PR Insiders

Organizations, large and small, can work to better understand and improve their D&I practices and seek change. Communicators can lead in these efforts, the co-chairs of PRSA’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee argue in this essay that honors Global Diversity Awareness Month.

It is important to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, but it’s also imperative to look beyond that toward the work needed to include all parts of the Latinx community, including Afro-Latinos. Here are some ways PR pros and their organizations can increase inclusion.

In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct.15), we asked Yesenia Reinoso, a 2020 “15 Under 35” honoree (PRSA-NY), to offer tips for communicating with the Hispanic market. As is the case in other markets, authenticity is one of the most important characteristics to ensure your brand bonds with Hispanic consumers.

Media relations guru and PR coach Michael Smart discusses a terrific lesson for communicators from Disney executive chairman Bob Iger’s autobiography. Smart says the relationship between Disney’s top communicator Zenia Mucha and Iger, which is based on honesty, sometimes brutal honesty, is the model we need to emulate.

One of the most difficult aspects of crisis communication is deciding when and how to respond. In the case of truck start-up Nikola, which a short-seller attacked as a fraud, it chose to respond almost immediately to a short-seller’s allegation-filled report. Now with Nikola’s CEO gone, the company must be as transparent as possible in combatting allegations.

The City of Toronto’s CCO Brad Ross argues communicators have done a good job relaying vital messages about the pandemic. As people are tiring of safety measures and we face a second wave, this is not the time to take a break. Do not let this long crisis, and its critics, cause you to question the effectiveness of your work

Even before the pandemic, plenty of major media outlets were struggling to stay in business. With fewer targets to pitch, is it time to ditch your media relations strategy? Veteran communicator Michael Monahan argues there still are myriad ways to attract coverage, even if one of the solutions means PR pros are crafting content.

A PR pro muses about the importance of authenticity at a time when we ‘see’ cardboard and digitized fans at sporting events during the pandemic. Authenticity communicates respect. The sooner real, living fans replace digitized and cardboard representations of fans, the better for authenticity and sports.

Similar to nearly all businesses, hospitals have had to adapt during the pandemic to succeed. This has put a premium on hospital communicators, who are applying a bevy of PR basics to the situation. Two senior directors at APCO Worldwide discuss the sector and how its insights can apply to communicators and business across industry.

A team of international researchers used AI to detect patterns in how real news and fake stories propagate. The team discovered several signs about how stories spread that may help to determine authenticity. Fortunately, these signs can be detected early, before a fake news story spreads too far. Learning to spot some of these signs can benefit PR pros, argues Michael Burke of MSR Communications.