All posts by Lynda Starr

Power to the People

Every agency has its own unique culture, but the general stereotype is that agency life is fast-paced and creative, and that a successful PR professional is one who can “sell” an idea. It takes a special environment to enable employees to promote their ideas both internally and to the editors and others being pitched. In my experience, the most successful agencies are those that foster a productive, creative agency environment in which individual employees feel passionate about their work, feel empowered to bring new strategies, take initiative, and share a sense of team spirit. This environment enables the fulfillment of client, agency and individual goals. The agency I am a part of, Vantage PR, is not the only agency that has developed a culture of inclusion, but it is my “home,” so I will use Vantage as an example of an agency that gives power to its people. Continue reading

How to Score Winning Briefings

The media briefing is an effective tool for educating media and analysts on a vendor’s product or service, but it can be quite painful for both the editor and the company to suffer through a horrible briefing. For example, a bad briefing could be one in which the spokesperson is not providing usable information and the editor has tuned out. Worse yet, if it’s phone briefing someone is most likely doing other work at the same time. There are strategies that can be used by vendors, journalists and industry analysts to achieve productive briefings that are win/win occurrences. Continue reading