The Public Relations Blog

PR explains the top 6 phrases you should never put in a press release or pitch

You want to attract media attention, so you create a dynamite press release announcing your company’s brand new initiative or event. However, you may be sabotaging your great news by using old, tired phrases in your press release and turning off reporters.

Writing press releases is like a balancing act. You must provide enough information to pique a reporter’s interest without divulging too much. It has to have all the pertinent details without being too lengthy. In addition, certain overused phrases can be annoying to reporters and make them stop reading. Experienced PR pros can show you how to avoid this and craft press releases that get results.

Use these tips to educate your company on PR’s true value

You know that your company needs to be more visible and engage more customers in order to increase sales. However, it can be difficult to sell management on public relations as the solution.

Many companies see PR as just something to pull off the shelf when there’s a crisis. This misunderstanding makes it difficult for them to see the true value of PR work. Once you effectively explain all the ways that public relations can help you boost sales and advance your company’s goals, you’ll have an easier time convincing management that it should be an essential part of your strategic plan.

Optimize your digital footprint with these steps

Incredible amounts of research have gone into determining how people form first impressions. The digital age has complicated the phenomenon by eliminating physical signs and signals. In place of smiles are likes, retweets and reviews, not direct word-of-mouth referrals. Businesses must therefore consider how their digital first impressions (gained not only through their websites but also via social media chatter and search engines such as Google) impact their brands.

How a social media policy can help you in a crisis

It seems that, almost overnight, social media has taken over our lives. We use it to stay connected, express opinions and follow the issues that are important to us. Some people feel they couldn’t go one day without it.

Unfortunately, the technology has evolved faster than many can manage it. Businesses especially have found themselves playing catch-up, struggling to engage customers and increase profits through social media platforms, lacking the necessary guidance and making reputation-crushing mistakes along the way. With assistance from PR, you can create your social media policy and avoid disaster.

Protect and improve yours with the Axia PR reputation management e-book

For everything you do in business, reputation matters. Sometimes it precedes you, other times it follows you – but it’s always there. It’s up to you to give it form and control its direction. You can learn to do this with Axia PR’s Online Reputation Managemente-book.

All it takes is one careless comment on social media or a few negative reviews to damage the good reputation it took you years to build. However, by learning to manage your online reputation, these incidents don’t have to spell disaster for your company.

Publicity and public relations are often wrongfully considered one and the same. In fact, publicity is just one aspect of public relations.

Publicity concerns a company, organization or individual’s presence in the media. Forms of publicity include news stories, articles and event information. Publicity creates public awareness and attention around a brand, and publicists gain publicity for their clients by promoting.

How a media policy can help you in a crisis

Imagine that your company is in the midst of a crisis. Perhaps your product caused an injury, you’re being sued, someone made a thoughtless comment publicly or a well-meaning campaign has gone horribly wrong. The news media is banging on the door and relentlessly calling every number at your company demanding a comment from someone – anyone. Would everyone in your organization know how to respond? Is it possible that someone might say the wrong thing, prolonging the problem and making the crisis even worse?

Gain a better understanding of how PR can help drive profitability

Everyone seems to have their own definitions and perceptions of public relations and what it does. Some see it as a blessing in disguise; others, a necessary evil.

According to the Public Relations Society of America, PR is “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics,” but this can mean different things for different companies. Once you understand more about the field of PR, the importance of PR firms and how all this can advance your mission, you will see how it affects your profitability.

Many people assumed the rise of social media (and with it the rise of amateur journalists) would turn the newspaper (and perhaps the news media itself) into a relic. And an article by Paul Eastham proposes a valid argument as to why the newspaper will survive social media and amateur content.

Eastham explains the theory that the rise of social media and the ability for users to easily copy and circulate articles without paying for them would essentially make journalism unprofitable. And then he details why such theory is flawed.

If your business has signed with a PR firm, of course you want to get the most value for your investment. As the client, there are several ways you can contribute to the success of the PR partnership and maximize your results.