Hey NYC-area folks — we’re doing it again! Come celebrate with us and the rest of your media / communications brethren on surviving another year on the front lines. This time we’re getting together at Jack Dempsey’s in midtown on December 29th after work. Please RSVP at the Socializr.com page for yourself and any others in your party if you’ll be attending so we can warn inform the venue of how many we should expect. Any questions – drop me a note. Continue reading
Tag Archives: public relations
Have a Little Patience, My Friends
I had a great discussion the other day with my friend, Arik Hanson, whom many of you that frequently read this blog may know. Arik recently started his own PR/social media consultancy, and from seemingly every indication, his business is thriving.
I pointed this out to Arik, noting how in control he seems to be of everything. Arik then made a comment back that I frankly wasn’t expecting, but it completely makes sense, and shows that he is absolutely on the right track toward a very long and successful business; Arik told me: “Things are going well now, but I never want to get ahead of myself. I’m trying to keep everything under control.” Continue reading
Mine, Mine, Mine
Over the weekend, I helped a fellow PR professional, Mary*, put together her portfolio. We selected the best writing samples, placements to use, and possible interview questions that she may be asked. For most of her campaigns, she worked in teams. In addition to heading certain components of the campaign, Mary wrote all press materials. Yes, the team collaborated to create the key message points, but press kits, pitches, press releases, fact sheets, suggested questions and media letters were all created and fine-tuned by Mary. Continue reading
Why PR Should Run Your Company’s Social Media Efforts
A short while back, Keith Trivitt wrote a thought-provoking post entitled Are Your Clients Ready for PR 2.0? We had an interesting conversation that started in the comments and worked its way offline to an agreement that whether a company liked it or not, they needed social media. I would love to be able to say that I am omniscient, but who am I kidding? So instead, I’ll simply speak from experience.
Now that that’s out of the way, we’ll start with how social media fell into my lap and turned me into an evangelist for keeping it clean and in the hands of the company’s communications team (PR, MarComm, agencies, etc.). About two years ago, our team was pulled into a meeting and told that the search team was going to use and manage Facebook and LinkedIn, and that it fell under Web 2.0 (remember that term), so we were to leave those sites alone. Continue reading
Social Media:Adverting v. PR — Round 1
This is my first, and long overdue, post for PRBC. Though I’m technically not in public relations anymore, the time I spent in the field has irrevocably molded my view of social media and helped me develop the skill set with which I operate today. But I’ve since moved to advertising and I find it amazing how publicists and ad execs hold such varied perspectives of how to operate within the social space on behalf of brands. I used to advocate that PR was the industry to spearhead social media initiatives. But I was admittedly biased. In fact, I think the key to effectively establishing a brand as a powerful social entity is to take what each industry offers to the space and somehow unify the various approaches. Continue reading
Know Thy Audience
Stop me if you have heard this one before from a PR/communications colleague: “Our CEO/Board of Directors (BOD) really wants this hit/newsletter/sandwich/microsite/etc.”
Yeah, we’ve all heard this phrase from some of our PR and marketing peeps, and while that approach to external communications may have worked just splendidly in 1995, heading into 2010, this notion of “we must appease our CEO/BODs first!” is a recipe for a PR/marketing plan disaster, if you ask me. This thought’s been rocking through my mind for a few days now, so I’m just going to come out and say it: Continue reading
“It’s like Vidal Sassoon said: if you don’t look good, I don’t look good.”
A ways back when I was a wee little PR minion at my first agency I scored a TIME Magazine exclusive for a client early on in my tenure. My boss was pleased, the client was ecstatic and I thought I might just have the knack to make public relations a career.
One afternoon the CEO of the agency was making his way through the halls and stopped outside my boss’s office, which was a mere 30 feet from mine, and congratulated her on the great media success for our client recently featured in TIME. Naturally, my ears perked up, and I expected to hear my boss take the compliment and move on with the day. Instead my boss, the great Anne (whom I’m coming to reference far too often on this blog!) told the CEO – “hey the person you should congratulate is Kristen, she has gotten some big hits for them lately.” Up until this point I was sure the CEO did not know I existed. He turned around, told me keep up the good work and moved along. Continue reading
Are Clients Ready for PR 2.0?
I first wrote this post in August, just before we started PRBC, thinking it would be a nice way to give others a glimpse into my thoughts, particularly since I consider myself a pragmatic practitioner and evangelist for the benefits of social media PR. Enjoy!
A while back, my good friend Lauren Fernandez wrote a great post where she asked the proverbial question: “What does PR mean to you?” Lauren and BethHarte began discussing the true role of PR as we enter the second decade of the 21st Century, and where we all actually stand with clients, or if you’re on the corporate side, with your organization. But it was this question from Lauren that really grabbed my attention: “Do you think clients are ready for PR 2.0?” Continue reading
How lists may have saved us
It seems everyone hates Twitter lists. Among the top complaints are that they’re just another way to make cliques and make some feel less deserving than others. This is certainly a valid point, but there’s a gold mine of a benefit it seems no one has considered (or shouted loudly enough about) — one of the major upsides may have in fact have helped save Twitter (at least in how it applies to PR/Marketing). There are, of course, some downsides besides the clique factor… Continue reading
In PR, Silence Isn’t Golden; Respect Your Audiences
They say silence is golden. True, if you’re looking out over the Grand Canyon during a beautiful sunrise. But in the world of high-stakes media, silence is often a man’s worst friend. Yet, coming from a sports PR background, I’ve seen countless athletes, coaches and owners/administrators try to stymie the inevitable with pure silence. And in almost every case, it comes back to haunt them . . . big time. Continue reading