Marijane Funess June 8, 2017 | 05:57:16
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A Summer PR Playlist

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 have tapped the Crenshaw crew to come up with some perfect tunes to power your team through tough times and celebrate PR wins.

Pick The Right Music for the Right PR Situation

The CEO has moved up the announcement of your latest funding round and it’s happening now! Zedd ft. Alessia Cara’s “Stay” offers some inspiration to PR strategists under intense pressure due to an unexpected deadline. “All you have to do is stay a minute. Just take your time. The clock is ticking, so stay.”  That may be all you need to re-group, hustle and put together a perfect plan to announce your company news as if you’d been working on it for months.

That PR budget that was threatened? It was just increased 25%! Clearly, you and your team have been doing something right. Now, you can implement all your well-thought out plans and brainstorm for even bigger and better. Just be sure to confirm it all in writing before you dream too big. This joyous situation calls for Bruno Mars – 24K Magic where he sings of “24 karat magic in the air.” Please crank and enjoy.

Ala some other famous leaders, your CEO has just tweeted something utterly inappropriate. Is there any better choice than Justin Bieber’s “Sorry?”  It should be mandatory for every social media mess-maker to begin the road back to respectability with this song – and, of course, a meaningful mea culpa.

The journalist who promised to include your client in a crucial round-up story has left you on the cutting room floor with no explanation. Rihanna “Where Have You Been?” with its plaintive plea “Where have you been? ‘Cause I never see you out, Are you hiding from me, yeah?” fits a lot of PR situations — the potential client who vanishes without a trace, the prospective employee who accepts a position, never to be heard from again, or one of the worst, the vendor who promises to make a crucial deadline and FAILS miserably.

The PR campaign designed to increase visits to your costly new website is paying off, big-time. Great research, strategic thinking and execution combine to demonstrate your value to the team. A perfect choice for exulting in the moment? Try Post Malone ft. Quavo – Congratulations featuring an appropriate mix of celebrating, back-patting and a bit of a diss to those who don’t have what it takes.  “Now they always say congratulations. Worked so hard, forgot how to vacation. They ain’t never had the dedication”.

The good news? Your byline was published in a key vertical. The bad news? The editor took liberties and the piece is not what it was. The title says it all: “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,”  and as The Stones will tell you over and over again, “You just might get what you need.” So, ask yourself, how important is it to be published in the vertical? Does this story mark the beginning of a great new relationship? Is the story potent enough to make for good sharing? You might not have gotten all of what you wanted, but maybe enough of what you needed.

You’ve diligently pitched a top journalist for months and she just agreed to do a story on your company. Feeling buoyant? You should! The rule of thumb in our office is to pitch at least a handful of contacts weekly and stay in touch in a relevant way. The result? Something like the above, which happens to our teams with great regularity. Keep the feeling going by blasting some more Bruno Mars – this time try That’s What I Like to help you remember, “you deserve it all.”

The panel discussion topic you’ve carefully crafted and sold into the C-suite has just been announced by a rival. Allow yourself to take in this disheartening news by indulging in Maroon 5 ft. Future with “Cold” which offers up lines like “Cold enough to chill my bones.” Then gather the troops to create a solid Plan B. Can you tweak your topic enough to make a significant difference to potential attendees and press? Can you move the timing to create enough distance to help? If not, once again, go back to the beginning and brainstorm some fresh approaches.

Everyone loves the new social media direction that your team developed and implemented.  Soak up the praise, but be sure to share it with your team and give everyone some well-deserved words. A little peer or supervisor recognition goes a long way, particularly with those just starting a career in PR. Revel in the feeling of a job well done and do it with MIKA ft. Ariana Grande’s Popular Song with its positive messages of believing in yourself. “Popular, I know about popular. And all that you have to do, is be true to you.That’s all you ever need to know.

The strategy session between the agency and client hit some snags and everyone was forced back to square one. Being told to start fresh may seem like a step back, we prefer to look at it as a new opportunity or second chance to make your plan stronger. Or to take a quick break and begin anew the way the Chainsmokers do in Paris where they sing of making things better as a team. Which is what you and your colleagues will do. “If we go down then we go down together. Let’s show them we are better.”
Summer is also a great time to get together with colleagues, journalists and other associates you’ve been meaning to reach out to. Or tackle a task that’s been on your to-do list forever like updating important lists or case studies. Some of those things you’ve meant to do but haven’t made the time. And there are quite a few songs to help you use that time wisely.

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