Today’s guest post is written by Lisa Gerber.

I wrote the first draft of this post by hand.

I’m trying something new: I’m going to occasionally step away from the devices, limit distractions, and reflect.

This is much easier said than done and I”ll explain why in a minute.

But first, the reason for this little epiphany: Candy Chang spoke last week at Counselors Academy in New Orleans. Some of you know this is my absolute must attend conference. Candy was the keynote the last day and honestly, I had pretty low expectations for the session. Continue Reading »

Today’s #FollowFriday needs no introduction. And I’m cheating a little bit because I wrote about her this time last year.

But it’s her birthday today so I figured you wouldn’t mind.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LISA!!

Lisa Gerber is our chief content officer. She runs all of the guest posts here at Spin Sucks, which is no small job. She also began doing client work in January and now leads three of our biggest accounts.

About 18 months ago, I was shopping at Nordstrom (and then Sephora) and I called Lisa. I was venting that I needed some help with content on both Spin Sucks and this new project I wanted to launch (which you now know as Spin Sucks Pro). I told her I needed someone who I really trusted. As I stood on the corner of Michigan and Grand, in the dark, she said, “I’ll do it.” Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Lisa Gerber.

We have an important announcement: Effective immediately at Arment Dietrich, we will be disconnecting our phone service.

We no longer have the time or the resources to answer the phone. It just keeps ringing. And it won’t stop! People have questions! And they want us to do work for them! But we don’t have the time. So we’re shutting it down.

Preposterous you say? We agree. We’re not really shutting down the phone. But this is exactly the message you’re sending when you say you don’t have time for social media. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Lisa Gerber.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised anymore. Maybe I’m just sad now: At how many organizations are missing opportunities to be involved in the conversation.

How many times a day do you come across a scathing review; one that influences your decision not to buy?

And would that decision be influenced the other way if the organization had responded in some manner – be it with an apology, an explanation, or a resolution?

The funny thing is, I bet most really have intentions to be involved, but don’t know how. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Lisa Gerber.

I’ve had a very challenging week leaving me with only one thing on my mind I can write about: My dog Jackson.

Jackson is very big and grew fast so he has bad joints causing him a lot of pain. When the bones don’t grow at the right pace compared to each other, they don’t meet well in the elbows and knees and all sorts of problems ensue.

Things have come to a head lately and our local vet just wasn’t able to help us. So I did what anyone very concerned fur mom would do. I turned to the Internet for research. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Lisa Gerber.

I’ll never forget the day the Counselors Academy brochure arrived in the mail.

It was Jan 2009, and my PR business was almost five years old. I had been growing it every year in double digits and had added an employee in 2008.

And then it all hit the fan, and I lost about 40 percent of my business in one fell swoop, and let my one employee go.

It felt like I was back to square one.

I realized at the time, I knew a lot about PR, but I didn’t have a clue on running a PR business.

That’s when I opened the Counselors Academy brochure – a conference for agency CEOs and leaders about the business side of the agency.  I thought long and hard about it. At a time when I was to be implementing austerity measures, I was contemplating a fairly significant expense.

There are two reasons for this post:

1. I have drunk the Kool-Aid that is Counselors Academy and want to pass the glass around; and
2. Whether Counselors is for you or not, the idea of taking a risk, and investing in yourself and/or your business is an important one. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Lisa Gerber.

It’s been awhile, but recently, I’ve been reacquainted with a long lost love.

Yes, media relations.

That long lost love? Media relations.

As the chief content officer for Spin Sucks and Spin Sucks Pro, I have been mostly on the receiving end of pitches, not on the pitching side.

It’s been very entertaining to say the least.

This isn’t another post about bad pitches.

Trust me, I’m shocked at the number of atrocious pitches I get.

My name is not Spin Sucks, it’s not Spin, and pitching me on the broad topics of social media and marketing doesn’t fly. That just doesn’t tell me a thing.

Because the mission of Spin Sucks is to change the perception of PR, there is a huge opportunity for growth by addressing better practices in media relations. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post (and video) is by Lisa Gerber.

It’s Facebook question of the week time (clap, clap, clap)!

Today’s question comes from Barry Silver. Barry is a long-time Spin Sucks reader, the inventor of the name Gin and Topics, and a good friend.

He also is a Chicagoan (sort of – if you count Rockford as part of greater Chicagoland) and he blogs at A Life Well Lived Concludes with a Smile, where he discusses social media, happiness, life-affirmation, marketing, and some search. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Lisa Gerber.

In the past few weeks, I’ve been asked on more than one occasion why we add “(client)” to the end of certain tweets.

In 2009, when the FTC revised their guidelines for online endorsements and testimonials, there was a lot of discussion on how this affected PR agencies and brands when working with bloggers. Not a lot of discussion, however, involved how it affects PR agencies endorsing their clients on social networks.

From time to time, we share a client’s blog or promotion when we know it will add value to our audience. In compliance with FTC guidelines, it is an Arment Dietrich policy to add “(client)” at the end of any communication we conduct on behalf of them. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Lisa Gerber.

I had an interesting conversation at a holiday cocktail party with the COO of a ski resort. He was sharing with me a complaint he had received about the quality of grooming on the cross-country trails. It was bothering him and he was trying to decide how to respond.

The problem, he explained, is people have high expectations for the cross-country trails but the profit margin is so small it’s not a priority for them. When the weather is challenging (that’s ski resort speak for “when it rains”) grooming requires more resources so everything is shifted to get the alpine trails groomed, and cross country trails suffer from it.

So what do you do? Offer him a refund? Apologize and explain about the weather challenges? Tell him he isn’t an important customer and the focus on grooming last night was on the more profitable alpine skier? Continue Reading »