PR News Blogger Network

President Trump’s June 29 tweets about “Morning Joe” hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough have generated plenty of outrage in the professional media, on social channels and in home kitchens across the land. In his… Continued

In the course of your career, you’ll have attended dozens if not hundreds of industry events where – if you’re like most human attendees – you’ve exchanged business cards as if by rote, refilled your… Continued

Usually Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WDC) is a no-brainer, page 1 story. That it’s been relegated to the business section in some sites and newspapers this week is a reflection of the severity of global news… Continued

Andrew Hayes, VP, corporate communications at Fifth Third Bank, has seen media relations from the other side, and he wasn’t too impressed by the view. After running his own PR agency for 10 years, he… Continued

As PR pros know, media exposure can be a double-edged sword. Most of the time the system works: Stories that deserve to be told are told, and people who make outlandish claims only to gain… Continued

Imagine this: attendees at a conference are flocking to a table filled with greeting cards where they can choose among “thank you,” “happy birthday” and “congratulations” greetings, write something nice (hopefully), lick the envelope and… Continued

Getting your brand covered fairly or favorably by a respected journalist in a respected media outlet—that’s what perceived authenticity used to be. It was the brass ring for communicators. Then the pool of full-time journalists… Continued

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… Continued

As much as the wisest of the wise encourage us to live in the moment—counseling us that all that exists is this very moment and that focusing on yesterday and tomorrow deprive us of the… Continued

“Dying is easy, comedy is hard,” has been attributed to different people, from the actors Jack Lemmon and Gregory Peck to thespians Edmund Kean and Edmund Gwenn. Perhaps we can augment that aphorism: “Dying is… Continued

Social media exposes many ironies, including the possibility that we are less social because of social media. Remember the days when we used our phone for talking, not typing? And when a friend was someone… Continued

If economics is the dismal science, then measurement surely must make a compelling argument for being PR’s grim discipline. Similar to regular exercise and eating a balanced diet, measurement is something communicators know they should… Continued

“Journalists are grammar nerds.” – Kristen Page-Kirby, Senior Arts Editor, Washington Post Express “You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.” – Attributed to several people, including: Will Rogers, Oscar Wilde, Mark… Continued

Rarely do I mess with cookies, except to eat them. But an experience over the last two weeks with a furniture retailer had me clearing the cookies from my computer. So annoyed was I by… Continued

Please put down your smartphone for a moment (after reading this paragraph on your smartphone) and ask yourself if you’re addicted to your smartphone. You may try to weasel out of answering the question by… Continued

This was supposed to be a blog about another topic entirely. Yet the news we received late last night prompted a different blog. To set the scene: Your blogger had just returned from visiting a… Continued

“Not every incident needs a response, but incidents that are ignored can lead to a bigger crisis.” This crisis management advice comes directly from Ernest DelBuono, senior strategist for strategic communications firm Levick. At its… Continued

“No man is an island entire of itself…” John Donne wrote in 1624. Ah, but get that man, or woman, to work and he or she can be positively insular. Large, public companies, midsize firms and… Continued

As the Super Bowl went into overtime and the Patriots took the lead and won the Vince Lombardi Trophy, my husband looked over at me and did not say “Wow, that was amazing!” Nor did… Continued

This still-young year has felt like a midtown traffic scrum of competing, colliding crises, stoked by the overheated engine of a new presidential administration. Brands are nervously checking Twitter, seeing if the president has mentioned… Continued

Coming just days after the Women’s March, PR News’ Top Women in PR awards luncheon in NYC was an ebullient event that brought the PR industry together to celebrate female leadership and the individuals who’ve… Continued

There’s good news and bad news surrounding media reports Jan. 17 that Delta cabin personnel will be receiving diversity training. The good news, of course, is that the brand is providing important training to front-line… Continued

Every six months the Television Critics Association (TCA)—some 400 media folks who get paid to watch television and write, talk, tweet and blog about it—commandeers a Hollywood-area hotel for two to three weeks. During that time… Continued

Reading and writing for uninterrupted stretches of time—and I consider five minutes to be an uninterrupted stretch of time—now seems like a rare, precious gift. This sad fact is a creativity and productivity killer. If… Continued

Shopping for a 2017 wall calendar for my office over the holiday break, I had a hard time deciding between the zoo animals in yoga poses, all things Tuscany, or an adult coloring calendar.  My… Continued

It’s OK to be of several minds on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and especially at this time of year. Even communicators working in CSR can’t agree on exactly how to define it, a recent study… Continued

Is there an industry more vulnerable to crises than the airline industry? On the one hand you have the usually catastrophic nature of airplane crashes and terrorist attacks; on the other you have on every… Continued

What would you do if you found out you had a life-threatening disease? Another question: What would you do with your life if you’d overcome the disease, at least for the time being? About two-and-a-half… Continued

Taco Bell is often held up as a brand that knows what it’s doing on social media. Before you follow Taco Bell on Snapchat and steal its ideas, take a look inward. Are burritos and… Continued

At a networking event last week, an industry colleague asked me if I’ve ever Googled myself. She whispered the question to me as if to self-Google were verboten. Fortunately, we were interrupted by a mutual… Continued

There’s an old joke about why it’s good to use a credit card when you dine out. The punchline is that you can eat today and delay getting indigestion for four weeks, when your charge… Continued

Brands, in an effort to get out a shareable tweet or a super-likeable post, are often caught in a daily trap of shallow engagement with its communities. Your stakeholders — humans just like you and… Continued

You’re having a non-work-related party at your home Saturday night. Invited are neighbors, relatives and friends, including me, a journalist by day. We’re there to enjoy conversation, drinks, an elegant diner and a terrific view… Continued

“Either go live often, or don’t go live at all.” So says Bilal Morris, director of local social media strategy for iHeartRadio, about Facebook Live, the social media giant’s live broadcasting feature, which it just… Continued

It’s true – a lot of people just don’t understand what PR people do. They think it’s about pitching the media, chasing positive coverage, then rinsing and repeating. Certainly media relations is an important component… Continued

Your first inclination when hearing the story about Mylan and its EpiPen is to categorize it. Put it in a place alongside similar tales. That’s normal. It’s what the human brain does to make sense of… Continued

If it’s your job to create and share content on behalf of a brand, then you know the feeling of shooting in the dark. You’re constantly asking yourself if an article or blog post idea… Continued

Say What? Item 1: Who knew? The contest in November is Lady and the Trump. But did you know thinking about it will influence how much Starbucks you drink? It’s true. A quick aside: During… Continued

Brand communicators seek to influence the undecided and convince them of the value of the product or service they’re representing. They try to accomplish this through third-party media coverage, the sharing of their own content… Continued

Sand between your tanned toes and the relaxing sound of waves hitting the shore. Happy hour that begins at 4pm (it’s 5’oclock somewhere). Visiting new places. Dealing with crowds (literally, being able to deal with… Continued