PR Tips & Trends

When it comes to promoting a brand or product on social media, it can be difficult to reach the masses of your target audience without a large following. This is why it’s common to see celebrities, athletes and other influencers endorsing various brands on their Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. However, tapping … Read More

Pitching seasonal media stories is a staple of consumer public relations. The coverage calendar ebbs and flows with many of the same topics year after year, and our job is to find a new angle to help our clients shine. Back-to-school season has been one of the most consistent and far-reaching seasonal stories to tie … Read More

Washington, DC PRGN member Xenophon Strategies‘ has released their 2020 Frequent Flyer Survey on flying in the time of COVID-19. The research was conducted by the firm’s research arm, Xenophon Analytics by polling their (opt-in) 200,000 Frequent Flyer Database. The survey data shows that 60% of flyers are planning a trip in the next six … Read More

Building a positive reputation in the midst of a crisis may seem counterintuitive. Yet, as we have seen in the Covid-19 event, the worst of times can bring out the best in people and organizations. Five tools, likely present in your professional toolbox, will improve your ability to guide organizations in enhancing their reputations during … Read More

At a recent dinner at a corporate event, I had the opportunity to listen to a stand-up comedian. Each joke was more macho than the other. And I thought, what a bad image this dinner will give this brand with all the women here and how old-fashioned the whole gig is. At least I don’t … Read More

There are supposedly as many trends to watch as experts you ask. There are about 1,000 PR professionals working at member agencies in PRGN. For your convenience, here we present only the five most important trends that will shape the year 2020. Placing results of PR activities into a purchasing funnel PR experts will increasingly … Read More

In the first week of January, CES2020 confirmed its role as one of the most important shows for advanced automotive technology, with a record number of new vehicle introductions from automakers for this show, as well as a record number of automotive suppliers and mobility technology systems companies participating in this juggernaut event in Las … Read More

Gong Xi Fa Cai! As the Year of the Rat begins January 25, 2020, I wish you all a healthy, wealthy and prosperous new year! The Year of the Rat symbolizes vitality, and it is believed to be particularly good for businesses and entrepreneurs. China has always been a very attractive market, offering great potential … Read More

In public relations, we’re always working hard for our clients to get them noticed on lists that decry “The Top This” or “Best Of That.” And yet, like the proverbial shoemaker’s kids, we might not always do it so well for ourselves. What’s a great PR agency (or any business) to do? Well, here are … Read More

It’s that time of year again: as 2019 comes to a close, we’re all staring into that crystal ball, wondering what the future holds for public relations in 2020. I asked our worldwide PR affiliates from the Public Relations Global Network for their ideas. Here’s a smattering of what’s in store for PR. Happy new … Read More

As a founding member of the Public Relations Global Network, I’m often asked how the network came about, what was behind the important first step and who are the people who made the bold move. For your records, here’s now the beginning of a 27-year journey now called the PRGN. In 1992, a small group … Read More

Businesses’ marketing strategies for young adults are dramatically shifting, and that’s because today’s young adults are no longer Millennials: they’re Generation Z. To fill the generation gap – and take advantage of the varied backgrounds and ages of staff in house at The Castle Group in Boston – we took an authentic approach and involved … Read More

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” – that’s what management consultant Peter Drucker said about the power of corporate culture. He asserted that strategy is important but that an organization’s culture is the true path to its success. Lots of PR agencies brag about their culture. Their website and social media channels share pictures of their … Read More

Last year, I wrote an article titled “Escaping The Bangsar Trap” for a leading Malaysian business magazine. Bangsar is an affluent suburb in Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The “Bangsar Trap” however describes the siloed mindset of the privileged, largely English-speaking Malaysian upper middle-class. This can be an issue in the communications business as … Read More

No matter how hard they try to avoid it, companies often need to deal with disastrous situations – *it happens. But what makes them an actual PR disaster is not necessarily the mere existence of a crisis but rather the way the crisis is being dealt with. There are numerous instances in which companies dealt … Read More

Today, the public relations profession involves a number of roles and functions, including media relations, corporate and marketing communications, brand awareness, creative solutions, and many more. Depending on your business, your relationship with PR and the role of PR within your organization can vary considerably. Regardless if a business is either trying to outsource the … Read More

Public relations is thriving – and evolving in exciting ways. It’s a great time to be in the business. At its core, our work is unchanging: actively pursuing relationships – shaping them, building them and maintaining them. That will always be front and center. But other aspects of our profession are developing or expanding. Here … Read More

In an era of corporate reputation coming under close scrutiny from an increasing number of directions, strategic communications agencies – at least the ones staffed with experienced communications professionals and former journalists and capable to support companies and individuals alike in a crisis situation – have become increasingly valued by law firms and their clients. … Read More

Many times we were in a situation where we had to tell our parents or friends what we were doing for living. More than once we used to get into long (read – very long) stories about our profession. We gave extensive definitions. We used a lot of words. And we still saw that our … Read More

Being a local boutique PR agency in Malaysia, we do face a fair bit of challenges in terms of recruiting, retaining and most importantly, inspiring a team. After all, we lack the financial and human resource support that an international agency may have. However, over the last thirteen years, we have continued to grow and … Read More

Variety is the spice of Europe Europe is the continent of variety: language, habits and cultural sensitivities vary enormously, sometimes even within single countries! My own country Belgium being a prime example, a uniform approach does not work for both the Francophone and the Dutch-speaking parts of this small country. If you are looking for … Read More

How often do you feel you’ve got too many things going on around you? Instead of getting straight to PR work, you suddenly find yourself doing 10 or 100 other things, just not the right one you should be doing? Or maybe it is difficult for you or your team to finish all tasks in … Read More

In today’s world, there’s no escaping social media – especially when it comes to crisis communications. I can say this with authority since 99.9 percent of the crises we’ve managed in the past few years have involved one platform or another. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Yik Yak (yes, even Yik Yak, for those of … Read More

In the endless ocean of the digital world, social media posts by companies and brands are often overlooked or do not attract the attention of its audience at a desired level. To improve engagement, brands often choose to promote their products by cooperating with influencers thought to be fit for the brand. Influencer marketing – … Read More

Although PR professionals are usually seen as news-shapers, we’re also news-makers, especially as our industry continues to evolve at an ever-increasing rate. And whether it’s tips on how to utilize new social media management tools or an analysis of the latest communications disaster, the PR trades do a vital job in keeping our industry up-to-date. … Read More

Should PR professionals be afraid of Artificial Intelligence? On the contrary, they should embrace the advantages provided by AI, starting with an enhanced influence. Will PR professionals be soon replaced by robots? If DeepMind managed, less than 2 years ago, to create an AI “chess master,” the subsidiary of Google could feasibly create an AI … Read More

Reduced to the essentials, it is actually quite simple: investors on the capital markets want to earn money and they hate making mistakes. This principle applies universally worldwide and across all investor classes. Sometimes experience, a good nose or a so-called golden hand can help make a worthwhile investment decision. However, in order to assess … Read More

Optimizing your schedule is important for making the most out of every workday. It’s true no matter what your profession is – public relations professional, CEO, parent, teacher – since every minute you save allows you extra time for yourself, your family or another client. But, prioritizing goals to maximize your daily schedule isn’t always … Read More

Name: Kent Barrett Title: Vice President PRGN agency: The Hoyt Organization Location: Los Angeles, USA Years at the agency: 9 years 1. What did you do before PR? : I was a political reporter covering the Illinois Statehouse for ABC affiliates and did a brief stint as a TV News assignment editor in Madison, Wisc. … Read More

Holiday season means days away from the office for partners, clients and employees – and it means a lot of Out of Office (OOO) messages, delivered automatically to your mail inbox. Some of them are useful, some funny, some are mysteries; it all depends on what you want to achieve and how you do it. … Read More

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 … Read More

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.

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 … Read More

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” … Read More

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 … Read More

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 … Read More

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, … Read More