Not Your Grandma’s Public Relations

In yesteryear, if you wanted to circulate news, you yelled it over the fence. In two minutes your neighbor had all of it. In 20 minutes it was around the block, and in two hours it was all over town. Fast-forward. In the 1980s, corporate communicators relied on faxed press releases and wire services such as PR Newswire and Business Wire to disseminate need-to-know news. Now, the 24-hour news cycle, the Internet, mobile technology and social media have changed the public relations landscape entirely. We’re back to yelling over the fence, but now the whole neighborhood hears you. So, do lawyers today need to pay distribution wire services — at $2 a word — to spread their announcements? Borrowing a line you’ve heard from countless lawyers, "That depends." Let’s consider some scenarios and strategies. READ THE REST

Originally published February 18, 2016 0 0