Stories by Nicole Schuman

Some PR pros may find it difficult to know exactly what constitutes a crisis. Calls may increase at your customer service center. A company may appear on Google Trends. Or, as Margaret Standing, director, corporate communications at Designer Brands, put it, “you can watch your Apple watch, and see the increase of beats per minute. That’s when you know there is a crisis.” After that, you must decide how to respond. See how crisis experts advised attendees during PRNEWS’ Crisis Management Workshop.

As the old saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Public relations professionals live and breathe this mantra for their clients, but they should also look inward when it comes to developing relationships with journalists.

Bots and automation can help communicators with audience research and faster response times, and fake followers can make you look important. But consumers are smart and want to find a brand they can put their trust in.

Communicators know words mean everything. What you say in a press release, advertisement or tweet can make or break a brand. So it’s not a surprise that search engine optimization remains an important strategic tactic on a digital level. Proper SEO makes sure brands get noticed in that continuous quest to the first page of Google, Yahoo or Bing.