Stories by Seth Arenstein

Communicators and marketers often devote a lot of effort to choosing the right words to use in their messages. While words matter, there is an argument or two to be made for also considering the heart when creating a message. And believe it or not, emotion counts when creating messages for both B2C and B2B audiences.

Confidence is critical to good writing, writing guru Jonathan Rick told attendees during today’s the PR News Writing Boot Camp in NY City. “You have to believe you’re an intelligent person. If you’re having trouble understanding something, it’s not you, it’s bad writing,” he says.

Even just a couple of years ago brands were more than a bit cautious when wading into social and political issues. Things are different now. Consider the size and scope of the 56 companies that signed a letter yesterday protesting rule changes for transgender people. Still, brands need to be careful when taking stands on social and political issues.

A sigh of relief emanated from College Park, Maryland, early on Halloween, when University of Maryland president Wallace Loh announced his firing of head football coach DJ Durkin. It was one of the few correct notes sounded during a crisis that centered on the death of a student and athlete Jordan McNair.

How do you tie what you measure with business objectives? That’s the questions we asked of five senior communicators for this month’s Roundtable.

In each edition of PR News we highlight takeaways from select articles as well as important additions to the PR News Resources Center.

For years we composed a decidedly sad picture of PR measurement as Measurement Month arrived. For many PR pros, measurement was an albatross. The tide seems to be turning, with communicators insisting on high-quality measurement that yields insights, according to a new survey from PR News and PublicRelay.

For Measurement Month we asked a quartet of senior measurement analysts to assess the state of communications measurement, including the ramifications of AI for measurement, how to hold your measurement vendor’s feet to the fire and what a company’s budget priorities should be for communications measurement.

Just prior to PR News’ Healthcare Social Media Summit in Baltimore, PR News and partner Crisp held a Communications Leadership Roundtable that explored integration, investment choices and best practices for getting staff to embrace digital communications, among other topics.

PR pros are asked to write content in various styles, including reports to the C-Suite and messages to stakeholders from members of the C-Suite. Andrea Staub, SVP, corporate communications at Perdue Farms, provides insight on how she crafts these communications.