It is 3 a.m.
On a Wednesday.
And I am over 600 miles away from home.
In this business, when a client has an emergency and requires you to get to the airport and board a plane, you do it. Now here I am in a hotel room monitoring social channels and media outlets for mentions of my client while wondering when I’ll be able to get some sleep.
So you would think, to borrow a line from perhaps the most famous song from the Goo Goo Dolls (3 a.m.), that it’s 3 a.m. – I must be lonely. Well, no, I am not. I am networking.
You see, I learned from firm friend (and personal friend) Steve Beecham, a talented Atlanta-based speaker who preaches the gospel of constant networking, that you should never let an opportunity pass you by to grow your network. Even if that opportunity is in the wee hours of the morning.
Here with me are team members from Padilla CRT, an independent PR agency with six offices across the country. Padilla also happens to be partners of ours in the Worldcom Public Relations Group, and our two firms have worked together in the past on new business opportunities and now, with this incident, client work.
In between the Twitter and Facebook checks for negative comments — and the really bad reality TV shows that flood overnight television — we shared some best practices, helpful tips and a few great stories from our pasts. I even got the name/contact info for a key member of the media that I needed for another client.
I have to admit, when I got assigned the overnight shift I wasn’t excited about pulling an all-nighter. But it turned out to be a good, productive night (I even wrote a blog!). And best of all, I wasn’t lonely.
Keith Bowermaster is a senior vice president at Cookerly PR.
As a senior vice president at Cookerly, Matt helps organizations protect and advance their reputations and bottom lines through strategic communications programs. Using creativity, planning and flawless execution, he works with a team to deliver compelling public relations campaigns that produce results and support clients’ business objectives.
As senior vice president at Cookerly, Mike Rieman specializes in building and maintaining relationships with the media and has an excellent track record of landing significant placements in print and broadcast media including USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Money Magazine.
As vice president of Cookerly, Sheryl Sellaway uses her extensive corporate communications background to lead consumer PR efforts, deliver strategy for marketing programs and share expertise about community initiatives.
