Keith,

You are a public relations professional and get paid by clients. What's motivating you to inform people to get the insider information you know without paying?

Hi Brian, thanks for inviting me.

There certainly will be a fine line to walk in terms of giving out too much information. However I feel there can be great value in several ways. First, too many businesses have misconceptions about what public relations is. That is probably the main thrust of the blog. The more businesses learn about PR and what it can do for the bottom line, the more likely they may be to engage a professional.

Second, there is no place online where every Ventura County media outlet is listed in one place. My blog is not done yet, but ultimately I see it as a great resource for everyone - including the media outlets. I haven't gotten there yet, but I would like to see a section where reporters can post requests for sources. If PR pros are reading the site, they can try to link sources with reporters looking for them. Like a local version of Helping a Reporter Out (HARO).

Among many other potential benefits is showcasing my knowledge of the local media scene, and keeping my writing skills honed.

Keith,

What local businesses do you think have been highly successful in getting their messages out recently?

What did they do that was innovative or unique?

I can't really provide a solid answer - mainly because my media monitoring is lopsided at the moment to print and websites for the newspapers. I'll be fixing that, but there may be businesses that effectively engaged a television or radio station, for example.

Additionally, goals can vary. A business can employ PR purely for branding, or to build its reputation, or for sheer sales.

Good PR programs take time. The best ones should be solidly established over many months using multiple channels, with PR supporting advertising, volunteerism, networking and more.

To the point, none come to mind immediately. Perhaps that's a message to the PR pros out there.

Keith,

In your bio it lists working for print media. Can you tell us about your background in that field?

I graduated with a journalism degree from California State University, Northridge in 1990, after an internship with the Mammoth Times weekly newspaper in summer 1989 (actually by late that summer I was made a paid staff writer there and was offered a full-time job but opted to stay in school). At CSUN I was a staff writer and Opinion Editor of the Daily Sundial.

I first worked for the Simi Valley Enterprise from late 1990 until about the time of the Rodney King beating trial riots in 1992. I started with the Los Angeles Daily News right when the riots began so the first month there was very interesting. I was with the Daily News all the way through the first week of 1995, until Supervisor Judy Mikels was sworn in and I began working for her.

Big things I covered included the edge of the riots, much of the Northridge Earthquake, all wildfires of 2003 in Ventura County, and more murders and bad car crashes than I can remember. I was a cop reporter for two years. I had blood drip on me from a roof, and a drunk guy grab me by the tie in broad daylight in Moorpark.

I won two journalism awards at CSUN and two with the Daily News (both from the Ventura County Press Club). I also served two years as president of the Journalism Alumni Association at CSUN.

Keith,

How did you transition from reporting to politics? What features do you think the two fields share? What local politicians have worked for as a professional?

At the time CSUN's journalism degree required with a minor, or a collateral field, which is the same number of units as a minor, but the courses are not structured. So I ended up getting a collateral field in political science by taking 15 units of poli sci courses. That's where it all began.

Judy Mikels met me because I interviewed her so much when she served the City Council. When she was elected to serve the county, she was allowed to hire a staff. With one last position to fill she needed a press secretary and called me. She saw the collateral field on the resume, which I don't always include but did that time, and she said it helped.

I have worked for Supervisor Mikels, and later for then-Assemblyman Tony Strickland, as his Communications Director. I really enjoyed working for both, wonderful people and fantastic experiences.

The fields share a lot of phone work, and in my particular positions many contacts with the public and a considerable amount of writing. I would have to say the parallels are dealing with the public on a daily basis - the unsolicited incoming calls.

In a political office, complaints come in all the time. Not necessarily always directed at the elected, but at a broken water line, or a neighbor, or whatever. Barking dogs. Cutting funding. You name it. For reporters it can be the same - the tougher the story, the more likely someone (or both sides) will call to complain. And you want to write tougher stories because you got a bigger rush with the byline the next day - at least I did. (Some reporters were afraid of hard news).

The transition was nice. I did not miss the daily deadlines, the calling all the police departments and the coroner twice every day. The scanner barking all day long. The night and weekend meetings and events involved with working for a politician are difficult for someone raising a family. The public does not understand how disruptive it is to work in politics - much like they do not understand how hard it is to be a reporter.

Keith,

How would you describe your current work? What type of clients do you work with? How did you transition into it? Do you continue to work in politics?

Currently my work is heavy on writing and media outreach. It can vary; things can swing by the quarter. I can say in the last three months activity has been on a significant upswing, hopefully an indication that the economy is picking up.

I work with a regional mall, homebuilders, contractors, financial services clients, website content providers, and nonprofit organizations at the moment. With my journalism background I can serve just about any client, due to my research, interview, writing and design skills.

I transitioned into PR when the dot-com boom of 1999-2000 resulted in tremendous growth for Los Angeles PR firms, one of which recruited me. I did not work in tech, but in the corporate communications group. I was a spokesman and counselor for Pacific Bell in Los Angeles. I also did a lot of work for Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura.

I ended up working for a national trade association for a couple of years to be closer to my young children, but ultimately Tony Strickland offered me a part-time job and a homebuilder offered me a contract that allowed formation of my company. That was more than eight years ago.

I no longer work by contract in politics. I still get contacted for advice periodically because of my background, but not often. But I do not work in the field nor do I seek the work. I enjoy applying public relations for businesses.

I know you have done some work with the Simi Valley Town Center. Can you explain the difference in work that a PR person might do versus an advertising agency might do?

Brian - I vaguely remember answering that last question. Check your queue. If not let me know so we don't leave that question hanging.

Keith,

You might have but I don't see it in the spam filter.

Advertising agencies are purely in the business of purchasing advertising space, what they call "media buys." Public relations professionals are more involved with promoting a business and its attributes, hopefully utilizing a wide variety of tactics. Some might call it attracting "free space," but I see PR as much more than that. If a public relations firm is just writing and distributing news releases, hoping for some "free ink," it is only doing a portion of the job.

Advertising agencies are usually much more expensive and can also be very involved with the design element of the ads they have their clients pay to have published (or write to have broadcast). Both advertising and PR has changed dramatically the past decade due to the Internet and social media realms.

Often advertising and PR comingle. It's a solid strategy to have a parallel advertising-PR campaign, one which pushes the same message.

Bottom line: with one you pay directly for display or broadcast of advertisements, which you have total control of; the other, you pay for assistance in getting your messages conveyed verbally, visually or in print as carried by a third party (the media), often with little control of the final product.