Many Thanks to Clients, Extended Team Members and Friends for a Very Lucky 13! Looking back on our first 13 years in business, it is amazing to reflect on the change in what we do. When we first hung a shingle in 2003, the concept of "social media" was not well defined or understood and RIM's Blackberry was the dominant mobile device, offering a hint of what smartphones would become. That said, the writing was clearly on the wall. We were de-emphasizing traditional media relations and urging clients to incorporate interactive elements into their websites. In 2003, social networks were in their infancy, with MySpace, Friendster and Linkedin all launching in 2002-2003. For us at DPK Public Relations and other public relations counselors, this was a period of experimentation. I remember Web marketing expert and client Ed Schipul speaking to …
Define what a successful TV interview would look like and build from there We were surprised to find that an article we wrote 10 years ago on the subject of how to effectively prepare for TV interviews had recently risen again to become our most visited page on this website. We can't explain why things like that happen, but upon reviewing the content of the piece it occurred to us that an update is in order. So here are the new and improved top 10 tips for how to prepare for a TV interview. Imagine what success looks like. Answer these questions: 1) What do I want my audience to know? 2) What do I want my audience to believe? 3) What do I want my audience to do? If you answer these three questions, you have set clear and …
Don't Give Your Competitor the Valuable Publicity You Earned. Keep It for Yourself! When we conduct mock interviews during a media training session, we often ask interview subjects to name two or three competitors who they admire. There are numerous iterations of essentially the same question. It can be naming the competitors who are keeping them up at night. Or perhaps it can be a question about the competitors who pose the greatest challenge over the next three to five years. It’s all a trick to see if the spokesperson being trained can be lured into naming competitors at all. We have found that it is common for an untrained spokesperson to fall for this simple trick and start rattling off names. Sometimes they speak more naturally and glowingly about the competition than they do about their own products and …
Is the candidate re-writing the rules or simply a celebrity getting special treatment? For weeks we have been trying to understand the implications -- if there are any -- of the phenomenon of Donald Trump's success to date in his pursuit of the Republican nomination. As has been well documented, Mr. Trump has violated many of the fundamental rules of public speaking and media interactions, yet he has established and held onto a solid base of support. Some aspecs of his communications strategy seem pretty straightforward and are rooted in polling that suggests a portion of voters find conventional political behavior repulsive: He espouses a hatred for many journalists, which excites those who distrust the media and believe bias unfairly colors the way news is presented. A September 2015 Gallup poll found that only four in 10 Americans say they …
Succeeding in news interviews comes down to preparation, practice and performance I was surprised when I reviewed the Google Analytics report for this site that an article I posted more than nine years ago, "Top 10 Tips for Preparing for a TV Interview," was again one of the most popular articles here. Not sure how or why that's the case, but everything changes over the course of a decade -- I don't know anyone who still uses a Blackberry! -- and I wanted to provide an update for those who are seeking PR advice prior to conducting a video interview. Before we get too far into this, let's pause for this brief commercial announcement: Contact DPK Public Relations to arrange Media Interview Skills Training today or call 800.596.8708. The biggest thing that has changed over that time is the rise of …
Want to be unforgettable? Start by dumping all but three or four key messages. An inconvenient truth that constrains the success of every spokesperson is the limited ability of the audience to remember. Humans do a lot of things well, and one of them is taking in urgently needed information about threats and opportunities. In order to take in and process that information, our brain is wired to immediately forget information that either isn’t clearly understood or isn’t perceived as important. Your audience isn't aware of this, but they are constantly assessing everything you tell them. If it isn't perceived as important, they are unlikely to remember what you want them to remember. If it takes work for them to understand, they are wired to let the information drift away. First, some background. Working memory, or short-term memory, is everything …
Don't Think of Media Coverage as the Result - The Result is What Happens Because of the Coverage Check out this recent coverage in TechTarget secured for client Aldridge, a leading IT services provider with offices throughout the major metropolitan areas of Texas. Aldridge has grown rapidly in recent years. In fact, they are among a small group of companies that have been listed by Inc. as one of America's fastest growing companies for five years running. What an accomplishment! The story, "Tech acquisitions raise integration issues for channel," in TechTarget offers best practices from Aldridge and describes the company's highly structured integration process the company's leadership has developed as they have acquired nearly a dozen companies in recent years. This process has proven invaluable and it is unique, which is what makes it newsworthy. To Aldridge's credit, they were …
"The other alternative is to call it a career and put up the going out of business sign" DPK Public Relations Founder and President Daniel Keeney, APR, is frequently called upon to comment on PR crisis response, and his recent advice regarding Bill Cosby's troubles received media coverage across the U.S. In an interview with Brian Melley of Associated Press, Keeney said that many PR counselors recommend anyone facing unwanted scrutiny acknowledge the troubles and then go on an apology tour. However, one of the most powerful assets a person facing accusations has is time. Below are links to some of the media coverage that resulted: Fox News Bill Cosby's silence may be his best defense at this point KLAS-TV Las Vegas Bill Cosby's silence may be his best defense, legal experts say The Telegram Bill Cosby's silence may be his …
This article was originally published in the March 2015 edition of Public Relations Tactics, a publication of the Public Relations Society of America. See the original published article by clicking here (subscription required). On Thanksgiving evening, I watched shoppers hold their smartphones high above their heads as others jostled, pushed and complained. While someone was recording them, cashiers good-naturedly answered questions about their stress levels. They were also sympathetic with those shoppers who were frustrated that some early bargains were already sold out. Once uploaded to YouTube, people might largely ignore that content, or it could easily appear on “Good Morning America” the next day. How plausible is that? A survey of professional journalists by Arketi Group found that 91 percent of journalists say they use the Web to search for news sources and story ideas, and 34 percent admit to …
We always devote a portion of our Media Interview Skills Training sessions to a discussion about going “off-the-record” with journalists. Our recommendation is the same today as it was 20 years ago: there is no such thing as “off-the-record.” Think of it as a cliff for your career. You can dance at the edge of that cliff and think you are in control. But there are many forces at play that can send you right over the edge no matter how confident you are. Splat. There goes your career. If you say something, you should be prepared to see it attributed to you in print. Even if you have a relationship with a journalist, that journalist’s job is to get a good story and tell that story. If you expect them to do otherwise, you are suggesting that what you …