PR roles and how they relate to the PR mindset.
Mike and Amy talk about the different types of roles played in the PR game. Entire jobs could encompass just one of the roles, but more often than not PR people dabble within all of these roles.
Before digging into the types of PR roles, Amy focused on the mindset successful PR people need to have. No matter where you take your career, the PR mindset can guide you towards excellence in any field, beyond this industry. This mindset incorporates three central elements: never giving up, maximizing all campaigns, and serving as the best “secretary” for clients and media.
Listen for an in-depth discussion as Mike & Amy unpack each category. In fact, there are so many exciting roles PR people can play, Mike pointed out that we were missing some, such as public affairs specialist, the digital maximizer and the PIO.
Throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington, PRSA provides members with networking, mentorship, skill building and professional development opportunities – whether you are a new professional fresh out of college or a skilled expert with 20 years in the industry. Check out PRSAoregon.org for more information on how membership can help you grow and connect.
This week I hopped on the phone with Gini Dietrich, all the way across the country in Chicago. If you couldn’t tell from our conversation, we immediately felt like fast friends. Gini is best known for her role launching and leading Spin Sucks, which is a professional development hub for PR and marketing professionals. She is also the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, Inc., a PR and communications firm that “runs like a well-oiled machine.”
At the helm of the very active blog that is Spin Sucks, Gini sends out newsletters every day to thousands of subscribers. There is also a members-only component called Spin Sucks Pro that offers PR and marketing courses online. What was originally a blog, Spin Sucks actually morphed into is own book, written by….drumroll please….Gini Dietrich of course! The book, officially called “Spin Sucks: Communication and Reputation Management in the Digital Age” is available on Amazon. As Gini walked us through her experience we discover that she honed her book-writing chops first with “Marketing in the Round,” which she co-authored with Geoff Livingston, also available on Amazon.
After talking about how these books came together in conjunction with Spin Sucks, running a firm, co-hosting the podcast, Inside PR, and how she manages to do it all with a small child, we delved into the true meaning of Spin Sucks — uncovering the various misconceptions PR people are faced when encountering the public. For Gini, the “spin doctor” reputation runs rampant, but I find that people exaggerate how fancy and fabulous PR jobs are.
We also discussed some very big topics like: what PR actually is, how it is different from marketing, and why it matters. But most importantly we talked about how worried Gini is for our industry.
Listen to her insight as she describes a possible “takeover of PR.” And new pro’s will most definitely be empowered hearing Gini’s one piece of advice for people coming up in the industry.
Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. She is also the lead blogger at the PR and marketing blog, Spin Sucks, author of the book Spin Sucks, co-author of Marketing In the Round, and co-host of Inside PR, a weekly podcast about communications and social media.
Catch Gini speaking at these upcoming conferences: Content Marketing World, September 3 – 6 in Cleveland, Ohio and PRSA’s 2019 International Conference, October 20 – 22 in San Diego, California.
Connect and follow Gini on social media:
Throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington, PRSA provides members with networking, mentorship, skill building and professional development opportunities – whether you are a new professional fresh out of college or a skilled expert with 20 years in the industry. Check out PRSAoregon.org for more information on how membership can help you grow and connect.
Since Suzanne Stevens, editor of the Portland Business Journal, is going to be keynoting PRSA Oregon’s CommCon2019 event coming up on May 3rd, we thought this would be a perfect time to re-air this interview we did with her a while back. It can’t hurt that this is one of my favorite episodes…because it is really helpful! She jam packs this with real tips on how to get covered in the Business Journal. Any time anyone says that they want to get into the Business Journal, I automatically direct them to this episode. At this point no one has any business pitching the Business Journal if they can’t take the time to listen to this episode…You’ll see what I mean…
For more info and tickets to CommCon, where Mike Rosenberg is also speaking about the convergence of PR & Digital, visit PRSAOregon.org.
If you ever wanted to get into the Portland Business Journal (PBJ), you MUST listen to this or at least read our write up of tips from PBJ Editor, Suzanne Stevens. She gave so much advice that I was tempted to pull out a pen and paper in the middle of the interview and start taking notes!
Connor and I had fun getting to know Suzanne on a personal level. Self-defined as someone with a bit of “wanderlust” who loves to travel, Suzanne has lived in places as varied as Louisville, Charlotte and New York. She spent 12 years working for NPR before entering print journalism, but once she exited radio she’s been “all print all the time.” An Oregon Business magazine editor position brought her to Portland — a town she’d been eyeing like many current transplants. She then came over to the PBJ where she first worked as the Digital Editor and is now going on year three as Editor.
The Portland Business Journal is a weekly publication released each Friday that is revered by local business executives. Its email newsletters hit the in-boxes of movers and shakers throughout the city on a daily basis. Subscribers have the option of receiving more frequent newsletters focusing on a specific industries (Healthcare, Real Estate, Tech/Start ups).
Here’s an in-depth guide:
On a “good day,” 200 emails await Suzanne in her morning in-box, but messages can reach upwards of 400. “That’s because I’m the editor. The reporters probably get 100 new emails per day,” Suzanne clarified. Make no mistake — the majority of these emails are from PRs! Everyone at the PBJ knows what they want from us, too — they even wrote an article about PR do’s and don’ts!
Suzanne loves PRs who do their homework to understand what the publication covers and to get a handle on what each reporter writes about. Best practice? Know who covers each beat and include a pitch about why the PBJ should cover your idea.
Suzanne explained the multitude of new product releases flooding her inbox that lack broad appeal. “Thousands of companies are releasing new products in Oregon. Why would we write about that?” Instead, Suzanne advised adding details like expanding staff, additional funding or bigger industry trends to catch their attention.
“Sell your story in one paragraph [less than 300 words],” Suzanne advised. “We’re looking for the ‘nut graph,’ which tells readers what’s coming if you stick with the story. We want to know if it impacts the business community.”
The prospect of exclusive content gets the PBJ really jazzed. If you haven’t already blasted your news all over town, you might consider contacting the PBJ first and offering an “exclusive.” But if the PBJ accepts, your story can’t be placed in other media outlets — so you might float the idea by your boss or client first.
Suzanne receives many pitches that are irrelevant to her role at the PBJ, but everyone makes it a daily practice to give all emails a cursory glance. Suzanne seems to be very easy going, considering how busy she is, and is happy to pass emails on to the right reporter. However, she’s careful to state that she doesn’t assign stories. “My seasoned staff know their beats better than I do.” More specifically, here’s when you’d email Suzanne:
Suzanne generously added that she’s happy to talk through ideas, provided you call at the right time. Here’s a typical week at the PBJ:
Throughout the week Suzanne is editing what comes across her desk, helping reporters organize upcoming stories, and planning future coverage.
Truth be told, getting business journal coverage can be tough. But if you remember to do your research and customize your materials before contacting them, you’ll not only increase your chances, you won’t inadvertently kill your future pitches as well. Oh, did you think newsrooms didn’t talk? Don’t be the person who sends the irrelevant pitches or calls excessively. Trust me, they will all know.
Suzanne is editor of the Portland Business Journal, overseeing the newsroom and guiding all news operations.
Connect and follow Suzanne on social media:
Throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington, PRSA provides members with networking, mentorship, skill building and professional development opportunities – whether you are a new professional fresh out of college or a skilled expert with 20 years in the industry. Check out PRSAoregon.org for more information on how membership can help you grow and connect.
This week I put my internal PR hat on and spoke with Chuck Gose, who is going to be keynoting at PRSA Oregon’s CommCon event on May 3rd. He is an internal communications thought leader who has his hands in many projects. Beyond keynoting at industry events around the globe, Chuck’s self-professed “day job” is Strategic Advisor at SocialChorus, an employee communications platform. He is also the founder of ICology (an internal communications podcast), co-creator of The Very Hungry Communicator (a book about the transformation of a hungry communicator), and he also hosts another couple of podcasts, such as the Chuck Chats series with bananatag.
At CommCon, Chuck plans on delivering a talk called “The Mind Matters,” which will delve into cognitive bias in communication. Chuck says that cognitive biases affect how we communicate, what we communicate and the channels we use. Out of the hundreds of biases, Chuck pulled about twelve that affect employee communications. He’ll get into the twelve biases at CommCon to help communicators to work towards eliminating their biases, or at least being aware of them, and then possibly even leveraging them within their effort to communicate better. This sure sounds fascinating to a former Psychology Major!
Then the conversation took us into the differences and similarities between internal and external communications, how podcasting can be an excellent internal comms tool and a career path which led him to specialize in internal comms.
For tickets and information about CommCon, themed “Communicating Through Chaos,” visit: PrsaOregon.org.
Chuck is a self-proclaimed Skyline Chili connoisseur and Duran Duran fan with nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, corporate communications, and internal communications. His passion and enthusiasm for the communications profession began early in his career at General Motors and Rolls-Royce, where he became fascinated by the positive impact internal communications can have on a company’s success.
He is the founder of ICology, a resource dedicated to interesting people doing interesting things in the world of internal communications. Chuck also hosts the ICology podcast, which features practitioners and experts sharing their advice and insights. A fresh new episode airs every week and is available wherever you listen to podcasts. ICology is all about starting the conversation about how communicators can do more. Can be more. And usually are more than they realize.
Connect and follow Chuck on social media:
Throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington, PRSA provides members with networking, mentorship, skill building and professional development opportunities – whether you are a new professional fresh out of college or a skilled expert with 20 years in the industry. Check out PRSAoregon.org for more information on how membership can help you grow and connect.
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PR Talk listeners can use the coupon code BetterExecute for a 15% discount.
I recently got to be a fly on the wall during the “What Recruiters Want” panel, co-organized by PRSA Oregon and Portland State University. We heard from three recruiters in diverse — yet comfortably similar — areas, including: PR, digital marketing, and the footwear/apparel industries.
The seasoned recruiters all had interesting insight to bring regarding the following topics:
Not only did they bring their experience as recruiters to the table, but they also drew from experience at previous jobs (especially at Nike!), rendering this insight invaluable for anyone who might be looking for a job.
Managing Director at PR Talent
Recruiting Manager at Logical Position
Recruiter for Global Footwear and Apparel Clients at Mathys + Potestio/The Creative Party® (most recently an in-house recruiter at Nike)
The panel was moderated by Erin Merz, Director of Marketing & Communications at PSU’s School of Business and a PRSA Oregon Member.
Throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington, PRSA provides members with networking, mentorship, skill building and professional development opportunities – whether you are a new professional fresh out of college or a skilled expert with 20 years in the industry. Check out PRSAoregon.org for more information on how membership can help you grow and connect.
In such a fast-paced, multi-faceted work environment, it can be tough to stay on top of everything. monday is the collaboration tool trusted by businesses of all kinds to help cut down the clutter and streamline productivity. Learn more at monday.com and signup for a free trial. You’ll see in no time why so many teams around the world are choosing monday for their project management needs.
PR Talk listeners can use the coupon code BetterExecute for a 15% discount.
There is a stereotype about the quintessential PR person and I used to be one of them. In this episode of PR Talk, Mike and I talk through the stereotype and how even though it is untrue, it is quite inhibiting to live within the stereotype if you possess some of the characteristics. Over the years, I’ve slowly pulled myself away from this stereotype. In fact, I delve even more into some of these personal topics in my new book, A Practical Guidebook to PR [working title], which will hopefully be available soon! 😀
The PR stereotype — or “Archetype” — is exhibited on both the outside and the inside. Outside appearances aren’t just about looks. How we act and what we’re involved in are ways we further augment outside appearances. Strictly appearance-speaking, many people think of the PR Archetype as a sorority/fraternity type, otherwise known as “preppy.” But if that person was still in high school, they are also likely to be involved in many, many, many activities, such as sports or clubs and they more than likely are in charge of something — whether that is their social clique, a student council committee, captain of the football team, or all of the above.
But what doesn’t always get examined is what’s going on “inside” this Archetype. They are most likely perfectionists, not only in how they appear on the outside but also how they treat themselves on the inside. To excel in PR, you do need to have some perfectionist tendencies but this episode touches on how perfectionism breeds fear. What’s funny is that I used to brag about being a perfectionist, but through personal development work I’ve recognized perfectionism as a weakness and sign of insecurity.
So, I’ve been working on letting go of my perfectionist tendencies bit by bit, pulling out the rebel that lives inside of me and every PR Archetype. We talk, and I write, about how the rebel needs to come in and shake things up. You can’t always recognize the rebel through appearances only. While I still look like my sorority girl self, my actions are different. I am not joining every group I get invited to and maybe not even sitting in the front row at conferences (?!). Most importantly. I am no longer hindered by the classic PR quality of perfectionism.
We must eschew the PR Archetype to move beyond the traditional boundaries of PR. Let’s look to other disciplines and the unique talents differing personalities can bring. The abundant types of PR and the way the industry is evolving ensures there’s room for all skill sets. PR has a place for the rebel—who is anyone who doesn’t fit the “norm.”
Throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington, PRSA provides members with networking, mentorship, skill building and professional development opportunities – whether you are a new professional fresh out of college or a skilled expert with 20 years in the industry. Check out PRSAoregon.org for more information on how membership can help you grow and connect.
In such a fast-paced, multi-faceted work environment, it can be tough to stay on top of everything. monday is the collaboration tool trusted by businesses of all kinds to help cut down the clutter and streamline productivity. Learn more at monday.com and signup for a free trial. You’ll see in no time why so many teams around the world are choosing monday for their project management needs.
PR Talk listeners can use the coupon code BetterExecute for a 15% discount.
