Public Relations

This is our public relations blog.

It’s Not What You’re Not

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It’s what you are.

According to Wikipedia, a not-for-profit agency is an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals rather than distributing them as profit or dividends. That doesn’t sound like a description of what something is not to me. It sounds like what it is!

“Not-for-profit” is a bad way to describe what these organizations are. Nonprofits exist for a purpose. They’re pro-mission. They do all kinds of good things for society and in the world. Not for nothing, but there’s a need for some re-branding here.

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The Oft-Overlooked Boilerplate

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This week’s blog post comes to us from our friends at GroundFloorMedia, PRGN’s Denver affiliate. Amanda Brannum reminds us of the importance of the boilerplate.Buchanan Public Relations

I came across this wonderful reminder about the often overlooked and under-appreciated boilerplate today via Ragan.com – “The Secret Formula for Writing Boilerplate.” So often, people want to include everything and the kitchen sink in their company’s boilerplate – or, as Russell Working points out, they want to fill it with flowery-sounding jargon. However, as PR pros, we need to remind clients that boilerplates are meant to be simple, straightforward company descriptions that tell what your company is and what it does.

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The Importance of Building Your Personal Brand

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Recently, a few of us at Buchanan PR had the opportunity to travel to one of our client’s offices in Pittsburgh to perform a LinkedIn training session. We spent countless hours analyzing employees’ existing profiles and preparing customized guides for each profile to become fully optimized. But why is taking the time to enhance a social media profile so important? Because it’s part of your personal brand.Buchanan Public Relations, Philadelphia Public Relations Agency, Megan Keohane, LinkedIn, personal branding

Using social media is just one example of an easy (and often free) way to build a brand around your expertise. As professionals, we so often get caught up in bettering the company or the client that it’s easy to forget the importance of the people who make up those organizations.

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5 Things That Public Relations and Ice Cream Have in Common

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In mid-2013, Buchanan PR received a super-secret phone call asking us to meet in Pottsville, PA to discuss public relations for a soon-to-be-launched product. That chance call is what brings us to this blog post. Exactly one year ago – to the day – we helped to re-launch one of the most fun products (and companies) I’ve ever had the pleasure to represent – Yuengling’s Ice Cream!

Buchanan PR and David Yuengling Celebrate a Sweet PR Future over Yuengling's Ice Cream

As the Yuengling’s Ice Cream account lead, it seems quite fitting that my blog post falls on the one-year anniversary of the re-launch. But rather than get into all of the technical details of re-launching a brand, I thought I’d have a little fun and share the five ways that public relations is like ice cream.

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5 Crisis Communication Tips from the Real-Life Olivia Pope

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What are the top tricks of the trade in crisis communications? Account Supervisor Kathleen McFadden heard first-hand recently from expert Judy Smith, who was the inspiration for the lead character in TV’s hit “Scandal.”

5 Things I Learned at the 20/20 Social Media Summit

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This week’s blog post comes from Tyler Arnold, an Account Executive and Digital Strategist at Landis Communications, our PRGN affiliate agency in San Francisco.  Tyler shares some of the lessons he learned at a recent social media summit.

I had the opportunity to attend last month’s PR News 20/20 Social Media Summit in San Francisco and due to the sheer volume of similar events, I didn’t know quite what to expect. The hefty entrance fee left me pondering how valuable the conference would be, which claimed to “feature key influencers and operators in social media, sharing their knowledge and experience in a full day of eye-opening sessions.”

As soon as I arrived, however, I was sold.

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Why Global PR Firm Edelman Received Backlash for Recent Blog Post about Robin Williams’ Death

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Global PR giant, Edelman, has been in the hot seat lately due to a blog post that the firm’s Media Relations Strategy EVP, Lisa Kovitz, wrote just 24 hours after Robin Williams’ death. In it, she states that his suicide created a “PR opportunity” for groups advocating for better treatment of mental illness.

The post reads: His death yesterday created a carpe diem moment for mental health professionals and those people who have suffered with depression and want to make a point about the condition and the system that treats it.

It later goes on to read: At Edelman, we are in the business of helping our clients create or join public conversations. We know that appropriate organizations can elevate a public conversation to help those in need. We and our clients can learn from this situation.

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Hitting a Home Run with the Media

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Professional baseball player. Public relations professional. The two couldn’t be more different, right? baseball

With this being my last week as an intern with Buchanan Public Relations, I thought about writing my blog post on a clichéd topic like “5 Things I Learned as an Intern.” But, what fun is that? So, as I started to write this post, I reflected on what I learned this summer about the PR industry. As an avid sports fan, my thoughts went immediately to sports, and I realized that public relations professionals are a lot like baseball players.

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Public Speaking? No Sweat!

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Does the idea of public speaking make you break out in a sweat? Account coordinator Megan Keohane has become a pro, and has a few tips to ease the jitters in this week’s blog post.

Make Your Good Nonprofit Board a Great One

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“To make the greatest impact on society requires first and foremost a great organization.”                      – Jim Collins

Consider this view of nonprofit Board members:

  • Necessary evil (for legal reasons)
  • Impediment to progress
  • Source of busy work for staff
  • Meddlesome micromanagers
  • Power mongers

As opposed to this one:

  • Stewards of public trust
  • Guardians of the mission
  • Ambassadors for the organization
  • Strategic partners with staff
  • Experienced civic leaders

If you’re on the Board of a nonprofit, I’m sure you’d rather be viewed the second way. So what can you do to make your Board great? What skills and behaviors can you bring to the Board table to ensure that your organization’s beneficiaries are being served by the best Directors possible?

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