PR pros pride themselves on mastering the art of the written word, but it’s time to get into a new mindset. Pounding out prose to populate press releases, fact sheets and talking points can be all consuming, client-pleasing and often mentally rewarding (“I nailed that lead”). No matter how perfectly fashioned, words on paper sometimes fail to…
The revelation that the same background-checking firm vetted National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and Washington Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis has made me think about the importance of support and trust in a process. Trusting a team, and each individual member, to do the right thing without much supervision is something that most employees…
As a content strategist working on website projects, I’m usually working with clients trying to launch new sites or redesigns as quickly as possible. Since websites are arguably the best media for establishing brand and communicating with customers and prospects, I can understand why companies want to move their projects along so quickly. All you…
A couple of weeks ago I had a really straightforward, but smart question from someone looking to hire a PR firm. He asked, “What should I watch out for when interviewing PR firms?” I thought it was a great question to ask and I find it a little puzzling that I don’t hear it more…
It’s the dead of summer. School is out for another month, traffic is “Friday light” on a daily basis and most us feel the urge to leave the office promptly at 3:00 p.m. But for public relations professionals, the dead of summer is no excuse for lacking media results for our hungry clients. Our biggest…
This week the biggest advertising company merger in history was announced – between Omnicom and Publicis. The combined stock market value is $35 billion and there will be 130,000 employees in the newly formed entity. Those of us in the public relations industry are familiar with the two, as they are also the holding companies for a…
Last month, Dave Kerpen contributed an article to Inc. where he interviewed Jonah Berger, the leading word-of-mouth scientist, and together they created a guide on how to make a story go viral. From all my research on “how to go viral,” I would have to say this is the best recipe out there. But I…
Twitter is kind of like a psychological puzzle. The conundrum, particularly when managing Twitter for clients, is “how can I get the most retweets/mentions/favorites from my peers by using 140 characters or less? What can I broadcast online that will not only align with my personal or corporate objective, but also be useful to or…
My fiancé shared an ad with me recently that was compelling, funny, and true (which also happens to be the basic formula for capturing attention of key audiences). The ad, from the UK’s mobile carrier O2, points out a universal truth about the way we view technology on a day-to-day basis without even mentioning their…
It’s hard to imagine that the leaks of PRISM and other national security programs could have a silver lining for the Obama Administration, but there just might be one in terms of public relations. The exposure of PRISM and the Administration’s reactions to the leaks have at least taken some attention away from the IRS…