The Public Relations Blog

Recently, I was chatting with a reporter friend of mine and she told me that she gets on average 500 emails a day. Of those, nearly 100 or so are pitches for story ideas. And, of that 100, she maybe reads five or six, based solely on their subject lines.

With the new year right around the corner and trade shows filling the calendar, the question of how to best convey your company’s message to the media might be starting to shadow your thoughts. Before that shadow becomes a looming, cantankerous beast, tackle it to dispel the darkness and enlighten everyone with your message.

4 steps to help you choose the best media-monitoring platform

Capturing media clips to share with clients is one way a public relations firm shows its success. What many PR firms struggle with is capturing all the media mentions for its clients. No media-monitoring service can capture every media clip or media mention. Some platforms can’t access certain sites, while Google Alerts may capture a clip before the provider. When choosing a media-monitoring platform, it’s important to use the provider that best fits your clients’ needs. Some popular platforms include Agility, Cision, BurrellesLuce, Meltwater and TrendKite.

Finding a media-monitoring platform isn’t easy as each platform offers something different. Here are four things you can do to ensure you choose the right platform for your company.

Social media has become integral to building long-lasting relationships with customers as well as creating brand loyalists. However, not every organization is doing social media right. In his book The Thank You Economy, New York Times best-selling author Gary Vaynerchuk defines seven of the biggest mistakes companies make in their use of social media.

2 reasons why you shouldn’t hire a PR firm that guarantees sales

As a CEO, you know that sales are the lifeblood of a company. Using public relations to increase your company’s share of voice within the media is one way to improve your sales. However, if your company hires a PR firm based on its offer to guarantee sales, you're making a mistake for two reasons:

It seems some companies never learn. They continue to create situations that become public relations disasters. No company is perfect, and we all goof up from time to time. The trick is to learn from your mistakes. Even better, learn from the mistakes of others to avoid making them in the first place. This year’s list of avoidable PR goofs, in no particular order, should be enough to keep your company out of trouble for a long time.

How to avoid losing your social media followers

A successful social media strategy requires commitment and consistency. Posting original, entertaining and useful content regularly is essential to success. Sometimes, in spite of your efforts, you see a drop in your social media key performance indicators. This might be a sign that you’re posting too much.

6 steps to grow your client base using livestreaming on Facebook

FacebookLive is a great way to build relationships with your key audiences. You get to know your target public and tell them about your brand. It’s easy to stream live on your company’s Facebook page and connect with your followers. Here are six important steps for you to succeed.

Whether you’re preparing your team for an influx of media interviews or planning to launch a new marketing and communications campaign, getting everyone in your company on the same message is critical to the success of your efforts. Your company’s representatives are often the biggest influencers for your company and brand, after all. It’s critical to make sure this vital audience is helping – and certainly not hurting – your communication efforts. Here are five tips to help you.

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.