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May 1, 2009
How to Keep Your Public Relations Strategy “On Message”
A politician gets asked about abortion and the answer somehow comes back to education. They’re asked about tax reform and the answer relates to education. Foreign policy is inexplicably linked to, you guessed it, education. What’s going on here? The politicians are using messaging points, the essential and core elements of an argument or pitch. It’s the message that you want to get across, regardless of the subject. It’s like getting a piece of press on “your terms.” Too often, success in public relations is measured by how much publicity you get. But if the publicity isn’t “on message,” what good is it? (Read more…)
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April 29, 2009
Personal Public Relations Blunders: A Cautionary Tale
Lately, I’ve been taking time to reflect. Part of this reflection has concentrated on my career, and more often than not I’m dwelling on my failures, rather than my successes. More than a few of those failures are related to public relations, and considering they say you learn more from your mistakes than from your triumphs, a look at some of my public relations blunders should provide a little insight in what not to do in the future. (Read more…)
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April 28, 2009
The PR Fuel Mailbag: Job Hunting, Media Training, and Public Relations via Facebook
It’s time for another dip into the PR Fuel mailbag. This time around, readers have questions about job interviews with public relations firms; the pros and cons of media training courses; the potential public relations pitfalls of Facebook; and more. (Read more…)
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April 27, 2009
Decade’s Worth of PR Lessons
I recently celebrated my first decade working in the public relations industry, in one capacity or another. As I looked back on ten years in public relations, I realized I have many fond memories and plenty of regrets. I had some big successes, and some terrible failures. I got publicity in a newspaper read by more than one million people everyday, and a write-up in a high school newspaper read by a few hundred students and parents. More than anything, I realized that I’ve learned a heck of a lot about public relations in that decade. Here are just a few of the tips I’ve picked up after ten years in the belly of the beast. (Read more…)
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April 23, 2009
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 21, 2009
PR Media Coverage
It’s easy for public relations firms to overestimate the impact of media coverage. Unless you land your client on the cover of Time or the front page of the New York Times, it can be disheartening to see how little impact a single piece of media coverage brings. My own history with media coverage is an example of how difficult it is to quantify the benefits of media coverage in the public relations world. (Read more…)
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April 14, 2009
Public Relations Basics: Mastering the Television Interview Process
During my first television interview, the producer had one piece of advice for me: Don’t use profanity. During my second television interview, the producer had another piece of advice for me: Be controversial. Public relations consultants should take both of pieces of advice to heart. But there’s a lot more to an effective television interview. (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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April 1, 2009
Public Relations Tips: Protecting Your Brand and Working with Investor Relations
Part of protecting your company’s brand is ferreting out which public relations opportunities are being presented by questionable companies. Recently, I turned down the opportunity for one of our company analysts to give an interview to MN1.com, an online video company that covers the stock market. By weighing, and rejecting, this opportunity for seemingly easy publicity, I saved our company from a public relations nightmare. (Read more…)
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March 19, 2009
Does Your Public Relations Team Understand Its Value?
I take a lot of pride in the publicity that I generate on behalf of my company. And, yes, I still get giddy when we hit a public relations home run, because I know exactly how the publicity that I generate benefits my company. I know my role. But too many public relations professionals are unaware of just how they fit into their company’s business strategy. (Read more…)