The Public Relations Blog

Use PR to fully leverage this often-underused tool

Ah, the dreaded press releases. Over the years, we have come to rely on them, hate them and frequently declare their demise. Nonetheless, news releases remain a crucial instrument for media relations efforts. Since it is clear that you have to use them, you may as well get maximum impact and reach from your press releases.

Editorial calendars provide a roadmap for public relations professionals by outlining the content that media outlets will focus on for the entire year. With the right approach, editorial calendars can make a PR professional's job easier and could generate some great feature coverage. Here’s how to make use of editorial calendars.

6 tips for getting better results with your pitches

How often do you get a call from someone trying to sell you something and the person begins by asking if you have a minute? This is an immediate way to shut down the conversation and end the call. In today’s busy world, no one really has a minute.

As you are pitching, you will discover that the same is true for journalists. You will find that it’s never a good time to pitch a journalist. Journalists may be working on several stories at one time and are often on tight deadlines. This means they are usually far too busy to speak by phone about your pitch idea, especially when others are bombarding them – often with pitches that don’t pertain to the area or topic that they cover.

Get more positive news coverage with help from PR

When it comes to gaining a foothold with journalists, you may feel like everyone else has the key to unlock the door but you. The truth is there are tips and techniques to make it easier. With these 10 rules – and help from public relations – you can increase your chances for attaining news coverage and increasing your visibility.

If you’re trying to stay on the cutting edge of technology, you read Wired magazine. Wired is one of today’s most popular technology magazines and is a trusted source of information about the latest innovative technologies.

When it’s time to pitch that reporter or write your next blog, be ready

Once again, it’s time to develop a weekly list of topics for your media pitches and blogs, and once again, you’re stuck. This is a perennial problem for public relations practitioners everywhere, but you can make it easier with the right tools and techniques.

4 pro tips for staying on top of your PR game

It’s a great time of year for sports. Plenty of slow-paced baseball games balanced with intense hockey and heart-pumping basketball playoff games. When comparing your public relations approach to a sport, aim to be a right wingman or power forward, not a center fielder.

PR, after all, is a contact sport. If you want to win in the PR game, you can’t be afraid of contact. Here is some advice for incorporating more contact into your PR approach and, as a result, building stronger relationships and garnering better results.

Learn how making the right decisions can advance your news coverage efforts

Some say that ethics comes from knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do. Sure, there are ways to cheat and get around rules with little or no consequence, but is that the way you want to run your business?

Just as there are right and wrong ways to run your company, there are also correct and incorrect ways to manage your media relations efforts. Before you create or adjust your media relations strategy, it is important to be aware of the ethical issues involved to ensure that you don’t damage your reputation in the pursuit of news coverage.

Use PR expertise to learn how to work with media

Many companies want to know how to control the media. They want to know exactly when a story will appear and what it will say.

The truth is you cannot control when or if a news outlet will run a story. Nonetheless, with help from PR, you can learn to better target your media relations efforts, give journalists what they want and increase your chances for coverage.

When it comes to your growth and success, invest wisely

You have decided that your company needs the services of a public relations firm. Perhaps you already have in-house staff that could use an extra hand to get more done. Maybe you are looking to invest more resources and time in your company’s PR efforts for increased visibility and results, and you have determined that a PR agency is your best option. Whatever the reason, you first need to know how much hiring a PR firm will cost.