2009 May

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May 19, 2009
Advice from Public Relations Pros: How to Deal with Difficult Clients

Recently I’ve received a number of emails from PR Fuel readers offering up insight, advice, and some rather hilarious stories about how tprotecting one’s personal and professional integrity when dealing with frustrating clients. In the public relations industry, advice from peers can often be more useful than advice from an “expert.” So thanks to our PR peers for lending their voices to the mix. Their identities have been kept anonymous, but they’ve nonetheless provided good tips and a healthy dose of reality. (Read more…)
PR Lessons From Baseball

Baseball may seem to have little to do with public relations; baseball haters may question whether they can learn anything from a game. But examining the various public relations disasters the sport has weathered over the years can teach us a number of things: how loose confederations of companies and organizations fail at the most basic level; how the consumer can be turned off by abhorrent behavior; and how the failure to capitalize on public relations opportunities — or contain public relations disasters — can lead to catastrophe. It’s been said that baseball is a microcosm of life. Baseball has also served as a microcosm of the world of public relations. (Read more…)
May 18, 2009
Developing a Comprehensive Public Relations Strategy

Public relations is not just blindly writing press releases or pitching journalists, but a comprehensive strategy designed to promote your business. The following steps should help you determine whether or not your company has developed a comprehensive public relations strategy. (Read more…)
Media Tips from a Public Relations Veteran

I wasn’t surprised to lear Jeff Battcher was once an athlete. As the Director of Media Relations for BellSouth, Battcher often had to display the grace and skill that we’ve come to expect from athletes. Whether it’s taking a handoff and plowing through the pile to score a touchdown with a journalist or coming out of the bullpen and putting out a fire, Battcher’s job required he patience of a veteran athlete, if nothing else. (Read more…)
May 15, 2009
Perception Versus Reality in Public Relations

When many people think of Cleveland, the term “vacation destination” does not immediately come to mind. Cleveland is where I spent my recent vacation, however, and it’s where I thought a lot about public relations. It had been almost ten years since I’d been to Cleveland; all I remembered was a rundown city filled with half-empty factories and decaying housing. But what I saw on my trip was a city moving forward–and dealing with the very real public relations problem of perception versus reality. (Read more…)
The Dangers of “Third-Party” Public Relations

Whether you’re a pundit, an expert, an analyst, or a third party, it’s important to remember that you rarely know all the facts. The media does not care about this; they just want a quote and a public relations contact to attribute it to. The juicier the sound bites you offer, the better for journalists, but not necessarily for you. (Read more…)
May 14, 2009
Media Training Can Turn Your Clients and Employees Into PR Experts

Not every client or employee is equipped to deal with the media on an intimate level. When I was a journalist, public relations contacts would sometimes sit in on interviews I conducted with company executives. In most cases, the public relations department was there to lend support — as either a confidant, or a source of additional information. In other cases, however, it was clear that the executive needed his hand held because he could not handle on-the-fly questioning alone. But media training can help clients and company employees prepare for encounters from journalists and interviewers. (Read more…)
How to Get the Most Out of a Public Relations Job Change

Four of my best friends in the public relations business have recently started new jobs. Change can be exciting and challenging. No two public relations departments operate in the same manner, even if they have the same corporate parent. People and processes are different, and so are expectations. What flies in one office may not be acceptable in another. Regardless of the corporate culture, you can take some simple steps to help make the transition from one public relations job to another easier. Follow these steps, and you’ll better understand your job, the real expectations of your co-workers, and how you can improve your company’s public relations. (Read more…)
May 13, 2009
Public Relations and Journalism: More Similar Than You Might Think

There’s an old joke among journalists: “It’s okay. If I lose my job, I’ll just become a public relations flak.” Believe me, every journalist has thought about it more than once, especially when freelance writing wasn’t paying the bills. After all, what company or public relations firm wouldn’t want a former journalist on the payroll communicating to the media? This point was driven home when I recently attempted to email a journalist friend. To my surprise, I couldn’t track him down. And guess where he turned up. (Read more…)
Public Relations Perils: Be Careful Before You Hit Send on that Email

Every so often, I undertake what I call my “Email Dump.” This is where I go through the approximately 12,000 emails that have piled up in my inbox and decide what I can finally delete for all eternity. Unsurprisingly, there a lot of press releases and public relations communications among the emails now languishing in my “trash” folder. (Read more…)

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