by Therese Joseph, Shift PR Fellow Yesterday, on November 2, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review distributed its Sunday paper, as per usual. However, unlike its usual paper, this edition contained a two-page, cover-spread story, the longest in the paper’s memory, on the behind the scenes making of Franksgiving, the Film Factory winning screenplay produced by Steeltown Entertainment Project. Anyone who’s attempted to … Read More
PR Part 3: Resolving a Media Crisis
Whether it’s the latest professional athlete scandal, a revealing political bashing, or a brand not holding true to its values, we’ve all heard a media crisis story. The response to these crises often sets the stage for whether the organizations will be able to recover from their crises. Every brand, business, and person can face a public relations crisis. The … Read More
PR Part 2: The Social Frontier
by Therese Joseph, Shift PR Fellow As public relations professionals, it is our job to monitor and manage the reputations of the businesses we represent. Traditionally, this was managed by working with media outlets to spread positive press about the businesses. While these tactics are still employed, research shows that people trust the opinion of a friend over advertising and … Read More
PR Part 1: The Media Pitching Process
by Therese Joseph, Shift PR Fellow Public relations professionals have to acquire many skills to manage the public image of their clients including a solid media pitching process. The most successful PR professionals most often acquire and perfect these skills through an apprenticeship model. While this model of learning helps PR professionals to learn their skills without ruining a client’s … Read More
“Find your niche”: Thoughts from the Pittsburgh Women Bloggers panel
Back in June, I spoke on a panel of Pittsburgh-based women bloggers put together by NAWBO of Greater Pittsburgh (National Association of Women Business Owners). The panel included a great mix of savvy women: R’Chelle Mullins of Creatively Yours by Ro Media and fashion stylist Suzanne Mauro Mercedes Howze, the Movie Scene Queen Heather Hopson of Diary of a First … Read More
Website Design PT4: Competition in a Digital World
by Therese Joseph, Shift PR Fellow Just as technology is advancing the way we do business, so it is also advancing who we are competing against. In order to retain your competitive edge in the digital landscape, you need to be aware of who your new competitors are and how you are measuring up against your competition. Who are your … Read More
The joys of not always being on-message in your blog
Jenna McGuiggan at The Word Cellar shares a sweet and thoughtful post about how blogging can be surprisingly loaded.
What to do now that Facebook won’t let you force people to like your page
The folks at ShortStack — a service that helps you create apps and interesting things on Facebook Pages — have some excellent thoughts on what Facebook’s decision to ban fan-gating on Pages, and tips for how to adjust your Page. At ShortStack we have over 350,000 customers, all of whom are Facebook Page Admins. I’m always analyzing the data from … Read More
Web Design PT3: Learning from Your Mistakes
by Therese Joseph, Shift PR Fellow In this digital age, technology is advancing at a dizzying speeds. If you own a business, it is practically mandatory that you have a website. Not having a website could hurt the success of your business. But having a website that is not meeting the needs of your users is a mistake that can … Read More
Cynthia on AwesomeCast 212: “Commercial Weeds”
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Website Design PT2: You Have Users
by Therese Joseph, Shift PR Fellow When attempting to understand the choices and motives of your online audience, there is one essential fact you must know. You can call them your audience, your customers, your clients, or your whatever. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you understand that they are much more than these labels convey. When they are … Read More
Website Design PT1: 5 Wrong Assumptions
by Therese Joseph, Shift PR Fellow Website design is a complicated process. However, it is often assumed that the process is much more simple than it is. It’s more than picking some colors, sketching a layout and coding it to match. The timeline to create or redesign a really good website can take months. Great websites are often built on … Read More