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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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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At the close of an infamous week marked by both an earthquake and a hurricane, I'm relieved to have missed the biggest disaster of all; the Twitter fail whale that arises from too many tweets and prevents users from viewing the site. Lately, every major event has further proven of the importance of Twitter as an instantaneous news source and an arena for completely unfiltered commentary and interaction. But as social media's role shifts to further evolve into a news platform and society's reliance on social media for disaster preparedness and awareness continues to grow, can popular platforms' systems keep up with the flow of information?

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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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It is truly exciting to work on behalf of clients who lead the masses rather than follow the trends.

For instance, last week I bounced out of the office to meet a client, and on my way to lunch at a popular RTP restaurant, a flock of hungry, hurried businessmen and women were out in full force. In my quest for a prime parking spot, I was utterly surprised to see an entire row of spaces solely dedicated to hybrid automobiles - I was even more surprised to see that most of them were occupied.

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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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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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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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Thanks to social media, new marketing technologies emerge as often as status updates.  But, as the boundaries between physical and technological communication blur, it is vital to monitor and predict trends, as well as recognize society's needs, when planning the next cutting-edge marketing campaign.

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Even the best of seasons have to end at some point - and with Gary Williams' unexpected retirement news I'm sure Maryland basketball fans will concur. The buzzer may have sounded for this year's Battle for Bean Street, but luckily we've got a highlight reel compiled by our friends at Skiver Advertising that will leave us basking in the glory of the battle until we're back in action next year.

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Spring has official sprung in North Carolina, and at Largemouth Communications we've already begun to launch exciting new campaigns for this summer. Before taking that giant leap, we thought we'd take a moment to look back at just a few of the "greatest hits" this Raleigh public relations agency has obtained in recent months. Read More

I am steadily approaching the end of my internship at Largemouth.  And, while a semester may seem like a long time, the 50 some odd visits to the office, all unpaid, tore across my crowded calendar.  I managed to submerse myself completely in my newfound agency setting for four- hour periods before returning, often racing down I-40, to my current collegiate career, and final Italian class of my tenure at NC State.  While it was exhausting at times, I knew it would be well worth it at the end, because, an internship is, without a doubt, the best way to prove that you deserve a job.

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Writers who follow the Associated Press Stylebook (as most journalists and PR professionals do) know that the rules are updated on occasion, and often the changes are quite refreshing. In fact, I have a feeling a few media newsrooms broke out into song and dance last year when "website" was deemed appropriate instead of the highly criticized "Web site." I know Largemouth's office heard its share of "hoorays!"
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It was a rough year for ACC teams in the NCAA tournament, but we still had lots to cheer about thanks to The Battle for Bean Street, an off-court rivalry that rallied the exuberate fans of UNC, NC State and Duke in a coffee-swilling promotion that ultimately benefitted three local charities.

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Instant messages and blogs were the roots of all my future social media use. There is an entire generation of young adults that share the same background. Now, as we mature alongside advancements in technology, we are changing the face of business communication.

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Public relations is all about the message you want to convey, but words are not the only way to get a message across. Images can instantly connect audiences to brands through PR materials including annual reports, fact sheets and non-traditional outlets such as Facebook pages. I'm taking a photography class, and I've discovered that you don't need to use guesswork when choosing images - there are "rules" you can follow to help you find the most visually pleasing ones.

Just keep in mind that in some cases, rules are meant to be broken, at least when it comes to photography. Think of these more as guidelines.

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Since the Battle for Bean Street is all about leveraging the competitive spirit in us all, whether we root for UNC, NC State or Duke, we thought it would be cool to get the media involved in a competition of their own. The celebrity free- throw competition at the B-Ball on Bean Street by Mentos event was fueled by not only the competitive spirit between universities, but also between news outlets.

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The latest report from the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism confirmed that as of the end of 2010, more people get their news from the Internet (41 percent) than from newspapers (31 percent) - and the ad dollars followed. I get most of my news online and enjoy unique ways of receiving information digitally that cannot be replicated in print.

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If it's not clear that I'm an NC State Wolfpack fan, take a look around my office. My diploma is displayed proudly on the wall, an NC State alumni magnet is plastered to my file cabinet, and I have two bobble head figures of former Wolfpack football staples, Philip Rivers and Chuck Amato, sitting on the window ledge.

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