Archive: July 2019

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Homework Behind Open-ended Questions Can Lead to Storytelling Gold

We know the story is always there. Yet, bringing the story to the surface often requires the right questions. And no one is better at probing and cajoling a source than Terry Gross, the maestro of the NPR podcast “Fresh Air.” She recently interviewed the actor Patricia Arquette. Having done her homework, Gross knows Arquette’s …more

Communications Lessons from a Politician

I asked Silicon Valley veteran Dave Kellogg for his OK to republish this post. I met Dave some 10 years ago when he was CEO of MarkLogic. Here was a CEO who not only understood PR but seemed to enjoy it. Unfortunately, his internal communications team didn’t command the same understanding, and our client relationship …more

A Stately Trump?, Journalist Office Hours, and a TikTok Mug

The Grab Bag post returns for a second 2019 installment. Again, the story lines in these posts can’t quite shape stand-alone posts. Yet, I hate to see a shard of a story go to waste. .   TIME Cover Photo Depicts a Stately President Trump Take a gander at the cover of TIME Magazine August …more

This Is How Many Executives View Anecdotes

Particularly in Silicon Valley where most executives started their careers on the engineering side. Coming from a technical orientation, they tend to think of anecdotes as inconsequential and yes, a bit fluffy. Yet, the science suggests that PR should be sourcing anecdotal content as part of media outreach. We leaned on a couple interns to …more

Top PR and Storytelling Posts in H1, 2019 (Part 2)

Monday’s post captured five of the 10 top posts this year (so far). Here are the remaining posts.   6. Game of Thrones Depicts the Best of Persuasive Language The final season of Game of Thrones played out this year. Rather than focus on the Iron Throne, we turned our attention to persuasive language, specifically …more

Interviewing Clients Like a Journalist: Thoughts from Dan Tynan

By Matt Burrows, Senior Account Executive   At first glance, dentistry might seem like the last profession you should address to get thoughts on storytelling, with most conversations with your dentist consisting of them asking questions while your mouth is open to the world. So when Dan Tynan — journalist, communications writer and Thought Follower …more