Book it! Ideas for the Bookworm on your Holiday List

Gifting books

Show of virtual hands. How many of you have said at some point this year, “I’ve got to read that book by (insert author here)!” I’ll raise mine, because I’ve said this at least five or six times in 2013.

Here at PRBC, we love to read and gain a better grasp of what is going on in public relations, social media, technology, and marketing. To further our knowledge and yours, here are a few good books to get or download this holiday season. Continue reading

PRBC 2013 Gift Guide, Review and Giveaway: Findables

I’m a battery killer so it’s unlikely I’ll change from my battery case for my cell phone. But an interesting option did pop up recently and they are definitely worth a look. In fact, don’t tell my battery case but when I know I won’t need the extra juice, I swap it out for this new contender.  Continue reading

What Women Want? A Woman Knows

State of the Union: Women in PR, Part 2 (See Part 1 here)

Social is still a hot trend. Clients are demanding it, agencies are pitching it, and consumers are inundated with it. Social is a direct-to-consumer channel to reach influencers and build awareness, but there’s a real problem getting your message through the noise. The daily usage rates of social are staggering, with over 42 billion minutes spent on Facebook, 50 million tweets, and 2 million blog posts. Continue reading

State of the Union: Women in the PR, Part 1

Women in Leadership
It’s a great time to be in the PR industry – shaping public perception of key issues, political figures, and new products coming to market.  Specifically, 2013 is a great year to be a woman in PR with plenty of room to push forward with networking playing a key role in making the move.

The formidable industry outlet PRWEEK offers two strong barometers in their ranking lists of professionals.  The growth of powerful woman within their awards speaks volumes – this year almost half of PRWEEK’s 50 Power List were women and more than half of their recent 40 under 40 honorees were women. Continue reading

Poor Customer Service Can Turn into a PR Nightmare

There is an old saying that people only remember you for the bad things. The same saying relates to PR and business. Customers often only remember a company for the bad things they have done and not the good things. This is why it’s important for companies to guard their public image. Here are a few examples of companies who have hit the headlines all for the wrong reasons: Continue reading

3 Reasons Your (Future) Boss Wants Leaders

A good GPA + PR experience + networking = your dream job after graduation

If this is true for you, CONGRATULATIONS! If not, this post—and a BIG cyber hug—is for you.

I graduated from college in May. Like most seniors, I put a lot of time and energy into my resume. One of my professors always warned students that an unfortunate typo in the word “public” could prove very costly. I certainly couldn’t afford that, so I often edited my resume with my career counselor. One day she suggested I add my leadership experience.

Huh? Continue reading

15 Online Marketing Techniques: How they Relate to Your Firm’s Growth

With so many different marketing channels at your fingertips, how do you decide where to invest? Which online marketing techniques are really going generate leads for your firm?

Here at Hinge, we set out to answer these questions in a recent study of 500 CEOs and marketing executives from professional services firms across the globe. The survey was simple: rate each of 15 online marketing techniques on a scale from 0 – 10 on how effective they are in generating leads for your firm. Continue reading

Does Crowdsourcing Help Your Brand?

I am a passionate advocate of crowdsourcing, which for the uninitiated is a brand or organization taking and using content or suggestions from the crowd that constitutes its audience.

One of the originators was Maxine Clark, founder of St. Louis-based Build-A-Bear, who years ago realized she could allow her customers – little kids – to customize her products to their specifications. More commonly recognized examples are Dell’s “Idea Storm” or Starbuck’s “My Starbucks Idea,” both providing opportunities to submit product ideas or improvements and each having brought much-deserved kudos to their respective brands. Continue reading

…..a chance to start the day off right.