“How do we get in ENR (Engineering News Record)?” This is a question that I believe many marketers have heard from their principals. In the minds of many principals it is the holy grail of publicity. What A/E/C firm wouldn't want to be published in ENR?

A page in ENR is worth a good deal of money. A full-page ad will run you around $16,000. For many of us, that's a good chunk of budget. Wouldn't it be great if someone just outlined how to get in ENR for free? Well, today you are in luck. I'm going to explain exactly how to do it.

A Viewpoint from my firm was published in ENR last week. In addition, I've had pretty detailed conversations on this topic with people at ENR, including the Editor-in-Chief. I've also discussed this topic with seasoned public relations professionals in our industry. In addition, I have observations of my own to share. So, here you go.

The first thing you have to realize is ENR is in the news business, not the engineering business. The product they sell is news. People at ENR are paid to sniff out what is industry news and what isn't. It's their job to know what readers are interested in. Part of that comes from experience as a journalist. Part of that comes from real data collected from their website.

Let me give you an example, When the BP oil spill happened, ENR had to determine whether this event was industry news or general news more suited for NBC and CBS. What they found out after posting an article on ENR.com, was that the readership gravitated towards the story about BP. As industry news, the BP story sold. So they continued to cover it. The point is that they know what their readers want to read. You won’t be able to pull one over on them.

It's important to understand what sells (i.e. what causes someone to pick up and read a copy of ENR). Building the tallest building in Toledo may be news to the Toledo Business Journal. But that story doesn't sell to the ENR readership. You won't be successful pitching that story to ENR. The tallest building in the world, now that sells.

They are looking for biggest, most expensive, or first (i.e. something unique). First, in many cases will be your best in. What about your project is significant but has never been done before? Has your project team come up with a new innovative and legitimate solution to a major construction challenge? Did you apply an innovative and new contracting method to your project? Is the type of building the absolute first of its kind?

If your “first” ties in with a hot industry topic, well known structure, or big event (think Olympics), then your chances are exponentially better. Take, for instance, this sentence taken right out of ENR.

Archer Western, along with design support from URS Corp., San Francisco, expects to achieve the fastest consolidation of an earthen levee on a seven-mile reach now under construction in New Orleans.

It’s the fastest consolidation of an earthen levee and its being done in New Orleans where the levees could not hold hurricane Katrina at bay. That’s exactly the type of news I believe they are looking for.

In part two of this series, I’ll explain why you shouldn’t start writing your press release just yet.

Have experience with ENR? Submit your comments and join the conversation.

Much of what we write in proposals is not thoroughly read by our prospective clients. Does that mean we can lessen the effort we put in?  Absolutely not. Most selection committees are comprised of different types of individuals, with variety of experience, interests, and concerns. And typically they each think that certain areas are more crucial: for some (yes, many) it is the fee; others the proposed project manager; others the history of relevant projects; and for others it is the project approach.  They, naturally, focus on the sections of the proposal that relate to their concerns, often skimming others.

A proper proposal is written to respond to these different constituents and satisfy each of their interests, giving them the confidence that the proposer is a firm then can rely on. But what if the good work that goes into creating a great proposal never sees the light of day, because the cover letter wasn’t approached with the same care and attention?  

The cover letter's responsibility is to position your proposal apart from the competition and to get the client excited about reading on.

I’d suggest:

• keep it to one page
• write about the client and the project, not just your firm.
• demonstrate your understanding of the client’s goals and the uniqueness of the project
• be concise and clear with your language
• get them excited about reading the rest of your proposal 

Of course, if the RFP requires specific information included in the cover letter, it is important to follow those directions.

Good luck!  

Kirsten Sibilia, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, is Chief Marketing Officer at Dattner Architects, a NYC-based firm committed to designing inspiring and sustainable additions to the public realm.

You can reach her at ksibilia@dattner.com and learn more about her on LinkedIn.

I love to see competitors' proposals. Proposals are competitions, make no mistake about it. Professional sports teams scout their competition to see what plays and tactics they use. So it makes sense for AEC firms to do the same. If you can look at your competitors' proposals, do so...with one caveat. Make sure it's legal.

Don't take any of this as legal advice, just common sense suggestions.

I had in front of me an opportunity to get my hands on proposals for all the firms I consider our primary competition. It would be a complete apples to apples comparison. I was salivating. All I had to do was order them under a state's sunshine law. I was ready to strike and it was going to be early Christmas.

But as I was about to order them, I came across a clause in the state's law. Essentially, it said that you could not use any information obtained from the state for commercial advantage. And to do so would be a $250 fine or a year in prison.

Now what are the chances that. 1.) a cash strapped state government would have the resources to go after me for this and 2.) that they could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that I used the information to commercial advantage? Very unlikely in my mind.

Then I considered this: how likely would it be for me to be passed around from violent offender to violent offender for a measly pack of cigarettes while serving my one year sentence in the state prison? And how likely would it be that I would be forced to wear a prison-made shade of lipstick that wouldn't look good with my eyes? By my calculations, very likely.

Therefore, I made the executive decision to not order these proposals. Is it worth $250 to see your competitors proposals? You bet! Is it worth breaking the law? Not in my mind.

It's amazing what a little name recognition will do. Take the actor Christopher Charles Mintz-Plasse who played McLovin, the nerdy kid in the movie Superbad. He was a pretty unpopular teenager but, as he has stated in interviews, as soon as that movie came out, random girls would simply walk up and freely offer themselves to him. That's a pretty drastic transition due to maybe 30 minutes of screen time. And he was able to step back and see how insane that was. People all the sudden treat you different once you are a known entity.

A few years ago I was Matt Handal. Today, I am Matt Handal, Internet Jerk. And it's funny. As Matt Handal, I couldn't get a return email, let alone a meeting with some people...even after meeting face to face. As Matt Handal, Internet Jerk, those same people will invite me to their office to meet their senior staff.

It's a flaw in our human nature. We treat known entities better. But that unknown entity, he or she could present a tremendous opportunity for you and your firm.

Why not treat everybody like they are a celebrity?

Us marketing folks hate dealing with numbers. I calculate numbers more than I would like. And like many marketers, I get nervous about making a mistake. One slight mistake in the numbers can cause a huge headache, and we all make mistakes.

This week one of our marketers took a stab at calculating numbers for a proposal. She asked me to double check her numbers, so I took out my calculator and started tapping. The numbers were spot on, or were they?

The next morning she talked to one of our technical guys and ran a "what if" scenario on the numbers. After doing that, she had a gut feeling that the original numbers were wrong. So going with her gut, she triple checked the numbers. They were about $10k off.The moral of the story is that even when someone double checks your work, that doesn't mean they won't make the same mistake. It's rare, but it happens. And when it happens, the results could be bad.

Might be a good idea to triple check the numbers.

I got a lot of value out of Build Business, but not necessarily from the sessions. Let me explain.

A couple weeks before the conference, I got this idea. I would be meeting a number of people I had only corresponded with through email. What would that initial face to face conversation be like? What would we talk about? I decided to make it a point to record these conversations. So I contacted these people and arranged for us to record our conversations at Build Business. My thinking was that any conversation with me is going to be at the very least entertaining. Initially, my "subjects" thought this was crazy. But as we got into the interviews, I noticed I found what these people had to say very engaging. I wasn't talking nearly as much as I expected. I was interested. And from my interest, my subjects realized how others would be interested in hearing these conversations as well.

I walked away from each meeting feeling that I had made a connection with the person, even though I had barely said anything. I had proved the old saying right, "it's easier to be interested than interesting." I'm now on a train traveling to DC to make a presentation to the American Institute of Architects and something that Geoff Webb, of Graceworks said to me during our recorded conversation is going back and forth in my head.

Geoff said that when we are preparing for a presentation, we prepare for a large chunk of time to present to the audience followed by a short period of conversation. We have to throw that thinking out, because when you present in front of people, your objective is to make a connection with them. The whole presentation is a conversation. Whether or not you stumbled on your words is irrelevant. The objective is that connection.

The first of my Build Business interviews will be published in the October issue of SMPS Marketer.

The Build Business interviews will probably stand as one of my proudest achievements. When you hear them, I think you'll understand why.

Newspaper editors and advertisers have known this for years. That's why they often keep a list of headline formulas that they know will attract readers. In the business, this list is called a "swipe file." A swipe file is a marketing tool that I find quite valuable and you will too.

These time-tested formulas have worked for decades and can be tailored to your specific business or message. Once you get familiar with these headline formulas, you'll start to notice they are used incessantly on sites like Digg.com where users rely heavily on headlines to attract visitors. You will also find them in just about every magazine you read.

Let's look at one headline formula, from Copy Blogger and apply it to our industry.

Now You Can Have [something desirable] [great circumstance]

The is the classic “have your cake and eat it too” headline — and who doesn’t like that?

Now how would an architect use this?

Now You Can Have LEED Certification and Reduce Your Construction Budget

How about a construction attorney (I know some of them read this site)?

Now You Can Have an Air Tight Construction Contract and Avoid Disputes

How about a specialty designer?

Now You Can Have A Cost Conscious Lab Design and Attract the Best Researchers

How about a marketing consultant?

Now You Can Have Winning Proposals and Reduce Your Marketing Budget

Do I need to go on?

Now You Can Put Your Newborn to Bed and Get a Full Nights Sleep.

Copy Blogger has a whole series of pieces on writing headlines that will attract readers. I suggest you check it out.

What do you think of swipe files? Leave a comment and let us know

I have to say I agree with his take. Let's look at some of Mel's observations.

I suggest that social media is much like trade shows a decade or two ago. We set up our exhibit booth and waited expectantly as hundreds strolled past. Several, in fact, stopped to talk with us. We left enthused because we had engaged in more conservations with potential clients in two days than two months of sales calls could have produced.

But the shortcomings with trade shows were much the same as they are with social media. You see, most firms failed to do the hard work to turn those conversations into sales. And most firms will fail to do the hard work to make social media actually generate new business. But enthusiasm will run high, at least for a while, because of all the connections (the modern substitute for conversations) being made.

Mel also talks about the lack of engagement in systems like LinkedIn.

I would expect members of the Society for Marketing Professional Services group, in particular, to be talking to each other. But there are only 17 discussions currently listed, some posted months ago, and a relatively small number of people who have provided most of the posts and comments. This is a group with 1,893 members.

And he addresses the lack of engagement experienced by those A/E firms who decided it was a good idea to set up a Facebook page.

I checked several A/E firm Facebook pages and found a similar trend. While some have attracted an admirable number of "fans," the back-and-back forth postings generally don't come close to that seen on the average personal profile.

In all, the article is worth a read and serious consideration.

Actually, I think Mel is a little too soft on social media. From my standpoint, It's foolish to believe that anyone on Linkedin, Facebook, or Twitter cares to see what amounts to very lame and very short press releases about your firm.

I'm going to the SMPS national conference this week and my initial observation is way too much emphasis has been put on social media. There are at least seven sessions on this topic. And they will be heavily attended. But my gut tells me that will be a big waste of time for many marketers attending those sessions.

Mel also says alludes to the idea that "doing social media right" means a big commitment of time and resources. I don't believe that to be true. I'm writing this post while sitting on my 22-minute train ride home. While I might not be doing social media "right," I think I'm doing it "righter" than most people/firms in our industry. And I have to tell you; I spend a very small percentage of my time on social media. And the costs…much lower than every other marketing endeavor employed by my firm or me.

Gotta go, here's my stop!

Problem: too many email accounts and too many email devices

Solution:IMAP email

Yes, the solution to too many email accounts is, ironically, setting up another email account.

Typically, email accounts are POP accounts, which essentially means that email goes to a server and then you connect to it with your device and suck down the emails. The emails move from the server to your device.

IMAP accounts work differently. Emails get sent to a server. When you connect your device, the IMAP account syncs your device with the server account. The emails stay on the server. So, when you delete an email on your phone it disappears from your desktop. Now every device shows the same emails.

Popular imap accounts include MobileMe and Gmail.

I forward all my emails to my MobileMe account and connect that account to my phone, desktops, and laptop.

When I compose an email, I decide which account to send it from (home or work). This requires adding that account's SMTP settings to your email clients (Outlook, Mail.app, Thunderbird, etc.). Don't worry, it's not hard.

Now you have all your email coming and going from one bucket. Thank you IMAP email.

I have a love/hate relationship with Microsoft Outlook. But I have been able to augment it enough with "add-ons" that I can make it useable.

One key Outlook add-on I installed is SendLater. SendLater does a few key things, and does them well.

First, it gives me the ability to send an email at a scheduled time and make it reoccurring. So when we have a meeting scheduled for every other Wednesday, I can make sure an email is sent out the Monday before the meeting.

Another thing it can do is watch a file and send it out as an attachment to a prewritten email if and when someone changes it. For example, we have a list of confidential projects. When someone adds a project to that list, it gets sent out to everybody.

But the most common use I have for it is sending out blast emails. Sendlater will send each person a separate email. This drastically improves the effectiveness of blast emails. In addition, it keeps you off email blacklists.

If you use Outlook, check out SendLater.