by Margot Carmichael Lester | Jun 23, 2021 | Public Relations/PR practice
Updated July 2023 Yesterday I sat in front of a woman who was kvetching to a colleague about the situation at her office -- at normal speaking volume. She mentioned her own first name, the company's name and then started talking about missed new product delivery...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Apr 27, 2021 | Public Relations/PR practice
Everybody's talking about thought leadership these days. We create periodic recommendations on platforms worth considering for folks getting started with their initiatives. If you're already executing a thought-leadership strategy, you're likely familiar with these...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Jan 13, 2021 | Marketing, Advertising & Promotion, Public Relations/PR practice
Lots of us include a contact option on our websites, a webform or an email address. Great! People love having a way to reach out directly. What's not great is when those avenues to contact turn out to be roads to nowhere. How many times have you reached out only to...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Mar 24, 2020 | Content & Content Operations, Public Relations/PR practice
There have been a lot of good articles about content marketing, brand journalism and leadership communications during the pandemic. I created a Flipboard magazine to capture some of the best, including pieces from Scott Monty, The Reputation Institute and the Nieman...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Mar 10, 2020 | Best Practice, Public Relations/PR practice
For high-touch (literally) businesses like salons and fitness studios, or high-occupancy businesses like airlines, communicating about COVID-19 is a requirement. Here's a great example of how to do that from barre3 Chapel Hill, where I work out twice a week. What's...
by Margot Carmichael Lester | Aug 27, 2019 | Public Relations/PR practice, Social Media
Social media gaffes are common. Effective and authentic apologies for those miscues are not. But Janelle Monáe recently offered a concise, genuine mea culpa that serves as a good model for any of us. What's good about this apology? It's concise and written in plain...
