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Have you ever come across a company that portrays themselves as one thing on Facebook (or Twitter or Instagram), but another thing on LinkedIn? And yet another persona on their website? This happens when companies don’t have a good idea of their “image.” Or, put more simply, they don’t know their key messages when it…

I was a shopper with a mission. I knew exactly what store I was going to, what product I was going to buy and my goal was to achieve said shopping trip as efficiently as possible. So as I strode purposefully into the large supermarket near my home to buy some floral bouquets, I was…

Is the talk of the upcoming 2020 presidential election already making you shudder when you look at your social media channels? Is tuning out is the answer? Maybe that’s a good option for the current political cycle, but I think there’s too much tuning out on other fronts. Consider how many of us are tuning…

I’ve written about crisis communications on several occasions, even publishing an e-book just over a year ago. Today, I just want to remind you that a business crisis can take many forms, including: Fire, flood, natural disaster Environmental/industrial accident Inappropriate/criminal behavior by an employee Injury/death of an employee Violence or criminal activity at a workplace…

The field of public relations requires several skills, among them: strong writing skills, understanding how to target the correct media outlet for a story, being able to succinctly deliver a pitch to a reporter (in one minute or less) and, finally, persistence. For me, persistence is about putting in hard work and not giving up….

Your business’s website competes with millions of other websites. No doubt, you want your site to come up at the top of search engines when people are searching for your product or service. Website rank is based on dozens of factors, but it is an indication of your website’s popularity (for example, Google is ranked…

“Just say no.” That phrase was popular in the 1980s and 90s to help kids say no to illegal drug use. Today, I’m suggesting we just say “no” if a potential business opportunity is not a fit for you and your company. Now this may strike you as a little odd since I’m usually writing…

Questions. So many careers depend on them: sales people, doctors, nurses, teachers, journalists, attorneys — the list goes on and on. I’ve written before about the importance of asking questions. As professional communicators, my team and I find that our work often depends on questions. When speaking to a reporter who wants to contact a…

Have you noticed the recent preoccupation with zombies in television, movies and video games (think “Walking Dead,” “Z Nation” and “World War Z”)? And what is a zombie, anyway?  Well, according to Dictionary.com and Wikipedia, a zombie is a corpse “reanimated through various methods, most commonly magic.” But what I want to know is: are…

“Sometimes I feel like I work in a zoo.” That was the comment shared with me by an employee of a business I was visiting. No, she wasn’t referring to her coworkers. She was talking about the plethora of animals in the office – people’s pets (dogs of all sizes and shapes from what I…