Internal Communication

Time to chill out and warm up. As Black Friday approaches, Costco, Nordstrom, BJ’s, and Sam’s Club, among other big brands, have decided to buck the door-busting sales trend and give workers time off to enjoy the holiday with their families.

Our friends in marketing have been conducting observational research for years, and now leading communicators are following suit. Think of it as a tactical adaptation bred of a Darwinian necessity—it’s a messaging jungle out there, and if we are to survive we must be ruthlessly in touch with our stakeholders’ realities so we can somehow influence them with our words and images.

People often spend their workdays stuck in the “important and urgent” mindset—things that need to happen and need to happen now. With budgets, deadlines and pressing client requests, it can be difficult to find time for anything else. But spending too much of your workday stuck here limits professional growth and development.

The solution McDonald’s crafted to its customer service problem is a great example of effective communications.

How management reviews and assesses the performance of its employees can have a major impact on morale within a company, the image it projects to the public, and its brand value.

Engagement and ingenuity ruled the day at PR News’ 2013 Digital PR Awards luncheon, as more than 200 agency and in-house PR executives gathered to celebrate the top digital campaigns of the past year at New York’s Grand Hyatt on Nov. 5, 2013.

Intuit’s “Speedboats and Battleships” set out to increase employees’ awareness of Intuit’s competition, get a better understanding of Intuit’s own products and do it all while having some fun; ultimately, the game was a success, as 4,337 employees participated (more than half of Intuit’s population) including more than a dozen senior leaders and the CEO.

“Anything bothering you?” That was the question posed by my physician during a recent annual check-up. As he peered at my chart which was looking pretty boring in a good way, I wondered whether I… Continued

Talk about reeling them in. At the Public Relations Society of America’s 2013 International Conference last week in Philadelphia it was standing room only for two separate work sessions focusing on how PR pros can deploy video to enhance their communications strategy.

What are the best ways to reach Millennials? It’s a hot topic right now, and will only get hotter as Millennials move into decision-making roles. This means that PR pros need to get a handle on it now.