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Our episode guest is Bob Dietzel, co-founder at KMRD Partners. He has a Master of Business as well as an associate in risk management and certified insurance counselor designations.

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. What corporate crisis insurance does
2. How to know insurance covers your crisis management
3. Which in-house employee to speak to in order to learn more about the crisis insurance plan
4. Who to speak to at the insurance company to understand your insurance plan
5. Why it's important to have crisis insurance 

 Quotables 

• “Research shows that for every dollar you spend on crisis planning, you'll save $7 during a crisis.” — @JasonMudd9
• “It doesn't cost anything to start building a relationship other than your time.” — @JasonMudd9
• “From an insurance perspective, it's important to understand that ‘reputation’ is a broad term and it's not insured.” — @BobDietzel

If you enjoyed this episode, would you please share it with others and leave us a review?

About Bob Dietzel

Bob co-founded KMRD Partners in 2005. KMRD is a risk and human capital solutions firm where he serves as his clients’ outsourced risk manager and insurance broker. Bob has his Master in Business as well as associate in risk management and certified insurance counselor designations.

Guest’s contact info and resources:

• Bob Dietzel on LinkedIn
• KMRD Partners

Additional Resources:

• Cyber Risk Management and Insurance 

Additional Axia Resources:

• Axia CrisisPoint 
• What to do when your executives have criminal allegations toward them 

Episode recorded: June 6, 2022

Sponsored by:

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

About your host, Jason Mudd

On Top of PR host, Jason Mudd, is a trusted adviser and dynamic strategist for some of America’s most admired brands and fastest-growing companies. 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 Public Relations in July 2002. Forbes named Axia as one of America’s Best PR Agencies.

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

Send us a text

Our episode guest is Greg Galant, CEO at Muck Rack. He built Muck Rack to enable PR teams to work together to find the right journalists for their stories, send customized pitches, and so much more. 

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. The origin of Muck Rack
2. The current states of Journalism and PR (2022)
3. How to find what’s being written about in the media
4. Best practices for media pitching
5. What journalists need from PR professionals

Quotables

• “More people are spinning off and becoming influencers or content creators and newsletter writers.” — @JasonMudd9
• “I'm often advising clients the same thing. Just like these journalists have broken off and created their own media company. I think brands need to be thinking about what kind of owned media or web media and content they can be creating themselves.” — @JasonMudd9
• “I think that everybody in this industry has to really focus on what are the right outlets to be reaching for your earned media efforts and in doing your research there and challenging your clients or your bosses to like, if they're still old school about what publications they read to realize there're new publications and new outlets that matter.” — @gregory
• “The advice we're giving to our clients on an ongoing basis is the point of earned media. You can't control it, and you can't necessarily time it, but it's super credible.” — @JasonMudd9
• “The goal of the pitch isn't to provide every single last detail about your story because if the journalist is interested, they'll ask questions, that's why they became journalists.” — @gregory
• “I always tell people, the media is an audience, a channel and a tool.” — @JasonMudd9

If you enjoyed this episode, would you please share it with others and leave us a review?

About Greg Galant

Gregory Galant is the co-founder and CEO of Muck Rack, a platform enabling PR teams to work together to find the right journalists for their stories, send customized pitches, build meaningful relationships with the media, monitor news and quantify their impact. It’s used by thousands of organizations, including Taco Bell, Pfizer, Golin, International Committee of the Red Cross, Knight Foundation, Kauffman Foundation and Penguin Random House. Muck Rack is also the solution of choice for journalists, who use Muck Rack’s free, automatically updated portfolios to showcase their work and provide information about what stories they’re looking for.

Guest’s contact info and resources:

• Greg Galant on Twitter
• Greg Galant on LinkedIn 
• Muck Rack

Additional Resources:

• The State of PR 2022
• The State of Journalism 2022

Additional Axia Resources: 

• Use Twitter to build foundations for

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

Send us a text

Our episode guest is Jason Mudd, CEO at Axia Public Relations. He is a trusted adviser and dynamic strategist for some of America’s most admired brands and fastest-growing companies.

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. How to start writing stories for media outlets
2. What you should focus on in your stories.
3. The logistics of stories you’ll submit to media outlets.
4. How to pick which news outlets to pitch to
5. How to pitch to news media outlets

Quotables

• “You can almost always network your way into some sort of opportunity to submitting [stories]” — @JasonMudd9
• “One thing I would do is I would submit a new article every six to eight weeks, and I wouldn't do it any sooner than that.” — @JasonMudd9
• “Use your expertise and your content to be what leads the way and sets the path for you ahead.” — @JasonMudd9

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with others and leave us a review,

Guest’s contact info and resources:

• Jason Mudd on Twitter
• Jason Mudd on LinkedIn
• Axia Public Relations

Additional Resources:

Disclosure: One or more of the links we share here might be affiliate links that offer us a referral reward when you buy from them.

•  9 journalist-approved tips for pitching to the media
• Turn your pitches into stories to get journalists interested in them
• Pitching to the media On Top of PR podcast episode 

Episode recorded: July, 2022

About your host, Jason Mudd

On Top of PR host, Jason Mudd, is a trusted adviser and dynamic strategist for some of America’s most admired brands and fastest-growing companies. 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 Public Relations in July 2002. Forbes named Axia as one of America’s Best PR Agencies.

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

Send us a text

Mark Mohammadpour is the founder and chief well-being officer at Chasing the Sun.

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. Four lessons of empathy from Ted Lasso
2. What toxic positivity is
3. How to implement empathetic practices for employees
4. How to implement empathetic practices for clients
5. How to change your actions to suit your employees and clients better 

Quotables

• “The character Higgins gave Keely this advice: A good mentor hopes you'll move on; a great mentor knows you'll move on.” — @markmoh
• “As leaders, we know that our good employees are going to move on. How we respond to it is what's most important.” — @markmoh
• “The way that you are communicating that you're leaving is going to have an impact on not only a direct manager but the rest of the organization.” — @markmoh
• “It's hard to have empathy when you're tired. Understand where your employees or clients are coming from.” — @JasonMudd9 
• “It's all about taking care of yourself so you can take care of others, and the way you take care of others is showing love and empathy for them and understanding their situation.” — @JasonMudd9

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with others and leave us a review!

About Mark Mohammadpour

Mark Mohammadpour is the founder and chief well-being officer at Chasing the Sun. After spending his public relations career as an executive at several well-known PR industries and losing and keeping off 150 pounds over the last decade, Mark launched Chasing the Sun to empower PR professionals to prioritize their well-being so they can shine in the family room and the board room.

Guest’s contact info and resources:

• Mark Mohammadpour on Twitter
• Mark Mohammadpour on LinkedIn
• Chasing the Sun

Additional Resources:

• Lessons in empathy from ‘Ted Lasso’
• Microsoft virtual meeting data
• The Predictive Index personality test

Additional Resources from Axia Public Relations: 

• The value of listening and empathy in PR

Episode recorded: May 19, 2022

Sponsored by:

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

About your host, Jason Mudd

On Top of PR host, Jason Mudd, is a trusted adviser and dynamic strategist for some of America’s most admired brands and fa

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

Send us a text

In this episode, Michael Port, CEO of Heroic Public Speaking, joins host Jason Mudd to discuss the art of public speaking. Tune in to learn how to express yourself on stage, the different types of speaking events, the four categories of a keynote speaker, how to prepare a speech, and much more!

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. How to express yourself fully when speaking
2. What to think about before hiring a PR agency to book your speaking engagements
3. How to use a breakout room to gain a keynote speaking opportunity
4. The four categories of keynote speakers
5. How to choose a topic to speak on

Quotables

• “When you feel fully self-expressed, you generally feel more confident.” — @michaelport
• “If you want to do something visionary, start with what really pisses you off.” — @michaelport
• “Make sure that you care more about the audience and the experience they have than about what you're going to get out of the experience.” — @michaelport
• “You might want to consider moving out of expertville and into visionary town.”— @michaelport
• “You start with a question, and it's important to ask a question that Google can't answer.”— @michaelport

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with others and leave us a review!

About Michael Port

Michael Port is the author of nine books, which have been translated into 29 languages. A few of them have become perennial bestsellers and made it onto such lists as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Some have won awards from 800-CEO-READ and Amazon. After delivering thousands of paid speeches on the world’s biggest stages, Michael and his wife, Amy, built Heroic Public Speaking HQ, a performance training center, to develop and nurture the next generation of professional speakers along with CEOs and founders, bestselling authors, business owners, and people leading movements and advancing important causes. 

Guest’s contact info and resources:

• Michael Port on Twitter
• Michael Port on LinkedIn
• Heroic Public Speaking

Additional Resources:

• Axia’s keynote services
• Embracing the power of “No” and storytelling with keynote speaker, author, and actor Rob Biesenbach

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

Send us a text

Our episode guest is Matt Hurst, vice president of communications at Nielsen. Matt started his career as a sports writer then transitioned to communications by working on the Amazon Web Services PR team.

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. Matt Hurst’s efforts on Andy Jassy’s three-hour-long keynote
2. Advice for working with busy executives
3. Current corporate challenges for Nielsen
4. Corporate crisis tips
5. What to read to stay on top of corporate communications

Quotables

• “You're trying to write a press release or you're trying to write social media post or internal communications, but at the end of the day, the way we should all view ourselves is as storytellers.” — @matt_hurst16
• “No day is going to be exactly the same. You wake up and you're like, OK, am I in proactive mode today for communications? Am I creating big strategic plans? Am I in the weeds on understanding how some of this measurement ratings work, and how do I communicate that? Or am I putting out a fire based on crisis comms or some backlash that Nielsen may be facing for whatever reason?” — @matt_hurst16
• “(Nielsen One is) the forthcoming launch of this new cross-platform measurement that Nielsen is developing and will roll out later in 2022 to better capture the way that people are viewing and consuming media.The new updates will specifically refer to social media, digital media, influencer marketing, and in-game and in-mobile app advertising.” — @matt_hurst16
• “I love being a builder in communications.” — @matt_hurst16

If you enjoyed this episode, share it with others and leave us a review!

About Matt Hurst

Matt is a data-driven and results-oriented communications professional who someone described as "a triple threat" due to his leading work across external, internal, and executive communications. He has more than 20 years of experience in global communications across a number of industries with proven experience in building high-performing teams, integrated communications plans, and corporate messaging and narratives. He is a principal adviser, speechwriter, and chief spokesperson for leaders of high-visibility organizations.

Guest’s contact info and resources:

• Matt Hurst on Twitter
• Matt Hurst on LinkedIn
• Nielsen

Additional Resources:

• Andy Jassy's thee-hour-long keynote speech  

Additional Axia Resources:

• Axia’s keynote services
• 5 tips for managing a crisis

Episode recorded: Feb 24, 2022

Sponsored by:

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is s

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

Our episode guest is Matt Hurst, vice president of communications at Nielsen. Matt started his career as a sports writer then transitioned to communications by working on the Amazon Web Services PR team.

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. Matt Hurst’s efforts on Andy Jassy’s three-hour-long keynote
2. Advice for working with busy executives
3. Current corporate challenges for Nielsen
4. Corporate crisis tips
5. What to read to stay on top of corporate communications

Quotables

• “You're trying to write a press release or you're trying to write social media post or internal communications, but at the end of the day, the way we should all view ourselves is as storytellers.” — @matt_hurst16
• “No day is going to be exactly the same. You wake up and you're like, OK, am I in proactive mode today for communications? Am I creating big strategic plans? Am I in the weeds on understanding how some of this measurement ratings work, and how do I communicate that? Or am I putting out a fire based on crisis comms or some backlash that Nielsen may be facing for whatever reason?” — @matt_hurst16
• “(Nielsen One is) the forthcoming launch of this new cross-platform measurement that Nielsen is developing and will roll out later in 2022 to better capture the way that people are viewing and consuming media.The new updates will specifically refer to social media, digital media, influencer marketing, and in-game and in-mobile app advertising.” — @matt_hurst16
• “I love being a builder in communications.” — @matt_hurst16
• “If you find out that the coverup was worse than the crime, you're in another crisis again, and it continues to unravel.” — @matt_hurst16

If you enjoyed this episode, share it with others and leave us a review!

About Matt Hurst

Matt is a data-driven and results-oriented communications professional who someone described as "a triple threat" due to his leading work across external, internal, and executive communications. He has more than 20 years of experience in global communications across a number of industries with proven experience in building high-performing teams, integrated communications plans, and corporate messaging and narratives. He is a principal adviser, speechwriter, and chief spokesperson for leaders of high-visibility organizations.

Guest’s contact info and resources:

• Matt Hurst on Twitter
• Matt Hurst on LinkedIn
• Nielsen

Additional Resources:

• Andy Jassy's thee-hour-long keynote speech  

Additional Axia Resources:

• Axia’s keynote services
• 5 tips for managing a crisis

Episode recorded: Feb 24, 2022

Sponsored by:

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

Send us a text

Our episode guest is Allison Fitzpatrick, partner at Davis+Gilbert, a law firm that specializes in the advertising, marketing, and public relations space. She serves as an adviser in all aspects of marketing and advertising and brings her clients through understanding the power of social media, influencer marketing, native advertising, and other forms of emerging media.

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1.  What NFTs are and why they’re so popular in marketing
2. The rules behind sponsorships and endorsements
3. What to avoid in cannabis marketing
4. The new changes coming to children’s advertising and privacy
5. What to avoid with automatic renewal 

Quotables

• “NFTs are non-fungible tokens, and the reason it's on our list is because right now it is the hottest trend in marketing.” — @AllisonFitzpat1
• “In truth, if you told me a year ago that we'd still be talking about NFTs, I really did think it was a fad that was going to go away. But no, it's No. 1 on our list for a reason because it is the hottest trend in marketing and promotions right now.” — @AllisonFitzpat1
• “It's not just been a trend for a year – it's been a trend for 10 years right now. But 10 years ago they were called bloggers. Now they're called influencers, and some are even called TikTokers.” — @AllisonFitzpat1
• “I think it really does make a big difference in the marketing landscape by having the availability of some of these college athletes who have very powerful names right now.” — @AllisonFitzpat1
• “If you do not have enough supply to satisfy the reasonably anticipated demand, you really shouldn't advertise it because it could be considered bait-and-switch advertising.” — @AllisonFitzpat1

If you enjoyed this episode, would you please share it with others and leave us a review?

About Allison Fitzpatrick

Allison Fitzpatrick  frequently counsels clients on new media issues, including social media, user-generated content, blogging, mobile marketing, and other emerging media. She develops clients’ blogging and social media policies and procedures and reviews clients’ social media campaigns to ensure compliance with the Federal Trade Commission’s endorsement guides and .com disclosure guides. 

Guest’s contact info and resources:

• Allison Fitzpatrick on Twitter
• Allison Fitzpatrick on LinkedIn 
• Davis+Gilbert LLP

Additional Resources:

• The Top 10 Advertising And Marketing Issues To Watch For In 2022

Additional Axia Resources:

• 3 tips for getting started with social media influencers
• The must-have influencer marketing dictionary

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

Send us a text

Our solocast is with host Jason Mudd, CEO at Axia PR. 

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. A brief history of PR
2. What PR is
3. Why the modern PR industry is a train wreck
4. How to elevate your career in PR
5. How PR pros should be measuring PR

Quotables

• “They ran it verbatim, which to me is the ultimate compliment. That means you wrote a news release in a great way and you wrote it so well that the news outlet thought it was written perfectly. They didn't make any edits or changes or cuts or trims or anything like that. When that happens, you should celebrate.” — @JasonMudd9
• “The PR industry was born out of a train wreck; (the) modern PR industry was born out of train wreck. Maybe it's still a train wreck and we should really do some exploration about the current practice of PR.” — @JasonMudd9
• “(PR) is about the public that you serve through building mutually beneficial relationships.” — @JasonMudd9
• “You can't be an expert in everything. You can't be producing a newsletter, managing the website, managing social media, doing earned media, and all these other activities.” — @JasonMudd9
• “If you're busy doing all this activity and no strategy, you're never going to get anything done. You're never going to rise above the work.” — @JasonMudd9
• “The way I define public relations is creative problem-solving and then communicating about it.” — @JasonMudd9
• “Take a defensive posture and stand up for yourself as the expert. Don't become an order-taker; instead, become an adviser.” — @JasonMudd9
• “If you don't lead, you're just going to become an order-taker, and you're going to become undervalued.” — @JasonMudd9
• “No strong brand was built being comfortable. No strong brand or fast-growing company grew because they were comfortable and they played it safe. No, they took risks and they thought expansively.” — @JasonMudd9
• “Don’t be boring!” — @JasonMudd9
• ”We need to start measuring what matters and stop measuring what doesn't matter. And what doesn't matter, oftentimes, are vanity metrics like impressions, advertising value equivalency, likes, shares, comments, clicks, et cetera. What matters is how many people did you truly reach, and how many people did you impress or educate them or get them to change an opinion.” — @JasonMudd9

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with others and leave us a review!

Jason Mudd’s contact info and resources:

• Jason Mudd on Twitter
• Jason Mudd on LinkedIn 
• Axia Public Relations

Additional Resources:

• What you should be measuring in your PR campaigns with Johna Burke
• The power of PR measurement with Katie Paine
• Measuring what matters in your communication efforts webinar 
• What is earned medi

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

Send us a text

Our episode guest is Ric Bachrach, CEO of Celebrity Focus. His background as an athlete and  collegiate coach led to a career as an agent, commercial agent, and vice president of marketing for a major sports agency and a consultant at the other. 

Five things you’ll learn from this episode: 

1. Common misperceptions about working with celebrity talent
2. The difference between celebrities and influencers
3. How to protect yourself when approaching a celebrity that isn’t well known yet for partnership
4. Whether you should give up equity or stock in a partnership with a celebrity
5. What name, image, likeness is

Quotables

• It's very easy to have champagne taste and a beer wallet, but the beautiful thing is that if we understand that there's talent available for every budget, as long as you're flexible you're always going to have a good relationship. — @RicBachrach
• It's not that celebrities aren't influencers – of course they are – but the reality is as the word influencer is most commonly used today, that's in relation to people who have become famous or achieved some relative level of fame, primarily through a digital footprint platforms that they're working on, either as bloggers, or as YouTubers, or [other] things. — @RicBachrach
• You see applications that are business-to-business driven, others that are business-to-consumer. So there's no shortage of the ways that companies use celebrities nor in the different applications in the various disciplines, advertising, marketing, PR, sales, promotion. — @RicBachrach
• In every single case, it's the same thing: The celebrity serves as the vehicle for the dissemination of corporate messages. — @RicBachrach
• One of the things that I always counsel my clients on right out of the gate is the understanding that they are not buying a new best friend. — @RicBachrach
• They can now be compensated by a brand or by an organization for the use of their name, their images, their likenesses — @RicBachrach
• NIL is here to stay; the challenge with it right now is that it's unchartered territory — @RicBachrach

About Ric Bachrach

Ric is the CEO and president of Celebrity Focus. His company’s main goal is to connect famous people with famous brands. He was inspired to start the company after realizing the needs of talent and realizing he could put that to work for corporate clients. He understood this need from his background as an athlete and collegiate coach, which led him to a career as an agent, commercial agent, and vice president at a major sports agency and a consultant at the other.

Guest’s contact info and resources:

• Ric Bachrach on Twitter
• Ric Bachrach on LinkedIn
• Celebrity Focus

Additional Resources:

• Cult of celebrity: Do you need a celebrity spokesperson or spokesmodel to promote your business
• How prominence can add news value to your story 

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.