Deirdre Breakenridge

On September 20, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. ET, we’re holding a special edition of #PRStudChat, as we team up with our friends, Heather Whaling and Justin Goldsborough and their community, #PR20chat. Together, we’ll be discussing how to help students use their PR skills to succeed in school and in launching their careers. Joining us that night will be two very special guests: Jessica Kleiman, VP-public relations for Hearst Magazines and Meryl Weinsaft Cooper, co-founder and principal of Allen/Cooper Communications. Jessica and Meryl are the authors of the book, “Be Your Own Best Publicist.”

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to completely take off my PR hat; it’s usually “on” no matter what I’m doing.  But, on September 16, 2011, in New York City, I’ll be wearing a different hat. It’s my blogger cap, when I cover the PRSA T3PR Conference.  Twenty plus years ago when I was [...]

On September 21, 2011, I’ll be participating in the TEKGroup Online Newsroom Summit to discuss how newsrooms have changed from static areas of a website to interactive and socialized newsrooms.

I recently spoke with Julie Cros, founder of Post Planner, and was interested to learn how she married marketing and technology. With so many of us learning, testing and embracing technology, I asked Julie to share her story on how and why she decided to launch the Post Planner Facebook application.

I was interviewed for a virtual event called the Future of Media: Radical Integration presented by Cision, which will take place on August 23, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. ET. The question I was asked: how important is owned media in the marketing mix today; an interesting question for PR professionals, as our focus has been [...]

Years ago, it was our Web team that brought any new and interesting technology to the table for evaluation and set up.  At my marketing communications firm, we relied on these folks to simplify the complicated and to enlighten us.  For example, they took a lot of time to explain WebTrends, and they showed the [...]

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post “Public Relations Expanded: Eight New Social Roles Assigned.” The piece highlighted some new areas or functions in PR, where the professional can shine, from the PR Policymaker and Internal Communication Collaborator to the Pre-Crisis Doctor and Master of the Metrics. However, in order to take on new challenges, change must take place. It has to come from within first, and then filter through to your role in the organization.

Stepping up to help champion the social media policy development process is a critical role in the organization; one well suited for the PR professional. From my experience, working with different companies and professionals, the PR policymaker (one of the eight new roles assigned) often gets the ball rolling with a clear vision of how [...]