PR Nation

Our summer PR book review series wraps up with a must-have guide to crisis comms that you can get for free! Robert talks with Jeff Hahn about his book, Breaking Bad News – 12 Essential Crisis Communication Tools, a survival guide intended to help you and your brand or organization navigate the first two hours of a reputation crisis. Listen to the interview for info about how to get a free copy of the book, then follow the link in the show notes to have it sent to you now.

This is the final episode of the season. We’re taking the rest of the summer off, but we won’t be goofing around. We’ll use the next couple of months to build a new show with more voices, more variety, shorter interviews, a different approach to PR news, and other fun surprises.

The new PR Nation podcast debuts Friday, August 27th!

Links:

Guest: Jeff Hahn

Get Your Free Copy of the Book: Breaking Bad News

PR Nation website

O’Dwyer’s PR Newsletter

If you had to read one book about public relations, what book would it be? Would you read a book about social media? Maybe one about research and planning? How about one on writing or marketing techniques? That sounds like a lot of books, maybe too many.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get everything you need to know about all these topics and more in one handbook? We’ve found one that covers every PR topic in a format that doesn’t waste your time.

It’s called “Complete Public Relations” and it’s hot off the presses. Robert continues PR Nation’s summer PR book review series in a conversation with two of the book’s three authors, Suzanne FitzGerald and Joe Basso.

Also, the crew comments on the French Open’s mishandling of Naomi Osaka’s media concerns, the firing of an Associated Press writer for her political tweets, and the United Airlines contest for people who’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19. 

Links:

A California teen pushed a bear off her backyard wall

Osaka Fallout: Are Press Conferences Still the Answer?

AP explains why it fired Emily Wilder

United Airlines’ contest gets passengers to share vaccine info

Guest: Suzanne FitzGerald

Guest: Joe Basso

Publisher: Complete Public Relations

PR Nation website

O’Dwyer’s PR Newsletter

Who in PR Nation likes to give media interviews? Some of you probably love it. But we’re guessing an equal number are just fine not standing in front of a TV camera. And we can’t blame you. The interview process can be frightening. It can be invasive. It’s rarely fun.

But there is a new book that can help you manage, survive, and possibly even enjoy the media interview process. Robert visits with one of the authors, former TV anchorman Rick DeBruhl, about “The Insider’s Guide to Media Training.”

Also, the crew debates a White House requirement that reporters get some quotes approved before publication, tries to understand Prince Harry’s criticism of the First Amendment, and consoles Sarah over the final results of this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame voting.

Links:

Rock and Roll HOF – 2021 Inductees

Prince Harry calls First Amendment ‘Bonkers’

Reporters fume at White House ‘quote approval’ rules

Opinion: The CDC’s mask guidance is a mess. Biden needs to clean it up.

Guest: Rick DeBruhl

Amazon: The Insider's Guide to Media Training

PR Nation website

O’Dwyer’s PR Newsletter

There’s been a lot going on in the world the last year. How has social media impacted the debate over policing, race, politics, and the pandemic? PR Nation’s favorite doctors, Ph.D’s that is, join Robert to discuss their new book Social Media and Society. Whether you know a lot or a little about social media this book is for you!

Also, Summer gets bullied by aggressive buyers fighting over a blender on Facebook Marketplace, Rachel and Tim confess their relatives are magicians, while Sarah is grateful she’s only dealing with fanny packs and Jorts at home!

Links:

Spotify CEO silent on Joe Rogan’s anti-vax comments

Trump’s ban from Facebook is upheld, but panel orders review

Polling suggests little downside for brands offering free products to vaccinated Americans

Guest: Dr. Gina Luttrell

Guest: Dr. Adrienne Wallace

What happens in an Internet minute?

Book: Social Media and Society

PR Nation website

O’Dwyer’s PR Newsletter

This week, we talk about internal communications, and why the audience you work with, the one right in front of you, is so important to your organization’s success. PR Nation contributor Pooja Kamat joins the crew from Mumbai, India to kick off her interview with Jennifer Thomas, an internal comms pro with GSK in London.

Also, the crew reveals the biggest news of the week, and it has nothing to do with PR, but rather a mystery box winding its way from Florida to Pennsylvania. There’s also a PR discussion about George Washington’s River Farm, Alaska Airlines’ handling of a mask controversy, and the end of the “Op Ed.”

Links:

American Horticultural Society board rift could complicate proposed sale of historic River Farm

Alaska Airlines bans state senator for refusing to wear a mask

Why the New York Times is retiring the term “Op Ed”

Guest: Jennifer Thomas

PR Nation website

O’Dwyer’s PR Newsletter

Do you worry that you might be missing something when you write a PR plan? Are your pitching skills current? Do you know the easiest way to get a PR effort started? So many questions, so little time.

Luckily, Amy Rosenberg has written a book full of tactical PR advice, addressing those and many other PR mysteries. Robert has read the book, “A Modern Guide to Public Relations – Unveiling the Mystery of PR.” On this episode, he kicks off PR Nation’s spring PR book review series talking with Amy, an Oregon-based pro, about the guide, her PR approach, and the circus clowns who inspired it!

The crew rolls through the studio today, but lots of client work has left little time for chit chat this week. John O’Dwyer is along with the latest PR news, but other fan favorites, like Take 3, return better than ever in two weeks!

Links:

Guest: Amy Rosenberg

PR Talk

Amazon: A Modern Guide to Public Relations

PR Nation website

O’Dwyer’s PR Newsletter

Most of us know TikTok as the social media platform for short-form videos used mostly by younger people. But is it just for Gen Z-ers who need to dance or is it more than that? Many well-known brands are using TikTok with impressive results: Guess, the NBA and NFL, Chipotle, and even the Washington Post.

So maybe there’s hope for the rest of us? If you’ve been on the sidelines watching the TikTok game play out in front of you, this is your chance to learn how TikTok could be a tactic in your next PR campaign.

Sarah, PR Nation’s in-house digital native, talks TikTok with Samantha Ogborn, founder and CEO of Once and More, about her passion for the platform and the tools for those of us who might be holding back.

Also, the crew discusses Sarah’s Star Wars-themed cat artwork, whether PR Nation’s pets need their own Instagram channel, and what should have happened the moment a ’60 Minutes’ reporter fired a tough question at Florida’s governor a month ago.

Links:

’60 Minutes’ misses the mark in its story about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and COVID-19 vaccines

Publix hits back on ’60 Minutes’ investigation

The Trump White House provided reporters with a gusher of leaks. With Biden, everything’s changed.

Guest: Samantha Ogborn

10 Brands and Organizations Rocking TikTok Marketing

PR Nation website

O’Dwyer’s PR Newsletter

The AP Stylebook Showdown is back! In this special episode of PR Nation, player Avni Gupta puts her AP style knowledge to the test. 

Host Robert Johnson is known for breaking out some tricky AP questions. Think you’re up to it? Listen, play along, and let us know your score! 

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Guest: Avni Gupta

For university and college students about to graduate with degrees in public relations and communications, this can be a stressful time. From now until May, seniors across the PR Nation will be laser focused on finding a PR job. Young pro and PR Nation contributor Paula Chirinos, in New York City, talks about the job-hunting process and tips for landing that first PR agency position with Danielle Calhoun, VP of Inclusive Practices at Weber Shandwick in San Francisco.

Also, the crew discusses an upcoming spring break trip to a Tennessee dude ranch, while Editor Tim admits he had to look up the definition of the term “dude ranch.” And Paula plays the Beatles hit tune “Here comes the sun” on her ukulele.

Links:

The saga of mishaps and miscommunications overshadowing AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine

Marketing Company Dangles Vaccine to Test Employees on Phishing

Trump predicted news ratings would ‘tank if I’m not there.’ He wasn’t wrong.

Guest Host: Paula Chirinos

Guest: Danielle Calhoun

10 Brands and Organizations Rocking TikTok Marketing

It’s been a year since we first had to jump on Zoom for staff meetings, client updates, and other conversations, working through the technology, learning how to share documents, use the chat feature, and arrange our backgrounds.

The pandemic also has forced clients to conduct agency reviews online through the cold lens of the teleconference platform.We’ve all had to pitch our wares to people we’d like to meet but now can’t see because so many have their cameras turned off.

Even as we hope for an end to social distancing, it’s unclear whether all new business pitches will return to an in-person format which is why Robert asked Robert Udowitz of RFP Associates for some advice and tips developed just for this conversation. 

Also, the crew previews President Biden’s first White House news conference, discusses the Alexi McCammond story, and considers the problem with comments captured while microphones are still listening.

Links:

Biden to hold first formal news conference on March 25

New Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Alexi McCammond resigns over past racist tweets about Asians

McCammond’s Story: Is There an Expiration Date for Tweets?

Dem Senator Caught on Hot Mic

Guest: Robert Udowitz

RFP Associates website

PR Nation website

O’Dwyer’s PR Newsletter