You may have heard it said that no good deed goes unpunished but sometimes, as in the case of corporate social responsibility, good deeds will be richly rewarded. A recent study conducted by Cone Communications and Echo Research points to the high expectation that consumers have today for a company to be a good corporate citizen – and also highlights the benefits to be gained from responsible business practices.
This week officially marks the beginning of my Tough Mudder training. The race will take place in April, so I’m following a 12-week plan to prepare my body for what it’s about to endure. Although I’ve always considered myself to be in fair shape, I’m mentally preparing for this to be one of the most difficult physical challenges that I’ve faced to- date, and I am sure I’ll hit a few bumps in the road along the way.
Here are a few techniques that I’ve learned to help tackle the obstacles:
The famed humorist Margo Kaufman once said, “One person’s mess is merely another person’s filing system.” While many professionals can probably relate to this saying, nowhere does it ring more true than in in the world of Public Relations. Throughout my career, I have been fascinated by the creative organizational systems my colleagues have invented – everything from color-coded notebooks and matching highlighters for each client to spreadsheets tracking every single reporter interaction. 
A self-confessed Type A, I have been known to write a To-Do list (or 500). For those with New Year’s resolutions to become better organized at the office, here are some of my top tips:
We have been shaking our heads at some of the things we’ve heard and read lately in supposedly professional communications. Perhaps the end of the year is a good time to review some grammar tips. We congratulate the world on having mostly figured out there/their/they’re and it’s/its, but some fairly simple rules still seem to trip people up. Time to remedy that.
In April 2012, I was fortunate enough to travel to Cape Town, South Africa, to attend the Public Relations Global Network’s semi-annual meeting. We marked PRGN’s 20th anniversary by building a house for an impoverished family.
I found South Africa to be a vibrant and exhilarating country, full of hope and possibility. Curious to understand how the country made sense of its troubled past, I soon discovered one universal truth in South Africa: Everywhere I traveled, people of all colors, ages and backgrounds spoke reverentially of Nelson Mandela.
Today, I asked two friends whose lives have been directly touched by Nelson Mandela to reflect on what he meant to them.
If your career in public relations spans a long enough period, you will eventually encounter the frustration of a stalled account. For whatever the reason, getting traction on an account is proving difficult. 
The reasons for a stalled account can vary. You may be getting little direction from your client. The client may have no time for you, its agency. Or – let’s say it out loud – the client may be boring or have nothing newsworthy to share.
What do you do when things get stuck on an account? Here are five tips to help get your creative juices flowing and uncover something you can merchandise.
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.
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.
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.
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.
