Stuff that PR consultants just do
25th April 2023
Addictive snack boycott gets flamin’ good PR
You often hear people in the public relations profession say that PR is the best kind of advertising you can get.
But then again PR sceptics would argue that we would say that wouldn’t we.
Yet if you take a closer look at the latest newspaper headlines about a popular children’s snack, which is currently in the […]
Starbucks CEO called me to apologise
Imagine my surprise when the CEO of Starbucks for the UK called me just 40 minutes after I emailed him to complain about a problem I’d had at one of its outlets.
I’ll admit it, I was a like a rabbit in the headlights as it was the last thing I expected when Kris Engskov called, introduced […]
TripAdvisor cheat trips up on fake hotel reviews
Glowing reviews on TripAdvisor about your hotel, B&B or restaurant can do wonders for business.
But, as we’ve so often seen time and time again, if those reviews have been manufactured with the self-serving purpose of misleading potential customers then it could spell PR disaster for virtually any establishment that gets caught red-handed.
We always advise clients […]
Tweet delete no PR saviour
For those of you who think that Twitter’s message deletion facility is the perfect get-out-of-jail card against misguided Tweets that you post in haste then think again.
Once you’ve clicked on the ‘Send’ button and released your message into the public domain it could already be too late to remove it before someone retweets your post […]
Use Twitter hashtags at your PR peril
If you’ve ever considered making use of the Twitter hashtag as part of a social media campaign then you’d wise to consider the dangers of hashtag hijacking before putting your company reputation at the mercy of a cynical online community.
Sometimes it can almost seem that for every successful hashtag marketing endeavour there is another one […]
New social media insurance highlights risks to reputation
Imagine that someone hacked into your Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter account and started posting malicious or derogatory comments using your personal or business profile.
Not only could the damage to your reputation be catastrophic, but you could also face a lengthy uphill battle to regain control of your account and bring legal action against the hackers […]
Five simple steps to kick-start your PR career
A career in public relations is both an exciting and rewarding one. And, going by the number of times we get asked about how we first managed to get our feet through the door, it still remains a profession that many people yearn for.
So, with many of this year’s graduates still looking for meaningful full-time […]
Farcical fresco restoration a PR masterpiece
When a hilarious news story about a Spanish pensioner’s botched repair to a 19th century church fresco made international headlines, virtually everyone in the public relations community knew exactly what to expect in the following few days.
Last week, TV and newspaper correspondents from around the world descended on the small town of Borja in the […]
Time your Tweets for top Twitter results
Ever noticed how some of your Twitter messages generate lots of interest while others almost vanish into the ether with little apparent impact or response?
Well, according to URL redirection and social bookmarking service bitly, the timing of your Tweets may be a far more significant factor than you think.
The company, which provides the default link […]
Twitter worth more than Olympic gold
Following Team GB’s astounding success at London 2012, you’d no doubt expect a long line of sponsors queuing up to sign lucrative contracts with our Olympic medal winners.
And you’d be right.
But if you thought that scale of success at the games was a measure of each Olympic athlete’s earning potential then you’d most definitely be […]
Phoney Facebook Likes undermine PR potential
With a long list of successful Facebook and Twitter campaigns already behind us, social media activity has firmly established itself as part of the service that we offer many of our clients.
But, although we remain keen advocates of Facebook as a public relations tool, one aspect of the social networking site has recently given us […]
If you’re gonna book it, don’t Thomas Cook it
To many people outside our profession, practising PR is just a simple routine process of writing press releases, issuing company statements and making a few phone calls.
If only it were that simple.
Take, for example, the case of troubled holiday business Thomas Cook, which is currently in the throes of another major PR crisis after hundreds […]
The misconceptions many people still have about PR
Although we’ve been plying our trade for more than 15 years now, it never ceases to amaze us just how many people have misconceptions about PR and how many clients still have misguided expectations of what we can and cannot do as a public relations agency.
Perhaps the most common misunderstanding that we find is that […]
Five simple mistakes to avoid on Twitter
Whenever a prospective client approaches us about our services, we always ask them whether they would like us to manage their Twitter account as part of a wider online PR campaign.
Yet you wouldn’t believe just how many times a new client will tell us that, having already tried the microblogging platform, they think that Twitter […]