Remembering birthdays and anniversaries seems like such a predictable thing, but it’s a sign that you respect the people you deal with.
Whether it’s a client, a co-worker, or someone else in your life, it helps to keep track of the little details that matter to them.

Professional milestones, personal red letter days, religious holidays or national holidays in countries other than your own — knowing and remembering them is a handy excuse to connect.
I am awful at remembering dates and names, so you’re going to have to do like I say and not like I do on this one.
As a …read more

A communications plan, like most business plans, has to anticipate that things might not go as planned.
If you can’t see the possible abrupt left turns for whatever project you’re planning, your plans are incomplete.
Why spend a lot of time and energy speculating on possibilities, when they most likely won’t happen?
Because the alternative sucks: realizing too late that you should have had a back-up plan.
Technorati Tags: business,communications,planning,strategy,public relations,contingencies

Having children is something that changes you. Priorities that seem crucial before you have kids don’t loom as large after.
The further I got into parenting (and supervising people) the more I recognized that I needed to adjust my attitude about work and negotiations. Being in charge didn’t mean I got to make unilateral decisions all the time. Nor was every single decision negotiable and democratic.
In our house, we developed some principles for family rules:

Establish principles and values, then negotiate rules that embody them.
Avoid inequity, threats or coercion.
Everyone has a right to express their feelings and argue for a rule …read more

There are many instances when you can’t provide advance notice to business partners about an announcement.

But when collaboration is possible, take advantage of the chance to give organizations that you’re partnering with a chance to get their communications planned.
If there are restrictions on the distribution of information, be clear about those restrictions. If you need feedback on the facts and statements, ask explicitly for that help.
It’s much easier to fix problematic wording ahead of time. After you’ve made the information public, it’s harder to track down everyone who’s using the information and getting it corrected.
Other Quick Tips from Common …read more

A yearbook publisher screwed up in a major way when an employee pasted students’ heads on other bodies.
Lifetouch National School Studios apologized and offered to re-do the publication prep and pay for reprinting the high school yearbook.
Then, instead of shutting up, they went on to explain  that the high school involved made an “unusual and definitely very particular” photo editing request.
The “unusual” request? Resize the photos so everyone’s head is the same size and position them vertically so eye level is the same. Maybe not typical, but not too surprising, if you know anything about graphic design.
The problem is, …read more

GROVER’S MILL, NJ — The hour of darkness that engulfed Europe tonight left most essential services intact, despite a scare at a nuclear plant that turned off its alarm system to preserve power.
Earth Hour is heading for North America, causing the Department of Homeland Security to upgrade its terror alert to Dark.
“Many people are afraid of the dark, so we anticipate a higher than normal level of terror among young children, Internet addicts and social outcasts,” said a spokesperson who declined to be identified. “We expect the worst impact on young, socially outcast Internet addicts.”
Earth Hour Survival Guide:

If you …read more

You can’t go to a communicators’ conference without bumping into a session on Crisis Communications Management. But how many people offer to help you prepare for a runaway success?
When  you do your scenario planning, include the possibility that you might wildly exceed all expectations.
 
Can your website withstand 30,000 extra visits in a morning? Can you get quick reprints of your collateral materials if demand is high? Will your frontline managers freak out if the product promotion drives crowds to your locations looking for the loss leader that you’re using to get new people in the door?
If you don’t know the …read more

I was dispensing advice the other day. This is not unusual – I often dispense advice, whether it’s asked for, or not.
One of the recipients of my advice asked me if she could use my e-mail as a guest post on her blog.
So, my seven tips on how to blog more often has been transformed into:
7 Incredibly Intelligent Ideas for Blogging More Efficiently.
You can check them out on Liz Strauss’ Successful Blog.
Tip number 4 sounds like it was custom-built for this post:  "When you write a guest post on another blog/site, create a short post linking to the post. Even …read more

Not just another mega-list, these posts by b5 media Business Channel bloggers sum up the worst possible advice we can think of if you want your business to fail.
Have fun reading some of the Dilbertesque ways managers can suck the potential out of a business venture. But hey, a lot of these tips can also destroy morale and credibility for non-profits, government departments and agencies, one-person operations. (Some of them can even be adapted for use at home, if you want to lead a life of solitude.)
9 Worst Things (Times 11)
9 Worst Practices in Social Media
9 Ways to …read more

Employee engagement has been all the rage for so long that we sometimes forget the value of employee disengagement.
Want your best and brightest to flee? Want rumors and grumbling at all-time highs? Want lower productivity and increased sick time and stress leaves?

Follow these nine steps, and you can achieve results beyond your wildest dreams:
1) Use bloated, imprecise language to make sure your business goals and strategies remain a secret to your employees, suppliers and clients. See The Gobbledegook Manifesto, and do the reverse of what’s suggested.
2) Demand regular, lengthy meetings for every department, work unit and …read more