Dear GiGi, I work for a national nonprofit, and one of our board members was recently tied to a small scandal at her company. Although the charges are unfounded, I’m worried that my organization may become collateral damage by way of association. What can I do to protect my organization’s integrity and avoid having our name dragged through the mud?
September 23, 2011
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 […]
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Dear GiGi: I run the comms team at a quickly growing tech startup, and we’re thinking of engaging a PR firm. What kind of internal resources should I plan on devoting to a solid PR effort?
September 6, 2011
Hi Gloria, You bring up a point that’s crucial to a successful PR program, yet often overlooked. The answer is that it depends entirely on your organization and the firm with which you want to work – but let me offer some guidance: First, determine your basic needs and goals. • Are you a new […]
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Dear GiGi: What’s the best way to handle a crisis created by the actions of one of my organization’s own staff? I want to stop the bleeding without totally throwing my staffer under the bus.
June 16, 2011
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 […]
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Dear GiGi: I’m in the very early stages of launching a new business. I have capital and a few early-adopter customers, but I’m just getting started. When is the right time to engage a PR firm?
April 22, 2011
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? […]
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Dear GiGi: My company is expanding; we’re opening a new Midwest office. We’re interested in using PR to get the word out – is it better to retain a PR firm in the local market or where our HQ is (East Coast)?
April 8, 2011
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 […]
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Dear GiGi: I work on business development for a law firm, and I’d like to figure out how to utilize PR more effectively for sourcing new clients. One issue is that our current clients rely on us for discretion, so we can’t publish the details of our work much. What can PR do for us without compromising our clients?
March 25, 2011
Dear Joe, As you suggest, many law firms can’t talk about client work in detail. While that’s a challenge, it doesn’t mean you should neglect external communications as an integral tool. There many ways that public relations can help your firm, and I’ll outline just a couple here. The key is to always think about […]
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