Public Relations and the Power of the Unexpected

pleasant surprise and PR

One of the hallmarks of good communications, good branding, good marketing, good crisis management and effective public relations is consistency. When people know what to expect from you – hopefully good things – your brand, your reputation and your effectiveness is enhanced.

When your stakeholders have the time to anticipate something good, and then you meet their expectations, the entire process works to deepen the impact of whatever you do.… Read the rest

Issues Management: Choose Your Words Carefully

Words have power

When you are faced with the need to manage an issue on behalf of your organization, choose your words carefully. This may sound like I’m telling you to be careful not to use certain words that may offend, which is partially true, but if this is all you take away, you’re setting yourself up for defeat.… Read the rest

Why TV News Doesn’t Cover Local Business Stories

TV news

The landscape for pitching local news stories has shrunk dramatically in recent years. Not only have newspapers transitioned to mostly online platforms, drastically cutting newsroom staffs, but the platforms and newscasts have changed as well.

There simply isn’t the space, the airtime or the available newsroom staff to cover all of the news they may have covered as recently as three-to-five years ago.… Read the rest

Media Relations: Getting Started

starting gate

One of the more common questions new clients have when it comes to media relations is, “How do we get started?”

Here’s a quick summary.

Information-gathering/Discovery – Anyone who’s a fan of legal or crime dramas is familiar with the term “discovery.” This is the phase of the legal case where the attorneys work to ‘discover’ as much information about the case as possible.… Read the rest

Public Relations: How Much Will It Cost?

PR budget

For as long as I’ve been in the PR business, the format of just about every proposal I’ve created and every proposal I’ve read features the budget page at the end. There’s a purpose for this. It’s important to talk about what you’re going to do before talking about how much it will cost. This is logical and it’s very important to both the sales and purchasing process.… Read the rest

Media Relations: What to Do When There is Nothing to Pitch

news droughts

A lot of media relations programs stagnate when the organization has nothing new to talk about. PR teams sit and wait for something to happen so that they can create a news release or a news alert. They wait for the organization’s management or the client to tell them something new is happening or about to happen within the organization.… Read the rest

Journalism: “Critics Say” is a Curious Reporting Device

Critics say

In a conversation with an old journalism school classmate one time, we talked about some of our pet peeves when it comes to reporting. She has been a long-time serious journalist, and I’ve been in the PR profession for just as long. That’s why we found it amusing that one thing that bothered both of us is when reporters frame certain allegations in their coverage with, “Critics say.”… Read the rest

Media Relations: Don’t Guarantee Specific Media Results

media relations

Let me tell you about two situations where companies wanted me to guarantee specific media results. Both were foreign-owned firms, which is relevant from a media culture perspective.

The first one was a steel service center that sold piping for industrial uses. It had approached me about possibly working with them on public relations matters in the U.S.  … Read the rest