Choose Your Own prTini Adventure

Remember those “choose your own adventure” books you used to read as a kid? Sarah, the brains behind thenakedredhead.com (and yes, that’s a “safe for work” site!), recently let her readers vote for the topics they wanted her to write about.

Brilliant, right? So smart, in fact, that I’m borrowing her idea and giving prTini.com readers the same opportunity. I have a bunch of post ideas rattling around in my head, drafts half-written in Evernote, and so on. Below, you’ll find a quick synopsis of a handful of ideas I’ve been mulling over. In the comments, let me know what posts you’d most like to read, and we’ll go from there!

HOW TO: Create a PR Plan. This would likely have to be a series of posts looking at the various parts of a PR plan — everything from a situation analysis and SWOT … differentiating between goals and objectives … developing target audiences and key messages … and (of course) incorporating a mix of traditional and digital tactics. I’ve written dozens of PR plans for clients (it’s actually one of my favorite things to do), so I can speak from first-hand experience about how to write an efficient, effective plan that will help you get buy-in from management and implement successfully.

Blogger Outreach Interviews. Identify a series of bloggers and interview then about how they like to be pitched, what mistakes PR people make, and the best opportunities to score coverage on their respective sites. For example, I could interview foodies, mombloggers, healthy living writers and maybe even a vlogger. The goal would be to provide insight to help PR people fine-tune their blogger pitching skills and secure better coverage for clients/companies.

Creating & Sustaining Community. Digital PR practitioners talk about the importance of strong online communities. But, what is an online community and why do they matter? How do companies create content, cultivate relationships and initiate dialogues to build community? And, once that community forms, how can organizations sustain it in meaningful ways? I have a couple case studies I can share to help illustrate these points and recommendations.

Tips for Job Seekers. I recently hired an account coordinator for Geben. The interview process was telling … and sad. I received a fair number of high-quality resumes, but I also received some prime examples of what not to do. This post would cover some of the worst offenders and offer advice to help job seekers cut through the clutter and make a powerful, positive first impression on potential employers.

Email & PR. Some people want to write-off email marketing, but it can be a valuable addition to the PR pro’s toolbox. This post would look at how to incorporate email marketing into the PR mix, best practices and examples of smart, effective PR/email integrations.

Corporate Blogging Mistakes. At Geben Communication, we help clients launch and manage blogs. What are the biggest mistakes or misconceptions that corporate bloggers need to overcome? This post would highlight some common — but fixable — mistakes and offer advice to help right the ship.

Those are six ideas to kick things off. Choose your own adventure. After all, what’s the point of  this blog if I’m not writing about topics you want to read?! Let me know in the comments which of these posts you’d like me to write! Looking forward to your feedback and input!