7 DIY PR Tips for Small Business Owners

Hands down, public relations is the single most overlooked marketing method in the small business promotional toolkit. Not utilizing PR, however, is inherently bananas when you think about its potential return on investment. The ability to generate thousands of engaged eyeballs on your product without spending oodles of cash is a skill most small businesses can’t afford to leave on the table. My handy-dandy DIY guide to PR can get you, dear reader, started on your very own PR journey today.

8 Ways to Stand Out as a Recent College Graduate in the PR Industry

I’ve come up with 8 tips to help you land your dream job, excel in it, and prove yourself as a recent college graduate in the ever so hectic and cluttered public relations industry.

Vendor Care is Often Overlooked in Service Businesses (And It’s a Shame)

by Richard Laermer Time for a frank discussion that doesn’t happen enough: There are a few instances when you need to say goodbye to a client, no matter how much you like or admire them. We all love working with great leaders and companies—especially when coupled with wads of funding—but money and a winning value…

The Customer Is Usually Pretty Darn Wrong

Let’s Change That Saying Once & For All In the 300 years during which I’ve worked in a service business, I find that the people who hire me are not looking to be right. They’re looking for me to tell them what is right. The very concept that somehow they know—because inherently they’ve done this…

Can Cannabis Be Inclusive?

It’s June 2019. Welcome to Pride Month. It’s the time of the year when the cannabis industry wants you to know how much it cares. Many of the biggest brands in cannabis are rolling out the red carpet for their LGBTQ+ fans—massive dispensary chain MedMen, popular delivery service Eaze, and Kush Queen cosmetics are a…

Startup PR Mentality: What’s Right & What’s Wrong?

Does your client thinks his startup is the greatest thing on earth? Your client is wrong. But who really cares? When it comes to “getting press” a startup chief has to be ready to take on all comers. That’s part of the problem with being a startup. The founders think it’s the best bread since…

Gumby: Mascot of Our Firm

In the 1950s and ‘60s, the green Gumby and his pal Pokey were TV fixtures as they joyfully lived the adventures kids dreamt of: going to the moon, jumping in and out of books’ fanciful tales, hanging out with people from far-off lands. Because he was a Claymation™ creation, he was eminently flexible and had…

Who Gives a Hit?

“They called you directly—so that is not like you did anything!” “We better get the credit for that!” “Man, can you believe it? They bypassed us and just called our client.” These scenarios are ridiculous at best, but they happen all too often in PR. They are about claiming the hit as opposed to working…

The Pitch That Cried Wolf

There are only so many reporters and bloggers covering the field or industry you play in, whether it’s automotive technology, software, clothing, or architectural design. With time and experience, you will wind up speaking to them all one day—or their brethren. In a world of instant communication and shrinking inner circles, a PR person who…