The Public Relations Blog

Our PR agency bills based on value and scope. We don’t recommend billing or paying by the word or by the hour.

Ever since Reginald Heber Smith invented hourly billing, many professional services firms – including some great law, accounting, engineering, architecture, and public relations firms – have billed hourly. Our firm is somewhat of an anomaly, as we don’t.

In fact, with all due respect to our professional service colleagues who do, we have personal and corporate ethical issues with hourly billing. And we are not alone in this opinion. While you might not share our belief, we’ll explain in this blog post our ethical concerns, why brevity is key, and why results ultimately matter more.

How to write a news release that gains media coverage for your company

If your company has an announcement it wants to make, then a news release may be a great option for you to share that news. A news release is an official announcement that a company or nonprofit issues to the news media. There’s a right way and a wrong way, though, to create a press release. The better it is, the easier it will be to secure earned media coverage. These seven tips will help you write an effective news release to gain earned media coverage for your company.

How you can properly vet a company before doing business with them

We were in the final in-person pitch with a prospective client. The client was a tech company that had developed a negative reputation online for its fast-paced growth because it had hurt some feelings along the way. While the company earned this reputation, the managers saw the errors of their ways and wanted to get a better handle on the company’s reputation after improving its operations and culture.

You do have the time, money, and data to measure public relations

The reasons for incorporating measurement and evaluation into your company’s public relations strategy are many:

• You know actual metrics behind reach, impressions, items, mentions, and engagement to understand the effectiveness of campaigns.
• You see which media channels certain audiences are most responsive to.
• You can predict future trends for better planning and agile response.

There aren’t many people who read the newspaper at breakfast anymore. Most of us get the news from our phones through social media. However, traditional media – like newspapers and major news outlets – still hold value in our fast-paced, 24-hour news cycle. Social media curates content from many sources, including traditional media outlets. Its platforms are a dynamic medium that your company should use to share news as well as engage with current and future customers.

Jason Mudd, managing partner of Axia Public Relations, will speak in Toronto on Monday, May 7 to an international conference of PR agency owners.

As a public relations firm dedicated to helping companies manage crisis communications, improve their reputations, and manage online reviews, it often surprises us how many of our prospective clients don’t understand the differences between these things. We think it’s important to educate companies about these critical areas of PR. If you don’t know the difference between crisis communications, reputation management, and review management, you’re in luck, as we outline the three below.

3 ways to bring your media relations efforts back to life with help from PR

Over the years, the business community has reported that many tools and concepts are “dead.” From press releases to polling, people are quick to declare the premature end of something that no longer seems to be working for them. One such device that has suffered this fate is the media kit. Is it really dead – or perhaps just misunderstood and misused?

Blockchain has received a lot of attention in recent months, especially after the explosive growth of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in December. Many people associate blockchain solely with financial applications. Others see potential for blockchain technology in nearly all aspects of life. It’s helpful to have a basic understanding of what blockchain is in order to thoughtfully consider how it may help your company, including your public relations efforts.

Learn what a Facebook pixel is and how you can implement it for your company

If you use Facebook ads for your clients, Facebook pixel is a helpful tool. Facebook pixel is code for your website that helps you track conversions, remarket, create audiences and run more effective ads. Fine-tuning your customers’ target markets just got so much easier.