Archive: April 2017

Every fall, PR News benchmarks excellence in PR, marketing and communications campaigns with its annual Platinum PR Awards luncheon. At the luncheon, award winners are recognized for outstanding contributions to the communications and marketing landscape, from video campaigns to social media initiatives to media events and more. With the Platinum PR Awards entry deadline around the corner on May 5, it’s an ideal time to take a look back at one of 2016’s Platinum awardees, Michelin, and examine how their campaign is having a lasting impact in the communications world and beyond.

What? Another press release to write? Fine. Before you reach for the keyboard, however, think about journalists who must read scores of jargon-filled, dense releases that tired PR pros crank out on demand. With a little practice and a fresh red pen, though, any press release can be transformed from a total bore to a piece of messaging your brand (and the media) will appreciate.

Most of us wish we could apologize to people in our past for one thing or another. As time passes, though, an apology can become a form of stalking or a self-centered quest for redemption. That person whose feelings you hurt badly when you were 18? She doesn’t want to hear from you now. If only you could board a magical aircraft, zoom back in time and make things right. Speaking of aircraft, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz sent an email on April 27 to customers apologizing for breaking the bonds of trust “when a passenger was forcibly removed” from one of its planes.

Leave it to a media company to offer a mini-case study in media relations. ESPN cut around 100 jobs on Wednesday, about half of which affected on-air talent. While the cuts were expected, they went deeper than many industry-watchers anticipated. Thanks to ESPN’s transparency about the layoffs, many of its talking points in its prepared statements became the foundation of coverage from media outlets.

When the mighty Google changes its algorithm, all of PR is pushed in the same direction by the shockwave; here’s hoping that the most recent change will nudge us into a better place. The search engine’s latest move is to demote (but not remove) pages that propagate lies, hoaxes, conspiracy theories and other junk content that more and more is collectively being labeled “fake news.”

Daniella Peting follows one cardinal rule for live streaming: Don’t wing it. Peting, who manages Motorola Solutions’ social media presence in North America and co-leads the company’s Global Social Media Center of Excellence, makes a point of fully preparing every element of a live broadcast from conception to execution.

A salesperson, a PR manager and a marketer walk into a bar…or so your bottom line wishes. The birth of social media forced organizations to draw up new business strategies to stay competitive in the digital space. And so they did—one department at a time. Ask a salesperson what their social strategy is, or even what social media means to her profit goals and she will probably give you a completely different answer than the PR or marketing manager within the same organization. So how can you build a truly integrated communications team? By following these three steps.

It’s not a question for the ages, but it’s a head-scratcher. Why does a 27-year-old athlete without a college education know that the best way to head off a potential PR crisis is to be honest, while highly experienced CEOs and heads of multinational corporations, who’ve had the benefit of media training, fail to learn this lesson?

What enables some customer communities to be financially productive while others remain a cost center? In the research study “The Business Impact of Online Communities,” we found that almost half (49%) of community leaders report revenue gains from their online community. This is an exciting proof-point, but it warranted further investigation. So, we analyzed the data to identify the winning conditions of the top communities and identified three key steps toward a better ROI.

It can be hard for someone who works in public relations or communications to admit that they’re not that great at schmoozing. It would seem that these things go hand in hand, but striking up a face-to-face conversation with a stranger is its own skill set, and we aren’t all naturals. If you’re attending a professional event, you should make the most of your time there, as with any other aspect of your working life. Being a wallflower won’t move the needle, so keep the following four things in mind and do the accompanying exercises to set yourself up for success.