Well, it’s that time of year where everyone seems to be doing what they can to wrap up projects and get ready for the holidays.

It’s also the time when the Inside PR crew gazes into the into the proverbial communications crystal ball with our prognostications …

OK, it’s not that dramatic, really. But Gini, Joe and I do talk about three of the trends we’ll be watching over the next 12 months:

1. Natural language generation and AI writing assistants
2. Values-based communication and leadership counsel
3. Impact and consequences of social media algorithms

Check it out and let us know what you think and what other trends you may be seeing on the horizon.

This is our last show of 2021 and we’d like to say a big thank you for listening and for supporting us.

Before we go, here’s that link to Janelle Shane’s AI Weirdness Advent Calendar.

And here’s one more AI Weirdness post, predictions for future top-selling toys.

And now, in the spirit of brevity (and the season), we want to wish you all a wonderful holiday and all the best in the new year.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. And stay tuned :).

We’ll be back with more bi-weekly episodes in 2022!

It’s your turn

We’d love to hear what you think and if you have any subjects you’d like us to cover in upcoming episodes.

Leave us a comment on the blog.

Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected],

Connect with us on Twitter. We’re @inside_pr or connect directly with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman.

Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you. If you do, we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR

Our producer is Jacob Waxman, a talented musician, producer, and recording engineer. Jacob produced the episode and is also the composer of our new theme music. Roger Dey is our announcer.

Inside PR by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The post Inside PR 557: Trends We’re Watching in 2022 appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Communications, by its very nature, is an industry full of thinkers. The work that we do is often the same across disciplines—and other work is unique to every one of us. The work that is unique is our intellectual property, yet it’s pretty rare that we spend our resources on protecting it. On this episode, we talk about what that might look like for you, why it’s important to protect your ideas, and how to go about doing so.

The post Inside PR 556: Protecting Your Intellectual Property appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

In the wake of Facebook’s bad news month, we discuss the communications challenges the company faces. A blip? Or a step on an irreversible path toward becoming the new MySpace? The necessary impetus to increased regulation? And would a company with an army of lobbyists ever see a regulatory regime that actually curbs its freedom of action in any meaningful way? Is it really becoming the new Tobacco? And, most importantly, is its community decaying from the inside?

The post Inside PR 555: Facebook – decaying from the Inside? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Have your web analytics changed in recent years? That is, despite your best efforts, has your organic traffic gone down? What about SEO for blog posts? Or engagement on social media?

Maybe digital media has become even more of a pay-to-play landscape than ever and platforms are expecting a higher price from organizations in order for them to achieve decent business results.

That’s what Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley and I talk about on Inside PR. Our conversation is based on a post by digital thought-leader Rand Fishkind called, ‘The Incentives to Publish No Longer Reward the Web’s Creators‘.

TL;DR version: Your content marketing strategy needs a balanced and integrated approach.

Have a read, then have a listen and let us know what you think.

Subscribe to the Inside PR podcast

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

• Subscribe to Inside PR on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe to Inside PR on Spotify
• Subscribe to Inside PR on Google Play

It’s your turn

We’d love to hear what you think and if you have any subjects you’d like us to cover in upcoming episodes.

Leave us a comment on the blog.

Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected],

Connect with us on Twitter. We’re @inside_pr or connect directly with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman.

Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you. If you do, we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR

Our producer is Jacob Waxman, a talented musician, producer, and recording engineer. Jacob produced the episode and is also the composer of our new theme music. Roger Dey is our announcer.

Inside PR by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The post Inside PR 554: Social Content Meets the Sound of Silence appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Ae talk about the PR Writer’s Code of Conduct and ethical communications. An evergreen topic.

The post Inside PR 553: Ethically, Legally, Responsibly appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

It’s fall and there’s always a hint of excitement in the air. At least it should be.

But so many people still have questions about what their work situation will be like. And companies are grappling with policies around going back to the office, staying remote or some sort of hybrid compromise.

How will you communicate your decision to your team?

Of course, there are no easy answers, but if you’re interested in our take, check out this episode of Inside PR.

Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley and Martin Waxman talk about:

• The importance of having a communicator in the room when workplace decisions are being made.
• Why organizations need to listen closely and pay attention to people’s reactions.
• Giving employees an opportunity to voice their opinions and know they’re being heard, rather than simply feeling they’re being talked at.
• Creating a culture of empathy by understanding people’s situations, anxieties and fears.
• Being flexible and letting people know nothing’s set in stone and that you’re prepared to adapt if need be.

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The post Inside PR 552: Envisioning Your New Workplace appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

On episode 551 of Inside PR, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman, and Joe Thornley do a special recording for the Earned Media Mastery Summit with Agility PR Solutions. They discuss the future of the PR industry—exciting things to come, as well as the challenges young professionals will face as they grow in their careers.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• Why you should stop using spreadsheets in favor of software to help you do your job;
• Media outlets continue to shrink and journalists no longer have beats—and what that means for your future, especially if you have any earned media responsibility;
• How to use paid, owned, and shared media to supplement the work that we do from an earned media perspective;
• That artificial intelligence is already here and already ready to do the more mundane parts of your job so why you should stop waiting for a memo and do something about it; and
• How machine learning can beat all of the best practices and teach you what works best for your organization, your audiences, and your prospective customers.

Enjoy!

The post Inside PR 551: The Future of the PR Industry appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

On this bi-weekly episode of Inside PR, Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and Gini Dietrich discuss the plumbing of the internet, from Feedburner and its replacements to how marketing automation works in the deep dark areas of the web and how video continues to evolve as we adapt.

These are things we all take for granted, sort of like the sewer beneath our cities, but they are necessary for making things work.

And there are things that have transformed the way we’ve done business in the past 18 months. While we certainly used Google Video or Skype or Zoom, it tended to be once or twice a month—at the most.

Now we’ve found that video chat is the primary way work is done and we now all take for granted that it’s the preferred way to communicate.

Even as some organizations go to a hybrid model or even back to the office full-time, there will be times that video is warranted.

And, as schools reflect on the best learning, some students will be in-person while others are at home. Martin speaks to his experience teaching in a hyflex classroom, which is hybrid and flexible.

The classroom is like a studio and students have to sign up to be there in person.

For those that are learning at home, the teacher (Martin, in this case) has a camera that follows them around automatically, capturing the lecture—and then everyone in the class, in-person included, will all Zoom in and any group work will be done through breakout sessions.

It’s a new way of working and, certainly, the plumbing of the internet will continue to evolve as we adapt to new ways of learning, working, and living.

Join us for this episode to learn more!

The post IPR 550: The Plumbing of the Internet appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Look. Most communications professionals have the best intentions and behave in an honest and ethical way.

But there are some less than scrupulous PR fooks whose approach and choices reflect badly on the industry.

Now, it’s not just communicators who are guilty of this. Certain journalists, media outlets, bloggers  and influencers are also not as honest or transparent as they could be when it comes to conflicts of interest.

And because social media has given us all a voice, we need to make sure we think through the consequences of how we use it.

That’s what we talk about for this week’s podcast.

We got the idea from a Washington Post story about a site that bills itself as an investigative blog. Turns out, it has financial ties to a PR firm and seems to focus on stories where the agency’s clients have a vested interest.

In our opinion, this contravenes many PR codes of ethics and standards including PRSA, CPRS and the Global Alliance to name a few.

Have a listen and let us know what you think.

And if you want to dig deeper, check out Gini’s Spin Sucks post on the subject.

Subscribe to the Inside PR podcast

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

• Subscribe to Inside PR on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe to Inside PR on Spotify
• Subscribe to Inside PR on Google Play

It’s your turn

We’d love to hear what you think and if you have any subjects you’d like us to cover in upcoming episodes.

Leave us a comment on the blog.

Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected],

Connect with us on Twitter. We’re @inside_pr or connect directly with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman.

Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you. If you do, we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR

Our producer is Jacob Waxman, a talented musician, producer, and recording engineer. Jacob produced the episode and is also the composer of our new theme music. Roger Dey is our announcer.

Inside PR 548: What I want isn’t important. It’s about what you want by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The post IPR 549: Why do Some PR Pros Do Bad Things? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

On this week’s episode of Inside PR, Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and I discuss our favorite tools and what has changed—and what has stayed the same—since COVID hit.

Before you get into the tools, though, we have an important reminder: it’s not about the tools. It’s about whether or not you’ll actually use them. It’s easy for us to discuss our favorites, but if you don’t love something about the tool or your brain works differently, you’ll hate the tools we love. It’s more important that you and your team love the tools—that’s what will create collaboration and adoption. With that out of the way, take a listen to the tools we all love. The tools we use for meetings, for collaboration, for project management, for discussions, for videos and podcasting, and for good, old-fashioned documents.

Subscribe to the Inside PR podcast

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

• Subscribe to Inside PR on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe to Inside PR on Spotify
• Subscribe to Inside PR on Google Play

It’s your turn

We’d love to hear what you think and if you have any subjects you’d like us to cover in upcoming episodes. Leave us a comment on the blog. Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected], Connect with us on Twitter. We’re @inside_pr or connect directly with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman.

Please rate us on Apple Podcasts

We hope you like the podcast as much as we like making it for you. If you do, we have a favor to ask: If you like this podcast, please rate us on Apple Podcasts.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR

Our producer is Jacob Waxman, a talented musician, producer, and recording engineer. Jacob produced the episode and is also the composer of our new theme music. Roger Dey is our announcer.

Favorite Tools for Comms Experts – IPR 547 by Joseph Thornley, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The post IPR 547: Favorite Tools for Comms Experts appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Well, it’s been a while since you heard from us …

And I wanted to let you know that after a hiatus of around 20 months—and all the things that have happened between then and now—Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley and I are back recording Inside PR.

Why? To be honest we missed talking with each other about what’s new about PR, social media and digital marketing. We also missed hearing from you and being part of the FIR Podcast network community.

Our one big change is we’ve moved to a biweekly or fortnightly format, which fits better with our schedules and other commitments. That way, you can expect to hear from us on a regular basis. (OK, given our recent history, my fingers are crossed on that one.)

In our first new episode, we catch up and talk about what’s changed.

We also discussed how to establish boundaries when you don’t stray too far from the home office and ways to spark creativity.

It’s great to be back! Thank you for listening!

Subscribe to the Inside PR podcast

We’re trying to be wherever you want us to be. So, you can subscribe to Inside PR on the most popular podcast apps.

• Subscribe to Inside PR on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe to Inside PR on Spotify
• Subscribe to Inside PR on Google Play

It’s your turn

We’d love to hear what you think and if you have any subjects you’d like us to cover in upcoming episodes.

Leave us a comment on the blog.

Send us an email or an audio comment to [email protected],

Connect with us on Twitter. We’re @inside_pr or connect directly with Gini Dietrich, Joseph Thornley, and Martin Waxman.

Thank you to the people behind Inside PR

Oh, and we have a new producer!

Meet Jacob Waxman (yes, he is my son and also a talented musician, producer and recording engineer). Jacob produced the episode and is also the composer of our new theme music. Roger Dey is our announcer.

The post IPR 546: Inside PR is Back appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.