On any PR blog, you will find at least one post – more than likely you’ll find several – about what constitutes newsworthiness, as it is our business to distribute news about our clients. We are often put in the position of explaining to our clients what is…
I was reading the June PRSA Tactics newsletter when I came across an interesting and useful article about Google’s take on hyperlinks in news releases by Carrie Morgan, a public relations consultant. One of the million-dollar questions surrounding Google’s secretive search algorithms is: How does it judge the quality…
While the national American Cancer Society has remained mum on an organizational opinion regarding the cold-water challenge, which has swept the nation in recent weeks, one local chapter leader decided to publicly question the viral awareness effort. This local leader said, “I will tell you, I have a…
I am always interested in learning about the new words that have been officially added to the dictionary each year, although many times I’m left wondering how on earth they could have reached the conclusion to add such silly expressions. Additionally, every year us PR folk can expect…
If you ranked six or under - it’s time to revamp your newsworthy content. How many times have you had an important announcement and think to yourself, “How can I make this different than any other company announcement out there?” I don’t know about you, but that thought…
On Oct. 28, 1906 (108 years ago), public relations expert Ivy Lee wrote the first news release to journalists about a tragic train accident that happened on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Fifty passengers were killed when a three-car train of the Pennsylvania Railroad's new electric service jumped a trestle…
PR is on my brain almost all the time, even when I’m not at work. I think about applying aspects of PR planning to different situations in my personal life (see my post about my holiday family PR plan), and I think about different scenarios and symbols that…
Ah, the State of the Union address. The speech. The counter-speech. The media frenzy. The State of the Union is a political playground for reporters, as it fuels the fire for numerous debates, analyses, predictions and fact checks. It offers opportunities for great interviews to back up those…
As public relations professionals, a great deal of our success is based on securing media hits for our clients. In turn, much of our frustration can also come when we don’t achieve media hits for a client or story we know is newsworthy. So where does it all…
My 13-year-old called me around 4 p.m. awhile back in absolute hysterics. She was crying so furiously that I couldn’t understand her. My heart sank, and the worst possible things were flooding my mind. After my brain started working again, I asked her to slow down (PLEASE!) and…