Ryan Greives

Working in the PR space, underneath the giant communications umbrella, we definitely know the value of good, open communication on all fronts. Communicating with the media and with the public via traditional and social media are the main things we are known for as PR professionals, but what about the behind-the-scenes communication? So many companies come to BLASTmedia to get national media coverage, a bigger social media presence, or to rock it out for them at their industry tradeshows, but many times they come missing something vital to any company's success - internal communication. Let me illustrate. Company A wants to make a major announcement. So the CMO begins sending info to the PR agency to draft up the release. The release gets drafted and sent back over to the CMO, who approves. The PR agency begins pre-pitching the announcement, puts it over the newswir... (more)

How Social Media Is Changing the PR Organizational Structure

I recently used Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out™ (HARO) as a journalist, rather than a PR practitioner, looking to gain insight on a particular topic from the thousands of PR people who receive the daily queries. It was quite an exciting experience, I must say. Submitting a query for what I was looking for, awaiting the delivery of the HARO query list that hits my email box three times a day, and then reading through all of the interesting emails from possible sources. It was like writing a pen pal and awaiting their reply…but with many more return letters. Do kids even do ... (more)

OCTOBER BLASTMEDIA PROFILE: ASHLEY HALBERSTADT

Ashley Halberstadt is the profile piece for October. Ashley has been with BLASTmedia for over two years now and just recently purchased her first home and was promoted to consumer team manager. Take a few minutes to get to know Ashley.... BLASTmedia nickname: Halbercrack Hometown:  Richmond, IN College(s) attended: Butler University (Go Dawgs!) Favorite ... ... (more)

Seven Tips to Winning Business Awards

When developing a comprehensive PR and social media campaign for our clients, we spend a lot of time building appropriate speaking programs and developing successful awards programs. Trade shows, media outlets and other industry organizations provide award opportunities at the local/regional/national level, and being named a finalist or winning an award is an excellent way to gain PR attention, as well as recognition and credibility within your industry. Having authored numerous award-winning submissions for our clients, such as 2010 Mira Award Winner and finalists, 2010 Ernst & ... (more)

So, You Want to Be a PR Practitioner?

I must first preface this post by saying that I have by no means “arrived,” nor do I have PR all “figured out,” as both of these are a continuous battle. However, over the course of my years in the industry, I have been asked numerous times by aspiring PR practitioners, “how did you get to where you are today?” or “how do I go about getting a job in PR?”… …Some of these inquiries have been from people, like me, who do not necessarily have a lot of experience in PR, or even marketing in general. I’ve already written about the things to consider when applying for a job in PR, bu... (more)