journalist

April 3, 2009
Can You Explain Public Relations Basics to the Public?

I had an eye-opening conversation over the weekend with a friend of mine from Germany. She was surprised to see PR Fuel on my new business cards. When I explained it to her, she came back with a rather odd response: “So, public relations is like headhunting?” After about an hour of fielding questions about public relations, I came to the startling realization that many people don’t really understand how the PR industry really works. (Read more…)
The PR Fuel Mailbag: Employee Blackmail, Public Relations Disasters, and More Fun

It’s time for another dip into the PR Fuel mailbag. This time we answer some questions from PR Fuel readers, including public relations professionals, who are dealing with some serious issues: a threatening ex-employee, a shaky merger, a recalcitrant journalist, and a strange resume request. All this, plus some public relations web sites to add to your browser’s bookmarks. (Read more…)
March 30, 2009
Public Relations Basics: How to Respond to Critics

No matter the size of your business or organization, there will always be critics. How you respond to these critics — publicly and privately — is very important. Writing a correction letter to a newspaper or magazine is often the easiest (and cheapest) public relations strategy when responding to critics. (Read more…)
March 20, 2009
Having the Right Attitude in Public Relations

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…)
March 5, 2009
Managing Public Relations Through the Strategic Press Leak

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…)
February 13, 2009
PR Pros: Don’t Become Another Media Victim

Media contacts are obviously important tools for any public relations department when it comes to promoting an event, product, or company. But any combination of inaccurate information, misleading statements, simple ignorance, or conflicting political agendas on the media’s part can also stamp out all the work that your company has put into building something special. (Read more…)
February 10, 2009
Six Months of Public Relations Lessons

Looking back on the past six months, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve learned more about public relations during the time than any other period in my professional life. Here are ten things I’ve learned about public relations in the last half of the year. (Read more…)
January 30, 2009
Good PR Sense: Keeping Calm When the Media Makes a Mistake

When I was a journalist, I once wrote a negative news story about a major company, and unfortunately there was a slight problem. I was given a quote by the company, which addressed the issue at hand in a very roundabout way. I included the quote in my story, but it was subsequently eliminated during editing. (Read more…)
January 19, 2009
Public Relations: the Next Generation?

Big public relations departments, small companies on tight budgets, and boutiques looking to keep costs down — these are just some of the places that young and inexperienced employees can thrive in the world of public relations. Keeping costs low is important; sometimes that means hiring rookies instead of veterans. But without proper training, a public relations department risks destroying important relationships and endangering opportunities for publicity. Here are some tips for budding public relations reps and the firms that employ them. (Read more…)
Protecting an Embargoed Press Release

There’s nothing better when a public relations rep sends a journalist a press release that is “under embargo.” This means the reporter can’t publish a word regarding the contents of the press release until the after a certain date and time. But in this day and age, journalists and public relations professionals alike may find that a press embargo isn’t as secure as they might think. (Read more…)