Every year, since 2001, the Public Relations Institute of Australia has run a business benchmark survey aimed at helping its PR consultancy members run growing , professional and profitable businesses.

Sometimes even the smartest and most confident individuals get it wrong when it comes to public speaking. If you’re a media spokesperson, getting it right is non-negotiable. That’s why media training is incredibly helpful for anyone planning to speak with a journalist.

When you’re speaking with a journalist, on the phone or face-to-face, your company’s reputation is in your hands. With the right guidance and preparation, you can turn this opportunity into a chance to gain positive attention for you and your business.

Preparing in advance for a media interview can be the difference between achieving a positive outcome or making an embarrassing error.

Journalists are inundated with information every day, including more news releases than they have time to read. Given the competition for journalists’ attention, you need to make sure your news release cuts through the noise.

There are generally two ways to get your business covered in the media. The first is when a journalist writes about your business without any prompting (reactive), and the second is when you pitch a story to the journalist (proactive).

You’ve seen it on social media. It’s been happening on brands’ websites through their blogs, case studies, and videos. You’ve seen it in email newsletters and glossy magazines in your letterbox.

As a marketing professional, you may be convinced your organisation needs help from a specialist PR agency. But how do you convince senior managers, who may not fully understand the role of PR and how it can help the business?

Outsource, the B2B and IT marketing services provider, has today opened a new office in Brisbane, taking its locations to three: one in Sydney’s Circular Quay; one in Meerschaum Vale on the New South Wales north coast; and, now, one in Brisbane’s northern suburb of North Lakes.

Meeting a journalist face to face, while becoming a little harder to arrange as the media sector re-configures itself, is still a crucial component in any strategic media relations program.

Increased time constraints on journalists means they are more likely to suggest phone interviews rather than agree to face to face meetings.

Knowing what is newsworthy and what journalists need in order to develop stories are essential qualities to have before you start thinking about contacting journalists to pitch or contribute to stories.

A media release should provide journalists with information that is newsworthy, accurate and relevant to their readers. Once those three boxes are ticked, you should make sure that the headline is simple and informative.

So you want to run an event to get media coverage. You’ve got a high-powered international executive lined up to do the talking and you’ve booked an exclusive venue in the city. The last step is to get journalists to come along, and then write an article. Should be easy, right?

In our technology-driven landscape of rapidly-expanding communications channels, it can be hard for organisations to maintain a clear messaging narrative and brand identity.

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there, does it make a sound? You could ask the same question about brands and products that don’t get enough exposure to potential customers.

People continually change their habits, including the way they access information. More and more, people want to see even complex information at a glance, preferring visual dashboards or videos instead of long written pieces.

Social media accounts act as the public persona for many organisations. People, including customers and stakeholders, believe what they read on social media.

We’ve all been there. The end of another day when we only completed a fraction of the items on our to-do list. The ideas we come up with in the shower but forget to write down.

In the simplest terms, professional services organisations exist to give people advice that will help make their lives better or their businesses more successful. Too many professional services firms fail to understand the importance of building trusting relationships.