Your PR Architect

I don't know how a startup PR company can claim to have 330,000 media contacts. Email addresses, sure. But I've been doing PR for more than 30 years, and I'd be stretched to say I actually know 10,000 media contacts. You need to earn those relationships, not merely collect a list of email addresses and shepherd them via software. That's what Cision does. By André Karwath aka Aka (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.5  (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons But, when an ambitious company called  PR Zebra tweeted me and asked for "support" for their concierge-style PR business, I checked out their website, not just their thunderclap.it crowd-sourcing link. They promise you local, regional, and national coverage. And they've posted a few news releases, often for small business owners and entrepreneurs. They offer a three-tiered pricing strategy that's relatively affordable. Like a lawn service. Nothing wrong with this ap...

Scenario: You build a $50 million transit center where commuters can change buses in the warmth of a modern, heated terminal. And you have an $11 million contract with the city school district to transport students on your transit authority buses, often via the transit center. RTS Transit Center, Rochester, NY. Photo by David Kassnoff. Something disturbing takes place. There's a fight between students. And another. Then, an assault. And a stabbing. Some of these injure taxpaying commuters who indirectly helped build your $50 million wrestling/transit center. Perception: your transit center is a dangerous place. Even the mayor says so. Publicly. Your response? If you're the transit company, you blame the offending high school students. If you're the school superintendent, you keep repeating: "We can't fix it alone. Parents need to be involved." My response? You both were absent when the class on "Leadership" took place. Ther...

Public relations professionals today dream of having a campaign go "viral." Earning countless views, shares, Tweets and re-tweets, and unending shares on Facebook. By User:Otourly (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org /licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Last year's Ice Bucket Challenge for MLS was an extraordinary example, with people all over replicating and re-posting their attempts -- successful or otherwise -- at reducing their body temperature in the name of charity. And we couldn't turn away. This week, in casual online conversation, I contrasted the relentless ice-dousing videos with the chilling 30-second clip of a North Charleston, S.C. police officer unloading eight rounds at an unarmed, fleeing Walter Scott . It was chilling video, can't-look-away content. NBC knew it, and ran the clip three times in the first eight minutes of its Nightly News report. At first, I was ...

For many organizations, diversity is a nice-to-do function. When resources get tight, however, efforts to grow a diverse workforce can lose top-of-mind status. But a quick look at many PR departments and agencies’ staff rosters – and the cheery photos accompanying them – leave the impression that few communications organizations pay much attention to diversity. One example: an agency in upstate New York features a slick video reel on its website with quick clips of its employees leading meetings and brainstorming. There’s not a person of color in that montage. By The Conmunity - Pop Culture Geek from Los Angeles,  CA, USA (Anime Expo 2011 - the crowd) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)],  via Wikimedia Commons We all talk about engagement. When will we do more than talk about it among ourselves? You’ll hear abundant reasons to bring diversity to a PR or marketing communications workplace. The one I advocate is the need for diversity in innovation...