In 1897 an eight-year-old girl namedVirginiawrote to theNew York CitySun newspaper with the question, “Is there a Santa Claus?” The resulting editorial promising that such an idea of goodness and possibility did really exist became the most reprinted editorial in the history of the English language.
Flash forward over a hundred years — many small business marketers and PR Pros look at their press release distribution and wonder in Virginiaesque fashion, “Do journalists really want my press release?” The answer is happily a resounding “yes.” Continue reading →
Help a Reporter, as it says was designed to be helpful to both the PR pro and the reporter. I know that as a PR pro I have scored many cool PR opportunities for my clients by answering queries. As a contributing writer for PR Breakfast Club, I have often used this service to get quotes and answer topics for stories that I am writing.
Being the recipient of pitches has been very interesting to say the least. I have quickly learned that there is a huge difference between the helpful query response and the annoying query response. Continue reading →
Hope all is well! Just wanted to touch base with you regarding XYZ. COMPANY will be exhibiting this year AT EVENT and would love for you to stop by the booth to have a little fun, check out the new PRODUCT and discuss what’s going on in the industry. Please let me know your thoughts and if you are interested in scheduling a one-on-one booth appointment with COMPANY, as I’d be happy to help!
As a recent graduate, I know that sometimes finding a job board is as hard as finding a job. There are tons of faulty job postings and spam cycling many job boards, and it can be frustrating to know that your resume or CV isn’t being looked at by those in the industry. In such an up and down economy people are becoming restless, so it’s important now more than ever that you’re looking in the right places when trying to find a job in PR. Continue reading →
Abby Spudich, former managing editor of University of Missouri-Columbia student newspaper The Maneater, learned earlier this month that, in some instances, saying “I’m sorry” isn’t enough. And in the age of the Internet and social media, the digital trail that results from a lack of sound judgment can have far-reaching implications that, at times, can be more damaging than the mistake itself. Continue reading →
Many people have aspired to become a writer at some point or another. After all, there is something magical about creating places, stories and characters using only the power of the words. It should come as no surprise then that so many people look for jobs in the journalism domain. Even though writing facts might not be as interesting as writing fiction, it’s impossible not to get excited about having a job that requires something different from you every day. The articles you write are never the same, the subjects are always different and the fieldwork involved might be engaging. Continue reading →
All too often, we see CEOs put their foot in their mouths. Remember Netflix CEO Reed Hastings’ “apology” last year? Or how about former BP CEO Tony Hayward and his “relatively tiny” Gulf oil spill comment? These types of words cannot only stain a chief executive; it can also hurt a company. In the cases above, both Netflix and BP suffered mightily.
These types of instances are very preventable though. One of the things that are often forgotten about in our PR planning is media training. Continue reading →
Did you hear the news? Last week while President Obama was busy finalizing his plans for a trip to Columbia for a summit with Latin American leaders the Secret Service agents assigned to his security detail were busy too, scouting out the area, meeting with local security officials and hiring prostitutes to entertain them back in their hotel room.
In order to succeed in public relations, you’ll need a wide variety of skills and traits, ranging from confidence, communication and listening skills. However, if you take a sample of the best public relations professionals in the business, they all have one thing in common – emotional intelligence. The ability to perceive emotions of others and make wise judgments make the difference between a good and great professional. Continue reading →
Content creation in the form of curating content, your own and that of others, is the hot new trend in the digital world. Notable platforms have emerged which cater specifically to this form – YouTube playlists, Tumblr blogs, and, of course, Pinterest.
Tuning the content you’ve created is a bit of a different beast than doing the same thing to content you’re curating. When actually creating new content there’s a built in system to avoid creating too much irrelevant content (at least for good writers and self-editors). You’ll know if you’ve done something before, and if so from what perspective and tone. Continue reading →
Content creation in the form of curating content, your own and that of others, is the hot new trend in the digital world. Notable platforms have emerged which cater specifically to this form – YouTube playlists, Tumblr blogs, and, of course, Pinterest.