Category: Blog

The 2025 news cycle is already in full swing!  The incoming administration – combined with the rise of artificial intelligence and independent content creators – are changing the news landscape perhaps more dramatically than ever before.  

With social media companies like Meta reversing its position on fact-checking, major employers like Walmart, Boeing and Ford dropping or scaling back diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) programs; and the new administration’s plans to increase tariffs, build more data centers and expand oil and gas drilling – business news coverage will certainly change in the months to come. 

Regardless of your political affiliation, economic developers seeking the spotlight will need to move fast and stay abreast of what’s current. Here are five important news trends to keep in mind this year: 

1. Traditional media will decline in influence as people turn to podcasts and individual content creators for information.

Whether it was the Joe Rogan Experience or Call Her Daddy, the 2024 presidential race played out on podcasts more than ever before. (In fact, Trump declined traditional media opportunities – including a prime-time slot on 60 Minutes – and conducted more podcast interviews instead.) In 2025, podcasts will continue to grow in influence, and you and your spokespeople should be prepared for this conversational type of interview. In addition, starting your own Substack or Medium page and posting long-form articles regularly on LinkedIn are exceptional ways to get your news out. You should also encourage community members to share positive stories and accurate information about your region on social media.

2. Mainstream news outlets will be stretched with fact-checking duties to distinguish themselves with editorial credibility.

This week’s announcement by Mark Zuckerberg that Meta platforms are ending their fact-checking programs follows a trend started by Elon Musk on X. This means journalists with mainstream outlets will need to spend more resources fact-checking online information – and reporters may have less time to cover enterprise stories about your region. But perhaps more importantly, mainstream media outlets will want to see data and sources to back up your pitches and news releases – so make it easy for them. In addition, your economic development organization (EDO) will want to have a fact-checking system in place to monitor and correct any misinformation about your region in real time.  

3. Broad acceptance and focus on new U.S. policy directions.

During the first Trump administration, there was significant questioning and pushback from mainstream news outlets and thought leaders about policies related to energy, the environment, immigration and tariffs. This time, given the popularity of right-leaning policies around the world, covering topics like DE&I initiatives and sustainable technologies will be less of a priority. Instead, business journalists will be seeking out “made in America” manufacturing stories, artificial intelligence (AI) advances, and supply chain and reshoring news. 

4. Sectors like hyper scale data centers, manufacturing, and oil and gas will be more widely covered.

To follow on trend number three, prepare to promote your heavy manufacturing clusters, oil and gas companies, aerospace and defense businesses, and construction of all types – green or not. And Trump’s announcement this week about data center investments means more growth in this sector to support AI technologies – so be ready to communicate your position around these somewhat controversial project types. 

5. AI may upend the very meaning of “news.”

Though we can’t predict exactly how it will play out, artificial intelligence will have more of an impact on how news is produced and distributed than ever before. Publishers seeking to save money will likely lean on it more heavily to curate news. In addition, the rise of photo and video AI tools will make deepfake visuals more difficult to spot. Since AI bots typically scour the internet for content, your EDO should regularly publish data-driven infographics, economic news trends, business investment updates and visuals on your website. Be sure to regularly release blog posts and videos that tell your community’s story from a factual perspective to help educate the growing number of generative AI tools. 

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April Mason is president and founder of Violet PR, a public relations agency specializing in economic development.

At Violet PR, the future is not something that happens to us; it’s something we create. So, as we head into 2025 and celebrate our 15th anniversary in business, we are proud to reveal our evolved brand, which now better tells the story of how we write the future.

Our new brand identity isn’t about a new logo or color palette; it’s about doubling down on what sets us apart: a deep expertise in economic development, centered around a data-driven approach to storytelling and a steadfast commitment to helping our clients navigate an increasingly complex media landscape.

Our refreshed brand resonates with the spirit of resilience and innovation that defines our work. It also represents a promise to the communities, businesses and organizations we serve. We’re looking fearlessly at the challenges ahead and ensuring the stories worth telling break through the noise.

Here’s what influenced our rebrand:

• Resilience in the Face of Complexity

When the pandemic challenged industries around the world, our agency confronted uncertainty with creativity, nuanced messaging and rapidly adapting strategies. Knowing that all news coverage was suddenly COVID focused, we dug deep and acted quickly to find examples of supply chain strategies, retail business support programs. real estate and design solutions, and enhanced public safety measures. In short, Violet PR turned the challenge into an opportunity for our clients – generating favorable coverage in publications including Inc. Magazine, Financial Times, for Topeka and Good Morning America, the Today Show, Cheddar and the New York Times for the Pittsburgh airport.

• A Data-Driven, Female-Powered Firm

At Violet PR, a certified woman-owned small business, we understand the importance of bringing unique perspectives to communications. Our team uses numerous third-party sources, from the U.S. Census Bureau to the World Bank, to lend credibility to our pitches, crafting narratives that resonate with reporters. Data is more than a talking point; it is a cornerstone of how we help shape stories — ensuring our clients’ news reaches the right audiences with clarity and credibility. In an era where fake news and spin is more prominent in the world’s collective conversation, we choose to distinguish ourselves as “truth tellers” and operate an ethically-centered public relations agency to serve the highly volatile news media world.

• Leading the Way in Economic Development PR

As community leaders rethink their approach to growth, talent attraction and city design, Violet PR is focused on helping our clients position themselves favorably through storytelling. Few communications agencies understand how to bring complex economic and design narratives to life as effectively as we do. Our refreshed brand signals an even deeper commitment to the economic development industry, doubling down on our role as a key partner for cities, states and countries as they shape their skylines – and their futures.

What Our New Brand Means

With this renewed focus as we enter our 15th year in business, our clients can expect even sharper insights, more inventive strategies and a pursuit of unmatched excellence in telling their stories to the world.

The essence of Violet PR remains the same: we continue to stand for bold thinking and setting an ever-higher bar for generating news coverage for our clients.

Yet with this rebrand, we’ve refined our ability to tell powerful stories that stand out, resonate and drive the most meaningful results. As we step into the future — and look to the next 15 years for our agency — we do so with immense pride and excitement for the change, growth and creative opportunities that lie ahead.

We invite you to check out our new website at www.violetpr.com for more information or contact us at hello@violetpr.com.

Let’s write your next chapter together…

In the digital age, social media platforms have become an essential tool for economic development organizations (EDOs) to connect with stakeholders, attract investment and promote economic growth within their regions. With the right strategies, EDOs can build awareness, foster collaboration and share their success stories. Here are the five best social media practices EDOs should be utilizing today to maximize their impact through these channels:

1. Leverage Visual Storytelling

Economic development is a broad concept, encompassing everything from investment in infrastructure and policy advocacy to workforce training and community engagement. To convey these complex topics effectively on social media platforms, where high volumes of content are consumed at a fast pace, your EDO should use visual content such as infographics, videos and images as often as possible.

Need ideas? Highlight successful business attraction projects by the numbers, infrastructure improvements through timelapse construction videos, community initiatives through collage videos, and your team at industry events and conferences with photos. A well-crafted video tour of new real estate developments or an infographic comparing your region’s economic strengths can engage potential investors and stakeholders far more than a simple text post.

Low-cost, easy-to-use design tools like Canva are a great option for helping marketers without a design background make engaging social media visuals today.

Pro Tip: Ensure your visuals are high quality and aligned with your brand’s messaging and style.

2. Engage with Local Communities

Social media isn’t just about broadcasting information; it’s also about fostering dialogues. EDOs should actively engage with local community partners, businesses and area residents. Respond to comments, share local news, celebrate milestones that matter within your region, and tag stakeholders and partner businesses. By doing this, you can create a sense of belonging and show that the organization cares about its people and the economic impact delivered by players at all scales.

Pro Tip: Run polls, host Q&A sessions or LinkedIn Live sessions and create community-driven content, like a “business of the week” spotlight to get account followers involved and help them feel heard. Prospects will be impressed at how involved you are with your partners!

3. Be a Resource for Investment and Business Opportunities

Social media offers an excellent platform for promoting new investment opportunities, tax incentives, grants, and other resources available to businesses and entrepreneurs. Position your organization’s accounts as a resource by regularly posting about new opportunities and using relevant hashtags such as #EconomicDevelopment, #InvestLocal, and #BusinessGrowth. You can also get specific with a location-centric hashtag that you use consistently across posts and channels.

Highlighting case studies and success stories can showcase the advantages of doing business in your region and also help current businesses understand the economic value of utilizing local programs and incentives. Real, human stories should be utilized often on these platforms.

Pro Tip: In addition to a location-centric hashtag, create a dedicated one for investment opportunities to track engagement and build community around those posts.

4. Focus on Thought Leadership and Industry Expertise

Establish your organization as a leader in economic development by sharing insightful articles, research reports and economic trends for your region or for the nation overall. By doing this, you can become a trusted source of information for those looking to understand local market dynamics, workforce trends, or economic forecasts. LinkedIn is an excellent platform for publishing thought leadership content, as it attracts professionals who can benefit from your insights and enhance perceptions about your EDO. Your EDO leader can also position themself as a credible source of information through consistent content sharing on their personal pages. When this is done, EDOs should re-share their content as a way to help grow their individual social media following as well.

Pro Tip: Share articles or participate in trending industry conversations on social platforms to keep your audience informed about both local and national economic trends.

5. Monitor and Measure Your Impact

Social media is a powerful tool, but only if you track and measure your efforts. Analytics tools on all social media platforms have improved a great deal in recent years, and online training courses can help any marketer learn how to understand these analytics. These tools can be used to monitor engagement rates, audience growth and post performance. Understanding which types of content resonate most with your audience will help refine your social media marketing strategy over time. If your posts about infrastructure development are getting more engagement, consider focusing more on these areas.

Pro Tip: You can find metrics within the individual social platforms you are using, but additional tools like Google Analytics, Hootsuite, or Sprout Social can also be integrated with your accounts to help you gain insights into your audience and adjust your content strategy with the help of deeper insight.

Conclusion

Social media platforms are becoming an increasingly vital tool for economic development organizations looking to create and expand connections, drive business investment for their region, and grow their credibility as a thought leader in their market’s economy. By focusing on visual storytelling, engaging with local partners, providing valuable resources, sharing thought leadership, and measuring success, EDOs can effectively harness the power of social media to foster growth and prosperity in their regions.

Within the field of public relations, media relations is one of the key tactical areas needed to achieve success in influencing perceptions. To execute well on media relations, though, it requires a finesse well beyond other rote tasks within the field. Most certainly, like managing many different other relationships in our lives as well, establishing and maintaining strong media relationships is an essential step in ensuring your message is heard by a wider audience. Journalists are inundated with countless story pitches, and standing out requires more than just sending a note with a press release. It’s about creating real, lasting connections that benefit both you and the journalists you work with. Strong media relationships not only help secure coverage but also build trust, credibility, and mutual respect. Here’s how to nurture and maintain those relationships.

Understand and Respect Deadlines

Timing is essential when working with journalists. Being aware of deadlines and sending pitches at the right hours of the day and days of the week, and with the freshest of news shows that you understand how fast paced a journalist’s work can be. News priorities can shift quickly, so keep in mind that deadlines may change as journalists focus on breaking stories or urgent news. Reaching out during especially busy times, like election cycles or just before a print deadline, can cause your pitch to be missed and may convey a lack of awareness of their workflow. When possible, provide background or framing information through links to give journalists more context, and provide visual assets to convey the visual aspect of the story as well. This shows you respect their workload and efficiency. and gives them flexibility to manage changing demands.

Personalize Your Pitches

Journalists receive countless proactive story pitches daily, so a one-size-fits-all approach can end up in the junk folder, or even worse, with a full email account block. Take the time to research the journalist’s beat, read their recent articles, study up on their personal background and interests, and familiarize yourself with their writing style. Reference specific stories they’ve covered that align with your pitch or spokesperson offering and emphasize why the topic is relevant to their readers or their interests. This shows you value the journalist’s expertise and helps you come across as someone who understands their audience and respects their time.

Be a Reliable, Go-To Source

Building strong media relationships comes down to being consistent and reliable. While your first interaction might center around a unique, proactive story idea, the real opportunity to garner ongoing coverage will come through your reactive responsiveness. By providing accurate information, following through on promises, and being communicative if there are delays or changes, you will establish yourself with the reporter as a trustworthy contact. Over time, this honest approach makes you someone they can count on, and journalists will appreciate your clear communication and dependability, and reach out to you with more and more opportunities to be included in their stories in the future.

Engage on Social Media

Social media is a great way to stay connected with journalists without bombarding them with unsuited pitches. Follow them on platforms like X and LinkedIn, like or share their posts, and feel free to reach out if something they’ve shared catches your eye—beyond just what’s relevant to your organization. This helps you stay on their radar and helps you build a genuine, friendly relationship over time.

Make Time for In-Person Meetings

Whenever you can, take the opportunity to meet your journalist contacts face-to-face. Whether it’s grabbing coffee or attending events where you know they will be present, in-person interactions allow you to build a more personal rapport and deepen your relationship. These moments stand out, helping you move beyond just another email in their inbox or a LinkedIn connection, and establishing you as a real person. The result is a stronger, more personal professional bond that will likely help you secure their attention better the next time you have a creative story you want to tell.

Authenticity is Key

To truly succeed in media relations, you’ve got to be all-in. Journalists can tell when you’re just going through the motions or only focused on your own robotica genda. Authenticity matters. When you genuinely care about their work, respect their time, and take an interest in their stories, you’ll create real connections that lead to better, more meaningful editorial coverage for your clients. At the end of the day, strong media relationships are built on mutual respect and shared value—and that’s what makes them last. If a reporter senses that you don’t understand the unbiased mandate of their work, they know that it will not be valuable for them to come back to you again in the future.

Conclusion

Building strong media relationships is essential for securing earned media placements for any organization. By understanding journalists’ needs, respecting their time, and engaging in meaningful ways, you lay a foundation of trust and credibility that benefits the likely success of earning coverage opportunities. However, it’s important to remember that it’s not just about securing coverage—it’s about cultivating long-term, mutually beneficial relationships that go beyond the proactive pitch and turn you into a valuable source for many stories to come for the years ahead in their reporting careers.

We’re Here to Help

Interested in expanding your network of media relationships for your economic development, real estate, or non-profit organization? Reach us at hello@violetpr.com.

Public relations is a core component of the business of economic development. Through proactive media relations and strategic content creation, public relations tactics build awareness and education around a particular market’s economic competitiveness, thus attracting businesses and talent alike. For economic development organizations (EDOs) looking to boost the visibility of their market area on the national and international stage, or even change perceptions about their place as a potential place to live, work, or locate a business expansion project, a robust public relations program is a key to any market’s economic development success.

In their publication Economic Development Marketing & Priorities (Third Edition) economic development consultants Anatalio Ubalde and Alissa Sklar, Ph.D. noted that “marketing” is ranked as the #6 priority of economic development organizations overall. Within this area of marketing, the authors then dive into the prioritization of the various marketing tactics – such as websites, social media, public relations, etc. – and their evolution within the digital age. Their valuable, expansive survey of economic developers active in the industry today also garners personal insights into their perceptions of these tactics and documenting the shifts that have been felt within economic development marketing processes over time. As of the latest survey conducted in 2023, the “public relations” tactic sits as the #5 priority within the marketing arm of economic development offices around the country.

The two spoke in September about their latest findings at the IEDC Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado, and some key highlights from their writing emerged making a strong case for the opportunity public relations offers to the economic development marketing mix.

Identifying Newsworthy Trends

To effectively promote any economic development organization or place as a location for doing business, it’s first important to understand the relevant, timely trends in the global economic development landscape. Workforce development is, without a doubt, one of the most important current focus points, showing up as a high priority for 12% more economic developers than it was when the authors last surveyed the community in 2011. As the labor shortage and skilled labor gap continue to increase, it’s likely that workforce development and workforce attraction will remain a top-level issue for economic developers in the years ahead. The most recent unemployment data in the United States certainly reinforces this fact.

Small business development and local business retention also have seen gains as top priorities for EDO’s, experiencing an upward trend in priority since 2011. EDO’s are expanding their commitment to investing in their local communities in hopes that it will support long-term economic growth. After the global COVID-19 pandemic, the rise in startups and small businesses has clearly indicated that self-employment is a growing market trend and one worthy of economic development attention. At the recent IEDC annual conference, many speakers were focusing on small business and startup resource issues – moving their attention toward helping these small businesses grow and achieve long-term success.

Since local businesses and small businesses have a particular vested interest in the success of their community, EDOs are also increasingly committed to promoting their growth the development. These passionate, risk-taking community members are natural ambassadors for their communities, so leaving them out of the marketing and promotion priority set would be a missed opportunity.

By aligning your proactive public relations plans with these types of timely trends, earned media and bylined stories are much more likely to be read by broader audiences – thus increasing their impact.

Establishing Benchmarks

To identify the impact of public relations on economic development, organizations must develop their own set of key performance indicators, or benchmarks, in order to optimize their overall marketing efforts. The three most popular benchmarks include internet and website traffic, leads generated and audience expansion across email marketing and social channels.

Each of these tactics are correspondingly interconnected, showing that public relations success is directly correlated to an organization’s visibility. By analyzing the data trends for each benchmark, EDO’s can visualize the direct impact of public relations on the support of their organization.

Advising Site Selectors

Site selectors are one of the most important target audiences for EDOs looking to attract new business investment and job growth to their market. Therefore, it’s helpful to understand where site selectors gather their data and information when selecting a location for their businesses’ expansion. EDOs websites are noted in the research as one of the first places site selectors go to gather information on a prospective location, with 81% of site selectors in the United States and 60% of international site selectors indicating this as an important research source.

Further, publications and editorial media are especially important outlets for international site selectors looking to bring investment into the United States, with 49% indicating this as an important source for their information. With foreign direct investment (FDI) on the rise and coveted by EDOs, traditional media relations and public relations are a key tactic to reaching international audiences.

We’re Here to Help

After participating in this session and reading Economic Development & Marketing Priorities (Third Edition), public relations is undoubtedly clear as a key to driving economic development success.

The Violet PR team works tirelessly to leverage timely economic trends, project selection announcements, thought leadership angles, and key messages to secured earned media coverage for organizations working in economic development around the world. If your EDO is looking to bolster its image and drive economic growth, we are here to help. Reach us at hello@violetpr.com.

Scoring a top tier media interview can be a huge win for organizations of any kind that are looking to amplify their key messaging and industries to new audiences. But that victory can turn sour in a hurry if a spokesperson is not properly prepared for the conversation with the press. This holds especially true when working in economic development, where reporters are expecting a wide breadth of knowledge from the spokespeople they are connected with around the world.

In order to deliver their messages most effectively, it is imperative that these spokespeople prepare appropriately. Below are the five best steps they can take to prepare to put their best possible face forward for the economic development organizations they represent.

Define, and Refine, Key Messages

The first step is to develop and refine key messages for the organization that a spokesperson is representing. These should line up with the organization’s core objectives, and be focused on what is most important to talk through at any given time.

Having these points established should not serve as a script for interviews, but they will provide a foundation for spokespeople to fall back on so they know the most important elements to mention during their discussions, and pivot back to when necessary. With messages clearly defined, they can be tiered to make sure that the most important ones are repeated as much as possible, and the lesser ones are put on the back burner as needed.

Above all else, these messages should be updated regularly to add currency and accuracy to them as the market, policy, contextual, and environmental conditions evolve.

Know the Audience and Tailor the Approach

Once messages are established, examining the recent coverage and audience demographic info of an outlet and the reporter with whom the media interview was scheduled. This type of insight will further tee up these spokespeople for success. This analysis should include a strong look at the audience the outlet caters itself to, aiming to understand the level of background knowledge they may already have on the topic that’s going to be discussed.

This will help establish if the spokesperson should have a more technical interview discussion, or if they should be prepared to keep their messages at a very high level, making the information more digestible for lay-audiences. Knowing who will be spoken to will make the interview process that much smoother.

Practice and Refine Through Mock Interviews

Rehearsal is essential for becoming comfortable with key messages and for refining how they’re delivered. Practicing in ways that simulate the actual interview environment will help to make sure messages are conveyed clearly and succinctly. It will increase comfort and familiarity with the typical interview flow, and provide spokespeople a chance to practice helpful techniques to address tough questions. Additionally, spokespeople can have a chance to refine nuances like body language and identify specific ticks they may struggle with, such as adding “ums” or “exactly” in too many places, making sure each aspect is fine tuned so the quality of the resulting quotes or clips included in coverage will be as high as possible.

Prepare for Difficult Questions with Bridging Techniques

There are also specific tactics that spokespeople can have ready to get around difficult questions they don’t want to, or aren’t ready to, answer during media interviews. One of these is called ‘bridging,’ which is when a spokesperson is able to authentically acknowledge the question and then casually pivot back to delivering a more valuable or comfortable key message. Bridging, when mastered, can be applied to almost any question.

This can help avoid awkward silences or struggles to get messages out when the interview goes into places that a spokesperson is not fully prepared for, and also ensures that key messages are plugged in throughout the discussion. Having tools like bridging in a spokesperson’s toolkit will make them more adaptable and flexible overall, even when reporters are unpredictable with their line of questioning.

In economic development interview scenarios, this tactic is especially valuable when questions arise that ask for a politicized option in response. As a-political organizations, typically, economic development spokespeople will want to bridge away from those questions where their personal political preferences might be revealed.

Reflect and Improve Post-Interview

Once interviews take place, the most important piece will be to self-assess, or review with a communications colleague on your team, reflecting on how they went in terms of achieving messaging goals and identifying where adjustments need to happen in order to deliver better in future interview opportunities. Without this step, if there are faults in interview approaches, they will continue.

More repetition of interviews, on their own, will help to increase comfort, but there are likely other issues that will require reflection and intentional adjustment. Humility is essential here, as even the world’s top executives and company leaders need to be willing to accept where they can find places to improve. Perhaps there are specific types of questions that often confuse them, or they find themselves rambling on too much when they get interested in a technical discussion; no matter what it is, having trusted individuals in your corner to provide gentle feedback is key to improvement over time.

Conclusion

For spokespeople of all kinds, but especially those working in economic development, preparing for a media interview in advance will help to make sure that each opportunity can be best taken advantage of to achieve your organization’s goals. If handled correctly and prepared for adequately, each interview can be an opportunity to not only amplify an organization’s critical storylines, but to establish spokespeople as genuine industry leaders that are highly sought after for follow-up discussions with the press and key influencers of all kinds.

Interested in improving your own media interviewing skills? Join us for an upcoming, free Violet PR webinar on November 12, 2024 at 12 pm ET to dive deeper into these concepts. Click here to sign up.

Transitioning from a career in journalism to public relations (PR) has been a rewarding journey that, in many ways, feels like a natural progression. While the two fields have distinct differences, my background in journalism has been valuable in preparing me for the demands of PR. The writing skills I honed, the relationships I built, and the ability to work under pressure have all contributed to a smoother transition than I initially expected.

The Power of Strong Writing

At the core of both journalism and public relations is one key element: storytelling. As a journalist, I learned to craft compelling narratives quickly and concisely. Whether it was breaking news or a long-form feature, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively was crucial. In PR, this skill is equally important, though the focus shifts slightly. Now, my goal is to convey a message in a way that aligns with a client’s objectives, while still being engaging, timely, and appropriate for news coverage.

Journalism taught me to respect the facts, and that has stayed with me since entering the profession of PR. Ensuring accuracy and citing data and evidence, especially when representing a brand or client, is just as critical as it was when reporting for an audience. The difference? In PR, the challenge often lies in shaping a narrative that not only informs but also inspires action or changes perceptions.

Relationships Matter—Everywhere

As a journalist, building trusted relationships was key to success. Whether it was cultivating sources, working with editors, or collaborating with fellow reporters, connections mattered. Those same skills are critical in PR, but the relationships’ nature is slightly different. Now I’m still fostering relationships with other reporters, but in a different way, as well as clients and their spokespeople to ensure the message gets out with the support of respected resources and resonates with audiences.

Having been on the other side of the media equation, I understand the pressures journalists face. This insight helps me tailor my pitches in a way that respects their time and meets their needs, while also delivering value for my clients. It’s about knowing when a story is worth their attention—and how to present the idea in a way that grabs it.

Managing Multiple Priorities

One of the biggest differences between journalism and PR is the client-centric nature of public relations. In journalism, my primary focus was on the audience and the story itself. In PR, the client’s needs and objectives guide the narrative, and that requires balancing multiple interests—media, clients, and audiences—all at once.

Journalism taught me how to juggle tight deadlines, complex topics, and shifting priorities, which prepared me well for the fast-paced, multitasking environment of the public relations field. Whether it’s managing a crisis, launching a new campaign, or drafting a timely press release, that ability to adapt and prioritize has remained essential.

A New Lens on Storytelling

The transition from journalism to public relations offers a fresh perspective on how stories can shape perceptions—whether through a news article or a strategic campaign. While the two fields have their differences, the foundational skills of communication, integrity, and relationship-building remain essential. For anyone making this shift, the experience gained in journalism provides a truly strong, relevant foundation to navigate PR challenges, offering a new and creative way to help businesses and brands share their stories through earned media effectively.

We’re here to help.

The Violet PR team is made up of seasoned storytellers with a diverse set of career paths. If your economic development or real estate organization is looking to increase positive perceptions for your city, state, development, or organization, we are here to help. Reach us at hello@violetpr.com.

With the seasons changing (perhaps one of my favorite times of year in New Jersey), there’s another aspect of this month that I always look forward to – new trends worth tracking, the end of the third quarter pushing us into the final stretch of the year and the release of market reports from nearly every major brokerage.

In general, I’m pretty bullish on New Jersey – after all, there’s a lot to love about the Garden State. But beyond our beautiful beaches, a plethora of diners and restaurants, and a wide variety of arts and entertainment just a short drive away, here are some real estate market bright spots, opportunities and roadblocks that caught my attention:

Office market showing encouraging signs

The office market has struggled to find its footing even several years now post-COVID, but in Q3 – a flurry of large deals is providing a glimmer of hope. According to CBRE’s Northern & Central New Jersey Q3 market report, Class A properties are continuing to outperform the rest – accounting for 91% of all leasing activity. It’s worth noting that these assets are appealing to tenants for a variety of factors including prime locations, amenities, vibrant environments and quality workspaces.

Colliers also noted that prominent headquarters relocations, including Samsung to Englewood Cliffs and Unilever to Hoboken, contributed to a stable third quarter.

The industrial market is still humming

Rising vacancy rates are coming with new construction delivery, but demand remains strong – according to a NAI James E. Hanson’s Q3 Industrial market report. This quarter tends to be the slowest part of the year, but year-over-year leasing activity was up this quarter as a result of several large deals.

One trend worth watching as we look ahead to the start of the new year will be the dockworkers strike, which is suspended until January 15, but could resume and bring major economic impacts to the industrial sector should it become prolonged.

Retailers are getting creative

Retail is another sector that was impacted greatly by the pandemic, but the economy and inflation are also factors that have influenced buyer preferences and spending. Experiential retail has continued to breathe life into brick-and-mortar, but in order to succeed – retailers are finding they need to be persistently creative. That’s exactly what’s happening with pop-up retailer Spirit Halloween stores.

Known as a superstore for Halloween decorations, costumes, props and accessories, Spirit is not getting into the Christmas spirit with the launch of Christmas stores in key markets. A flagship Spirit Christmas store in May’s Landing, New Jersey, will be the first to open on October 18 and will test a new model for this pop-up retailer. Only time will tell if this strategy will prove to be successful, but I’ll be happily watching to see if any of these will make their way up to North Jersey.

Market analysis key to CRE communications

What data are you tracking? And are there any trends in this quarter that you find exciting? Reach out to us at hello@violetpr.com to continue this discussion!

Last month, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel of female economic development leaders at the International Economic Development Council (IEDC)’s annual conference in Denver. The session “Lessons from the Top” featured Danielle Casey, President & CEO, Albuquerque Regional Economic Alliance; Maureen Donohue Krass, President & CEO, Detroit Regional Partnership; Ashley Mays, Chief Real Estate and Marketing Officer, Newark Alliance; and Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, President & CEO, Accelerator for America.

Why Sponsor a Women’s Panel?

As a woman working in economic development for nearly 30 years, I’ve personally seen the profession shift from nearly all-male leadership to more of a balance. Yet, like many professions, the highest rungs continue to be hardest for women to climb.

As background, when I started my career in 1995 at the Kansas City Area Development Council (KCADC), women had only recently been “allowed” to wear pants in the office. Most of my female colleagues were secretaries, and the senior team was all male (the CEO referred to them as “a band of brothers”). My first year, my boss told me that I talked too loudly, was aggressive, and needed to learn my place – which, he explained, was at the bottom. However, he seemed pleased that I took charge of our annual meeting planning, set up frequent lunches with reporters, and volunteered to write and edit nearly everything that went out the door.

It was a confusing and challenging environment for an ambitious woman like me to navigate, and I sensed I was at a career disadvantage compared to my male counterparts. To overcome this, I worked more hours than my peers and earned a master’s degree after hours. I dressed “above my pay grade” in secondhand suits that my mom purchased for me from a stylish friend.

Eventually, I was promoted – and over time, taken more seriously. And KCADC has evolved significantly too – with powerful female executives in charge of investor relations, marketing communications, business development and more.

Challenges for Women Continue

Our panel of high-level female economic development leaders shared similar challenges, and generously offered advice for women seeking to grow their careers. The discussion was supported by statistics showing that though women have come a long way, we aren’t equal to men just yet.

According to an IEDC 2023 survey, the average male in economic development makes $113,000 annually, and the average woman makes $93,000 – meaning women make roughly 83 cents for every dollar a man makes in this field.

Another challenge women face is the “self-promotion gap.” This was characterized by a 2019 research study that found 69% of women would rather minimize their successes than tell people about them. In fact, nearly half of women would rather run errands in the rain or clean the bathroom than promote themselves at work. Women are socialized from an early age to be collaborative, so we need to be intentional about sharing our successes.

How Can Women Succeed Today?

The panelists were open about addressing ways to close the salary gap and become leaders in this field. Here are several important takeaways:

Embrace Your Leadership Style
Women often spend more time listening than speaking in meetings and tend to have a more collaborative leadership style – which has huge benefits. Panelists encouraged women to identify and lean into their individual strengths – whether it be in the areas of emotional intelligence, research and technology skills, or consensus building.

Create a List of Your Awards and Accomplishments
Yes, women have been socialized NOT to talk about themselves, but it’s critical that we create a list of our accomplishments and share it on LinkedIn, as well as on our professional bios and resumes. Know your numbers. For example, how many companies and jobs have you helped to create in your community? How many leads have you brought into your EDO? What awards or designations have you helped your region win? How much funding have you helped raise?

Cultivate Male Mentors
Panelists shared examples highlighting times when they weren’t taken as seriously as their male counterparts. Compounding the issue is the fact that economic development organizations continue to have male-dominated boards and site selection teams. To become more comfortable leading and partnering with men at all levels, panelists encouraged women to build a wide professional network and cultivate male mentors in addition to female advisors. These mentors can provide great insight into their own contract terms and negotiating styles and can help women land better deals for themselves.

Negotiate a Salary That Reflects Your Value
The panelists all experienced times when they’d been offered lower salaries than market rate. To address this, they emphasized the importance of doing extensive research when seeking job opportunities. Forge strong peer and recruiter relationships so you know what your role pays nationally and what perks can be negotiated. Do not accept the first offer you are given without first doing your homework.

While our profession has made positive strides since the mid-1990’s, many women still face a “glass ceiling” as they work their way to the top. I’m proud of the speakers’ candor and willingness to share their experiences and advice with the 100+ women who attended this valuable session!

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the public relations (PR) industry, with tools such as ChatGPT, Brandwatch, Character.ai, and QuillBot boosting efficiency, providing data-driven insights, and enhancing media monitoring practices. AI’s capabilities can significantly streamline processes and offer valuable analysis for PR professionals, but the real magic happens when AI and human expertise combine. Successful integration happens when PR professionals blend technology’s strengths with the irreplaceable human elements of creativity and empathy. This human element ensures that PR efforts resonate personally and authentically, whereas AI can make messaging more targeted and impactful and efficient. It’s this human touch that ensures PR efforts resonate personally with the human decision-maker on the receiving end of message’s delivery.

How Can PR Pros Best Utilize AI?

EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY

AI is transforming PR by automating time-consuming tasks like trend spotting and data analysis. AI tools can identify key trends in large datasets more efficiently than humans. This increased efficiency allows PR professionals to concentrate more on creative and strategic content creation. With AI handling analytical tasks, PR professionals have more bandwidth to develop innovative, eye-catching content that creates the most visible opportunities for the organizations they represent.

DATA-DRIVEN INSIGHTS

AI’s ability to analyze extensive data and reveal unique insights is a major advantage in public relations. Tools can quickly assess information ranging from social media interactions, to news coverage, to public sentiment, which enables PR professionals to predict audience reactions to messages or campaigns with greater accuracy. Although it’s important to ensure the accuracy of AI-generated data, taking advantage of its insights helps develop unique angles more quickly in the pursuit of achieving more impactful client results. For example, AI aids in audience segmentation by analyzing behavior and interests, facilitating more personalized and impactful communication. By automating these tasks, AI allows PR professionals to focus on creating tailored content, media pitches, or messaging strategies that align with unique audience interests.

MEDIA MONITORING

In today’s fast-paced digital environment, media monitoring is key to understanding a campaign’s impact, and pivoting to improve results. AI powered media monitoring provides real-time alert tracking and analyzes brand mentions and conversations across various platforms. This capability encourages proactivity, ensuring that secured press coverage or positive media mentions can be used in a timely and relevant way. This rapid monitoring and analysis also allows for PR pros to reach out quickly and secure corrections, when needed, to limit the impact of the distribution of inaccurate information.

Undoubtedly, leveraging AI for media monitoring helps safeguard client interests, enhance strategies, and reinforce credibility within the industry.

The Value of the Human Touch

MAINTAINING HUMAN OVERSIGHT

Although AI has advanced capabilities, human oversight remains essential in the public relations field. AI is effective for writing initial drafts, refining pitches, or enhancing press releases. However, AI lacks the creativity, empathy and nuanced understanding of human emotions that has long made PR professionals so irreplicable. By using AI to gather data, analyze trends, and generate insights, PR teams can craft more informed strategies, but in order to develop authentic and impactful messaging, it’s important that PR professionals refine AI generated content.

INVEST IN TRAINING AND ETHICAL USE

To fully leverage AI in PR, investing in training is essential. Effectively integrating AI into workflows is only possible with well-researched understanding about how AI works and how the PR pro should interpret its outputs. Training should also cover the ethical use of AI, ensuring responsible data handling and transparency in decision-making. It’s important to recognize potential challenges, such as over-reliance on technology or inaccuracies in AI outputs. Fact-checking remains crucial, as AI-generated content may not always be accurate. Additionally, AI-written content is not always allowable in editorial media environments, so contributed articles need to never be written with the help of AI tools.

With proper training it is easy to manage the likelihood of negative outcomes, enhancing both the efficiency and accuracy of PR efforts.

UNDERSTANDING AI’S LIMITATIONS

Understanding AI’s limitations is key to its successful implementation. While AI can aid in ideation and streamline various tasks, it cannot replace the nuanced judgment and creative insights of human professionals. AI-generated content and data need careful interpretation and validation to avoid errors. AI-written pieces can often come out as very generic or even “fluffy,” a leading to very negative perceptions of any brands generating written material this way. Addressing these limitations early ensures that AI serves as a supportive tool rather than the replacement of a savvy PR mind.

Additionally, privacy is crucial when using AI tools. PR pros need to avoid sharing sensitive information in AI platforms to protect the privacy of the organizations they represent. Using temporary “chats” within ChatGPT for confidential data can help maintain the integrity of the sensitive information.

Like in any industry today, AI has significant potential for the public relations field – some of which is still untapped. By utilizing AI thoughtfully and maintaining human oversight and integrating a human touch, PR professionals can enhance the effectiveness and reach of their work in the years ahead, and even achieve more impactful results.

We’re here to help.

The Violet PR team works hard to stay on the cutting edge of technology, integrating it into our work to drive more effective PR campaigns for our clients each year. If your economic development or real estate organization is looking to increase positive perceptions for your city, state, or organization, we are here to help. Reach us at hello@violetpr.com.