Relationships are critical when it comes to gaining exposure in the nation’s most coveted media outlets. If it is done right, PR provides third-party credibility that captures the attention of customers who are already inundated with marketing messages. Try these tips to get the word out about your company.  

More and more, citizen reporters are shaping the news and the information we receive. Time Magazine named “YOU” as person of the year as a result of the citizen reporting trend. We now find information and make purchasing decisions based on a variety of different sources that include blogs, vlogs, social networking sites, viral emails, and e-commerce rating systems. Each one of us is a journalists if we want to be and can be published in a number of locations in a number of ways on the web. Our tendency to trust each other more that we trust institutions, media outlets or even the government prompts us to turn to feedback from one another about what is truly going on in the world. Wikipedia is a citizen generated information library and one of the most frequently visited sites on the web and “google” is officially a verb. Zenzi offers a few tips on how to get your feet wet in the citizen-generated media world.  

To mark the official start of the Girl Scouts cookie season, the ‘Girls in Green’ recently attended Cookie College at the University of San Diego to perfect the art of selling cookies. Zenzi CEO Sarah Znerold attended the event to coach the girls on successful strategies for PR and marketing. KPBS Education Reporter Ana Tintocalis reports.

Click to Listen to Girl Scouts Learn PR at Cookie College

A press release is a company’s formal opportunity to tell the world about all of the great things it has been doing.  Beyond that, it is a tool to help journalists write a better story and increase a company’s chances of getting exposure.  

No company can go through its existence without being in involved in some sort of a crisis. However, a single incident can destroy years of strong customer and shareholder relations. Competitors will also take full advantage of the situation. While it’s tough to predict when a crisis might occur, it is critical to plan for one in advance. Companies that incorporate effective crisis communications strategies into their disaster recovery plans have a greater chance of mitigating negative media and public perceptions and enhancing their long-term credibility. Tips for designing an effective crisis communication plan:

Determine in advance who needs to be involved:
The plan should include two spokespeople and two assistants to handle media issues, which will ensure at least one person is always available. The plan should enable the team to quickly and systematically increase the number of key people involved in case the crisis should escalate.