Business blogs can be an extremely effective promotional tool, but can take finesse and expertise to master. Blogs are customarily a personal outlet, and as such are not restricted by rules of etiquette or strategy; business blogs are a derivative of this free form of communication, but without the freedom of expression. Because a business blog is viewed by potential clients – and probably competitors – it has to be restrained, professional, and written with an authoritative voice. 

Authority as Mystery

Using restraint in communications isn’t a Herculean task, and most people can manage at least an acceptable level of professionalism in their writing. What eludes them is an authoritative voice, as speaking with authority in a blog is not an exact science. The best blogs – the ones that tens of thousands of people follow – usually employ very different styles, and have very individual voices, but they all share that one quality that keeps readers coming back: authority.

What does it take to be an authority? How can you make your business’ blog more authoritative? The good news is that being an authority isn’t the same as holding a doctorate in business. In fact, high-minded or pretentious blogs are often alienating and condescending, which deters repeat readers. 

Authority as Insight

The real secret to an authoritative business blog is to be knowledgeable about your subject, and to communicate it confidently, charismatically and informatively. 

In some respects, speaking with authority is easy – only you know your breadth and depth of knowledge. And, while many others might know what you know, your interaction with that knowledge will be different from theirs, and will have different implications to you. So you will bring insights to the table that no one else can.

Authority as Narrative

So in relation to the above, although your experience in the field is different than anyone else’s; even if you and your competitors are telling the same story, you won’t tell it the same way.

Because ultimately that’s all you are doing: telling a story. Imagine you have a captive audience and it’s only you in the spotlight on stage. Are you going to drone on about stock trends, quoting numbers, figures, texts, news, or anything else? No. What you will do is give an engaging presentation, one that tells a complex story in simple terms that everyone can relate to, one that gives examples, directions, advice, makes arguments, examines everything, takes nothing for granted, assumes no prior knowledge, represents problems in their entirety, and offers complete solutions. 

If blogs are an answer to a question, you must at all times remember what the question is. Blog with a purpose and an answer in mind; don’t wander aimlessly or throw arguments around like dice, hoping for winning numbers. Stay relevant, stay charming, and above all else, stay accessible. If you tell the story your way, and give your audience answers, they will listen in rapture, and will keep coming back. 

Author Bio:

This is a guest post by Nadia Jones who blogs at online college about education, college, student, teacher, money saving and movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5@gmail.com.

Share your blogging tips with the Quest PR team.

 Quest PR is delighted to be included in the latest edition of the fab Brand Yorkshire business-to-business magazine aimed at CEOs, MDs, professional services and owner managed businesses.

Below is our article on the importance of fusing PR and social media to turbo charge your business goals.     The seismic internet developments have revolutionised the way small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) communicate – and social media has unleashed a plethora of vibrant platforms through which businesses can engage, share and learn with existing clients, prospects, peers and business partners.

In a climate where already saturated sectors face the prospect of a double dip recession, the challenges of falling sales, low brand recognition and peer-awareness are intensified. Investing resource in integrated campaigns will facilitate the prolonged road to recovery.

With more and more contracts and referrals clinched via blogs, LinkedIn and Twitter – coupled with the ‘Facebook for Business’ online guide to stimulate business promotion via social networking – companies who bury their heads in the sand will find their social media savvy competitors stealing a proverbial march.        

Social media is most powerful as part of a ‘joined up’ communications programme which complements and drives business goals – whether they be annual targets for turnover, gross margin, costs and profitability, or a five year exit strategy in which PR and social media are integral to boosting a company’s profile and desirability to derive maximum sale value.   

All indications reinforce that companies whose social media strategies turbo charge their business plan and work in tandem with their traditional PR and marketing campaigns are best placed to enjoy business growth as well as saving time and costs.    

Quest PR, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, champions this approach and has trained hundreds of owner managers and entrepreneurs to adopt it – with powerful results – in regular workshops launched in April 2010.

 Achieving PR and social media stand out  

Many of us are familiar with the expression ‘Content is king’ and there many similar skills required to ensure success with marketing, PR and social media. Most crucial is compiling strong collateral to stimulate and interest your respective audiences.  

In the same way that weak storylines, overtly promotional press releases or bland comment from organisations seeking to position themselves as ‘experts’ in their sectors will not see the light of day in traditional print and broadcast outlets, businesses who push sales-led or outdated/boring content which fails to add value to their social media audiences will lose their followers and credibility.

In a relentless cyber climate where 100 million users on LinkedIn, 640 million on Facebook and 175 million on Twitter are vying for their voice to be heard – planning and rolling out interesting and provocative content to engage, share and learn with your followers is pivotal to success.

Furthermore, with 60 per cent of online content predicted to comprise video by 2013, incorporating video as part of your integrated campaign on your website and in blogs is vital. 

Rolling out content across multiple platforms

The formula below fuses marketing, PR and social media through economies of scale.

• Plan your content to avoid a ‘scattergun approach’ – what are you communicating  that is new, unusual or different to achieve stand out from your competitors? Set up a marketing, PR and social media planning template to enable you to see and follow through the joined up formula.     
• Don’t fall into the trap of ditching your traditional PR activities. As former print and broadcast journalists with organisations including Sky TV and BBC, we advocate harnessing these profile-building channels. Continue to test and measure and keep doing what works well – whether it is press releases, commissioned articles, winning awards to help secure contracts or attract top talent, or being invited on radio and TV as an industry expert. If the latter we’d advise being media trained to ensure you are invited back time and again. The increase in online media likewise presents unprecedented opportunities to boost your profile, your expertise and your search engine optimisation (SEO).    
• Listen before launching into social media – and seek out the relevant platforms to bolster the business goals. Where are your clients, prospects and partners engaging – and with who? Use tools such as Google alerts to see who is saying what about your brand, your industry and your competitors. This intelligence gathering will steer you to the appropriate tools and platforms. 
• Get close to your influencers such as your top referrers and the media. Take advantage of the proliferation of journalists on Twitter seeking stories, case studies and comment.
• After researching your target audiences, get your ‘ducks in a row’ by planning and launching your LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube profiles. Keep focused on who you are following and why – and sustain rich content to ‘feed’ these channels.
• Having developed your profiles, followers and ‘likes’ launch a blog with 3-4 posts to make it look more established. Tailor your PR material such as ‘How to’ top tips, new appointments/promotions, crystal-gazing or simplifying complex legislation into blog posts. Blogs enable reporters to better understand your business and expertise and more journalists validate interviewees after checking out their blogs and their LinkedIn credentials. Line up guest posts with key influencers with a flourishing social media following who will promote their guest contributions across their channels. Allocate time to comment on influencers’ blogs.
• Get video blogging (v’logging). Include a ‘meet the team’ v’log in your launch blog. Video’s powerful medium gives businesses a personality and vehicle to showcase their expertise and their ethos. In our experience, video is a magnet for your prospects to feel like they know you before commissioning your services. SMEs’ hunger to complement their PR and media training skills with video blogging ‘nous’ has been the catalyst for our journalist-led team to extend our training courses to include video blogging where we teach clients to write, prepare, film, present and edit video blogs. Google loves video and a video blog is 50 times more effective than a written blog in SEO terms.
• Increase your blog following via automated platforms such as Hootsuite or TweetDeck which will inform your followers across LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter when your blogs go ‘live’. These platforms enable you to schedule content in advance – an enormous benefit for time-strapped SMEs.
• Draw on PR and blog content to drive and engage in LinkedIn discussions and increase traffic. Be disciplined about the number of groups you join, and stay on track with your content. If setting up your own LinkedIn discussion group, ensure you have adequate resource to sustain it in order to keep your company at the heart of your discussions.
• Tailor your rich PR and social media content into regular e-newsletters featuring advice, forecasting, case studies and media appearances. Preview upcoming blog topics and invite recipients to join the blogging debate.
• Measure your return on engagement. As with traditional marketing and PR campaigns, establish up front what success will look and feel like. In addition to driving sales and leads, some businesses measure success via blog analytics and the number of blog comments and guest post invitations.
• Allocate a level of resource and ownership for your integrated campaign and be disciplined about adhering to it. Allow for additional set up time and stick to your planning schedule. Finally, sustain the killer content and momentum. In line with the adage that ‘enthusiasm is the electricity of business’, keep your campaign fresh and vibrant.  

For maximum impact fuse your marketing, PR and social media through a ‘Tell them, tell them you’ve told them – and tell them again’ formula as reinforced in our 12-step plan.

For example, the ‘tell them’ could, be commissioning and writing a PR article for your trade or regional press, the ’tell them you’ve told them’ can entail you adopting this article for a blog post and asking your LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter followers to comment on it. For the ‘tell them again’ you can tailor and revise the content to spark a LinkedIn discussion and also adapt the content for enewsletters.

With further tough times forecast, plummeting stock markets and major budget cuts on an unprecedented global scale, now is the time to reignite your communications strategy by maximising and fusing the old and the new. Investing time and focusing on ramping up and integrating traditional PR and marketing with social media and video will keep you ‘in sight and in mind’ when customers and prospects are ready to buy. Without a presence and voice, they may well approach your competitors who are engaging with them regularly through social media platforms.     

Share your thoughts and tips with us.

Do you want to become a millionaire from the comfort of your own bedroom? Course you do, who wouldn’t right?

Well the good news is that it can be achieved! In fact there are people out there, such as Darren Rowse, or Steve Pavlina who have amassed a fortune by building highly successful blogs.

The bad news is that the vast majority of people who try will ultimately fail.  

So maybe you can be different. Follow my tips below to get a robust plan in place and get started.

Decide on a topic.

Before you start you will need to figure out a clear concept for your site, what it is about and who it will be aimed at. The internet is littered with blogs which don’t have a clear target audience – don’t be one of them.

Here is a good example of a post on SEO tips which does exactly what the title suggests and is clearly targeted for the blog’s readers.

Figure out your USP.

It’s not enough to just write good content; there are plenty of people who can do that already. You need to look at other blogs in your niche and figure out what you can do differently to achieve stand out and add your own unique spin.

Build a mailing list.

The key to making money from a blog is traffic. Without a strong base of loyal readers and a significant amount of traffic you cannot monetise it.

There are a variety of ways to build a following, but few are as solid and reliable as developing your mailing list. From day one you use an email opt in form to entice people to sign up. These are followers with whom you can build a relationship and trust – and, through your powerful content, can   keep them coming back to your blog.

Build links, do SEO and network.

In reality, only about 30-40% of the work is in actually writing content for your blog; especially when starting out. You need to have a clear SEO strategy and spend plenty of time building links, networking and getting to know other bloggers in your niche.

This will not only help to establish you with the key players in your niche, but also help get your site appearing in the search engines, which should generate more traffic for you.

Monetise.

Once your blog is established and getting some actual traffic, you can start to think about making some money. The reality is that monetizing your blog is the easy part. If you have enough traffic, making a little bit of money is the easy part. However, getting good at this can substantially impact just how much money you can make.

You can use Adsense, which is the easiest option. But offering well targeted affiliate products is likely to generate a better return – it takes a little more effort, but if you find good products and build trust with your audience, you will be able to make good sales – and ultimately, a  lot more money.

Be Patient.

In reality, real riches are going to take a long time coming. The process will progress from you making a few dollars a month to something more substantial. If you persevere and keep improving, that figure will grow.

Kirsty McCubbin; owner of affiliatestuff.co.uk started out working part time as an affiliate marketer and was able to exceed her work income within 12 months. But you can bet that there were days early on when she wondered whether she could really make any money at it.

If you work really hard and have a bit of luck, then you too might be able to quit your job in a year’s time, or it might take you two. Results vary for everyone and it really depends on just how much work you are prepared to put in and how well you have selected your niche. The difference between the successful bloggers and their fellow bloggers is that the successful ones are often more determined and tenacious.

So will you take up the challenge? If you’ve already ‘made it then share your tips with us.

About The Author:

I’m Nisha Sandhu, the Editor at merchantaccountforum.com. I love to write and give online business advice to new and growing businesses. Please visit my site to see the latest merchant account reviews.

One reason so many people love WordPress as a blog platform is that the thousands of available plugins make it incredibly versatile. You can do anything from make sure your SEO is spot-on to track traffic, to selling ads and affiliate marketing. No matter what type of WordPress blog you’re running, there are some great plugins out there to help you do it

My WordPress goals might be different from yours, but we may still agree on some of the best plugins out there. Here are some of the WordPress plugins I use and why I love them.

1) Feedburner Circulation – Who doesn’t love to keep track of how many subscribers they have at any given moment? I love this plugin because it displays a neat little counter that is updated hourly.

2) Editorial Calendar – I’ll just tell you now – I’m a little bit of an organisation freak. Every day has a to-do list to go with it, and every week has its own overarching to-do list. So one of the things I don’t really like about WordPress is that it’s hard to see when your blogs are set to be published, and sometimes I write blogs well in advance. With the Editorial Calendar plugin, I don’t have to worry about it, though. I can see when each post is going to get published on the blog, and I can just move posts around if I want to make sure certain days are covered or they go in a certain order.

3) SEO Smart Links – Like most people, I’ve got a lot of related blog content. Also like most people, I tend to forget to link related blog content for SEO purposes – as well as to make a more fun, readable blog that people enjoy coming to read. SEO Smart Links takes the work out of it by automatically linking up keywords and phrases in comments, posts, pages, categories, and tags. That way, the links are getting there, and I don’t have to worry about it. Plus, the Smart Links plugin is easy to manage, and I can edit the options so they’re just how I want them.

4) W3 Total Cache – If you aren’t a techie, you might only sort of understand how this plugin works. The thing to remember, though, is that it does work. With Total Cache, most of your users actually access a static HTML page of your blog, which takes much less time to upload and requires less CPU processing. It makes your site faster, so that’s enough said.

5) ReplyMe – This plugin can really ramp up your traffic if you use it right. Basically, it sends an email to someone who commented on your blog when another person directly comments to them. It’s a great conversation builder, and it can keep readers coming back to your blog again and again.

6) Thank Me Later – This plugin is sort of related to ReplyMe because it emails people on your website. It’s a great way to connect with new visitors, and it can send out an email to them to remind them about your RSS feed or to ask them to leave comments or shoot you a message. Just write up your custom message, and it’ll be sent to people seeing your blog for the first time.

7) Tweet Old Post – Of course, you’ve got to be up with Twitter if you want your blog to keep up in the fast-paced world of the web. If I’m building up a community of followers on Twitter after I’ve already built a blog, I like to use this plugin to help me Tweet older blog posts for the community. It’s easier to do it this way than trying to remember to Tweet older posts every so often, so I really like this plugin.

Daniela Baker is a social media advocate at the credit card comparison website, www.creditdonkey.com.  Entrepreneurs can visit CreditDonkey to read their small business credit tip blog.

Let us know what your favourite plugins are by commenting below.

Quest PR is delighted to be the only UK business included in the ebook Dear CEO: Letters to the C-Suite from Experts on Vision, Culture, Community, and Integration.  

The book, edited by public relations professional and business owner Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks blog fame, is a collection of letters from 32 business leaders who are experts on vision, culture, community, or integration and offers honest and practical advice to CEO’s globally. 

It features advice on everything – from where to spend your marketing dollars and how to build community – to creating a customer-centric business and integrating all of your customer-facing departments into one hub. Some talk solely about social media, while others talk about how to integrate the old with the new.

The first ten people to post their own Dear CEO tip on this blog post will receive a free copy of the ebook. If you’d like to buy a copy of Dear CEO visit Spin Sucks.

Our latest blog post features the ebook contribution from our Quest PR MD Sharon Cain.

“Dear CEO

“As a former TV journalist and ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ who has harnessed the power of the media to promote my business – and clinched awards to attract new clients and great talent – I urge you not to slash your marketing and PR budgets this year or any coming year.

Positioning yourselves as experts in your respective industries across broadcast, trade and online media is key to achieving standout and being a magnet for great people to work with you.

With more proven case studies of social media attracting sales and accelerating profiling and expertise, the companies who fuse their marketing, traditional PR and social media are best placed to leapfrog their competitors. This ‘joined up’ approach using powerful content across multiple platforms will win time after time.

“Notwithstanding the dramatic changes – including the constant advancements in technology that our extraordinary business world is undergoing, some things remain reassuringly the same in that everyone loves working with winners and being associated with success. A traditional and proven way to achieve recognition and new clients is to scoop relevant industry and business awards to delight your clients and stakeholders. You can then maximise your success through your PR and social media platforms.

“With margins being squeezed and maximum value for minimum financial outlay being the mantra of this challenging climate, ensure that all your team are strong performers. Avoid making the common mistake that many– including myself – have made by hanging onto the wrong people for too long to the detriment of the business. Get shut fast, review your recruiting process and ensure your key players are involved in candidate interviews. Also steer clear of negative people – they drain businesses as opposed to energising them.

“Closely examine your role as a leader and establish exactly where you add value. Write down your ultimate goals and constantly eliminate or delegate any actions that may distract you from achieving these goals.

“Finally, as tough as it is out there, don’t let important things such as putting something back into your local communities slip off the agenda. There is more to business than making money and running an

ethical business that donates time and expertise to changing lives and communities for the better can inject new life into both benefactors and beneficiaries.”

The first ten people to give us a Dear CEO tip in our comment box below will receive a free copy of the ebook. If you’d like to buy a copy of Dear CEO visit Spin Sucks.

With more businesses adopting social media it’s helpful to receive insightful information about what’s hot – and what’s not.

And with an estimated half a million bloggers posting 412 posts a minute and 312 comments a minute – learning from those ‘in the know’ takes on an ever increasing importance.  Our latest Quest PR post features some crystal gazing from respected online experts.        

Businesses that offer more personalisation and customisation will thrive

Online marketing expert Ashley U Porter says companies will see a tremendous increase in sales if they tailor their content to their markets. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook and whose goal is to connect people, have multiple ways of linking people with similar interests, therefore companies can harness this information to attract new business leads.

Small businesses will stand a better chance of competing with bigger names


Ching Ya, author of Social @ Blogging Tracker, believes that social media will be a game changer for many industries where small companies can rub shoulders with bigger organisations. As the old adage says: “It’s not what you’ve got but how you use it.”

Companies generating powerful content will come out on top 

Businesses will benefit from placing themselves as experts in their industry. Internet marketing specialist and author of Kikolani, Kristi Hines believes instead of pushing sales pitches, businesses will utilise social media to produce powerful content through blogs, ebooks, white papers and more. She says, “Content development is becoming popular and social promotion – when done correctly – is the best way to get your message out.”

More pressure for social media platforms to deliver ROI

Tom Martin founder of social media marketing company Converse Digital says as more businesses begin to appreciate the value of social media, it’s vital that they evaluate the impact that these platforms are generating. 

For more social media predictions sign up to our workshops and harness your social media skills to stay one step ahead of the game.

The opportunities to position you and your business as an industry expert in today’s dynamic digital world have never been greater.

The traditional media channels of print, trade, radio and TV and broadcast media channel  - now complemented by proven social media platforms such as blogs , video , Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn – enable us to be authorities in order to boost our profile, showcase our expertise – and act as a magnet for new business.

The vibrant online castle accommodation provider Celtic Castles headed by ‘The Castle Man’ Roger Masterson is a great example. Celtic Castles has dramatically accelerated its profile and sales since positioning Roger as the expert ‘Castle Man’ with a wealth of knowledge on the castles’ rich histories and facilities. He explains more to Quest’s Sharon Cain.

As a professional news and PR photographer (I could be quite self serving and say “a good PR photographer” but I’m sure that’s not the bit you came to read!)

So what does make a good PR photograph – apart from the obvious that it needs to be in focus and correctly exposed?

For me the secret of a really good PR photograph is the same as makes any good news picture.

• It needs to tell the story. It must bring together the most important elements of a story into a single image and grab the viewers’ attention to make them interested enough to want to know more
• It should encourage them to read the caption and accompanying article.

Most PR stories seem to include three main important ingredients.

The Story- What or Why is the Picture is Being Taken?

Is the story photogenic – and if not, can it be made photogenic?

A staff photographer on a local paper was asked to photograph an old lady whose birdhouse had been stolen from her garden. There had been no break-in no property damage or vandalism. Some light-fingered individual had nipped through the gate and stolen her free standing birdhouse.

“How do I photograph her with a birdhouse that isn’t there?” he asked in disbelief.

The trick is finding another approach. Adding a lock to her garden gate? Holding armfuls of wild bird food she can no longer give to the birds?

The moral of the story… a good PR image is not the most obvious shot. The best PR picture will grab the viewer, stop them in their tracks and make them think.

Taking people out of their normal environment can also be a good technique. I once convinced three gents who work at a bank head office to pretend to play rugby in their business suits.

The People

News pictures with the most impact are usually tightly cropped and don’t contain too many people.

The ability to work with people is a key skill for good photography. Encouraging them to do things they may not normally do just for the sake of a photo (back to those pesky bankers!), making someone laugh and relax when nervous in front of a camera, spotting when a pose looks uncomfortable or unnatural and being able to fix it are all necessary skills to create good PR images.

Group shots are best avoided if possible, they can be uninspiring but there are always occasions where the story is the group. This means something creative is needed. Finding an interesting vantage point to shoot from or unusual place to arrange people will help. If it’s a large group, don’t think that sticking them in front of a great background will work because often the shot ends up having the background cropped out. The location in which the group is photographed should relate to the story.

The Brand

Photographically, branding can be a tricky little devil and from a PR perspective it’s the whole point of the story. From a publications viewpoint branding is advertising – and advertising is income – not news.

There are a few techniques worth keeping in mind for branding. When included it should be, if at all possible, in a way that makes it difficult or even impossible to crop out, but it shouldn’t be too forced or the image may not be used. You also need to be able to identify the times when including branding is not appropriate or ruins the picture. If the right people are in the photograph, branding can always be included in the caption.

Style should likewise be considered. A photograph that’s right for the local newspaper may not fit in trade press or in regional or national publications. This applies equally for websites. Not all websites are the same, and what works on a client’s Facebook page is not necessarily what will look right on their blog or their business homepage.

A truly good PR photograph will do a number of things.

• Grab the readers’ attention and hold it
• Illustrate the story by capturing all the elements in a single frame
• Connect the brand to the story without being too forced or contrived
• Match the style of the publication it is aimed at

Paul David Drabble is a professional news, public relations and editorial photographer with over 15 years experience. For more information see www.pauldaviddrabble.co.uk and check out his blog on www.blog.pauldaviddrabble.co.uk You can find Paul on Facebook, LinkedIn and @PaulDDrabble on Twitter.

Public Relations is taking a beating, and why is that? I’m going out on a short limb to blame social media (well, and perhaps those doing poor-quality work).

The echo chamber is amplifying and reverberating industry-wide on a global scale with anti-PR sentiment. Those who’ve had bad business experience with public relations are free to share it virally, with vitriol and unencumbered. Negative sells; look at the aisles of the U.S. Congress. The snark and divisiveness are great examples of what gets media attention.

I also blame our brothers and sisters who reside on the media side; pointedly, The New York Times Small Business Blog. It gave carte blanche to a jamoke to blog anti-PR sentiment on a global soapbox and, as a result, he incited an entire profession. (Sorry, no more links being handed out to this dude.) He’s not the only one; you can read many more examples on Spin Sucks; Gini Dietrich does a fantastic job in support of the profession, via Shonali Burke at Waxing Unlyrical where she recently covered the TechCrunch whine at a PR pro. She revisits the same topic a bit deeper March 7 here, on Spin Sucks. “Where is the Professionalism in PR?” Allison Development Group, that’s Erica’s blog, speaks forth on Where’s the Civility?

For all the value and positives PR people deliver (I promise you we do), there are louder and more publicized stories about the schlocks in the profession who lend a bad name to everyone. Then there’s how our profession is defined – I cringe when the Tinsel Town set says, “Call my publicist, and we’ll schedule lunch.”

People believe PR is strictly publicity; couldn’t be farther from the truth. Today, I saw a tweet from the ever-popular @JasonFalls who said something to effect: “I hate it when companies turn down free publicity.” I almost got into a heated conversation and decided to let the stream go by untouched.

As a result of much of the above, I spontaneously posted an article on my blog last week “What Is PR?” There were those who thought crowdsourcing this discussion was a waste of time and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) thought we’d been down this path too many times to count. Then there were those on the frontlines, the youth of this profession, who are confused about their professional livelihood. They’re in the overarching discipline of public relations and they don’t know it.

So, what’s a public relations practitioner to do? I’d like to ask each of you to:

• Be cognizant of this crisis of identity in public relations and strive to educate naysayers, clients, students, employees, and peers about the value we bring and to rectify the name calling (in particular, “flack”).
• Encourage a young person to join the profession that offers a wide array of opportunities across industries and sectors.
• Uphold the profession and wear it as a badge of honor. Do you know that we in PR boast skills that are highly employable and will keep us working beyond retirement?
• Take an opportunity to blog or do a workshop to set the record straight because we are a team that requires “global-raderie.”

Jayme Soulati is president of U.S. Soulati Media, Inc., a virtual public relations firm blending social media and marketing to effect business strategy. She blogs at Soulati-‘TUDE! and also at The SMB Collective. Follow her avidly on Twitter @Soulati or Facebook/Soulati Media.

Do you want to leverage your online profile?

Do you want to grow your existing business using the Internet but you’re not sure where to start?

Do you want to raise the ranking of your website?

Online Catalyst’s Joanne Ernst shares some tips with media training and vlogging expert Sharon Cain of Quest PR . Check out the video and Joanne’s fantastic free top tips.