June marks my sixth month as the owner of a Comms shop. I worked with clients for a few years before I officially launched Proper Propaganda in January, but had the safety net of a salaried job to fall back on. This business owner thing has been a ride. Here…
The blogosphere is a veritable 24/7/365 help-a-thon. It’s overflowing with tips to create a better, smarter you. It got me thinking, what if you wanted to do the opposite? What if you were seeking to become dumber? Well, I’ve got a few ideas I’ve tried that really work. Here are…
I, and others, have talked a lot about the differences between bloggers and journalists. A recent episode at my wife’s store brought the wide chasm between the two camps to light. The shop’s prepared food was reviewed by a journo from the local English language daily. Before I go any further, let me say…
During the summer, I work on events a lot. Similar to war, event PR is super fluid. You need a plan at the outset, but once battle begins you must be flexible to win the day. Knowing who and what you’re dealing with are critical to success. In the interest of…
As I’ve recently discussed, there are a myriad of misperceptions about PR. Thankfully, some in our industry are fighting the good fight and trying to educate clients, businesses, etc. on what public relations REALLY is. One such person is my friend Shonali Burke. She’s a force of nature (I often wonder…
The world is currently racked by tragedy. It’s everywhere. In times like these, there’s a perfectly natural tendency for those in PR to think that softer story pitches, unrelated to ongoing tragedy, are a waste of time. You might hear someone say, “The media don’t wanna hear about Good News…
Don’t let the title of this post fool you. I am not gonna hate on the press release. I think it has utility and is still an important arrow in the quiver of PR peeps (especially when multimedia content is included a la SMR or Multimedia Press Release). That said,…
I enjoy my job. Over the years, one of the best parts has been meeting a myriad of talented, thoughtful, professional journalists. The great ones are passionate people with an eye for detail and the ability to learn new things quickly. That said, in a general sense, there’s a few…
In the summer months, my day job is mostly event PR – specifically, charity runs, walks and rides. It is rewarding, largely because it presents unique challenges. If you’ve ever pitched media stories about covering charity events (the event itself, not pre or post event coverage) you know these are,…
The other day a friend was asking me about sourcing PR help. Basic questions about what to look for when engaging the services of an agent or agency. The conversation got me thinking about how easy it now is to check out a potential agent or agency. Go to a…