Welcome to Germaine Theory

 Thanks for the Memories The Leadership and Media Strategies course, from which this blog was born, is coming to an end. I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to share some of my thoughts with you and hope that you have enjoyed reading them. Blogging is something that is a bit scary at first because sometimes sharing how you feel can be unnerving. I believe all people, no matter how accustomed to it they may become, have an innate disdain for rejection. With a blog, you’re potentially inviting rejection every time that you hit the publish button. However, we bloggers, must endure. I say we because I now consider myself one of the many. I know that I have a lot of work ahead of me and I intend on learning and recreating until I find my niche. I will publish another blog, that’s for certain, I just have to decide on a topic that I am passionate about; that is currently to be determined. If you liked the blog postings and are interested in the new direction of the blog, continue t...

You Sank My Battleship How does the strategic communications professional measure the success of a campaign? One way to do that is to follow the money, right? If the campaign is a success the revenue should increase, the polls should move in your candidate’s favor, etcetera, etcetera…you should see evidence of the win. However, in some instances, before the needle is moved, there are intangible results that can be seen as progress; the click of a hyperlink embedded in a social media ad, a spike in views at a time directed by a campaign to potentially win a prize. These are examples of changed behaviors. They were not necessarily the desired end result but what they show is market engagement. Market engagement can lead to revenue. As a strategic communication professional, you can take this information and adjust your approach to maximize your reach and pinpoint your target audience. It’s like Battleship, you keep firing at different grid squares and eliminating what doesn’t work un...

The Vanessa Guillen Tragedy Fort Hood, Texas was a place that many people in the Army have heard about, largely due to the fact that it is one of the Army’s largest bases. However, outside of that, Killeen is a smallish Texas town that wouldn’t hold much interest for anyone outside of its city limits. The relatively recent news that has exposed the disturbingly unconscionable behavior (to say the least) of some of the soldiers stationed there sent shockwaves through the ranks of the entire Army. The murder of SPC Vanessa Guillen was an unimaginable incident that the Army Public Affairs Office was exceedingly unprepared for. The nature of the incident is somewhat different than some other business related public affairs crises in that it is of a criminal nature. This fact largely restricted the amount of information that was authorized for release. At the outset of the incident what was known was that a soldier was missing and that further investigation into the background of the so...