PR Blog
Dennis Rutzou Public Relations
Is international PR alignment in the interest of the consultancy or the client?
Sep 15th
I’ve posed the question, so I’ll give you the answer (in my opinion). Others may differ.
I recently had a situation where we had the opportunity of discussing how we could introduce a PR program at a local level to support the channel partners of a major international IT company.
What's the best way to maximise local PR efforts internationally?
As we run PR training for small businesses, such as PR Mentor our 12 week training course for those SMBs that want to use the power of PR to advance their business, it seemed like a good fit. We could train their channel partners More >
Looking back on today…
Sep 8th
So, tomorrow it will have been 10 years since the catastrophic 9/11 and as expected the media have charged head-on into broadcasting their own unique commemoration. However, what has proved most intriguing about this competition for coverage is the new interactive ways in which we now consume our media.
I remember the bombardment of coverage nine years ago (during the one year anniversary) which consisted of an assortment of video montages, 9/11 based song compositions, books dedicated to the catastrophe and a constant loop of George Bush’s motivational ramblings on radio and television.
Now, fast forward to the present day and I More >
‘Engagement’ – the new ‘it’ word
Sep 2nd
In PR we take the concept of engagement seriously. The creation of engagement is one of the ways in which we measure the impact of PR programs, i.e. through the level of interaction by our target audiences.
But recently, as pointed out by David Salter, Acting Editor-In-Chief for our client The Week magazine, the term ‘engagement’ has become yet another victim of the trend of making words ‘trendy’. It seems to be undergoing that process of shameless overuse that serves to undermine a word’s literal meaning.
An obvious example of the misuse of the term ‘engagement’ can be seen in people’s response More >
Internal communications – it’s not rocket science
Aug 24th
I’m not sure that ‘rocket science’ is as complicated as we all think but nonetheless, internal communications should be a basic skill for most of us. So why do so many organisations get it wrong.
Senior executives of medium to large organisations are usually pretty good at telling the outside world about their operations, achievements and selling their wares but they forget or don’t see the need to tell their staff what’s going on.
To me it comes down to a two simple principles – respect and trust.
You should trust and respect your own employees enough and should tell them important company More >
Social media highlights from the CEO Institute
Aug 17th
Social media is here to stay
I was invited last week to speak at the CEO Institute on ‘The power of connection for business: social networking’. I painted a picture of where social media fits in the overall public relations and communication plans of a business and explained where the opportunities to engage on these platforms for businesses are.
The presentation generated some very important questions from the small and medium business owners attending the session. The four key points the group took away were:
1. Social media isn’t going anywhere
Whether you like it or not, social media is here to stay. And More >
9 tips to make your networking efforts work for your business
Aug 11th
Public relations (PR) is about raising visibility of your business to create greater awareness and eventually, understanding for what you stand for. The idea is that through this long-term process, your target market will start believing and feeling a certain way towards your organisation (hopefully positive!) and take action (i.e. buy your products or services, refer you to a friend, subscribe to your newsletter, etc.).
The PR ‘toolbox’, that is all the initiatives and activities at your disposal to raise visibility of your business, can really extend as far as your imagination takes it – from media coverage, events and awards More >
Mark Werman’s path to PR enlightenment
Aug 5th
In case you didn’t already know, DRPR runs a series of Public Relations ‘how-to’ workshops every few months, under the direction of inspirational mentor, Kim Larochelle.
It’s a 12-week program called PR Mentor and it runs for three hours one day a fortnight. The workshop serves as the perfect introduction to public relations, PR101 if you like, and is ideal for small businesses who want to learn the skills and strategies to initiate their own PR programs, or in-house marketing managers who require some extra guidance and knowledge in integrating PR into their current marketing strategy.
But don’t take our word More >
What’s a news story worth?
Jul 29th
As the News of The World saga gains momentum and the full extent of ethically-void journalism practices unfold, I can’t help but feel depressingly disillusioned.
Is this dark newsroom culture so inherent that at some point we are going to have to accept it? And what is the role of public relations in maintaining ethics and standards in news reporting?
I think it calls for a refresher course in Ethics 101!
There’s a plethora of ‘Ethical Codes’ out there, but one of the most comprehensive lists of PR ethics I found was the PRSA Code of Ethics.
Here is a crude summary of what More >
