Three Public Relations Pitfalls to Avoid

1. The Friday Afternoon Bad News Press Release

For decades, the White House has used Friday afternoon as a time to release bad news to the media. The rationale is that the media is wrapping up a busy week, Saturday newspaper circulation and readership is lower than any other day of the week, and the public is j… Read more

Embargoed Press Releases

Sometimes a public relations rep sends a journalist a press release that is “under embargo.” This means the reporter can’t publish a word regarding the contents of the press release until after a certain date and time. But in this day and age, journalists and public relations profess… Read more

Make Sure Your Press Release Contains “Just the Facts”

A press release is not an advertisement. A press release is a subtle piece of advertorial: a combination of advertising and editorial content. The point of advertising is to bring a product, service, or cause to the attention of a consumer, voter, volunteer, or contributor. It involves matching the righ… Read more

Build a Stronger Relationship Between PR and Journalism

It’s become a public relations mantra: build relationships with reporters. But journalists don’t want relationships. They deal with dozens of contacts and demanding deadlines each day; they don’t have the time or energy to “do lunch,” especially with public relati… Read more

Bill Gates, PR Bankruptcy, and Your Last Dollar

“If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations.”
– Bill Gates, Microsoft Founder

Is your company or organization suffering from PR bankruptcy? Have you created or maintained goodwill with the media by proactively distributing at least one press release a qu… Read more

Meet the Press: Tips for Your First Media Interview

Congratulations! Your start-up company’s ready to announce its first product. Or maybe you’re handling a competitive announcement from one division of a huge corporation. Or maybe you’re somewhere between big business and entrepreneurship. Whatever the size of your organizat… Read more

Public Relations Basics: Dealing with Difficult Clients

Over the years, I’ve made friends with many people who work in the public relations industry. We’ll often talk on the phone about the PR business, exchanging stories and ideas. Recently I’ve had conversations with a number of these public relations pals, and all of them had a singular … Read more

Nine Mistakes to Avoid in Public Relations

Public relations is a difficult field. Your job is essentially to get journalists to do half of your work. There is an enormous amount of pressure on a public relations consultant, especially when things aren’t going well for your client or employer. Diana Turowski is a public relations professio… Read more

Who Should Write Your Press Release?

Writing a press release isn’t always easy. The public relations department, which must pitch the release, wants to have a say in its content. The subjects quoted in the release, often high-level executives, want to make sure they sound professional and intelligent. Business partners mentioned … Read more

Four Tips for Improving a Boring Press Release

When writing a press release, especially one that contains numbers or statistics, even seasoned public relations consultants can find their message failing to grab the media’s attention. Here are a four tips for perking up that dry, boring press release.

1. Help the media visualize numbers and s… Read more