and the chaos of Black Friday, which is just around the corner.

According to the article, consumers are starting their shopping early. Google research has shown that Black Friday searches have started two weeks earlier than last year, and terms such as "early Black Friday sales" are popular. This suggests that consumers are shopping around for the best deals before making big purchase decisions.

According to the article, research released last week shows that 39% of consumers are planning on spending less during the holidays than last year. Retail stores need to get creative in finding ways for consumers to spend spend spend! Their response: layaway. Check out the Sears website and you’ll see and option for layway. Best Buy and Kmart are doing it too. According to the article, Walmart’s missing out because it got rid of layaway two years ago. I think these large corporations are smart in providing this option. It can be hard to make a decision knowing that a big chunk of money will be gone and will take a lot of working hours to get back.

Overall, consumers are being smarter this year. They’re using lists, which means no more impulse buying. By researching ahead of time, they are finding the best deals. They’re paying with cash and using layaway. They’re being cautious in their spending habits. It may not be the best thing for the economy right now, but I think it’s safe to say that these are some life skills that some consumers never had before, but benefit from now. So maybe an economic crisis isn’t too bad after all if some of us really learned the value of a dollar.

Grand Slam PR Initiatives

In a recent article of The Public Relations Strategist, CEO of Denny's, Nelson Marchioli, talks about how public relations has made one of the nation's largest full-service restaurant chains so successful. Currently, Denny's has more than 1,500 locations across the United States and in six other countries. Earlier this year, the restaurant offered a free grand slam breakfast on February 3rd. Ads were run during the Superbowl, but Marchioli credited the use of strategic public relations to bring the event to the next level. "And on that day, thanks to the PR coverage that we got, we changed the image of the brand, particularly with the media and the journalists here in America. I would have never thought one event could have done that — but it did," he said.

Marchioli also went on to talk about the importance of public relations, specifically when it came to social media. One specific initiative Marchioli used social media for was Denny's new menu and menu changes called, "Better for You". With the growing rates of obesity in the United States, Denny's wanted to publicize menu changes they had made that were more nutritional. One specific target market that the Twitter and Facebook ads were aimed at were mother's who were looking out for their children's health and nutritional needs. Marchioli thinks that although today's consumers may be more engaged, they are also more selective. He argued that it is extremely important to keep up with the groups you are targeting through social media tactics. "PR folks seem to be more attuned to all the opportunities with the Internet at this particular time — far ahead of the marketing folks. And that’s interesting, but anyone who doesn’t become more aware of it and become more focused on who they want to speak to through these various sources is going to be left behind," he said.

Read more here...http://bit.ly/8UQy2B