The Public Relations Blog

Learn how to successfully break into the PR industry as a recent graduate with our guest Colin Wylie.

Guest:

Our episode guest is Colin Wylie, assistant director for marketing and assessment at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Reeve Union. Colin also serves on the board of directors for PRSA Northeast Wisconsin.

Topic: 

The one with Colin Wylie on how PR students and recent graduates can navigate their careers early on

For good PR and media relations, move your brand away from exaggerations

I’m warning you now that this is the greatest blog post you may ever read. Maybe. This is a hyperbole. How often are your company and your PR team boasting — to the extreme — how amazing your company, its thought leaders, and its products are? Your company may be pretty amazing, and not everyone is going to think your company is the greatest thing since sliced bread. As an executive, you have to recognize and realize this fact. 

Learn how sales is like developing a romantic relationship with our guest, Jack Vincent.

Guest:

Our episode guest is Jack Vincent, Strategic Poet. Jack helps companies sell more effectively, from tactical questioning to killer stories.

Topic: 

The one with Jack Vincent on the phases you must pull a buyer through to build trust and secure the sale

Social media is a necessary tool to successful PR campaigns

Social media is about conversations, community, and connecting with your audience. It’s not just a broadcast channel or marketing tool. You need to be authentic and candid with your audience to make a connection. 

Social media is also known as shared media, which is user-generated content that can be shared on multiple platforms with friends, family, business associates, and buyers of your products and services. Social media users want to be informed, entertained, and connected with other users. To this end, you must customize each post so it is native to each platform. For example, you wouldn't post the same content on Instagram as you would on Facebook because the tone, audience, and demographics are different. 

Knowing what shows up when your name is searched on Google is essential. A future employer or even a customer may read an article or a post about you. Here are five things you should avoid at all costs to save your online reputation:

Conducting research and analyzing your needs

Finding a PR agency for your company can be difficult. Knowing exactly what kind of PR work you’ll need is the first step in researching companies that would be a great fit for you. Here are some things you should keep in mind when researching an agency:

Learn the role of content strategy and why a solid content strategy is important to your marketing and PR efforts with our guest Sherry Sanderford, public relations manager at the Wounded Warrior Project.

Guest:

Our episode guest is Sherry Sanderford, public relations manager at the Wounded Warrior Project. Sherry is a strategic communications leader with extensive experience in corporate, health care, and health technology communications.

Topic: 

The one with Wounded Warrior Project’s Sherry Sanderford on how to engage your audience through a successful content strategy.

Understanding image quality is essential

Sending images to a news outlet or vendor may seem like a simple task, but it’s importance can often be overlooked. The image quality you provide can affect whether or not a reporter chooses to cover your story. 

Images are measured by DPI or dots per inch. A high DPI references a high-quality photo. 

A key component of the PESO model

News media is a major component of the Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned model. In fact for me, it’s my favorite part of public relations – assisting clients and companies in gaining news media. News media is often referred to as earned media, and it’s the content that third-party entities (namely media outlets) create about your company and your brand, its products, and its services. 

Know the best way to connect with reporters

Pitching to the media can be difficult, especially if your PR and marketing departments aren’t used to reaching out and connecting with the media on you and your company’s behalf. It can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. That’s why we created the 21 mistakes you’re making when you pitch the news media – to help your team feel more comfortable and confident as they reach out to journalists. 

One mistake we often hear from companies is their teams are sending more than one email to a single outlet. This is number 12 in our list of 21 mistakes. There is a right way and a wrong way to do this.