At least once a day my brain goes for the e-brake to prevent me from putting my foot in my mouth on Twitter. Honestly, who cares about the guy snoring/drooling on me during my commute? I also make a mental note to check Facebook on Sunday nights to see what pictures need untagging from the weekend. Trust me, they aren’t reminiscent of Girls Gone Wild but the pictures from the latest PRBreakfastClub karaoke night aren’t very flattering either. For the people who think I sound ridiculous I suggest you read Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuck. In it he explains that our resume is much more than a piece of paper. Continue reading
Category Archives: Christina Khoury
Are you done talking yet?
We all have that friend or colleague that will come in Monday morning, uber excited to tell you all about their weekend and you’re already cringing at the thought of it. It’s not that the story won’t be interesting. Perhaps they won a million dollars or got engaged. It doesn’t matter. Your friend can’t tell a story to save her life. In fact after she finishes the story, you’ll have aged about 20 or so years and forgotten what she was talking about in the first place. What does story telling have to do with PR? Well, everything. Telling a story, in my opinion, is very similar to pitching a story to media professionals. Continue reading
Twitter you made a fool of me!
Wait, maybe I made a fool of myself.
January 13, 2010, Twitter users alerted their communities about an explosion at Grand Central Terminal. Grand Central Terminal was allegedly evacuated and shut down by SWAT teams. Subway lines, specifically, the 4,5, and 6 were completely bypassing those specific stops or shut down as well. I work in Manhattan and in relatively close proximity to the station. I have co-workers commuting daily through that station, and many others that use the 4,5,6 line to go home. This is what happened after digesting the “warning”: Continue reading
Christina’s Coffee Talk: Jay Keith (Part 2)
When I conducted my Coffee Talk with Jay Keith, there was one question/answer that I believed deserved it’s own post. Everyday we read articles and blog posts about personal branding. Jay and I have discussed this on numerous occasions. He comes from a journalist background which I believe brings a whole new perspective to the subject. So I asked him, “Are people too serious about personal branding within the SM world? Is it overrated/overused? What would you consider your personal brand?” And here is what Jay had to say: Continue reading
Christina’s Coffee Talk with Jay Keith
Coffee Talk is back and I couldn’t be more excited to kick off the year with my guest, Jay Keith, senior public relations manager of Vistaprint. A prominent member of the #prbc community, Jay is always sharing his knowledge and making us laugh daily. Jay is a jack of all trades, smart, and funny to boot. Who knew that a former donut maker for Dunkin’ Donuts would become a successful PR professional? Like the rest of PRBC Jay’s an avid coffee drinker, loyal to his Dunkin Donuts brand but says it’s nothing compared to the coffee in France. He’s an amateur golfer, sports nut, die-hard Boston fan and a passionate Candlepin bowler. Continue reading
Learning The Ropes
For those who know me, many would say I trust too easily, and I’d agree. It has its benefits and faults but at the end of the day I trust until proven otherwise. However after being in the “working” world for a couple of years it’s come to my attention that PR developed a well deserved reputation for being a “dog-eat-dog” world . Inspired by Kristen’s post about departing and starting anew, I remembered what it was like to start my 2nd job and learn the ropes of a new corporate culture. Here are a few things I believe helped me: Continue reading
Can Crisco Go Virgin?
In recent months I’ve become very interested in all things branding. It takes blood, sweat, and tears to build a brand’s reputation and even more to maintain it. I’ve recently noticed the amount of people who choose to use popular brand names synonymously with the common nouns or verbs. For example Kleenex: tissue. Google: look up. Levi’s: blue jeans. Dockers: khaki’s. Now, I’m saving the legality and pros and cons on this for a later post, but what I want to know is what happens when a brand’s name is used negatively, like Crisco. Continue reading
SMS Marketing: Trend or Trouble
Did you know that in the U.S. we send over 3.5 billion texts a day? I didn’t until a few months ago when I read, “Text-Message Marketing”. The article explains the rules on how to get started with SMS marketing. When I started the article I was completely against the whole idea. A few years ago I participated in a text message contest for “One Tree Hill.” We were allowed to pick which guy one of the characters could end up with. Who wouldn’t participate?! Continue reading
Beggars Can’t Be Choosers
Before I start this post, you should know more about my PR experience. While I was in college I interned in both fashion and book publicity. I was an active member of PRSSA, attended regional and national conferences, and held executive board positions. I did anything I could do to learn more about PR, from attending school workshops to conducting informational interviews with different companies. I was, and still am, a sponge when it came to PR. Looking back on it now, these experiences taught me what sectors of PR I thought I wanted to work in. After all that’s what college is for right? 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