The Public Relations Blog

Communication tips for what to do when your brand unexpectedly ‘catches fire’ and you need to calm consumers

This week, NBC’s “This Is Us” gave viewers an emotionally gripping episode that seriously tugged their heartstrings. It also sent many to their cupboards to dispose of a kitchen appliance that was the terrifying catalyst for one of the show’s biggest tragedies. The villainous appliance? A Crock-Pot.

3 tips for using an unexpected event to earn positive media coverage

Football fans across the nation found themselves riveted last week by a digit. It was a strange deflection from the anticipated rivalry set to play out this past weekend as the New England Patriots took on the cinderella Jacksonville Jaguars.

A thumb stole center stage.

What does a thumb have to do with public relations you may ask?

Tom Brady, widely recognized as a superior athlete, Gisele’s husband and first string quarterback for the New England Patriots, injured his thumb during a practice prior to the scheduled playoff game. The injury itself isn’t really the news. How the injury became news is.

When I worked in Silicon Valley, a front-page story in The Wall Street Journal was the “ungettable get.” Our teams would persevere for weeks trying to figure out a way to get their venture-backed technology startup onto the front page of the Dow Jones-owned media outlet. Our efforts often felt futile, as the Journal covers mostly business news with significant financial or industry-shattering impact.

As numerous public relations firms have predicted since the beginning of the year, a key facet to every successful campaign in 2018 will be the story. From cave drawings and legendary tales to biblical passages and novels, the art of storytelling captivates us. And the foundation of all good stories, of course, is the unexpected adventure contained within.

The ability to craft unique narratives seeps through the souls of PR professionals. We look beyond what everyone else sees and often unearth unexpected elements that make our clients’ stories come to life. From those nuggets, we create unique stories to share with key demographics as well as the media.

How do companies discover the useful snippets necessary for a unique, creative and authentic corporate narrative?

Plenty of media outlets – digital and print – leverage individuals with special expertise, large followings or authoritative diatribe to round out editorial coverage in the form of columns. In fact, prior to YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, columnists were the key influencers. For example, there was Pauline Friedman Phillips who, under the pen name Abigail Van Buren, wrote the syndicated “Dear Abby,” until her death at the age of 94. Walt Mossberg earned fame amid the pages of the Wall Street Journal for uncovering and demystifying technology. Herb Caen riveted readers of the San Francisco Chronicle with his daily column, which many considered the “voice and conscience” of San Francisco.

As a professional journalist, I’ve received my share of calls from unhappy sources complaining I excluded them from an article. These calls come because some companies believe if their competitors receive media attention, they deserve attention too. Realistically, the news cycle doesn’t work that way. Even with the highest degree of professionalism, there are plenty of editorial cracks through which information can fall.

3 key points for maximizing the effectiveness of your PR strategy

Having been in the public relations game for nearly two decades, I’ve found that one question continues to plague our industry: How long will it take to see the value of public relations? Everything we do in business should net a return – that’s the whole point, right? PR has most certainly transitioned into a business of measurement. Where once clip books and impressions marked success, we must determine today’s campaign success by precise metrics and established goals.

Use creative content to reach your audience

With search engines placing more emphasis on valuable content, a once-static website can now become a more dynamic calling card for any company. An optimal way to keep your website fresh is to create and maintain a well-crafted blog to attract new visitors and further build relationships with those who have visited previously. With greater focus on inbound marketing, companies are ditching aggressive sales and marketing approaches of yesteryear and replacing them with conscientious, thoughtful and strategic engagement to assert differentiation.

Blogs are evolving to incorporate useful and creative content in the form of videos and hyper-localized content. Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you consider your blogging efforts.

Public relations has historically focused on creating or transforming public perception. Today, in an era of heavily used social media and rapid-turn news, companies now have both unique communications challenges as well as limitless communication opportunities.

It’s no secret that client, employee or vendor opinions can make or break a business. Glassdoor, Indeed, BBB, Facebook, Yelp, TripAdvisor and others provide fertile ground for opinion seeding. And opinions, even from strangers, drive sales. Once rooted in a solid handshake, the sales process has shifted somewhat in that companies can digitally seduce new business while driving more traffic to their website, blog and social media platforms. It’s within these digital locations where many relationships begin and often result in a sale. Here are a few tips to easily establish positive relationships with your visitors and turn them into company promoters through inbound marketing:

Instagram, like most other social media platforms, invests heavily in fine-tuning and further developing its platform. With many changes afoot, including the addition of new features and advertising options, how can your company stay ahead of the curve and keep its Instagram account effectively reaching followers?