Archive for 'What is PR?'
Laying the Table for Climate Negotiations

Laying the Table for Climate Negotiations

Posted 23 October 2009 | By Jeff Stephens | Categories: What is PR?, climate change, water | No Comments

Leading up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, there’s much speculation about the roles that both the United States and China will play on the world stage. China and the US together account for 40 percent of greenhouse gases. The goal of the conference is to reach an international agreement to cut [...]

Communicating CSR Progress

Posted 04 September 2008 | By Jeff Stephens | Categories: What is PR? | No Comments

The ongoing challenge for companies implementing corporate social responsibility initiatives is how much to 'toot their own horn' about progress. At what point does calling out tangible company improvements become overly promotional and dismissed as empty marketing speak, or worse greenwashing? Also, what are the most effective communication vehicles?
According to the Natural Marketing Institute's 2007 [...]

Battling Communication Schizophrenia

Posted 28 August 2008 | By Jeff Stephens | Categories: What is PR? | No Comments

In the rush to capitalize on purchasers’ alleged desire for green products and services, companies are ‘shoe-horning’ environmental themes in to all of their communications. Companies are quick to add a “Sustainability” section to their website thinking that changes to a site’s main navigation must demonstrate true commitment to the environment. A newsletter article about [...]

Communicating Climate Change

Posted 09 July 2008 | By Jeff Stephens | Categories: What is PR?, climate change | No Comments

The July/August 2008 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review examines climate change and asserts that "media coverage of climate change is at a crossroads." Essentially, the article is saying that we're [moving] "beyond the science of global warming into the broader arena of what governments, entrepeneurs, and ordinary citizens are doing about it." Hence…
"Journalists [...]

Combating ‘Green Noise’

Posted 27 June 2008 | By Jeff Stephens | Categories: What is PR? | No Comments

A recent article by Alex Williams of the NYTimes, discussed how consumers are feeling overwhelmed with the "urgent, sometimes vexing or even contradictory information played at too high a volume for too long" about environmental issues.  
For businesses and organizations wondering how best to overcome this consumer fatigue, I suggest that they reexamine and narrow [...]

PR Advice from Justice Antonin Scalia

Posted 29 April 2008 | By Jeff Stephens | Categories: What is PR? | No Comments

There's always much debate within certain companies about whether to talk with the press. Why risk getting misquoted or facilitating a story that from the onset is slanted to portray the company unfavorably. Recently, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spoke to NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, and provided some excellent PR advice.
 "The reality is, [...]

Press Perspective

Posted 25 April 2008 | By Jeff Stephens | Categories: What is PR? | No Comments

Information overload. That's the best way to describe my trip to the EcoCity World Summit in San Francisco as a member of the press. As I write for Jetson Green, a green building blog, I was able to secure a press pass thanks to help from Amy Senn who handles media relations for Sensible City, [...]

Website Optimization for PR Value

Posted 07 April 2008 | By Jeff Stephens | Categories: What is PR?, social media | No Comments

There's value in preparing regular announcements about company activities and feeding them on to the web via online newswire services like PRWeb to increase search engine ranking. As customers, prospects, potential hires, and reporters seek out 'background' information about your company, search engines can provide a virtual storehouse of information. Special emphasis is added because [...]

Blogging in 140 Characters or Less

Posted 25 February 2008 | By Jeff Stephens | Categories: What is PR?, social media | No Comments

One of the biggest (legitimate) concerns about business blogging is the time commitment. "I'm already overextended, how can I possibly start writing meaningful posts that discuss the future of my industry? Rest assured, you don't need to solve the world's problems with your blog; you just need to initiate a conversation that resonates with your [...]

38% Sick of Green PR

Posted 04 February 2008 | By Jeff Stephens | Categories: What is PR? | No Comments

But, according to a new study by Allianz Global Investors, 62% think "it's great that companies are publicly making statements about 'going green'." They're not only saying it's great but investing in those types of companies too. 

 According to the study, investors view the environment as a major long-term investing [...]