There is a great deal of confusion about the difference between Vision and Mission Statements and they often become intertwined. As a result, they can be uninspiring, confusing or overly long making them difficult to remember, much less articulate. Philosophically Vision and Mission Statements should be separate but related, just like strategy and tactics —… Continue reading Vision & Mission Statements: The Basics
During the Dallas Spring Meeting for PRGN members of the Leadership Roundtable, we were given the opportunity to get out of the hotel conference center and explore one of Dallas’ top corporate headquarters (and a Three Box Strategic Communications client) – Topgolf. While the visit was a great opportunity to cut loose and have a little… Continue reading Fore! What Topgolf Teaches Top PR Pros About Making it to the 19th Hole
I’m a huge podcast fan – they’ve made my hour-long commute each morning not only bearable, but enjoyable. Whether I’m in the mood to be informed or entertained, there is a podcast for everything and I’ve become a loyal subscriber to a handful of shows (shout out to ‘Four Finger Discount’ the podcast that reviews… Continue reading Should I Advertise on Podcasts?
It’s now been more than a year since Britain’s seismic decision to exit the EU but here in Ireland, we still don’t know how it’s going to pan out. Late last year, a survey found that almost 60% of UK-based financial and professional service providers had begun ‘contingency planning’. Of these Brexit preppers, around three-quarters… Continue reading Setting up in Ireland? Why PR must be part of the plan
Good crisis communications planning starts with base fundamentals – assessing areas of risk, preparing your organization including effective policies and solid messaging and narrative that defines the organization and its values. Check out Xenophon CEO David Fuscus’s newest blog post: Key Fundamentals of Crisis Communication Plans. https://xenophonstrategies.com/crisis_communication_plan/
Austria is among the world’s most stable and prospering economies, but its media landscape is comparatively small. If you can’t convince a handful of relevant journalists to tell your story to their audiences, you’re lost because you don’t have many alternative ways to go. So when you are trying to use traditional media channels for… Continue reading Doing PR in Austria – some hints to maximise success in a special Central European market
Earlier this year, PRGN launched its Instagram account and earlier this month, Instagram takeovers,a new series where our partners will share what life is like in their city and at their agency. Instagram is unique because unlike Facebook and Twitter, the content has to be visual and it’s difficult to share links on the platform.… Continue reading PRGN Launches Instagram Takeovers
Known as the City of Angels, Los Angeles boasts both the second largest media market and the third busiest airport in the United States – and there is a lot more to La La Land. We also have a diverse, multi-ethnic population that makes us a cultural hub – with people from more than 180… Continue reading Mastering PR in the LA Market: Five Tips to Becoming an Insider
Weighted averages of analyst estimates are highly relevant for investor relations managers and even more relevant for investors. This shows a recent survey of cometis AG among around 500 investor relations managers, most of which are from the German-speaking countries Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The survey took place from end of March until end… Continue reading Smart Estimates: High relevance for investor relations managers
You didn’t get the media attendance you expected at your last press conference. And you’re taking heat from your boss for the weak turn-out. She wants to know why reporters didn’t attend your press event. What went wrong? There are a number of reasons that reporters cite for not showing up to press events. Often, they politely… Continue reading Why Reporters Didn’t Attend Your Press Event
By Valentina Giacaman – RumboCierto Chile We have witnessed recent events in which world leaders openly accuse the press, as never before. Macron in front of Putin himself accuses the Russian press, whereas a person like Trump declares himself in open warfare against the press. Has the press done something? In my country Chile, as… Continue reading Does the press lie?
Everyone has at least one pet peeve that drives them crazy, and most people have a few. Like when I call someone and they answer the phone and say “I can’t talk right now, I will call you back.” Back in 2013, I actually wrote a blog post on this (and answering your phone while… Continue reading Being on Time… No Longer Important
This post is sponsored by ClickTime and Gould+Partners. Over-servicing among PR firms doesn’t simply mean working for nothing. It’s a lot more costly. That’s because when your firm starts to expand client services—without being adequately compensated—it has a negative effect on the rest of the operation. Indeed, the repercussions for over-servicing can make a bad… Continue reading How Over-Servicing Impacts PR Agencies
Use Of Non-deal Roadshows & Sell-Side Conferences among Senior Investor Relations Officers in German-Speaking Countries Wiesbaden, April 25, 2017 – Together with Rivel Research and the IR Club, cometis AG analyzed the use of non-deal roadshows (NDRs) and sell-side conferences. We asked IROs in key German-speaking countries: How often are you on the road? What… Continue reading Study: Use of Non-deal Roadshows & Sell-Side Conferences
The now famous United Airlines debacle of a bloodied passenger being dragged off a plane will resurface in news stories about United for years. Virtually everyone has seen the video of the crisis, from school children to captain of industries and because of it, they are paying a lot more attention to United. What could United… Continue reading Bloody Incident Will Haunt United Airlines
For those of us in the profession of public relations, the rise of fake news and the attacks on legitimate media outlets have been deeply disturbing. The Code of Ethics developed by our industry’s leading professional association, PRSA, calls out honesty as one of six, key professional values that its members uphold: We adhere to… Continue reading PR Pros, It’s Time to Pay Up: #SubscribeToTruth
For a communications professional working in the U.S., the last few months have been a time of intense introspective about the state of the media. The rhetoric has been thick and charged. Phrases like “alternative facts” and “fake news” are making their own headlines. White House press conferences have taken on an element of the… Continue reading State of the Media: A (Global) Question of Trust
Social media management can be time consuming and expensive. For many the real value isn’t something they can clearly see. If your goal is to turn likes into more bricks and mortar customers, or you want to get a sense of a return on your investment, consider these ideas. 1. Exclusive Offers: Typically, your social… Continue reading Four ways to Connect with your Social Media Followers Offline
Did your organization recently win a coveted industry award and you’re not sure how to promote it besides adding the plaque or trophy to the office? This is something most organizations struggle with. Here are five tips on how you can leverage and promote an industry award to help support communications and recruitment efforts: Add… Continue reading How to Promote an Industry Award
Inbound marketing is an effective way to connect with potential customers and strategically deliver information. One of the most successful tools is video. According to a recent Hub Spot article, the amount of videos posted to Facebook has grown 75% over the last year. On Twitter, visuals also produce 18% more clicks, 89% more favorites… Continue reading Inbound Marketing Video Tips
Back in my early PR years, I would call every reporter on my media list. I would occasionally find a few reporters willing to listen to my nervous pitch and if I was lucky, someone would bite and actually write a story. When I look back now, I realize I was most likely interrupting busy… Continue reading Media Relations 101
It’s any publicist’s dream to call a reporter who knows our name, which companies we represent and even remembers our die-hard Green Bay Packers fandom. It’s even better when the reporter works at a publication that is extremely valuable for our clients. Although building relationships with reporters is no small feat, it’s certainly possible –… Continue reading Pitching for Keeps: Building Relationships with Trade Publications
Social media is an essential aspect of building your brand, but building a strategy can be daunting. Here are a few quick tips for embracing social media to increase your business’s bottom line. Social media will give back to you and your business what you put into it. Take even just a small amount of… Continue reading Quick Tips for Getting Started in Social Media
At the beginning of 2015, The Fearey Group moved offices and did a complete redesign of our workspace in the process. We went from private doored offices to an open, collaborative floor plan. We increased our technology infrastructure, worked on our message and created new tools in the process. And we did this for many… Continue reading Send What You Intend: Four Tips to Avoid Mixed-Up Messages
For us PR pros, our smartphones are basically glued to our hands. Whether it’s emailing clients, checking the latest news alerts, posting to social media or searching for that contact we met at a networking event, our phones are often our most indispensable tool as communicators and help us provide even stronger service to our clients. Here’s… Continue reading The Guide to Apps for PR Pros
Did you know that nearly 70 percent of people in the U.S. have a smart phone? It’s not a huge surprise that the majority of internet access is now done through mobile devices versus desktop computers. Updating your marketing strategy to incorporate mobile users isn’t a trend that applies solely to B2C companies. Your B2B… Continue reading Using Mobile to Dominate the B2B Category
Voice search is quickly becoming the way consumers are searching for information they need – especially for business. Landis Communications Inc. (LCI)’s digital marketing consultants, Mannix Marketing, have 4 great tips on how to optimize voice search with virtual assistants like Siri. If you are an iPhone user – or even if you are not… Continue reading 4 Best Practices For Optimizing Voice Search
It is always easier to reach your destination when you know where you want to go. Social media editorial calendars can map your social media strategy down a successful path. Not convinced? Here are five reasons why social media editorial calendars work for us and why we suggest adding them to your social media strategy.… Continue reading Five Reasons to Create a Social Media Editorial Calendar
What do you think it takes to achieve exceptional results for your clients and organizations? There are things like working hard and paying attention to their needs that certainly top the list. But doesn’t that seem obvious?
Communications Director & Newsroom Head Nicole Chamberlin shares the secrets of her team’s success – and explains why HWB clients keep returning for more coverage.
Aside from the well-known highly corrupt and troubled governments in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, for the past two years (and more) Latin American countries have been involved in a series of scandals that have undermined confidence in politics and in business at corporate level.
How much of a monster is PR? It’s what we do, it’s how we pay the bills and it’s mostly what we love. But how much are we responsible for the way it can consume people and is it ultimately for the good?
The Democratic National Convention’s selection of Philadelphia for its historic convention this week is no accident. A city often overlooked between the towering shadows of New York City and Washington, D.C., Philadelphia offers convention-goers and watchers a unique experience.
I am very proud of my city and my state. After witnessing our first major sports championship in Cleveland after more than 50 years, we have witnessed another event of extraordinary magnitude. It’s the Republican National Convention.
The marketplace for PR mergers and acquisitions is more diversified than ever — which means means new and more flexible ways for deals to be structured.
The predominant message across all forms of German media has been one of regret about the result. Most commentators agree that a unified EU is necessary to address common European and global challenges. They also believe that the EU needs the UK.
In the cold light of dawn after the seismic result of the UK referendum, the balls which had been blasted into space are gradually falling to earth and reality is taking hold.
I’ve traveled to and from the UK since the age of six. I love the British and especially their sense of humour (even though I’m aware that I will never fully understand it.) Their strong will to lead and ability to speak up if they believe something is wrong is something I truly admire.
After three decades of officiating high school sports and working in the public relations industry, Evelyn John Holtzhausen, president of our global PR network, PRGN, and head of a successful agency in Cape Town, South Africa, asked me if there were any parallels between the two.
Fellow PRGN’ers you may think that Trump vs. Clinton is the only show in town but we’ve got our own tussle happening next week. Variously known as Brexit or the vote to Remain/Leave Europe, the Referendum which will decide whether the UK stays in the European Union is massively vexing people.
In recent times, we have heard a lot about “Storytelling”, the art of using stories to communicate and connect with target audiences. Born as a purely journalistic narrative method, this set of techniques and specific skills has evolved to establish itself as a real discipline. However, there is still a lot of confusion around the definition of… Continue reading From Sport to Corporate Storytelling
Many donors are keen to make contributions as specific as possible and decide therefore upon so-called “project-based donations”. The reason behind this is the desire for the donated amount to be 100 percent utilized for a clearly specific project. These wishes are understandable but can lead to unintentional drawbacks.
The recent acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide by Marriott International may have stunned the hospitality industry but it was not totally unexpected to me. Mileage Communications was Marriott’s PR agency based in Singapore for more than 17 years, since 1994. When we were appointed, Marriott had just opened the JW Marriott Hong Kong,… Continue reading Implications of the Marriott International’s acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
by Valentina Giacaman Hazboun Founding Partner at RumboCierto For a PR firm today, it is much more difficult to try to contain a crisis for a client in a world where everything seems to be transparent and information flows through social networks in less time than previously thought. Gone are the days when companies thought… Continue reading Leaks and Transparency in a globalized world
por Valentina Giacaman Hazboun Socia Fundadora de RumboCierto Para una firma de PR hoy es mucho más difícil tratar de contener una crisis de un cliente en un mundo donde todo parece ser transparente, y la información fluye por redes sociales en menos tiempo de lo que se pensaba. Atrás quedaron los tiempos en que las… Continue reading Filtraciones y Transparencia en un mundo globalizado
The Public Relations Global Network recently had nearly 30 agencies attend its twice-yearly international conference in Dubai representing more than 15 countries and 7 states in the U.S. The conference identified several trends in the global communications marketplace that are worth noting. Some of these takeaways include: Visual communications is almost as common as written… Continue reading 10 Global Business Communications Trends Impacting Local Public Relations Executives throughout the Globe
“It takes a whole life to build a reputation. It takes a moment to destroy it”. The concise comment by Gianni Puglisi, IULM’s dean, summarizes perfectly the media storm fallen on the automotive industry Volkswagen, accused by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of having adulterated data regarding its diesel cars’ emissions. DieselGate, as it… Continue reading DieselGate, all the mistakes by Volkswagen PR team
“A costruire una reputazione occorre una vita. A distruggerla basta un attimo”. Il lapidario commento di Gianni Puglisi, rettore dello IULM di Milano, riassume perfettamente la tempesta mediatica che si è abbattuta sulla casa automobilistica Volkswagen, accusata dall’Agenzia per la protezione ambientale americana (EPA) di aver truccato i dati relativi alle emissioni di sostanze inquinanti… Continue reading DieselGate, tutti gli errori del team PR di Volkswagen
I attended the recent Forum on Global Leadership, hosted by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. Among the speakers was U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake. I didn’t realize what an African background the senator has. He has lived in Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa – and is fluent in Afrikaans. He, along with Lt. Gen. William “Kip”… Continue reading Africa, the new emerging market
Faced with a dwindling user base, Twitter is set to launch a new product later this year which it hopes will engage more people with the use of large-scale photos and videos to highlight trending events. Dubbed “Project Lightning,” the microblogging site is adding a new photo-centric tool that takes users to the photos, videos… Continue reading Can Project Lightning Save Twitter?
Last week, I hosted a Webinar for public relations professionals throughout the world who are members of our Public Relations Global Network. The topic? Critical Thinking. Many of us, in any business, but perhaps especially in PR, fall into the day-to-day trap of working hard but operating on auto. We follow directions and get the… Continue reading Critical Thinking and Why It’s A Must for PR Pros
by Evelyn Holtzhausen President Elect, PRGN More years ago than I care to remember, when I was Cape Editor of the Sunday Times, I’d often receive a call from “head office” in Johannesburg requesting a “follow up” on a tip off or rumour that some celebrity or other had been seen swanning around Cape Town.… Continue reading Dynamic Tension
Professional communicators usually have lots of stories to tell – I know I do. The trick is getting the right people to listen and getting them to act. One way to think of it is moving the audience from the story to the store. Often with digital marketing, the story gets bad, or worse, no… Continue reading GPS for Digital Marketing Campaigns
One day when God became so angry with mankind after their vain attempts at building the tower of Babel, to be more in his likeness, he henceforth sent them the Babylonian language of confusion thereby ending their delusions at becoming gods. In actual fact, it was humans alone, the communications industry to be more precise, who orchestrated this tangle of languages: Native Advertising, Product Placement, Content Marketing, Advertorials and several more phrases buzzing around the market, seemingly perplexing although all having one thing in common: It all boils down to occupying editorial space.
2015 has been the year of a leap forward in content marketing. During the last few years, digital marketing and communications have evolved intensely and interestingly towards techniques centered on the production of quality content. The core issue in this trend is about adapting to the digital environment where users can easily choose whatever they… Continue reading In A Sea Of Contents, We Should Stand Out Like Colored Buoys
From the invention of the wheel to the invention of the computer, technological progress never stopped redefining the concept of proximity. Thanks to the Internet, the communications society – at least in its technological dimension -, has become a reality. As a matter of fact, the millions of connected devices circulating in the world: Smartphones,… Continue reading All neighbors in the global village
