By Jason Mudd, Axia Public Relations
On Top of PR is a podcast dedicated to helping corporate communications leaders leverage the power of public relations to build a strong brand and great reputation. On each episode, we explore PR a
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Our Guest:
Linda Beltran is vice president of corporate communications at Holiday Inn Club Vacations, a leading vacation ownership company with more than 30 resorts across the U.S. She oversees a team of communications professionals who manage internal and external communications, executive visibility, corporate social responsibility, media relations, crisis communications, community relations, and thought leadership.
Five things you’ll learn from this episode:
1. How internal communication management can prevent external crisis
2. Executive media training and thought leadership
3. The evolution of internal communications
4. The future of internal communications
5. Internal communications best practices
Quotables
“Your team members are really your first and most important audience.” — @Linda Beltran
“We have to be nimble and pivot. And I tell people all the time, improvising and pivoting are one of the undersold skills that you have to have in this line of work.” — @JasonMudd9
“If you have a company and leadership that really puts their faith in their comms team, you're already ahead of the curve, and then the rest is just making sure that they're being received.” — @Linda Beltran
“Pre-pandemic, people weren't necessarily paying attention to their internal audience.” — @Linda Beltran
“I love the idea of trying something new. I love the idea of failing forward. And as I tell my team quite a bit, as long as you're working on something that won't be shown externally, take some risk internally.” — @JasonMudd9
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About Linda Beltran
As a seasoned communications leader with over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Linda brings strategic, creative, and impactful solutions to diverse audiences and stakeholders. Her mission is to enhance the reputation, visibility, and engagement of the organizations she works with, aligning communications with their values, culture, and goals.
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In this solocast episode, host Jason Mudd discusses how to improve your media pitches and craft news releases journalists will notice.
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Five things you’ll learn from this episode:
1. How to improve four media pitch examples
2. Keep your pitch short and visually appealing.
3. Tailor your pitch to match the journalist's beat.
4. Offer value — why should the journalist care?
5. Have a copy editor review the release.
Quotables
“About half of the news stories they write come from media pitches. So media pitching works when it's done right. Media pitching works when you have a relationship or attempt to build a relationship; you don't need a relationship to get media coverage.” — @JasonMudd9
“You just want to send a teaser and have them say, ‘You know what, I would like to hear more’ or ‘This isn't a good fit for me.’ But instead of doing it in 10 paragraphs, what if you just did it in three sentences?” — @JasonMudd9
“That's why we believe in having copy editors on our team who are grammarians. They're experts at what they do — the red-pen police or the people who correct your grammar in public that you don't like.” — @JasonMudd9
“If you can't tell me who said it, then I'm probably not going to quote you on it.” — @JasonMudd9
“You should not send a news release, or even a media pitch, through blast … think 1-to-1 with each media pitch that you send out.” — @JasonMudd9
“More targeted, more selective pitches are going to help you be more successful.” — @JasonMudd9
“Just like in dating, just like in sales, in media pitching, the intent of the first meeting is to get a second meeting.” — @JasonMudd9
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About Jason Mudd, Axia PR
Jason Mudd is a trusted adviser and dynamic strategist for some of America’s most admired brands. Since 1994, he’s worked with American Airlines, Budweiser, Dave & Buster’s, H&R Block, Hilton, HP, Miller Lite, New York Life, Pizza Hut, Southern Comfort, and Verizon. He founded Axia in July 2002. Forbes named Axia one of America’s Best PR Agencies.
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In this episode, Alfredo Garcia joins On Top of PR host Jason Mudd to discuss best practices for producing PR events.
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Our guest:
Our episode guest is Alfredo Garcia, vice president of sales for Sight & Sound and Mugwump Productions. He started his journey with Sight & Sound as a marketing intern, where he discovered his passion for the audio-visual production side of events. Now an executive leader, he’s played a pivotal role in the company’s growth from 15 employees to more than 50 today.
Five things you’ll learn from this episode:
1. Questions event producers will ask
2. Technical media accommodations
3. How much notice event production teams need
4. What organizations should consider before planning an event
5. Logistics and budget planning
Quotables:
“My first question is always the same, no matter what type of media event it is. And that is, “Why are we doing this event? Why are we spending your money? Why are we pulling in resources and what is the purpose and outcome we are trying to get out of this event?” — @Alfredo Garcia
“If you’re depending on media to be there, how embarrassed might you be if they just can’t come or don’t come for whatever reason?” — @JasonMudd9
“If you’re depending on media to fill the room, you better have a pretty good announcement.” — @JasonMudd9
“Whenever I see a whole bunch of microphones, I think of crisis communication.” — @Alfredo Garcia
“Why would you not want to engage with an expert company to have them bring their experience, know-how, and ideas that might save you time, money, and ultimately drive home that better first impression for the attendees at your event?” — @JasonMudd9
“We try to become an extension of what our clients are trying to do. We are thinking of things people don't think about.” — @Alfredo Garcia
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About Alfredo Garcia
As Sight & Sound’s vice president of sales, Alfredo manages daily sales operations, develops sales strategies, and forecasts company revenue. He focuses on client retention and expanding the client base locally and nationally.
Alfredo earned a communication degree from Jacksonville University, which laid the foundation for his career in the hospitality industry. He’s drawn to the industry’s opportunities for travel, bringing creative solutions to events, and building long-lasting relationships. His journey with Sight & Sound began in 2005 when he joined as a marketing intern and discovered his passion for the audio-visual production side of events. After progressing through roles as a marketing coordinator and project manager, he found his niche in sales.
Outside of work, Alfredo enjoys gardening with his wife, traveling with his family, and supporting all his local sports teams.
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In this episode, Axia’s David Triana joins host Jason Mudd to discuss key strategies for nurturing mutually beneficial media relationships that make a lasting impact.
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Our Guest:
David Triana is a public relations professional specializing in media relations and securing earned media coverage for clients in a variety of industries. He currently serves as the director of media relations at Axia Public Relations. He has been mentioned in outlets such as the Daily Mail, Business Insider, and Forbes, providing commentary on topics related to the PR industry.
Five things you’ll learn from this episode:
1. Always provide value when communicating with the media.
2. Proprietary data can differentiate you from your competition.
3. Respect for journalistic ethics is key.
4. Stay ahead of the news cycle whenever possible.
5. Make the media's job as simple as possible (and be as prepared as possible).
Bonus: Tips on earning media coverage for PR professionals with no prior newsroom experience.
Quotables
“Not being afraid to fail — I think that is the most important thing and most important attribute you can have as a PR professional.” — @David Triana
“It’s like a venn diagram: what the media wants, what the company wants, and what is newsworthy and interesting.” — @JasonMudd9
“Anytime I’ve reached out to the media on behalf of a client, I never want to go empty-handed.” — @David Triana
“Sometimes a really good media pitch is just three sentences. You want them to say, ‘Tell me more, I'm interested.’” — @JasonMudd9
“I tell clients, you probably have some data internally that you don't even realize would be valuable to help set a finger on the pulse of the marketplace and the economy and what it’s doing.” — @JasonMudd9
“So much of this is making a really good first impression that defines the longevity of that relationship. And if you're willing to be available right off the bat … things like that set you apart from many others.” — @David Triana
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In this episode, Kate Meyers Emery, Ph.D., joins On Top of PR host Jason Mudd to discuss ways organizations can use data-centric storytelling on social media to raise awareness and engagement.
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Our Guest:
Our episode guest is Kate Meyers Emery, Ph.D., senior digital communications manager at Candid, a nonprofit providing comprehensive data and insights on the social sector.
Five things you’ll learn from this episode:
1. What to do when you are swimming in data and how to turn it into a story for your organization.
2. How smaller social media teams can leverage their own data.
3. Ways organizations can experiment with data to drive brand awareness and engagement.
4. How to create good social media content without visually appealing subjects.
5. Common mistakes organizations make on social media.
Quotables
Data is really attractive to audiences. When you use numbers, people love it. People love numerals. It's our hook. — @Kate Meyers Emery
When you're communicating, there's two personality types: one is interested in emotion and the other is logic. If you can create a venn diagram and appeal to both at the same time without alienating one of the audiences, that's a good blend. — @JasonMudd9
You gotta make the platforms happy. The platforms don't want you to leave social media. You have to put stuff out there that makes the platforms happy that drives more engagement on the platform. — @Kate Meyers Emery
People want to connect with other people. People don't want to connect with faceless brands. — @Kate Meyers Emery
There's always three options. If you get more than that, you get analysis paralysis, and no one wants to make a decision. And the simple answer is usually the best answer. — @JasonMudd9
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About Kate Meyers Emery, Ph.D.
Kate Meyers Emery, Ph.D., is the senior digital communications manager at Candid, where she leads the strategy, content production, and analysis of organic social media. Kate uses experimentation and data-driven storytelling to get people the information they need to do good.
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Leslie Cafferty, chief communications officer of Booking Holdings Inc., the world's largest global travel company, joins On Top of PR host Jason Mudd to discuss the pivotal role of communications professionals in business success and growth.
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Our Guest:
Our episode guest is Leslie Cafferty, chief communications officer at Booking Holdings Inc., the world's largest global travel company. She’s also the executive sponsor for the company’s employee resource group dedicated to equality and equity for women across the organization. Booking Holdings Inc. brands include Booking.com, Priceline, OpenTable, Kayak, and Agoda.
Five things you’ll learn from this episode:
1. Differentiating marketing and communications in business
2. Strategies to help with the rising cost of labor and doing business
3. Tips for aspiring chief communication officers
4.Evolving trends in communications
5. The importance of diversity in communications and business
Quotables
About Leslie Cafferty
A 20-year tech company veteran with a passion for communications, marketing, and promoting more diversity in business, Leslie Cafferty is the senior vice president and chief communications officer for Booking Holdings, Inc., the world’s largest global travel company, known for brands such as Priceline, Booking.com, Kayak, OpenTable, and Agoda. Cafferty oversees all corporate, financial, brand, crisis, CEO, executive, and internal communications initiatives for the company, which operates in more than 200 countries. She’s also the executive sponsor for the company’s employee resource group dedicated to equality and equity for women across the organization.
Previously, Cafferty was the global vice president of marketing and communications at Nielsen, the world’s leading global research company. Before Nielsen, she spent eight years as the director of global communications for IAC, a leading internet company operating more than 25 market-leading digital brands. She attended Harvard Business School and graduated magna cum laude from Lehigh Univers
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Crafting winning media pitches, learning the elements needed to stand out and secure coverage.
Five things you’ll learn from this episode:
Quotables
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About Jason Mudd
Jason Mudd, APR, is a trusted adviser and dynamic strategist for some of America’s most admired brands. Since 1994, he’s worked with American Airlines, Budweiser, Dave & Buster’s, H&R Block, Hilton, HP, Miller Lite, New York Life, Pizza Hut, Southern Comfort, and Verizon. He founded Axia in July 2002. Forbes named Axia one of America’s Best PR Agencies.
Clients love Jason’s passion, innovation, candor, commitment, and award-winning team. In an increasingly tech-forward world, Jason’s grasp of technological demands on companies provides his clients in multiple sectors a unique advantage in reaching their top audiences. After teaching himself HTML in 1994, Jason helped pioneer internet marketing strategies as an early adopter of e-commerce, search engine optimization, and social media, inspiring tech giants like Yahoo.
At Axia, Jason attracts, develops, retains, innovates, and leads top PR talent and clients. He oversees strategic communications for the firm’s national clients and provides high-level consultations to client leadership teams at billion-dollar global brands, both business-to-business and business-to-consumer, including spokesperson training, crisis communications management, analytics, social media, online reputation management, and more. He also speaks frequently to corporations and industry groups and writes about public relations trends and best practices for American City Business Journals and other national companies.
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AI strategist Kathleen Perley shares top recommended AI tools and how to optimize them for business communications strategies.
Our guest
Our episode guest is Kathleen Perley, professor of AI at Rice University’s Jones School of Business. Kathleen is an innovative healthcare tech leader and trusted adviser in the emerging world of optimizing AI for business marketing and advertising.
Five things you’ll learn from this episode:
Quotables
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to share it with a colleague or friend. You may also share your experience with others by leaving us a quick podcast review.
About Kathleen Perley
Recognized as one of MM+M’s Women to Watch 2024 and with her agency on the Inc 5000 list for three years, Kathleen is a celebrated leader in merging AI with business strategy, especially in marketing and advertising.
She also serves on MD Anderson's advisory committee and supports Ncourage, an investment fund aiding women-owned businesses.
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In this episode, Holly Bishop joins On Top of PR host Jason Mudd to discuss why your company's social media isn’t working.
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Guest:
Holly is a seasoned social media and marketing professional with over 10 years of diverse experience spanning medical practices, retail/e-commerce, and non-profit sectors.
Five things you’ll learn from this episode:
1. Understanding the role of social media professionals
2. How to manage a work/life balance as a social media professional
3. Why your company’s social media isn’t working
4. How trust and flexibility with your social media team can improve your content
5. The importance of community engagement
Quotables
“There’s a lot of misconception that social media managers can do all of these things and that they’re experts at every single social media platform, and that is just not the case.” - Holly Bishop
“Companies either don’t prioritize social media or they don’t have the resources to make it an entire team. Yet, social media is a powerful tool with a global audience.” - Jason Mudd
“One person can’t do something great alone. They need others around them.” - Jason Mudd
“I'm seeing a huge shift in social media managers embracing the fact that our screen time is probably triple what a normal person’s would be by Wednesday afternoon. It just is what is, but also knowing when to turn things off and when to be unavailable.” - Holly Bishop
“This is the kind of role that you wouldn’t be doing unless you were genuinely passionate about it.” - Holly Bishop
“We also have our own social media too, which are almost always suffering and looking terrible because we're always so focused on the brands that we run.” - Holly Bishop
“They also don’t realize that what got them there doesn’t get them to be successful in social media. What I mean by that is they may be really good with their own social media, but what they don’t realize is that the expectation for professional social media is way higher. They can get away with typos and incomplete sentences on their own socials, but when you get to the corporate side, there’s not going to be a lot of patience or forgiveness when it comes to that kind of stuff.” - Jason Mudd
“Even for serious brands, it’s important to have fun with the things that are being put out with social media because at the end of the day, as a consumer for your audience that you are speaking to, if it's boring or it's not giving a hook or not interesting or providing that value why would they want to read what you put out anyways?” - Holly Bishop
“Having a really good professional working for your brand is so important because they are able to take that fun side but still utilize the important brand messaging and standards that you have for that specific brand but just making it their own, being able to speak in a way to that brand’s audience that captures their attention but still follows those rules of professionality.” - Holly Bishop
“If there isn’t that support to give for that professional to be able to do
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In this episode, Linda Rutherford joins On Top of PR host Jason Mudd to discuss her take on current airline crises and go into depth about Southwest’s crisis communication plan and how they’ve managed their past crises.
Guest:
Linda Rutherford is the Chief Administration Officer for Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, the nation's largest airline in terms of domestic Customer boardings. Linda is known for creating and leading powerful teams that equip, empower, and engage the business to serve its people and customers.
Five things you’ll learn from this episode:
1. Linda’s take on current airline crises
2. Southwest’s communications department and response plan
3. How Southwest has responded to past crises
4. How to manage the media and consumers’ perception of a crisis
5. How to balance your message post-national crisis
Quotables
“Today, communications represent the pace of media. Before, it might’ve seemed a little slower and more leisurely, and today, I would also say that public relations represents a lot more responsibility for brand reputation and issues management.” - Linda Rutherford
“Certainly, the role of journalists has changed significantly, much like our roles in communications have.” - Linda Rutherford
“Obviously, first and foremost, it is the safety of our passengers and employees on the affected flight. It is what do we need to do to get them safely on the ground, and then what do we need to do to understand what happened so we can go about learning how we prevent it from happening in the future.” - Linda Rutherford
“We like to say that we're in a deregulated environment, but we're regulated in the air and on the ground.” - Linda Rutherford
“I also like to say that we operate, we fly the general public, and we operate in weather. So what could possibly go wrong daily? That's why you spend a lot of time preparing and understanding what your contingencies are.” - Linda Rutherford
“My analogy is when Taylor Swift tickets went on sale, and Ticketmaster had a brownout, that's basically what happened.” - Linda Rutherford
“We did have a union, which we were negotiating with at the time that was perpetuating the story by calling crew, scheduling technology, antiquated. So that storyline was out there, and a lot of media were picking that up.” - Linda Rutherford
“There's a lot of demand to say everything at once, but we didn't necessarily have the credibility to say everything at once.” - Linda Rutherford
“We did tell the whole story. We had our chief operating officer give congressional testimony before a Senate subcommittee and told the whole story like I'm telling you.” - Linda Rutherford
“I tell people all the time that PR is about building up that equity so that when you have an issue, people already know that you're trustworthy and honorable and that you do the right thing.” - Jason Mudd
“The first thing you need to do is respond to what's right in front of you, and then you can begin to build on the story as you go and as you learn more, admit mistakes, be honest, and then be very transpar
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The podcast currently has 132 episodes available.
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