Media Relations

Dear Claudio, I don’t think people have forgiven or forgotten Lance – I think they’re fatigued. In today’s 24-hour news cycle, it takes a lot to hold the media’s – and the public’s – attention for more than a few days. Look at the Pope, for example. His resignation sparked a day of continuous coverage […]

Congratulations on securing funding for your first research projects! I’ll lay out a few ways in which you can hopefully get traction from the announcement. 1. Identify your target audiences. It’s crucial that you’re constantly aware of whom you’re trying to reach. This will save you the effort of blasting news to a diffuse audience […]

Dear Dana, Regardless of the charges’ merit, you absolutely should be thinking about how the scandal may reflect on your organization. Everyone associated with the organization — from the executive director to board members to staff to interns — are brand ambassadors, and their actions affect the collective integrity. Here are a few things you […]

Dear Rachel, The tone of your question suggests that you don’t entirely blame your employee for his/her actions. There are a number of reasons why this could be the case. Maybe your employee was unclear about the instructions and did his/her best to execute. Maybe your employee’s comments were taken out of context, or manipulated […]

Dear Jake, Knowing how and when to engage a firm is important, particularly since a good communications firm does so much more than media relations, which is often the perception. There’s no easy answer, but I recommend asking yourself a few questions to begin: • How do you imagine a PR firm helping your business? […]

Hi Erin, Great question – geography is often a factor in public reactions, whether it’s identifying your target audiences or, as you suggest, figuring out which office should interact with an outside PR agency. In my experience, the location of the PR firm doesn’t impact the quality of the communications effort; an experienced firm that […]