What to Do When the Lights Go Out

February 12, 2013

Like all of you, I was tuned to the Super Bowl in the third quarter despite the lopsided score when the Superdome’s lights went out. For several minutes no one knew what was happening. While Twitter exploded with possible explanations ranging from something as simple as a power surge to something as scary as an act of terrorism, the CBS broadcast announcers were at a loss to explain what happened for the millions of viewers. And no official explanation was provided by Superdome management (local company SMG), the local electric company or Super Bowl officials.

If you believe, like most of America, that the outage was a freak accident, then think again.

In 2003, when the Super Bowl was played in San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium, the media relations contact for San Diego Gas and Electric, which had been reeling from an energy crisis and rolling brownouts, had planned in advance of the game for the contingency of a stadium power outage. He and his communications team had a plan in place to provide written materials to explain the reason for the outage and had alerted the media at the Super Bowl before the game that a press briefing would occur five minutes after the outage in a predetermined location.

Conversely, in New Orleans — despite having experienced and managed the Hurricane Katrina crisis — there was no press briefing or plan in place, just ad hoc pronouncements to CBS officials that never explained the reason or how long it would take to restore power. Why had officials a decade earlier prepared for this potential crisis while those in charge this year apparently did not? And what lessons can lawyers and those responsible for communications take from the Super Bowl power outage to ensure that similar “surprise” situations do not emerge?

There are very few Manti Te’o situations out there that are all but impossible to prepare for. Not many of us can say we’ve been “catfished,” or tricked by fake girlfriends and fallen in love while under the microscope and intense spotlight of the national media. Rather, the situations and scenarios that can cause us to lose sleep are able to be prevented, or at least handled in a manageable way that won’t inflict significant financial, physical or emotional harm. What steps can you or your firm take now to prevent a crisis from occurring or at least from unleashing greater damage?

First, it is vital to conduct a vulnerability or risk assessment of your firm or organization to uncover all areas of operational and communications weakness and to identify potential solutions. This exercise will look at every department and ask what could cause significant disruptions or reputational damage. Because most firms do not have unbiased internal candidates to conduct such assessments, it is best to work with an outside consultant who can look at your organization with a pair of untainted eyes and provide fresh recommendations.

But if you are not in a financial or structural position to work with an external professional, then make sure that whomever is charged with conducting the assessment looks for factors that can lead to trouble: a large number of changes in personnel, especially leadership; changes in industry laws or regulations; changes in media contacts covering your industry; and changes in your organization’s business strategy.

Next, brainstorm with individuals at your firm on all the potential crisis scenarios that could occur at your organization. Begin to think about potential responses, about best- and worst-case scenarios and how in some instances you can prevent crises from occurring by simply modifying how your organization operates.

Use the scenarios as the basis for developing a crisis response plan. Some common scenarios resulting from the aforementioned factors include facilities emergencies (e.g., a fire or theft); Internet or data emergencies (e.g., online reputation attack on Facebook or Twitter, a hacked website or data breach); leadership emergencies (e.g., CEO turnover caused by malfeasance, illness/death or retirement); industry-specific emergencies (e.g., environmental damage or power outage) and employee emergencies (e.g., layoffs or a work stoppage).

If you know your vulnerabilities in advance, you will avoid many crises or certainly minimize their impact. While the range of questions and activities comprising a vulnerability audit are too vast to include here, some typical questions would be: If your business were unavailable starting tonight and you had no advance warning, where would everyone go to work and how would you conduct business remotely, and how would you retrieve contact information for all important audiences, including employees, customers, clients and others?

When you look at the cost of being prepared for a crisis, both in terms of time and money, it is understandable why so many organizations choose to forego the investment. However, by hoping nothing bad happens and keeping your head in the sand, you are risking costs far greater than the time and resources well spent to avoid such damage.

- Jeff

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Reflections from the Other First Week Intern

February 3, 2013

Today marks my first official week as an intern here at Jubelirer Strategies. In my short time here, I can honestly say I’ve gained a great deal of knowledge. Entering the PR world is something new and exciting to me. Although, like with all new experiences in life, the first day jitters are inevitable. Dealing with a new wake-up time, unfamiliar route to the office, and the anxiety that seemed to sneak up on me, I still managed to survive my few days with ease.

I’ve come to realize that the best way to learn PR is not through coursework, but instead, it is putting yourself out in the field and learning directly from great mentors. I’ve learned that in order to succeed, you must come prepared and have your act together. Arrive on time and look professional. You must learn to be resilient and at times aggressive to make things work in your favor. And, of course, you must love reading (anything and everything) and writing.

Jeff has taught us that one of the most important parts of an email when pitching to reporters is the subject line. The subject line often determines if someone will open the email, or receive the email at all. Instead of sending the pitch as an attachment, Jeff has taught us how essential it is to copy and paste the message into the body of the email. This allows reporters to quickly read over the information without having to wait for the file to download.

Another valuable lesson I’ve learned thus far is the importance of completing client research. In order to successfully develop a PR strategy you must be knowledgeable about the subject’s background, current news, social media presence and competitors.

These PR techniques will stick with me throughout the rest of my career. I am very eager to learn more as I continue my semester at Jubelirer Strategies!

- Alexa

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Reflections From a First-Week Intern

January 30, 2013

Well, it has been quite the exciting past few days here at Jubelirer Strategies (JS). Since I am a sophomore, JS is my first internship, and I’m glad it is! Today marks my third official day as an intern, and I finally feel as though I am learning something about the PR world. Jeff told me during my interview, and reiterated it again on the first day, “You’re going to get right to work!” This was refreshing and nice to hear, because who really just wants to sit around and not do anything on the first day? Not me.

My first day, I not only learned how to work a not so complicated looking (but really, actually is) telephone. I learned how to transfer calls, conference, and most importantly, how to answer the phone in a professional manner (all necessities in the real world). After the phones were underway, I researched a client, including their website, social media, their board members, as well as any news articles and press releases about them.  After that, I wrote a pitch to a reporter on why he should consider a story for an upcoming event in February. Since I have never written a “pitch” before, Jeff provided me with great examples on how to propose one. This made my life a whole lot easier, and I was able to complete the pitch in a timely manner.

What else have I learned you may ask? I have learned how to make my way around Center City, and by that I mean, how to get out of Suburban Station. I have also learned how to use public transportation, instead of just following my friends and asking complete strangers to direct me. I’m glad my first internship has finally forced me to learn how to get around in the city, since I do live just two train stops away.

The one major issue I ran into on one assignment was telling Jeff a woman’s name to contact to pitch a story, when later he told me she was deceased. So, I am definitely still working on my research skills. At least I can say things can only get better from here.

Although Jeff is a Penguins fan, and I am a die-hard Flyers fan, we are working past our sports differences and I am definitely learning something new every day. I look forward to the rest of my time here at JS and am ready for whatever comes my way.

- Amanda

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What Can Surrogates Do For You?

December 5, 2012

Do you remember the recent UPS commercial tagline, “What Can Brown Do For You?”
It conveyed all the tools UPS offered its customers and prospects to make running their businesses more efficient. Replacing “brown” with “surrogates” in the tagline brings an important lesson for attorneys, legal marketers and other professionals with responsibility over communications strategy for their organizations. According to Merriam-Webster, a surrogate is “one who is appointed to act in place of another.” Smart marketers understand that the most impactful communications on behalf of their organizations often come from individuals or other organizations not affiliated with their own. Receiving messages from these surrogates, or third parties, is often more credible and believable because they are not delivered directly by someone with a direct stake in the situation at hand.

Let’s take a deeper look at different types of surrogates and the ways that they can benefit your firm, client or company. Good surrogates — like good witnesses — include both individuals and groups. Just think back (as much as you don’t want to) to the recent election. Both presidential candidates worked diligently to use surrogates to push positive campaign messages and attack the other. Were they effective? Probably not as much as Mitt Romney would have hoped, but the surrogates were able to protect their respective candidates from coming off seeming too mean or extreme. For President Obama, having several women’s groups advocate his campaign’s platform concerning access to contraceptives as part of his health care reform platform helped him gain increased support from women voters and buffered him from conservative and even some independent attacks over the proper role of government dollars. Likewise, Romney enjoyed the support of coalitions of small businesses that could criticize the president more legitimately and credibly than he could for the damage regulations had on their organizations. In the day-to-day business world outside of campaigns, surrogates include customers, unpaid board members, employees, nonprofit groups, independent researchers or academics and even public officials, among others. There is no limit to who can ably serve as a surrogate. The only qualifications are that their mission aligns with yours and that they have the ability to effectively communicate a message on your behalf to one or more of your important audiences.

Surrogates can benefit you in multiple ways. First, they can testify or provide testimonials for your organization. These may present themselves as simple testimonials on your website or speaking at hearings, forums and trials. Second, surrogates can attend community or other public meetings to demonstrate support for your side. There they can speak out, attend in large numbers and even hold signs of support or opposition if, appropriate. Third, they can write on your behalf. Letters to the editor, petitions, op-eds, quotes for press releases and blog posts are just some of the tools surrogates can employ to advocate for you or your position.  Fourth, surrogates can engage in media interviews. Speaking to reporters or editorial boards in support of your organization is a powerful and credible strategy. After all, when you pick up a paper or read a story online and see a quote by a third party, aren’t you more likely — all things being equal — to believe what they had to say more than the source of the article itself?
Fifth, surrogates can amplify your message by engaging on social media. Posting arguments, retweeting your news and sharing photos and videos visually demonstrating your points are just a few of the ways surrogates can use these burgeoning tools for your benefit. Finally, surrogates can accompany you to important private meetings with influencers such as public officials to lobby or provide backup support to your arguments and requests.

So how should you go about putting together an effective surrogate program? The first step is to develop a list of all of the people and organizations that would be considered credible when speaking or appearing on your behalf. The most natural place to find them is right at your fingertips — working in your offices, serving on your board and buying your product or service.
A deeper dive, for example, would lead you to investigate independent authorities at local colleges and universities undertaking research and teaching on subjects of relevance to your campaign, and to nonprofit charitable or other groups that by their very own status as 501(c) entities are perceived more favorably than an organization whose purpose is to generate revenue.

The next step is to ascertain what each surrogate would agree to do on your behalf. Some will be reluctant to “go public” while others will have no issues being out in front. Think about all the ways each could assist you, such as testifying, attending community meetings, writing letters of support and providing testimonials on social media. Finally, it’s best to ask each of your prospective surrogates if and how they would help you before you need them. Asking when there isn’t an issue at hand is a much more opportune time, rather than waiting until you need them and putting them under pressure. The holiday season between Thanksgiving and the end of the year (when business generally slows down) is a great time to get your surrogate program together. Let’s get started. 

- Jeff

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Of Binders and Bayonets: PR Lessons From the Presidential Debates

November 6, 2012

The presidential election is all over except for the actual voting. No more polls, Super PAC ads, oversized postcards delivered to your mailboxes and automated robocalls filling up your answering machines. I’m sure you, like me, are ready for the barrage of electioneering to end.

Despite our collective frustration with what seems to be the never-ending election season, as lawyers and communications professionals we have a lot to learn from the presidential campaigns. Perhaps most importantly, there are a number of lessons we can learn from the recent presidential debates and the single vice presidential debate.

These lessons, for example, can help you in the courtroom delivering opening or closing arguments, or cross-examining witnesses. And make no mistake — the debates mattered this year, especially the first one.

After the first debate, Mitt Romney’s poll numbers moved up, and the race is looking like a deadlock as we head down the home stretch. So let’s review some important lessons that President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Romney and running mate Paul Ryan displayed this election season.

First, paraphrasing what Marshall McLuhan penned five decades ago, “the medium can be the message.”

The debate environment mattered. While McLuhan was referring to (among other platforms) the medium of television, what I’m referring to here is the debate format. For example, standing at a lectern answering questions from a moderator versus standing up from a stool and walking around to address questions from a studio audience gave each candidate either an advantage or disadvantage that had nothing to do with their answers.

Behind a lectern, both candidates appeared to be the same size and neither physically demonstrated a dominant presence. While Romney clearly showed better control of the debate, better eye contact and delivery of key messages, Obama’s height advantage and stronger body language while walking around helped him rebound in the second debate.

For attorneys, you must also consider the venue you’re speaking at or arguing in while preparing your communications. Preparing for being seated at a long table across from the arbitrator should be different than preparing to address a judge or jury while walking around the courtroom. The medium matters.

Second, everything speaks. More than the words and policy pronouncements that come out of adversaries’ mouths, their body language spoke volumes — just as yours does when making arguments in a trial or in many other professional settings.

Biden’s wide grin shown on a split TV screen expressing a strong sense of outrage at Ryan’s answers; Romney’s ability to clearly enumerate with his fingers his five-point plan to restore the U.S. economy; and Obama’s cadence in the second debate (and when he looked down at the lectern to his notes rather than up at the moderator in the first debate) represent three examples of nonverbal communication that delivered their own messages in and of themselves.

Other important communication tools include eye contact (e.g., looking at your opponent when addressing him says “I’m confident”) and voice intonation (e.g., raising your voice is advised for the points you’re most passionate about and lowering your voice is advisable when addressing somber topics such as war casualties).

Third, the message matters, but it’s how you deliver it that really counts. The debates showed the importance of speaking in sharp, concise soundbites. No one remembers long-winded answers; they recall short, sometimes witty answers. In the first debate, Romney’s answers (unlike Obama’s) were concise, repeated often so that they were memorable and humanized with personal anecdotes from the campaign trail.

However, in the town hall format, Obama bounced back by effectively bridging to his key messages and prioritizing his responses to the audience watching at home, regardless of the questions being asked. He outlined his economic agenda and attacked Romney on topics his campaign feels are important to electoral victory (e.g., women’s issues).

Obama was also aided post-debate by one of Romney’s answers that included the phrase “binder full of women.” His campaign has been able to leverage that phrase to deliver the message that Romney is wrong on issues surrounding workplace equality.

That leads to the fourth lesson: Feedback is instant and amplified by surrogates. In other words, everything you say (borrowing from Miranda) “can and will be used against (or for) you in a court of law.”

“Binders full of women” and “we also have fewer horses and bayonets” are two phrases whose shelf-life has lived beyond their respective debate evenings and have been employed relentlessly by Obama supporters on social media. In your everyday professional lives, it’s important to understand that what you say in a public forum (e.g., the courtroom or during a press conference) can be picked up by those with their own agendas and turned against you and your client on Twitter, the blogosphere and other rapidly growing virtual platforms.

Finally, there were several lessons from the debates right out of the media training playbook that you can recognize and prepare for in your own communications.

Biden interrupted Ryan often during the first part of their debate, which was criticized by many (although beloved by partisan Democrats). Ryan did a good job not going tit-for-tat and responding with a sharp retort when he told Biden to stop interrupting him — “Mr. Vice President, I know you’re under duress to make up a lost round.”

Ryan showed control, a lesson for any trial attorney or communicator in an adversarial circumstance. Also, none of the candidates appeared to fall for the absent party trap or hypothetical. That’s when you’re asked to comment on what someone else said when you weren’t present and answer something that hasn’t yet happened. Answering these types of questions can come back to burn you.

Despite your political affiliation or candidate preference, all of us can agree in a bipartisan manner that the four debates offered plenty of lessons for attorneys and anyone else tasked with communications for their organizations. There’s simply no margin for error in that declaration.

- Jeff

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Playing Offense in a Defensive World

October 8, 2012

Summer is over. Fall is here. The smell of barbecue is being replaced by the smell of falling leaves and the revered pigskin. In this vein, there are several critical lessons lawyers and communications professionals can learn from one of our favorite pastimes.

First, despite the age old adage, defense doesn’t win championships in the arena of strategic communications. When a negative news story breaks about your organization or client, the imprint the reader, listener or viewer comes away with is more difficult to overcome than if you put out the news first with your take.

For example, if Penn State “played offense” when rumors were circulating in 2011 about an ongoing grand jury investigation looking into sexual abuse allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, the school wouldn’t have ignored them (and thus, stayed on defense); rather, it could have disseminated a message (of course, in adherence to confidentiality and rules governing commenting on an ongoing investigation) and rolled out a strategy that went on the offensive (i.e., be proactive) to try to control the chatter and damaging talk surrounding the university’s actions (or non-action) surrounding the situation.

Second, you rarely deliver hits playing on defense. In the past — before the explosion of media outlets, cable channels, social media, smartphones and blogs — reacting to events reported in the news was sufficient to get your side of the story out. After all, the news was delivered just once or a few times a day through the daily newspaper or the broadcast networks’ newscasts. Nobody could jump online, respond to a story, post it on Facebook or send it around to thousands across the world. Organizations certainly didn’t have to respond right away to crises; they could take the day to gather all the facts and respond for the next day’s news cycle.

Today, conversely, “citizen journalists” (i.e., anybody) can impact your reputation before you or your organization can respond to a rumor or negative story through multiple mediums and modalities without filter. Here’s the rub though: Organizations haven’t likewise set up strategies to combat these hurdles. It’s not so much that more crises have occurred in these times, but rather there’s the perception that more crises have emerged because the public is bombarded 24 hours a day, seven days a week with constant news. At the same time, most organizations have continued to hope for the best and avoided the media and critics when in the unwelcome spotlight.

In order to win the game, your team must excel on offense, special teams and defense. Playing offense for your reputation means being a resource to the media and other audiences that matter in normal, everyday times and bad times alike. It means providing reporters with good story ideas, news tips and insightful information for the subjects they cover when they aren’t focused on you.

Having a potent offense can also mean sharing the playbook by serving as a third-party expert to the media on stories that you or your organization aren’t part of, but can provide support to help validate an important point.

For example, lawyers not involved in the case being reported on are often quoted as subject matter experts by journalists looking for supporting information. Look for opportunities to score on offense. Are you or your firm working on a hot industry that would interest the public?

For example, there’s the burgeoning Marcellus Shale and natural gas industry in our state. Reporters are thirsty for new information about this industry, so your opportunity to be of value is great. Be a special teams superstar by being ready when you get the call or, in public relations language, being available to the media at all times and answering or returning their calls, even if you don’t have the answers that they may be looking for from you.

An often underappreciated trait is knowing when the game clock is going to expire or, in this case, when the media’s deadline is, so that you can volunteer your perspective in time. A smart defense is also important, but only if you’ve done your job on offense and special teams. When you’ve established your or your organization’s credibility running and passing the ball, the occasions when your defense is called to perform are not so scary. You get hit by critics? It’s not as bad, because you’ve been out there on offense telling your story.

You turn over the ball when others define you. Work to get the ball back by controlling the message. An occasional trick play (e.g., setting up a coalition to help advocate your point of view) is also called for in your communications playbook.

Let’s face it: The media “game” is going to be played whether or not you choose to participate. Wouldn’t it be better to play to win rather than hope the referee (or in this case, the media) calls a fair game? 

- Jeff

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Politicians Say the Darndest Things (So Don't Be a Politician)

September 11, 2012

“If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”

“I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.”

“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

The above quotes — the first two proffered by President Obama and Mitt Romney, respectively, and the third from Missouri Congressman Todd Akin — have helped burn negative images of these gentlemen into the minds and hearts of countless citizens.

In our 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week media environment, and especially in the heat of a presidential election season, our public officials are constantly being poked and prodded by the press, seeking comment on matters that range from great importance to the mundane and shallow. It’s hard to — as consultants say — “be on message” all the time, so it’s no surprise that our politicians commit faux pas on a regular basis.

Making politically incorrect, hurtful or false statements or responses is difficult to completely avoid, especially if you are in the public spotlight. What should not be as difficult is what to do afterward.

Many leaders will get into even hotter water by further trying to clarify the unwelcome remark or conversely neglecting to address anything that could have been misconstrued for fear of making the situation worse.

But what about those of you in leadership roles in your firms or practices? What can you do to ensure that your words aren’t taken out of context or perceived wrongly? If you do make a mistake, what should you do to ameliorate the situation?

First, whether you’re preparing a speech, employee pep talk, legal industry presentation or submitting a bylined article (note to self), make sure that you proofread it and rehearse out loud in front of others in advance to ascertain if any of your words, statements and declarations can either be taken out of context or understood in a way that does not match your true intention.

For example, when President Obama was aiming to describe how government can play a constructive role in helping Americans start businesses, part of his remarks (“You didn’t build that.”) were lifted by his Republican opponents and used to suggest that he was not supportive of entrepreneurs making it on their own, and that the role of government was part of the reason for their success.

Likewise, when Mitt Romney addressed an audience and stated that he liked to fire people (who don’t provide good customer service), it fed the growing perception that he was not “one of us,” but rather a wealthy, elite boss.

Not surprisingly, neither gentleman intended to be perceived as anti-business or anti-worker, but their literal words were taken out of the context of their full remarks, turned around and used against them.

Given presidential candidates are delivering remarks and conducting media interviews multiple times a day, it’s certainly understandable that these barbs occur, but it’s also reasonable to wonder if either camp practiced their speeches in advance in front of people with similar characteristics as their audiences (and not just their admiring staff or families).

Now, what can we learn from Akin’s case? When you say something that is either wrong or terribly insensitive, it is of paramount importance to immediately correct yourself or clarify, if not provide an outright apology.

In Akin’s situation, he quickly apologized and claimed he misspoke. That was the right thing to do, but because of the egregious nature of his original comment, he is highly unlikely to recover any shred of hope of defeating an incumbent senator in his race. The associated lesson here is to understand all of your audiences.

If you are in a high-profile public position, your audience may be larger than the people you are directly speaking to (e.g., the secondary audience for Akin’s interview would be the people who saw the news video where Akin was interviewed), so it is critical to take them into account.

But even nowadays, smaller-profile speeches and talks are recorded and shared through social media channels such as YouTube, where audiences you could never have imagined existed are judging you, whether fairly or unfairly. Meanwhile, at an industry presentation, a blogger with a videocamera could be sitting steps away, ready to selectively capture your every word and gesture. Therefore, you must carefully consider all of your key consuming audiences when drafting your presentation and delivering it.

Does all this mean you should stop making speeches or giving presentations in public? Of course not. The benefits of sharing your expertise and raising your professional profile still far outweigh the drawbacks. But next time you say yes to that invitation you’ve been hoping for, make sure to prepare accordingly with the lessons shared here in mind.

- Jeff

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A message to future interns of Jubelirer Strategies

September 10, 2012

Being only a rising sophomore in college, you’re probably more experienced and knowledgeable than me in many things but I can give you some insight and advice before you begin your work here at Jubelirer Strategies. I consider myself no PR expert but I have learned a lot during my two months interning here. Below, I provide a few pointers, in no particular order, for you to keep in mind during your time at JS:

First, you will do a lot of research for your assignments. In research for media lists, background information, news on our clients and more, I got to know some of my dearest friends– Google, Google News and Wikipedia. I feel like I’m leaving my best friends at the end of great summer at camp. (Don’t worry though— we exchanged email addresses and AIM accounts so we’ll be able to keep in touch through the school year). My point is— I quickly learned how to effectively research and how to do so in a timely manner. Don’t get stuck trying to find the circulation numbers for obscure local South Boston newspapers like I did. When you get stumped, move on. The information is out there somewhere just waiting for the right Google search.

Second, if an assignment interests you, take the initiative. One of my favorite assignments was creating a Twitter account for one of our clients. As an avid Twitter user, I was very happy to do it. Rather than just beginning the profile like I was asked, I took a proactive role—tweeting and following relevant accounts. It paid off— I got A LOT of followers for the client (well, 13) and I was commended for my work. Doing more than what is asked of you can’t hurt. Plus, if you enjoy it, it’s all the better.

Third, make your walk to work a little more interesting and talk to the preacher on the corner of 16th and Market. He’s there all day, every day so why not? He can seem a little intimidating and a lot of crazy at first but when you’ve tripped in front of him as many times as I have, he loosens up and is actually a pretty nice guy. I wouldn’t suggest my particular method of how we came to be friends though—a ‘Hello’ will probably do the trick.

Finally, always ask questions. As the saying goes, “There are no stupid questions, just stupid people”… or was it answers? Regardless, a question can give you more insight and it can show a person that you are genuinely interested in the topic. I asked a lot of questions while working here at JS but something I truly regret not asking about is why Jeff has had a FourLoko on his desk since at least June (or more). What’s its story? Why is it there?? This is your first assignment. When you do find out, please let me know.

All jokes aside, I really did enjoy my time at Jubelirer Strategies. Going into the coming fall semester, I have a new view on what I’m studying and its actual relevance and application to the working world. I thank Jeff for giving me, a quiet and awkward freshman, the chance to sit with the cool kids and experience the real PR world.

- Kate

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What is PR Anyway?

August 30, 2012

When beginning my internship at Jubelirer Strategies this summer, I thought I had a really good idea of what type of work I would be doing considering I had previous experience interning in the PR field. I was sort of right- there were still press releases, media alerts, social media, and pitches. But I was working on these materials for a whole new set of clients.

I have heard from professors and read in articles that PR is different for every organization and that no day is the same when working in PR. I assumed these statements were true but never really thought too much about them. After working on projects this summer for various clients and reflecting back on other internship experiences I have realized how correct both of these statements are.

I have been able to experience some of the differences between agency/in-house PR and media relations/internal communications. This summer I really got a feel for what working at a small agency handling many clients is like. I have realized that every client requires things to be done differently to best suit their needs. I am now able to realize that it is possible to move on to another job in PR and experience the industry a completely different way depending on what organization I am working for.

Learning how many areas of PR there are and getting to experience some of them has been great. I enjoy the field because it is constantly changing and has so many areas that it is possible to specialize in. My summer experience at Jubelirer Strategies has made me excited to continue gaining experience in the PR field and continue figuring out what type of PR I most enjoy.

- Kyra

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“Jubelirer Strategies….This is Ariel”

August 27, 2012

Since I have spent every summer since I was eight at overnight camp, the idea of starting a Monday-Friday internship was frightening. Yet the idea of working in a professional setting away from campers was intriguing. I applied for an internship position with Jubelirer Strategies because it offers its clients (among other things) crisis communication services, which many other firms do not. Prior to working at Jubelirer Strategies, I had no office experience or knowledge of how to use a professional phone system. This task may seem simple and even unimportant, yet answering the phone is the crucial first contact with a prospective client. If I did not master this skill with the proper etiquette, how would the client feel about Jubelirer Strategies managing their crisis communication plans? I was able to learn the nuances of the phone system, and I am thankful for that. At every entry-level job, one should know how to politely answer the phone, transfer calls, and send calls to voicemail. While at Jubelirer Strategies I was able to practice this skill and be directly in touch with clients.

Much to my surprise my first day of work was not a day full of training or explaining. I went right to work, which I loved. Jeff was always available to clarify my questions, and send me assignments. I became familiar with clients, and soon I believed what Jeff said, “No day will be the same.” At Jubelirer Strategies I was able to post blogs to its website, develop media contact lists for specific regions, draft and send pitches to local news outlets and, in the end, see these pitches published. As an intern I was able to assist in background research, monitor client social media pages and correspond directly with clients through e-mail. Public Relations is a fast-paced industry full of deadlines, and I enjoy this pressure because it drives me to work hard. The reward for me is seeing the positive results for our clients.

As a rising senior, I am focusing on my capstone courses in Communications, graduation and finding a job, but now my perspective has changed. Before this internship I had no experience in a professional setting, and now I can use this internship as a foundation in Public Relations. Interning at Jubelirer Strategies has brought my academic classes to life by working through actual case studies, learning the language of PR and acquiring the skills to promote a client’s business or organization. I truly have Jubelirer Strategies to thank for providing me with an accurate, real-world experience as I finally said goodbye to my summers filled with sports, bug bites, and campfires.

My one piece of advice for future interns at Jubelirer Strategies would be that you will learn to love the font “Cambria” at size 11!

- Ariel

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