Journalists enjoy taking a shots at the PR profession, often with justification. From classics like BusinessInsider’s “Dear PR Lady, Here’s Why I Didn’t Open Any of Your 3 Email Pitches” to my own “Why Journalists Get Cranky About PR,” this genre delivers a never-ending stream of commentary. Flipping the equation, PR is reticent to return …more
One of the best parts of my job involves conducting storytelling workshops. It’s both fun and satisfying to help participants connect the dots to a simple premise: Given a choice between “interesting” and “dull,” human beings pick “interesting” virtually every time. I’m constantly refining the package shared with participants in our workshops for business storytelling. …more
I love talking about failure in the context of business storytelling. It’s a tough one for executives because it’s counterintuitive. You never hear about a company hiring a PR agency “to get the bad word out.” Yet, the ability to bring failure or even a problem to the narrative is what separates industrial-grade storytelling from …more
Like Mr. Quixote swinging at windmills, companies continue to go down the futile path of trying to control social media. A couple years ago I wrote a post advocating for the Piggly Wiggly approach to social media. If you’re not familiar with the Piggly Wiggly, the company’s founder Clarence Saunders invented the concept of the …more
Everyone has the content religion. If you toil under the marketing umbrella, your updated job description likely includes the word “content.” And publications ranging from BuzzFeed to Fortune to BusinessInsider have created business units to address — that’s right — developing content for companies. Which explains why the mantra, “Content Is King,” has been chanted …more
I’m a big believer in learning directly from the source. Want to get in shape? Look at how professional trainers do it. Trying to figure out the mechanics of parody? Study the lyrics from Weird Al Yankovic (“Tacky” sang to Pharrell’s “Happy” is a good start). So when it comes to optimizing a website for …more
As our communication campaigns increasingly address SEO and particularly organic search, thought leadership becomes even more important. Here’s what I mean and why it’s important to put yourself out there. When it comes to organic search, Google and other search engines place a premium on backlinks. They interpret backlinks as “votes” for the content. Of …more
Naturally, journalists want more from the Obama administration. More openness. More access. More information. Given that the journalist’s agenda will always differ from the government’s agenda, it’s inevitable that a contentious dynamic shadows the relationship. This seems healthy to me so I wasn’t surprised to stumble across a recent letter from the Society of Professional …more
Yesterday in Beijing that question was at the heart of a roundtable we participated in involving Campaign Asia and the BBC. The very insights that Campaign Asia’s Jason Wincuinas offered on the topic in last week’s Q&A framed a lively discussion. As part of our preparation for the roundtable, we turned to the Forbes Global 2000, sifting …more
