PR Lessons From the Healthcare.gov Launch
When the Obama administration launched its healthcare website on October 1st the President’s most prized project quickly turned into an unmanageable disaster. Healthcare.gov was riddled with technical problems that made it almost impossible to use, causing enormous public backlash. But there are a few valuable PR lessons to be learned from healthcare.gov’s disastrous rollout. Launching […]
5 Updates to the 2013 AP Stylebook
If you read our blog or you work in public relations or media, you’re likely well aware of the importance of AP style. A couple months ago, the 2013 version of the AP Stylebook was released, with 90 new or updated entries. Ninety updates is a lot of information to process. At the time, PR […]
A Launch Event Done Right: Lively Lounge Premier Party
Throwing a launch party is an important part of a company’s marketing plan and to do it well requires a serious investment of resources – both human and fiscal. Whether you’re celebrating a new product or a new company, the launch party provides a critical opportunity to make a good first impression with potential customers, […]
Five Tips for Effective Brainstorming
It’s a skill so seemingly simple that we often overlook its importance. For creative minds, brainstorming ideas might come as easy as breathing. But for the rest of us, sometimes it takes a little inspiration to get our juices flowing. We’ve all been there—a deadline looming, our mind spinning and the coffee running low, and […]
Wikipedia, PR and the Importance of Transparency
Every few months, it seems, there is a dust up over the role of PR teams in editing articles on Wikipedia. Most recently, several publications (notably Vice’s Motherboard) reported on the work of a firm devoted almost entirely to editing Wikipedia articles on behalf of various clients. When the firm’s work was discovered, many editors […]
Perfecting Your Company’s Customer Service
Yesterday, in the midst of cramming for a midterm, my computer decided to freeze. Panicked, I ran through all the usual restart motions, but nothing seemed to work. I bolted down to the Apple store, stressing that my hours of work were gone due to this unexpected computer crash. As I walked into the busy […]
Tesla Bounces Back After Recent Car Fire
After a Tesla Model S caught fire in early October, the company’s stock prices momentarily fell as the public became wary of the Tesla brand. Numerous blog posts and websites depicted the all-electric Model S engulfed in flames on a busy highway. The incident occurred after a piece of metal punctured the high-tech armor plating […]
Capt. Mike Steers Good Ship Netflix Toward Positive Customer Experience
If you’re anything like me, the last thing you want to do is to spend 15 minutes or more on the phone or engaged in correspondence with a customer service representative via instant message or email. Let’s face it, by the time we’re reaching out to them for assistance—especially when we rely on their service […]
Phone Skills—A Thing of the Past?
Over the summer, while I worked at Communiqué full time, I would receive upwards of 40 emails a day, and I’m just an intern. Emails are one of the most commonly used forms of communication because we now live in a world where large amounts of information need to be shared in very little time. […]
Businesses Help Boulder Flood Relief
A little over a week ago, I wrote a blog post about the Boulder flash floods and the confusing nature of deciphering what is true and false on social media during this time of crisis. Gathering correct information was just one of the many issues citizens were faced with though. As the storm has subsided, […]