PR Lessons from Winter Storm Juno

The Northeastern United States, especially areas like Boston, have been hit hard by the winter storm known as Juno. The storm was predicted to be of epic proportions and for many areas, it was (although it was a little lackluster in other areas). The storm halted public transportation, forced people to stay indoors, work and schools were closed, some people even found significant others for the storm. It altered lives for a couple days.

As a Chicago franchise PR agency, we tend to look for learning experiences in anything, even something like Juno. There are three things that we've learned from this storm and how it affected the people of the Northeast United States.

1. Be prepared. Anyone who is successful in franchise PR or marketing is someone who believes in being prepared. In order to do well in a long blizzard, you have to be proactive; this means going out and getting enough food for a day or two (if you can't leave the house), backup power sources, etc. The city has to know how to remove the snow, what to do with traffic/pedestrians (curfews?), and emergency responses. When it comes to PR, it behooves you to be prepared and prepared as much as you can be. 
2. Be proactive. Doing things before people realize they have to be done is a great example of being proactive. This sort of ties into being prepared but it takes a more actionable and confident approach (since being prepared can be a result of being
   reactive). In Boston and NYC, the mayors shut down the roads and public transit and required people to be in their homes by 11 PM, this is being proactive. 
3. Use the moment to your advantage. Of course, this is to be done tastefully and not to exploit anyone or thing. You have to assess the situation to get a good handle if it is appropriate to capitalize on the situation for your brand; if there is a natural disaster that kills hundreds or thousands, then don't. This can result in a PR crisis. 

Be safe, everyone who lives in the Northeast! 

Does your business need a way to get ahead and be noticed? Then contact All Points PR-- we are a Chicago PR agency. 

5 Tips to Help You Become a Better Blogger

It seems like anyone can have a blog these days; sites like Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr, etc. all make it very easy to be a blogger. Blogging is a great tool and can really help with things like search engine rankings, content marketing, authority within your industry, etc.

It is not unique to be a blogger anymore, what is unique, is having a blog that is worth reading. Here are five tips to make sure your blog is worth reading.

1. Practice and practice often. Make sure you take time to write for yourself now and then; let your mind and fingers get the hang of writing good pieces of work. When you learn how to develop good content, your blog will take a huge upturn in worth; our Chicago PR agency always encourages staff to write in their free time, about anything. It might sound cliché but think about all the hours of practice that pro athletes put into their work; none of them (the truly great ones) just wake up and think, "Yeah, I'm skipping drills today" and then make the all-star team and the Hall of Fame. 
2. Have passion. Have a passion for writing, and reading, and allow that passion to fuel your drive to create and deliver content. When you are passionate about something, that is when the best work will come through; back to the athletes example, do you ever think Michael Jordan thought, "Basketball is okay, I s'pose…" No, he loved the game and that was what fueled his desire to win and be great. 
3. Make sure to post! Have the habit of posting routinely, if you post whenever you feel like it, such as once a month or every few months, then people have less of a reason to come back and read more. Post at least once a week. When people can count on your postings to be there, they will be more likely to revisit your blog. Our franchise PR agency has this blog and one on our site, both are posted to routinely, for this reason. 
4. Have a purpose. You might like to blog but your blog post topics range from candy to politics, that is no good. Have a concrete subject line that you want to run with. Maybe your blog is always going to be about politics, awesome; it does not always have to cover Republicans or Democrats, but covering things within the Federal Government arena would allow your readers to know what they can visit your blog for. 
5. Be smart. Or, a smart way of saying that would be "perspicacity". You don't want to use jargon or language that is not appropriate for your readers to sound smart; however, you want to showcase your intellect in ways that get you ahead. 

Does your business need help with blogging? Then contact All Points PR-- a Chicago franchise PR agency that has a love for writing. See how we can help your blog become great! 

5 New Year's Resolutions for PR Professionals

The end of the year is only a couple weeks away. That being said, we should be thinking about how to improve things in 2015 when ti comes to franchise PR.

1. In 2015, I will have a great PR crisis plan ready for my clients. If you do not have this done already, then you definitely need to get on this one. With so many ways things get talked about besides word-of-mouth and press releases. Today, we have all that traditional media but we also have the internet, which includes social media. If something goes wrong for a business, it gets talked about quickly; the bigger the company, the bigger the crisis. Here are 5 example of good crisis communications plans. 
2. In 2015, I will be on the lookout for new opportunities. A great way to gain exposure is to attach yourself to a larger story. This can be a great way to generate story ideas. 
3. In 2015, I will make a better effort to contact journalists. Since PR professionals outnumber journalists (roughly 4:1), then the lesson here is simple: our pitches have to stand out and be good enough to read from word one. Begin with who you are targeting, make sure your pitches end up in the right hands and do not contribute to the clutter. 
4. In 2015, I will reconsider influencer targeting. What is this? Influencer targeting the people of the internet that have mass followings and strong influential value. These people are on social media, blogs, YouTube, etc. Maybe they are not actually journalists but they still have info and can clout. 
5. In 2015, I will be open-minded about how PR influences content marketing and social media marketing! The world of franchise public relations works hand in hand with things like content marketing and social media marketing. The three of these things have to work together to get the job done correctly and efficiently. 

Maybe none of these resolutions resonate with you and you would like to submit your own. The bottom line is that we are looking ahead to the new year and planning for it. If you want your business to get noticed, you have to look ahead. 

Hire a Chicago PR agency that is always looking ahead and planning on how to adapt to the markets. This is how you will get noticed in the world. 

PR Lessons We Learn from Santa Claus

In the spirit of the holidays, we thought it'd be fun to look at the lessons we can learn from Santa when it comes to franchise public relations.

Make a list and check it… twice. What if Santa gave a bag of coal to someone who was actually on the "Nice List"? That would be really embarrassing and create a PR crisis for Santa. In the world of PR, we have to build lists all the time and can seem tedious. When building a list of contacts or tasks to get done, such as work to be done for a client, then make sure to check it over to make sure t
hat everything is correct.

Plan, prep, execute. Santa prepares for his delivery run each and every year by building toys and planning things the previous eleven months. In franchise PR, we do not always have eleven months to prepare for something. Sometimes, we do not even have eleven hours. Or minutes. However, if we have a basic plan of action for something, say crisis communications, then we should be able to deliver quickly.

Share information. Santa shares lots of things such as presents, the fame (those elves are the real heroes), and his likeness (Santa doesn't sue for others using his likeness.) In public relations, in terms of social media, it is great to share images, logos, posts, news, info, and other goodness with those that are willing to listen to us. You want to protect your brand image but you also want to share the love.

Get a big rep. Get both a big reputation (for good) as well as a big franchise PR agency. Santa is one of the most recognizable people in the whole world, everyone who sees him knows his name. Santa has had his image used by some bad people and businesses for their own gain, yet we all still love Santa.

Show people that you care. Santa is known for his generosity and spreading holiday cheer. As PR professionals, we are in a great position to spread some cheer as well; when we successfully get a client in front of the media for something great, it makes them happy. We can also have clients do some good philanthropy, as well as ourselves.

Do you want a franchise PR firm that can get you as popular as Santa? Then contact All Points PR, a Chicago PR agency with experience in many industries and the results to back it up. See how we can help your business gain success!

9 Reasons for Corporate Communication Crises in the Future

As technology advances, the world ages, and people adapt to their surrounding, the causes of corporate communications crises will evolve and become much different than what they are now.

So what are the 9 new reasons for businesses to yell, "Mayday!"?

1. People are getting older: The world is aging; this is nothing new because it always been aging. However, it seems that it is aging much quicker now than it used to. A large percentage of the population of the world will be senior citizens in the next few decades. This means there will be some new problems, such as some countries not being able to keep some promises. For example, social security in the U.S. 
2. Depleted resources. There is an incredibly important resource to the modern, tech-infused world that many of us do not realize; the element is called tantalum. It is a core component of smartphones. This, and other resources, will be more scarce and this will cause some serious dangers. 
3. Consumers becoming independent. Consumers already sometimes make their own products but this will likely be a bigger issue in the future. And it will create some headaches for brands. 
4. The torrent model for more products. Pirating music is still a big venture for people. This will become more of an issue for other products as well. Remember Napster? It will be like Napster or other torrent sites but for products of all kinds. 
5. Things and processes becoming automatic. Almost 50 percent of workers in this country are already scared about being replaced by computers and machines. This will only increase as time goes on. Professions that include: journalists, production line employees, some culinary jobs, etc. 
6. Localization. Companies will want to reduce the distance between themselves and their suppliers, such as restaurants and their farms. 
7. Transparency: Many people, especially Millennials, are already very transparent about information that used to be very personal. Ratings and opinions of each other will become a regular thing to post on the internet, like GlassDoor but for fellow consumers. 
8. Big data. The concept of having the ability to hide and be forgotten is no longer a thing; nowadays, countries are struggling with the idea of how to use the data they get. Should companies go the way of individual privacy or more of a "hands off" approach model of governing corporations. 
9. Alternative models of economics. Yes, we have bitcoin but expect other models of currency and economics will come to fruition as well. 

As a crisis communications agency in Chicago, we can tell you how much companies struggle with causes of PR crises in 2014; as things progress, the causes will change and some will get more intense. Does your business have an issue or want to prepare for them? Then contact All Points PR, we are a Chicago PR agency with a full team dedicated to crisis communications.