What’s the best-kept secret to retaining employees? It’s actually not more money or added perks. For most employees, it comes down to one important aspect of your business, and that’s your culture. Did you know that 70 percent of US workers feel negatively about their jobs? Millions of workers are emotionally disconnected from what they are doing, and that disconnection leads to a drop in productivity. Psychological engagement and social engagement have a huge impact on how people are performing and how satisfied they are in their careers. Companies that…

Ever since I got my first job in a startup PR firm, I have loved working with startups. I knew that exactly what I was dealing with in my own office – growth, ROI, hiring, firing, working on a tight budget, dealing with the crazy requests of our first clients, lots of coffee and long, long hours – was what my own startup clients were dealing with, too. How could I not relate? Startup PR may seem daunting, but if you’re passionate about your product or service and you have…

Public relations executives can schedule an interview between a client and a high-profile reporter that might lead to a great story in print or online, but only if the client shares a great story during that interview. Otherwise? The coverage suffers, or never posts at all.

A lot of people have a lot of bad stuff to say about the PR industry and PR people in general. In fact, CNBC posted a story a few weeks ago highlighting the most stressful jobs for 2013 and, yup, you guessed it — PR Executive came in at number 5. It was beat out only by police officer, airline pilot, military personnel, and firefighters. What is that about? Those folks are risking their lives to save others! But while PR may be stressful at times, I still think it…

The ability to effectively manage agency/client relations is a skill which benefits everyone in your organization, regardless of where they sit in the office. As a successful public relations professional, I’m always looking for new ways to foster a positive, productive and trusting relationship with my clients. Managing client relations is obviously something we take very seriously here at Overit. Happy clients create a happy agency! Below are some of the obvious and sometimes not so obvious tips for a successful agency/client relationship. 1. Tell great stories PR is all…

Hey there, fancy journalist, I’m a PR professional with a question. Here it is: Why do you hate us? Yes – I’m really asking you! Of course, it’s not just journalists constantly ripping on our profession. PR people are a running joke in most Web circles. It seems like every time I sign onto Twitter there is some foul-mouthed tweet bashing our industry. While I’ll be the first to agree there are some HORRIBLE PR people out there who blast out long, exaggerated pitches to every reporter listed on Cision,…

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about pitching best practices for rookies and got some awesome feedback from it. It even got picked up on PRDaily; woo hoo! This time around I want to write about what it should look like when you put those best practices to use to get some really great coverage for your clients. We work with an array of clients here at Overit Media, be it the alternative energy space, outdoor power equipment market or project management for the enterprise. It is our…

Last week, my little baby brother walked across the stage at the Times Union Center and accepted his Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal arts from Siena College (Congrats, Dave!). As he and the rest of his friends and fellow students start their job searches, I wanted to give them one important piece of advice as they begin pumping out resumes and putting on their suits to go meet with potential employers. Corporate culture, in my opinion, is one of the most important aspects to consider when looking for a…

You are now officially a publicist. You have been given the responsibility of scoring coverage for your clients. Where do you start?

While most reporters were busy writing the headlines and the stories to these news items, some were making headlines of their own by either moving on to bigger or better things, or moving on by someone else’s choice.