I was on the phone with a friend of mine the other day. She works at home and completely relies on e-mail and virtual communication. She let out this huge groan and states “I am hella annoyed right now. [She is from California, hence the usage of hella] Everyone always replies to my e-mails but NEVER actually answers any of my questions. Instead, they ask questions that I already answered in that e-mail. DOES ANYONE READ ANYMORE?” Continue reading
Catch Us Live…(again)
Yup, seems we do this quite a bit, but PRBC will be chatting live on Twitter this Thursday, October 29th at 8:30p (Eastern). This time we’re hosted by the lovely Valerie Simon from Examiner.com’s PR Examiner. Continue reading
Madison Avenue Goes Back to the Future
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on NBC’s allowing marketers to tack products on their programs promoting a cause, health or social issue, citing Campbell Soup as an upcoming sponsor for Today Show health segments in November and February.
This got me thinking – is advertising blurring the space between product placement and advertising? A throwback to days of yore? Continue reading
Is Social Media Really Helping Your Business Grow?
During another one of my random midday reads of interesting social media news and tidbits, I came across this fantastic BusinessWeek poll of CMOs. The big takeaway for me was that most CMOs think social media agencies are completely full of s***. Most agreed that those agencies have a pretty good understanding of what can be done with social media, the CMOs that were polled also noted that many of the social media agencies they have dealt with have no clue about business, the nuances of their client’s industry, who their clients’ competitors are or how social media can help a business get ahead of its competitors. Continue reading
Is Synergy Part of Your Strategy?
Marketers, branding strategists, advertising agencies and PR pros alike probably wish they didn’t see it. I speak from experience when I say it makes me twitch a little. And I know it confuses consumers more than it benefits them.
So what is this annoying little blemish that irks us all and ages us prematurely? The case of the confused brand.
Your brand has an identity (of note, the use of ‘an’ indicates singularity)
Yes, brands can represent different things to different people. Starbucks can represent convenience to some and quality to others. Different values aside, it doesn’t mean each market needs a different version of your logo. Or that your Facebook and Twitter should appear so dissimilar that the consumer questions whether or not the same brand/product is being represented.
So just where do these little differences hide? Continue reading
Christina’s Coffee Talk: With the Parents of PRBC
This week’s coffee talk was inspired by a question that I am sure most people in PR have answered: “What exactly is it that you do?” So instead of making another PR professional answer this question for the millionth time, I turned to the people who never seem to get it: my parents. But I couldn’t let them have all the fun, so I had PRBC ask at least one of their parents too. I have to admit, I thought the answers were going to be more off base, perhaps confusing PR with marketing or advertising but I was definitely wrong. Overall I think they did a pretty good job, but I’ll let you decide. Continue reading
Another Milestone
See that post down there, yeah, scroll down, that one — the one by Jess Greco announcing our new ‘Pitch Yourself’ program, that’s PRBC’s 100th post! I know, it snuck up on us too. (Anyone wishing to send gifts of spirits or other adult beverages, drop me a note — we’ve got diverse tastes, whatever it is someone will like it). In lieu of having a party for ourselves, we’re giving you, our wonderful readers, who we love to (hopefully) entertain, inform, and opine to on a weekdaily basis a gift — more of us! Continue reading
Pitch Yourself
As soon as we decided that #PRBC would be making the move from a hash-tag on Twitter to a daily blog, I knew I wanted my column to be all about starting out in the PR industry, since that’s the point where I’m at in my professional life. Through Flack In Training, I’ve tried my best to help all you amazing readers navigate your way through the job search and the beginning of your exciting careers. Now I (and all the other PRBC’ers of course) want to continue to help, only in a completely different way.
Starting today, we’re launching our brand new “Pitch Yourself” feature. If sending out dozens of resumes and networking your butt off hasn’t helped you land the PR job you’ve been looking for, then maybe your very own post on PR Breakfast Club will. But it won’t be that simple. I mean, we’re not just going to WRITE about you, that would be way too easy. Here’s how it works: Continue reading
Dear Facebook…
Dear Facebook,
Seriously, we broke up awhile ago remember? It was right after I met Twitter. Even though Twitter and I are currently having our ups and downs, it doesn’t give you the right to try and rekindle what we once had. Granted, we had a lot of good times together, especially after my AWFUL relationship with MySpace, and don’t even get me started on Friendster (man, he just tried way too hard).
So, sure we hang out at work (because we have to) and the occasional evening – it’s a strictly platonic relationship. Now just when I thought we were developing an understanding, you have gone TOO FAR this time. You know what I’m talking about – you got my parents involved. Continue reading
Bing/Twitter Search is a Giant Cluster
This is what happens when a great search engine that appears to have its head on straight (Bing) teams up with a company that has little clue about how to not implode on itself (Twitter): Bing/Twitter search (just went live in Beta):
On first glance, my initial thought was: This is awful. Seriously, just awful. Ask my #prbc friends. I wasn’t happy with the product. Basically, I thought Bing and Twitter had gotten together and created a giant cluster of links, tweets and people’s Twitter handles. Basically, there was no structure or coherent approach to how to effectively utilize and manage this new search feature. Continue reading