Business blogging, lessons learnt - Cathy Riordan
Posted on 17/06/2010
Although warned by Damien Mulley at his business blogging course about infrequent blogging, I fell into that trap. It's down to a disciplined and confident approach to communicating on behalf of your business as part of your overall marketing communications. It's about extending the confidence with which you deliver services into publishing comment. With client service the priority, there is still time to consider the overall picture, share lessons learnt, open discussion on industry issues and points of interest.
The Privacy Debate - By Sean O'Riordain FPRII
Posted on 22/01/2010
People often say that we get the politicians we ask for. So do we get the media we ask for? “Never believe what you read in the papers” is not as relevant any more where news is arguably not as important to an editor as the entertainment value or controversial element in an opinion expressed on the page. Once upon a time there was a daily newspaper called the Irish Press. It was known and respected as a newspaper of record…..solid,reliable, somewhere you might go to check the truth of a situation. As the paper failed to keep up with the times circulation fell and advertisers abandoned ship and the ship sank. When the Sunday World arrived, our very own Sunday tabloid,circulation rocketed and nobody admitted to buying it. The very attractive model Jackie Lavin peered out at us from posters all over town asking “are you getting it every Sunday?” The famous four word editorial policy of one notorious UK tabloid……Sex,Money, Animals and Children was becomong an official part of our media diet and advertisers flocked. We wanted to be titivated and have our curiousities about other people’s lives satisfied. Cheaper UK tabloids did tidy business here with sports and page three delights to offer. Then the Irish Times published a transcript of Lady D’s telephone conversation with her lover….for God’s sake! Entertainment was now pushing ahead of reliable information as a driver of circulation and advertisers responded. Opinion began to overtake objective reporting and often the two mixed. Commercial radio and TV wanted their share of marketing budgets and the subsidized broadcaster debate began. Rupert Murdoch changed the face of sport on TV and the Internet began to seriously worry newspaper publishers as a competitor for lucrative jobs and property advertising. Pressure, pressure, pressure! And we are surprised, outraged even, expeditions are launched to tackle the High Moral Ground, when Minister Lenihan’s privacy is breached by TV 3 who get a scoop based on verifiable information. Minister Brian Lenihan who emerged from the economic bloodbath that was 2009 with a handful of the certainties we craved and who stuck with it in the face of angry populist opposition from his party’s “friends”. His response was dignified and has cemented his reputation as a serious politician and statesman. We bought in, long ago, to the morality of the marketplace and not just in media. As consumers we get what we pay for. Caveat emptor!
Hiring a PR agency - By Sean O'Riordain
Posted on 18/01/2010
Some thoughts to help the relationship work
1) Ask yourself why you need PR? Whether you are selling a product or service, what’s your message, who do you need to Influence? What’s your marketing objective?
2) What companies do you admire? What kind of image do they have? Do you remember any of their
campaigns? How comparable are you?
3) How important is good PR to you, will you resource your campaign with a useful budge? Remember the real value of good PR comes from independent and reputable endorsement of your company and products . Experts say that’s worth three times the advertising value.
4) Who will the agency deal with and who’s the company spokesperson? You will want your company to be recognized as an authoritive spokesperson for your industry with a file of readily available fact to help busy media do their work.
5) Write a good brief on your requirement and give budget guidelines.
6) Don’t waste your time! Do some desk research on possible agency candidate and shortlist three runners.
7) Choose the agency with the best ideas , showing an understanding of the brief and ask yourself “will you enjoy working with them?”
PRII Lifetime Achievement Award for Sean O’Riordain
Posted on 11/01/2010
Congratulations to our senior PR consultant Sean O’Riordain who was recently honoured by the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sean founded Park Communications in 1979 and headed up the agency for 25 years, building it into one of Ireland’s leading PR companies. Park Communications merged with Heneghan PR in 2006.
Seán is a valued business mentor and an excellent PR consultant specialising in corporate and financial PR and issues management. He now consults exclusively for PR Wise.
Great ideas get great PR!
Posted on 24/09/2009
I have been following Tom Mahoney’s website www.halfaloaf.ie over the past months with much interest. The rationale behind halfaloaf.ie really stirs positive reaction. I have heard Tom on radio several times and been struck by his practical approach, connecting and facilitating people who are so isolated by unemployment. There’s a great interview with Tom on Silicon Republic today.
An amusing conversation
Posted on 24/07/2009
I'm starting with an amusing conversation that I overheard between two young women as they perused Women Mean Business magazine. One asked the other, which word do you prefer: business, network, women, or management? They both reflected and agreed on ‘business', justifying their choice with phrases: yes, ‘mind your own business' and ‘it's none of your business'. One recognised a friend in the new appointments section: "what's Aoife O'Donnell doing here?" At the ripe old ages of four and seven.
I am working from several bases. A Dublin office, a home office and as it transpires a Cork office for PR Wise from next month. The difference in working environments has been striking me more and more. I am in the Dublin office every second week, where new colleague Jamie Good is based full time. This works well. My home office definitely works for specific assignments and day to day reactive and proactive PR activity. But for creative assignments, the adrenalin is missing. Particularly at the crucial stages, a couple of days to deadline. Gathering at the home office as a team of five doesn't work. Even moving to a hotel lobby will transform the dynamic in terms of flow of ideas. For my business to operate efficiently, the next move is to take a local office. We are still working at a very low cost. I wonder is this the case across all sectors or just for some? Maybe it's a case of utilising all options and being flexible.
Well, it's been almost a month
Posted on 07/07/2009
Well, it's been almost a month, longer than it should be, since the first post. No excuse. I am happy to report that this week I have hired a new employee, Jamie Good. We worked together for a couple of years before so it is exciting to be working together again, this time as part of a new company with new clients including Panasonic, web company Strata3, Azotel systems, mobile marketing company Return2Sender, CIX data centre and business social network Loopthing. Which gives me more time (there's the excuse)...
Our new PR blog - be gentle, it's our first time
Posted on 05/06/2009
Updated by Cathy Riordan
Cathy Riordan here, I head up new PR company PR Wise, based in Cork and Dublin. My area of expertise is in B2B, technology and consumer technology PR with nine years agency experience working for clients such as Bitbuzz, Epson, IrishJobs.ie, Motorola, saongroup.com and 3 Ireland. I am joined by PR consultant Sean O'Riordain, PR executive Dee Murnane and online marketing consultant Paula Thomas, to offer a complete communications service for business .
This is my first blog post. The website launched in May so I am driven now to take the leap. Damien Mulley's one day blogging course was excellent, then it took a couple of months to build up the confidence! I am committing to a weekly blog post which fits in with a busy schedule of client service and new business development. I join an established group of well respected PR blogs such as Piaras Kelly, Tom Murphy, Eoin Kennedy and Ronnie Simpson.
It has been a good experience setting up PR Wise. Relationships that I have built over the years, and new ones arising from being a start up business, have been key. People have offered support, recommendations, advice, partnerships and I'm happy to report, new business opportunities. This is testimony to the importance of putting your best into relationships, keeping it genuine. While you do have to get out there and network, it all comes down to sustaining relationships.
In conclusion, what would you like to learn from a PR company?