What springs to mind when you hear the term ‘plain English’? Do you think ‘straightforward’, ‘basic’ or ‘old-fashioned’? In the world of PR and marketing it is crucial that the audience, including journalists, get what we write about on behalf of our clients.

Forget the negatives you hear about media training – without it, it could cost your business. Having a meltdown on camera is never cool.  It makes great TV for viewers, but it destroys your message.

I spend more hours at work in meetings than out. Many people do – it is a fact of corporate life. I am really going back to basics with this post, but poor meeting behaviour is one of my pet peeves. With so much time being spent in meetings today no-one can afford to waste time.

It often surprises the team at Recognition PR how frequently we line up a media interview, or the opportunity to write a by-lined article, only to have the spokespeople query the deadline and ask for extensions. Why, they wonder, does it need to be so soon?

Interacting with social media networks is often perceived by older company executives as a young people’s pursuit. Many leadership teams I speak to have delegated the management of their social media presence to digital natives.

One of the common causes of conflict between journalists and companies that attempt to engage them is the definition of the word ‘deadline’.

When you’re managing change or difficulties in a business, it is vital that your team feel supported and heard. Internal communications plays a huge role in this process and it is vital to get it right.

Everybody loves to get awards. Being named vendor of the year by a magazine or having a leading analyst house name you the most innovative brand in your marketplace (for example) is an extremely positive experience.

As marketing and communications professionals we spend a lot of time worrying about what is said and how it’s being communicated both internally and externally. I have strong feelings about internal communications. One of my strongest opinions is that at the end of the day what we say isn’t enough. What we do speaks volumes our words never will.

Social media, email, mobile phones and credit cards have no doubt contributed to the current culture of instant gratification! I know I do it myself. I’ll send a quick text or email anytime rather than waiting, I’ll tweet or Facebook my thoughts from my mobile rather than waiting to share with someone in real life. We get pleasure from doing something now and getting instant feedback and results. What’s wrong with that?

I can’t believe we’re still talking about this! Email has been common place in business for years, in fact many argue that with the increased use of social media and mobiles email use may now be reducing.

One of the myths in PR is that asking a journalist if they’re going to use a media release will improve coverage results. Every year, journalists around the world write about how dumb and annoying this practice is.

Internal communications is important if you want an engaged, informed and empowered team.  There are lots of ways to achieve this but often companies don’t consider the needs of the modern workforce or fully assess the range of communications tools available.

Companies regularly ring us to price ‘sending out a media release’, and in almost every case, we explain the chances of receiving coverage is unlikely if this is their only tactic – unless the media already has an interest in them.

There are so many benefits of social networking.  Personally, I love keeping in touch with friends, family and colleagues.  I have recognised that for me it’s a great way to maintain contact with people.

Here’s my dilemma. I run and attend a lot of meetings where food is provided so that everyone can ‘eat and work’ in the spirit of efficiency.  What’s interesting is nine times out of ten, the food is still on the table an hour or two later – hardly touched.