DTC luggage company Away replaced cofounder Steph Korey as CEO just days after a Verge article caused a PR trainwreck by exposing a punitive work culture there. Korey will be kicked upstairs to take an Executive Chairman post and former Lululemon executive Stuart Haselden will step into her old position. To be clear, Haselden’s hire…
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Posts By: Dorothy Crenshaw
Can Big Business Save America?
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, leadership, public relationsWe seem to be in a crisis of confidence. Public faith in many institutions – organized religion, Congress, and the news media — has eroded over four decades. According to Gallup, only the U.S. military has enjoyed a fairly consistent upswing in public confidence since the 1970s. The change seems particularly acute lately in our…
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A PR Guide To Surviving Thanksgiving
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, imPRessions, public relationsThe Thanksgiving holiday always requires advance preparation, but this year, we’re adding expert PR and media training advice to the list. With wall-to-wall press coverage of impeachment hearings and the runup to the 2020 election, it’s a tricky time for families who disagree about political issues and candidates. Here are some follow-ups to last year’s…
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FedEx Response To Tax Story Is A PR Fail
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsFedEx CEO Fred Smith’s overheated response to a New York Times story about its tax bill – or lack of it – offers a PR master class in how not to react to an investigative piece. The NYT story packs a punch. By taking advantage of the 2017 tax legislation that cuts corporate rates from…
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PR Tips On Being A Quotable Media Resource
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, media relations, public relationsTo promote professional expertise and build visibility, it helps to be a media resource – that’s what keeps PR agencies in business. It’s also why it hurts when, after investing in researching and shaping a potential story, an interview doesn’t make its way past the initial phone call. How can subject-matter experts maximize their chances…
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7 Common PR Mistakes Startups Make
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsIn general, startups make great PR clients — especially those with a story to tell. A high-growth tech company with financing behind it is in a perfect position to make the most of a public relations agency partnership. For the PR team, it’s rewarding because PR is typically a top priority, and the work is…
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How PR Helps Turn Prospects Into Customers
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, marketing, public relationsA great PR campaign will obviously build brand visibility. But can it help where it really counts — customer acquisition? Can you draw a line from a PR program to a specific number of prospects generated? What about conversions from website visits, or deals influenced by credible articles or analyst reports? Does good PR create…
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Five Myths About PR And Customer Acquisition
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsThe lifeblood of any startup is new customers. Whether it’s a B2C company that needs a high volume of sales or a B2B with a slower selling cycle, every high-growth business invests heavily in customer acquisition. Many businesses use a mix of email marketing, paid search, SEO, content marketing, and social media marketing to create…
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How To Beat Five Storytelling Roadblocks
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsMost PR pros know that throwing facts and figures at a business audience won’t necessarily win them over. A great story, on the other hand, is more persuasive and more memorable. At a time when we have more data than we can possibly use and people connect on social platforms, storytelling is an ideal tool…
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Can PR Take Ownership Of Reputation?
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relations, reputationIn business as in life, reputation is everything. Few corporate CEOs will deny that a company’s reputation colors every aspect of business, including marketing, talent recruitment, employee relations, shareholder relations, and even customer experience. In fact, the 2017 U.S. Reputation Dividend Report calls reputation a “cornerstone of corporate value” and quantifies the dividend that corporations…
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Can A PR Plan Succeed Too Well?
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relations, technologyIt’s fascinating when a company’s public relations gets ahead of its reality. Any strategic PR or marketing plan should emphasize an organization’s strengths and rebut weaknesses and threats, but there’s such a thing as too much hype. This is particularly true in the tech sector. Case in point: WeWork. The Gizmodo headline, “WeWork To Delay…
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Why Most Boycotts Fail But Others Win
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relations, reputationWhen is a boycott more than just PR? What makes it work? Recent reports of a slowdown in SoulCycle’s business made me wonder about the staying power of customer boycotts. Why do most fade while others gain traction and even force change? If you missed it, famous SoulCycle fans were outraged when billionaire Stephen Ross,…
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Don’t Fear The Robot: Why AI Is Good For PR And Marketing
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: creativity, Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsWe’re hearing a lot about how automation and machine learning can make our lives easier, as well as how they may threaten our livelihoods in the future. Even in PR, an occupation that’s known as hard to scale and relatively labor-intensive, there are new opportunities to automate large parts of what we do. Entrepreneur and…
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“Stakeholder Value” Is Good PR — And Good Business
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relations, reputationThe recent move by the Business Roundtable to redefine corporate priorities by emphasizing value beyond shareholder profits is the latest indicator that corporate reputation’s importance is on the rise. The statement supporting “stakeholder value” is also a good sign for public relations professionals who preach corporate responsibility or even strategic activism in U.S. corporate boardrooms….
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Edelman Falls Short As PR Industry Leader
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: crisis management, imPRessions, public relationsIt’s always instructive when PR teams entrusted with managing the reputations of major corporations run into reputation problems of their own. But it’s downright disturbing when it happens to one that presumes to lead our industry. Mega-agency Edelman recently made waves by resigning a lucrative engagement working with for-profit corrections company The GEO Group, a…
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Why Earned Media Is Still Relevant In PR
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsAs the influence of digital and social media has soared, PR agencies who focus primarily on earned media (once known as publicity) are often warned that they’re falling behind. There are regular calls for PR services to include paid media and other offerings. Many firms like to brag about how little they depend on earned…
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Why Good PR Matters More Than Ever
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsThe past five years or so have seen drastic changes in the media and cultural landscape that impact PR and marketing. Challenges for PR practitioners include a faster-than-ever news cycle and what seems like constant political and cultural controversy. Combine that with an erosion of faith in government and private institutions, and it can make…
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A Salute To Independent PR Firms
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsAs the national holiday approaches, it’s a fitting time to consider the importance of independence in the world of PR agencies. For years, advertising and PR firms have touted their “independent” status. But what does that really mean? One thing might be faster growth. In our industry independent agencies have grown at a brisk clip…
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When The CEO Should Be The PR Spokesperson
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, leadership, public relationsPublic relations teams and their agencies routinely urge leaders to build a public profile through social media and high-level content. But when should the CEO of a major company serve as its public spokesperson? How should a public role align with an organization’s business goals? Research by Chief Executive magazine and the USC Annenberg Center…
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What The Best PR Strategies Have In Common
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relations“Strategy” is an overused word, but in public relations or marketing, it’s a key to success. Without the right PR strategy, a program can fall short or even fail spectacularly. Casual observers of the many ways PR generates earned media, like jumping on a breaking story, might conclude that planning isn’t a priority. Some PR…
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Why Your Technology Company Needs PR
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsA high-impact PR program can be a technology company’s greatest asset – provided it’s well conceived and skillfully executed. In today’s frothy tech market, where the venture dollars are flowing and 32 new unicorns were created last year, PR can be a strategic weapon. Good will and strong community relations are also in demand as…
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How Brands Create Fans
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsIn today’s fragmented media environment, the scarcest commodity for any marketing or PR pro is customer attention. That’s why engaging users and relationship marketing is so fascinating – and so elusive. Too many brands have outsourced their customer relationships to influencers like celebrities for hire. Influencers are effective, but how much more powerful are real,…
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What’s Better, PR Agency Or Client Side Work?
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsIn public relations, there are many career path possibilities, but most fall into either the agency side or the client side. This is the time of year when I get questions from new graduates about which path makes the most sense for an aspiring PR professional. But the question isn’t just for PR beginners. Many…
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Why Boeing’s Reputation Radar Failed
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, imPRessions, public relations, reputationBoeing’s PR crisis deepened this week as a fuller picture emerged of its handling of serious problems surrounding the 737 Max. With the release of audio from a tense November 2018 meeting between the American Airlines pilots’ union and Boeing executives – after the Lion Air crash but before the Ethiopian Airlines accident – the…
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Smart Speakers Offer A Clear Opportunity For PR
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsAlexa, will technology change the public relations industry? It already has, of course. We use data analytics to inform our campaigns and to measure campaign outcomes like message delivery or perception change. Social listening and media monitoring is key for many programs, and PR pros have used email marketing for years, even for targeted media…
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8 Common PR Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsThere are all types of PR problems, but one of the most troubling is the public relations program that just isn’t generating traction, or one where outcomes fall short of expectations by the client or PR agency. What happened, and what are the best mid-course corrections? Here are some of the most likely mistakes. Fuzzy…
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7 Ways To Get The Most From Your PR Budget
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsIn the ideal world a PR program has room for everything — a robust media relations component, branded content, strategic events, influencer outreach, and possibly borrowed-interest tactics that ramp up news during slow periods. But in the real world, budgets can be lean, or maybe they’re subject to change. Here are ways to squeeze the…
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How To Restore A Public Reputation
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, crisis management, imPRessions, public relations, reputationWhen the college admissions cheating and bribery scandal broke nearly a month ago, two names led the headlines. More than 50 people were implicated, but actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were featured in every article. Both actors’ spouses were mentioned, and as a social influencer, Loughlin’s daughter Olivia Jade was also drawn into the…
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Has Apple Lost Its Magic?
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsIn its business and its PR, Apple has had a golden touch. For a decade sales have climbed along with profits, and its reputation for innovation has flourished. Until recently, that is. iPhone sales started slowing several years ago, but no one seemed to mind or even notice much because prices kept going up. The…
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What Business People Should Know About PR
by: Dorothy Crenshaw in: Crenshaw Communications, imPRessions, public relationsPublic relations is hot. Businesses from tech startups to nonprofits have come to recognize the value of a strategic PR campaign executed by a talented team. But PR’s popularity has given rise to some misconceptions. Here’s what every business person, from marketers to CEOs, should know about public relations. It can’t replace marketing Occasionally a…
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