At some point in a public relations career, you will have to be the bearer of unpleasant news, or the person who helps craft its communication. But there are strategies for delivering such news properly, tempering the blow and assuring that no one shoots the messenger. First, you have to take a good look at where…
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Those of us in public relations spend a lot of time helping clients speak effectively in front of strangers, but what about our own speaking skills? Last week some of us addressed a client conference on best practices in PR and social media, which was an opportunity to put those skills to use. The crowd was engaged,…
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Surprises? Great for parties and gifts, but not so great for public relations. Like many client service businesses, ours works best when it’s predictable and reliable. This means attention to staffing, budgets, deadlines and prep work to ensure successful outcomes. Our informal poll elicited some interesting – yet undesirable – surprises we all strive to…
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Summer in public relations includes outdoor meetings, shorts and flip-flops (if your office works that way), Summer Fridays, and an all-around happier work environment. But it doesn’t mean we strive any less to keep clients happy and implement great new campaigns. If you find yourself needing any more motivation, music is always key and we…
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In public relations, it’s always gratifying to be recognized by one’s peers. Typically, that recognition comes in the form of industry awards. Right now we’re finalists in a couple of awards competitions, and we’ve won our fair share as well. So, we thought it might be a good time to review what helps make a…
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The past couple of weeks have seen quite a few public relations faux pas committed by folks who should know better. But it seems a combination of hubris, ignorance and impatience may have gotten the better of them! Some have handled the situations well, and others, not so well. Let’s review. PR: The good, the…
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When choosing top summer books with public relations interest, our first “KPI” (key performance indicator) is anything that is well-written. Writing is the backbone of all good PR, and the best way to become a better writer is to read great stuff. After that, the criteria looks like this: books that touch on PR and marketing;…
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Congratulations, you’ve retained a new public relations firm, and you’re getting ready to kick off a successful partnership. Like any new relationship, this one is in the honeymoon phase as everyone gets to know each other. But things are about to get real, so all parties need to be on their toes to ensure success…
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Public relations experts know that the majority of traffic coming to a blog post comes in the first hours and days of publication. This makes the timely promotion of your blog content critical to its success. And, according to TrackMaven, you might want to publish your post at 3 p.m. EST for the highest number of…
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Recently a journalist posted some basic advice for public relations people to improve media relationships. He said to “read stuff, then take it to reporters who like that stuff.” That’s a little like Elmore Leonard advising writers to “try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.” Simple, yet true, and harder than…
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Millions of college students graduate this year, and if my inbox is any indication, many would like to work in public relations. Of course, anyone entering the field is likely to look at the different paths to a career, which typically means exploring large agencies, in-house opportunities, and smaller firms. We’d like to make the…
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Nearly every public relations campaign can benefit from smart use of hashtags, those words that start with the symbol # and make social content more searchable by topic. Marketers know that hashtags help spark brand conversations, expand content reach, engage a target audience and improve search and SEO. Building Better Hashtags Hashtags work best when…
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When it comes to good public relations, a company can have great potential that for one reason or another is never realized in the form of media coverage. There can be a number of reasons, including bad timing, a poor approach, or competition in the space. But it’s often simply because the company is unprepared for…
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Timely, authoritative and well-written bylined articles – contributed pieces for business and trade publications – can elevate a B2B public relations effort exponentially, if executed correctly. How hard is it to write some short articles on a subject you know well? Harder than you think, if you want editors to consider your content for publication….
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The Tony nominees were announced this week, and it’s award season for public relations as well. We are pleased to be contenders in a couple of categories. Nothing beats acknowledgment by industry peers for a job well done. The timing also provides a good opportunity to review the kinds of traits that create award-winning PR teams….
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Throughout the past decade, public relations pundits have trumpeted the rise of the personal brand in the digital era. By now we expect that many have mastered the basics of personal branding, but it’s not as easy as setting up a social media presence and hoping an audience finds you. There are concrete steps to…
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Later this year, The Museum of Failure will open in Sweden. Those in public relations will notice the product flops it reportedly features, like Colgate beef lasagna, Harley Davidson perfume, and, of course, new Coke. But we like the museum for the lesson behind it, which is that even the biggest brands and most successful companies…
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In public relations, sometimes the stars align and a story just writes itself. When looking for winners and losers in the realm of public opinion, this past quarter offered a wealth of excellent examples. The criteria for this quarter’s selections are simple enough: the coverage had to be plentiful and broad and the story had to pass…
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Want your public relations to rule? Then be prepared to break some rules. Face it, the typical client-agency relationship can sink into a routine that, over time, becomes a little too comfortable. Companies partner with PR agencies to add value to their business, and that means offering new ideas and innovative ways of looking at the…
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Are there any tips that public relations can take away from high-level governmental negotiations? We think so. This week’s international machinations between the US and China and the US and Russia included the term “deconfliction.” This is the process of avoiding mutual interference, or outright hazards, among systems under the control of one’s own…
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It goes against all the instincts of a public relations specialist to turn down a media opportunity. Yet despite the adage that all PR is good PR, there are situations where the disadvantages of speaking to a reporter far outweigh the gains. We don’t recommend an adversarial or “no comment” response, which usually provokes unwanted…
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As public relations campaigns become more sophisticated, they need to adapt to ever-changing digital habits and platforms. Though millions may have tuned into HBO for the finale of “Big Little Lies” this past weekend, millions more were watching it in some other form or on another device. A current forecast says that 74% of all Internet traffic…
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Recently, Jennifer Lopez found herself in some public relations hot water when she reportedly neglected social media duties on behalf of a hoverboard company. With brands inking five and six-figure deals with mega-celebrities for a single tweet or post that may fall short of its goals, it’s no wonder the PR industry is looking for different influencer strategies to…
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People often ask how agencies come up with great ideas for public relations campaigns. Agency teams will answer this question differently owing to their unique sector experience and orientation, but there are commonalities. We have culled a top ten list of do’s and don’ts to help foster successful idea generation from some of the best brains in the…
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Technology is making the measurement of public relations outcomes easier, less time-consuming and more meaningful. Whether it’s the tailored digital dashboard offered by companies like Trendkite or sophisticated social listening reports like those created by Mention, sophisticated analytics help prove PR’s value beyond the old metric of “inches and airtime.” This enables teams to better identify what works and…
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Compared to consumer PR, B2B public relations is more highly targeted, and usually more limited when it comes to the range of tactics that are truly effective. One nearly surefire tactic for building thought leadership, creating quality content, and earning trade media coverage is a small group discussion event we call the business thought leadership panel. Once…
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Uber may top the current list of major companies with public relations worries. Its controversial CEO just keeps stepping in it, and even when he doesn’t, the bad headlines keep on coming. The most recent news heralds the departure of company president Jeff Jones after a mere six months on the job. But while competitors…
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Public relations is a $13 billion industry employing 100,000 people in the US. And, the need for qualified PR people has never been greater. The country has seen record growth in entrepreneurism according to a study by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, with 27 million businesspeople vying for a presence. And that’s only counting start-ups – established businesses,…
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In our own informal polling on how to improve the client-agency experience, a better public relations agency search process was near the top of the list. Central to that PR search process is the RFP or Request For Proposal. What’s the problem with RFPs? Typically agencies feel potential clients create unwieldy RFP documents that don’t…
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For those in the public relations industry, success starts with visibility. This is true for the earned media we generate, the thought leadership content we produce for clients and for our own blog content. Any company blogging today must have a strategy for boosting the visibility of their content and ensuring it is shareable and…
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