PR is dead: long live PR

I can’t tell you the number of times over the past few years that I’ve read articles declaring that ‘PR is dead’.  Quite frankly what a load of codswallop.  Affirmations like this highlight how some PRs and marketeers have fallen so far from the tree that they’ve lost sight of what our role really is.  Whilst technology and the digital landscape has changed the communications channels we use, the job ultimately stays the same.  PR will endure because ultimately it is about relationships, trust and human nature. Continue reading

No, you can’t get final sign-off!

Nothing shocks me much these days.  In PR terms I’ve been around the block – Spotlight has been a specialist insurance PR agency for more than ten years alone and I’ve been in PR a lot longer than that.  Yet this morning I read a polite notice issued from one of our esteemed trade magazines, sent out on a round robin email to all PR teams, which took my breath away.
Seriously, do PRs still make the mistake of asking journalists to see copy before it is published?  Come on guys, that was one of the first lessons of ‘PR school’! It questions the professionalism and integrity of the journalists we work with. Continue reading

How to measure PR – effective ways to understand the return on PR investment.

How to measure PR? How can you measure the goodwill that you generate for a brand? There are some effective ways for clients and companies to get a handle on the return they are getting on their PR investment. Here are just a few: Continue reading

Top Tips for Writing a Successful Industry Awards Entry

At Spotlight Consulting we have worked with clients to write and submit hundreds of award entries over the years and have an excellent track record of getting them shortlisted. So what’s the key to writing a winning award entry? These tips might just point you in the right direction. Continue reading

8 reasons to hire a PR agency

As you would expect of someone passionate about the power of PR, my eye was instantly drawn to a recent headline entitled ‘8 Reasons Not to Hire a PR Firm’. I read on with some trepidation and whilst I obviously did not agree with the overriding principle, some of what the author had to say did actually make sense to me. So here are my 8 reasons to hire a PR agency … Continue reading