Just a “quick tip” I gleaned from New York real estate maven extraordinaire Barbara Corcoran, from her book Use What You’ve Got… 

When on the phone – an important call – physically stand up when talking.  It makes you more confident, assertive and instantly gives you power over the person on the other end (Assuming the other person is sitting). I started using it today.  It works and is something I instantly adopted and took a liking to. In the PR agency business, we spend a ton of time on the phone.  Why not use it more to our advantage?

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

During my midnight Internet trolling last night, I came across the following study which I remember received a ton of attention when it first came out  a few months ago.  I thought it was an interesting read.  So  as the owner of a PR agency I’m passing this along… it’s entitled Marketing Your Way Through A Recession, courtesy of Harvard Business School.

The most interesting takeaway:  maintain marketing spending.  Self-serving, but true…  above all, preserve your public relations and marketing budget.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

I spent the weekend reading “Off the Record: The Press, the Government, and the War over Anonymous Sources,” by Norman Pearlstine, who spent years in the media serving as executive editor of The Wall Street Journal and editor-in-chief of Time Magazine.  Pearlstine writes about his experiences at Time battling the White House and court systems; he also discusses the press and its limits.  The book is very interesting reading for anyone involved with the media, PR, or public affairs.

As I have stated before, journalists have the ability to make and break people, products, and businesses and often feel “above the law.”  This book details many of the conflicts inherent in high-level journalism, most notably regarding the law and protecting anonymous sources.  I really enjoyed it.

In the business of public relations, and certainly in politics, there is often a need to feed information to a reporter off the record.  This process requires some level of trust between reporters and their sources.  Reporters rely on the vital information sources provide for many high profile stories and investigative pieces, whether in sports, entertainment, politics, public affairs or law.

Day to day, sources and journalists work hand in hand to create stories.  It’s simply the way the industry functions.   This book examines and questions the limits and parameters of these relationships and their boundaries.

Ronn Torossian
5WPR

Yesterday, I only finally arrived at my office in the afternoon, as I was running around all day.  I have always been the type of person who operates best in the office, behind a desk, working.  Simply old school: rolling up my sleeves and leading by example.  To me, this means being the first one in the office (as much as I can be), and the last one out.
 
All that said, running a company our size these days takes much more than just sitting in my office.  It’s almost like kissing babies on the campaign trail: go see a new clients’ office, meet colleagues for lunch, and network, network, network.  I do well with concrete yes and no, black and white, but as we grow, my role as CEO of this mid-sized PR agency is changing.  I am admittedly learning on the job.  

I always feel like a kid cutting school when I’m not in the office most of the day, even though I am of course working, albeit in a less formal, structured manner.  But decidedly working and working hard.  My continued non-reward of not working at my desk is being harried and nuts in the office, after everyone else has long gone for the day …
 
The joke for me remains whenever anyone asks me on a Sunday afternoon or a Saturday night when I’m heading to work, “But you are in PR – what can you possibly do on the weekend?” Any entrepreneur knows that there’s always work to be done.

Ronn Torossian
5WPR

I blogged about this recently, but I am still amazed that companies cut their public relations budget at times such as these (and it’s genuinely not just a self serving comment).  Yes, we are in a troubled economy and yes, companies must tighten their budgets, but a fraction of advertising budgets allocated toward PR can simply go so much further.  And it is not just media relations; both SEO and a company’s online presence are also dramatically influenced by public relations.

More talk of firings and PR on the front page of Yahoo yesterday, with a quote that said, “Fields that aren’t so safe include public relations, marketing and advertising–anything that can be seen as an ‘extra.’”  This isn’t a big surprise from conventional thinking, but given the low pay range of the PR industry, at the very least, three mid-level publicists can replace one senior level bureaucrat at so many of these big corporations.  And I’d be willing to bet that the three publicists would do more to impact the bottom line.

PR is so many things, from 3rd party endorsements to brand awareness, at such a low cost.  There is perhaps no more effective way at reaching across the divide and communicating your message, at a time when people are searching for messages to trust.  Moreover, as consumers continue to cut back on spending, they will spend more time at home watching television, reading news on the internet, blogging, and living vicariously through celebrities.  PR can target consumers at each of these points in a way that other industries simply cannot, at a fraction of the cost.  It is simply the most economical way to create lasting awareness and build brands to withstand even the toughest of circumstances.

Ronn Torossian

5WPR