Dennis Rutzou Public Relations
Posts tagged communication
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 >
PR – a strategic discipline or a story telling exercise?
May 5th
I had a final catch up with one of my PR mentees this morning who’s been part of the PR Mentor program I’ve just completed running, and he was telling me that one of the things the program made him aware of is the importance of discipline. Not the media tips or the ‘how to’ for social media, but the actual discipline required for public relations to be effective.
So it was quite ironic that 30 minutes later, back at my desk, I was reading these exact words in Craig Pearce’s Public relations 2011: issues, insights and ideas report: “Public relations strategy More >
Changing attitudes
Apr 7th
Dominating the news of late is the recent controversy surrounding the culture of the Australian Armed Forces in relation to bullying, sexism and an ignorant approach to the systemic problems that seem fairly deep seated within the ranks. This week was also the sentencing of a Melbourne café owner where several workers bullied an apprentice to the point of suicide.
Aside from the obvious systemic failures in both these circumstances, I think another factor at play is in one word, ‘attitude’.
A negative attitude breeds intolerance, persecution and in less serious scenarios than the ones mentioned above, a considerable reduction in productivity.
DRPR’s More >
Exploding the urban myth around media contacts
Mar 24th
A question which is almost always raised by the potential client during the proposal presentation meeting is: “How good are your media contacts?”
Behind the question is the belief that good media contacts are essential to get a story published and that there is some sort of secret society that only journalists and PR people are members of.
Sure media contacts are of some value but their importance within a PR program are much overstated.
If you are a PR person who is known and trusted by the journalist, they are more likely to answer your telephone call, or call back, other than More >
The media: five rules of engagement
Mar 14th
Last Friday was the ‘Liaising with the media’ session of the PR Mentor program I’m running for small businesses. As public relations practitioners, there are behaviours which are just second nature to us when it comes to contacting journalists. But for small business owners like my ‘PR mentees’, this unfamiliar territory can be a little… nerve-racking.
So here are my top five rules of engagement which will make your next media call much more informed, tailored and most likely, successful.
1. Understand the media
A good place to start is by reading the publication, listening to the radio program or watching the television More >
Qantas has a technical glitch with media relations
Mar 3rd
QANTAS CEO Alan Joyce announced at a Senate inquiry in Canberra this week that “We [QANTAS] have a commitment to safety leadership”, and followed it with “somewhere in the world a QANTAS group plane takes off every second and there’s only a ‘technical problem’ every four minutes”. If you do the maths, that equates to 1 in every 240 planes having some form of malfunction, a fact which doesn’t put travelers at ease especially considering the escalating number of engine problems and recent scrutiny over pilot training.
Joyce blames “…the press interest and the press scrutiny,” for the rising fear and More >
“We haven’t set a budget for PR…”
Feb 17th
“We haven’t set a budget for PR, but that’s not a problem, just tell us how much you need to do the job properly”
You know that even after all my years in PR I have never ever heard that phrase uttered by any potential client.
I was reminded of it recently when a potential client we were pitching to said: “We don’t have much of a budget, so we’ll need to work on the minimum.” What is even more curious, he thought he was the first person to tell me this.
Potential clients with no PR budget?
What is it with PR More >
