For the past four years, I have focused on readying myself for a career in public relations. Now, I’m at a crossroads. Do I go to grad school in hopes that it will give me a professional edge long-term? Or do I seek a full-time position that will provide me with “real-world” experience and put me on a path to earning accreditation in public relations? Which is more important?

The questions are relentless and sometimes debilitating. Will the investment of grad school be worth my time and money? Will a graduate degree make a difference in my career through a higher salary or more prestigious job position? If I don’t go to grad school now, will it be more difficult to do so in the future if I change my mind?

In most other professions, these questions wouldn’t be relevant. In fact, professionals in other fields can’t understand why I wouldn’t choose grad school over starting my career. But public relations is different. Apparently, you don’t even need a college degree in the industry to practice public relations, which appalls me, but that’s another story.

From my understanding, it seems the most important factor for anyone entering this profession is their level of experience and “real-world” accomplishments. If that is indeed the case, then grad school would only postpone my ability to gain that experience and achieve impressive results. Right?

Recently, after endlessly wrestling with all these concerns, I presented my dilemma to my internship supervisor at Taproot Creative, Stacey Getz. Her advice? You’re going to love this: There is no right or wrong way to go. In other words, as significant as this decision seems to be for me right now, whatever I decide will not make or break my career.

Well, you know what? I think she’s right!

Who says that grad school won’t pay off? If I choose to go, whether it’s now or later, I will gain invaluable knowledge and life experiences that will only contribute to my long-term success. And if I never go, I can rely on the professional experience I gain through my first full-time job, and eventually, I can earn accreditation in public relations to help solidify my credibility in the industry.

Bottom line: There are many roads to success, and I don’t have to follow any specific one. I can blaze my own path. As long as I know where I’m headed, I’ll get there eventually, even if it means making a few mistakes and changing direction from time to time. After all, isn’t that what makes life the adventure that it is?

I’d love to hear from others out there who are going through this same predicament, as well as PR professionals that wouldn’t mind sharing their advice. What’s the best next step for a budding public relations practitioner?

Brown was the Republican candidate in the blue state of Massachusetts vying for the late Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat. Brown initially trailed his opponent, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, by double digits in the polls. That is until the launch of a comprehensive and strategically coordinated social media campaign sky-rocketed Brown to the national stage.

A week before the election, Brown raised more than $1 million — more than he had raised throughout his entire fundraising period — in a 24-hour money bomb promoted almost entirely through the Internet and social networks. Brown also raised a significant amount of money from out-of-state supporters who glommed onto the grassroots movement facilitated by social media.

Granted, Brown’s campaign integrated multiple means of communication in its voter outreach efforts, but what put the candidate over the edge was the campaign’s attention to and strategy surrounding social media.

Oh sure, Coakley did the social media thing as well. But she couldn’t leverage it in the same way. Her message simply would not resonate with a public that was downright disgusted with the goings on in Washington.

Fortunately for Brown, times were ripe for his conservative message. However, his message in and of itself wouldn’t have been enough to propel him ahead of Coakley, who demonstrated strong liberal support, with President Obama himself stumping for her just days before the vote.

Brown had to find a way to sincerely deliver his message hard and fast to a hungry audience. And he did so by figuratively stepping down from his political pulpit and leveling with the conservative grassroots, primarily via tools like Twitter and Facebook, and a range of other viral technologies, including e-mail and texting.

It was like lighting one blade of grass in a field plagued by drought. His message spread like wildfire. Online third-party support from average Joe’s and Jane’s added instant credibility to Brown’s efforts in a mesmerizing public display of the word-of-mouth phenomenon.

We could write a book detailing every factor that played into Brown’s victory (and we’re sure someone will). But in the interest of saving time, here’s our key takeaway:

Armed with the right message (pun intended), Brown’s campaign understood three important facts:

1. The Internet is the most influential medium.
2. Word-of-mouth is the most impactful method of communication.
3. Social media is where the Internet and word-of-mouth intersect.

The rest is history.

So, we thought we would share the top 10 questions to ask a prospective web design firm and offer some insight into the type of answers you should receive. Feel free to add any you think we missed.

1. Are your websites custom-designed, or do you use templates?
We have our own opinion on this one, but in reality, it’s a matter of personal preference. If you are looking for something that uniquely and accurately presents your brand, your best bet is to hire a firm who will design your website from scratch. If cost is an issue, or if you don’t put much stock into your online presence as it is (a big mistake in our opinion), then a design template may suffice.  

2. Do You Offer Any Consulting Services?
There are firms that will simply accept your wish list with no questions asked, deliver the site and then wash their hands of the project. Other firms may advise you on establishing and managing your complete online presence — from your website to search engine optimization and social media. And finally, there are firms who take a much broader, strategic approach. These folks will help you work through questions like, What are your overall communication objectives? What do you hope to accomplish through this new website? And, Do you have a plan to drive new and repeat traffic? In this case, you are paying for more than just a product or service, you are paying for a higher level of expertise.

3. Do you outsource any/all of your services?
This is an important question to ask because it will determine whether you have direct, quick and easy access to the people who are actually tinkering with your site. Essentially, if all design and development is done in-house, your questions and any potential issues are more likely to be addressed without any unnecessary delay. Furthermore, it can be difficult for a web firm to manage and hold accountable any staff who are not part of that organization, which could create additional challenges.

4. How do you account for search engine optimization (SEO)?
Plenty of firms will claim to be experts in SEO, but don’t be fooled. There is no magic formula that will automatically rocket your site to the top of a search result. Instead, your chosen firm should be well-versed in constructing a correctly built site that can contribute to search engine rankings through the use of valid XHTML and CSS, as well as layouts that give preference to content. Constantly updated and relevant content when presented in a properly constructed site, will increase your page ranking, as will limited (if any) use of Flash and Ajax. In short, just remember: Content is king.

5. How do you ensure your sites meet ADA Accessibility Standards and are 508 Compliant?
More than a decade ago, Congress enacted Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which deals with making technology more accessible to people with disabilities, including the visually impaired. To avoid costly and unnecessary lawsuits and/or a public relations nightmare, your site should meet these standards. It is a simple process, but many developers are still not familiar with the guidelines. For example, all images on the site must be supported by compliant alt-text. Limiting the use of Flash and JavaScript will also make your site more accessible to the disabled and visually impaired.

6. Tell me about the content management system you use.
A content management system (CMS) allows you to easily update all of the content on your website, even if you don’t know how to manipulate code. Typically, your web design firm will offer you either an off-the-shelf CMS or a custom-built version. An off-the-shelf program is a package solution that generally gets the job done but often limits the design and functionality of your site. A custom-built CMS, while slightly more expensive, can be tailored to meet your exact needs. Any problems that arise with a custom-built CMS can usually be addressed quickly and easily, whereas problems with off-the-shelf products need to be handled through that company’s customer service. However, thanks to the continuing influx of new tools and plug-ins, your web developers might have the capability to build custom applications on top of existing CMS platforms, offering you the best of both worlds and likely the most cost-effective option.

7. How do you ensure your sites display and function appropriately across multiple browsers and platforms?
Your web design firm should be familiar with HTML and CSS standards set forth by the W3 Consortium (W3C) and know how to test for syntax errors, cross-browser validation and future compatibility. This is important because your website visitors use different browsers (Explorer, Firefox, etc.) and different platforms (Mac, Windows, etc.) to view your site, and you want to ensure that your site displays and functions the same way for everyone. Proper coding also helps with search engine visibility.

8. Can you provide me with a few references, as well as a list of sites you recently completed?
It’s always beneficial to check out your prospective firm’s past work, where you should pay special attention to aesthetic appeal and ease of navigation. You may also want to call a few of their references. Here are some questions to ask:

• Were there any delays in the launch of your site? Please explain.
• Can you rate the firm’s customer service on a scale of 1 to 10?
• Did you run into any technical problems? If so, how quickly and effectively were they addressed?
• Were you pleased with your overall experience?

9. In general, what do you charge for your services?
This is an obvious one, but it is important to note that you generally get what you pay for. In web design, the cost is typically relative to the experience and expertise of the design and development team, as well as the time it takes to ensure a quality product. The amount your organization wants to spend on a website will ultimately depend on the value you place in your brand and its online presence. In other words, what is perceived as cost-effective to one business can seem outrageously expensive to another.

10. Why should we hire you over another firm?
This may seem like a cliche question, but the answer will give you a feel for what the firm believes are its biggest assets, be it quality, cost, value, customer service, experience or any number of other strengths.

Hope this helps. Feel free to add your own questions below or comment on any of ours.

There is a notable difference, though, between being inspired and replicating ideas without injecting your own mark into the work. There’s a difference between paging through a design gallery in an attempt to jostle your brain into coming up with something new and absorbing someone else’s style and technique. It’s the difference between creating and duplicating.

Unfortunately, it’s become a common problem that continues to make its way throughout the industry, watering down and diluting design in such a way that everything begins to look the same. Fewer and fewer young designers are leaving their mark because most of them are far too busy trying to make their work look as much like their seemingly unified source of inspiration as possible. With the proliferation of CSS galleries, cheap stock resources, which now includes not only photographs, but also illustrations and design elements, the skill and thought that once made good design possible has given way to near-instant gratification that may reflect another’s work, but is nothing more than a plagiarized imitation. The pain-staking craft that once went into typesetting, illustration, layout, color theory, not to mention concept, is now too often, at best, an afterthought with many designers.

To be completely fair, a small part of the problem is born of necessity. Web design trends change at an ever-increasing pace due to improvements in function, code and standards. What may have appeared fresh and cutting-edge only months ago will likely become staid and pedestrian shortly thereafter.

There’s also a certain level of expectation in web design. There’s a natural ebb and flow to all forms of design, but web, in particular, is slightly more fickle in its demanding adherence to trends and fads. Even a uniquely designed site is likely be easily identified as having been created during a particular period of time, possibly down to a specific year. The audience as a whole has been somewhat trained to have these expectations, so it’s difficult for a designer to embark into entirely new territory without receiving a bit of grumbling and hesitation from the client.

But that shouldn’t be an excuse for a lack of originality. Far from it. It’s an ankle-high fence that designers must work within and be aware of rather than a justification to reduce design to look-alikes and photocopies. The safest and easiest method of creation is one that doesn’t require the struggle to actually create. By allowing inspiration to give way to duplication, designers can safely achieve the expected look-of-the day quickly and efficiently. Get it done. Get paid. Move on. It’s understandable why so many would take this approach even though it’s so obviously flawed.

The value of good design should stretch far beyond such a short-sighted solution. As a client, you should expect the designer tasked with creating your work to be capable of delivering something that’s not only effective, but also suitably unique. There’s no point in having the face of your company blend into the background because it was “inspired” by hundreds of other designs that all look nearly identical to one another. Your company, and your dollars, deserve better.

As a designer, it’s time to extend yourself past the point of influence in order to create something based on your own style. Design is effective when it has a voice of its own, not when it fades into the white noise of the imitators. It may be impossible to be entirely original, but it’s necessary to be relentlessly authentic. Design shouldn’t be limited to the tools of the trade. Design isn’t Photoshop or Illustrator, but is instead born from the gray matter between your ears. Each designer’s personal style and vision is what has the potential to make the work meaningful and memorable.

Aside from the obvious (i.e. billing structure, client references, etc.), consider posing the following questions to your would-be PR agency. The information you gather could ultimately save you valuable time and money.

1. Who will be doing the work and what is the extent of their professional experience?
Many times, top level executives will reel in your business only to turn your account over to their most recent entry-level hire as soon as you sign on the dotted line. That’s not to assume that the new guy (or gal) will provide any better or worse service than the highest-paid exec. But still, you should know what you’re paying for. Ask to meet the person who will be handling the day-to-day activity on your account, and get to know them before agreeing to contract terms to ensure their skills and experience meet your needs.

2. How will you know whether the campaign is successful?
A good public relations agency will help you define your goals and establish measurable objectives so that everyone knows what success should look like in the end. They should be able to explain how their proposed tactics will positively affect your desired end result, be it an increase in product sales, a change in attitude or opinion among target audiences, a marked increase in association membership, a candidate’s election to public office or an organization’s desired change in public policy.

3. Have you had success with similar public relations campaigns?
Ask the agency to provide a couple of case studies outlining previous campaigns with similar goals. You’ll want to note the original objectives of the campaign, the methods used to achieve those objectives, the budget, and of course, the outcome. Was the campaign successful? How do you know? What unforeseen challenges did the firm have to overcome? How were those challenges managed? Were the results timely?

4. What tactics will you employ to help accomplish our goals?
Public relations is not the equivalent of publicity. While earned media is a common tool used to accomplish public relations objectives, it certainly is not the only one. If a PR firm goes on and on about press releases and news hits without any mention of other one- and two-way communication tactics, take heed. And if “getting in the news” is your only goal, the firm should be the first to counsel you otherwise.

5. What challenges do your foresee for our campaign and how might you address them?
Your public relations counselors should be able to anticipate certain challenges with regard to your campaign and explain how they will either work to avert those challenges or confront them should they become unavoidable. The answer to this question will demonstrate their knowledge of the PR industry and the extent of their experience in dealing with similar campaigns.

Above all, your public relations agency should be comprised of people that you respect and regard as trusted advisors. Generally speaking, public relations is an inexact science. However, well-versed PR professionals understand how to implement proven methods to help accomplish your goals. You must be able to let go and acknowledge that they know what’s best for your business or organization with regard to communication. If you aren’t comfortable doing so with a particular firm, you should probably look elsewhere.

The staff at Taproot Creative would like to take a moment to congratulate our talented creative director, Jonathan Edwards, who today is marrying the lovely and delightful Dusty Sayre. We love you guys and wish you all the best in your new life together.

But with the emergence of social media and the integration of a new generation into the workforce, I wonder whether the majority of professionals still agree on the importance of grammatical perfection in everyday written communication, or whether everyone’s lightened up a bit (besides me of course, despite my best attempts).

I think it’s an appropriate question for today’s creative professionals because as new media continues to permeate our society and enables us to cross geographical lines with more and more ease, we often meet each other via words on a screen before ever (and if ever) meeting in person.

Obviously, you want to put your best foot forward. But how big a deal is it if you (gasp!) leave out word in a sentence, or mispell someone’s name? (Yes, I meant to do that.)

Here’s my overarching hypothesis regarding how grammatical mistakes are interpreted:

No mistakes, you’re stiff
One mistake, you’re human
Two mistakes, you’re questioned
Three mistakes, you’re thoughtless
Four mistakes, you’re just stupid
Five or more, you’re completely disregarded

Agree? Does it vary according to industry? Title? Generation? Type of communication?

And what about typing in all lowercase, with complete disregard for capitalization? Or overuse of the ellipsis (…)?

Let’s start off with an explanation about what crowdsourcing is in relation to logo design. There are a handful of companies that act as a liaison between a client and a collection of designers. The client chooses to offer a certain amount money as a cash prize, which it then passes on to the liaison to hold for safekeeping. The collection of designers submit their logo designs for review and potential reward. If the client selects one of the designs as the winner, that specific designer, and only that designer, gets paid for their work. If no design is selected, nobody gets paid.

At face value there doesn’t appear to be much harm in it. The designers have a chance to break into the business and the client is able to review a wide array of design styles at a very low price point. So what’s the problem?

Let’s look at it from a different angle.

If you were going to have someone write about your life story you’d probably want that person to know a little something about you. You might spend some time being interviewed, reminiscing about past events and going over anything interesting that you’ve encountered over the years. In order for the biography to have any value or worth it would need to be about you as a person. The contents of the book couldn’t possibly be accurate or meaningful if the author didn’t know who you were, having never bothered to talk to you, your friends or your family.

Crowdsourcing seeks to take the approach of writing a biography without knowing the story. It relies on a brief, passing summary of a company at best. Nothing more. More importantly, and at its worst, crowdsourcing eliminates the story and settles on an image that doesn’t contain the least bit of substance. Crowdsourcing completely disregards the brand.

Without the brand, Nike is just a silly looking swoosh. Apple is just a fruit. The brand makes a company mean something to its audience. It’s the product, the advertising, the athletes, the machines and the overall presence. It’s everything you feel and think about the company when you hear the name or see the logo. That doesn’t just happen. It’s created. And it’s not just a logo.

A logo is a single element that goes into constructing the brand. It’s just one piece amongst many that makes up the entirety of the story. The logo is the result of the conversation that takes place at the forefront of the process. Without discovering what the brand is as a whole, the logo is just a meaningless icon. It might, if you’re lucky, look pretty, but it won’t mean anything. The story will never have been written.

Creating a brand relies on a conversation, or a series of conversations, that seek to glean as much information as possible and turn the results into not only a description of who the company is and what they do, but also to help create a course of action. When properly executed, the branding session can discover new opportunities and perceived threats. It can help you develop methods to gain additional value or act against potential dangers.

And if you don’t craft your own brand, your competitors will be happy to do it for you.

A brand can’t be built if you simplify your company to one or two qualifying statements before having dozens of ill-informed designers set off in every possible direction to make a logo. That’s exactly why crowdsourcing is wrong for your company. It’s not bad because it’s cheap. It’s bad because it lacks value and won’t help you to discover who you are as a business.

From a purely aesthetic standpoint, crowdsource designers also tend to be relatively untrained in the foundations of graphic design, which frequently results in logos that are based on stylized trends and fads. You might luck out with a design that has longevity, but it’s more likely that you’ll end up with a logo that won’t have the legs to carry your company through the years. Chances are you’re probably not interested in having the logo equivalent of bell-bottom pants.

I’ll be honest. It’s easy to understand the appeal of crowdsourcing from a non-designer’s point of view. It doesn’t cost much and you get quick results. That’s what clients tend to see and that’s why it continues to grow in popularity and is gaining a foothold on the design industry.

But there is a genuine value in hiring a firm that’s well versed in creating an all-encompassing brand for your company. Crowdsourcing has its immediate appeal at face value, but the costs are corrosive and inherently damaging to your company’s well-being and potential for success.

Your story is worth more than that.

Detach yourself from your best friend’s hip.
Here’s a news flash: You are competing for a job with everyone else in the room. Therefore, your goal should be to make a memorable and lasting impression on employers. You can’t do that when you approach an employer practically holding hands with your roommate or study buddy. It demonstrates a lack of confidence and brings into question your ability act independently.

Eliminate “like,” “um” and “you know” from your vocabulary.
Um, you know, like that kind of thing. No, I don’t. Look, I know you may be nervous, and that’s understandable. But at the same time, you must practice avoiding the use of filler words when speaking to a potential employer, or anyone for that matter. Do you think your boss wants you speaking to clients that way? Um, like, no. Pay attention in your day-to-day conversations and make a point to change your speech pattern. Better yet, tell your friends to call you on it.

Know why you’re there.
Before you go to one of these things, have a friend play the role of employer and ask you to tell him about yourself. Then, in 20 seconds or less, explain your professional interests and experience, and highlight any primary strengths. Finally, ask your friend if he would hire you, and if so, in what role. This will help you sell yourself without fumbling over your words or leaving anything out. (It will also help correct the “um, like, you know” habit.)

Grip and pump.
Nothing irks me more than a weak handshake, especially from women. You don’t close deals with a handshake like that. I want to know that you are a go-getter and a confident, get-things-done kind of individual. You can tell me that with a simple, firm handshake. And guys, please don’t assume that because you are shaking the hand of a female employer that you must be especially gentle. Our hands aren’t made of blown glass.

“Business attire” does not mean “short black skirt with a 5-inch slit.”
While the majority of participants at this particular career fair were appropriately dressed, I think it’s still worth mentioning that tank tops, super low-cut blouses, short skirts and high slits are definite no-nos. Ladies, you needn’t look like something that just walked out of a Victoria’s Secret catalogue. We know you’re beautiful, but your beauty should not distract us from your ability. For guys, clean shaven, well-groomed hair and a recently ironed button-down shirt usually does the trick.

Overall, it was a thrill to meet the future leaders of our industry, and I wish them all the best of luck in their hunt for an awesome career.

A great move, and long overdue in my opinion. Consumers trust bloggers to provide honest opinions and recommendations about products and services. They should tell their readers when they receive any sort of material compensation relating to their posts, and many already do. Anything less just seems unethical.

But will Twitterers be next? Who is to say that professionals working for advertising and public relations agencies aren’t tweeting about products and services offered by the clients they represent from their personal Twitter accounts? I’m sure some do, and most probably think nothing of it. But is it really ethical?

I suppose one could argue that if the person clearly identifies the firm they work for in their Twitter profile, and that firm discloses its clients on its Web site, it’s not such a big deal. But it might still leave the average person guessing as to whether a tweet comes from the heart or serves as a paid endorsement.

Marketing and public relations professionals might also consider circumventing ethical questions by only tweeting client-related information from their agency Twitter account, which would make their material connections slightly more obvious and their tweets a bit easier to swallow.

Should the industry be talking about this? Should we be setting some parameters that ensure everyone operates above board and self-police our practices? Or is this simply a personal judgment call?