Tag Archives: flack

Agenda-free networking

Crowd raising arms at party in night clubPublic Relations and communications is largely about shaping perception. But how do we control our own? How do we make sure that we are being viewed as a valuable member of our community and not as the annoying flak?

Now, this isn’t a post about personal branding, which despite my dislike for the phrase, is a real aspect of our lives that we need to be aware of as we actively broadcast nearly every aspect of our lives online. How we carry ourselves and how we interact with a wide range of people affects how we are perceived as communications professionals. Continue reading

Flack Gift Guide

Close-up of giftsAs you may have noticed, I’ve recently been in holiday mode. I’ve given thanks to PRBC, detailed the do’s & don’ts of holiday parties, and now I am here to solve your gift giving dilemmas. See as a young PR professional, I’ve become pretty crafty when giving gifts to my friends and family. I consider it an art. Every year they’re amazed at how creative I get, when actually I’m just looking for something that won’t break my piggy bank. Why not share the “wealth” of creativity with the PRBC community? Here are my picks of the seasons must-have gifts for PR professionals: Continue reading

Your Copy Sucks: your words will go down in history

Here’s a bold statement that I’m sure I’ll be forced to prove somewhere around the end of this post: the things we write when we flack, market, and rep products can change the course of history.

I’ll let that stew in your brain-soup for just a moment while I take what must seem like a sharp right turn in this argument.

I want you to think about makeup, and what makeup is all about. I’m not anti-makeup. I wear it just like any other businesswoman does. Without foundation, powder, eyeliner, eye shadow, lip liner, lipstick, mascara, and eyebrow pencils, our faces do not look very pretty. We have blemishes and freckles and age spots and wrinkles. We have sallow eyes and pale lips and bushy eyebrows and ingrown hairs.

Without makeup, we are ugly. Makeup makes up for these deficiencies.

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“Yeah…no, I don’t do that.”

Spin.

Pelikan Fountain Pen
(CC) photo credit: mobilestreetlife // flickr

Flack.

Bribe.

Pester.

Hover.

All words people seem to tack on to this career choice we have made called Public Relations. And I’m sick of it!

I had the recent pleasure of meeting one of Connecticut’s finest journalists. I’ll leave her name out here because it serves no purpose. But trust me she is a legend in this State.

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“Yeah…I do that”

[Editor’s Note: My colleague, Kate Ottavio, apparently doesn’t do these things. . . I do. You can find her post on the topic here.]I Had This Top!

Spin — Heck yes, but spin it as ‘framing.’

Flack — It’s why I’m here. The conjugation of the verb form is easy – I flack, you flack, he flacks…the noun form — I am a flack.

Bribe — Well, not really — I have been known to offer things for free (food, samples, “review” copies . . .).

Pester — Seriously? It’s half my job.

Hover — Like I’ve got a jet-pack.

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