Author Archives: Erin Lawley
Before turning to a thesaurus, consider this
Ever find yourself sitting at your desk, simultaneously staring at a draft of a writing project and an online thesaurus? You toggle back and forth between the two, looking for words that can substitute for those two or three terms … Continue reading
Refresher Course in Event Reporting
Earlier this month, I attended Leadership Health Care’s 10-Year Anniversary Delegation to Washington, D.C. In case you’re unfamiliar with it, Leadership Health Care is an initiative of the Nashville Health Care Council aimed at fostering the next generation of Nashville’s … Continue reading
What Does Media Consolidation Mean for Public Relations?
During the past few months, I’ve been fascinated by an ongoing story of media consolidation in Philadelphia. It has gotten me to thinking about how the collapse of competitive news markets across the country is affecting the public relations business. … Continue reading
PR Pros Push For Wikipedia Editing Rights
In November, our blog identified the inability of companies to edit their own Wikipedia pages as one of the biggest risks of having your business listed in the ubiquitous crowd-sourced online encyclopedia. Fearing that posts will become biased, Wikipedia does … Continue reading
Do MBAs Need More PR Training?
Thanks to the Public Relations Society of America, students seeking their master’s degree in business administration (MBA) might soon find themselves taking courses on public relations and crisis communications in addition to traditional offerings like accounting and finance. Earlier this … Continue reading
Working with Reporters: What to Expect
If there’s one thing I learned about reporters in my time as a journalist, it’s that every single one of them is different. In temperament, in style, in their receptiveness to being pitched by PR pros – every reporter is … Continue reading
The “Secret Sauce” of Good Media Relations
There are many ingredients that go into effective media relations. Having a good story or a knowledgeable and authoritative source to offer are, of course, two critical components. But responsiveness is the “secret sauce” of good media relations. It’s that … Continue reading
Google+ Open to the Masses
You no longer have to wait for an invitation to be part of Google+. After a 12-week Beta launch to a limited number of users, search engine giant Google last week opened its new social network to everyone – eliminating … Continue reading
When it comes to working with reporters, relationships rule
There are many factors that determine whether a reporter covers a story. Is there a news hook? Is the story compelling? Is it relevant to that media outlet’s readers, listeners or viewers? And so on. As a communications professional, you … Continue reading
The Print Versus Online News Debate
Not long ago, when I was standing on the other side of the fence that separates public relations and journalism, my temper nearly got the better of me when a PR friend told me a story about scoring local news … Continue reading
