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
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Flacky Don’t Like That
Some call it semantics. Others, being particular. You might call it wordsmithing. I consider it one of the few (errrm. . .many) ‘little’ things that grate on my nerves. So what is this insipid little nudge? I’ll call them this PR pros favorite ‘four letter’ words.
They dominate press releases. Taint headlines. Muddy pitch waters. And, I would find it unimaginable, that they don’t leave reporters wondering what clown slapped these terms together on a piece of paper and dumped them into their Inboxes.
Allow me to break them down for you: Continue reading
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
Your Copy Sucks: Who vs. Whom
Are you sick of sounding silly when trying to use “whom” correctly? Of course you are. Here is how you figure out when to use “who” or “whom.”
Whom replaces a subject where the answer to the question could be either “him” or “her” or “them.” I remember it like this: whom ends in an M, just like him. 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
Irony At Its Finest
When a client hires a PR pro they are relying on a number of different traits that that person (or firm) projects during the RFP or pitching process. These will vary from sector to sector but certainly include strategic thinking, writing skills, relationships with press (or influencers), etc. Perhaps chief among these are the person’s trustworthiness. The client wants to know they can inform the PR pro of upcoming notable company events or newsworthy announcements – everything from news of employee cuts to earnings reports – and be secure in the knowledge the pro will keep this information close to their chest. 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
What Do Changes In PR Mean For The Rest Of Us?
Curiosity finally got the best of me and I decided to ask @PRCog about the PRBC hashtag that kept popping up in my Twitter stream. He quickly got me up to date, and must have put a little something extra in his coffee as he suggested that I offer up a guest post.
There are a two things that make his offer unusual and somewhat extraordinary. The first is that I don’t know Cog all that well. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve Tweeted a few times and I even caught him with his mask off for a brief moment at #masquertweet a while back. The second (and far more relevant) reason for my confusion is that I do not currently nor have I ever worked in PR. But I am not a complete mismatch. Continue reading