Getting in front of the camera can be scary. Especially when it’s on the set of a busy news studio with producers shuffling you around, makeup artists touching up your face, and tech support clipping microphones to you. It’s an intense and often hectic process that can leave you and your client nervous and uncomfortable. That’s why at Matter Communications – when we land our clients… Read more »
We’re currently in the running for some dynamite new PR and social media business, and assembling our teams and preparing presentations. (By the way, that’s a rather significant process briefly summarized in one sentence!) The decision of who attends which meeting is primarily based on experience that is directly related to the proposed program. The depth of the team is often determined by program scope –… Read more »
Last month Matter Portland had the distinct pleasure of attending the local Ted Talks event, TEDxPortland. Having never attended one before, I was excited for the opportunity to hear from local speakers and those with ties beyond the region with revolutionary ideas forever changing the way we think, innovate and create. The theme of our TEDx event was ‘Perfect,’ and the speakers each gave us their… Read more »
With the Bruins recent and unexpected early exit from this year’s 2014 Stanley Cup Playoff, myself along with my fellow Bostonians are still mourning the loss. Not only is it a cruel reminder of last year’s loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup finals, it is a long summer for fans and players to contemplate the ups and downs of the series in the… Read more »
There are hundreds of public relations firms in North America, the majority of which aren’t “names you know.” PR firms you’ve heard of are in your mental rolodex for a reason: they’ve done noteworthy work for brands with name recognition. But great PR firms do more than win awards for brands you’ve heard of. They continue to grow, even in down markets. Here’s four things top… Read more »
Public relations is an interesting business. Stay in the game long enough and you get exposed to just about every kind of client and story you can imagine. I was recently reminded (by a blog on Forbes.com) that the first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer. The story goes that founder Pierre Omidyar wanted to test the auction website he had designed (originally… Read more »
Bill Belichick is legendary as the coach of the Patriots. What many people don’t give him enough credit for is the way he executes a press conference. I’ve watched a few Belichick pressers over the years, and the way he goes about his business is almost as impressive as how he coaches. Sure, he speaks in a monotone. Sometimes he makes grunting sounds into the… Read more »
I recently attended a seminar where social media gurus from a popular credit card brand and an American car manufacturer shared strategies and best practices. The woman that oversaw social media for the car company talked about producing content for 175 platforms. My first reaction was “175 platforms!” But when she went on to explain that each car model had its own personality for Twitter, Facebook,… Read more »
We work in an incredibly fast-paced industry. We send and receive hundreds of emails a day, we juggle breaking news, client crises, deadlines, creative projects, social media accounts, and countless phone calls and meetings. We’re “always on” – and we do it because of some masochistic desire to overload our brains and our Outlook calendars. But now, on Thursday afternoons, you’ll find a group of us… Read more »
On the heels of the NFL draft – the opportunity for football franchises to pick the very best available college players for any positions on their teams – I’m thinking about the characteristics of professionals that are most valuable to public relations agencies. (I’m also hung-up on the fact that the Miami Dolphins drafted a player from much-beloved Marist College – a first-time happening in school… Read more »
I understand we have a new crop of summer interns starting soon, and thought to share some tips on how they can make the most of their time here at Matter. Public relations internships embody the term, “You’ll get out of it what you put into it,” and not only do interns gain valuable experience, but when approached intelligently, internships are often the foot-in-the-door that recent,… Read more »
Have the bright lights that once shined on your new and exciting website felt dimmer lately? Has the proliferation of social channels – and the opportunity provided to publish content in all shapes and sizes – negatively impacted the power of your homepage? Have the highly interactive platforms that provide an active voice and fully transparent perspective minimized the relevance of your website? If the answer… Read more »
Since I started in PR, I’ve witnessed many changes in our industry. There are the more logistical day-to-day changes that have occurred – I no longer cut coverage out of magazines with an X-acto knife and tape it into a clip book – but the changes that I think about most are the more sweeping kind that have changed how organizations communicate. The rise in popularity… Read more »
