After being chastised by the National Storytelling Network – “You, Mr. Hoffman, are no storyteller” – I’d like to start with a ground rule on nomenclature. When it comes to business communications, I consider storytelling to be shorthand for “storytelling techniques.” In other words, PR practitioners don’t have the luxury of 200 pages or 90 …more
If Gordon Gekko were a PR pro, he would have said, “Change is good.” And would relish today’s world where companies of all shapes and sizes jar the status quo on a daily basis. Forget change. Industries are being blown up right before our eyes. More than just driving demand for PR, this dynamic is …more
Much has changed about the communications business since we opened our doors in 1987. Yet, some companies continue to send out PR RFPs with no mention of budget today as they did 25+ years ago. I’m guessing these same companies did not enjoy the scene in Jerry Maguire when Cuba Gooding Jr. tells Tom Cruise …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
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
It’s the sister of native advertising. The difference between the two forms of communications comes down to cost. Unlike native advertising, the media placement for native PR is free. Shifting from theory to reality, check out how this plays out on what’s called the BuzzFeed Community: What a great platform for communicators to hone their …more
This not-so-little recent tweak to Google’s treatment of link schemes certainly caught the attention of the PR industry: “Creating links that weren’t editorially placed or vouched for by the site’s owner on a page, otherwise known as unnatural links, can be considered a violation of our guidelines.” Google goes on to call out “links with …more
When founders get the boot, they don’t always go quietly or humorously into the night á la Andrew Mason. For communicators, this poses a quandary. Typically, the founder serves as the face of the company with his or her persona baked into the brand. If the founder reacts with “hell hath no fury like a …more
OMG BuzzFeed has gone Fortune and its Original Trust Content one better. Instead of cranking out BuzzFeed-like content for corporate-owned media, the publication will teach you how to draft stories like the pros. That’s right. You too can write scintillating headlines like “15 Reasons Taylor Swift Might Be a Cat” or “27 Better Ways to …more
