Guest Speaker: Deirdre Breakenridge

Today my social media class received amazingly inciteful advice from a PR expert by the name of Deirdre Breakenridge courtesy of my University of Louisville Professor Karen Freberg.

Here is a little background info on Deirdre Breakenridge: She is the CEO for a company by the name of Pure Performance Communications. Breakenridge has counseled numerous companies and she is the author of five Financial Times books. Breakenridge is an educator at the prestigious universities New York University and the University of Massachusetts. She also has a wonderful blog and has served on the PRSA board. Breakenridge has too many accomplishments to list and I recommend checking out her website for more info.

Breakenridge covered some great topics pertaining to PR and social media. I want to share some of the advice we obtained from her. First off she spoke on how the PESO model is trending in the PR world. Here is an awesome link I found that showcases why PR is embracing the PESO model.

Breakenridge noted how creativity is the best marketing tool at our disposal. Whether you out source your creativity or develop it in-house, creativity is what drives engagement and it is essential. I loved the point Breakenridge made in regards to company/team morale. Good morale leads to increased creativity and productivity from your employees. If you treat your employees like friends instead of numbers, they will return the respect. I believe the television show Undercover Boss is a neat example of a strategy some companies utilized in order to improve morale, production and efficiency.

Breakenridge gave us advice on many analytical and creative tools to use such as Canva for design. Check out her book PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools and New Audiences for a more detailed look at those tools. There is a myth in society that social media is all about likes, retweets and followers. Although all of those elements are beneficial in growing brand awareness, Breakenridge conveyed to us that the execs are focused on customer satisfaction, engagement and increasing sales (aka The Holy Grail).

Breakenridge advocated that all young professionals develop a mentor relationship with someone. It’s wonderful that Breakenridge and my professor Karen Freberg both participate in paying it forward! I hope that I can do the same one day. The subject of saving the environment for future generations is often referred to, but we can also help our future and save our future economies by sharing advice.

Last, but not least, another point Breakenridge touched on was testing the numbers before you take action. One of my favorite UofL professors is Steve Sohn. Steve has some great insight on this subject and many stories on how numbers can be deceptive. Steve is an expert when it comes to understanding research methods and the statistics behind them. If you are wondering why I called him Steve, it’s because he is extremely down to earth and asks his students to do so!

I recommend everyone follow Deirdre Breakenridge on Twitter. I loved how Breakenridge did not use a lot of hard to understand field jargon. She was full of practical advice that we all can understand!