Imagine my surprise as I was about to take my seat on a Delta flight yesterday and walked by “Economy Comfort” seats in the first couple of rows in the economy section. The words were spelled out in large letters on the front of each seat back.

My first thought was, is my seat in the “Economy Uncomfortable” section of the plane?

Delta Has a Branding Problem

What about my comfort?!

Who on earth thought up this name for seats that give you 4 inches more leg room and 50 percent more recline? Over the years airlines have developed various seat configurations and classes of travel — first class, business and economy — to satisfy customers and rake in more money.

But it sends the wrong signal to the passengers in regular economy that they are headed to a seat for a cramped and uncomfortable ride.

Reader reviews are generally positive about these seats (on Delta and partner KLM), but passengers have an expectation of comfort, without having to pay extra for it.

That’s what Delta CEO Richard H. Anderson said in the inflight video that was shown as the plane took off, “…we want your time with us to be comfortable and enjoyable.” Me too, Mr. Anderson.

Companies in the service business often conduct focus groups to test new concepts. If Delta tested names for the these premium economy seats, I’d love to see the results. That’s the danger of focus groups. People tell you what they like and want but it’s not necessarily what they will buy.

Instead of Economy Comfort

Delta, may I suggest that any of these names would have been better choices:

Delta Premium Economy

Delta Upfront Economy

Delta Upgrade Economy

Come to think of it, why brand these seats in big letters for every other economy passenger to see? While not a frequent flyer, I haven’t noticed any lettering on first class, business class or regular economy seats.

Well, you’d think blogging was definitely on the way out for companies, based on a new study, 2012 Inc. 500 Social Media Update.

Although USA Today pretty much wrote off blogging in its coverage of the results, it did quote Scott Monty, head of social media at Ford Motor, as saying that engaging blogs can serve crucial marketing goals — especially executives out to establish expertise in their industry.

CMOs Interviewed

The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts surveyed the chief marketing officers of Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest growing companies to learn how their adoption of social media has changed since 2011.

The big news, according to the study, is that CMOs are turning to new platforms and tools including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, texting, downloadable mobile apps and Foursquare.

If you study the chart below, you will see that blogging has been increasingly successful as a social media strategy over the past three years, reaching 92% in usage even as its adoption as a social media tool drops. Blogging is still widely used by advertising and communications companies, less so by government agencies. Oddly, this was the first study including LinkedIn, which showed up at 73% usage, just behind Facebook’s 74%, which topped the list.

Companies are reducing their use of message boards, video blogging, podcasting and MySpace. Blogging reached a high of 50% of companies using it in 2009 to 37% in 2011. Companies responded overwhelmingly that the use of social media has been successful for their business.

Of course, social networks have grown in importance. If you’re a consumer company, Facebook is a formidable channel for reaching retail consumers. LinkedIn is corralling the business community.

So why is blogging losing ground? I believe a big reason that companies are blogging less is that it requires a commitment of time. Yet there is no better vehicle for a company to tell its story and for brand building.

Blogging is Here to Stay

Companies, both large and small, need to factor in blogging as an essential tool in their social media arsenal. As I’ve written before, I believe a blog should be the centerpiece of a company’s social media strategy.

Here’s why:

1. Own your content. When you rely on a third-party social network, you are at the mercy of their rules. What a pain in the neck it was when Facebook started company pages. Now you had two information streams to worry about. Recently, they changed their format again with timeline and have just changed the size of the insert in the large image. With your own blog, you can create the content, insert and delete copy, add videos, images and podcasts that promote your company and your products and services – according to your rules. And your content won’t disappear if a social network disappears.
2. Feed social networks. From your home base, you can distribute important information directly to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many other social media networks where your customers are forming communities. Post an article, and it is immediately “pinged” to sites of your choice with a link back to your blog. The viral impact of blog post is enormous.
3. Build credibility. A 140-character tweet has its place. But your customers want to know there is a full-service company behind the tweet. A blog will burnish your brand.
4. Collect market intelligence. Readers can leave comments on your blog posts giving you valuable market intelligence and endorsement of your ideas.
5. Attract followers. Visitors can subscribe to your blog. Just think, a built-in audience for your articles, newsletters and surveys on important topics. As your list of subscribers grows, you can begin to sell them products and services directly, bypassing social media networks.
6. Impress Google. Blogs can rank highly in search, unlike static websites, because the content is changing all the time.
7. Engage Employees. Employees can get the complete story from the company about new developments and not third parties.
   

By the way, the most highly ranked blog on the Technorati 100 is The Huffington Post, one of the most influential newspapers, either online or offline.  Most people think it is a website when it’s actually built on a blog platform.

At last count, The Huffington Post’s monthly circulation was 37 million with 1 billion page views, and is must reading for business executives, politicians, entertainers – and other news media who regularly quote from it.

Not bad for a blog.

* with apologies to Mark Twain

I decided to ask designer and blogging buddy, Dennis Salvatier, this question — having worked with many designers over the years. Here is our conversation.

Jeannette: I’ve worked with many graphic designers over the years. These are designers whose work I’ve really admired. Strangely, though, when working on a project, some designers do not seem to grasp that the objective of the work is usually to sell a product or service. Sometimes, they fall in love with a design and try to sell it to the client even if doesn’t work.

By the way, I love my company logo design and masthead. A designer with whom I’ve worked on other projects created it. And I love your work, Dennis. But why is there this disconnect between design studios and their clients?

Dennis being playful

Dennis: Thanks, Jeannette. The biggest problem with the client/designer relationship is that there is rarely a conversation about the relationship itself. Roles need to be defined before any work is done and that is the responsibility of the designer.

A good designer starts the conversation, but a great designer provides a design brief. This is a short questionnaire that includes questions about the brand, competitors, target market, budget and goals.

Because many people devalue the work of a designer (due to the common misconception that all we do is push buttons on a computer) it’s important for the designer to provide a “terms and agreement” contract that states the designer’s role, the work being done, target date for completion, payment schedule and all the deliverables owed to the client.

These actions show the client that the designer is running a business and is not just a hired hand. He or she brings value to their investment by providing knowledge, skill and consultation. It’s the job of the client to recognize this and respect the terms.

Setting up the relationship in this way would avoid common problems like the client wanting to bypass the designer’s advice and instead wants it done their way, or better yet, consults their spouse because they’re an “expert in design.”

If you hired a designer why the hell do you want to do their job? A designer’s task is to design an effective communication piece based on a brand strategy, not the client’s personal preferences or own personal glory. That’s where the headaches begin.

Dennis' restaurant logo

Jeannette:  This is sound advice. I agree the roles need to be defined. But despite having defined the client/designer relationship, there can be grounds for legitimate disagreement. This is where things can get a little hairy. No offense, but a designer can make the greatest case in the world for a particular design — how it supports the brand, target market, competitors, etc. — but the client doesn’t agree.

Let’s face it. Even designers have their personal biases. The client may feel the design is too “consumer-y” if he works for a B2B company, or — this is going to kill you — he doesn’t believe the colors represent the brand and sincerely believes it. Does the designer fight the client for his design or the colors in the true belief they will work best? How have you handled this kind of issue?

Dennis: The creative process is never without discussion or disagreement. Most clients can’t cut the umbilical cord from their idea. It’s their baby. I get it. But do you want the best for your baby or to instill your ideals and preferences on it?

The way I look at it, you’re paying me to provide a service. My job is to do my job at the best of my ability, keeping your brand’s goals as my priority. I should know, based on the brief, who this is targeted to: B2B or consumers. If my work is hitting the mark and the client still disagrees with me, he or she can call me biased or anything else they like, but I remind the client of the goal and ask why she’s changed her mind.

This happened to me very recently actually, and when I asked that question the client answered, “Well, I was thinking of something different.”

At that point, I asked her if she would like for me to stop providing advice and simply design, based on her preferences, which I would be happy to do. I don’t need to fight clients who are already fighting themselves. I get paid either way.

What I do in those instances is never show that work on my website. All fighting the client does is give him a chance to badmouth me to his network. I’d rather they be happy with work I will never claim and get more referral business.

But I turn the question back to you, Jeannette. You’ve been on both sides of the fence – creatively and as the client. What do you tell the designer when he explains his reasoning for your design and you still don’t like it? Could it be possible that you simply want your way?

Jeannette: That’s a perfectly legitimate question, Dennis. And I do think that a lot of clients have a “God Complex.” They think they know everything and they will make a change simply to show who is boss. I’ve sat on both sides of the table — as a client and a consultant and seen it. (I hope I never did it).

I agree that if the client insists then you have to follow the Golden Rule: “He that has the gold makes the rules.” But it doesn’t serve the client well, as you point out.

Dennis' snowboard design

Not too long ago I was asked to create new copy for a website. Based on our discussion, I submitted a Creative Platform — similar to your questionnaire. We agreed on their brand positioning and I investigated the key words to use. It turns out they wanted to create a new title for the person who manages electronic records in physician offices because they were offering training for that position.

Only problem is no one used that title. No one. Not one search. I couldn’t convince them that they didn’t exist if no one could find them. But they insisted. You know the rest of the story.

So I guess we’re in agreement that the final decision is the client’s. But it still begs the question — how can client and designer meet on some common ground? What are your thoughts on the role of personal chemistry?

Dennis: I think finding common ground, when there’s a difference of opinion, comes down to respect; respect for the designer and their work, and respect for the client as the representative of the brand or company.

I’ve found that my favorite clients to work for are the ones who respect and trust me. They understand that I want to do great work for them, but also know that the work represents me and I would never give them something I wasn’t proud of.

The creative process is all about communication, and my favorite clients are the ones that constantly keep me in the loop and give me a heads up when things on their end will affect our work together. For example, I have a term in my contract that states that if I do not hear back from you within three business days, I have the right to terminate the project and keep the deposit.

Seems harsh, right? Well, I’ve had past clients who went off the radar for months without explanation and kept me from taking on new business because I was still taking care of theirs. When they reappeared after a long time, they demanded the work be completed immediately with a complete disregard of my current clients. It’s not fair to leave a designer hanging when earning their fee depends on your feedback and approval, so I had to include that clause to avoid these problems.

Luckily, I have some really considerate clients who call me when something comes up like a vacation, emergency or any other reason that prevents them from moving forward at that moment. They notify me and I make arrangements with them. If there isn’t honest communication between both parties, there will be problems. Wouldn’t you agree?

Jeannette:  I think the operative words here are “respect” and “trust.” There has to be mutual respect and trust that the designer will do his best work, within the goals of a campaign. In turn, the designer needs to respect that the client is constantly adding new information based on the dynamics of his company’s business.

In the agency business there is a saying, “We have to know the client’s business as well as he does.” That’s impossible. You can hang up the phone with the designer, and five minutes later the client could learn about some new development that will impact a campaign and its design.

Volkswagen Think Small Ad

There needs to be what I call a constant “communication loop,” circling the designer and client. If there is a breakdown in that loop then things will start going wrong. I’m glad that you see it in the same way. I think we’re beginning to get somewhere! One last question: how should designers and copywriters work together? What makes for a successful, collaborative relationship?

Dennis: Agree that things can change, but for the most part, the client should be prepared with copy and any special images for the designer to begin working. Copy can change, and it will, but it’s necessary to have something semi-finalized in order for the designer to create a layout that can be worked with.

But to answer your last question, I think copywriters and designers have the same goal: a successful and clear message. Of course, egos can get in the way, but it’s very important to have a brainstorming session where both sides can be heard and a partnership can be created. Idea after idea will be thrown around and some will be good and some will be awful, but a successful collaboration will start with (again) respect and working together.

Back in the 60′s, Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) was the first ad agency that realized that designers and copywriters needed to be in one creative department. The result was more finely tuned work. Their “Think Small” campaign for Volkswagen single-handedly cemented that brand into the American consciousness, and it’s all due to designers and copywriters working together. Mad Men on AMC is a great example of this kind of teamwork.

Jeannette: Final word — as a writer I’ve often deferred to the designer to create the basic concept and layout first. I know it’s sort of chicken and egg — which comes first. But, as you say, if the designer and writer are in the same room, depending on the campaign’s objective, they may decide that the website, ad or brochure should be copy heavy or design heavy.

Referring to your (DDB) example, you may recall that the “Think Small” campaign featured an image of a Volkswagen with barely any copy. The design and image were key. On the other hand, John Caples’ iconic ad “They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano, but When I Started To Play!” definitively showed that consumers will read very long copy if it’s compelling and they are interested in the subject.

John Caples' iconic long-copy ad

We’ve covered a lot of ground here, Dennis. But I think we’ve both answered my question of how to solve the problem of any disconnect between designer and client. The relationship must be built on respect and trust. Why is that not surprising?!

Dennis Salvatier is an award winning graphic designer and illustrator for Salvatier Studios, an independent creative services studio that specializes in brand identity design and illustration in Los Angeles, CA. In his spare time he blogs, illustrates, collects comic books and spends time with his wife.

Technologists are perhaps the least aware of all employees of the value of having a personal brand.

More important to them is getting a project done on time, completing development, going from test to production or ensuring the business has signed off on requirements.

Transcending Boundaries

Frank Faeth

Technologists need to transcend the perceived narrow boundaries of their job descriptions and develop a brand that communicates the value they add to the organization.

Today, brands are no longer the sole domain of companies. An individual’s brand is just as critical in promising value and trust to others in the company.

Tom Peters, the well-known author of “In Search of Excellence,” writes: “What is it that my product or service does that makes it different?” Translating this into personal branding, what do you do as a provider of technology services that makes you stand out and compel someone on the business side to work with you?

Integrating Business and Technology

A recent finding by McKinsey highlights the difficulties business managers and technology providers continue to wrestle with:  “…only 26% of technology leaders proactively engage with business leaders on new ideas or system enhancements.”

Companies with a low ranking will have significant difficulty enabling new strategies and integrating business and technology objectives. They’re doomed to fall behind those firms where technology providers and their business counterparts work together harmoniously.

Building your personal brand

To “engage” with the business, technologists need to develop a personal brand embodying five qualities:

Advocacy:  as an advocate, a technologist will actively support his peers and counterparts on the business side. Instead of waiting for a “charge code,” the technologist will represent the business needs to his colleagues and seek the best possible solution, even if there’s disagreement that requires a new approach to the problem.

Knowledge:  technologists must know the business – how it makes money, the markets in which it competes, threats, competitors’ strategies – as well as his business partners. There is no other way to gain respect than for the technologist to see herself in the same position as his colleagues who have the P&L responsibility. Indeed, without knowing the business, technologists will remain merely providers of infrastructure, never being sought out for adding value.

Presence:  it’s not only about how you look, your poise or your sophistication; rather, presence is an authentic quality that builds trust in others. No matter what your style, people want to listen, follow, and do great work for you. Presence is projected wherever you are and in whatever you’re doing. It is essential for developing the strong relationships required in order for you to do your best work. You have to make your internal clients confident that they are in good hands.

Authenticity:  because you will be guided by the facts, you will be trusted and known as reliable and believable. Your stature when discussing alternative technical solutions and possibilities for the business will be credible because you are being true in your thinking, your understanding, and your representations. Businesses will value what you are saying because there will be no agenda attached.

Dependability:  simply said, you are trustworthy. When you make a suggestion, disagree, deliver bad news, or ask for more time, because they trust you, your message is far less likely to generate questions or doubt. In fact, your communications with business leaders will be enhanced since there’ll be less stress embedded into the message — based on the past, they know what you’re saying is accurate and honest.

Brand Equity

Standing out from the crowd by creating your own brand does not mean you have to be loud, self-absorbed, controlling or possess a huge ego.

Instead, it is about representing yourself so that you are seen as someone who knows what she is talking about, gets the point across, is credible, can be counted on, thinks beyond technology and, above all, is trustworthy.

By leveraging who you are, you build personal equity, which is your brand.

Technologists must develop personal brands so that their colleagues begin to imagine them as leaders, even if they don’t have the title.

Frank Faeth coaches technology, operations and business executives how to collaborate more effectively with their counterparts. He has held senior positions managing technology and business units with JPMorgan Chase, MasterCard and Marsh, Inc. Visit him Faeth Consulting.

Employees are actively engaging on social networks such as twitter, facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, tumblr, Pinterest and others that seem to pop up every day. With the encouragement and trust of senior management, employees can become your company’s most important and loyal brand ambassadors.

Engage Your Employees

Below is a presentation (slightly revised) that I presented at a recent HR.com webinar on Social Media and Employee Communications. My presentation entitled “Empowering Employees as Brand Ambassadors” included:

• The steps your company can take to develop a corps of brand advocates – from identifying ambassadors, training them, developing a pilot program, and then launching your advocates on social media.
• How companies like IBM, Zappos, and Comcast are engaging their employees to burnish their brands and sell more products and services.
• How to develop a social media policy that works for your company.

If you would like a larger view, you can see the presentation on SlideShare.

That was the question that Bea Fields, a top leadership coach, asked 14 business leaders. I’m flattered that she included me in that group.

There were a variety of answers, as you might expect. She printed them, including mine, in her post Gaining Loyal Customer By Building a Strong Leadership Brand.

Bea’s Definition

Bea’s summarized own take on the question as follows, “When you build a brand based on true, enduring leadership, each person in the company not only speaks about the brand and the promises you make to your customers in your marketing strategies… each person in your company truly lives those promises every day in both their personal and professional lives…”

What is Your Definition?

Both personal and company branding can be confounding to define. How do you define your leadership brand? Don’t be shy. Please leave a comment below.

This isn’t going to be an in-depth discussion about Google+. I’ll leave that to the experts. In fact, before my search tips, let me point you to two sources that provide updates on all that’s new on Google+.

HubSpot has published a comprehensive free e-book How to Use Google+ for Business. Just click on the title and you will be able to download the PDF from the home page.

The other is also a lengthy tutorial (slightly more technical) but well worth reading on Blind Five Year Old by AJ Kohn.

My Tips

These are predicated on your being a member of Google+. My good friend Richard Newman at the Newman Group pointed out this new feature when you conduct a search on Google.

Search Personal Results    

You now have the ability to search a subject and get the results, plus see your own Personal Results for that search. The way you do that is by clicking on the tiny icon on the upper right side of the screen. It’s the one on the left that looks like a head and shoulders. The icon next to it, that looks like a globe, allows you to Hide Personal Results.

Here is a screen shot of the two icons:

Google+ Personal Results Icon (head and shoulders)

I put in the search term The New York Times, which I happen to mention often in my posts. I’ve also written letters to the editors and commented on their stories so I knew something of mine would show up if I typed in “The New York Times” in Google search.

First, I clicked the Personal Results icon. Sure enough, I found a reference to a recent post I wrote about The Times and its mistake in accidentally cancelling the subscriptions of 8 million subscribers.

My Google+ Personalized Search of The New York Times

When I hit the globe icon, that reference disappeared. Neat.

Highlighting Words in Google+ Posts

I wish I could find where I read this because I would give attribution. It’s a tiny but nice little touch that Google+ has incorporated so that you can highlight important words in your posts. Highlighting may improve your search results. I tried this tip and it works.

For example, see the bold face in this mock post:

 “Learn more about Google+ in HubSpot’s new ebook”

Here’s how you do it. Type the words you want to highlight. Then type an * in front and at the end* of the words. Like this: Learn more about Google+ in *HubSpot’s new ebook * and you get “Learn more about Google+ in HubSpot’s new ebook.” Viola!

I’ll pass along other easy-to-understand tips on Google+ as I find them. Please include your tips in the comment box. I’d sure like to know about them.

Richard J. Mast

A few weeks ago I was in Bloomingdale’s when a friendly young store employee approached me to ask if he could help. I wasn’t obviously shopping at the moment so I asked him who he was and learned he was Bloomingdale’s Director of Customer Loyalty, a new position in New York. This led to the following personal  interview about the store’s robust customer loyalty program with Richard J. Mast, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Bloomingdale’s 59th Street in Manhattan. Mr. Mast discusses how understanding and responding to customer needs engenders customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Why did Bloomingdale’s create the Director of Customer Loyalty position? Is it part of a corporate branding program?

If you’re in the retail business you know that satisfied customers will continue to shop with you. So it’s our responsibility to enhance the customer experience. We’ve had employees assigned full-time to customer loyalty for several years. There are four Managers of Customer Loyalty in the Manhattan store but we decided to strengthen the structure by appointing a Director of Customer Loyalty with the other MCL’s reporting to him.

What are the responsibilities of this position and who does the Director report to?  

The role of the Director of Customer Loyalty is to interface with the senior executives in charge of ready-to-wear, Men’s Young World, the Home Store, Fine Jewelry and other departments. They tell the Director what they need and what customers want, and then these needs are translated to the MCLs assigned to these departments who then implement the actions to be taken.

The Director of Customer Loyalty reports directly to me. I don’t see him a lot because he and his staff need to be out on the selling floor interacting with customers. Nothing replaces the experience of talking to customers.

We also conduct focus groups – I sit in on these, too, so I get to hear directly from customers about what they like or don’t like and what would make them have a more satisfying customer experience.

It would seem that good customer service leads to customer loyalty. Are employees trained in customer service?  

Our employees are trained in what we call our “b-connected” system. It’s love at the point of sale. Employees are trained in relationship selling and not simply transactional selling. When a customer using a Bloomingdale’s charge card buys something, that information is entered into our database so we begin to build a profile of that customer. After a second or third visit we understand his or her level of spending and interests. We call it “client telling.”

This benefits the customer because capturing this information draws customers into our “family.” We can send them information about events they may be interested in attending, or invite them to private sales, or suggest making an appointment with a personal shopper. Whatever we can do to strengthen the customer relationship.

Is Bloomingdale’s undertaking any customer loyalty initiatives?

Yes — throughout the store we’re making changes based on what we’ve learned our customers want. For example, we learned that a woman in a dressing room becomes very annoyed when she needs a different size garment and there is no sales associate to help her get it. So in our Intimate Apparel dressings rooms on the 4^th floor, we’ve introduced phones in each room. When a customer picks it up she is connected to someone who can help her. The associate helping the customer also leaves her business card in a slot on the door.

In our shoe department our initiative is called “4 to the floor and 2 out the door.” Sales associates are trained not only to get the particular shoe a customer requests, but also to bring out four different styles. That gives the customer a broader choice and may lead to an extra sale.

Another example is in our men’s department. Our customers have told us that when they pick up a suit that’s been altered, they would like to see a selection of shirts and ties to go with the suit. Don’t just hand them the suit.

Sometimes it’s the simplest changes. We’ve learned that people tend to buy shoes and belts at the same time. So we’ve moved belts to the shoe department and we’re selling more belts than ever.

What has customer response been to your customer loyalty program? Is it working?

They love it. The customer experience begins when a customer steps in the store. We have what we call Brand Ambassadors stationed at all the entrances and strategically around the building. They are there to greet customers and answer their questions or take a customer to the department if he needs that extra help. Our Concierge desk will help with your shopping needs but also purchase theater tickets for you and book restaurant reservations.

Bloomingdale’s is a leading destination for tourists. We invite them to visit our International Visitors Center on the balcony for help and special offers. At the end of the visit, we’ll give them a gift just for shopping with us.

We’ve made great strides in customer loyalty and satisfaction here at the Manhattan flagship store – there is always more that can be done. But it’s working and other stores in the system are following our lead with more robust customer loyalty initiatives.

Richard J. Mast is Senior Vice President and General Manager of Bloomingdale’s New York City Flagship Store, with responsibility for 150 Executives and 2500 selling and sales support associates. He has been with the company for 28 years, having held various operating, financial, and merchandising positions both in the flagship and in branch stores.

Imagine my surprise yesterday when I received the following email from The New York Times at 1:04 pm.

Not me. Of course, as you may have read, The Times committed a big boo-boo yesterday when it accidentally cancelled the subscriptions of 8 million print and online subscribers. The media and Twitter scribes were all over it in the intervening three hours before the Times sent out this correction at 4:19 pm:

The Correction

The Times did the right thing, of course, but I’d like to make a point about content and tone of the correction. Aren’t they in the communication business? Note the cold tone of voice and shortness of the second email. Why was the first email sent in error? How did it happen? Subscribers would have welcomed a more detailed explanation.

A Missed Opportunity to Engage Readers

A Forbes writer, who also received an email, tried calling the Times and kept getting busy signals. It’s a sure bet that many, many other subscribers had the same experience.

Sure, it was nice to receive an apology. But The Times missed a great opportunity to engage with its subscribers. The paper could have used some humor in its message and personalized it with the signature of an actual person.  Can a company write a letter?  Didn’t a human being write this missive?

The Times wrote a story online about the mistake at 2:29 pm and sent out this  message in its official Twitter feed, “If you received an e-mail today about canceling your New York Times subscription, ignore it. It’s not from us.” Oh, yes, it was. Turns out the email was sent by a Times employee, according to Eileen Murphy, a Times spokesperson. And why the delay of almost 90 minutes before the subscribers received the apology?

The Times Email Could Have Said –

Dear Valued New York Times Reader,

Wow, did we goof! We did NOT cancel your subscription. Please ignore our earlier email with the subject line, “Important information regarding your subscription.”

It was an honest mistake — someone pushed the wrong button and we had 8 million unhappy readers for a couple of hours before we fixed things. Your email was not compromised. Everything is back on autopilot. You’ll continue to receive your New York Times as you always have.

If you’d like to vent, we invite you to visit us on our official Twitter account at https://twitter.com/#!/nytimes. We’ll also answer any questions you have about your subscription or any of our other services.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. We value you as a New York Times reader.

Sincerely,

Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr.
Publisher

— now isn’t that better than the email I did receive?

PS – see the comment below. The email went to non-subscribers, too. What a goof-up.

The old definition of public relations is out. Public Relations Society of America will adopt a new definition by the end of 2011. You can chime in with your version of PR by December 2^nd at Definition of PR Submission Form.

PRSA is crowd sourcing the public for help with the definition. My, how electronic communications has changed everything. The race to a definition began on October 31^st with the launch of the Public Relations Defined Initiative.

Here is the old definition adopted in 1982:

“Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”

In almost 30 years we’ve seen the Internet radically change how we communicate so it is more than time for a new definition. Here is the form that PRSA is asking members of the public to complete:

Public relations defined

I submitted my definition but thought I’d be able to review it after I hit the Submit button, but I couldn’t. So write yours down before submitting if you want to save it to compare to the final definition selected.

PRSA began accepting submissions on November 21st and created this word cloud after the first two days that shows the words most often submitted are public, communication and organization:

If you decide to submit your definition I would love to know what it is. Just leave it in the comments box.