Insights from Nebo

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

We recently reached out to an industry contact because we wanted to use his firm for an upcoming high consideration / high value purchase (I’m being intentionally vague here). We've known him for a few years and he's always been a super nice guy. When we began looking at options together, he was friendly, knowledgeable, and made it clear that he'd take great care of us. Everything was going great.

And then the emails started.

The drip marketing emails. You know the type. They started trickling into our inbox, offering us all kinds of promotions we had no use for and consultations on products we didn’t want. He had added our name to some database, and now we were on the hook for every intrusive email his company wanted to put out.

Peyton Manning may be the greatest football player of all time, but not because he overwhelms opponents with his physical talents.

He’s renowned for his study habits and the way he rigorously breaks down opponent film. He self scouts. He works with position coaches to refine his already near perfect mechanics and his elite understanding of the game. So you’d think a player like Manning wouldn’t need structured practice. He knows the playbook like he wrote it. He’s seen every blitz package and every coverage disguise a defensive coordinator could possibly throw at him. He’s the gold standard at his position.

But the man shows up to practice the same way he did in his rookie year. He attacks every rep, every drill, every scrimmage as if it were the final play of the Super Bowl. He takes practice seriously as an opportunity to hone his craft even though he’s already a master.

He’s a living blueprint for what it takes to become great.

The living room has traditionally been the hub of entertainment for as long as anyone can remember. When Americans were promised “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage” back in the 1920’s, a radio in every living room would have fit perfectly in the infamous campaign slogan. By the 1950s, television became the new standard. Families would gather round the set top and watch “I Love Lucy,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Ed Sullivan Show,” or “Father Knows Best,” at the same Bat Time on the same Bat Channel.

While this model thrived for decades, as time moved on our habits changed and technology evolved. What was once the big TV in the living room has started to become the elephant in the room. This is true for both millennials, who are often more engaged on their mobile device, and marketers, who aren’t sure how to change their strategies to match the status quo.

Most of the discussion about this development refers to mobile devices as the “2^nd Screen,” where viewers are using their laptops, smart phones or tablets while simultaneously watching broadcast TV. However, this designation does more to serve the needs of marketers and programmers than represent reality. While viewers are often engaged on their mobile devices while watching broadcast television, Googling facts or discussing shows over social, the 2^nd Screen is more and more becoming the first screen for millennials in terms of viewing content.

If you head over to Nebo’s Careers Page you’ll find we have Copywriter listed under the “Ongoing Needs” section. Sometimes we’re looking for full time help and sometimes we’re just looking for freelancers to pitch in on certain projects, but the fact is there’s always a place here for great writers. And you can imagine that, with the listing staying up all year round, we get a ton of resumes.

But we’ve noticed a disturbing trend recently in a lot of our submissions: copywriter applications with no cover letter.

At Nebo, we talk a lot about being “human-centered.” It sounds simple, even instinctive. But in reality, it takes a lot of effort – especially in the digital world. For PR professionals, this means remembering that the job is about relationships, not just blasting out a press release, getting placements and moving on to the next project. Human-centered media relations aims to establish lasting connections with journalists, influencers, thought leaders and their audiences. But how do you make meaningful connections with people you’ve never even met face-to-face?

This same question has plagued online daters since the dawn of Match.com, and many users continue to struggle with it. Some people may even think it’s impossible to find love through these services – but 20% of committed romantic relationships begin online, so some users must be doing it right. It’s difficult to form a real bond without in-person interaction, but there are certain tips that can help users begin building successful relationships before meeting offline.

In this series, I’ve shown how creating an OKCupid profile is a lot like key messaging and how reaching out to other users is similar to pitching media contacts. In the final installment of Love and Media Relations, I’ll explore what online dating can teach PR professionals about genuinely connecting and bringing humanity back to the digital industry.