Editor’s Note: Two of the #PRBC, Sherri Haymond and Marie V-B, teamed up to live-blog the premiere of Bravo’s new PR reality show “Kell on Earth.”  Below you’ll find their impressions and responses to the show as it aired.

MVB: Kell on Earth starts off with Fashion Week – which apparently is the PR equivalent of hell.

SH: I’m going to say really mean things to you and you should take the abuse.  ”This is not dress up.  This is not Barbie.”

MVB: So apparently there’s no crying in PR, especially in the office. Her tip: go outside if you are going to cry. I’m giving the sensitivity level zero points.

MVB: On top of producing a fashion show, you are responsible for invites and celebrity wrangling.

MVB: Ah yes, a staffer that’s never been trained to do the job…just being thrown into it…

SH: I’ve heard Robyn (People’s Revolution partner) is really this ridiculous – throwing the staffer right into the fire – she should be explaining what she wants the staffer to do and how she can accomplish it.  Otherwise she’s setting her up for failure.

MVB: Side note: for being obsessed with fashion, did I just see jean shorts? During a client meeting nonetheless?

SH: Did she just tell a member of her staff that she needs to find him a sexual partner?

MVB: Yes, apparently she hired Andrew because he wasn’t a blond girl..I bet he’s thrilled to hear that. Wait that means I would never get hired there.

SH: I wonder what they actually learn there.

MVB: I learned that during Fashion Week, the boss tries to get her employees laid.

MVB: Ashley Dupre snuck into a Fashion Show, People’s Revolution got fired because of it. A publicist always gets blamed!

SH:  Ha!

MVB: “My clients are paying me to give them good phone.” Ah Kell, putting it in perspective about the client’s expectations of always being available for them.

SH: So what exactly is her firm’s role during fashion week?

SH: I didnt realize a publicist runs a fashion show – front and back of house.

MVB: Employee banter…Well we’ve all been under stress and tiff with each other. However now a co-worker Andrew S. is trying to convince another colleague to pop some pills to get through the day. I’m going to take a wild guess that this isn’t the wisest philosophy.

MVB: Fashion Show time! It’s true that if something goes wrong – it’s the publicist’s fault and our responsiblity to find the solution. That Kell insight is pretty right on.

SH: But at least in Kell’s case, she’s getting major kudos for getting it right.

MVB: Yes, having a client say “Thank You” is pretty rare indeed (as Kell also points out).

MVB: Holy crap, did Robyn  just say she lives and works at the office? Yes, she literally lives there in the building and works at the same building. I think that’s a bit extreme!

MVB: Now Kell is explaining how she balances life as a power publicist and a single mom – she created a live/work building. That’s pretty cool that she did that so she can see her daughter at 3-4 pm and still run a PR firm.

MVB: Oh goodie a lesson on couture. Apparently Juicy Couture (sorry Jess) isn’t really “couture.”

MVB: Wow creating a seating list for a fashion show is like a wedding on crack. You can’t sit competitive magazine editors next to each other, nor can you sit celebrities next to celebrity magazine editors. Yet all the “important” folks have to be in the first three rows, otherwise you aren’t “in the game.”

SH: Seating charts – they’re an art. The seating chart thing seems really stressful. Since the agency creates it – it’s just another thing to get blamed for if something goes wrong.  And go wrong it does – “At the end of the day, we aren’t magicians.”  Intense.

MVB: Next up: delegation. One worker complains she’s expected to do everything and is only one person. Kell informs her that just because she delegates something it doesn’t mean it gets done.

SH: Right.  So delegate, but keep worrying about it anyway.

MVB: Right.  ”Hyperorganized.” I think I just learned a new adjective that people can use in cover letters.

SH:  Sure – appealing to a future boss who’s just like Kell!

MVB: Okay I’ll admit the side story of Kell being a mom is pretty heartwarming, especially on how she struggles to balance it all. Then she takes the elevator down to the office and turns back into crazy.

SH:  She’s totally different around her daughter.  It’s quite amazing, actually.

MVB: Junior Account Executives around the world can relate to watching someone struggle with the pressure and expectations and trying to prove herself to climb up the corporate ladder.

MVB: These outfits everyone is sporting while they are working are making me feel less embarassed about live blogging in my mismatched flannel pajamas.

SH:  And me about my ripped sweats….

MVB: Printer failure! That has totally happened to me that there is a major tech fail in the middle of a big event and/or when you have to get something out to the client.

* * * * *

MVB: Overall, I think Kell on Earth gave us a pretty good look at the world of fashion PR. I’m definitely interested to see where it takes us.

SH:  Same here.  I can’t imagine what pearls of wisdom we’ll learn next week!

• 8 February 2012 : Drop the Salesman Mentality
• 7 February 2012 : Giant PR Lessons from the Super Bowl Champions
• 6 February 2012 : Video: Job Interview Conversations That Should Be Had
• 3 February 2012 : Considering Making the Switch from Agency to In-House?
• 2 February 2012 : Apple’s Positive Earnings Report Creates Bad PR

I remember watching you after school every day beginning in 5th grade. i remember that day in 1986 (when i was in 7th grade) when you came out in that black turtleneck and tight jeans wheeling a huge wagon of fat (67 lbs) behind you. I remember being so grossed out by the fat (and so impressed with your accomplishment and how much emphasis you’ve put on dieting – yo-yo in your case – from then on) that I developed a very strange relationship with food. One that i don’t think I’ll ever be able to change. Because every time I look at a Snickers bar, a bacon cheeseburger or anything with white flour, I think of that wagon of fat and how you gained back all the weight – several times over – whenever you were “off” your diet. So, Oprah, thanks for inspiring me to be on a diet forever. every. single. day. of. my. life.

love,
Sherri

The Dukes of Hazzard (1979)

So you can follow me here…let’s take a step back and learn a thing or two about citizens band (“CB”) radio. CB radio is a system of short-distance radio communication between people. In the late 1940′s, none other than Al Gross, the inventor of the walkie-talkie (and one of my heros!), started Citizen’s Radio Corp. to merchandise handhelds for the general public. Then in the 1960′s, things started to get interesting – CB radios became popular with small trade businesses (e.g., plumbers, electricians, etc.), truck drivers and radio hobbyists. Many CB clubs began to form, and a special CB slang language evolved – a language that included addressing other CBers not by their names, but instead by their CB “handles.”

And then came the pop culture explosion.

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

In the 70′s and 80′s, an interesting phenomenon began to develop. The CB allowed people to get to know one another in a quasi-anonymous manner. Many movies and stories about CBers and their on-air culture developed. References in pop culture – notably in films like Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and Convoy (1978); television shows such as Movin’ On (debuted 1974) and Convoy (debuted 1979) – catapulted CB radio to cult status in the mid-to-late ’70s. It was C.W. McCall’s “novelty song” Convoy (1976) (inspiration for both the movie and the tv show mentioned above), which featured droll conversation among CB-communicating truckers, that put several 10-code phrases (for example 10-4 for “understood” and our own “What’s your twenty?” (10-20) for “What’s your location?”) into common use in American English.  And many of of these terms have endured – there’s even a website, http://www.cbslang.com, dedicated to some of the more hilarious CB phrases – “I’m in my cowboy cadillac stuck behind a cheese wagon in the granny lane.”

Doesn’t this all sound strangely familiar? Was CB radio, and it’s secret language, 10-codes and handles, a precursor to internet chat rooms and today’s social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook? And – FTW! – I wonder whether certain hashtags and abbreviations will endure…long after Twitter itself evolves and goes the way of the CB radio. Which “social media” linguistic developments will stand the test of time?

All images are the property of their respective owners

• 8 February 2012 : Drop the Salesman Mentality
• 7 February 2012 : Giant PR Lessons from the Super Bowl Champions
• 6 February 2012 : Video: Job Interview Conversations That Should Be Had
• 3 February 2012 : Considering Making the Switch from Agency to In-House?
• 2 February 2012 : Apple’s Positive Earnings Report Creates Bad PR

But where to start?  I sat down and thought about what “public relations” meant to me.  Since I have no formal PR training, everything I know I’ve learned from reading books, articles, blog posts and tweets; from watching how companies on (and off) Twitter have worked to brand themselves; from years of contributing to and being a consumer of corporate PR.  And, of course, from being a heavy-duty consumer of popular culture.  Here’s what I came up with:

• Branding.  I’d first have to create a coherent brand for What’s Your Twenty.  A consistent message that my company would send to the world about what we are, what we stand for, and why people should care.  For me, this was point zero.  Everything below is about disseminating this message to the world once I was clear on what exactly that message was.  I’m looking forward to introducing you to an expert (or two . . . .) who’ll give us do-it-yourselfers a few tips.
• Website.  Another sticky point for someone who doesn’t know the first thing about HTML (or any of those other coding languages for that matter) and has no budget.  As you can see, mine’s still under construction (more on the whole process in a post coming soon – the fantastic Marcy Capron [full disclosure:  she's my cousin, but she rocks!] is building my site, which I’m busy adding content to now).  But websites are key.  They reinforce your brand and are your lowest hanging fruit in terms of an opportunity to convey your message to your clients, prospects, and colleagues.
• Blog.  As my friend Elizabeth Beskin said during a recent social media presentation for event planners at the Oak Room, your website is your digital brochure and your blog is where the real personality behind your brand comes out.  Mine will launch simultaneously with and be a part of my company’s website.  Some find it more effective to keep their blog completely separate.  We’ll talk to people about the pros and cons of each.
• SEO.  Okay . . . I must admit.  I had to google this one to find out what it stood for—let alone what it meant.  I mean, I had some idea—but Search Engine Optimization is key.  What’s the point of having a website and a blog if no one’s looking at it or reading it?  You have to help these Google and Bing searchers out—you have to drive traffic to your website with keywords and indexing and lots of other stuff I’m far from an expert at.  Sometimes the person building your website knows how to do this really well—and sometimes, you’ll find, you’re better off hiring someone who’s an SEO expert to make your site most visible. We’ll be talking to an expert or two and learning all about it together.
• Social Media Strategy.  Every [small] business needs one, crafted to reinforce the core message of your brand.  I started where I’m most comfortable, on Twitter.  I also created a Facebook Fan Page, which I really need to update more frequently.  Now that the event side of the walkie biz is up and running, this should become a lot easier.  But there are lots of other things I do in terms of social media, too.  You guessed it, more coming soon.
• Networking, Networking, Networking.  Why is networking on my PR list?  Because when you own and operate a small business, you are your brand.  I go to tons of networking events—first, I love them.  It’s great meeting new people, hearing about their experiences and figuring out how you can help one another.  But I’ve also found that for small biz owners, it’s a critical component of being your own flack.  You have to get out there and meet people—not only potential clients, but also industry colleagues, marketing/branding/PR thought leaders and anyone else you think you might learn from.  From joining professional associations (I’m a proud member of ISES, the International Special Events Society) to TweetUps and MeetUps and Twitter Chats and industry events (just to name a few) it’s so important to just get out there.  Lots more on this one soon.
• Marketing.  I was debating whether to make this a separate bullet, since it’s so tied up with the others.  But there’s one person I met on Twitter from whom I’ve learned so much about marketing that she single-handedly won her area of expertise it’s own shout-out.  I can’t wait for all of you to meet her.
• And . . . you’ve been waiting for it . . . Press.  You’re working so hard at building your brand, getting the word out, driving traffic to your site, networking, networking, networking.  It’d be nice to see a media outlet other than your own blog recognize your hard work and feature the brand you’re working day and night to create.  And this, my friends, is not easy.  It’s the main reason why small business owners hire PR firms.  And don’t get me wrong, as soon as my business is big enough, I’ll hire one, too.  But until then, in upcoming posts, I’ll be letting you in on all the secrets I’ve discovered thus far.  Secrets that, hopefully, can help you make enough money to hire a pro!

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be talking with experts in each of these fields and sharing with you what I’ve learned from them.  And with a little luck, you too will be able to be your own flack.

Okay, PR pros, what am I missing?  Small business owners, what else is on your list?  What would you like to know?

I’m sure all many of you are asking just that question—a former lawyer, banker, and hedge fund analyst who’s now running her own walkie-talkie rental company—what in the world is she doing writing for a PR blog?

Just a short while ago, when I decided to work on What’s Your Twenty, Inc. full-time, I realized I was taking on a massive task—our walkie rental biz was primarily servicing the production industry, where my husband and our other partner have been producing for 10+ years. They already had their network. I decided I wanted to expand our clientele beyond production, into special events, meetings, fashion shows, trade shows, conventions, catering (colloquially, “events”), and anything else I could think of.

I wanted to be huge. And quick. But I had a law and finance background. How in the world would I break into the events space? Let alone quickly? I first took stock of my local competitors—some are fairly large, but none are “branded.” They’re not involved in social media, they don’t have interactive websites, they don’t blog. I recognized a huge opportunity.

Enter my friend Stephanie Smirnov.

She’s the president at a really well-respected, top-tier PR firm in NYC. I think we got to know each other through common Twitter mom friends (since we’re both moms to boys and we both work, we had a lot in common from the get-go). I started reading Stephanie’s blog—a perfect entree into the PR world since she writes not only about PR, but also about mom stuff, popular culture, etc.—I’d ease my way in.

I liked what I saw. And so I started to follow some of the PR folks that Stephanie was following. One of those people was our own @PRCog.

But let’s back up for a moment. Around this time I began to realize that I’ve always been interested in public relations. I’ve been doing my own personal PR since elementary school! (Get good grades and everyone thinks you’re a goodie two-shoes . . . you get where I’m going with this). My job as my own personal PR manager became much more difficult (and ridiculously more important) in the highly political worlds of law firm and i-banker life—you spend a large part of your day at jobs like that managing your reputation.

You check and double check the tone, substance, and syntax of your emails; you make sure not to make the “cc” instead of “bcc” mistake; you “pitch” to get on the best deals for the best clients with the best colleagues; you manage your online reputation to make sure no incriminating pictures or stories or mentions ever pop up when someone Googles you; you network with the right people so that eventually you can get out of the job you’re trying so hard to keep but that you never really loved in the first place.

Geez—I’d been doing this all along! And perhaps not everyone does . . . but I strongly believe that everyone should.

What’s Your Twenty is a start-up—I had exactly zero marketing dollars to spend, let alone money to hire a PR firm to help me launch my “brand.” So I decided I’d take on the task myself. I started chatting with @PRCog, continuing my conversations with Stephanie and many of the great flacks she’s introduced me to, and heard about this event called Masquertweet.

For those of you who don’t already know, @PRCog is a real person who’s completely anonymous on Twitter. So he and a few other flacks put together a tweet-up for [mainly] PR folks where everyone was invited to wear a mask—sort of showing support for Cog’s [literally] masked identity. This was an incredible networking opportunity (and to boot, there was a charity tie-in with 12for12k, which I always love), and so I went. All. By. Myself. [Note—Stephanie was awesome and introduced me to a bunch of amazing people before via Twitter, all of whom I'm now friends with IRL!]

It was at Masquertweet that I met many of the authors who write on this very blog. After the event, I started to read many of their blogs, and to read blogs written by other PR superstars who were recommended to me. I started to learn the lingo. I started to read articles.  And I started to tweet about my PR studies with the original members of the PRBreakfastclub.

I’m learning as I go—but already, I’m finding success (more about that coming soon—but suffice it to say, I’ve already gotten myself press!).  And in my articles each week, I’ll try the best I can to show you how to do PR for your own small business, too. You’re gonna love it.