Happy Thanksgiving!

Even a high energy PR team needs a day off now and then to pause and recharge its batteries.

But the holidays always seem to bring last-minute special event assignments and — sometimes — crisis management tasks. While good for business, such last-minute work can test the holiday spirit of even the most cheerful PR pro.

That's when it's time to do what you do best: think strategically and get organized. That can help even the most harried pro get through this season and still leave time for celebration.

Wishing everyone a joyous Thanksgiving! May the events you're managing be happy ones!

Press Kits: Are They Obsolete?

If you're thinking about moving away from having a press kit because you have a web site that provides information about your company, don't do it.

A press kit remains an invaluable tool for working with media to get that all-important editorial coverage. Even more importantly, it is a targeted tool to convey those points about your business that you want the media to cover.

At its very least, a well-structured press kit should contain an overview of your company, fact sheets about the company and its products, and a bio of you primary spokesperson.

Offer it on your web site and on CD, but don't neglect that all important paper copy. Media Relations is about helping the media, so be prepared to provide your press kit in any way that the media requests it.

After all, it's just good customer service — and the media is your customer.

The Importance Of Being Organized

Despite the changes that have occurred in PR over the last year with social media and other channels of communications, media contact remains the heart of what most PR people do.

Businesses want and need editorial coverage. They recognize that the public processes a news story about a product, service or location as an implied third party endorsement.

Yet, it's surprising how many PR folks don't use one simple approach that could help them generate more and better editorial coverage.

They don't keep track of their media interactions.

Some PR agencies and in-house PR managers have attempted to address this deficiency by contracting for computerized software programs designed to help their staff track and organize their media contacts electronically. But, like any computer program, if you aren't organized to use it, you don't regularly enter the relevant data. And, you won't have the most current information to refer to later.

The old-fashioned (and tried and true) notebook or looseleaf approaches are low cost and still popular for those agencies or businesses on a budget. Simple and easy, there's no new computer program to learn. Here's how it works: You speak with a writer and you simply take notes. Each time you have a conversation, you take notes and date them. Now you have a record – a log if you will – of every press interaction.

You can refer to this as you do follow up later (only the luckiest PR folks get a story on the first run). You'll know when you last spoke with the writer and what was said. And – heaven forbid – if you're hit by a truck on the way home one evening, your colleagues can continue your work simply by referencing your log.

Now, the written log is not as sexy as the software and, granted, the tracking software also does lots of other organizational things like sorting and identifying media. But, if you're a small agency with a few clients in just a few industries, chances are you're already aware of key media you need to know. And, strong editorial calendar research will yield you more.

The point is that organization is the key – no matter what methodology you use.

Organization will help you to be more productive as you free up that brain space and make more and more media calls. And, because pitching is often a numbers game, this will also help you to be more successful at generating coverage.

So pick a high-tech approach or take the low-tech road, but for heaven's sake, get organized.

As an organized PR person, you'll find you can be both more productive and more successful.

Communicating Through Multiple Channels: Talk The Talk, Walk The Walk

How do you manage your marketing communications?

We're living in a transitional time. Advertising, marketing, public relations – they're all evolving. The lines are blurring. While the end goal remains influence and persuasion, the tools and techniques — and the channels we use to deploy our messages — are multiplying and becoming more intertwined.

New opportunities to affect meaningful and influential communication emerge everyday. There's a proliferation of tools, an avalanche of techniques.

If you have a product and you want to market it effectively, you have to get on board the train of changing times. And, whether you're in strategic marketing, creative development, advertising or public relations, here are some questions you should be thinking about:

Do you push out your marketing messages via ads, press releases, text messages, e-mail blasts, direct mail, your Web site? Do you engage your audience via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, chat rooms or any of the many forums available today?

Are you serious about learning? Serious about evolving your approach to communicating your marketing messages? Do you take what you learn from audience engagements and fold that into strategic discussions? Do you see an audience member's comments or questions as an opportunity to learn?

Do you reach out and learn through interaction with others within your company who might touch your target audiences in ways different than you do? Do you see technology as a tool to help you learn?

Does your corporate culture focus on the top “creatives” as the wellspring of ideas? Do you say all the right things about everyone getting involved in the creative process, but never find the time to put that into action?

Do you value all your company's intellectual resources? Does your company use its human capital wisely? Are your employees encouraged (and trained) to think strategically at all levels?

Do you consider what your receptionist can bring to a marketing discussion? Your sales team? Any front line employee? Your Web designer? Your customer service department? Is the advertising department huddled together as an elite brain-trust talking among themselves — or do they reach out and seek others' input? Does top management involve PR professionals at the beginning of an issue or once the program is in place and it needs “publicizing?” Who's on your top strategic team? Is it a blend of several disciplines?

When managing your message, do you recognize that your message will probably need to evolve? Do you act on that realization?

Round and round we go. . .push, pull, collaborate, refine, engage, evaluate, consult, interact, share and refine again.

Effective communications and marketing hinges on the collection of ideas from many resources and the execution of ideas through multiple channels.

We live in fast changing times. Don't just talk the talk, walk the walk.