From its own special language, Pittsburghese, to an exceptional pride in its sports teams and a yellow ”terrible” towel, Pittsburgh is unique. With this in mind, doing PR in Pittsburgh carries with it some very region-specific challenges and characteristics. Here are ten:
Not long ago, O’Brien Communications began to provide assistance to a nonprofit organization centered on marking a major anniversary of a historical event. To avoid creating any confusion on the PR issues at play, for now I won’t name the project or get into its specifics.
It’s more important to explore the situation and the process because the communications challenges this nonprofit faces are some of the most common challenges most organizations face.… Read the rest
You know what they say: ‘Life imitates Twitter.’ Well, actually, “they” don’t really say that. I just said it, which kind of ties to a tweet I posted last week that gained a little traction.
Every day, I tweet a PR “Tip of the Day,” and one of last week’s postings was, “’Tweets’ are hearsay, don’t comment on them unless facts are independently verified.”… Read the rest
There is not one good PR person in the business who has picked up the phone and pitched a pretty good story to a reporter or editor and hasn’t had it shot down. It happens all the time for any number of reasons.
Perhaps the story doesn’t fit the news organization’s formula or format for news.… Read the rest
On Wednesday, Volkswagen announced that its CEO Dr. Martin Winterkorn has resigned. This came days after it was revealed that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had discovered that the German automaker appears to have installed software in vehicles enabling them to fool emissions tests.
Winterkorn had admitted as much in a lengthy apology he gave earlier in the week.… Read the rest
You’ve been tasked with speaking on behalf of your organization to the public. Maybe it’s the media, or maybe you’re going to speak at a community event or town hall-style meeting.
Regardless, there are two things you know: first, that there are so many uncontrollable variables that you never really know what you may be asked; second, once it starts, there is good potential that word-of-mouth, social media and possibly professional reporters in the audience will amplify and extend the life of your words.… Read the rest
It’s been long overdue, but it’s finally here, the new web site.
From your perspective, the main thing is that now both my blog – PR, Pure & Simple – and the O’Brien Communications site are now on one platform, making it easier to access the information you may want.
From my standpoint, this means more adequately and accurately presenting O’Brien Communications’ brand and capabilities to you.… Read the rest