On April 26th, the Council in association with PRWeek announced the opening of the second annual Diversity Distinction in PR Awards.  These awards honor excellence in promoting ethnic diversity and inclusion within public relations, and are intended to encourage professionals of diverse backgrounds to seek opportunities at firms and the PR industry more broadly. Last…

This past February, the UK telecommunications company O2 asked almost 3,000 employees at one of its offices to work from home for the day. The results raise eyebrows: Employees saved almost $15,000 in commuting costs, got 1,000 extra hours of sleep, were more productive (36% of them claimed as much), and spent more quality time…

Does your growing PR firm need a Chief Operating Officer?  Quite possibly—and more urgently than you think! Today, many small- to mid-sized firms remain reluctant to designate someone to lead their operations. That’s not surprising, for unlike other top spots on the organizational chart, the COO position, even in global corporations, is difficult to define…

Creativity pays, which is why we all want that next great idea, that flash of brilliance that will delight clients and keep them coming back for more. What if I told you that a firm out there has devised a pathbreaking new tool, at relatively low cost, for harnessing some of the best young minds? …

Public relations professionals depend on long-term relationships they build with clients and colleagues. But relationships are topsy-turvy. Sometimes people disappoint us. And when they do, our ability to keep relationships on track hinges on the helpful feedback we give. If we don’t offer the proper feedback, both parties can become disillusioned. Relationships disintegrate, leading to…

Among the issues facing today’s public relations firms, diversity looms large.  Clients need agency partners to help them communicate with a diverse customer and stakeholder base, but that’s not so easy when your own talent pool lacks diversity. What can we as an industry do to enhance the ethnic makeup of our teams? That’s the…

In last week’s posting, we began a discussion about the evolving talent needs of public relations firms in the age of social media. Talking to two prominent industry leaders, we learned that firms were looking for well-rounded talent that combined digital skills with strong marketing knowledge and strategic thinking ability. This week, we explore what…

With our industry evolving, and with recent news that social media companies are falling over one another to hire and retain talent, we’ve been wondering: What kinds of employees will public relations firms be fighting over three to five years from now? And how will young public relations recruits develop those skills?

A mere three years ago, the buzzword among most employees  was “work-life balance.” Typically this meant walking that tightrope between being dubbed a workaholic on one extreme and a slacker on the other. The Great Recession sure tempered that talk. Today, with 9 percent of the U.S. population unemployed, and millions more under-employed, no longer…

In October, we published results of our third quarter survey showing a considerable rebound in business and optimism about the future. Well, the fourth quarter results are in, and the results are better still! Fifty-five firms responded to the survey (49.1% of them had revenues between $3 million and $10 million, and 27.3% had revenues…