Traditions. Lawrence & Schiller is full of them, and offering top-notch internships is only one.

After a few short weeks on the job, it’s clear to me that L&S is more than an office. It’s more than a business with clients and jobs. L&S is a place where people matter.

One of the traditions at L&S is greeting people by name.

Last week, Director of Public Relations Dave Haan and I were chatting about success. We were talking about how to be successful at L&S and how to make a lasting impression. He told me that when he began at L&S, John Pohlman, executive VP, gave him a rundown on the 101 ways to find success at L&S. Apparently, the 101 ways was only a one-page list of 35 items, but nonetheless one of the tips that stuck with Dave was, “greet people by name.”

Nearly 15 years later, Dave shared with me John’s piece of advice—the advice that has since become a tradition.

Greeting people by name says so much about a workplace. It proves that people care about who you are as an individual. It shows that your presence truly matters, and that whatever your specialty or skill set others know about you. They know about you even if they work on different teams or within different disciplines.

The etymology of the word agency is, an “active, effective and powerful establishment where business is done for another.”

L&S embodies this definition. It’s an establishment where great things get done for clients, but also for other employees. Things are constantly being done for one another, and L&S wouldn’t have it any other way.

As L&S celebrates its 35th anniversary, I’m excited to be a part of an agency—this agency. I’m excited to be a part of a place that serves people in creative, strategic and fun ways, and I’m eager to learn. My experience at L&S will teach me more about what goes into marketing, advertising and public relations, but more importantly my experience will teach me about people.

The Internet and social media have fundamentally changed the pace of business, compressing time and rewarding speed. News breaks over minutes, not days. Companies can develop or refine products and services instantly based on customer feedback or events in the marketplace.

As a result, public relations has changed forever. Traditional media outlets are no longer the inpenetrable gatekeepers. Citizen journalists (whether they think of themselves that way or not) are reporting more updates from more locations than professional journalists could ever hope to cover. And businesses have an unprecented freedom to share their stories directly with key audiences – customers and potential clients.

This shifting landscape provides business with an opportunity never before seen. It’s called Real-Time PR… the mindset of finding and engaging with emerging story lines before they become old news.

Real-time PR was the topic of April’s L&S Boot Camp Webinar. Lawrence & Schiller’s Dave Haan, Director of Public Relations, and Lindsey Philips, PR Coordinator, presented the three “D”s at the foundation of real-time PR:

• Detect conversations about your brand
• Deliver the right messages to the right audiences
• Decrease your response time

The best practices for designing, developing and deploying next-generation web, mobile and enterprise solutions were on display recently at Adobe Max in Los Angeles, CA. Among those attending was Eric Cross, Senior Interactive Developer at Lawrence & Schiller.

What were the biggest surprises? The biggest takeaways? And how can a conference like Max help L&S clients? Eric shares his thoughts in this episode of The Extra Minute.

It’s always exciting to win an award, but when it comes from your peers – people with whom you compete for business -  it often means more.  Such is the case for the South Dakota Office of Tourism and its recent winning of the prestigious Mercury Award.

Micah Aberson, Director of Business Development at Lawrence & Schiller tells the story of the award winning Black Hills Digital Strategy in this edition of The Extra Minute.

Since 1999 Search Engine Strategies (SES) has been presenting one of THE best conference series on search engine marketing. Doesn’t matter if you’re a novice or an expert, interested in search engine optimization (SEO) or pay-per-click (PPC) placement, digital PR or analysis of a campaign’s ROI, SES offers a wealthy of information.

Robin Temple, Director of Digital Marketing at Lawrence & Schiller attended the most recent SES conference (San Jose). In this episode of The Extra Minute, Robin discusses what’s new in search marketing now and what we can expect in the future.

The San Jose SES Conference also provided an opportunity for Lawrence & Schiller to step up to the speaker’s podium. Billie Jo Waara, Director of Account Planning and Research, spoke on “Small Voices, Big Impact: Social Media for the Little Guy.”

Going to the hospital can be scary business if you’re a kid. Ok… let’s be honest… it can be unnerving for parents too.

Often the fear is based on the unknown. What is it like in the hospital? What will the room look like? What can I bring and what has to stay home?

Providing answers in a kid-friendly way is the goal of the Kid Zone. The Kid Zone is a colorful, animated and interactive micro-site developed by Sanford Health. It includes a guided tour of the Sanford Children’s Hospital, links to health information and now, an online coloring book.

In this episode of The Extra Minute, Natalie Eisenberg, account executive at Lawrence & Schiler, explains why the Kid Zone has been created and why Sanford believes it’s an important service to provide.

If you live in the small communities that make up Middle America, you are used to hearing about new technology… and not having it available in your area.  It’s the ultimate dangling carrot. The technology tease.

But not this time! Midcontinent Communications is bringing DOCSIS 3.0 to the heartland. In fact, West Fargo, ND is getting the high speed Internet network before Manhattan!

In this issue of The Extra Minute, hear how Midcontinent Communications is using digital public relations and social media tospread the word of this exciting technology advance.

Related Links
MidcoNews blog
Midcontinent Communications

Is advertising art? Is art ever advertising?

These questions are much more than rhetorical.  They stretch all the way from the design studio to the board room. In this episode of The Extra Minute, Dan Edmonds, Vice President of Design Services at Lawrence & Schiller, weighs in with his thoughts on the subject.

In the heat of the moment how do people really feel about your brand? What do they feel when using your products or services? What do they say to others about you?

Answering those questions is becoming easier than ever thanks to social media monitoring. But it takes time plus the right tools and techniques to discover relevant conversations and respond appropriately.

During this episode of The Extra Minute Courtney Lotzer, Account Planning & Research Specialist at Lawrence & Schiller, shares her experience with social media monitoring and offers some advice.  If you’d like to take a deeper dive into this topic, check out session 3 of the L&S webinar series – Simple Steps to Measure Your Digital Dialogue.

For all the talk about Twitter and Facebook you’d think everyone is America is tweeting and updating their status. But the reality is nearly two thirds of American adults have never created an online profile and joined a social network.

If you’re part of this silent majority, it’s time to start managing your online identity. Here are three simple steps you should take to claim your virtual territory and protect your personal brand.

1. Investigate

• Go to Google and search your name. Can you find yourself? Who’s listed before you? What line of work are they in? If someone is searching for you, who might they mistakenly find?
• Go to Facebook and search for your name. How many matches are there? Do the same on  Twitter .

Now that you have an idea of how competitive the online space is for your name you’re ready for the next step.

2. Build

Stake a claim to your online territory by setting up accounts in the top digital properties.

• Whenever possible use the same profile name. I typically use “DaveHaan1″ (e.g. www.Twitter.com/DaveHaan1) because someone beat me to the punch and starting using “DaveHaan” before me. Admittedly this variation isn’t as good as my regular name but it’s close and consistently used.
• Enter enough information into your profile so people can find you. Uploading a picture of yourself and sharing your city, where you work and the name of your alma mater is a good place to start.
• Set up a profile in each of the top social categories. The names will change as new players enter the game but today the top sites are:
  • Networking with friends = Facebook
  • Microblogging = Twitter
  • Professionals = LinkedIn
  • Video = Youtube
  • Photos = Flickr
  • Social bookmarking = Delicious
  • News = Digg
  • Blog = WordPress or Blogger (setup takes less than five minutes)
  • Email = Gmail and Yahoo
  • Domain name = Go Daddy (register your name for $10 or less)

After setting up your accounts, use them! Find people with similar interests. Listen to their conversations and join the discussion.

3. Monitor

 Just because you’ve established your online identity doesn’t mean the job is done! Now is the time to start listening for comments, feedback, anything that mentions your name.

• Set a Google Alert for your name and profile name. An email will be sent each time your name shows up in a blog post, news story, web page, etc.
• Social Mention is another free service that will listen for your name. It will even say if the mentions are positive, negative or neutral.
• Tip: learn more about social media monitoring from Week 3 of the Lawrence & Schiller Social Media Boot Camp webinar series.

According to Pew Internet research, nearly half of us have searched online for information about ourselves. Unfortunately only 3% do it on a regular basis! Once you’ve established your online identity you won’t be able to manage it unless you monitor on a regular basis.

See More Of The Story
Click on the play button below to watch “Claiming Your Virtual Territory“ from KELOLAND-TV.

Webinars are easy to come by. If you’ve shared your email address with any kind of marketing or advertising website you probably have an invitation to one sitting in your inbox right now.

Presenting a webinar on the other hand… that’s a different story.  Preparing, practice and producing a 60 minute “show” can be hard. But in the words of Coach Jimmy Dugan from A League of Their Own,  “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.”

Take a listen as The Extra Minute sits down with John Pohlman, VP of Creative Services at Lawrence & Schiller, to discuss the challenges and rewards of hosting a webinar.

Which browsers are your website visitors using? Are they upgrading as new versions are released? And why should you care?

If you are responsible for your company’s website you should be able to quickly answer all three of these questions. The answers  tell you how visitors see your site and literally view your brand.

This edition of The Extra Minute discusses the marketing value of staying on top of the latest web browsers.

As the number of cell phones capable of surfing the Internet grows, so does the need to deliver content that is optimized for mobile devices.

What does it take to develop a site that plays nice with mobile web? What should it include and what are some of the obstacles you make encounter along the way?

The Extra Minute has the story of Sanford Health and its move into mobile web.

There’s nothing funny about drunk driving. But who says campaigns to curb the dangerous behavior have to play it straight?

Lawrence & Schiller recently launched the Act Civilized campaign for the South Dakota Department of Public Safety. Writer Kristy Andersen joins The Extra Minute to discuss the story behind the campaign.