My colleague Jayme Simoes and I had the pleasure of presenting on the topic of branding twice recently, first at the NH Nonprofits Conference and Expo and again at PRSA’s Northeast District Conference, NEXPRSA, in Providence, R.I. Here are a few highlights: A brand is a space in the mind. It’s more than a logo …
Read more “Stand Out From The Crowd: Research-Based Branding”
I’m delighted to be visiting the PRSA Tucson chapter this spring to talk about “The Art & Science of Behavioral PR Research: Effective Strategies For Measuring Outcomes and Return On Investment”. To give you a sense of what I’ll be talking about on April 23rd, read on! Choosing the right strategies (for example, using the …
While attending PRSA’s International Conference in Austin this year, I thought how proud JJ&W’s founder, Patrick Jackson, would have been of all the conversations revolving around measuring behavioral outcomes and the PR practitioner’s role as relationship-builders and strategists… particularly at a time when our organizations, and our country, need these skills the most. A few …
If your first thought when presented with a public relations problem or opportunity is to brainstorm tactics – e.g. “let’s do a newsletter” “send a tweet”, “post on Facebook”, “hold a meeting” — then you are planning, but not strategically. If your first thoughts are: “how does this opportunity fit with our overall goals?”, “what …
Read more “Strategic PR Planning Is Critical To An Organization’s Success”
Pat Jackson, JJ&W’s founder, was a behaviorist. Plain and simple. He taught those of us fortunate enough to work with him over the years to learn to be behaviorists, too. Behavior change is hard – ask anyone who has tried to go on a diet, stop smoking or change a dominant personality trait – so …
Read more “Patrick Jackson and The Start of Modern Behavioral Public Relations”
For a long time, the focus for internal communications has been building and measuring employee engagement. How “engaged” are our employees in our organization and in what they do? How does our workforce compare to others? Fortunately, there are all kinds of tools to measure employee engagement and see how your organization rates compared to …
The "4 Steps To Public Behavior Change" by Jim Grunig, Harold Mendelsohn, Brenda Darvin, Max McCombs and other behavior change specialists laid out a path of action that has been used with great success by such efforts as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), smoking cessation programs and others. Now it has been applied to the …
Read more “Changing Behaviors On Concussion Treatment Through “Chalk Talk””
For years, PR practitioners measured effectiveness by “counting clips” and calculated the dollar value of press coverage they obtained for their organizations. Some PR people are still doing this — mostly, we hope, only when their bosses are demanding it. We have made progress, but we know we have much more work to do to …
Read more “The “So What” Factor: Migrating From Outputs to Outcomes in PR Research”
The Trump Administration is busy reversing a myriad of policies that had been put in place by the previous administration. They say these policies "hinder productive business growth and job creation". I am not arguing that one way or the other. I do want to remind us, though, of the impact these decisions could have …
It is a time for new beginnings, fresh thinking, purging files and finding different ways of doing things. If you’ve been managing your communications function for a while — or, if you’ve recently inherited the position and found yourself asking, “why are we doing what we’re doing?” – it is a good time for an …
Read more “CLEAN OUT YOUR COMMUNICATIONS JUNK DRAWER WITH A COMMUNICATION AUDIT”