By Gerard Braud, CSP, Fellow IEC People in public relations, media relations, and corporate communications love to make fun of jargon and most have a hit list of phrases, clichés, and abbreviations that they hate. People hate jargon. Employees hate jargon. Customers hate jargon. I once introduced, “The Worst Speech in the World” to show how […]
Is Facebook an Effective Communication Tool for Businesses?
June 26, 2017 by · 2 Comments
Social media tips can be spread across social media from consultants and public relations professionals. Communication tips can come from industry professionals, online articles, or it may come from your former or current educators. So, what are your thoughts on these daily influxes of information? Does using social media for internal and external communications help businesses or […]
Should social media be a part of your crisis communications plan and strategy?
January 18, 2016 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud – It is time for you to voice your opinion on crisis communications plans and strategy. Each week we seek your best PR practices on the BraudCast. Your discussion question is, “Should social media be a part of your crisis communications strategy?” Social media has changed the way that media relations and public […]
BraudCast Answer: When should your CEO be your spokesperson?
October 1, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud – Public relations professionals and corporate communications managers have weighed in across the globe to answer the question, “When should your CEO be your spokesperson?” Listen to the video to hear their responses as well as my professional recommendations then share your thoughts. This question is one of a series of debates […]
Tutorial #23 Your Official Responsibility as a Public Relations Professional or Corporate Spokesperson
July 9, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Tutorial #23 by Gerard Braud — These 23 crisis communication tutorials are meant to inform you and help you realize your official responsibility as a spokesperson. You need to communicate to the media within the first hour of a breaking crisis. You can do this by uploading your own professionally done videos to the web, which also […]
Tutorial #12: How to Create Proper Lighting When Creating Videos on Your Smartphone
June 22, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Tutorial # 12 By Gerard Braud — Public relations professionals, emergency managers, corporate spokespeople and public information officers (PIO) need to create quality smartphone videos to communicate with their audiences effectively during their crises. Among many elements to consider when creating your own smartphone video, lighting is another tricky, but crucial one. After viewing this […]
Tutorial #11: Where to Look When Using Your iPhone or iPad for a Smartphone Selfie Video
June 19, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Tutorial #11 By Gerard Braud — Learning to properly shoot smartphone videos as part of your crisis communications and media relations strategy is a skill every corporate spokesperson, Public Information Officer (PIO), or public relations professional should practice and perfect. You will want to also include training for your emergency manager who heads your emergency […]
Tutorial #8: Telling Compare and Contrast Stories to the Media During Hurricane Season
June 16, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Tutorial #8 by Gerard Braud — As mentioned in all my tutorials this month, my goal for you, if you are a spokesperson, public relations expert, or Public Information Officer (PIO) for a government agency, is to make iReports part of your crisis communication and media relations plan. Now I’m asking you to think in […]
Tutorial #7 How You Can Be the Source of Breaking News During Hurricane Season
June 15, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Tutorial #7 by Gerard Braud — This month when you visit this blog, you will learn secrets about how and why you should be crazy about iReports and using smart phones and tablets to broadcast to the world. In this blog in particular, you can learn how you can be the source of breaking news […]
Hurricane Season Tutorial #4: When Shooting Smart Phone Videos Consider “What is News?”
June 10, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Tutorial #4 By Gerard Braud, CNN iReporter Evangelist — Creating and filming your own CNN iReports or smartphone videos is a useful tool for communicating with the media, your employees, your customers, and key stakeholders in your crisis. Not only is it a useful tool during hurricane season, but it is useful during any crisis […]
Tutorial #3: How to Plan for Your Next Hurricane on a Clear Sunny Day
June 5, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Tutorial #3 CNN iReporter Evangelist Gerard Braud Everyday in June I will be sharing tutorials for effective crisis communications during hurricane season. The lessons apply to tornadoes, floods, blizzards, and other natural disasters. The future of crisis communications is in video, particularly CNN iReports, which allow organizations to tell the story of their crisis to their […]
Tutorial #2 Lessons from Game Changing Crisis Communications for Hurricane Season
June 4, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Tutorial #2 by Gerard Braud, iReporter Evangelist With hurricane season upon us, and other violent weather such as floods, hail, and tornadoes hitting much of the United States this time of year, we are focusing on how to effectively use video to communicate in a crisis. Today’s lesson stems from what we learned eight years […]
Hurricane Season Crisis & Emergency Communications: Why You Should be a CNN iReporter
June 3, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud — The future of crisis and emergency communications in hurricanes, natural disasters and other weather related events, is in creating CNN iReports. It is a brilliant way to add to your crisis communications and media relations strategy. This strategy is perfect for public information officers (PIOs), emergency managers, and any corporate communications […]
When “It” Hits the Fan – Hurricane Season Readiness & Effective Communications
May 4, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud – Forecasters are watching for what might be the development of the first hurricane of 2015. This happens just as the Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Association (LEPA) meets in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in advance of the official hurricane season. I’m delivering the opening keynote presentation to LEPA emergency managers this morning as we […]
Cold Facts About High Bills: Crisis Communications Tips for Angry Customers
March 5, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud – Today’s crisis communications tip looks at what happens when angry customers take to Facebook to complain about your company. Complaints on your Facebook page or complaints on a Facebook group page built for and by the complainers is creating public relations problems for companies. All of us can learn from this […]
Did the SNL ISIS Skit Go Too Far? A Lesson in Opinion Based Crisis Communications
March 2, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud – In the classic sense, it is not a crisis, but there is an underlying crisis communications lesson regarding the Saturday Night Live sketch on February 28, 2015. Social media is buzzing with opinions about whether SNL went too far. SNL mocked a commercial where a father drops his daughter at the […]
Anderson Cooper 360 on the Brian Williams Crisis
February 11, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud – Anderson Cooper 360 is asking you on Twitter to respond to his question, “Do you think Brian Williams can ever return to the news?” My previous blog post outlines my latest take on the Brian Williams crisis and the conditions in which he could, but likely won’t return to the news […]
Did New York City Overreact? A Crisis Communications Case Study
January 27, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Yesterday’s crisis communications blog regarding the winter storm Juno and the #Blizzardof2015 promoted the idea of managing the expectations of those who will be affected by a crisis. Today, some critics are saying New York City overreacted. Two observations: 1) The people who complain about “overreacting” are idiots. These would be the same people who […]
Media Training 21: The Secret to Handling Negative Questions
December 10, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud www.braudcommunications.com Most questions from most reporters are negative. News in general tends to be negative because it is usually about serious change or a disaster. I wish news wasn’t negative, but I spent 15 years in the business trying to change that and couldn’t. Then I’ve spent every year since 1994 trying […]
Media Training 20: The Secret to Internalizing Key Messages
December 9, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud www.braudcommunications.com In the early stages of media training, many students are skeptical about the concept of key messages. Accepting key messages and using key messages effectively takes time and practice. As I mentioned in lesson 15, in most media training classes I first conduct a baseline interview, then I introduce the concept […]
Media Training 17: What Makes the Media Say Wow! – Commit News
December 4, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud www.braudcommunications.com As a reporter, I generally hated going to a news conference or a media event that was about good news. It’s not that I’m opposed to covering good news, it’s just that generally the spokespeople were poorly prepared and the organizers were completely oblivious of the wants, needs and desires of […]
Key Messages That Convey What’s In It For Your Audience: Apple iPhone 6
September 9, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud As I watch the Apple iPhone 6 roll out, I’m hearing lots of technical stuff. That’s great if you are a techno geek who cares about screen size, pixels and data points. But what does the new iPhone 6 do to make my life better? As a consumer where is the “What’s […]
Crisis Communications Checklist: Four Hidden Problems that Lead to Failure
July 14, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud Public relations people are always searching for a free crisis communications checklist, as though some expert in crisis communications has the magic solution in a free template. Just search for crisis communications checklist, or free crisis communications checklist or free crisis communications template and you’ll see what I mean. The problem with […]
Disturbing Television Media Trend Bonus #8: Bad Imitation is Not Flattery
June 11, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud It has been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But in television news, imitation is usually the sincerest form of panic and desperation. Case in point: On June 3rd the Today Show’s Al Roker planted a prize in a park in Dallas, Texas, then gave out clues on Twitter […]
Social Media for Crisis Communications: Crisis Communications and Social Media When You are a Little Part of a Big Story
May 19, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
By, Gerard Braud Sometimes your company, government agency or non-profit organization experiences a crisis that is isolated just to your organization. Sometimes, your organization is part of a much bigger crisis, and while you have serious crisis issues to communicate, you are not the biggest part of the story. Social media is a terrific way to […]
Crisis Plan Truths
May 7, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud Many public relations people who need a Crisis Communications Plan search for the words “crisis plan.” This leads to problems. Sometimes, as soon as you type the word “crisis,” your browser will auto fill with these options: Crisis Plan Template Crisis Plan Free Template Crisis Management Plan Crisis Communications Plan (with an […]
The Great Crisis Communication Lie: A Plan Can’t Anticipate Everything
March 26, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud It’s been said that the person who says something can’t be done is always right. Does this adage apply to crisis communication and crisis communications plans? The Malaysia Airlines crisis and communication challenges with the media and families have many in public relations saying, “This is unprecedented. You can’t prepare for this.” […]
Who Should Be Your Spokesperson in a Crisis?
March 12, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud In media training and crisis communications training, there are many debates about who should be your spokesperson in a crisis. Here are three common arguments and what you should consider. Argument 1: The CEO Should Always Be the Spokesperson A CEO who wants to be the only spokesperson is destined for failure. […]
3 Reasons Powerful People Say Dumb Things in Media Interviews
November 19, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has done it. So has Lululemon founder Chip Wilson. So have presidential candidates like Herman Cain and Sarah Palin. Each is guilty of saying dumb things in media interviews. Why do powerful people say dumb things in media interviews? Here are 3 reasons… First, powerful people fail to […]
Media Trainer Gives Advice to Chip Wilson, Lululemon Founder
November 7, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud Media training, media trainers and the executives and spokespeople who go through media training need to understand the importance of practicing before every media interview. Chip Wilson, Lululemon Founder is being criticized today for comments about how Lululemon pants only fit some women and the ongoing crisis or controversy over allegations that […]
CNN iReport Tutorials Index
June 6, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
(Perspective: In 2013, CNN selected me as one of their top iReporters, out of more than 11,000 reporters. This is an index of a series of 23 lessons that share how to be a good iReporter and how to make CNN iReports a vital part of your crisis communication and media relations strategy.) […]
Crisis Communication for West Texas Fertilizer Plant in Waco: Why PIOs, Emergency Managers and PR People Should be Using CNN iReports
April 18, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
By, Gerard Braud {Editor’s note: In 2013, CNN selected me as one of their top iReporters, out of more than 11,000 iReporters. This is part of a series of articles about how you can be a good iReporter and how to make CNN iReports a vital part of your crisis communication and media relations strategy.} […]
iReports for Public Relations and Crisis Communications: Why Your Company or Government Organization Should Create a CNN iReport Account Today
April 17, 2013 by · 1 Comment
By Gerard Braud {Editor’s note: In 2013, CNN selected me as one of their top iReporters, out of more than 11,000 iReporters. This is part of a series of articles about how you can be a good iReporter and how to make CNN iReports a vital part of your crisis communication and media relations strategy.} […]
Compare and Contrast News Stories: Secrets of the Media
April 15, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud {Editor’s note: In 2013, CNN selected me as one of their top iReporters, out of more than 11,000 iReporters. This is part of a series of articles about how you can be a good iReporter and how to make CNN iReports a vital part of your crisis communication and media relations strategy.} […]
Prescriptions for Great Media Interviews: Secrets You Need to Know Before Talking to Reporters
March 20, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
By Gerard Braud The doctor’s resume was impressive. It demonstrated a successful practice, plus a history of research and teaching. The ABC News program 20/20 wanted to do a story about the doctor’s research. The teaching hospital selected me to be the media trainer. After the best research possible, to prepare, I called the public […]
