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…)
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May 14, 2009
Media Training Can Turn Your Clients and Employees Into PR Experts
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April 24, 2009
The PR Fuel Mailbag: Press Releases as Email Attachments, Expert Quotes. and Loudmouth CEOs
Q: I need to send out a press release that includes graphics. But many public relations pros say not to send out press releases as an attachment. What should I do? (Read more…)
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April 23, 2009
You Can Learn a Lot From a Public Relations Pro
Kelly Larabee is one of my favorite public relations contacts, someone who can help a lot of people in the PR industry simply by sharing her knowledge. I decided to just fire away at Kelly with some questions via email. As many of public relations pros know, this is the kind of interview you want — essentially one on your terms. Unlike being under the gun while on the phone, television, or radio, a written response to interview questions allows you to set an agenda and take time to polish your answers. Take a few minutes to digest her ideas because what she has to say should be very helpful to anyone in public relations. (Read more…)
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Strengthening the Relationship Between Public Relations and Business Journalism
Surfing the web this morning, I came across an interesting interview on Talking Biz News with Hope Heyman, a senior vice president at Edelman (http://weblogs.jomc.unc.edu/talkingbiznews/?p=2096). Heyman has been in the public relations business for more than 25 years and she also worked as a business journalist. The interview touches on a number of facets regarding the relationship between public relations practitioners and business journalists, and Heyman’s insights should be required reading for any PR department or newsroom. (Read more…)
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April 2, 2009
Everything Journalists Want to Know About Their Public Relations Contacts
Since entering the world of public relations, my workday has changed drastically from the time when I was a professional journalist. Becoming a public relations consultant has altered how I deal with the media and how I deal with internal public relations at my company. (Read more…)
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March 19, 2009
Off the Beaten Path: Finding Public Relations Success in Smaller Cities
Arizona is probably best known for three things: the Grand Canyon, sports, and retirement communities. Arizona doesn’t exactly top lists when it comes to notable businesses and the media moguls. Jeremy Pepper is a public relations professional who cut his teeth in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco during the dot-com boom, working for both new economy and old economy companies. (Read more…)
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March 9, 2009
A Week on the Other Side of Public Relations
The following is a look at one week in the life of an ex-journalist–i.e., me–and the public relations headaches and hurdles I had to deal with. There may be some happy stories in there as well. Think of this a little look behind the scenes for public relations professionals wondering how their work truly impacts those writers and reporters they spend their workweek wooing. (Read more…)
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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…)









