Our Future Looks Bright… and Green!

Violet PR celebrates Earth Month and our clients creating a cleaner planet for generations to come.

What Our Clients are Up To

The New Jersey Business Action Center is preparing the public for the state’s ban on plastic bags and polystyrene foam food service products, taking effect on May 4th. VPR helped spread the word through a social media campaign, urging consumers to #GetPastPlastic and #BagUpNJ! See more on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

grocery bags filled with healthy foods

Invest Buffalo Niagara is marketing Buffalo, N.Y., as a climate change refuge, thanks to its abundant freshwater, mild temperatures and ready infrastructure. The region is cutting climate pollution by plugging into the hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls, a premium source of renewable hydropower. Learn more about the efforts in Fast Company

niagara falls

Campbell County, Wyoming’s “Carbon Valley” initiative seeks to power the world with cleaner, alternative uses for coal. As the nation’s largest, most productive coal region, Carbon Valley is fostering innovation in carbon capture technologies and coal-to-product R&D. Read more about Carbon Valley’s latest developments ➝

carbon valley construction zone

Pittsburgh International Airport’s new terminal, designed in part by luis vidal + architects, has been dubbed the ‘Airport of the Future’ due to its environmentally friendly infrastructure. It’ll be 100% powered by its own microgrid, using natural gas wells and nearly 10,000 solar panels. Read more about its progress in Aviation Pros

view of pittsburgh international airport

Introducing Luke, Claudia, and Joelle

LUKE GAVRONSKI

Assistant Account Executive – Luke is a skilled storyteller who deeply values collaborating with clients and team members to solidify brewing ideas. Luke came to Violet PR from Conway Data PR + Marketing and brings experience in media relations, social media and digital marketing.

CLAUDIA VELASQUEZ

Account Coordinator – A passion for storytelling and crafting unique brand stories led Claudia to a career in PR. She loves expressing her creativity through writing and content creation and has showcased this through her internships at iHeartMedia, Sony Music Entertainment and 5W PR.

JOELLE DECARO

Account Coordinator – Joelle is passionate about supporting communities and building relationships, a trait that led her to fall in love with PR and its ability to help clients grow and succeed. Her previous experience at CASA of Union County helped hone her writing, social media and media relations skills.

luke, claudia, and joelle

PR News: Speed and Accuracy: An Usual Moment Prompts PR Changes

Violet PR President, April Mason, spoke to PR News about how COVID-19 has affected the PR industry. Read more below!

It’s not difficult to argue the U.S. is in an unusual moment. First, nearly all of us will contract COVID eventually, Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, said Jan. 12. And while some epidemiologists believe the omicron variant signals the pandemic’s end, others, such as Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of MN and a member of Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, are not sure.

Viewing this moment from a PR pro’s perspective, the question arises: Have the strategies and tactics of PR changed as a result of this unusual moment? Should they?

After all, some argue that before the pandemic PR pros were supposed to read the room, keeping tabs on customers, competitors and the rest of the zeitgeist. This allowed them to make course corrections to communication efforts as needed.

As such, this argument goes, the PR pro is doing what she has done for years: communicating, pitching, advising and raising awareness, all based on the state of play and with an eye toward the future. True, today’s conditions are different than they were before the pandemic, yet the PR’s pro’s job essentially is the same.

The influence of speed, which Mitchell mentioned above, is the main factor for April Mason, who heads Violet PR, a small firm in NJ. Specifically, Mason notes the speedy news cycle the pandemic has, in part, caused. With news about COVID-19 and its variants changing, sometimes hourly, media relations pros like Mason have adjusted or become irrelevant, she says.

For example, Mason often pitches stories that work alongside the day’s breaking news. Covid’s constant updates means she is looking for new angles at a fast pace. “What’s relevant today as a pitch, might not be tomorrow, or even a few hours from now,” depending on Covid developments, she says.

Expiration Date

In addition, as the length of a pitch’s shelf life has declined in this climate, Mason advises that “your executive is ready to speak with a reporter” the day you pitch.

While it depends on the pitcher and the executive, for Mason, pitching a story “a month out just doesn’t happen very much anymore.” Enterprise stories also are occurring less frequently, she says.

Also gone, she says, are desk-side appointments. “You’d bring a CEO or a political leader to meet with an editor and reporter for a wide-ranging conversation.” A few weeks later, the reporter called and indicated what topics could result in a story, she says.

The pandemic also sped the reduction in newsroom size, Mason argues. As a result, pitchers and executives interviewing with reporters best be succinct, she says. Her counsel for interviewees is to have not more than three talking points.

“Reporters don’t have time for executives who digress,” Mason adds. Several reporters abruptly ended several interviews she arranged. CEOs “can’t be offended by this.  You explain to them that if you want coverage you have to work in this [sped-up] structure.”

Good News

It’s not all bad news, however. Mason doubled revenue and staff in 2021. “A lot of [PR pros] had a good year,” she says. Again, the pandemic offered conditions that led to a resurgence in her business.

“We lost 30 percent of our revenue during lockdown” at the start of the pandemic, she recalls. That allowed Mason time to “do more publicity for the firm, answer more RFPs and create more content,” including thought-leadership essays. With newsrooms straining, media is ripe for submitted essays, she says.

Another important factor for Mason was the rise in Covid-related federal and government spending. Much of her business is centered on government and contractors.

Read the full article here.