Brad Brenner

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” - a quote attributed to Mark Twain but apropos for today’s PR industry. I’ve seen several pieces of late, written by journalists and bloggers who appear rushed to sound the death knell over public relations. “New media and Web 2.0 changed the game,” they say, “and make public relations obsolete.” Fact is - public relations expertise is more relevant, more important today than ever before. Search engine marketing, social network marketing, Web 2.0 applications and the like have all served to increase - not decrease - the value and demand for high-quality public relations. Doomsayers don’t get it. They think PR is all about writing a press release or getting a story in a magazine. Now that print media is in decline, they ... (more)

Medical Recruiting In the Digital Age

IN MY last post, I wrote about the premature sounding of the death knell for public relations. I’ll go a step further and say that, the need for adept public relations skills is actually growing and is more critical today than ever before. In fact, the use of strategic PR has begun to dominate areas that were once the sole responsibility of completely separate corporate functions. A clea... (more)

A HOLIDAY GIFT

WELL, IT’S NOW day 5 of the great Portland “Arctic Blast” as they are calling it on the news. Portlanders aren’t used to much snow so even a little bit keeps everyone out of their cars and next to the fireplace.  Sounds cozy, doesn’t it?  Really not a bad way to head into the Xmas season. So with the holiday atmosphere all around, I thought I would refrain from my usual diatribe on market... (more)

The Art of Rule Breaking

XXXXXXXXXX The "Big Carl" breaking the rules I LIKE BREAKING the rules. If done right, it can get you valuable attention, make you stand out and even give you a huge competitive edge. It can, of course, also get you into trouble. With that in mind, I’ve always been drawn to that age-old edict “You must know the rules before you can break them.” I first heard this pearl of wisdom as it r... (more)

Top 10 List (ok 3) of Lessons From David Letterman

WE ALL KNOW that David Letterman can be a funny guy. We are now learning that he can be quit a savvy PR professional as well. The talk show host’s handling of his recent “sex scandal” is truly one for the lesson books. We know that this kind of “news” can wreck careers. We are seeing that it doesn’t have to. It has now been about a week since the news first hit the press and the story al... (more)