Placing a piece of industry hardware on the company mantle can be a nice PR win for a B2B company at any stage. Along with earned media visibility and recognition for thought capital, awards are an exciting way to build credibility and authority. Most importantly, awards represent a third-party endorsement. That’s valuable currency for rising…
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It’s that time of year when we chat up colleagues, family, and friends old and new at holiday gatherings. At some point, you may ask a new acquaintance what they do for a living. If the response is “I work in PR,” you might be stumped for a minute. If so, don’t feel bad. Some…
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The holidays are a wonderful time to take a moment to reflect on our blessings, as well as to spend quality time with loved ones. Sometimes we travel long distances to visit with family with whom we rarely spend time — which can make for awkward communication. Families practice their own inscrutable form of PR…
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As much as video content has grown in advertising, marketing, and PR, data shows that it continues to expand. WebpageFX predicts that by next year, 90% of online content will be video. PR practitioners have long helped clients amplify video content through social media promotion and earned media coverage, but they may be underusing video…
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In this age of short attention spans, it may seem counter-intuitive to champion long-form content for PR and marketing. But in recent years, data has shown its efficacy. Longer content like books, white papers, podcasts, eBooks, and video can take more time and effort than shorter bites, demanding greater depth and creativity, but it can…
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As we’ve pointed out, PR pros use many tech tools to do their jobs on a daily basis. Most are used for internal and external communications, and they work well. Yet an accidental keystroke or a slip of the mouse can produce mortifying results. If anything, technology tools allow mistakes to travel faster and further…
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It’s that magical and very busy time of year when PR agencies are prepping for the holiday season and are happy for a fun distraction. Halloween allows us to celebrate, or make a mockery of, our heroes in PR, journalism, and media. Here are some ideas for PR-relevant costumes for Halloween 2018. 8 Halloween costumes…
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Love them or hate them, conferences and trade shows are important venues for any business to generate public relations, marketing, and sales returns. If you’ve ever attended a major tech trade show, you know they can be a blur of handshakes, branded swag, business cards, and mediocre meals. How to make the most of a…
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Web 2.0 has made the daily nuts and bolts of public relations work unrecognizable from a decade ago. Now, every public relations team needs reliable tech tools for media monitoring, instant messaging, task management, and media-list building, just to name a few. PR people routinely use apps for document design like BeFunky, the industry standard…
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Good public relations can be an essential way for a brand to stand out from the pack, especially in the B2B/ technology sector. The tech space is a crowded category with more startups entering every day, so in order to compete, companies must differentiate their product or service. There are some PR tactics that can…
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We associate social media platforms with splashy consumer campaigns, but social is increasingly important in B2B public relations. B2B buyers are often looking for as much information as possible on vendors and products before they buy, and they rarely buy on impulse. According to an IDC study, 75% of B2B buyers and 84% of C-level/vice…
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Technology companies gearing up for a new product launches know full well they’re adding to a crowded marketplace. It can be particularly challenging for B2B startups offering SaaS or other tech services to generate visibility when the category isn’t new. But no tech company can afford to overlook the power of public relations to create…
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Earlier this week, we made the case for raising your internal PR game. Today, we’ll suggest some ways to do just that. The technological and social changes over the past few years have both made internal communications more important, and also opened up opportunities to revolutionize it. Still, companies are dragging their feet in this…
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It can be easy for a corporate PR team to neglect a critical aspect of business communications — internal PR. Sometimes the last stakeholders on the minds of senior management are those inside the organization. In certain cases, high-profile companies take it for granted that employees are corporate cheerleaders, or they may leave the responsibility…
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PR teams have been pressed into crisis duty in a series of corporate missteps that have something in common: marketing or advertising that shows “cultural appropriation” – borrowing a sensitive ethnic or cultural theme for commercial purposes. It’s easy to see why a marketing campaign would be tempted by the currency and news value of…
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If you’re in PR, chances are, you’re a writer. Now more than ever, public relations recruiters prioritize writing skills. Yes, visual content is very important in what we do, and we’ve woken up to the power of podcasts, but don’t underestimate written-word content. According to USC’s 2017 Global Communications Report, written communications is second only…
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Public relations isn’t just for publicity, awareness, and reputation management. A company’s sales and marketing teams should consider PR as a lead-generation tool that can work in tandem with business development and paid advertising. Here are some things to consider when planning your next campaign. PR as a lead generation machine Earned media boosts SEO…
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The PR plan has clear visibility objectives that call for earned media or branded coverage — and there’s news that will help tell the company’s story. But after the initial executive moves, product launch, or funding announcement, then what? How does a PR team keep the momentum going if things get quiet? 6 ways to…
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Tying media relations activities to key calendar milestones is a time-honored PR tactic, because it works. But if holiday PR opportunities are approached carelessly, they can be squandered. From Labor Day to New Year’s Eve, fall holidays probably offer the best occasions for media coverage, but the approach needs to be relevant, respectful, and creative….
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Suddenly, it’s fall! That means the fourth quarter will be here in no time. Is your PR plan ready for the stretch run to the end of 2018? The summer always goes too fast, so it pays to jump in with both feet after Labor Day. The best PR teams take advantage of the calm…
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It’s easy to relegate media list development to the remedial PR file — things that are too basic to analyze or improve. But for PR and media relations people, a good media database is critical. Even the most stellar pitch is useless if the wrong people are targeted; a carefully selected list of fewer reporters…
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If your company has hired an outside PR firm for the first time, you may have gone through an exhaustive search, conducted several meetings, and even done some negotiating before making a decision. So it’s usually a good feeling to finally sign the agency agreement. But what happens then? On-boarding, that’s what. Many PR agencies…
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If you’ve been charged with developing the PR approach and plan for your company, get ready; you’re taking the first step toward a substantive achievement. Creating a high-profile PR plan can be daunting if you haven’t done it before. But a sound, carefully conceived program is a road map to success. Here are some fundamentals…
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At times, technology PR can feel like a shape-shifting beast — large, fast-moving, and even a little intimidating. In an earlier post, we discussed what makes tech such a different animal. Now we explore some 2018 trends and issues that continue to affect the tech PR sector. Of course, by the time this is posted,…
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Aspiring PR agency professionals may be attracted by what seems like the industry’s more glamorous or high-impact moments. But if you talk to people who work in public relations, there’s plenty that makes for sleepless nights. In the agency world, there’s the daily stress of waiting for journalists to say yes, or the pressure of the…
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In the technology PR sector, it’s our dream to have a client CEO deliver the keynote speech at a major conference, or to appear on a panel with illustrious peers. Executive speaking opportunities offer great visibility, built-in media coverage, and contact with prospective customers. As a bonus, speeches from conferences can also be recycled as…
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When companies choose a PR firm, the compensation model is usually a factor. Most PR agencies bill on an hourly basis, or in monthly retainer fees. But there’s another way of billing that’s fairly controversial among agency professionals, — the pay-for-placement method. Can it work? We may be biased, because we’ve never worked on a…
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A company’s expertise on a subject can become instant PR currency when that topic is in the news. PR teams can take advantage of sudden extra relevance by immediately pitching a client as a news source to media hungry for pertinent expertise. Some call it newsjacking. But in truth nothing is being “jacked” or stolen; instead…
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The first half of 2018 has seen some remarkable corporate PR maneuvers. In many cases, well-known companies have come up with creative ways to take a stand or respond to a public challenge. Some of the moves are arguable, but all were bold, even risky. Some brands spoke out in response to crises, while others…
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The practice of public relations is seen as a creative one, but it often depends on meticulous preparation. The PR briefing book is no exception; it’s a simple tool, yet a critical asset for a brand spokesperson to prepare for media interviews. The best briefing books offer a go-to reference and “study guide” so an interviewee has…
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