Dennis Rutzou Public Relations
Posts tagged PR mentor
Public relations – from mystical to matter of fact (a small business case study)
Oct 28th
PR to me has always been a little mystical. What is it about? Is it something we could do ourselves or do we need to engage a PR firm? As a not-for-profit business we wanted to take advantage of other mediums that we hadn’t thought about previously which could drive further awareness about our business and its benefits to our customers. Like many small businesses with so many options available, what are the best ways to get more ‘bang for your buck’ and be heard in a market where you can easily become ‘unheard’?
PR mentee, Sam Leet
The PR Mentor workshop which we recently completed with Kim More >
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 >
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 >
Social media – to jump or not to jump
Jun 9th
Have you gone through one day lately without hearing or reading the words ‘Facebook’, ‘Twitter’, ‘LinkedIn’, ‘YouTube’ or ‘social media’? If so, you must be on a holiday on a desert island (without your smartphone!).
Everyone is talking about them.
Through my engagement with small businesses, I hear a lot of people telling them: “You should really be on Facebook! Are you on Twitter?”.
There’s no secret here, social media does offer great opportunities for business. But for a small business with limited resources, the social media discourse is one that can be confusing, daunting or even scary!
So when should a small business More >
PR mentoring for small businesses – May kick off
Mar 17th
Last February, we launched a new PR training and mentoring program specifically tailored to small business owners: PR Mentor .
PR Mentor - Kim Larochelle
The feedback from participants in the PR Mentor program has been so positive that we’ve decided to run the program again starting on Friday, 27 May.
The PR Mentor program is ideal for:
- Small business owners who want to get the edge within their industry- Start up businesses needing to get the word out about their new services or products - Solo marketing managers who don’t have PR experience and want to gain greater responsibility in planning 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 >
Enthusiasm for public relations
Sep 1st
Dennis fresh faced and enthusiastic!
I started my public relations career as a bright eyed 19 and 3/4 year old after a brief stint in journalism. You could say I was catapulted into PR as the newspaper had closed down.
Interesting, as a young aspiring journalist I had a low opinion of PR people who we derisively called ‘the gin and tonic men’. There were very few females in PR in those days although one of the joint managing directors of the consultancy I joined was a female – Esta Handfield.
I was only marginally keen at the interview (which had been organised More >
