Break’s over, and PR is up with Cheryl Bame from Bame PR. Of course, I got caught up catching up with the folks in Masterminds, so running a few minutes behind. Cheryl is going over the standards of PR with lawyers, where to develop ideas (case wins, transactions/deals, amicus briefs, New laws/legislation, pro bono). She has some great nuggets:

• Reporters don’t want to talk to the firm, they want to talk to the experts.
• Breaking news leaves no time for a news release for maximum coverage. You have to pitch it.
• “No Comment” to a reporter means handing them the proverbial middle finger (quote from someone in the audience). If your attorney CANNOT talk (client says no), at least have a referral for them. You don’t not want to respond.
• Old news is not news
• Before writing a client alert ask yourself this (from client’s perspective): Why should I care?

But this is me blogging … I want to hear how social media is changing the landscape of legal marketing PR. Distribution is now going social, so you need to take advantage of it.

• Add news releases/client alerts to your website
• Put links to news releases in the LinkedIn status update
• Have firm Twitter, Facebook the links
• Media relations is moving faster because of social media, you need to keep up with it
• More targeted pitches (no longer spamming fax machines with press releases)
• Follow the key reporters/publications
• Pitches are happening over Twitter (see reporter/pub is writing on a subject, contact them to offer background expertise)
• Deadlines are moving: A blogger’s deadline is right now.