Today, I discovered Pro PR Tips, a blog written by CNET’s WebWare writer Rafe Needleman. The blog sparked his book published a few months ago called Pro PR Tips: Public Relations Advice from a Jaded Journalist that I’ll be getting a copy of this week.

Needleman posted 100 tips in 100 days and now updates when events warrant them (translation: when a PR pro does something stupid, Needleman will post about it).

Today’s “Tip #138: If I want trapeze artists, I’ll go to the circus” served as a great reminder and made me chuckle a bit. I mean, who hasn’t been in a planning meeting when something ridiculous that has nothing to do with what the media really want is forced into fruition.

My takeaway: you don’t have to spend a lot of money on fanfare to garner media interest in your announcement. More b2b PR folks need to keep this in mind when you’re planning your next press conference. In today’s economy, your PR budget is better spent somewhere other than the flying circus.

So, I’m hooked on Pro PR Tips. I was sucked into reading about half of the tips Needleman posted. Some of the tips are kind of elementary, if you’ve been in the PR biz for a while, but they’re still worthwhile reminders. If you have a few minutes, an interest in PR and want to laugh, check it out.

I’ve always been of the opinion that blogging helps keep writing skills sharp. And, working in PR, I’ve learned that writing is, no doubt, one of the most important skills I can possess—and a skill that I can never stop improving.

In addition to keeping writing skills sharp, there are other benefits to blogging. For instance, with social media on the rise, if you want to start a blog, and you want your agency to help launch your blog, your agency better have some experience in it so they can develop your strategy and then help you have a successful launch.

More than that, blogging allows you to develop relationships with your followers, connect with other like-minded bloggers and professionals, appear higher in search engine rankings and increase Web site traffic.

Beyond the benefits, however, blogging is enjoyable. For me, it allows me to take my love for writing and combine it with endless creativity. Plus, it’s an outlet for me to write about topics, such as Peyton Manning, football, mustaches or Tiger Woods, that I don’t get the opportunity to write about in my daily job.

Do you have a blog? What are some benefits you’ve discovered through blogging?

With the biggest sporting, and advertising, event of the year upon us, now is the time when viewers tune into commercials, especially when there are celebrity spokespeople backing the advertised brands.

But, there is one familiar face that won’t be present, at least for the commercials, during the big game. Although Peyton Manning will be starting for the Colts on Sunday, he won’t be spotted during commercial breaks as he frequently has been in the past. It’s not because he’s no longer one of the biggest names in football and advertising (he is still one of the most used spokespeople in ads), but because the brands he endorses, like MasterCard, Sony, DirecTV, Gatorade and Sprint, have all pulled their Super Bowl advertising spots.

Does this mean that times are changing for advertising? Are big-name advertisers no longer willing to fork over millions of dollars to run a 30-second spot during the game? Has the explosion of social media caused companies to rethink budgets and reinvest money that was traditionally directed toward advertising to other areas?

Maybe paying big bucks for ads isn’t the way to go anymore. It’s time that marketers strategize and rethink to ensure that marketing dollars are being spent wisely, getting the most bang for the buck and reaching customers.

So, what do you think? Have you seen companies redirecting advertising dollars to other areas? Are you going to miss seeing Peyton in commercials? I know I’ll miss seeing him, but I’ll still be cheering for the Colts during game time!

photo courtesy: www.flickr.com/photos/Leyinglo

If there’s one thing that 2010 holds for PR people both B2B and B2C, it’s the opportunity to exercise our latent writing muscles. Our organizations need blog content, podcast and viral video scripts and other forms of self-published digital media content in addition to the time-honored press releases, white papers and press kits.

It’s more important than ever to understand how online audiences communicate about our organizations. This is a cornerstone of SEO. And today, SEO walks hand-in-hand with content development.

More and more, we’re going to see the restructuring of PR departments to house content development. This means PR pros need to understand and use the keywords that have been identified for their organizations’ SEO program. And if the organization doesn’t have an SEO program (yes, this still happens), then PR needs to be ready to lead the charge on this front.

In my mind, there are no better people to deliver clear, concise, “on message” and keyed-in content than PR people. What do you think? Is this where PR is going?

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