Advertising: Classic PR?
The relationship between paid media and earned media still has room for improvement. Certainly, there should be more understanding of how PR leads, how ads generate word of mouth and how owned media fits in the mix. We'll save all of that for another day. Instead, I...
LISTENING: Step One in Life and Social Media Strategy
"Listen Before You Speak." You've likely heard this wise advice from a parent, friend or public relations professional. My friend Ambassador Mary E. Kramer talks about the essential nature of listening in her book "More Than a Walk on the Beach: Confessions of an...
PR & PIZZA
How CEO built business with public relations Here's an inspiring story about a CEO who built an extraordinary business success with public relations. Nick Sarillo is founder and CEO of Nick's Pizza & Pub in Chicago, the sixth busiest independent pizza company (in...
Social media: Ethical guidance
Chicago-based Word of Mouth Marketing Association this month issued new guidelines WOMMA's guidelines are an essential tool for public relations professionals creating and implementing social media and WOM strategies. The guidelines: Go beyond the “do's and don'ts” of...
When to use “which” or “that”
As PR professionals, we're taught to write news releases and other media-facing materials using AP Style because it helps journalists and communications professionals, as well as the general public, to write (and read) the written language with some sense of...
Word of Mouth Marketing: Measure it!
If it’s hard to measure public relations, then how on earth can you measure far-flung conversations? Fact is you can — and should — measure word of mouth (and PR, too!). And it’s not hard either. The trick is to focus on measuring...
The Economist spotlights role of PR
More companies could avoid "bad publicity" and the associated costs by doing the right thing, and including public relations counsel in the formulation of their business strategy and decisions. That's the conclusion of The Economist magazine in its January 14 print...
Resources on social media ethics
I heard local attorney Brett Trout talk about the intersection of ethics, law and social media yesterday at a PRSA luncheon in Des Moines. Broadly, Brett said that if you're acting ethically, you don't need to worry too much about the law. So, I wanted to share a few...
Time to understand and measure Word of Mouth
We've been attentive to word of mouth and social media for some time now (and remain the only member of WOMMA in Iowa). Our work in this area (call it what you want, we call it PR), has created tangible response for clients. Indeed, for organizations who are ready to...
Keep the grammar, skip the robotics, please
Perusing the blogs on TechCrunch and PRWeek, I found some interesting posts about the use of language in the journalism and PR worlds. Sarah Lacy’s TechCrunch post entitled “Who the Hell Is Enrolling in Journalism School Right Now?” claims that journalists are better...