Nothing. Squat. Zilch. Nada. No, seriously – there is absolutely nothing wrong with the PR industry. There’s plenty wrong with some of the people in it, but is that the industry’s fault? No – it’s the person’s fault for being an asshat. An industry, by definition, is either a collection of businesses, or the building of an idea around something or someone. Not a living, breathing person – but a collective of many things. So blaming a whole industry for…

There’s an old saying that any publicity is good publicity – but is it? Kenneth Cole might be questioning it, after the tweet in the image above – that tied his retail chain’s sale into the devastating events currently happening in Egypt – was picked up and discussed on various PR and marketing blogs and news sites. I’ve also written on here before about examples of bad PR and PR that takes advantage of tragic or upsetting situations, and questioned…

I read a post over at Mom Blog Magazine that left me shaking my head the further I read, and reinforced why so many bloggers don’t like PR agencies. Entitled Why PR People Get Paid And You Don’t, it was a post by an anonymous PR professional (“Sarah”) who, in her own words, is “an actual employee at an actual PR company; one you’ve heard of if you’ve heard of any.” Basically, the post was an “explanation” of why bloggers…

Yesterday I shared two posts I thought you should read over at the Spin Sucks blog. One of them was by Gini Dietrich and looked at how the PR industry is letting itself down when it comes to blogger outreach programs. This post in particular has sparked a great debate in the comments section on good PR, poor PR and more. It’s a great read and well worth checking out. Today, I want to share an example of a great…

Today sees a very cool event called Help a PR Pro Out, or HAPPO. Initiated by Arik Hanson and Valerie Simon, its aim is simple – to connect PR jobseekers with agencies and businesses with PR positions available. I’m honoured to be part of the “team” that’s bringing HAPPO to Toronto, along with PR guy supreme Dave Fleet, of Thornley Fallis. Below you’ll find some current job listings in the Toronto and GTA area – please retweet on Twitter (there’s…

There have been a lot of new definitions and suggestions coming to the fore over the last 12-18 months about what PR stands for. The traditional version is Public Relations, and has been since as long as anyone can remember. However, solid PR folks like David Mullen suggest it should be People Relations, as does online marketer and social media guy Ari Herzog in a post from earlier this year. Often it’s called Press Relations or Print Relations. I had…

You are not the story. You never have been. Not even in the “bad old days” before social media were you ever the story. You may have thought so. You may have fooled your clients into thinking they were lucky to have you because everyone listens to you. You may have blinded them with newspaper clippings and media endorsements. But that could just mean you know one good contact at a publication or TV and radio station. Your name very…

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock recently, you’ll know there’s been a whole host of blog posts written about where next for PR and marketing (and, to a degree, advertising). I’m guilty of discussing it, and there are some great points of view from a lot of great minds. I guess it’s only natural – we’re at a crossroads for information, after all, and the time is here to decide what path we want to take. Yet instead of…

This is a guest post from PR professional David Mullen, whose insights into the industry always intrigue me. I read his blog often and ask why many of his suggestions on how PR can evolve aren’t standard practice yet, and I’m delighted he’s sharing his views here today. You remember those days. You would run straight to your favorite diversion and play with reckless abandon until the bell rang. Or you’d start there and then visit two or three other…

Image by Chris Campbell via Flickr I had the good (?) fortune to sit down with the CEO of a PR agency in Toronto recently. He had been at a seminar I attended regarding converging technologies and mediums and how they fit into the role of the PR professional. We got chatting and decided to have lunch together. Now, I’m a pretty open guy to how businesses run themselves, but this lunch was an eye-opener. The conversation turned naturally to…