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Seven Apps for PR Pros on the Go

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Kellie Englehardt in blog 3 Comments

Public relations professionals are often on the go and looking for new ways to manage their time. There are thousands of smartphone apps designed to make working and life in general easier. Here are seven recommendations that can help both communicators and other business professionals who are on the go.

Applications for PR

  1. Flipboard – Free

    2. Ever wish all of your favorite social networks and websites could be viewed in one place? With Flipboard they can. Flipboard combines everything you enjoy reading and puts it into a magazine format for easy reading. This is perfect for public relation pros that need to keep up with both social media and the latest news. Flipboard is able to help you keep your eye on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Instagram, Flikr and more.

  2. HootSuite – Free

    3. Social media has become a major part of most public relations campaigns today. HootSuite provides an app that can help you manage all of your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare accounts in one simple location. It allows you to send or schedule updates in advance, along with helping keep track of the latest stats and important keywords being used.

  3. InstaPaper — Free

    4. See an article you would like to read, but don’t have time for it at the moment? InstaPaper is a simple solution to help fix this problem. By simply hitting save in your web browser, you can view the reading material later and in an offline environment. You can even use the app to look at articles your friends have posted to Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr.

  4. Dropbox – Free

    5. Forget a file that you need to work on? Dropbox is a great solution for storing all your documents, photos and videos. Once Dropbox is installed on your computer you can simply “drop” the files you need into the program for later access. Dropbox also makes it easy to share files with others.

  5. Evernote – Free

    6. Evernote is a great resource for gathering content beyond your desk. It helps you keep track of notes, voice memos, snapshots, ideas and more and then lets you sync them with your computer. It’s perfect for helping organize things that need to be reviewed later.

  6. Keynote – $9.99

    7. All of Apple’s iWorks programs are available in app form. Keynote is particularly helpful if you are putting together a lot of presentations. The app is very intuitive and makes it easy to design an attractive presentation even when you are away from your desk.

  7. AP Stylebook 2011 – $24.99

    8. No public relations arsenal would be complete without an AP Stylebook. Now it’s available in app form for any questions you might run into on journalistic style. It offers easy search function, the ability to create your own custom entries, note taking and bookmarking features.

What are your favorite apps?


Silicon Valley hits the Slopes: Publishing Summit Brings Industry Heavyweights

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Pat Parkinson in blog, Uncategorized 1 Comment

While deciding who to invite to speak at this year’s Digital Publishing Conference, Corey Kronengold, director of content for Digiday, said he packed the list with outspoken industry heavyweights eager to address the most controversial aspects of Internet marketing, advertising and content distribution.

This week, representatives from the world’s most influential media owners attended the three-day conference in Park City, Utah. The agenda boasted the likes of Google, ABC.com, Hulu, Hearst Magazines Digital Media, Cheezburger, Pandora and the Huffington Post.

PRMarketing.com caught up with Kronengold at Stein Eriksen Lodge.

“My role is to identify the hot-button issues in the industry,” he said. “We’ve got these brilliant people who have so much insight and are really shaping the direction the industry is going in.”

One concern emerged during the bulk of this year’s discussions: privacy.

“Privacy seems to be permeating every aspect of the industry,” Kronengold said.

The consumers of online content do not want websites tracking them around the Internet, he said.

At the same time, most people don’t expect to pay for articles, making it difficult for content producers to turn a buck.

“Nobody seemingly wants to pay for anything,” Kronengold said. “They want all this stuff for free and they don’t want you tracking them … How do we begin charging for content with this expectation of free from the consumer?”

The New York Times announced recently that it would begin charging for online articles. With the change, did we receive a look into the future?

“The era of everything being free on the Internet is starting to wind down,” Kronengold said.

With debates about Internet commerce heating up on Capitol Hill, he said consumers cannot have both free content and complete online privacy.

“That puts web publishers in a little bit of a bind,” Kronengold said. “We can solve the technical hurdles. It’s a whole lot harder to get people to feel good about being tracked.”

Advertisers receive valuable marketing data when your online footsteps are traced.

“We need to know some stuff about you,” Kronengold said. “It’s made privacy an issue.”

And publishers are struggling to ease the minds of consumers, he stressed.

“That is just a very difficult environment to operate in,” Kronengold said. “We really need to talk about these issues honestly and not from a marketing platform.”

The amount of money companies spend on online advertising has grown.

“The money is there, the interest is there and just figuring out the most efficient pathways for going to where we need to go as an industry, are the questions that need to be solved,” Kronengold said. “There are billions of dollars at stake.”


Why Churchill Never Used Jargon — And Why You Shouldn’t Either

Posted on January 3, 2011 by PRMarketing.com in blog 1 Comment

Winston Churchill was the man – and not just because he held off history’s most evil murderer when no other European nation could. He was the man because he was a great leader and a brilliant communicator who was able to rally his country in its darkest moments.

One of Churchill’s most famous speeches portrayed his excellent communication skills:

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

Churchill was strategic in that rousing, famous speech. His clear words left no room for misinterpretation. Nobody questioned what England would do, not even the Germans. He carefully selected simple words to raise the morality of the British military and the English people. But his message was simultaneously meant for another audience: Hitler. Churchill’s speech repeated basic, German-based words (like “fight”) so even the Nazis would clearly understand England’s dogged determination.

The simplicity of that speech has lasting power as well. Each calculated, simple word echoed around the world 60 years ago, and still resonates today. It was the simplicity that gave it such power. It’s what made it so memorable.

Imagine if Churchill was a typical CEO in today’s business world, and used the jargon that is prevalent in business writing. How do you think that speech would have sounded? Churchill as a CEO may have sounded like:

We – a best-in-breed country in the Western world with a great city called London and a dynamic leadership of royalty, including a long history of Kings and Queens that cultivate freedom among other European countries, shall go on to the absolute end – we shall use innovative strategies and tactics to generate an aggressive fighting spirit and implement cutting-edge weaponry only found here to engage the enemy in France – a country known for its food, art and the Eifel Tower – and then we shall carefully synergize a holistic, world-class plan, with the envisioneer of world-leading authorities, to leverage our leading-edge military and harness its recontextualized methods, to maximize our success and exchange blows with our vertical enemy on the seas and oceans …

I could go on but it’s too painful. But the reality is many write like this. Many business people, and sadly, other PR pros write like this, too. They forget about communicating. For some reason, the jargon and clumsy words makes them feel smarter. All those people are doing is writing to fuel their own ego — not to communicate with their audience.

Churchill’s first quote above is a classic speech that will be remembered through time. The other I made up is something people will forget after reading the first five words. The difference in being memorable and forgettable is often the simplicity of words.

Churchill said:

Use simple words everyone knows, then everyone will understand.

Confucius said if language is used incorrectly, what is said is not what is meant and

the people stand about in helpless confusion.

Simplicity ensures your message is memorable – whether you are writing a press release, proposal, a blog post, a whitepaper, or even a simple email. When it comes down creating a message, remember something else Churchill said:

Strategy is all very well, but it pays to give thought from time to time to the results.

Understanding is the result you want in anything you communicate. In the end, that’s it. So get rid of that jargon.

But if you don’t care about that, and you want to be forgettable, read that contract again written by your lawyer, real estate agent or mortgage broker. If you want to write like “Churchill-CEO,” and have a few laughs, check out the Bull S#%@ Generator.