Public Relations

Scandals. Bad leadership. Poor communication. This trio of bad news might be great for must-see TV series, but it often poses a more serious threat to leaders than they expect. The CEO of Target Gregg Steinhafel just resigned amid the bad press over the retail store’s data breech, which negatively impacted thousands of consumers. Chicago-based Challenger’s…

I was browsing the news today and saw a headline that the South Park creators are creating their own studio. Most of it was run of the mill Hollywood jabber, but a quote by the comedy duo stood out. They took a typical PR quote and made it tongue and cheek. It’s a great example…

One of our clients, Sunset Transportation, was named on the prestigious Inc. 500|5000 list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies last week for the first time. Sunset has achieved a three-year growth of 102 percent, which a big accomplishment in a good economy, but an even bigger testament in 2012 because it demonstrates that Sunset has…

I’m now teaching Communications and Public Relations in the graduate program at Webster University. It has been very interesting because I’m teaching about topics and work that I’ve done for years, yet I find it can be challenging to find the best way to describe those activities that have become second nature. So that is…

I attended the leadership assembly for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) this week as a delegate for my local St. Louis chapter. An interesting discussion ensued among members about the difference between Public Relations and communications. Many PR professionals feel like their work is distinctly different from communications, although the general public would…

I’ve been in PR a long time, but like all industries, it’s very segmented. I worked primarily in the electrical industry, so I knew those publications very well and had excellent relationships with those media. However, now that I work for myself and for my husband’s graphic design and web development firm, I have a…

I work frequently with my husband’s web development company, so I know that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the new Atkins Diet in the world of technology. All companies want to know about it because they think it will save them tons of money in advertising. Many companies sell SEO services, and some make ridiculous…

I’ve been on Linkedin for a long time, and at first, I thought it was going to just be a resume posting site. I knew it had potential, but it seemed to be lacking something. In the past 4 months, Linkedin has really started taking off. I think it’s starting to reach critical mass: everyone…

I do a lot of freelance magazine writing; while wearing my journalist’s hat, the first place I go to do research on a company is their website. Surprisingly, it often appears that the website is the last place where most companies invest their time. How do I know? On company websites of all sizes, I…

A few weeks ago I wrote on this website about a funny phone experience I had with a bank customer service rep about credit cards. I submitted it to one of my husband’s favorite personal finance blogs, GetRichSlowly.org. The editor, J.D. Roth, liked the post and offered to publish it. It went online yesterday at…

For years, I’ve been offering advice to my husband that he should market his graphic design and web development business more. He always looked at me and said something like: “It’s on the list.” I usually then shook my head and thought that he needed better planning skills. This was before I left my 9-to-5…

My local newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, sent me an interesting story in their news email blast. The headline read: “City threatens blind woman over unpaid 1-cent bill.” Uh-oh, I thought: PR disaster. Some auto-billing mechanism is creating a havoc. Sure enough… The city of Attleboro, Mass. sent a nastygram to a 74-year-old blind resident…

Every once in a while I come across a post on the web that is so valuable that I have this urge to print it and save it somewhere in a vault of “important informaton.” However, these days, I am retraining myself to save the link or if I must print it, print it to…

This is my second post on an innovation presentation that I recently attended by Kathie Thomas of Fleishman Hillard at the PRSA St. Louis monthly luncheon. Although Thomas presented many great ideas, one of the takeaways I enjoyed most was the brainstrorming guidelines. We’ve all been a part of such ridiculous brainstorming sessions at work…

I recently went to an excellent presentation on innovation hosted PRSA St. Louis. The speaker was Kathie Thomas of Fleishman Hillard (headquartered here in St. Louis). She’s their innovation guru, and this presentation was also presentated at a national PRSA conference. I thought I’d share a few bits of her presentation that I found interesting.…

I had so much to say on the topic of great writing, that I had to break it into multiple posts! Here’s a few more tips to follow to improve your writing process: Read out loud. After writing, speak what you write. This unveils awkward phrasing, gaps in the structure, and areas that need revision.…

Want to look smart? Learn how to write clearly and concisely! Writing has never been more important as we all spend hours every week writing emails. Although this list applies to nearly all business and promotional writing, I wouldn’t suggest applying it to essays and creative writing. This is, however, a great checklist the next…

I recently attended an informative luncheon sponsored by the Community Service Public Relations Council (CSPRC). It was a roundtable format with a myriad of topics; I was able to sit in on two topics, website Redesign and public relations tips from the Post-Dispatch. Although I have a lot to say on website redesign, I’ll save…