Lindsay Bell

Join Gini Dietrich for a Special Livefyre Q&A Today

By: Lindsay Bell | April 2, 2014 | 
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Gini DietrichBy Lindsay Bell

I want to open this little write up about today’s Livefyre Q&A with our fearless leader Gini Dietrich, by saying this: I’M IN THE BOOK!!!

That’s right my friends! Grab your copy of Spin Sucks.

Turn (or scroll) to page 73.

And there I am! Wheeeee!!

Sorry, ok, I just had to get that out of my system.

Now, the tweet you’ll find on page 73 (from me) is actually fake. But Gini definitely isn’t – she IS the bomb – and she’s proven it again with her latest release, Spin Sucks: Communication and Reputation Management in the Digital Age.

We all communicate, every second of everyday (or so it seems), and never has it been more important to know the rules of engagement as they pertain to the digital space.

This book will teach you how to communicate honestly, openly, and authentically, and how to earn the trust of your customers, stakeholders, investors, and communities.

My Amazon review of the book, says this book is for everyone – whether a job-seeker, mom and pop business, mid-level manager, or CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Spin really does suck.

But today’s Livefyre Q&A won’t; that’s for sure!

Don’t miss Gini in the hot seat – because it takes a long time to write a book – and you won’t get this opportunity again for awhile.

Today’s Livefyre Q&A

At noon ET (that’s 11:00 CT, 10:00 MT, and 9:00 PT for those of you who can’t do time zones), Gini will be here to answer any and all of your questions: What to do in an online crisis, what it’s like being a scrappy CEO, why she names her bumps and bruises, why she didn’t just simply marry *food* instead of her long suffering husband Mr. D., or why the Bears kinda sucked this season.

In order to participate, all you have to do is:

  • Make sure you have a Livefyre account or be ready to sign in with one of your social networks.
  • Set a reminder for noon ET today.
  • Order the book so you can support Gini and get your learn on.
  • Create a list of questions (if you haven’t read the book, you can bribe me and I’ll write some for you!).
  • Come back here, scroll to the bottom, and write a comment in the form of a question. As soon as you hit “post comment,” Gini will see it and reply to you. You can even join the conversation around questions others are asking, if you like.

We’ll be here for an hour so you can join us the entire time or step in and out during the hour. It’s entirely up to you; just make sure you’re here before 12:59.

Win a Copy

Those of you who participate in today’s Livefyre Q&A (even if you’re late to the party, but not if you’re an Arment Dietrich employee) will be entered into a random drawing for a free copy of the book.

Don’t forget – you have to actually leave a comment, ask a question, or participate in the chat to be entered in the drawing. Otherwise we won’t know you were here.

Get ready with your questions and join the conversation. And don’t fear! If you missed the live portion of this, we’ll keep the drawing open until midnight PT so you still have time to get in your questions.

Former Guests and Who’s Next

For former guests, check out Margie Clayman, Sarah Robinson, Mark Story, Beth Hayden, Sarah Evans, Stanford Smith, Chris Brogan, C.C. Chapman, Mitch Joel, Danny Brown, Chuck Hemann, Michael Brito, DJ Waldow, Tom Martin, Ahava Leibtag, Jay Baer, Shel Israel, and Mark Schaefer.

And following are the dates for the next few months, so mark your calendars!

Same bat time, same bat channel.

About Lindsay Bell


Lindsay Bell is the content director at V3 Marketing, and works in Toronto. A former TV producer, she’s a strong advocate of three minutes or less of video content. She has a cool kid, a patient husband, two annoying cats, and Hank Dawge, a Vizsla/Foxhound/moose hybrid. Ok, maybe not moose.

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  • When I got to that part, I was all, “Oh, I see. So there is a favorite.”

  • Sounds fun! See everyone then.

  • See y’all at noon.

  • I’ll be back at noon.

  • Eleanor Pierce Everyone knows Lindsay is the favorite. She tells us all over and over again.

  • Since I have to go to our last midwife appointment with the wife and new born here are my questions for Ms ginidietrich  

    1] Where did the title of your book come from?

    2] How long did it take to write and why public relations and not say a book about gardening?

    3] Will there be a sequel?

    4] If you had the choice of Actors to play you in Spin Sucks the Movie who would it be? Would you choose someone who looks like you (Bones, Amy Adams, Shakirah) or someone who represents the real bad ass you (Beckinsdale, Jolie, Jojovich)?

    lastly

    5] What did you do differently this book launch than last? Meaning what did you learn and seek to improve upon?

    Will be back later to see your answers. Good luck!

  • ginidietrich Eleanor Piercewe used to tell the brown nosers they need night vision googles they pour it on so heavy.

  • Howie Goldfarb ginidietrich Eleanor Pierce  I have no clue what any of you are talking about.

  • I won’t be able to make it a high noon but I will check back to see the questions and answers. Have a great time.

  • ginidietrich Eleanor Pierce  one cannot name themselves as a favorite or in belllindsay’s vernacular favourite. I mean she is cool and all buuuutttt….

  • Arment Dietrich, Inc.

    Just 20 more minutes people! ^ep

  • Eight minutes and counting!!! #notfiredtoday!!!

  • Is it time yet? I just dried my hair. I’m ready!

  • ginidietrich  Sigh.

  • I have a feeling Gini’s going to run her own show here today. LOL

  • annelizhannan  Ditto! I’m meeting @larawellman  who is visiting today.

  • belllindsay ginidietrich  I’m nervous.

  • DwayneAlicie Why are you nervous?! You have great hair!

  • belllindsay  I have no idea what you’re talking about.

  • susancellura

    Hey there, Hi there!!!

  • susancellura  Hiii!

  • Ok, here we go!! Welcome to today’s special Q&A – well, actually, let’s face it, this is more like a roast, or it should be anyhow.

  • ok here for the first 5 minutes but already spent my question ammo!

  • belllindsay  Not for another hour, anyway.

  • Howie Goldfarb  I feel like I should ignore your questions.

  • ginidietrich  We were supposed to do our hair? Oops.

  • belllindsay  I CAN HEAR YOU

  • Eleanor Pierce I only did mine because I’m a guest.

  • The book Spin Sucks is an extension of the blog – for those who don’t know, what inspired you all those years ago to start the blog – and did you ever think it would be so successful?

  • ginidietrich DwayneAlicie  Thank you! But not “salon quality hair” like yours! aimeelwest

  • ginidietrich but they are excellent!

  • aimeelwest

    Hello All! I will be popping in and out. I am getting ready for our big Beerfest at the Ballpark. I am so excited we are up to 1,400 tickets and counting!!

  • aimeelwest  way to go Aimee!

  • aimeelwest  Wait. What?? Beer?? *drops mike*

  • —> Beaming in….

  • ginidietrich I would also be interested in the process of writing the book. I know this was your second book …..how did you organize your thoughts both figuratively (in your head) and literally (various materials, sources, etc.)? thanks.

  • Hi There! Do we just fire our questions at anytime?

  • biggreenpen ginidietrich  We only have an hour, Paula.

  • alawrence  fire away!

  • belllindsay  The real reason we started the blog was to figure out this blogging thing some of the big guys were talking about. We really respect tdefren and he was talking about it. So we started to see if there was anything we could use for clients. Alas…it grew into a beast of its own. It was easily four years in before we realized we should do something with it.

  • LauraPetrolino aimeelwest my guess is lots of vermont beer!

  • Howie Goldfarb ginidietrich    Was that phrased as a question?

  • I have a question! I immediately noticed that the term “public relations” is not in the title of the book, and I feel it appears sparingly throughout the book. Can you talk a bit about your intention behind that?

  • biggreenpen The nice thing about the book writing process is you have to do all the organization upfront or a publisher won’t buy it. That’s actually the hardest part. Coming up with the outline and table of contents. Once you do that, you just sit down and write.

  • LauraPetrolino aimeelwestfounders is amazing

  • belllindsay biggreenpen ginidietrich heh – call me an optimist

  • Howie Goldfarb OK, OK. I’ll answer them.

  • DwayneAlicie  That’s deep Dwayne!

  • ginidietrich biggreenpen  I did not know that.

  • DwayneAlicie  Good question!

  • aimeelwest  Tell them all to buy a copy of Spin Sucks! Then we’d FOR SURE make the list!

  • aimeelwest

    Acutally Howie Goldfarb all Michigan craft beer  LauraPetrolino

  • belllindsay aimeelwest  You can have beer tomorrow at 5:30, Lindsay.

  • alawrence  I’m scared.

  • aimeelwest Howie GoldfarbLauraPetrolino so hmm only founders sigh

  • ginidietrich belllindsay aimeelwest  Nope. Dieting. 🙂

  • aimeelwest

    No ginidietrich Saturday at Noon Is when the Beerfest starts. belllindsay

  • belllindsay ginidietrich aimeelwest  for MEXICO

  • Eleanor Pierce DwayneAlicie  Show off.

  • You mention Outbrain under the list of tactics for paid media in chapter 3. Have you seen great results (aka increased quality traffic) using that content promotion site? Why did you choose Outbrain over nRelate, Taboola and others?

  • DwayneAlicie  I’m not sure that was intentional! In 2010, I wrote a blog post saying we are no longer a PR firm and I dropped the term from my vocabulary. Most people who hire PR pros equate what we do solely to media relations. As you well know, that’s just not the case. So part of changing the perception of the industry is to refocus the conversation.

  • ginidietrich alawrenceoh geez you are in trouble gini. alicia made brogan cry when her questions blew his brain gasket

  • DallasKincaid

    OK, I’m here.  You can start now.

  • DallasKincaid  Oh brother.

  • alawrence i have outbrain disabled in my browser and all ad networks blocked

  • alawrence  I’ve tried them all. I like Outbrain the best (so far). That said, it gets you crazy good results, if you should be on the home page of Yahoo! But what we found for our business is the people coming from those pages were not our target. But if you have a consumer business, a really good tactic to use.

  • ginidietrich DwayneAlicie  Funny, I don’t think of ‘us’ as PR people – I think we’re too integrated for that now.

  • belllindsay DallasKincaid  ^^^^

  • ginidietrich  …hair…hmmm,…those were the days….

  • belllindsay DallasKincaid  please get a face

  • Digital_DRK ginidietrich  LOL!!!!

  • LisaCannon

    Where is the link for audio?

  • belllindsay DwayneAlicie  The only traditional PR people who are employed here are, well, me.

  • ginidietrich DwayneAlicie  I hate the term “PR” but I wish there was something as short that accurately states things!

  • DallasKincaid

    LauraPetrolino belllindsay DallasKincaid  I’m faceless.

  • ginidietrich Thanks!

  • ginidietrich belllindsay DwayneAlicie  HA! So true!!

  • belllindsay You can’t have beer?! You’re going to die.

  • belllindsay ginidietrich Excellent — thanks for the answer! And that makes sense. I think you are leading by example here.

  • ginidietrich I KNOW! Not until Friday.

  • Digital_DRK LOL!

  • DallasKincaid

    I was going through the index and I noticed that “Kincaid, Dallas” is omitted.  Will this be corrected in the second edition?

  • my one serious question.  What are you doing differently this book launch than last? Meaning what did you learn and seek to improve upon?

  • So ginidietrich, have you established a topic for your next best seller yet?

  • Howie Goldfarb  Good question!

  • Howie Goldfarb  This was my favourite of all the questions you asked, Howie-Bunny.

  • RobBiesenbach DwayneAlicie I have a friend who has always said she’s a communicator. The term PR drives her nuts.

  • alawrence You bet!

  • DallasKincaid

    LisaCannon  Yeah, how do we get audio?

  • LisaCannon  No audio. It’s all done in text.

  • DallasKincaid  No.

  • belllindsay Howie Goldfarb  Was the last book a co-author thingy? Or did I miss one? That must be different in terms of promotion, but also in terms of representing your vision

  • susancellura

    Gini – I say this in jest – in the video, you kind of look possessed in the shot of you at your computer.   🙂

  • ginidietrich RobBiesenbach DwayneAlicie  Yeah, I do Corporate Communicator or Corporate Communications Pro. All long. Bleh. I wish it was accurate to call myself a marketer.
    But this is not about me. Carry on.

  • DallasKincaid

    ginidietrich DallasKincaid  hmmm

  • ClayMorgan You do know that writing a book is like having a baby? You have a baby and you say I’m never doing that again. And then a few months go by and suddenly you’re ready to have another baby. So the answer to your question is yes.

  • susancellura  I know! I had only three thumbnails to choose from and that was the best of the three.

  • susancellura  Possessed?! I was thinking “intently focused.”

  • Eleanor Pierce susancellura  Freeze frames never do Gini justice.

  • DallasKincaid

    Eleanor Pierce susancellura  “Epileptic Seizure at the computer”

  • ginidietrich ClayMorgan  Funny, that didn’t happen to me. #nomorebabies!!!

  • ginidietrich RobBiesenbach I’m starting to feel that way as well. I also feel similarly about “marketing.” Most of us marketing communicators are really “promotion” professionals with no responsibility for product, price or place. I’m not saying we *shouldn’t* have those responsibilities as well, but I think you know what I mean.

  • RobBiesenbach ginidietrich DwayneAlicie  I say ninja….much more accurate

  • DallasKincaid

    ginidietrich ClayMorgan  Is this your way of telling us your pregnant?

  • Patti Agnew

    Did you consult with others in your field for feedback and ideas in the book writing process?

  • dough belllindsay Howie Goldfarb  Sure, the biggest thing was I had to write an entire book by myself, which is a lot harder than you would think. But the biggest thing I learned was 63 trips in one year to promote a book was not fun…and didn’t accomplish what we thought it would. So this year, I’m being VERY choosy about where I speak and doing most of the marketing through the web (brand ambassadors, webinars, podcasts, guest blog posts).

  • LauraPetrolino You ARE the ninja!!!

  • ginidietrich dough belllindsay Howie Goldfarb  Don’t forget product placement on “Bones” and “New Girl” ;P

  • DallasKincaid

    If a company has poor SEO, does it make sense to do a complete enema of their current online offerings and start over, or does it make sense to work with what you have to obtain the results you desire?

  • DwayneAlicie LauraPetrolino  #nospin 😉

    BOOM! Look at that tie in!

  • DallasKincaid Eleanor Pierce susancellura  belllindsay ginidietrich  I’m telling you a fan on that hair at all times will create magic. Of course wait, it might also scream “possessed” as well… hmm this is why I am not a stylist.

  • Patti Agnew  I didn’t. I used a lot of the comments and feedback I get daily here on the blog. But I didn’t go out and ask for feedback from my peers. That said, the editor the publisher hired was EXCELLENT. He made the book 100,000 times better. One piece of advice he gave me was, “It’s fine to be humble and self-deprecating in person, but when you do that in a book, it’s devastating. People expect you to be the expert. Act like one.”

  • ginidietrich Patti Agnew  That’s usually so hard for you, Gini. 😉

  • ginidietrich Patti Agnew  I big read heart a good editor.

  • DallasKincaid  Absolutely work with what you already have. Repurpose existing content. Change the focus of your website content to be about the customer instead of about you. Use your sales materials and brochures to create online content. You can spend a good year repurposing existing content to improve your SEO.

  • ginidietrich DallasKincaid  And it works!!

  • Regarding the process of writing the book — it sounds so conversational, and many reviewers note that. What was the daily experience of putting fingers to keyboard like?

  • belllindsay ginidietrich Patti Agnew  I had to change a lot of the anecdotes and the voice after he said that. And I’m glad he did. It completely changed my approach…for the better.

  • DallasKincaid

    When flying, do you prefer a window or an aisle seat?

  • aimeelwest

    Howie Goldfarb LauraPetrolino they are. I have a fabulous chocolate cake recipe that uses founders. Yummy!!

  • DwayneAlicie  I think you know me well enough to know I’m fairly disciplined. I wrote for an hour every day (the 5 -6 a.m. hour). I even wrote when I was on vacation in Jamaica and Paris. I never strayed from the hour a day. It took seven months, but it worked.

  • Famous person you’ve seen make the *greatest* recovery from a PR crisis? Could be a politician, movie star, business leader…?

  • When helping a client position themselves as thought leaders, how do you go about creating content (ie blog posts) for them if you lack their industry knowledge. In other words, how do you get the client involved in helping create content without putting too much of the burden on them?

  • DallasKincaid  Aisle because I drink a lot of water so have to pee at least once an hour.

  • belllindsay  MY BOYFRIEND! Robert Downey, Jr. Hands down.

  • DallasKincaid

    DwayneAlicie  I agree.  I really liked the conversational style of the book.

  • ginidietrich DallasKincaid  ME TOO!!

  • ginidietrich belllindsay  **swoon**

  • ginidietrich belllindsay  That’s what I immediately thought. So what are the lessons from Jr?

  • DallasKincaid

    ginidietrich DallasKincaid  How many ounces would you guess you pee a day?

  • belllindsay ginidietrich DallasKincaid  ME THREE. This is honestly creepy. Although I still try to get the window seat and try really hard to evacuate thoroughly pre-flight.

  • alawrence  A few ways: 
    1. Most of them read a lot. Ask them to send you what they’re reading. It takes a little while to get them in the habit, but soon you’ll be inundated.
    2. Once a week, record a conversation with them. Ask them questions and get your content that way.
    3. Ask them for topic ideas. Questions they get from employees, customers, and shareholders.
    4. Have them go into their sent mail and see what questions they answer over and over again via email.

  • DwayneAlicie belllindsay ginidietrich DallasKincaid  
    “evacuate thoroughly” HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

  • dough ginidietrich belllindsay  I wish I could find that animated SNL skit that included him and Anne Heche proclaiming “SUN STROKE!” as the cause of their troubles.

  • ginidietrich alawrence  Great ideas! Thanks!

  • I knew it wouldn’t take long before RDJ came up. So, if RDJ asked you to autograph his copy of Spin Sucks the book…what would you write?

  • DallasKincaid

    There are tons of companies that have become “SEO Specialists.”  How do you go about choosing a company that will give you results, especially if they have never worked with a company in your vertical?

  • dough belllindsay  He paid his penance. He didn’t blame anyone else. He did what it would take to recover. And then he started at the bottom again and proved he was capable again. Plus, he’s hot.

  • ginidietrich dough Super hot.

  • First, congrats on the hugely successful launch day, and great to see it still riding high!
    It seems that we’re still talking about a lot of the same things we were talking about when you started the blog, in the PR/comms space. That’s been eight years now, and the problems seem to be just as inherent.Turf wars continue not just with marketing and advertising, but also internally (PR agency versus PR agency when it comes to what’s important (content or “old school”);Metrics aren’t being given enough importance, and the mindset of impressions continues;Bloggers aren’t seen as authority sources and are dictated to by PR;Accreditation doesn”t really mean anything in the eyes of many, as it doesn’t stop bad practices.
    What is it going to take to really move PR forward?

  • DallasKincaid

    belllindsay ginidietrich dough  But not as hot as me.

  • belllindsay DwayneAlicie ginidietrich DallasKincaid  Even if I do that, if it’s a flight that’s longer than an hour, it doesn’t work for me.

  • belllindsay  I LOVE YOU!!!!

  • Danny Brown  “Bloggers aren’t seen as authority sources and are dictated to by PR” Really, Danny?

  • ginidietrich I know you do, but what would you say to RDJ..???

  • belllindsay Come on, Lindsay, you know there are tons of examples out there.

  • belllindsay Oh you’re funny.

  • Danny Brown I’m surprised, I though bloggers (bloggers at “that level”) had quite a bit of respect in the space. I’m being sincere, here!

  • DallasKincaid  It’s SO HARD. There are so many bad ones out there. Dare I say more bad than good? The question I always ask that helps me determine whether they’re on their game or not is, “What is your approach to link building?” If they answer that they pay for links or some baloney like that, I know they’re bad. If they say link building no longer works, I know they’re good. Most will answer with the former.

  • Danny Brown belllindsay   A  good “Pilot”  conversation for Monday night,

  • DallasKincaid

    Danny Brown belllindsay  I don’t think you can be a respected blogger for very long doing it that way.  Readers aren’t dumb, we can read between the lines.

  • belllindsay “That level” is the issue – expertise doesn’t come with “that level”, it comes with knowledge, and you can have more knowledge as a blogger with 100 readers as you can with 10,000. For me, that’s the big missing factor.

  • DallasKincaid

    ginidietrich belllindsay  RDJ IS kinda funny.  I would hope you’d write more than that though.

  • Danny Brown Very true – absolutely. One needs to weed the ‘gurus’ out from the others.

  • DallasKincaid ginidietrich Me too, Dallas.

  • belllindsay DallasKincaid ginidietrich  Gini’s clearly dodging this question. Suspicious.

  • Eleanor Pierce belllindsay DallasKincaid ginidietrich  Very.

  • Danny Brown I know this is really pie-in-the-sky, but the vision here is to change the perception of the industry. Everything we do here goes to that vision. The problem, of course, is the people who need to read the blog, don’t.

    Realistically, nothing will change until the big agencies stop the practice of allowing new college graduates the very public job of working with journalists and bloggers without oversight. Until they demand different metrics…which won’t happen as long as the trade organizations reward media impressions and AVEs (the big winners always win on those things). Until there is more oversight with the unethical practices (i.e. not allowing people to practice if they are caught).

    I got in a really big debate with Arthur Yann (RIP) a few years ago about this. His stance was PRSA is a membership organization so they can’t oversee those kinds of things. Maybe so…but there should be something.

    The industry has a really low barrier to entry. Anyone can hang out a shingle and call themselves a PR pro.

    Lots of things have to change. And now I’m all fired up again.

  • ginidietrich DallasKincaid  If link building is no longer good what should they do instead to attract links and climb the SERPs? (I’ve heard a few answers to this but I’m curious what you would suggest.)

  • DallasKincaid

    alawrence ginidietrich  This has been my hardest challenge when providing copy to developers.  This gives me another way of looking at it. 😉  The sent mail suggestion is brilliant!

  • ginidietrich alawrence  I used a similar approach in a corporate setting – our CEO didn’t have time to blog, so I’d just talk to him with a recorder. Then the content I created really was in his words, just organized.

  • alawrence DallasKincaid  Well, you can do something big like Copyblogger just did by shutting down their blog comments, which the whole world wrote about. But mostly you can be very strategic about the relationships you build with bloggers. It’s media relations, at its core.

  • Eleanor Pierce belllindsay DallasKincaid ginidietrich  I would write, “I LOVE YOU!” Lindsay turned it around to herself.

  • DallasKincaid

    ginidietrich Danny Brown  Oh God…she’s going to kill squirrels now….

  • DallasKincaid ginidietrich Danny Brown  I MIGHT

  • ginidietrich Eleanor Pierce belllindsay DallasKincaid  I think people want more than I LOVE YOU, Gini!

  • DallasKincaid You haven’t read it!

  • Patti Agnew

    In the book you mentioned the changes to Google’s Panda algorithm. I understand there was a recent change to the Penguin algorithm as well. Does it affect marketing and communications, and if so, how?

  • ginidietrich DallasKincaid Danny Brown  Perhaps there needs to be a new group, of modern PR/Comms types who self police each other. 🙂

  • DallasKincaid ClayMorgan  Considering that is physically impossible, no.

  • Has there been any blowback from the PR agencies or organizations over Spin Sucks? I saw you had a convo Arthur Yann a few years ago, but do they see a problem or a challenge in your assertions about some of the mediocre practices and thinking going on?

  • RobBiesenbach  Gossip! YAY!

  • belllindsay DallasKincaid Danny Brown  Perhaps…but the people who would belong to it wouldn’t need the self-policing.

  • ginidietrich alawrence DallasKincaid  Good to hear 🙂 When building relationships with bloggers, do you typically write the post for their site, suggest they include an IG or video, or do you go about a different way to get them talking about your client/products?

  • ginidietrich belllindsay DallasKincaid Danny Brown  True, but it has to start somewhere – maybe a new group is needed to set the NEW industry standard!

  • Patti Agnew  It all affects the work we do, if we’re producing content online. Some of the biggest Google changes, of late, are presenting content in the way a person searches (we ask questions) and writing longer form content. The latter weeds out the bad content producers because it’s very hard to do. It’s not hard to write 300 words. It’s very difficult to produce 1,500 words.

  • bobledrew

    belllindsay ginidietrich DallasKincaid Danny Brown  uhoh, I can see a licencing debate off in the distance kickin’ up dust.

  • RobBiesenbach  I think they roll their eyes at me. In some cases, they know the work we’re doing is admirable, but I think they think we’re being naive and out there in the big world, people won’t act ethically.

  • bobledrew belllindsay ginidietrich DallasKincaid Danny Brown  Bob’s here!

  • belllindsay ginidietrich DallasKincaid Danny Brown  You mention “big agencies stop the practice of allowing new college graduates the very public job of working with journalists and bloggers” What exactly are those recent grads doing wrong that oversight could correct?

  • DallasKincaid

    belllindsay bobledrew ginidietrich DallasKincaid Danny Brown  “You TOO can become a licensed PR professional with this easy 2 week course!”

  • ginidietrich RobBiesenbach  That’s a sad statement. True, but sad.

  • bobledrew

    DallasKincaid  I look forward to being the exclusive provider of social media high colonic irrigation in Canada shortly.

  • DallasKincaid

    ginidietrich DallasKincaid ClayMorgan  details…details

  • bobledrew DallasKincaid  Trademark that sucker!!

  • DallasKincaid

    ginidietrich DallasKincaid  LIES!  I bought the Kindle edition on Saturday.  I just got the hard copy today.

  • Just over 20 minutes left folks, drop your questions in!

  • alawrence A LOT of things. Mass mailing news releases. Not building relationships. Not doing any homework to find the right contacts. The media relations side of things is a complete mess. I get angry every time I get a news release in my inbox that makes no sense for us…and it happens 20-30 times a day.

  • bobledrew

    belllindsay bobledrew ginidietrich DallasKincaid Danny Brown  I feel like Norm Peterson walking into Cheers. “It’s a dog eat dog world, Lindsay, and I’m wearing pork chop underwear.”

  • DallasKincaid  3rd time lucky….

  • DallasKincaid

    belllindsay ginidietrich Eleanor Pierce DallasKincaid  She’s spinning her own responses!  WOAH!  What about spin sucking?!

  • ginidietrich Patti Agnew Interesting! I get that sometimes — the “humility” thing — I know it can be a double-edge sword but now I have to really rethink it in this context.

  • kanya632

    Hola, Gini! This might sound a bit strange, but
    I’m curious: is there anything you left out of the book? Perhaps something you
    wished you included before publication?

  • bobledrew

    I’ve been thinking / writing about government comms a bit lately. While I await my copy of the book (and your visit to Ottawa, yay!), what are you seeing in the US in terms of government communications changing or failing to change to adapt to some of the changes in the broader communications / social media world?

  • Can I interrupt quickly to say that i love this format so much more than a webinar. You learn from the host & the attendees! Thanks you belllindsay & ginidietrich

  • bobledrew

    jennimacdonald belllindsay ginidietrich  No. You can’t.

  • jennimacdonald belllindsay ginidietrich  The webinar’s tomorrow!! 😀

  • kanya632  LOTS! I had to turn in 25% at a time…every month. By the end, you’re just rushing to meet your deadlines. So there are lots of things I didn’t get included. Hopefully there will be a second edition!

  • bobledrew Too bad I do what I want!

  • I know there’s a “no profanity” rule in these parts, but what’s considered profanity? Obviously, “sucks” is okay. Do you have a 7 Forbidden Words, like the FCC? 
    I’m actually kind of serious. I worry about crossing the line here.

  • DallasKincaid

    belllindsay bobledrew DallasKincaid  And buy some air freshener.

  • aimeelwest

    How do you write? I am always curious if it was written long hand and then on the computer. Do you sit and do one chapter at a time or is it a little bit here there and everywhere. 

    thanks

  • RobBiesenbach  George Carlin, #FTW!!

  • DallasKincaid

    aimeelwest  I think she uses crayon.

  • jennimacdonald bobledrew  You GO, sistah!

  • bobledrew  OMG. It’s a mess here. PR pros have a bad rap because of Washington and because of Hollywood. It feels like both of those industries spin and lie. The blocking and bridging that goes on is almost criminal.

  • bobledrew

    alawrence ginidietrich DallasKincaid  People would print a blog post written by someone else ?! I get a “guest post”, but I would rather die than post someone else’s writing on my blog.

  • DallasKincaid

    belllindsay RobBiesenbach  “Gosh darnit!”  “Man Alive”  “Gee willickers”  Gini swears up a storm!

  • bobledrew alawrence ginidietrich DallasKincaid  Happens all the time!

  • RobBiesenbach  If you cross the line, Livefyre will put you in a time out and we have to edit your comment and approve it. It’s the words you’d suspect – the F word, the Lord’s name in vain, even the round things that bounce.

  • aimeelwest

    DallasKincaid My dad was with a group of engineers over lunch and they created this part on napkins with mustard and ketchup… So you never know.

  • DallasKincaid

    ginidietrich kanya632  She left out the chapter about me.

  • jennimacdonald I’m glad you like it!

  • aimeelwest DallasKincaid  That’s AMAZING!!

  • ginidietrich “Round things that bounce.” I’m out!

  • DallasKincaid

    ginidietrich RobBiesenbach  why would they ban “basketballs.”  That’s just weird.

  • aimeelwest DallasKincaid  That’s so ballpark MacGyver!

  • aimeelwest  It’s much, much easier for me to write on the computer. I type really fast so, as long as my brain can keep up, I can get words on paper much more quickly that way.

    As for the book, itself, I wrote for an hour a day. I can get about 2,000 words written in that time. So not an entire chapter, but a good quarter of it.

  • bobledrew alawrence ginidietrich DallasKincaid  I meant guest post…

  • aimeelwest  Oh! And…I used Scrivener this time around (versus Word). I like it because it allows you to reorganize things or move concepts around with a simple click and drop versus having to find it, copy and paste.

  • RobBiesenbach LOL

  • Serious question: Why do you think it’s so hard for some people NOT to lie or attempt a cover up?

  • aimeelwest

    ginidietrich Thank you! Oh I will look into Scrivener for a friend who is writing a book.

  • SusynEliseDuris

    Congrats ginidietrich on the book!

  • ginidietrich aimeelwest  Also because you loved the Bartleby reference. Admit it.

  • SusynEliseDuris

    jennimacdonald belllindsay ginidietrich  Agree!

  • belllindsay  I’m not a shrink, but I think it’s human nature to cover up your mistakes or failures. My mom always said to us, “If you do something wrong and I learn about it from your teachers, you will be in serious trouble.” We knew to tell her first and the punishment would be less severe. 

    Some people just think they can cover things up and it’ll go away. Unfortunately, it’s always found out. PLUS, it’s really hard to lie because you have to remember who you told what.

  • SusynEliseDuris Thanks, Susyn! And thanks for all of your help this week!

  • SusynEliseDuris

    So when do the weekly #SpinSucks chats commence?

  • SusynEliseDuris  Ha! I might die if we add one more thing right now.

  • ginidietrich Funny, I drill that same thing into my son’s head. And that’s how I was raised as well. Everything is wayyyy worse after the lie.

  • ginidietrich bobledrew  This is so true. Many of our political problems are wildly exacerbated by, if not CAUSED by endless spin and reframing until no one understands what the original issue was. Which is right where many politicians want voters.

  • DallasKincaid

    If I drink before 10am, am I an alcoholic?

  • bobledrew

    ginidietrich aimeelwest  I am a Scrivener fan for some fiction I’m trying to write. Glad to hear you found it useful on the nonfiction side too.

  • SusynEliseDuris

    ginidietrich SusynEliseDuris  I will be doing more!

  • DallasKincaid  Depends. Is it the weekend? Are you on vacation?

  • ginidietrich DallasKincaid  I’ll be doing that in Mexico. Mimosas!!

  • bobledrew I love that it will even help you choose character names!

  • DallasKincaid ginidietrich kanya632  I’m curious what the title of that lost chapter would be, Dallas … do you have it?

  • susancellura

    ginidietrich kanya632 I knew there was going to be a  sequel!!!!!

  • DallasKincaid

    ginidietrich DallasKincaid  No, it’s Wednesday morning.  I’m at my desk.

  • Courtney_Tarnow

    Congrats again on the book, ginidietrich. I know I’m going to love the book, but do you have any advice on getting the C-Suite to read it?

  • DwayneAlicie DallasKincaid ginidietrich kanya632  “Dallas: The Lost Years”

  • SusynEliseDuris

    ginidietrich I hear ya but you do know when the book goes mainstream the masses will be expecting it!! 🙂

  • Courtney_Tarnow ginidietrich  Great question!

  • kanya632

    DallasKincaid lol that would have been the most interesting section, no doubttt. And thanks ginidietrich! To go off what you said, how did you prioritize what topics to include/exclude?

  • belllindsay ginidietrich  Yup, did Mark Twain say that? The truth is always easier to remember? Great advice!

  • I absolutely loved the section on storytelling – thinking about previous jobs I’ve had, I’m curious about how the brand story gets integrated into company culture. How can businesses make sure everyone who’s communicating for them is on the same page?

  • DallasKincaid

    susancellura ginidietrich kanya632  Gini embedded with me for a month and wrote about her experiences.  Sort of like a rolling stone piece.

  • kanya632

    DallasKincaid belllindsay RobBiesenbach  Gee willickers LOL!

  • SusynEliseDuris

    DallasKincaid  Ha! I’ll have one and another…

  • Courtney_Tarnow

    DallasKincaid Great question, Dallas

  • bobledrew

    RobBiesenbach belllindsay ginidietrich  Of course, there are times when communicators find themselves being TOLD to lie. That becomes a dilemma for that person, to balance out their ethics with the fact that they might have a mortgage, daycare, etc. etc. and may not be able to walk away from the job on principle.

  • Hi ginidietrich ! What do you think is the biggest misconception about PR? It always seems like professionals from every field (SEO, marketing, advertising, sales, etc.) assume PR has such a limited impact on direct business goals, when in reality some of the biggest PR firms like Edelman have very extensive, measurable communication strategies that directly impact business objectives/sales/ROI, etc.

  • aimeelwest

    ginidietrich belllindsay  That is why I never lie I could never remember who I told what. LOL

    I always told my kids I would rather hear the truth than find out a lie later. I always made the punishment worse if they lied first, rather than telling the truth.

  • What did you leave on the cutting room floor?

  • Courtney_Tarnow They had BETTER read it! I wrote it for them, not for the PR industry. The problem is, most know they need PR and they hire for it, but they don’t know what to expect or how to hold their team accountable. The book talks about those things. It takes the magic out of it and presents what we do in hard, cold facts.

  • bobledrew  ginidietrich  RobBiesenbach Very true Bob, very true.

  • Digital_DRK  The Dallas chapter, 😉

  • Eleanor Pierce  It’s super hard, as you know. It’s the 80/20 rule. Ten percent will go running to help communicate in the right way. Ten percent will not do anything…and refuse until they get fired. The other 80 percent will wait to see which 10 percent wins. Your job is to make sure the top 10 percent wins by incentivizing them and rewarding them and making sure everyone sees their success.

  • DallasKincaid Then, yes.

  • SusynEliseDuris

    ginidietrich belllindsay  Creating their own reality distortion field a la Jobs…

  • DallasKincaid

    belllindsay Digital_DRK  I’m very upset about this. 🙁

  • Digital_DRK  Nothing! In fact, I should have written more. I just ran out of time.

  • ginidietrich Eleanor Pierce  “The other 80 percent will wait to see which 10 percent wins.” I LOVE THAT!!!

  • Courtney_Tarnow

    ginidietrich Courtney_Tarnow Thanks, Gini. “Hard, cold facts” is certainly an easier sell.

  • Um, Eleanor Pierce do you see what SusynEliseDuris is doing to me?!

  • DallasKincaid belllindsay Digital_DRK   That’s chapter and verse….

  • aimeelwest ginidietrich belllindsay  Me too! And it’s the plot contrivance I hate the most because I just can’t stand to see it done.

  • bobledrew RobBiesenbach belllindsay We had a client just a month ago ask me if we could have one of our team call someone and pose as a reporter. Um, no.

  • belllindsay Eleanor Pierce  It’s true, isn’t it? Think about all the change you’ve witnessed. That’s how it works.

  • SusynEliseDuris

    Digital_DRK  Oooh, #SpinSucks outtakes in an ebook?

  • ginidietrich Digital_DRK  Ooo, so maybe we’ll get “Spin STILL Sucks!” at some point?

  • bobledrew

    belllindsay bobledrew alawrence ginidietrich DallasKincaid  Good grief.

  • DwayneAlicie LOL! I love that!

  • ginidietrich The extra content sounds like the start of your next book.

  • ginidietrich Eleanor Pierce SusynEliseDuris  To us, Gini. To us.

  • Courtney_Tarnow The video Tony did for the book launch is targeted toward the C-Suite. Maybe you could send that to them?

  • Eleanor Pierce ginidietrich SusynEliseDuris  AMEN

  • So, um, about those Bears…..

  • kanya632

    ginidietrich belllindsay Omg love the last sentence! that’s why i suck at lying: i can never remember anything!

  • belllindsay  If they’d let me coach, we’d have a better outcome.

  • ginidietrich BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

  • DallasKincaid

    OK everyone, it’s been a great chat.  I’m glad I could answer any questions you had about Gini’s book!

  • kanya632 I wish I could say I was that organized. I simply ran out of time.

  • Getting very close everyone……

  • belllindsay I think you’re TRYING to get fired.

  • ginidietrich NO! I could TOTALLY see you out there, with your headset on, yelling!!

  • ginidietrich belllindsay  Trying to get to Mexico earlier …

  • Courtney_Tarnow

    ginidietrich Courtney_Tarnow Thank you, I’ll use that.

  • belllindsay I would, too.

  • belllindsay  Good! I’m hungry!

  • I want to say a super special thank you to Gini, in the middle of an exciting and extremely busy week, for today’s chat! And thanks to all of you also for being here!!

  • ginidietrich belllindsay Eleanor Pierce  I have an opinion on this — I think it’s obviously easiest if people strategy is aligned with culture and brand from the very beginning. That way, the right people would be attracted and stay. The company culture IS the brand story. See Zappos.

    If it’s a project to align those elements retroactively, it’s not impossible, but I think it’s clearly more difficult and a longer, harder row to hoe. Each component (HR, marketing etc) has to be examined closely and redesigned with, like Gini says in the book, “marathon mentality.”

  • Patti Agnew

    belllindsay  ginidietrich Thanks, Gini and Lindsay!

  • DwayneAlicie belllindsay Eleanor Pierce  I agree, Dwayne, in theory. The Zappos story works because it’s ingrained from the top. Many, many organizations start this kind of change in the middle. Sometimes the bottom 10 percent you have to convince are the executives. We see it constantly with our clients. They hire us because they want this kind of change and then dig their heels in.

  • Courtney_Tarnow

    belllindsay ginidietrichThank you!

  • Patti Agnew belllindsay ginidietrich  This was awesome, and congratulations, Gini, on getting this book out there.

  • DwayneAlicie ginidietrich belllindsay Eleanor Pierce  Amen! I’ve worked at organizations in which there was an attempt at top-down dictation of brand/company culture story, and it was rough. “Oh, you think we’re like that? Um. OK.”

  • Thanks, everyone! There were such good questions in here, I’m going to use some of them for blog posts.

  • ginidietrich Me too!

  • belllindsay  Thanks ginidietrich This has been one of the best lunch breaks ever 🙂

  • DwayneAlicie xoxo

  • alawrence belllindsay ginidietrich  YAY!

  • DallasKincaid

    belllindsay  You’re welcome, Lindsay.  I’m glad I could be here to help answer questions about Gini’s new book!

  • DallasKincaid You’re the best, Dallas.

  • Eleanor Pierce DwayneAlicie ginidietrich belllindsay  Ooooo, yeaaaaah, nooooo, “dictating” culture simply won’t work! It definitely has to be a struggle to begin and effect these kinds of changes from the middle. There is great support here for those fighting the good fight!

  • DallasKincaid

    belllindsay DallasKincaid  Like you have to tell me?

  • bobledrew

    belllindsay  Pleasure was all ours.

  • kanya632

    belllindsay ginidietrich  Awesome, awesome session! Thank you! Oh and also: Fastest. Hour. Everrrrr.

  • I’m late to the party! Boo. But, I already bought my book so no need to add me to the drawing, just sayin’. Gin Blossom, I’m so proud of you! We’re morphing along with the times and you’re in the lead. No one else can catch up. So, I’ll just offer my cheek for your kiss and post our selfie on my Wall of Fame! XO and all that jazz, Lady. 

    I’m back from the dark and will write you a review, too. Lindsay, was there a deadline for that? Hmm, I see an opening in October…want to do Message Mapping?

  • SusynEliseDuris

    ginidietrich Eleanor Pierce SusynEliseDuris  Hear to help, ladies. Let’s do this!!

  • Courtney_Tarnow

    ginidietrich Danny BrownMy predecessor was using AVEs and impressions in evals, and after researching the topic from PR Pros, like Gini and Shonali, I asked my supe if we can remove them going forward. Felt like a big win, but now I’m trying to figure out what to use instead. There’s so many differing opinions.

  • SusynEliseDuris

    belllindsay  This was great!!

  • DallasKincaid

    ginidietrich alawrence belllindsay  I got drunk!

  • SusynEliseDuris ginidietrich Eleanor Pierce  Such enthusiasm!

  • SusynEliseDuris

    ginidietrich Courtney_Tarnow  There are just so many real-world examples and results in #SpinSucks – and we know the c-suite loves examples and results!!! – how could they not want to read and apply what is in the book?!!!

  • SusynEliseDuris

    ginidietrich kanya632  This is going to be a series – More Spin Sucks, Still More Spin Sucks, And More Spin Sucks…

  • ginidietrich kanya632 that’s awesome to hear; there are some areas where it definitely felt like the surface had been scratched & I wanted more!

  • I´m also late to the party. I am so sorry I missed it. I´ll catch up with all the comments.  
    ginidietrich Again, super congrats for the launch, for the book and for proving with each step (action, blog post, etc) that Spin Sucks, but honesty and genuinely caring for people, for clients, for the ones around you and not only, does not suck, but it is the key to success.

  • Soulati | Hybrid PR  I would like to update our selfie at least once a year. Please and thank you.

  • corinamanea Thank you! And thanks for all of your help! This has been an amazing week.

  • Danny Brown belllindsayI am proof! LOL

  • ginidietrich ClayMorganno more babies we stopped at 2 you can as well!

  • ginidietrich doughbelllindsayHowie GoldfarbI knew you wouldn’t NOT answer this great question! So glad you are coming to vermont on this book tour 8)

  • ginidietrich  No problem!

  • Digital_DRK  Don’t you know she gets things right the first time? 🙂

  • @jason_ ginidietrich  Excellent idea! Go go go!

  • ginidietrich DwayneAlicie belllindsay Eleanor Pierce  Zappos is a great example of a culture rather than someone just building perks. They “get it.”

  • ginidietrich corinamanea  It’s been quite a week!!

  • ginidietrich Soulati | Hybrid PR  BAHAHAHA!! #selfieshame!

  • kanya632 belllindsay ginidietrich  I know! It flew by!!

  • SusynEliseDuris Thanks Susyn – all down to ginidietrich!!

  • ginidietrich Oh. I know you would.

  • corinamanea ginidietrich  Fashionably late!

  • DallasKincaid ginidietrich alawrence belllindsay  “Root beer vodka no good for head”

  • DallasKincaid belllindsay  Lindsay said that in sarcasm font Dallas, clearly I’m the best and we all know this fact, get over yourself already

  • DallasKincaid belllindsay Digital_DRK  too much of a good thing is…..to much! The world was not ready for THE Dallas yet

  • ClayMorgan @jason_ ginidietrich  Can we do the Spin Sucks Musical first? That’s the whole reason I came to work here.

  • ClayMorgan Digital_DRK  #suckupaward

  • Eleanor Pierce DwayneAlicie ginidietrich belllindsay  Ohhhh….Ellie, so much to say about that. That’s one of the biggest problems in big corporations. A total disconnect between what the c-level things the company culture is (or wants to believe it is, or is told by the middle managers vying for a promotion it is) vs. what it actually is.

  • I am invoking the ‘better late than never’ mantra and digging in to the comments..bottoms up.

  • belllindsay ginidietrich  Ha, you know I think I’ve mentioned this to both of you before, but parents always told me the same thing. In fact, the only rule I had was that I needed to communicate to them about everything. No curfew, no restrictions on things, just that I needed to tell them what was going on in my life, they might approve or disapprove, they might agree, or disagree, but as long as I communicated with them they wouldn’t get angry.

  • DwayneAlicie ginidietrich bobledrew  Social has made this worse in so many ways, because it’s easier for sound bites to fly, and so people vote based on random snippets, vs. facts.

  • bobledrew belllindsay ginidietrich DallasKincaid Danny Brown  Hahahaha!!! Only here at Spin Sucks can we talk about the big issues like the dangers of pork chop undies

  • aimeelwest

    ginidietrich I’ll try and work into my pitch when I’m selling swag 🙂 We are at 1,700 tickets and counting!

  • annelizhannan  That’s the way to do it!

  • LauraPetrolino Eleanor Pierce DwayneAlicie ginidietrich belllindsay  Exaaaaactly

  • Give me a S, give me a P, give me an I, give me a N!!! What does that spell…SPIN

    SPIN SUCKS, SPIN SUCKS SPIN SUCK WOOOOO!

    Whew, I know everyone was waiting for my cheer. You’re welcome!

  • LauraPetrolino  I can just see you with pigtails and a cheerleading uniform. Oh dear.

  • annelizhannan  There are a lot of really good questions in here. I’m going to use some of them for blog content.

  • ginidietrich LauraPetrolino  I’m going to have to have my mom dig up some of my old cheer pictures!

  • LauraPetrolino I would do the same, but um…no.

  • ginidietrich Yes, I found the questions on content site promotion platforms and how to garner content from industry executives most interesting. Looking forward to elaboration on those items.

  • ginidietrich LauraPetrolino  Laura invented cheerleading.

  • Are you proud of me?!  🙂 
    Sorry I missed the Webinar today. But I think buying and reading the book is the least I could do, right?

  • JRHalloran  How did I miss this?! I LOVE IT!!!

  • Hey @jason_  and SusynEliseDuris! Send me your mailing addresses, please!

  • Pingback: Join Ann Handley (@marketingprofs) for a Special Author Q&A Today Spin Sucks()

  • JoshuaJLight

    One comment closer.

  • Pingback: Join James Altucher for a Special Author Q&A Today (@jaltucher) Spin Sucks()

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