Over the past decade, I’ve been yelled at by many people, and in many capacities. As a journalist, I had CEOs, public relations consultants, and lawyers heaping verbal abuse on me every week. Every one of those incidents served to remind me that people have different ideas of what is appropriate behavior, be it in the privacy of one’s home or in the workplace. Emotions ride high when money or one’s image is on the line. Read More
Journalists love sound bites. We ask questions explicitly aimed at eliciting snappy, one-sentence comments. We’ve all seen television interviews or press briefings boiled down to a 15-second sound bite. Newspaper and magazine articles tend to have at least one definitive quote you can imagine a speechwriter whispering into a reporter’s ear. Read More
I recently received an interesting email from a PR Fuel reader that serves as an interesting public relations talking-point: “I recently emailed a press release to a newspaper writer and then followed up with a call. The writer said she doesn’t pick up email but was interested because of the telephone pitch. Read More
Recently I started getting emails from college students who had a lot of questions about the public relations industry. Specifically, they wanted to know how to get their first public relations job. During a recent interview with Bill Lessard of PR With Brains, I thought the topic of breaking into the world of public relations would make for some interesting discussion. Read More
I recently received a breathless call recently from a former colleague. My friend explained that an entry on Wikipedia concerning his company had been “vandalized” and that the company was scrambling to come up with new copy. Wikipedia is a wonderful resource, a starting point for daily research. Read More
Several years ago, I had a stunning conversation with someone who worked in the public relations industry. She was employed by a large technology company that I was covering closely as a journalist. Her company was in trouble, and all signs pointed to something deeper than a sagging global economy as the reason. Read More
My friend, whom I love dearly, believes she is the most unphotogenic person in the world. I beg to differ and when I tell her so, I offer up my own photographic evidence. It matters not; she scurries away when a camera is in sight and went so far as to vet her best friend’s wedding photos to ensure that only the best photos made it onto a photo-sharing website. Last week, my friend was very upset with me. Read More
My forte as a journalist was reporting bad news. Whistleblowers, inside sources, gossip–I loved it all. I got a tip, tracked it down, and then the newspaper splashed a big, nasty headline on my story. Sometimes, even my editors would have been surprised about how I got my scoops. Read More
A corporate motto that says — in as few words as possible — a lot about your product or service is key to strategic image management (SIM). SIM demands that you choose a motto that telegraphs your values and prompts people to respond positively to whatever you sell. (And ultimately, to buy it.) Read More
Dealing with layoffs can be a draining experience for public relations consultants. The distraction of your own job being on the line — and the internal climate change that follows such announcements — make it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand: making sure your organization’s public image remains intact. Read More