I’ve been getting out more lately. Out meeting clients and prospects at User Conferences and Trade Shows. Out making new contacts, engaging people in conversations and learning more about what makes customers and prospects tick within the vertical markets that we serve. I’ve been out “pressing the flesh.”
A few years back I was the PR Manager for the State of Maryland’s two 529 college savings plans. If you are unfamiliar with a 529 college savings plan, basically it’s a financial savings investment vehicle with special tax considerations and incentives, designed to encourage saving for children’s future college expenses. My job as the PR Manager for Maryland’s plans was to make sure that:
#1: the value of saving for future college expenses was top of mind for parents (and grandparents)
#2: Everyone understood exactly how Maryland’s two 529 college savings plans worked,
Social media’s integration with public relations and marketing is still “new.” There are some that are slow to truly understand how we, as PR and marketing pros, can make all these puzzle pieces fit. When is Twitter relevant for my business. Why do I need a Facebook page? What will a blog really do for me?
If you’ve been asked those questions (and I have), you’ll find great support in reading David Meerman Scott’s, “The New Rules of Marketing and PR.” Now in its third edition, it is essential for any up-and-coming pro. Heck, you should read it as a experienced one, too. Continue reading →
There is a school of thought that striking a balance between professional life and extracurricular activities allows you to work towards a healthy body to facilitate a healthy mind. Not an easy task as demands increase in our profession and we increasingly discover that in the fast paced world of PR, dedication, effort and real time expectations require us to seemingly be on the job 24/7. Continue reading →
In the coming and recently passed days we’ve seen a lot of different PR firms sending out stories and reports about remembering 9/11. While this type of report is fortunately a rarity, there will always be those few days where everyone stops to think about a devastation that happened to our nation. Along with 9/11 we remember Hurricane Katrina, Columbine, and the shootings at Virginia Tech among others. It is the job of the press to be sure that not only are these historic days not forgotten, but that they are remembered with the right amount of respect and nationalism. With that said, this is virtually the only thing the press needs to be doing during these tough times.
Although it may seem obvious, PR agencies still continue to make rookie mistakes when it comes to expressing their sorrow for the lives lost because of these tragedies. Whether you need a refresher on the basics or you are, in fact, a PR rookie, consider some of these necessities. Continue reading →
The other day I stepped on to the elevator with several other people at the office building where I work. We stood there for about 5 seconds waiting for the doors to close and when they didn’t, a man reached over and hit the “close door” button. The doors remained open. As everyone else waited patiently, this guy hit the button again and again and again for what seemed like 10 seconds until finally the doors closed. As I watched him initially frustrated by beating the button repeatedly to no avail, I began to think, “This has applications to PR via social media.”
Public relations, like many things in life, is 90 percent perspiration and 10 percent inspiration. Many people have a misconception of what we do (even our family). Writing is something that is a part of a PR pro’s daily hourly duty. PR isn’t about rubbing elbows with celebrities and throwing extravagant parties for clients. But, I’m speaking to the choir on this.
Any PR pro knows the importance of honing their writing skills. It’s a must. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be anywhere in the PR world. Not only do we have to craft the perfect pitch for media, we have to write compelling press releases and blog posts people find interesting.Continue reading →
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. Continue reading →
Keep that quote in the back of your mind as you readskim pick apart the main points of this post. I’ll tell you who uttered this seemingly innocuous statement in a minute, but first, some background information:
It seems that the California Milk Processor Board — you probably know it as the folks who brought us the ubiquitous “Got Milk?” campaign and its many impostors — has gotten itself into some social media hot water over its most recent campaign.
What could be so unseemly about a milk ad, you ask? Well, when you try to use something that is wholly unfunny (like milk) as a way to poke fun of something that is also not humorous (e.g., women struggling with PMS) into an ad to sell more of your product, people tend to take offense at that. Or just get really annoyed. Continue reading →
Another day, and another article bashing the growing ranks of PR flacks. The Economist, a British publication, recently ran an article saying the media business was in danger of being overrun by PR professionals. Republican, a publicly-financed American news outlet, also wrote a similar article recently.
As someone who has worked on both sides of the media business, I am concerned about this phenomenon, but I think these articles overlook a more important point. Media critics should also be writing about the dearth of media outlets. The reason why PR pros numbers are growing is because the number of journalists is decreasing. Continue reading →
Sometimes, probably on our worst days, being a publicist can feel like being a glorified telemarketer. And, on those days, it seems that journalists feel the same way about us. In fact, many of them have posted diatribes on their personal sites about us and how to properly pitch them. In fact, I have seen whole sites devoted to just that topic.
However, there are many of us publicists out there that do the job right. (Hopefully more of us than the bad ones, but I guess I’ll never know.) The good ones make sure to create targeted lists of journalists and outlets that will care about our story, read/view/listen to journalists’ work before pitching and create short, well-written pitches to hit the mark. We are actually an asset to journalists, if only they would see beyond the words “public relations.” To get the most of out of us, journalists could actually use a few tips of their own for dealing with PR people. Continue reading →