Public Relations

This is our public relations blog.

Shoo, Fly! Don’t Bother Me – Hey, Wait a Second!

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This week, The New York Times published an article – Swatting at a Swarm of Public Relations Spam – about the number of unwanted emails reporters’ field from PR professionals every day. The premise?  Because PR professionals have unlimited access to reporters’ contact information through media databases such as Cision and  Vocus, we are flooding their inboxes with emails and story ideas completely irrelevant to their beats.

In this PR professional’s opinion, it was a bit of a low blow for “The Haggler” to claim that everyone in PR sends nothing but un-researched pitches and mindless spam.

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4 Steps to Take When Google Maps Gets It Wrong

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Search engine optimization.  It’s one of the hottest services in public relations right now, and for good reason; every business wants to appear before its competitors in Google Search results. 

One basic element that should be part of every SEO program is claiming your company’s location on Google Places for Business.  While we’ve done that for our agency and for many of our clients, something strange happened last week that we hadn’t encountered before.

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Millennials: An Infographic

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Intern Maureen Bell created an infographic for us with some interesting statistics about her millennial cohorts.

The Thrill of Operations

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I know what you’re thinking. But really, managing operations for a public relations firm is no small task and requires keeping track of many moving parts. It’s definitely challenging and indeed, it can be thrilling.

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Flying the Coop

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My name is Blair Kahora Cardinal, and I’m about to fly the coop. 

In late December, my husband and I are due with our first Baby Bird Cardinal. Not only are we scrambling to assemble the nursery and read every parenting book on the planet, but I’m also hustling in the office to create smooth account transitions for my clients and colleagues. What I’ve found is that there’s no shortage of things to consider when you’re going to be out for three months.

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Teaching a Semi-Old Dog New Tricks

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I can’t officially categorize myself as an old dog, but after nearly 14 years in PR, I think I qualify as a semi-old dog.

Upon college graduation, I entered the workforce as an assistant at a boutique, Philadelphia-based PR agency whose client base consisted of large, national consumer accounts. I worked my way up the ranks there for almost 12 years. I had a minor stint in corporate communications at a restaurant franchise, but eventually returned to the boutique agency and stayed until it closed its doors.

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Four PR Lessons I’ve Learned Playing Softball

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Buchanan Public Relations, Philadelphia Public Relations Agency

Just last week, I submitted a video and resume, hoping to become one of the next Phillies Ballgirls (shout-out to everyone at Buchanan PR here for taking part in my vid!).
 
Sure, having a background in softball helps a great deal with my application, but knowledge of public relations is just as important. Being a Phillies Ballgirl is more than simply fielding foul balls; it’s attending charitable events, pursuing public speaking opportunities and always putting your best foot forward to represent the Philadelphia community. This got me thinking. There are many other ways in which softball, baseball and public relations are related. Here are four lessons I’ve learned since starting my internship at Buchanan PR exactly one month ago:

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PR Shutdown

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Buchanan Public Relations, Philadelphia Public Relations AgencyWith the federal government shutdown and its never-ending ripple effect on everything from the global economy to the corner store, I began to wonder what would happen if the PR field were to experience a similar “shutdown.”  What ripple effects would result?  Who would be to blame?  When would it end?

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The Oldest in the Office

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I realized the other day that each of our three interns this fall is younger than my oldest child.  I’ve long been the elder stateswoman at Buchanan PR, but now I feel officially old.  So I’ve been thinking about all that has changed in the PR/media world since I was in my early 20s, and all that has not.

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5 Things We Learned from a Dog Trainer

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By Anne Buchanan and Emily DiTomo

We are big believers in training and development for our staff. That commitment also extends to our canine workers. When Anne adopted a timid shelter dog named Lacey, her early visits to the office often resulted in chaos. Emily’s dog Romeo became very protective of his turf; Lacey disintegrated into a puddle of nerves – sometimes literally. The combination of a very confident, outgoing poodle and a fearful Rottweiler / cattle dog blend created tension for dogs and humans alike.

And so we called upon Wendy Young of Progressive Dog Training to pay us a house…errr, office…call. Romy and Lacey with Wendy

She spent nearly three hours with us. We can happily report that there is a new doggie equilibrium in the office. We also were struck by how many canine lessons can also be applied to PR.

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