ImPRessions

Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, public relations • August 12, 2014

7 Reasons Why PR Pros Should Blog (Updated)

For public relations and other agency professionals, blogging may be natural, but it isn’t always easy, particularly if you have a full-time job or are running a business. I love to write, feel reasonably confident in my blogging, and held editorial positions early in my career (where all I did was write.) But even so, […]

Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, public relations • August 6, 2014

Can PR Firms Have Principles?

One maddening trope about PR professionals is that we’re fast and loose when it comes to truth, transparency and ethics. There’s an image of a morally dubious flack who slavishly serves client goals, even when questionable. Then there’s the cliche of the ethically agnostic mega-agency that rakes in millions by catering to corporate interests that […]

blogging, Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, reputation • August 3, 2014

Seven Ways To Safeguard Brand Reputation

Most companies will never experience a PR or reputation crisis on the order of a BP or Toyota. That’s the good news. But in the digital age, the drip-drip-drip of customer complaints, employee dissatisfaction, or competitive attacks can erode a brand’s good standing over time. That where the right blend of customer care, PR and […]

Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, public relations • July 28, 2014

Six Ways PR Can Go Beyond Awareness

Jesse Singal’s “Awareness is Overrated” piece in New York magazine struck a nerve with me as a PR professional, as I’m sure it did with others. After all, “Raise awareness for XX brand” is often the first objective in a typical public relations proposal. And for a client who suffers from lack of visibility, awareness […]

blogging, communications, Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, leadership, public relations • July 19, 2014

Is There A Good Way To Break Bad News?

It can fall to PR specialists or other professional communicators to deliver information that will surely spark anger and resentment, not to mention negative media coverage and potential community impact. As an internal email explaining a planned workforce reduction by Microsoft recently showed, it’s not easy to deliver bad news. In the Microsoft case, a […]

communications, Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, public relations • July 15, 2014

The Top Ten PR Lies No Client Should Believe

MarketingLand’s 10 Lies You Should Never Believe From SEO Gurus caught my eye, possibly because in the past year I interviewed eight different SEO “experts” while looking for a partner for my PR agency. The experience was educational and impressive, though not in a good way. But the SEO post inspired yet another take on […]

Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, public relations, reputation • July 9, 2014

Best and Worst in PR Crisis Management 2014

The year is only half over, and already there have been all manner of PR “crisis” situations for professional communicators to dissect. But some recent shenanigans, and the accompanying reputational consequences, have been so varied and so fascinating that I’ve decided to bestow informal “awards” for crisis PR. Most entertaining: Hands down, the Donald Sterling […]

communications, ImPRessions, public relations • July 1, 2014

7 Ways To Use PR To Get Ahead in Business

A couple of years ago, PR Jessica Kleiman and Meryl Weinsaft Cooper wrote a book, Be Your Own Best Publicist, that is full of great ways for next-gen types to use PR techniques for self-advancement at work. It got me thinking about how classic PR tactics could be used for personal and professional branding, particularly […]

Crenshaw Communications, ImPRessions, public relations • June 22, 2014

Questions To Ask Your PR Agency

I liked Jay Baer’s thoughtful dose of tough love to the public relations community, “The 8 Wrong Questions PR Agencies Are Asking About Social Media.” In fact, I liked it so much that it inspired me to create a similar list of typical questions posed by prospective clients to the PR firms they may be […]