middle child marketing inc.: Publicist Sandra Garcia, Event Publicity, Lifestyle PR, Public Relations, Media coverage, Vancouver BC

The future is online…duh.

After today’s media tour hosted by IABC BC, I came to a realization today, as did many of the other attending PR practitioners, I assume: the future is online.

The ladies at IABC know how to do it. In the course of about 4 hours, we visited the Vancouver Sun, CKNW, CBC, and were treated to lunch with Global TVBC’s Wesla Wong. There were some common messages that have been clubbed into my head over the years, which the gracious media hosts were still asking us to do: be relevant… be newsy… understand our programs… don’t blanket pitch. But the standout message of the day was that, at the end of the day, media aren’t just covering for one outlet anymore. They’ve evolved to include online.

Vancouver Sun newsroom meeting

This was not huge news to me, but when I sat down at Vancouver Sun’s first editorial meeting of the day – focused on their WEB content – I think that did it for me. To my knowledge, CKNW hasn’t quite evolved to the level of showing video on their site, but the other three all have separate web staff. The CBC is so organized now – physically – that their entire multimedia news team works on the same floor and the stories that go on radio and/or TV are almost guaranteed to go online. It made me think about all the stories I might have lost for my clients if I had not even thought of pitching for online exclusively. (Because yes, no matter how good you think your story is, it is rarely applicable to all three media types.)

CBC Vancouver Newsroom

Case in point, my boyfriend Leo, who writes on VancouverBeerBlog.com. He isn’t a web expert, and is too modest to even call himself a beer expert. I helped him set up his WordPress blog in October of 2010 and taught him how to use Twitter and keywords in his tags, posts, and categories. Though he certainly isn’t the only beer blogger in the city or province, his traffic is quite substantial (according to his interpretation of Google Analytics) and he reached over 1,000 followers faster than I did (two years). At last weekend’s Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Annual General Meeting, he was given the first Gold Award for Best Beer Blogger/Writer for 2012. My boyfriend, who, when starting the blog almost couldn’t tell the difference between your and you’re, won Best Beer Writer of 2012.

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Nurture your website: WP Security & Plugins

This is somewhat of a test post, but even apart from the practice of Public Relations, I think that developing and nurturing a website and the way in interacts with visitors and blog readers is an extremely important part of the Marketing and branding process.

I was sitting with a former colleague (thanks Leon!) last night about how much we love to use WordPress. I learned about some security features that can cut down on the chance of WP websites getting hacked:

• Don’t leave the Login link on your website.
• Don’t use “admin” as your username. I think WP was encouraging this early on but then now you have the freedom to choose any username, but not to change it.
• Use the WP Security Plugin. I couldn’t find this one in a first search, so maybe someone can help me out with this one.
• Use the Captcha plugin to avoid comment spam. This one is a no-brainer; I implemented it on my review site already, but seem to be having problems with it on this website.

Second, I have learned that plugins are amazing. While I was under the impression that some plugins would only work on WordPress hosted websites, it looks like the upgraded version allows self-hosters like myself to use them. I have just installed three social media plugins for all of my blog posts:

• WP FB Like – Places the “Like” button in each post.
• Plus One – Adds the Google +1 button in each post.
• Tweet This – Adds the Twitter “Tweet This” button in each post.

While I’m sure there are variations of these, they seem to look and operate fine so far. Any other great (or better) plugins you swear by?

Tracy Lydiatt on Shaw Studio 4 with Fanny Kiefer

One of the great talk shows here in our city is Studio 4 with Fanny Kiefer, where she delves deep in conversation with worldly experts about issues important to our communities and beyond.

Yesterday Fanny spoke with Tracy Lydiatt, the Green Families Guru, about simple ways to go green this year.

ZO Skin Health in Elevate Magazine Jan-Feb

Elevate Magazine, Canada’s premier magazine on body enhancement and wellness, published the ZO Skin Health line in their January-February issue. Click here to read the issue online, or see the image below.

Ladies working the ‘good’ in business

As negative as my last blog might have been on the way people do business in Vancouver, this one’s going to be a bit different. I came across the stories of two women taking how business is done into their own hands.

1) Annching Wang, AVERY

Since I have been trying to get clients in fashion, I’ve discovered that the industry in Vancouver is very much like the film industry. Small. Small-scale brands, few big names, and tiny budgets. So I was refreshed to see a designer out of school taking things into her own hands and starting a crowdfunding project. Indiegogo.com is a site that’s been used mostly by filmmakers trying to get funds to create their project. So why not use it for a fashion line?

What I love about AVERY is that it’s 80% sustainable. And Wang has done her homework and figured out what incentives she’s going to give to her contributing donors, which is key. She has a great eye for branding already – I was blown away by her intro video and she’s already got over 1,000 followers on Twitter and 83 Facebook fans, and counting. When Wang reaches her goal of $6,000 by March, she’ll have only a 4-piece collection, but the revenue will likely be used to fund a bigger collection that will follow. I’m dying to see what each of the pieces looks like.

I’m totally on the same wavelength that having a great wardrobe doesn’t mean you need a lot of stuff. Fewer, better quality items are what creates a wardrobe with longevity, and reduces waste. Wang is so much more ahead than some designers who move so fast that they find themselves in the hole when they start their businesses without a clue of how they are going to make sales. So what a great way to launch and build brand equity with consumers than to crowdsource?

Check out the AVERY collection campaign here.
AVERY: www.averybywang.com
Twitter: @AnnchingWang
Facebook.com/AverybyWang

2) Shannen O’Brian, Karma Exchange & Create Change

While the cover of the WestEnder this week reads “THE END OF THE WORLD,” I’m looking forward to 2012 being the start of something BIG for my personal life, my business, and in turn, the world. So I was stoked to read about philanthropist 29 year-old Shannen O’Brian, founder of Karma Exchange and Create Change Now.

I had heard of Karma Exchange before, a social enterprise that partners with real businesses to offer products and deals. Consumers buy things like Vida Spa’s Karma Massage or a treat at David Hawksworth’s Bel Cafe, and in turn 100% of proceeds go to O’Brian’s charity Create Change, in which she video documents all the projects going on. O’Brian created the charity after working and volunteering with NGOs around the world and seeing where our donations to large charities were going to: Land Rovers and expensive meals. Reading the Create Change website, I loved how she said that the images of starving children that we see on TV weren’t necessarily the reality; impoverished people are willing to work hard, but it’s the infrastructure of the country that often prevents them from getting the basics they need to survive. O’Brian is instantly one of my heroes, able to use local business to fuel donations and make the world a better place without beating us over the head with guilt.

Karma Exchange: www.karmaexchange.com
Create Change Now: www.createchangenow.ca
Twitter: @Karma_Exchange
Facebook.com/KarmaExchangeVancouver