Instagram. Instagram. Land of Hope and Dreams by Bruce Springsteen on Spotify. Kristena @ Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) How to Clear Your Mind in 15 Minutes. Some days just get out of hand. The workload is heavy, and still the emails and calls flood in. The pace can seem frenetic, and the constant interruptions not only disrupt your actions but your thought process as well. You move so fast you feel unproductive and sloppy. By the end of the day, you feel stressed and edgy. Worse, you can't shut down your brain because you feel you might have missed something important. It doesn't have to escalate to the point at which you head home to snap at your kids and yell at your dog.
The next time the world is spinning you in all directions, go find a quiet place for 15 minutes and use this exercise to recenter yourself in the universe. 5 minutes of physical activity Even though you may already have your blood pumping from running around the office, Roark suggests that heading outside and running or fast walking around the building will give you a break from the immediate chaos. 4 minutes of gratitude 3 minutes of meditation 2 minutes of silence Namaste. 6 AP Style rules for press releases. This story originally ran on PR Daily in June 2013. There's more to writing a press release than you might think. Not only is there a format to follow (headline, summary, date, content, section about the company), but a set of standard procedures to adhere to—AP Style.
Read on to learn how to make sure your press releases follow commonly-held stylistic procedures. What is AP Style? The Associated Press (AP) has set various regulations for news publications to follow. While they aren't the only rules out there, they are the most commonly used. The Associated Press has also set standards for press releases: 1. 2. 3. 4. I ate bananas, peanut butter, and chocolate. When you follow AP Style, drop that last comma. 5. 6. AP Style is important for PR Yes, it seems trivial. Editors care. And since you want them to pick up your stories, you need to play by their rules. [RELATED: Hear how top companies adapted to digital PR industry changes.] Do you format your press releases for AP Style? (Image via) 20 pieces of advice every young professional should follow.
This story originally ran on PR Daily in June 2013. May 23 marked the 30th anniversary of my first day in the working world. That day in 1983, I started my job as a receptionist on Capitol Hill after a local congressman hired me, sight unseen, over the phone three weeks earlier. I had a head full of big permed hair, big expectations, and little idea of what I was supposed to do as an employed and responsible adult. Looking back, I didn't have specific career goals in mind at that point, but I did know what I was good at and the type of work I wanted to pursue. [RELATED: Ragan's new distance-learning site houses the most comprehensive video training library for corporate communicators.] I've figured out a few things along the way that I wish someone had told that 22-year-old with big hair walking into her first day on the job. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.Write thank-you and follow-up notes (handwritten, not emailed). 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
(Image via) What 9 Internet trends mean for PR. Has tons of interesting nuggets on global Internet use. There are now 2.4 billion Web users worldwide, and that number is growing fast. The report includes 117 pages of data and insights, but what does it mean for the PR industry? Here are nine takeaways and their implications for PR professionals: 1.
TV and Internet top media consumption: 42 percent of America’s media diet is dedicated to television; another 26 percent goes to the Internet. I’ve spent the last couple of days flipping through Mary’s slides. Of all the insights, there is one common theme: the need for PR pros to continue to make engaging, relevant content no matter what the platform. A version of this story originally appeared on the Hodges Partnership blog, The Gong. A Different Take on the Crisis PR Checklist. I don’t know who invented crisis communications, but it has been a tool of PR agencies for decades. But, unlike the U.S. Constitution, which has been amended as new thinking arises, many of the original tenets of crisis public relations remain the same:Respond quickly Have the CEO or president of the company respond to the press Lawyers often are a hindrance when executing a crises responseGood crisis strategy can help alleviate the crisis publicity Count me as an outlier when it comes to the above.
Here’s why, point by point: Responding too quickly before the facts are in often results in placing the client in a defensive crouch, as new information is reported. But I do agree with the PR crisis community that advance planning is necessary, as long as the plans are revised to fit each crisis. While it’s impossible to predict a crisis, here’s some of my thinking, including a few out-of-the box recommendations, on what a before, during and after crises check list should include: For clients: New App Allows Gamers to Order Pizza Via Xbox. 14-year-old McDonald’s hamburger looks the same as the day it was bought. How Facebook's EdgeRank works. By Kristin Piombino | Posted: April 24, 2013 Facebook's EdgeRank, the algorithm that determines which posts appear in a person's news feed, is a source of stress for many marketers.
How do you make sure your company's posts make it through the algorithm to your followers' news feeds? Do posts with photos have a better chance of getting noticed? How about posts with links? Should you just send posts with plain text? It's enough to make your head spin! But it's all going to be OK. PostRocket created an easy-to-understand infographic that explains how EdgeRank works.
What should I do to create a crisis communication plan? - Sacramento Business Journal. Staff Sacramento Business Journal What is the most important step in creating a crisis communications plan? “Start your crisis communications plan by seeing potential crises from the viewpoint of audiences who may be affected. They include customers, employees, neighbors, stockholders, vendors, government officials, creditors and the media. If you don’t plan ahead to address their concerns first, you risk being seen as defensive and losing trust. “Develop and practice your messages in advance to address potential crises. “Your crisis communications plan is like an insurance policy. .
— Anne Staines, president, ProProse LLC; managing partner, Candela Partners “While you can’t always imagine all details, go over potential scenarios. . — Dell Richards, president, Dell Richards Publicity “The most important step in creating a crisis communications plan is simply deciding your company needs one. Social media pitching: Journalists share their preferences. Wouldn't you like to be a fly in a newsroom? Most PR pros would respond with a resounding "yes. " Who wouldn't want to hear how journalists respond to pitches, find news leads, and use social media to do their jobs?
A group of journalists did just that [earlier this year], and here's what they said. On Feb. 21, six working journalists convened for "Twitch! Communications in the Age of Social Media," at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. I put together their responses to help PR pros do their jobs better. In addition to me, panelists included Stacey Samuel, producer at CNN; Mike DeBonis, politics reporter at the Washington Post; Davar Ardalan, producer for NPR's "Tell Me More," Jenee Desmond-Harris, White House correspondent for The Root; Julie Bykowicz, Financial Reporter for Bloomberg News; and Molly McCluskey, freelance financial reporter for the Motley Fool. Here's what they shared: Have a social presence.
Befriend reporters on social media. Don't think you have no chance. Why You’re Not Getting Good PR. Every business has a story, but most of those stories are boring. (Mine definitely is.) For example, here’s a pitch I received from a PR professional; I’ve changed it slightly to avoid embarrassing anyone: “I’m working with a wonderful new business… it’s currently a rags to rags story but I feel sure the riches part is right around the corner.
The owners grew up together and decided to go into business… it’s a story I’m sure your readers will care a lot about!” Nope. Don’t get me wrong. So what should you do if you’re trying to spread the word about new products and services, landing new customers, bringing investors onboard… all the stuff you hire PR agencies to do for you or, more likely, try to do on your own? Don’t give up. Pretend you’re pitching me. First, forget what you want. Then, think about what I want. Then craft your pitch with publicity as a secondary goal. For example, if you want to spread the word about: Sound like a lot of work? Facebook comments are four times more valuable than ‘likes’ You can like likes, but you should love comments. According to EdgeRank Checker, Facebook’s new metrics have revealed some noteworthy insights on engagement.
Bottom line: A comment on a post is four times more valuable than a like. EdgeRank breaks it down per engagement level: • Average clicks per like: 3.103 • Average clicks per comment: 14.678 • Average clicks per impression: 0.005 EdgeRank goes on to highlight the importance of shares, as opposed to simply encouraging them to like and comment a post: “Shares are very important in driving more exposure to your content. Sometimes asking your users to Share a Post can be enough to help the content spread further.
(Image via) The starting salary for a PR specialist is … By | Posted: October 26, 2011 A new report from the staffing firm Robert Half International says that starting salaries in the PR and marketing fields are expected to grow by 3.5 percent in 2012. By comparison, starting salaries in the legal field are expected to see a 1.9 percent bump, while IT professionals will likely see a 4.5 percent increase. The average increase for all office workers is 3.4 percent. The report also reveals average starting salaries for a number of positions in the PR and marketing fields. For instance, the starting salary for a PR specialist in a corporate environment, with one to five years of experience, ranges from $38,750 to $60,500.
Here’s the full breakdown of PR jobs: The report notes that while starting salaries will likely increase, the hiring climate in the U.S. and Canada is expected to tighten as employers take more time to fill available jobs.
20 things every PR pro should know how to do. Ed.'s note: This post originally ran on PR Daily in April. We have since updated it by deleting links that no longer work and adding a couple of new ones. You'll see what we mean. Do you have one foot on the PR banana peel? If you’re like me, part of you is in “the old world” of PR and the other foot is sliding into the new digital landscape: excited, nervous, learning, kicking, and screaming. Despite the changes in the industry, PR pros must remember the basics. The following 20 items and links will serve as reminders and resources. 1.
. • How to pitch Mashable • 3 tips to pitching your story to The Wall Street Journal • How to effectively communicate with the media 2. . • Think like a reporter • 6 tips for perfect email pitches • Email pitches cheat sheet 3. . • 5 social media measurement tools for PR pros • How Google’s SEO algorithm is changing the web • 20 free and extremely useful social media monitoring tools4. . • Teaching the PR pros of tomorrow 5. . • The grumpy old reporter 6. 7. 8. 10. 11. 12 striking similarities between high school and Twitter. (This infographic appears in its entirety at the bottom of the story.)
Twitter: a place to share, a place to learn, a place to grow. Is that an ideal or reality? For some of us, this is a reality, but Twitter is also a place of social norms, somewhere that even the most awkward individual can find friends, and a locale for the cool kids to strut, if only just a little bit. As you involve yourself on Twitter, day by day, sometimes you may not observe much of what is going on around you. This draws a parallel to a place where all of us (most at least) have been before. How do Twitter and high school compare? 1. On Twitter, the so-called social media elite and other groups form their cliques in which they only tweet and retweet one another and love that they are pseudo rock stars. 2. It is unbelievable how many bullies there are on Twitter. 3.
QR codes, spiritual leadership, music theory, statistics. 4. Sports, sports, and more sports. 5. 6. 7. Have a need for advice, feedback, direction? 8. Media.eloqua.com/documents/ProBook.pdf. AOL's Newsroom Is Now Bigger Than The New York Times's. Indianapolis, Indiana Assistant Director of Public and Media Relations Job at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) - Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Sorry, this job posting does not exist or may have expired. Please ensure that you have entered the correct address into your browser and that it has been spelled correctly. If you are having trouble finding a page or are encountering a system error, please visit our Support Center and contact customer support. If you would like to search for other jobs, please click here.
PR pros: 10 ways to make reporters fall in love with you. Want to get coverage for your press release or important story? Then don’t do what everyone does—pitch all the livelong day, and not actually speak to anyone. Instead, focus on developing a relationship with journalists, and you may be surprised at the results. 1. Don’t pitch Again, don’t pitch all the time. It’s obviously necessary, but don’t bombard them. In fact, if you adhere to the following tips enough, they’ll probably start pitching YOU. 2. Want someone to feel important? 3. Reporters are super busy, so don’t flood their inbox with inane banter. 4. Speaking of being busy, learn what times and days it’s best to talk. 5. This is a particularly important one. 6. Another way to help reporters get their stories noticed is to comment on their website (if they have one). 7. If you’re actively helping out a reporter, remember to be on call. 8.
Want to really get on their good side? 9. When a reporter does contact you, don’t ramble on a thousand miles an hour. 10. The PR Guide To Email Pitching. 6 Social Media Marketing Roadblocks and How to Plow Through Them - Engage. PR women: New data show gender-based salary gap is widening. 15 Reasons Your PR Pitches Suck. PMG Public Relations announces the addition of a new associate. FollowUp > Email Reminders and Tasks.
The #1 ingredient in High Performance. Study: 87 percent of journalists want their press releases via e-mail. 5 reasons PR pros still need traditional media. 5 Tips to Ensure Your Emails are Read « Caliber Pulse. Sweet-talking the press: 5 ways to woo journalists with holiday-themed pitches. Perfect PR pitches: NYT tech columnist picks his favorites. Top 20 PR Blogs You Should Be Reading. 2011 Agency Predictions. 10 alternatives to sending a press release. PR job search - HAPPO events scheduled for December, January | Communications Conversations. Dear Marketing & PR Pros: You’re Still Pushing. Blogger outreach - 8 "no-nos" to avoid and what to do instead | Communications Conversations.
How to Make the Most of Your Public Relations Firm. PR Tools That Don't Rhyme with Focus or Vision. 20 Tips for Pitching Bloggers. Six Steps to Finding a Good PR Person « Jules Zunich :: PR from A to Z Group PR. 30 Minute PR » Blog Archive » The 4 Pillars of The New PR. HOW TO: Effectively Pitch Bloggers. Communications/Public Relations. Publicity Is Not PR. PR Is Not Publicity. Lifestyle / Entertainment Media Updates.
Social Media Release Checklist. Best Social PR Guides and Tips of 2010 So Far. Required Reading for PR Professionals. PR 2.0 Checklist. 12 News Release Alternatives. Public Relations Blogs - 25 Essential PR Bloggers. Public Relations Resources & Tools for Communications Professionals. The Future of Public Relations and Social Media. Speak Media Blog: A Very Bad PR Pitch - What Not To Do When Pitching Media. 5 Dos & Donts For Getting Blog Coverage | Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends. New Site Aims to Connect Reporters and Publicists.
Skills PR Pros Need | The Fight Against Destructive Spin. When Clients Want “The Truth” PR at Sunrise. Edelman: PR Agency of the Year '09. Five Ways to Keep Current in Public Relations. Follow Starter Pack for PR Students on Twitter. You wanna know how not to do PR? Take a lesson from government w.