I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to write this post, but what actually inspired it was a comment by the fantastic Jason Mollica over on the book of face. Without going into any further detail, here’s 5 comms lessons from Dave & Co. NB: These could also be general professional and life lessons:
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Well New Orleans is finally surfacing after Hurricane Isaac made an appearance in our city. As a communicator it was hard to be without power. No power may mean no AC and everything in your fridge is spoiling but to a communicator no power means no TV and no internet. I was so desperate for information and to connect with the outside world that I went as low as to “watch” the radio. Continue reading →
To practice public relations there is no board or exam. The practitioners are lumped in together- the good, the bad and the ugly. The Accreditation in Public Relations process is elective. You can choose to sit for accreditation or you cannot without any consequences. And if you pass there is no real effect on your job and you won’t get an extra zero on your next paycheck.
However, I just checked the mailbox and my official letter of passing has just arrived. There is something that feels so good about having three little letters behind my name that I can’t help but be excited.
The desire to take the APR has to come within. You have to want to go through the process to further your career and to separate yourself with the designation in the pool of resumes. Continue reading →
We have all heard of Spring cleaning and in the South, where I am from, we have freezer cleaning when it is hurricane season.(This basically means you use all of the items in the freezer so in case you lose power you don’t lose a lot of frozen items). Either way they are both dedicated times that you stop each year to focus on clearing out the clutter and reorganizing yourself.
While it is hard to stop in the PR world, summer is the perfect time to stop and clean up the shop. Add it to your Outlook calendar to save time for cleaning. Tackle those things that you wish you had time to do that would make life easier but you don’t have time to stop. Continue reading →
Being in PR means that you plan and execute events to perfection and no detail is forgotten. Each PR pro has their style for planning and how they work to get it all done. There is a recipe for event planning which includes a little creativity, a little OCD, a little leadership and a dash of caffeine. When you put it all together you get some pretty stellar events that PR pros pull of every day.
Behind the scenes of the seamless event that you have produced there is an army of details that get you through. Here are some of the secret ingredients that help PR pros pull off perfection: Continue reading →
Last night’s #pr20chat was on the subject of integrating offline marketing tactics with those being used online. More to the point, ensuring “real world” tactics are still playing a large part in the strategy for your organization or client(s).
I’ve been wanting to write about Klout for a week or so now, and why I think Klout is a good starting point for a lot of things, but in the end doesn’t mean anything. This all started for me with the infamous Wired article a few weeks ago where an executive’s job interview essentially ended after his Klout score was deemed too low. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, posts were written about how much Klout sucks and how it is making those in the PR and marketing industries lazy. Continue reading →
There are many articles out there on how PR professionals should seek, contact and engage with bloggers. We are focused on building a relationship with bloggers and converting them into brand ambassadors for our client. We hope that they will write amazing posts about our clients and it will spread through the blogger world like wildfire.
But as PR pros have we stopped to think about what the bloggers want from us?
I am a mom blogger, crawfishtales.com, and I have had the opportunity to be on both sides of the pitch. This has given me insight that I have used to mold the way that I, as a PR pro, engage bloggers. I constantly remind myself that bloggers are receiving multiple pitches just like a reporter and that I need to make my pitch stand out from the others. The best pitches are the ones that are thorough and have thought through the pitch from the bloggers prospective. Continue reading →
For the most part, I find the PR industry’s trade publications — PRWeek, PRNewser, PRNews, etc. — to be good standard-bearers for effectively covering the ins-and-outs of this diverse and growing industry. Sure, they tend to focus too much on AOR announcements — the old-time stock ticker-tape reports of PR — but they do the job.
So I try to do my best not to critique. Look, reporters and editors have a tough job at those publications. They are reporting on the very people — PR pros — who know how to promote a cause or a person better than anyone. So I imagine there is quite a lot of pushback and calls for fluffier fluff pieces than at your standard trade reporter’s job. Continue reading →
Help a Reporter, as it says was designed to be helpful to both the PR pro and the reporter. I know that as a PR pro I have scored many cool PR opportunities for my clients by answering queries. As a contributing writer for PR Breakfast Club, I have often used this service to get quotes and answer topics for stories that I am writing.
Being the recipient of pitches has been very interesting to say the least. I have quickly learned that there is a huge difference between the helpful query response and the annoying query response. Continue reading →
In the daily juggle it is sometimes hard to remember to do it all. If you didn’t know it, PR pros are human too. I know that I cross my fingers and hope that when I do forget to do something it is more minor than missing a TV appearance or forgetting to meet a client deadline.
“Organization is critical for success in public relations,” says Michael Hanson, Director of PR at The Modern Brand Company. “PR people are always on the go, juggling multiple pitches, refining infinite messages, brainstorming at all hours of the day, and so on. Sometimes the small things, do make a difference.”
PR pros are constantly focused on big things such as a big media interview, a big event or a big client prospect. Sometimes the smaller things are the tasks that are easier to forget. Continue reading →
I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to write this post, but what actually inspired it was a comment by the fantastic Jason Mollica over on the book of face. Without going into any further detail, here’s 5 comms lessons from Dave & Co. NB: These could also be general professional and life lessons:
