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…)

Antagonize the Media at Your Own Risk

Public relations can be a frustrating job, and much of that frustration comes from dealing with the media. Journalists have their own agendas and don’t always treat PR people with the respect they deserve. (Read more…)

Current PR Trends

New budgets, failing corporations, and a strained economy highlight the news in print, radio, and TV. Here’s another trend I’ve noted: business as usual. The Wall Street Journal has been covering companies big and small launching new products, hiring key staff, and just doing what they’ve always done. (Read more…)

The Demise of “Dead Tree Media” and the Future of PR

Seattle is a great city, but its days as a two-newspaper town are numbered. What happens in the Emerald City may be a harbinger of things to come for the newspaper industry, in the process signaling a change in how public relations is practiced. (Read more…)

Little White Lies Can Lead to Big Problems in Public Relations

In the world of journalism, every so often a reader will send in a tip that is worth a reporter’s time. Usually the reader has uncovered something about a company or individual that isn’t quite right. And that discovery can turn into a public relations nightmare for the company or individual in question, especially if it involves lying. Let the following story be an example an example of how a little white lie can quickly snowball into the worst kind of publicity. (Read more…)

Turning Down a Press Opportunity Isn’t PR Suicide

Many public relations professionals may find it hard to believe, but it’s okay to turn down a press opportunity. And I’m not talking about opportunities where you may get sandbagged by a reporter. I’m talking about a press opportunity that looks good, at least on the surface. (Read more…)

Tripping Around the PR World

Ominous Signs: I had not heard the term “hiring freeze” in quite a while, but two friends in the PR business told me this week that they were up for new jobs only to be told that a hiring freeze at their prospective employers had been instituted. You don’t need to work for The Federal Reserve to know that the economy is on extremely shaky ground. When times like these are upon us, I always make sure my ducks are in a row at my job and I keep my resume in order. I’m not predicting some massive wave of layoffs, but there are some ominous signs, and hatchet men often believe that PR people are expendable when it comes time to cut costs. (Read more…)

The Long, Hot Summer

The only thing hotter than the weather is the water that Mel Gibson is in.

I’ll get to Gibson shortly, but I’d first like to bask in the glow of my recent vacation, part of which was spent reading, “Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story,” a book about the implosion of Enron by New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald. (Read more…)

PR With or Without Brains?

Time is a funny thing.

Five years ago this week, I embargoed a story to The Wall Street Journal about the merger of my website, DotcomScoop.com, “a wireless news group and Web site devoted to news and gossip about Internet companies,” and NetSlaves, “a six-person shop that focuses on discussions and feature stories about the perils of employment at Web companies,” according to the article. (Read more…)

A Day Without PR People

Did you hear the news? Friday is Public Relations Appreciation Day — in Tucson, Arizona.

Mayor Bob Walkup made the declaration earlier this week to help celebrate a conference being held in The Old Pueblo by The Public Relations Society of America’s Western District. (Read more…)