Conducting a training session for a client yesterday, I was reminded that many people still associate LinkedIn with the job market. While the social media platform started as the darling of recruiters, it’s evolved into something much more, blending the attributes of social media with storytelling (content creation) and what amounts to a news service. …more
Dear “Who Moved My Story,” I’ve been there. You’re there now. Every human being who writes for a company as part of communicating to the outside world has experienced the frustration of seeing his or her copy pruned again and again … and again. Forget trying to humanize the narrative. You’d be happy if the …more
If there’s one safe haven to push beyond the status quo and experiment, it’s universities. With this idea as the backdrop, I thought it would be a revealing exercise to review 100 or so university Twitter profiles and select the best five. The winners would show what happens to the simplest of communications – 160 …more
Bad news more than any other PR activity shapes the negative perception of the profession. That’s when spin happens. Worse, everyone knows it. As exhibit A, look at the news release from the Dow Jones when it decided to sever the relationship with the AllThingsD founders: “For years, Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal has enjoyed …more
I love sharing the storytelling gospel through our workshops. It’s both fun and satisfying to see the dots connect in how storytelling techniques can be applied to any type of communications coming from an organization. When I say “any,” I mean communications ranging from job descriptions to Twitter to PR to the reply triggered from …more
Every human being in the free world – and perhaps a few in the not-so-free world – know that Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher will leave AllThingsD at the end of the year to start a new media property. The news release from Dow Jones merely served as a springboard into the story behind the …more
I’ve discussed in previous posts the challenge of bringing the traditional storytelling arc into business communications. Companies don’t have two hours to set the stage, tease out the plot with the requisite twists and turns before the trumpets sound with the happy ending. Often, we’re lucky to get 90 seconds, and even that depends on …more
Everyone likes free stuff. Everyone enjoys an unexpected act of kindness. Put the two together, and you’ve got a killer branding-building exercise. Before I talk about Pretzel Crisps – which I’ve enjoyed for some time as an alternative to the typical chips marinated in saturated or trans fats – some background … My second oldest …more
The typical process for evaluating PR agencies puts a premium on creativity. In many cases, the “big idea” ends up tilting the decision toward the eventual winner. What constitutes a “big idea?” It meets one or more of the following criteria Deviates from the status quo Differentiates Aligns with brand-building effort Client hadn’t thought of …more
