2 / 15 / 2013

Accessible thoughts

By Tim Coxey, Account Associate

As communicators, we need to keep broad audiences in mind. This includes the disability community. And this was the topic at Wednesday’s PRSA Hoosier Chapter luncheon, “How to Connect with Diverse Audiences.” I was eager to attend in the hopes of gaining takeaways to apply to my client work, especially the Indiana Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities.

Here are a few takeaways I found especially interesting.

1. Twitter has a hashtag for everything

Until Tuesday, I didn’t know there was an unofficial official Twitter hashtag for all accessibility-related posts – #A11Y. The “A” and “Y” are for the first and last letters of accessibility and the “11” for all those letters in between.

2. Photo-heavy social media shows little love for assistive technology

It’s difficult for assistive technology such as screen readers – software applications that attempt to identify and interpret what’s being displayed on the screen into sound – to interpret the written message within a photo. This tells us that Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram are not your best communication channels if your audience has visual impairments.

3. Closed-captioning is regrettably expensive

Closed-captioning is essential when communicating with persons who have hearing disabilities. Unfortunately, a nationwide shortage of live translators is driving up the cost of closed-captioning. Keep in mind when planning an event or webinar that requires live translations. Speaker Wade Wingler from Easter Seals Crossroads did offer an alternative option: YouTube allows users to upload a video and manually written captions. Then, the site automatically aligns the captions to the audio. More on that here.

4. Question your newly designed websites: Compliant vs. Usable

Can your website be easily read and understood by screen readers or people with visual or hearing impairments? Web developers should use a standardized checklist to remember to maintain accessibility. Michael Burton from Courseload reminded us about WCAG (web content accessibility guidelines), which is an internationally shared standardization of accessible web content.

Want more of my takeaways? Just ask in the comments section.

5 / 07 / 2012

Giving a rock-star interview

By Emily Kibling, Account Manager

Media training is one of the many services we offer at Borshoff. In these sessions, we teach valuable information to prepare people for giving rock-star interviews. We provide an in-depth look at today’s media landscape, the do’s and don’ts when caught in a crisis, and tools to ensure you come across calm and collected on camera, radio or in a print article.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind the next time you have the opportunity to conduct a media interview:

• Be yourself – humorous, relaxed and knowledgeable.
• Epitomize the company – act as you want others to see/know your company/organization.
• Concentrate on the interviewee – looking at notes too much indicates that the reporter or interview wasn’t important enough for you to prepare in advance.
• Smile slightly all the time on camera – a slight smile won’t really look like a smile; you’ll look confident and relaxed. If you don’t smile slightly, you will look like you are frowning.
• Make eye contact – focus on the reporter, not the camera.
• Speak with more energy and range and louder than usual – if you’re nervous, you are likely to speak softer and flatter than usual. Try not to speak faster than your natural place.

These will ensure you give a great interview and don’t leave thinking, “I wish I had remembered to…”

4 / 04 / 2012

Let light shine in your words

By Katherine Coble, APR, Senior Vice President

Last week I visited the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial while I was in Washington, D.C., attending the National Association of Black Journalists’ conference on health. The monument was simple but beautiful, with the major focal point a chiseled image of Dr. King emerging from a stone inscribed, “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.”

I had time to reflect on Dr. King’s crusade for civil rights and the way he delivered his message. As a communicator, I’m always interested in both the substance and the style, because sometimes the substance gets lost if the style distracts.

I think Dr. King had it right. His style was one of peace, dignity and unwavering faith that good would conquer evil. Dr. King didn’t try to out-shout those who disagreed with him. He pointed out injustices, but he also believed that two wrongs would never make a right. He rose above.

In our age of commentators talking over each other and politicians personally attacking each other, it’s refreshing to go back and read the speeches of a man who changed history by having a vision and eloquently sharing it. Go back and read Dr. King’s speeches and you’ll see what I mean.

One of my favorite King quotes is, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

Consider your words and your tone in everything you communicate. There’s an old country saying where I grew up: “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Our words can be vinegar if we’re not careful, and vinegar rarely changes the world in a positive way.

3 / 12 / 2012

Keeping your fan engagement up

By Keesha Hughes, Account Manager

Facebook has been around for several years now. But for many companies, it’s the newest tactic in their communications toolkit. And just as they were getting used to it, along comes the new timeline to shake things up.

The following five tips offer suggestions that are general, as well as timeline-specific, to help you keep fans engaged.

1. Be brief. Posts that are 80 characters or less in length have 27 percent higher engagement rates, according to research published in “Strategies for Effective Facebook Wall Posts.” Superfluous copy will detract from your message.
2. Select a thoughtful cover photo. The timeline allows you to visually express your personality and point-of-view visually with a large, banner photo across the top of the page. The aesthetics help encourage interaction in a more intuitive way. Therefore, the cover photo needs to clearly reflect your brand.
3. Seize control. Unlike Facebook’s old format, the timeline allows you to exercise control over the placement of your content. Hover over a story and you’re given the option to make it bigger, move it to the top of your page, or delete it all together. Companies now have more input into where to direct audience attention.
4. Monitor messages. With the new timeline format, people can privately message brands. Likewise, brands have the ability to message fans back.
5. Repeat what works. ReEvaluate! The value of understanding what works and what doesn’t can’t be understated. At a glance, you can see which posts are popular by looking at the feedback (likes or comments) you receive. Facebook also offers “Insights,” which breaks down the interactions between you and those who “like” you. Other services, such as TwentyFeet, can track your account’s interactions so you can get a better idea of what’s effective.

What about you? Have you had success keeping your Facebook fans engaged that you would like to share with us?

12 / 07 / 2011

Accessible Communication

By Tim Coxey, Account Associate

Last week, the Indiana Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities held their annual convention – a gathering of more than 400 advocates and individuals with disabilities around the state focusing on “Celebrating Community.”  For me, the conference was more than the incredible keynotes by Glen Hiemstra, Aaron Bishop and Ceasar MacDowell. It went beyond the engaging workshops focused on building an inclusive, livable community.

I was captivated by the stenographer.

During each presentation, the stenographer diligently captured the spoken words and projected them onto a large screen for anyone to read. This observation took me back to COMM 101 – the transportation of a message between the sender and the receiver.  Throughout the conference, I observed so many different methods of message delivery:

• Sign language interpreters
• Braille note-taking
• Low-vision aids
• Hearing aids
• Closed-captioning

(more…)

11 / 11 / 2011

Be a better leader

By Allison Eckstein, senior account director

Once a year, Lacy Leadership Association offers a course called Leadership Education and Development (LEAD), and this year I had the opportunity to attend. The class meets for six weeks on Fridays and includes other supervisors, managers and business owners who are interested in becoming more effective leaders. LEAD was an amazing experience for many reasons.

(more…)

9 / 07 / 2011

Client work: UpRight! aerial lift safety campaign

By Emily Collins, account manager

The University of Notre Dame recently partnered with Borshoff to develop the UpRight! campaign, which promotes aerial lift safety awareness for universities, colleges and high schools. The integrated campaign included the development of several key pieces, including a central website that offers a video introduction to aerial lift safety considerations, as well as video segments and tips on four key areas of lift safety: the Right Setup, Right Training, Right Weather Information and Right Safety Contact.

The website also features a downloadable fact sheet and posters, including one that encourages schools to input their official adopted wind limit, to post in areas where aerial lifts will be used. The UpRight! campaign launched on August 26.

Check out some of the campaign elements: (more…)

8 / 26 / 2011

Ghostwritten op-eds: truth or deception?

By Susan Matthews, APR, principal

Dan Gillmor, an editor at The Guardian, argues that the ghostwritten op-ed is “an unacceptable deception.” I beg to differ.

If you follow two simple rules, there is no deception.

• The ideas must be the ideas of the person whose byline appears.
• The person whose byline appears must review and approve – completely own – the content of the op-ed.

That said, sometimes the actual writing is best left to professional writers. When? When the bylined author does not have time to craft a clear, persuasive piece. Or, when writing is not the opinion leader’s strength.

To me, it’s that simple.

7 / 06 / 2011

Paying it forward

By Yolanda White, account manager

As early as seventh grade, I knew I would work in communications. I’d spend time in middle and high school working as a writer or editor on the yearbook, newspaper and radio staffs, and I gladly gave up portions of my summer to learn as much as I could. Often that meant attending summer immersion programs on college campuses or in rare cases, working side-by-side with a professional who shared my enthusiasm for writing.

So when the Indianapolis Association of Black Journalists (IABJ) asked Borshoff to participate in a recent multimedia workshop by providing an “internship” for two high school seniors – and leaders here said yes – I was excited.

It’s common for Borshoff to hire college students as interns. These students usually are upperclassmen or recent college grads. Opening the doors to high school students in this way is a new endeavor.

But what’s not new is the value we place on learning. And what better way to prepare the next generation of communicators than to provide opportunities for them to be immersed in the real world of work, where they can build knowledge.

The two days our “interns” spent with us, we made sure they attended meetings, conducted research, participated in brainstorming sessions and got a taste of what it’s like to write on tight deadlines.

(more…)

5 / 23 / 2011

You don’t have to go to school

By Keesha Richardson, account manager

If you ask many journalists what PR people do, they might tell you PR folks write news releases, pitch story ideas and go home promptly at 5 p.m. That’s their assessment in a nutshell. They’re completely oblivious to all of the research, strategic planning and long hours involved. I know this because I used to be a news producer. For 11 years, I crafted the day’s headlines into newscasts that viewers (hopefully) wanted to watch.

(more…)