I made my first trip to China in 1998. To say it seemed like another planet doesn’t quite capture the feeling. Try a different universe. I remember attempting to place a classified ad in China that required signoff from multiple government entities. It turned into a Kafka-esque exercise when the third stop found something out …more
I’ve advocated that PR sits in the best position to lead the organic search charge or what I prefer to call “earned search.” As Google continues to squeeze the technical gamesmanship out of SEO, the signals most valued by Google in determining what to serve up for a given search tend to fall within the …more
All companies recognize that customers saying positive things about their products is marketing gold. Think about the last time you were searching for a ramen restaurant and put stock — can’t resist a bad pun — in Yelp to find your destination. Or your dependence on online reviews before shelling out money for the latest …more
I’ve said this before and continue to believe it. The PR profession under-appreciates interviewing expertise. It starts in college. Try to find a curriculum for mass communications or PR that offers a class on interviewing. Good luck. Every journalism program in the country tackles the art of the interview like this one from the University …more
BuzzFeed has cracked the code on how to attract an audience. This is a media property that regularly generates over 200 billion video views per month and over 50 million unique monthly visitors. Thanks to BuzzFeed, the listicle has become de rigueur for those charged with owned media and social channels. Of course, it’s the BF algorithm — …more
Google wants the best content to win. When a person clicks on the Page 1 results from a Google search and finds useful information, that constitutes a win. As shared in previous posts, Google’s increasing emphasis on content over technical gamesmanship is a good thing for communications professionals. Still, there’s more to it than crafting …more
I often characterize this period of time as the PR industry’s version of the industrial revolution minus the child labor issue. Our profession is literally being reinvented right before our eyes. More than any one functional skill, the ability to keep learning is the key to excelling in a communications career regardless of title. In …more
Since I embarked on my PR adventure in 1983, everything has changed. Except one dynamic. Journalists griped about PR folks back in 1983, and they’re still griping today. To be objective, the bad behavior of a select few cultivates “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” (yes, I did take away a few more morsels …more
For a profession that advocates the power of taking a stand, there are precious few PR executives who take their own advice. Several factors conspire to keep PR executives on a vanilla message. At the risk of generalizing, I think it’s fair to say that most PR people enjoy working in the background. Like a …more
