Starting a New Year opens the door to a fresh start, but in the world of public relations, we are always on the cusp of something new, no matter what the calendar says. To remain valuable to our clients, we must always be among the first to gather, process and present new information – seeking out what is relevant, helpful and informative should be second nature. And that’s what I love about this profession… Read the rest of this entry »
Deliciously handcrafted by Royal Palm Chocolates
One of the best parts about being a PR professional is getting to know a wonderful variety of people and discovering their passions along the way. Over the past few weeks, I have devoted a lot of time to “new client immersion” with Royal Palm Chocolates of Naples, Fla., owners Philip and Stephanie Fincher and their strategic manager, Sam Hernandez. How to describe this experience? In a word: sweet!
As an adjunct professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, I have the pleasure of teaching Public Relations Strategy to a fantastic group of motivated, inspiring students who are poised to enter their professional lives. Their recent blog post assignments reflect a diversity of interests, passions and pastimes and I will be featuring as many of them as possible on my blog over the next few weeks. Enjoy and feel free to comment!
As an adjunct professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, I have the pleasure of teaching Public Relations Strategy to a fantastic group of motivated, inspiring students who are poised to enter their professional lives. Their recent blog post assignments reflect a diversity of interests, passions and pastimes and I will be featuring as many of them as possible on my blog over the next few weeks. Enjoy and feel free to comment! Read the rest of this entry »
As a myriad of New Year’s posts begins to appear, I am compelled to add to the mix with my own reflections on the PR life. And while we all tend to recount our mistakes or regrets, I recommend that you also reflect on the positive things you accomplished in 2010. This will provide you with inspiration and excitement to get your business off to a good start for the New Year. Here are a few examples of experiences we look forward to building upon in 2011…
Those of us in the field of public relations are trained from early on about the importance of creating a thorough, specific crisis communication plan. In most cases we file it away, secure in the fact that it’s there if we need it. For me, that was yesterday. The beauty of a well thought out crisis communication plan? It actually works.
Leaving out names to protect the innocent, no sooner had I completed a crisis plan for a new client than a crisis occurred: a key employee walked off the job without notice. She was the only full time person licensed to manage one of the major functions of this organization and without a replacement, the regulatory agencies warned they would shut down the business within the next two days. To complicate matters, this same employee called the media about the impending shut down and two TV stations got right on it. We had five hours to get control of the situation until the 6 p.m. news. What to do? Refer to our newly minted, trusty crisis plan, of course.
Within two hours, we appointed a spokesperson, drafted a statement for the media, coached the client, contacted the media with a response and set a time with the reporters for an update. The result? While the news stories ran as scheduled, the facts were presented fairly and the points we made in the statement were mentioned right up front. The positive, timely communication with the media allowed the story to be reported accurately with little drama and minimal impact.
Here were the lessons learned:
1. By planning calmly and rationally in advance, we were prepared for the worst.
2. We had an immediate plan to put into action – no time was wasted.
3. Because we were so calm and organized, the client was too – and that made a huge difference in the outcome.
I highly recommend preparing a thorough crisis communication plan for your client’s or organization’s peace of mind – and yours as well! To learn more, visit my website.
Like me, you have probably attended a host of social media workshops and seminars and as a result, have been motivated to bring those exciting options to the workplace. Yes, this has inspired me to encourage my clients to get on board and to update online communications for my own business. But I view these tools as enhancements to the rich, diverse world of communications and public relations, not replacements — and I value local media even more during these challenging times. Here are five reasons why: Read the rest of this entry »
