The Decision – A Year Later

By Chris Daley

A year ago I wrote a blog that many of you have probably forgotten by now, or didn’t even read, called, King of Public Relations. The blog was written the day LeBron James held the sports world hostage and decided to stage a publicity stunt based around what team he was going to play for after his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers expired.

I took a look back at my blog because even I had forgotten what I wrote about that day. I was curious to see how much my perspective on LeBron James has changed in a year.

Last year on July 8 when I Googled “LeBron James,” the main headline that popped up was from FoxNews.com which said, “LeBron James – Public Relations Genius.” Today, I Googled “LeBron James” and the main headline that popped up was by SportingNews.com which says, “Poll results show big decline in LeBron James' marketability.” What a difference a year makes!

I can say this - my overall opinion about LeBron James has not changed at all. He is one of the best athletes on the planet, a dominating player in the NBA and great for the game. Although I’ve never met the guy, he seems like a genuinely nice person on and off the court.

LeBron took a lot of heat this year as a player and a person all stemming from the television program he staged known as The Decision. It’s easy to say now, but the only way his announcement could have ended well is if he had decided to stay in Cleveland. That didn’t happen and now he is left with scrutiny both as a player and person.

From an athletics standpoint, I find it funny when the media is so quick to call a professional athlete a disappointment. Most members of the media don’t have the athletic credentials to know what it even takes to make it to a professional level or even the college level. But, they are very quick to cast an opinion if a person or team doesn’t live up to their hype. I guess that’s the media’s job in some capacity, but I don’t like the sensationalism.

I would not call LeBron a failure or disappointment at all. The guy is amazing and a destined Hall of Famer. His team - albeit the team with arguably the most talent - didn’t win a championship this season. That said it is my non-expert opinion that they will be in the NBA Finals again and will win a championship at some point. Not an easy thing to do at the professional level.

From a public relations stand point, I think it’s safe to say now that LeBron James is not the King of Public Relations. I’m sure he’s learned a lesson in how not to make an announcement. James was also taking hits by the way he reacted to losing in the NBA Finals. Well, maybe it wasn’t the best way to react to a championship loss. I don’t think that’s grounds to blast the guy. I imagine it sucks pretty bad to lose on a large stage like that and some emotions are uncontrollable. In the overall grand scheme of things, these are very minor faults and the 26 year-old star is still learning whether people like to hear that or not.

Now I hear the media talking about what LeBron James needs to do to repair his image which is where my supposed public relations expertise should come in handy. I think it’s simple. Here is my three step advice for LeBron:

First, get over the fact that Cleveland hates you. No matter what you do now, people with nothing better to do will be burning your jersey. Chances are they are taking out frustrations based on other aspects of their lives that have nothing to do with being a sports fan.

Secondly, talk about it. Target the right media outlets and tell your story. It’s as simple as saying you are learning from these experiences, that you are going to continue to work hard to win an NBA Championship, and you realize that with being such a high-profile athlete there are consequences with every decision you make. The NBA lock-out is a great excuse to get some well positioned media interviews done. People and media want to see your human side, and this will give the public a sense that you are some what in touch with reality.

Third, use this experience as fuel to work harder this off-season and win the Championship next season. In sports, winning cures everything. Just take a look at Michael Vick.

Chris Daley is a Senior Account Executive at Maroon PR. Contact him at Chris@MaroonPR.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisDaley43.

Everyone Has a Story to Tell

By Chartese Burnett

We are bombarded everyday with news accounts of tragedy, violence in Egypt, the war in Afghanistan, child abuse, homicides, the contentious political landscape, budget cuts that threaten to eliminate vital programs that benefit society, and on and on and on. Everywhere you turn, there are sad stories with which we are deluged on TV, on the radio, on the Internet; and of course, these days, via all the social media outlets.

However, just as there are stories of destruction and death, there are also stories of hope that abound. For those of us play a part in these stories, let’s start telling those. Let’s begin to utilize all of these effective outlets – TV, radio, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wordpress, etc. to share with the world the stories of survival, triumph and miracles.

Let’s inundate the public with those stories. Let’s share with the media and their captive audiences the good news: that victims are surviving, that patients are overcoming disease, that endangered species and the environment are being protected, that underserved children are being embraced and educated, that we are making strides and reaching new heights in America and in the world and attacking the many ills that affect society, health and the environment.

As my friend Joe Schreiber shared with my Sports Media Today class at the University of Maryland: “Storytelling is key in the world of publicity and journalism.” Schreiber helped launch and produce NBC’s George Michael’s Sports Machine, which aired for 23 years, making it the longest running locally produced, nationally syndicated sports show in television history. The show earned 11 Emmy awards. He is an accomplished producer, journalist and now working with many organizations to help them with their messages through various multimedia platforms.

In the world of public relations and journalism, those professionals who are most successful in spreading their message (getting their news covered and/or getting their work published) are most often those who are the best storytellers.

It is no different in the world of philanthropy. Organizations whose mission is to connect with constituents -- who include board members, donors, and the research community, among others -- MUST tell their story. They must recognize the value of the communications, media and public relations function. Many nonprofits have yet to embrace the importance of telling their story through the many tremendous opportunities to do so; including a comprehensive and extensive communications plan, along with passionate and experienced personnel to execute it.

Creating awareness for events, initiatives, programs, newsworthy research funded, significant findings from studies – should be at the core of the outreach, pr and media efforts for any nonprofit entity. A strategic approach to communicating the organization’s mission, with the ultimate goal to fund and further the mission, i.e. a call to action, is the key to garnering the support of existing donors, potential major gift givers, and alliances with corporate partners and sponsors.

Especially in challenging economic times, it is even more important to position yourself positively – when there are numerous organizations, entities, and individuals vying for the same pot of money in the world of giving.

As a PR professional, one of the rules of thumb is that you have to be able to answer the “so what?” question when pitching a story or news item to the media. You have to be able to explain why a particular media outlet’s readers, viewers and/or listeners should care. What’s in it for them? Why is it important – to them or to their community or to the world at large?

Talented, skilled and compassionate communications professionals know how to craft that message, engage the audience and to answer that question.

Just like any other business entity, nonprofits must have key messages that serve as the definition of WHO they are, WHAT they have done and WHAT their brand represents.

Positive and strategic PR for a nonprofit should not only motivate and retain existing audiences, but should also serve to expand opportunities for new audiences to engage in a meaningful way.

At Maroon, we are very privileged to work with or serve as the public relations teams of several nonprofit clients, and we are blessed to be able to share THEIR stories of funding research to cure diseases, supporting patients and families living with life-threatening illnesses, protecting the environment and endangered species, cultivating a generation which values volunteerism, and educating and empowering our underserved youth through the gift and joy of reading.

However, these stories belong to ALL of us. It is not only THEIR story… it is YOUR story… it is OUR story. For isn’t the onus on each and everyone one of us not be silent, but to speak up for those who are not able to do so for themselves and to make a difference?

We will continue to work hard at telling stories in a meaningful and impactful way – stories about heroes, miracles, and about people who are changing the world.

Chartese Burnett is Director of Non-Profit PR at Maroon PR. Contact her at Chartese@MaroonPR.com

Things I learned in 2010…

By Chris Daley

2010 has to go down as one of the quickest years of my life. But looking back, I added some new experiences in my personal and professional life that I learned from which will help me in 2011. I think it’s important for everyone to reflect on the past year and apply what you’ve learned to the year ahead.

Below are four important lessons I learned this past year.

Relationships are critical: We always say here at Maroon PR, “we’re in the relationship business.” In fact our company mission statement is “we drive growth through relationships.” It’s developing and fostering relationships with media, clients, corporate contacts, etc. that make all the difference. Try your best to stay top of mind with these people. Say hello for no reason, send a thank you card, say happy birthday on Facebook. In life you can’t control a lot of things, but being nice and respecting others is something you can control. And, the more experience I gain, the one thing remains the same, at the end of the day it’s not how many contacts you have in your rolodex that counts, it’s the quality of relationships you have that does.

Social media isn’t just for nerds: I created a Facebook account a few years back, and certainly understood the value of re-connecting with old friends. Twitter was different for me, mostly because it took me a while to grasp the concept of the site. I created a Twitter account in March this year and learned this is a great way to keep up with the day’s news, stay connected with people in a relaxed way and nice outlet to promote my work/client work. Although I do feel there are people out there that abuse social media -just like anything else in life –for the most part I think social media can be an important business tool. I’m excited to see where social media goes in the future and I encourage everyone to learn about it and how to utilize social media sites in an effective way. Those who haven’t embraced social media, it really isn’t just for nerds, I promise.

Don’t sweat the small stuff: A negative/incorrect news story, an angry client, co-workers having a bad day. These are the types of things that affect public relations people throughout the year. I learned this year that one of the most important things in business (or life) is to not sweat the small stuff. You will be a much better person and colleague if you take the high road and understand that not everything is going to be perfect. As long as you work hard, control what you can control and respect other people’s ideas, things will work out and fall into place. Poverty, natural disasters, cancer, war… these are the real terrible things in life.

Embrace change: The world of the public relations changes every day which is probably the main reason I entered into this industry. Add to that the world of a public relations firm, and you will really know how things can change quickly and sometimes dramatically. This year I learned that change can be a really good thing and that people/companies should not be scared of change. Embrace change and look at it as on opportunity to start fresh with something new, open your world up to new people and a way to try some new things.

What did you learn in 2010?

Chris Daley is a Senior Account Executive at Maroon PR. Contact him at Chris@MaroonPR.com or follow him on Twitter @CDaley43

RE: Email

By Chris Daley

Recently I found myself turning into “That Guy” when it comes to responding to the numerous emails I receive each day. Instead of the well thought-out, professional emails, I used to write in my earlier PR days, some of my recent responses have looked like this: “Ok, will get back soon” … “Thx” … “sure” … “Pls send info.” I apologize if you are reading this and recently received one of those emails from me… it was a busy summer.

I was curious to see what some professionals thought, or if there had been any recent articles or blogs written on the subject of email etiquette and correspondence. I wanted to see if anyone had advice for how to manage my growing list of emails in my inbox and if anyone could give me a sense of what proper email etiquette should be.

I found this recent blog - Email etiquette: how long is too long to reply? - written by Amber MacArthur of The Globe and Mail, interesting. Seems she’s having the same issues as me, and I’m sure I’m not alone in a society that has us constantly having to respond to various email accounts, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

I’m going to continue to work on this Email thing in my professional career. It’s not going anywhere and it’s a critical form of communication in our society, so I think it’s important for everyone to master. For now, here are a few tips I can pass along which get me through some email issues…

• Avoid the email train. If you sense an issue arising or an email has numerous clarifying questions, pick up the phone and call the person. This stops the email train in its tracks, and usually I find there isn’t even an issue or questions to begin with.
  
  


• Try not to get offended by a short response and don’t base a person’s personality off of email. If you are going to be short, be professional and be open to the fact that we are all very busy people. Email was invented to serve as a more casual way to communicate.
  
  


• If a reply requires some thought and you do not have time to respond, send the person a short email stating you received the message and let them know you will respond after you’ve given some thought to their question.

Chris Daley is a Senior Account Executive. Contact him at chris@maroonpr.com

Bon Appetit Baltimore

By Tim Richardson

Food brings people together. Whether it’s a first date, a special occasion or just catching up with friends, going out to dinner is always a popular idea.

Baltimore and roughly a dozen other cities around the country capitalize on that notion as twice a year (winter and summer) they offer a weeklong celebration of cuisine called “Restaurant Week.” During this time in Baltimore, more than 100 restaurants throughout the city offer customers the opportunity to enjoy a three-course dinner (not including alcohol) from special prix-fixed menus for a reduced set rate. Some restaurants also offer a lunch menu.

Baltimore’s summer edition of Restaurant Week took place August 13-22 and featured a set price of $35.10 for dinner. The primary objective of the promotion is to entice diners who have been watching their budgets to venture out to a local restaurant for an enjoyable gourmet meal at an affordable price…and it usually occurs in a restaurant that they have not visited previously.

But from a marketing standpoint, it’s also a great vehicle for restaurateurs to promote their restaurants to the community in an effort to attract new business. People are more selective these days on how they spend their discretionary income. So competing against dining at a local restaurant are activities such as taking in a play, going to a concert, or attending a sporting event. That said, showcasing the area’s restaurants and helping diners discover new establishments not only highlights the many offerings available in Baltimore, but it brings an economic surge to the area. By offering a diverse selection at an affordable price, restaurants can sell around 1,000 Restaurant Week menus during the promotion. In an economy where people have elected to eat at home more instead of dine out, that traffic and revenue are clearly significant to the restaurant industry. Some restaurants have even chosen to extend their Restaurant Week specials, varying in length by the restaurant.

Restaurant Week is also a resourceful PR initiative for Visit Baltimore and the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore in how they market the city. Visit Baltimore is the official sales and marketing organization for Baltimore, while the Downtown Partnership is a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to make downtown Baltimore a great place for businesses, employees, residents and visitors. During Baltimore’s Restaurant Week this summer, over 4,200 people “liked” the promotion on Facebook and it was “re-tweeted” by more than 200 users on Twitter. Stories also appeared in the mainstream media on TV and in print/online outlets about the restaurants featured in Restaurant Week, the popularity of the promotion, etc.

And word is spreading to other cities about Baltimore’s Restaurant Week. According to an article in the August 3 issue of The Baltimore Sun, the culinary offerings of the city were a main topic when Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake spoke earlier this summer at a meeting in Oklahoma City. The Mayor was addressing the U.S. Conference of Mayors about what will be taking place when the group visits Baltimore next summer, and a number of the questions from her fellow city leaders concerned the food in Baltimore.

I’m a fan of Restaurant Week. My wife and I participate in both of the seasons in which it takes place and enjoy the opportunity to try new places that peak our interest from the list of participating restaurants. In fact, one of the restaurants we visited last summer is now the place where we dine throughout the year to celebrate all of our special occasions. That would not be the case if my wife had not said, “I’ve always wanted to try that place…let’s check it out during Restaurant Week.”

So the concept of a special, low-cost menu that allows people the opportunity to enjoy a night out while also generating interest about the city’s local restaurants and boosting the economy seems like a pretty good deal for everyone.

Tim Richardson is the Executive Vice President of Maroon PR. Contact him at tim@maroonpr.com.

Mel Gibson – The End of a Hollywood Career?

By Andrea Kunicky

Mel Gibson is back in the news again...and again for the wrong reasons. Another profanity laced rant from the movie star has been leaked out.

The tapes, which RadarOnline.com has released four parts of thus far, feature an enraged Gibson bellowing at Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of his 8-month-old daughter. Gibson relentlessly screamed C-words, F-bombs and - sadly and disturbingly - racial slurs which included the N-word.

Grigorieva did the right thing by remaining calm through most of the recordings, suggesting that Gibson get medication, and insisting she doesn't want his money. She needed to stay quiet and let him rant because she knew she would have the upper hand by the end of it. She sounded like she was maintaining her self-control to get the end result that was needed. She had every right to do what she needed to do to document his angry and abusive personality.

This situation again shows how people have to learn to watch what they say or write with communication devices, such as cell phones. Golf star Tiger Woods and ex-Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick have both found themselves in trouble for things they’ve said on calls and text messages that ended up in the hands of the media.

Gibson's recent public rants could ultimately end his movie career. He survived his last public relations nightmare four years ago when he made terribly derogatory comments about Jewish people. Those comments combined with these recent rants show a horrible pattern, and this behavior won’t be tolerated even in Hollywood.

As audio recordings of these rants still continue to leak out, Gibson will have far bigger problems than his career… as these threats could lead to legal issues. Not speaking on his outbursts is certainly not the best PR strategy either.

It will be interesting to see what will ensue in these coming weeks with the outcome of the (former) Hollywood star.

Andrea Kunicky is an Associate Account Executive. Contact her at andrea@maroonpr.com.

King of Public Relations

By Chris Daley

I just searched “LeBron James” on Google and the top hit under “News for LeBron James” is a headline from FOXNews.com, "LeBron James – Public Relations Genius." There are 4,473 “related articles” to this one headline with thousands of other related articles to follow. In a sense, I would agree that King James is a public relations genius. For this week anyway.

Here are a few reasons why:

• Timing is everything: This could be considered one of the slowest weeks in sports on the calendar year. I can’t think of a better time of year for this type of announcement to take place.

• Controlling his message well: I’m surprised that his decision has not leaked out yet. The people surrounding him that may know his final decision are doing a great job of keeping this thing under wraps for the big unveiling. Although we still have a few hours before 9 p.m. EDT.

• Charitable Component: Adding a charitable component when you have this much influence over the public is always nice. Having all the proceeds from tonight’s program on ESPN donated to the Boys & Girls Club of America is a nice touch.

• Taking advantage of the situation: King James and his camp are doing a great job to launch other marketing tools around this announcement which include a revamped LeBronJames.com and creating the twitter handle @kingjames that has over 310,000 followers in two days. I’d be curious to know how many people signed-up for his newsletter the past few days and what that database would be worth to potential advertisers.

Although I’m not an NBA fan, I am a fan of public relations and I would agree that someone in his position is taking full advantage of his situation. LeBron deserves this type of attention. He’s worked very hard to get to this point.

That said, I’m now curious to see how he handles his next public relations situation which could be making an impact in a brand new city, and leaving one that will have a lot of people angry.

Chris Daley is an Account Executive. Contact him at chris@maroonpr.com.

Video Blog: Tim Richardson Discusses Tiger Woods

By Tim Richardson; Video by Abby Draper



Tim Richardson is Executive Vice President. Contact him at tim@maroonpr.com.

Marketing Myths

By Mitchell Schmale

In a struggling economy, many companies fall into the trap of cutting certain internal budgets to manage costs and survive the tough times. Often, the marketing budget is one of the first to be slashed.

Effective marketing is vital for a company to remain competitive during the tough times so that they are poised to be successful when the economy improves. Companies may have to make tough decisions in managing expenses, but slashing its marketing budget should not be the easy fix. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

A slow economy is one of the best times to raise your corporate profile as a leading company in your respective industry and capture valuable market share. Rather than turning to traditional advertising to raise brand awareness, many companies find a greater return in investment in public relations. PR and marketing support can grow customer awareness, create an exciting buzz around a company and help gain strong third-party endorsements in the media. During a down economic time, corporate and customer success stories shared through an effective public relations and media campaign often resonate much more powerfully with consumers than a stand-alone advertising campaign.

It’s time to dispel the myth that a company has to cut its marketing budget because it is not yielding the expected returns, when in fact, the truth may lie in spending its marketing dollars more creatively.

Mitchell Schmale is the Vice President of Maroon PR's Corporate Division. You can contact him at mitchell@maroonpr.com.

It’s Time to Talk About the Past: Mark McGwire’s Steroid Admission & Media Strategy

Author: Tim Richardson

Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Last week, former Major League Baseball player Mark McGwire admitted he used performance enhancing drugs during his career. The admission by the onetime single-season homerun leader did not surprise many as there had been a cloud of speculation surrounding the subject for over a decade. Rather, it is the manner in which “Big Mac” chose for coming clean and his statements about steroids having no effect on his performance that have drawn the most scrutiny, especially in the public relations industry and by the media, which The SportsBusiness Daily's Erik Swanson wrote about earlier this week.

We are a society that loves to forgive our athletes and celebrities. We want them to tell us they are sorry, make us believe in their contrition and choose to give them another chance. The owner of the top selling jersey in the NBA, Los Angeles Lakers’ guard Kobe Bryant, and 2010 Golden Globe winning actor Robert Downey, Jr. validate that point.

And when they apologize to us, we don’t want to just see statements on Internet sites (yes, we’re talking to you Tiger Woods) or a press conference where they read a prepared statement. A true apology comes from the heart, not a typed sheet of paper.

All that being said, McGwire coming forward on the issue was the right thing to do, especially as he prepares to return to MLB this year as the St. Louis Cardinals’ hitting instructor. Without this admission, spring training would have been a media circus and he would have been a huge distraction to the team. Questions will still arise in camp, but the amount will be greatly diminished now that McGwire has spoken about his steroid use.

Once he made the decision to speak, it was imperative to develop a plan for how and where the message would best be delivered. According to The New York Times, McGwire hired former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer to help him to do just that. The strategy involved exclusively breaking the news with an Associated Press (AP) story, followed that evening by a sit-down television interview with Bob Costas on MLB Network.

Considering the magnitude of the story and its far reaching appeal, many public relations professionals argue that breaking the story with the AP made sense. However, the case exists that McGwire’s strategy may have been better suited to also include The St. Louis Post Dispatch. This outlet was the local paper covering him during the latter part of his controversial career as a player, and is the hometown paper for where McGwire is now employed. Media feeds off media, and in today’s instant news and Internet-driven world, the print story would have garnered similar coverage and generated stories in other mediums, while taking care of a key local media outlet in the market where McGwire played and will coach. In our day and age there is no such thing as “local” press… everything is instantly shared via social media and the internet. I am guessing that the St. Louis media felt slighted by McGwire, and for good reason.

At Maroon PR, we always stress to our clients that it’s important to never forget or overlook the media where they live, work, run their business, etc. For example, when Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played record and when he was selected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, he carved out time for each of the local networks in Baltimore and Washington, DC. When Team USA forward Carmelo Anthony won a gold medal at the 2008 summer Olympics, he returned to his hometown of Baltimore to meet with the media and discuss the achievement.

The second part of McGwire’s strategy was granting the first television interview to Costas. The SportsBusiness Daily cited a source close to the strategy as saying Costas would have been the first choice, regardless of the network for which he worked. Nonetheless, MLB Network getting the interview was a major land for the young, league-owned network and the choice of Costas as the interviewer was a good one by McGwire’s team.

Costas himself has practically become a brand. From anchoring NBC’s Olympic and Sunday Night Football coverage, to his MLB Network show and previous experience with HBO, he’s well respected as a journalist and provided McGwire with a credible avenue for his admission. Choosing a person they knew would serve “softball” questions and not probe McGwire would have been ineffective. You may recall that many in the media felt ESPN’s Peter Gammons (now at MLB Network by the way) was too easy on Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez during their television one-on-one in February 2009 when he admitted to taking steroids. But Costas’ questioning of McGwire was determined and inquisitive, while not attacking. Public perception of the validity of McGwire’s admission is also aided when the audience believes the interviewer is reliable and legitimate. Another example of someone who did this effectively is Michael Vick when he sat down with James Brown for a 60 Minutes interview prior to his return to the NFL after a dog-fighting scandal and prison term.

Managing the distribution and ensuring the message was delivered effectively were the two key pieces of the strategy regarding McGwire’s admission. Therefore, a press conference would not have been the appropriate strategy. Between the massive amount of media who would converge on the event and the format a press conference provides, it would have been impossible for the “human element” of the story to be conveyed.

Moving away from the strategy, McGwire made some critical missteps during the interview itself. He did appear emotional, repeatedly said he was sorry and apologized to the people he “let down.” However, his insistence that his records were “completely legit” and that his hand-eye coordination and God-given ability were not aided by his use of PEDs was a mistake. If you are going to apologize, go the whole way. Don’t diminish your remorse by saying injuries made you do steroids and that your performance wasn’t impacted by their use. Through these statements, and his mention of the Hall of Fame, McGwire diminished his contriteness and missed a golden opportunity to get everything out in the open and truly move on from the subject.

Tim Richardson is the Executive Vice President of Maroon PR and oversees the Sports & Entertainment Division. You can contact him at tim@maroonpr.com.

How Spam Affects PR and the Future of Email

Author: Stefen Lovelace

Date: Friday, January 15, 2010

Public relations is predicated on relationships, and in most cases, PR professionals try to make contact with reporters, producers and editors on a one-on-one personal level. A pitch is much more effective when you actually try to form a relationship with a contact, and find out what types of news they’re interested in.

Occasionally though, we have to get news out to a large group of contacts. We may have news that is pertinent to an entire city, state or region, and when this is the case, it can be inefficient to reach out to each particular contact personally.

This is where the terms “mass email” and “blast email” come in. Sometimes when we have one press release or media advisory that is going out to numerous different contacts, we’ll send out one or two emails with many of the contacts addressed on the same email. This is a practice we try to do as infrequently as possible, but sometimes it’s the only necessary means of distributing news, and is done by just about every PR firm.

The obvious problem with doing this is it takes away that personal contact, which public relations professionals thrive on. But a problem that many forget is that blast emails can also have issues being delivered to their intended recipients. There’s always a possibility that these emails will get filtered to a contact’s “spam” or “quarantine” folder, with the contact never even getting a chance to read our email.

I spoke with Toby Musser, the CEO of MNS Group, about the problems that arise with emails going into spam, and the future of sending out emails in general. Below is our Q & A. MNS Group provides managed IT services to small businesses with five to 2,500 computers. Musser has been a top-level executive at the company since 1997.

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What are some of the dangers of sending out “blast emails” to contacts?

TM - Well the first thing you should understand is that two things happen when spam email comes in. Some go to a person’s spam folder, and the others the server throws away; the user never sees it. It’s just deleted.

If you had to ballpark it, how much email being sent out can be considered spam?

TM - It’s a pretty large number. 85% or more of all email sent on the internet is spam.

Occasionally in our business we have to send out blast emails. How many people do you recommend Cc’ing or Bcc’ing when we have to do this?

TM - If you want to be safe, never do more than 10 people at a time. Many companies turn up email sensitivity for more than 10 people.

How exactly does the spam process work? What makes servers put emails into spam folders in the first place?

TM - Each email inspected by your spam filter is given a score, and different aspects of the email give it more points. The lower the points count the better chance of it going to your inbox. The higher the score, the better chance it goes in spam and your server can just discard it.

Images in your email raise your point value, (for instance, your signature). Mentioning anything inappropriate in the subject line also greatly increases your score. The number of recipients that an email is sent to also increases your score. The spam engines actually read the text in your email as well. You don’t want to have things like “discount,” “special offer,” “buy now,” “limited time,” and several other thousand variations on phrases like that. Each time the server sees those, it adds point values - some have more than others. For example, the word “Viagra,” has a very high point value. As you might expect, if your server sees that the message is pretty much doomed.

Each spam vendor has different systems of assigning points but basically the system administrator or anti-spam vendor sets a threshold. For example, our point threshold is 12 points. Anything above 12 points, the email will be arbitrarily deleted and you’ll never see it. Anything between six to 12 points goes in your spam folder and you can review it. The spam folder could be called the quarantine or junk mail folder as well.

With the spam issues, and with servers having the ability to just delete e-mail without it even getting to the spam folder, do you see email as even a reliable way of reaching contacts anymore?

TM - When people ask us about email being a reliable form of communication, we tell them, not for critical business matters. A general rule of thumb is to always follow-up with a phone call, and don’t consider that your email was read unless you get a read receipt or some sort of follow-up from them. Spam folders often will catch important communication.

Where do you see the future of email going? Will it be the way it is today, five years from now? 10 years from now?

TM - Email is not going away and will be the primarily form of communication in the business world. The reliability of email between organizations will continue to fluctuate since it’s such a lucrative business for people that send spam.

If people need to send large groups of email we suggest the use of an email vendor, someone like a Constant Contact. Many of the email servers know the legitimate vendors. There’s a greater chance of email going through this way and you don’t risk inadvertently blacklisting your organization. Blacklisting means your server being blocked from sending email. If someone has a spam program and they mark your email as spam and it happens a certain amount of times, your email may get blocked and go to a blacklist. When that happens, your email will not go through and you may receive a message that it was blocked. Then your IT staff or email hosting company must contact the organization that blacklisted your server and tell them that it is in fact a legitimate server. It could take up to a week to get it off the some of the blacklists, and this can really hurt your business.

Stefen Lovelace is an Associate Account Executive. You can contact him at stefen@maroonpr.com.