Public relations pros play a vital role in helping companies and nonprofits figure out how to do business when the future is so unclear. Rather than parading out a bunch of tactics—press coverage, click-throughs, blog mentions, etc.—PR folks need to act more like therapists and get to the root of the real issue as this post highlights.
Getting C-Suite decision makers to appreciate and value the PR and Communications team and what they can do for the organization is an ongoing challenge. Here are some ways to change that.
It’s an election year and with the primaries in full swing in my county, my mailbox overfloweth with postcards from candidates. They all look and sound alike with promises of fighting for me, for better education, for jobs, for better health care. In order to stand out, these political hopefuls are putting their bland messages on bigger card stock.
Earlier this week, I had the great pleasure of speaking to the Society of Marketing Professionals DC Chapter about how to pitch the media. Most of the people in the room were primarily focused on marketing and business development.
In our last blog post, we wrote about the need to Leverage All Your Communications. To become adept at leadership communications, we have to better connect with our internal and external audiences. We need to become more strategic in our actions and consistently express value within our organization and with our enterprise’s key audience(s).
Netflix this week rolled out a brilliant commercial campaign with wow-worthy framing of messages. It’s a story framed as news so topical and irresistible that Brian Williams dedicated an entire story to it on NBC Nightly News (remarkably airing on a network owned by Netflix’s oh-so-threatened competitor Comcast).
An article in the most recent Harvard Business Review got me hopping angry because it undercuts the value of PR and communications. Some background: The piece was about TED, that marvelous convener of great minds and ideas, and how it had appeared to lose control of its brand through its TEDx gatherings.
Is your company or organization churning out press releases every week that don’t get picked up? Are you spending money on digital and print advertising but seeing sales decline? Are your employees unable to send a consistent message about your organization to customers or donors?
A communications or public relations practitioner may be your best ally and resource when seeking or refining strategic communications to reach key audiences, build support, and deliver more dollars to your bottom line.
A recent article in the Washington Post about the summer drama over the ouster and then reinstatement of University of Virginia (UVA) President Teresa Sullivan detailed the effort of Rector Helen Dragas to put a positive public face on this action.
