I often joke that I should have named my business Jen of All Trades because I do a little bit of everything when it comes to marketing. That includes public relations. PR used to just be another name for media relations but now it is so much more. Public relations now encompasses almost any interaction with the public. I follow many PR pros who could also add “of All Trades” to their name. Here are five of my favorites (and with one exception, I have no idea how I found them).
PR Pros to Follow
Gini Dietrich/Spin Sucks – Gini Dietrich leads PR firm Arment Dietrich and she writes a daily blog called Spin Sucks. Her blog posts are some of the few that I actually look forward to receiving because they always include something that makes me say “huh” or “I need to steal that” (in the best way possible). And she’s funny!
Joan Stewart/The Publicity Hound – I like that Joan Stewart is a bit more old school than some other PR pros out there. She does a lot with author marketing (did you know that authors often are responsible for marketing their own books?) and authors don’t have a lot of money which means Joan has to be creative.
Cheryl McPhilimy/McPhilimy Associates – I met Cheryl many, many years ago and admired her expertise from day one. She has taught me a lot about public relations over the years and now she also teaches countless students as a professor. She knows how to help make PR not so overwhelming for a client – and a practitioner!
Sabina & Katie at Tin Shingle – Like me, Sabina and Katie help small businesses – they just do it on a much larger scale. Their program helps small business owners who want to do their own public relations. I am not a subscriber to their paid program, but I do love looking at their website for ideas and their emails with “what to pitch now” are extremely helpful. Note: I couldn’t find a photo of both Sabina and Katie together so the photo is just Sabina.
Jen Lancaster – If you know who Jen Lancaster is, then you might be saying, “Hey, she’s not a PR professional.” Technically, you are correct (she is the author of hilarious memoirs and novels). However, as I pointed out in the blurb about Joan Stewart, authors do much of their own PR and marketing and Jen has mastered this. Public relations is your relationship with your audience and she interacts with her audience daily (I literally jumped up and down one time when she replied to my tweet to her). Whether it is insight into her life with crazy animals or teasing her upcoming book, Jen has built a loyal audience and she communicates with them because she knows those are the people who buy her books (and tell others to do the same). Note: After I wrote this, I read her latest memoir, I Regret Nothing, and in it she talks about backing away from social media but she still is very active in my opinion.
Of course, there are many more (some bigger names, some smaller names) but these are the five who immediately came to mind. If you’re looking to add to your list of public relations people to follow, these folks should make the list.