PRBreakfastClub

I went to a great presentation this week by @jaykrall on Blogger Relations. He talked in depth about how PR pros can seek and engage bloggers with their brand. Great speaker if anyone is looking for one.

One thing he said is that bloggers know other bloggers. I guess I never really thought about it but of course they do. The challenge is breaking into that group. There are many similarities between bloggers and the cool group in high school. Read the rest of this entry »

Determining the next move in your career path is a tough decision especially when changing from agency to in-house communications. While yes it is all PR and based on the same principles, strategies and tactics the daily work style, skill set and environment can be drastically different.

Often times the attraction to an agency is the multiple clients, the variety of industries, the camaraderie of other communications professionals and even the swank office. Agency PR pros are talking to media daily and don’t typically have politics to deal with since they don’t directly work for the companies they represent.

If you are considering leaving time sheets in the past, for stability, security and routine make sure the switch it is a fit for you and an answer to what you are trying to leave behind. The pros of working in-house does typically include better health benefits, more opportunity for advancement and fewer barriers to implement new PR programs. Read the rest of this entry »

Public Relations practitioners are busy. We all know this and we all live this every day. With all the juggling that PR pros do it is easy for professional development to fall off of the radar. But to advance in your career you must have the personal drive to squeeze that luncheon on to the calendar, read industry blogs during breakfast and seek out the counsel of PR peers. Read the rest of this entry »

In many fields including public relations, classroom knowledge can only take you so far. Internships are an important tool for getting the feel of the daily routine of a PR pro. But, a mentor is what separates a new professional in the fold.

I have reached a fork in the road of my career which takes me away from seeing my mentor on a daily basis. With that change I have been reflecting on the wealth of invaluable knowledge that I learned from my mentor. This knowledge is not just how to craft the perfect press release or pitch a reporter but how to conduct myself as a professional and the importance of being an eternal student of the trade. Read the rest of this entry »

2012 is here! The New Year means resolutions to lose weight, eat healthier, spend more time with the family, and on and on. While you are mapping out that plan to battle the bulge also strategize resolutions for your career.

“It is important to set goals each year if you want a career and not just a job,” says Marcos Sanchez, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Egnyte. “If you want a career than it is about thinking long term about where you want to be and what job you want to have.” Read the rest of this entry »

Public relations professionals are trained to demand perfection, juggle like an octopus, run in heels, always be connected and get it all done without breaking a sweat. There are a million articles out there to help PR pros effectively manage multiple social media channels, engage with bloggers and help craft a press release headline to garner coverage. PR pros manage up to their bosses, down to their interns and across organizations to their clients and reporters.

There is one additional audience that PR pros have in common that is never really talked about and there aren’t a million articles out there to help you do it well. It is that other audience that we have in our lives…children.  Read the rest of this entry »

PR pros have accepted that Facebook and Twitter are necessities in the PR matrix of communications tools. Once you are on board with that, the next step is to understand that bloggers are also a tool that when used correctly can be a powerful vehicle for your brand and message. In the wake of disastrous blogger events such as the Marie Callender’s tasting dinner, blogger relations is important.

Bloggers need to be treated just as you would any prospective customer or reporter. Yes, there is debate and even a court ruling that bloggers are not journalists, but it is the manner you treat them that matters. Read the rest of this entry »

Many public relations professionals today do not come from the background as many entry level public relations hopefuls do today. A large number of seasoned professionals did not have a PR internship much less a PR degree.

“I started off in TV production then as the co-producer of a ‘pilot’ entitled “Entertainment Tonight”, says Terri Hartman of Harman Media Group. Finding herself in PR, Hartman added, “PR gives me the opportunity to influence people’s lives through my client’s expertise, services, and personalities.”

These professionals have manned a fax machine for hours and didn’t know what a blog was at the beginning of their career much less have a cell phone. Read the rest of this entry »

There have been an unbelievable number of articles circulating lately about the horrible relationships between PR pros and reporters. This is of course is based on the countless bad PR professionals out there who are making it hard for the rest of us and the reporter who has to deal with them.

However, when we are not hating on each other, sometimes friendships are formed. Not all reporters and PR pros are at odds, some work well together. Let’s face it, we work together daily and sometimes talk more frequently than you do with the co-worker in the next cubicle over. Forming relationships are almost inevitable if you are a quality PR pro.  Read the rest of this entry »

Outsiders believe public relations practitioners lead glamorous lives. That beautifully painted image with events and sneak peeks should be replaced by 4:00AM morning show interviews and a “to do” list that three people should be working on. A PR practitioner must constantly be “on” 24/7/365 and because of this CareerCast recently named public relations, a well-deserved, second most stressful job. That stress can lead to industry fatigue.

In order to identify the source of the fatigue, a survey of PR professionals identified being “on” is exhausting for two key reasons. Read the rest of this entry »