I've had the good fortune to work for some pretty great companies; from locally owned TV stations, to NBC, to some great NC business leaders like Progress Energy and Blue Cross. A few years ago, I decided to step away from the high profile jobs and focus on public relations and media relations consulting. It was great; chose my clients, created my hours and had a lot of flexibility. But something seemed to be missing.

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I recently had the opportunity to attend a Business Wire hosted “Meet the Media” luncheon featuring an impressive panel of three local journalists: News Director of NewsRadio 680 WPTF, The North Carolina News Network and StateGovernmentRadio.com, Rick Martinez; Co-Founder of WRAL Tech Wire and a previous editor and reporter at The News & Observer, Rick Smith; and the Assistant Business Editor of The News & Observer, David Bracken.

During the luncheon, the esteemed panel of guest speakers shared a recipient’s view on media pitching, a truly invaluable skill every practitioner in our industry aims to perfect.  

Here's what they had to say...

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By now you've probably heard of Pinterest, or at least seen Pinterest content shared across a range of other popular social media channels. You may even have an account. But if you aren't familiar, Pinterest is essentially an online bulletin board where users can create categorized boards and "pin" – or bookmark – related images and videos from websites or uploads. They can also "repin" and share pins from other users. 

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From non-profits in Carrboro to tech companies in Beijing, I thought I’d seen it all. I’ve been fortunate to work with several exciting organizations over the past four years and thought I understood what it meant to be an intern – until I arrived at Largemouth last week.

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I can still remember the day I decided that I wanted to work in public relations.

I had just finished my first semester at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and I felt unsure about which major was right for me. I knew that, whatever profession I chose, I wanted to be excited about going to work every day. After scrolling through the list of offered majors, I found public relations, and you can say the rest is history.

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Reaching the masses on social media seems like an easy thing to do. Facebook has more than 800 million active users, with more than 50 percent of them logging in every day, Twitter claims 300 million.

But, while these vast user populations may represent great opportunity for the consumer-facing side of the business world, their translation into the business-facing community remains a bit unclear.

In judging the value of participation in this forum, BtoB marketers and decision makers often see two sides to the debate:

1. A complete lack of presence could reflect poorly on a company – especially in a BtoB world where staying “ahead of the curve” is everything.

2. With indistinct analytics, lead-generation value and return on investment, how can a budding BtoB company justify the expenses and time commitments associated with maintaining a social presence?

Furthermore, those businesses that go with door #1, often quickly become frustrated with their results, and fall back into door #2, unable to justify the investment.

I personally believe that with social media, you get what you put in. So, I’ll bring this discussion back to the bare bones of PR. Our overarching professional theme – know your audience – doesn’t magically disappear when thrown into the realm of social media...

 

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How often do you think about your personal electricity usage? Perhaps once-a-month when the bill comes in? Well, our client, Sensus Smart Metering, a Raleigh-based utility infrastructure firm, spends a lot of time thinking about the electricity, gas and water usage of commercial and residential users worldwide. Last week, I had the exciting opportunity to witness the installation of a Sensus smart meter in Largemouth’s backyard, and tell the media all about how the Triangle is quickly becoming the “Smart Grid Valley” of the east!

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During the course of my fall semester, I have spent roughly 40 business days as one of Largemouth's interns. As the semester is dwindling down and winter break is quickly approaching, I have had time to reflect about working in a full-service public relations firm for the past 16 weeks. From my time here, I can honestly say having an internship teaches you so much more than you will ever learn in the classroom. The experience I have gained thus far at Largemouth has undoubtedly been the most influential practice for my future in the public relations profession.

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Having joined Largemouth Communications as their newest intern, I am beyond thrilled about the knowledge and experience this position will allow me to gain throughout the fall semester. With one successful week under my belt, Largemouth seems like a great fit for me. Provided that it is my dream to become a public relations professional at a high-energy PR agency, I am already confident Largemouth will help prepare me for my future.

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I wasn't around when public relations relied on compiling and mailing press kits, faxing releases or banking on relationships with one or two local newsroom buddies, and I'm glad.  Why? Because there has never been a better time to be in PR than right now.

The game has changed.  PR pros are currently in a transformative stage, evolving, but not just to survive as the fittest among communication experts, but also to rule the tangled infrastructure of emerging media channels and technological trends.  We are evolving to take full advantage of the resources that have been put in front of us, and as a result of society's changing needs, PR skill sets are growing into something a lot bigger than any press release or fact-sheet could ever describe. Yet, we will always remain behind the scenes, speaking through the talking heads and illuminated screens that you rely on.

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Wednesday afternoon, Kangaroo Express and the ‘Salute Our Troops USO Jeep Tour' held a unique recognition ceremony in Morrisville, N.C., honoring serving members of the armed forces, veterans and their families.

Duke University basketball radio announcer and local icon, Bob Harris, "The Voice of The Blue Devils," was present and provided powerful commentary on the campaign, in which a fully restored 1952 Willys CJ-3 Jeep has traveled to more than75 cities over 13,000 miles, amassing more than $1.35 million in donations thanks to awe-inspiring community support at each stop.

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Anthony recently wrote about how Plug-In 2011, a national electric vehicle conference and exposition, is taking place at the Raleigh Convention Center this week. Well, we both attended last night's public event, and witnessed an impressive turnout! Here are a few of my Plug-In 2011 highlights:

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So, the Facebook announcement was pretty awesome, as promised. Beyond the group chat capabilities, new chat design – and yes, even beyond the Skype video calling integration – if we look at this announcement with a public relations lens, there are a few awesome tips to take away from the work of the Mark Zuckerberg team to see how a company press conference can overshadow something like the White House’s first-ever presidential “Twitter Town Hall.”

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Infographics are hot in the PR industry and it's easy to understand why - in a world where you can count on seconds of an audience's attention, at best, the infographic simplifies a concept that would have taken tedious paragraphs to express in words. Information graphics or infographics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge. Armed with your data and graphic designer, we suggest eight triggers that might call for pulling the infographic out of your public relations toolbox.

Keep reading for Top 8 Triggers for Using Infographics

Graphic credit: PR Daily

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The "kissing couple" is hoping to cash in on their famous smooch.

If you recall from earlier this month, during the street riots after the Vancouver Canucks lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, a couple was photographed kissing on the ground.

The couple wasn't officially identified until two days after the game, and until that time nobody knew why they were kissing amid the chaos. The mystery behind the romantic picture fueled the fire, and soon people were talking more about the couple than the hockey game.

Rich Lam/GETTY IMAGES

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Conventional PR wisdom will tell you that you can’t force something to “go viral.” Sure, you can make every effort to produce content that is hilarious, meaningful, catchy, valuable, or just so very cool that people want to share it with their friends. But no matter how real it gets in the Whole Foods parking lot, or how many dance parties take place in Apple stores, you truly cannot control what catches on and what doesn’t.

But sometimes a client offers a deal so amazing it takes on a life of its own, as was the case with the deal Kangaroo Express offered its guests: Pay $6.99 for a reusable cup, refill it with fountain or frozen beverages as many times as you like at any of the 1,600+ locations throughout the Southeast – all summer long.

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Our client Sensus attended the American Water Works Association's annual conference and exposition, ACE11, this week. Conferences like this provide a great opportunity for Sensus to interface with customers, but at Largemouth, we're focused on all of the editors and reporters that attend! Last week, we were busy scheduling media briefings between Sensus and their key trade publications.
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I've just about completed my first month as a full-time account coordinator here at Largemouth's RTP home, and although I was in and out of the agency as an intern for a semester, that experience provided only a taste of what full-service communications really means.

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For most N.C. natives, like me, summer's humid 90-degree days are often an unwelcomed familiarity. This summer, however, has gotten off to a dramatically different start. Instead of relaxing pool side like many college students, I am interning at the corporate office of Raleigh's fast-paced, high-energy PR agency Largemouth Communications. Read More

As a rising senior in a communication major at North Carolina State University, largely known for its nationally ranked engineering programs, I get a lot of flak from my engineer-dominated circle of friends. "Oh Communications...so you're just learning how to talk and use Facebook better?" jousts my mechanical engineering roommate as he reminds me with a smirk that I should look into getting a real major. My friends' lighthearted heckles resurrect an argument, or a discussion on reputation rather, that has inundated the professions within the communication industry since they originated, which I am told did exist prior to the Internet.

Albeit, engineers are a smart brood that serves a valuable purpose within our world and economy, but my friends overlook the immense value that public relations and other closely related communication professions play within this same market. Our industry's falsely acquired reputation of being dispensable, with incalculable effects and without any "real" licensing board, have left many, including my friends, with this platform upon which to jest. In terms of what makes up "professionals" it is more or less clear what a doctor or engineer does and why they are necessary. Why then the ambiguity between what a publicist does versus what a public relations practitioner does, or a communications director or any of the other number of fields that make up possible careers for specially-trained Communication degree-holders?

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