I’m afraid the time has come – some PR pros need a dose of tough love. I know you’re out there: PR and MarCom consultants with no presence online whatsoever. Many of you may have a Web presence, but perhaps it’s anemic and a cohesive strategy is lacking.

Now let me scare you straight. We’ve reached a point where your online footprint – or lack thereof – says a lot about you. Beyond the obvious promotional benefits, clients are increasingly interested in non-traditional media and want to feel comfortable that you know more about the online/social space than they do.

Now the good news: the days of having to spend thousands of dollars and countless hours on a standalone Web site are over. In fact, in the Web 2.0 world there are endless ways to have a presence online for free – many with minimal effort. The key is to start with a Home Base.

The Hub – Your Home Base
A future post will go into the many varied extensions of your hub that are available, but first let’s look at the most important part of your online presence. As a bonus, it also can be the easiest and least time consuming. You need a Home Base.

A Home Base is your central spot to which all other online presences link. It is the URL you include in your email signature and use when registering for new social networks. You can slowly build upon this base (via a technique called Outposts) and extend your reach, but the Home Base is the foundation.

For many people, a Web site or blog is their Home Base. But if you don’t have one, the following are the easiest ways to get an online presence in no time.

Google Profile – www.google.com/profiles/me

This new offering allows you to create your own Web presence in 5 minutes. Google profiles are well indexed by Google (obviously), and can include links to your additional Outposts as you build them for increased visibility and SEO. If this is your Home Base, be sure to include extensive details of your skills, experience and qualifications (hint: pull your established descriptions from your new business proposals or resume). Another benefit: a Google profile allows you to include “other names” – great for those with easily misspelled names (like me) or if you want to include a maiden name.

LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com

Entire books have been written about LinkedIn, and Solo PR Pro will continue to cover this online vehicle more down the road. But for the purpose of a get-online-quickly,10-minute Home Base development approach, your LinkedIn profile should include the following at a minimum:

• A “vanity” URL – - Easy to create with this link, a URL that actually includes your name – like http://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyecrane – will look much better in your email signature.

• A list of all of your past jobs, not just the most recent. You never know when someone will remember you from long ago and search for you based on a former position you held. The same holds true for your Education.

• A detailed Summary of your skills, experience and qualifications (as with Google profiles above). Include information about your Specialties with a mind toward including key words that people may use to find you.

• A detailed description of your Solo PR Pro practice in the Experience section. Think of the Summary as the section that captures you professionally as a whole, while the Experience area outlines what you offer via your business. This is important real estate, so don’t neglect it.

• A list of Connections. After following the steps above, people will see your professional profile and be eager to connect with you. LinkedIn makes this easy by allowing you to import your email address book and send invitations to those with whom you’d like to connect.When contacting people out of the blue, don’t use the canned LinkedIn invite: “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” You can, however, develop your own standard invite wording to make it easier when inviting a crowd to connect with you. For your key contacts, try to make it more personal whenever possible.

Other extremely useful features of LinkedIn include Status Updates, Recommendations, Groups, Answers, Applications, and more. First focus on the quick-start approach above, and you may find yourself expanding into the other areas sooner than you think. For additional information, there are good tips in 12 Ways to Use LinkedIn Today.

Adding to the Home Base
If you have another already-established Home Base, the above sites should still be part of your overall strategy – with their key links going to your main hub. Some Solo PR Pros have told me they have an online profile on a different site (for example, a local listing on the PRSA Web site) – just add a Google Profile and a professional LinkedIn page with links to your existing Home Base to make yourself easy to find.  You can always change your Home Base as well, if at a later date you choose to develop a different online presence, like a blog or a Web site, as your central hub.

For those of you who use this approach, what tips would you offer those getting started? What questions do you have about forming a Home Base strategy?

But I don’t advocate everyone take the leap willy nilly. The truth is there are times when a look before you leap strategy might serve you best. As noted in that earlier post, this doesn’t mean you can’t be successful or go out on your own during this phase in the economy. You can! It’s just that different times call for different measures.

We’ve talked about the exciting consulting opportunities available for those who’ve experienced a layoff, but what about someone who is currently employed?

I recently asked the Twitter community, “Independent PR pros: what would you say to someone considering leaving a job right now to become a PR freelancer?”, and some of my wise and witty friends weighed in:

rachelakay @KellyeCrane From my short term as a freelancer – have a $ cushion. You cannot predict anything.

techpr @KellyeCrane I’d say (from experience) plan a multi-stage ramp-up before jumping. Then go!

JMLaw @KellyeCrane Have a client lined up. Good advice anytime, but especially now when the market is even more uneven than usual.

LScribner @KellyeCrane Lots of opps out there for consultants. Recommend getting out, make connections and using PR skills to market yourself.

rachelakay @KellyeCrane Oh also have a logo created. You can’t have anything else – cards, Web site, anything w//out it. First thing I did.

GreggPerry @KellyeCrane there is work to be done, and those who can offer senior-level experience and value have a leg up. That said, scary to let go.

DannyBrown @KellyeCrane Stay friends with your co. (they may contract u in future); have money for 6 mths without pay; network network network!!

rockstarjen @KellyeCrane let people know you’re making the leap as early as you can. you’ll want those referrals BEFORE you’re looking for them.

PRjeff @KellyeCrane Depends on the job. Employment doesn’t mean job security. It’s great to be in control of your own destiny.

zakmo @KellyeCrane be aggressive.

DannyBrown @KellyeCrane And have a rack full of wine for the doubting times

What do you think? If you’re one of those thinking about becoming a consultant, what are your thoughts on the matter (feel free to comment anonymously). If you’re a freelancer, how would you advise a friend considering this career path right now?

Within this gray space, ethical best practices have yet to emerge. While traditional media had relatively defined lines between editorial, advertising and advertorials, online these approaches are sometimes blurred.

Why should we care about this as PR and Marketing Communications professionals? Well, the Federal Trade Commission is getting involved, and under their latest guidelines a brand technically can be held liable for a blog’s disclosure (or lack thereof). A more common ramification: if a blogger is perceived to have taken version of payola (sometimes called blogola) from one of your clients, there’s often a taint (real or implied) on the product or company that provided it.

Many bloggers are not journalists, and they don’t necessarily see the differences between advertising and editorial coverage the in the same way PR pros do. Consider this stream of tweets from a blogger on Twitter who received a pitch:

“Why, why, why does Big Company expect me to promote their stuff for free?  ‘Your readers want to know about this!’ Um, they probably don’t.
And in any case, would you go to magazine and say, ‘please publish this ad for free! Because, your readers want to know!’? …oh, right, advertising for you for FREE would be a PUBLIC SERVICE FOR MOMS. Do I *look* that stupid?”

Need another example of the blurry lines? Check out this plea that was sent to a number of PR pros.

It’s important that we recognize the issues, since you’re likely to encounter them at some point when working with new media.

Freebies

Before new media, there were fewer people reviewing products and services, so PR review programs were more straightforward. In the case of the technology industry, reviewers at top publications had boxes, shelves (and probably trash bins) FULL of free software – much of which they never asked for, and frequently never even opened. Far from a buy-off, delivering free software to reviewers upon
request was an economic necessity (no way they could have purchased all of the products they reviewed in a given year). For more expensive products, a loaner program was often the tactic of choice. There was no quid pro quo, and readers trusted that the reviews were legit.

This is true for other industries as well. Everything from free makeup for beauty editors to complementary trips for travel writers is part of the established culture of traditional journalism.

But now, there are often hundreds of reputable bloggers and online journalists writing about any given subject, and the freebies don’t always make it to all of them. At the same time, many bloggers are trying to figure out how to earn some well-deserved compensation for their efforts. The result? Recipients of freebies can be called out (often unfairly, by those who feel left out) or some bloggers may downplay (or omit completely) their disclosures.

The takeaway
When providing review products and services, politely make sure your contact knows you fully expect them to disclose. Examples of freebie disclosures could be including something like the following, in the introduction:

• “I was given a loaner unit for one week, and I found it to be…”
• ACME resort gave me a complementary stay so I could write this review.”
• “I was given a box of XYZ diapers to try out, and…”

Also, if the product you represent is expensive, try using a loaner unit program or other creative approach instead. Disclosure is still necessary, but this lessens the perception that the writer was given a big-ticket “gift” and was thus bought-off.

Obviously, arrangements where you give free product in exchange for a positive review are not merely freebies. If stipulations are placed upon the sentiment of the coverage, then the situation falls into the category below.

Pay-for-Play

“Sponsored posts” are another matter. To me, pay-for-play blog posts (which includes gift cards) are the equivalent of advertorials, and should be clearly designated as such (for example, collect sponsored posts on a separate page, use a different blogger/author, have a special “sponsored” graphic, etc.) . A smaller disclosure (like the ones for freebies above), or a brief note in italics that states “This is a sponsored post” just doesn’t pass the muster for most readers. The backlash can be swift.

Let me point out that there are some bloggers that vehemently oppose this opinion. “Don’t bloggers have a right to be compensated?” is a common refrain. They feel that disclosing sponsored posts too prominently will reduce the impact and therefore affect their ability to attract more sponsored posts. I believe this is shortsighted, since if readers feel mislead (which can happen suddenly) they will leave.

The sponsorship issue is further complicated by the fact that some very highly respected bloggers are working with sponsored post agencies and participating in their promotions.   These well-connected folks are on the front lines of this battle, trying to find a way to bring marketers and bloggers together in a mutually beneficial way. Note that some blog networks are parsing this challenging issue quite well, but at this point, widely accepted guidelines are still to come.

The takeaway
For PR pros, if you find yourself treading into this pay-for-post area, proceed with extreme caution. I’m in no way anti-sponsored post, but the mores of this space are continuing to develop and controversies spring up regularly. If you encounter bloggers or others who require payment in return for a basic write-up, it may serve you best to walk away.

Just another day at the office

In the era of Modern PR, these issues are just another new frontier, and this is an area destined to be gray for some time. What constitutes disclosure?  What about social media mentions outside of blogs?

Most of these issues will be hammered out within the online community itself, and PR and marketing pros have a seat at that table. But until the “rules” are established, it’s key that we keep in mind the potential landmines and always operate above board.

How do you feel about these disclosure issues? Have you encountered any uncomfortable situations or have any tips?

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Photo credits: Ian Muttoo, pfala

Jennifer (Jen) Wilbur, principal of Rockstar Communications, is a seasoned communications executive with more than a dozen years of experience providing strategic public relations and communications programs for consumer and technology companies. Jen holds unique experiences spanning the agency world, small startups and Fortune 500 companies. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and at her Dog Beach Blog.

How and why did you “go out on your own”?

After working for agencies, a Fortune 500 company and a digital media startup, I was ready for my next challenge. Consumer technology is a passion of mine, and at the time (nearly 5 years ago), my choices were limited if I wanted to stay in San Diego (and boy, did I!). I knew a couple of other successful PR consultants, so I started asking them about the pros and cons and figured out pretty quickly that my next step would be as a “Solo PR Pro.”

Once I made up my mind (which didn’t take long), I read and inquired about everything I could that pertained to self-employment. I bought a computer, created a business plan with objectives and then jumped right in. I shared my plans with my employer and let everyone know I’d be available soon as a consultant. My supervisor even had fun with it. My going-away email to the company was a press release announcing Rockstar Communications (I will keep that email forever!)

How do you find most of your clients?

I have always been good at keeping in touch. I didn’t realize it when it was happening, because it wasn’t the catalyst, but I managed to build an incredibly strong network of friends and colleagues. Just about every client I’ve worked with has been referred to me from someone in my network. That used to consist of family, friends and colleagues; all people I had physically met and/or worked with in the past. Now, through my involvement with social media, that network has grown. We’ve never met in person, but we’ve grown to be friends and trusted colleagues. Business is starting to flow in from this avenue, as well. I’ve cold-called a couple of companies here and there, and not one of those attempts was successful in winning business.

What are some examples of interesting projects you’ve been able to work on as an independent?

One of my first clients was Veoh, an online video company. I was introduced to the founder when Veoh was just a twinkle in his eye, and I was able to watch the business plan develop, and help the company launch and grow. Veoh launched just before YouTube use exploded. The idea of democratized TV and online video was just beginning. It was great to still experience the rush of a startup, but without being in a cubicle all day.

Since much of my focus has been with helping technology startups launch, I’ve had the opportunity to be part of a wide range of new business ideas, running as a PR agency, managing and executing marketing communications and PR campaigns. Some were successful, some failed, and the jury is still out on others. Everything from digital music to email marketing programs, to online video to mobile food ordering and digital imaging/animation.

I also had the opportunity to work as a member of a larger PR team by contracting with other PR firms. This gave me the ability to work with larger, more established brands in consumer electronics and entertainment.

What benefits of being independent have you experienced?

First and foremost, a work/life balance I’ve never had before. I’ve always enjoyed my job, worked hard and traveled often, and there often wasn’t much of a line between home and work. I was never home, leaving the house around 7 AM, and not getting home until the wee hours. Work, lunch, work, more work, drinks after work, work again, bed. Not much room for anything else. I love dogs, but that wouldn’t be fair to either of us.

Since going solo, I actually get more done and managed my day better. I exercise, eat right and find time to sleep. Heck, I even go to the beach nearly every morning and dabble in my hobby of photography.

I only attend necessary or beneficial meetings and am not distracted by office gossip and politics. I see some of my clients’ calendars and cringe. They are in meetings from 10-4 most days. When do they get actual work done?

All this, and I still find time to have fun with my husband and my good friends.

What do you find to be the biggest challenges?

My biggest challenge is drawing out information from my clients. While it’s a huge plus to not have to be in the office all day, every day and attend needless meetings, you have to find other ways to get your client to tell you what’s going on in a timely matter. Creating a system that works for both of you can be tough, but it’s important.

Another challenge is saying “No” to work that isn’t right, especially when going through a dry period. It’s great to have days where you find yourself with extra hours to do personal things or relax, but sometimes those days become weeks. Sometimes a job comes by that you’re not excited about or is too small. I’ve learned that there is always a better one right around the corner if you’re just patient. Learning to turn down work so you’re available for the project you’ll love can be taxing (but very much worth it).

What’s your favorite “guilty pleasure” that being solo allows you to do?

I refuse to call it a “guilty” pleasure, but I have two things that have enhanced my life immensely. I’ve always wanted a dog, but never saw it as fair to either of us to have one, since I was never home. Now, not only am I home with my two French Bulldogs most of the day, but I take them to the beach nearly daily. This spurred me to spend time on a hobby of mine, photography, with my photo blog, A Dog’s Beach.

What are some important things to keep in mind to succeed as an independent consultant?

• You have to be self-motivated. Very rarely will anyone set deadline for you.
• You must find ways to feed the social bug. It’s not as easy to pick up lunch with a coworker, so set up monthly or weekly lunches with friends and colleagues.
• Create a routine (even if you’re like me, and it’s not in your nature). If you do non-work related items around the same time and frequency each week, it’s easier to manage your schedule and workload.
• Be available, but not TOO available. Yes, you should be available for emergencies, but you must set boundaries or you will be tied to your machine 24/7. Then you might as well go back to getting a salary and benefits along with it.
• Get used to talking about yourself. Don’t expect work to come to you without effort. Even if you have a strong network, like I do, you have to remind people that you’re still there, about your successes and that you have time for more business (when you do). Don’t give anyone a reason to forget you when an opportunity arises.
• Make sure you and your client sign a contract. It’s certainly not a fun part of the job, but you have to protect yourself. A contract doesn’t guarantee you will receive full payment or continue working, but it sure helps.

In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is virtually all PR and MarCom consultants behave as if we’re members of a highly connected and supportive club. We’re a band of brothers and sisters, and it’s us against the world! After all, each of us has our own unique strengths and areas of expertise, and there are plenty of opportunities to go around. For many of us, other consultants are our best source of referrals and new business.

I’ve seen this team spirit in full force lately, as I’ve had some minor medical issues that have meant I’m temporarily less productive than usual. Other solo PR pros have rallied to my side, and offered help wherever I need it. I’ll be out of the office for two weeks this month, and you’ll see a number of guest posts and interviews on this blog – brought to you by the amazing and smart folks in this loyal consultants alliance.

So to my fellow Solo PR Pros, thank you for your support, and for reminding me that one of the best things about being independent is the camaraderie I experience with all of you each day.

Photo credit: ajusticenetwork