Congratulations, you’ve landed your public relations client a briefing with an important reporter or industry analyst! The hard part is over, or is it? Not quite. Now you need to make sure your client is adequately prepared for the interview. You can do a prep call, but what really helps executives or other spokespeople get ready for these important meetings is a briefing document, aka a briefing sheet. If several briefings are taking place in a condensed timeframe, such as for a trade show, these sheets might be upsized to a formal briefing book. 

While public relations is a creative field, a briefing document requires quite a bit of preparation as it incorporates all the nuts and bolts to make an interview run smoothly. A calendar invite will take care of simple things like time and date, but more in-depth info is needed  on what the reporter or analyst is interested in. Spokespeople are always on the go and might be reading your briefing document on a plane, train...

Pitching top publications is rarely easy – you not only need good relationships with reporters, you need a good story to tell. The same is true with landing new clients – the story you tell about your company, its strategy and its successes are critically important. The bottom line: Even PR pros who have been at both of these tasks for a long time sometimes need a little help from their friends.

We asked four PR professionals – Patricia Baronowski-Schneider, president and CEO of Pristine Advisers; Joyce Lofstrom, owner and principal at Joyce Lofstrom & Associates; Shirley Johnson, founder and owner of Stage 1 Public Relations, and Ronai Rivera, owner at Anomaly the Agency – for their advice for new public relations professionals, and who they turn to for a new perspective when they need it.  

Remote PR Jobs: If you were starting out in PR today, what are the 2-3 things you wish you knew?  

Lofstrom: I wish I had design skills to use for...

“I want to be quoted as an expert in [insert outlet here].” 

As remote PR professionals, we certainly hear that a lot. While it’s easy to retort, “well, ARE YOU an expert?” it’s important to remember that anyone that wants to be quoted does think they indeed are an expert and have valuable things to say to the audience(s) of their target publications. Oftentimes, however, they want to be quoted simply for the sake of talking about their company and selling more stuff. And that’s the wrong way to approach the problem.

Reporters and editors aren’t fools. They know a simple mention or a quote from a popular blog or publication can help companies get a lot of attention from customers and other media. That’s why they’re discerning about what types of articles they write and the sources they choose. They need to make sure that the topic is of interest to their audience because that means more page views, and of course, more...

Gaining traction with the “media that matters” in the B2B market is not just about pitching and press releases. For companies to meet their marketing and business goals, they need to work with their PR partners to develop a comprehensive strategy that’s built on: 

• Targeted research and relationship building
• Compelling pitches and strategic outreach
• Targeted analysis post-campaign

 We asked three PR professionals with clients in the B2B sector – Dana Sullivan Kilroy, principal at The Ferraro Group, Laura Borgstede, founder and CEO of Calysto Communications, and Shirley Johnson, founder and owner of Stage 1 Public Relations – for their tips and strategies for getting meaningful coverage for their B2B clients.

Remote PR Jobs: What is the best piece of advice you can give a new PR professional when they enter the B2B space? 

Borgstede: Do the research. Learn your industry inside and out. Take the time to read the top industry...

The pandemic has forever changed the way businesses communicate and conduct marketing activities. Across industries, live events have been cancelled or performed remotely, publications have folded and new ones have emerged, and reporters and editors that cover certain industries  are changing roles at a rapid pace. 

Remote PR professionals adjusted to the trials of the work-from-home environment quite easily because most of us were already in this situation permanently. What changed was that our clients were also working from home, as were the reporters, editors and analysts that cover our clients’ industries. Over the past two years, we have become intimately familiar with the day-to-day ongoings inside of people’s homes via Zoom and other video platforms. As we move into 2022, it looks to be more of the same.

Adjusting to the New Normal

As we adjust to this ongoing “new normal,” it is a good time to make some resolutions to ensure every effort...

The past 18 months have been challenging for businesses, but none more so than small and midsize businesses (SMBs). They’ve had to scramble and pivot to stay relevant in a COVID world. Despite the challenges, many have not only survived, but thrived, and are ready to grow. For some, that means launching a PR strategy to help bolster their brand and differentiate themselves from their competitors.

We asked four PR professionals that work with SMBs— Patricia Baronowski-Schneider, president and CEO of Pristine Advisers; Ronai Rivera, owner at Anomaly the Agency; Colin Bennett, founder and owner of C.L. Bennett PR, and Luiza Leal, marketing specialist and professional writer—for tips and strategies for approaching these companies as they prepare to move forward post-COVID.

Listening is Key

Remote PR Jobs: What is the best piece of advice you can give a new PR professional when they are targeting the SMB space?

 Baronowski-Schneider: I believe the best piece of...

 Many industries have been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and perhaps no more so than retail. In 2020, retailers had to pivot quickly to keep pace with changes in customer behavior as an increasing number of shoppers took advantage of online or “buy online pick up in store” opportunities. Many retailers were wildly successful in their pivots and provide some good strategies that other industries can follow. As we enter the busiest shopping season of the year, here are some “lessons learned” from retail that PR Pros should take note of:

1. How to listen and adapt to your audience’s needs swiftly 

Despite their desire to get out of the house, many consumers are still leery about in-store shopping, and many have turned to online shopping. In fact, according to Digital Commerce 360, one in six dollars in Q3 2021 was spent online. To accommodate this change in customer behavior, many retailers have opted to modify their Black Friday deals...

Gift guides are known as the holy grail of product PR. Get placed in the right ones, and your product is sure to find success. Many high circulation outlets have long lead times for printing, so they have already closed their gift guides for the 2021 holiday season (and so has Oprah, who has already announced her Favorite Things for the 2021 holidays). There are, however, hundreds of online gift guides for national publications, popular blogs and social media that can provide tremendous exposure for your products. It’s just a matter of locating them, determining who to pitch, and of course, what to pitch. 

One thing to keep in mind is that gift guides are highly competitive. When you are pitching for “regular” opportunities, each pitch likely tells a different story. When it comes to gift guides, every company is pitching for the same or similar products. The more you can differentiate your product and tell a story about it, the more likely you are to be...

As a remote PR professional, you’re likely aware of the industry tools that can help you get more coverage for your clients. Two of our favorites have been around for a long time and have developed a huge fan base: HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and ProfNet. Each works as a real-time, modern day editorial calendar—the reporter spells out what specific story they are working on and then, based on these descriptions, solicits pitches and responses from expert sources. 

What are HARO and ProfNet?

HARO is a free resource for both journalists and sources, and is supported by advertising revenue (although there is a paid version that allows you to receive queries early). ProfNet, meanwhile, is free for journalists placing requests, but subscription-based for those who wish to respond. ProfNet allows for a little more customization, allowing users to select the specific types of opportunities they want to receive. Both services send out an email a few times a day with requests...

Mental Health is one of the most important topics of discussion in recent times and rightfully so. As anyone working at home over the past 18 months can tell you, staring at the same four walls every day is not always good for the soul—or the mind. Those that were already working from home, such as remote PR professionals, were especially hard hit when the quarantine locked everything down; not only were they staying at home for work, but now they also couldn’t leave it for pleasure. That negatively impacted mental health for many.

Although restrictions are lifting, mental health should still be top of mind for remote PR professionals. Yes, that means taking better care of YOU and understanding how your actions can encourage others to protect your mental health as well. 

Bring on the Fuzzy Slippers

Let’s face it, working remotely has some definite perks. For example, no one takes the last cup of coffee and leaves the pot on the burner, and no one’s...