It's "bundt-ginning" to look a lot like Christmas at C. Pharr & Company!

This has been an exciting and profitable year for our clients and also C. Pharr & Company! We appreciate the continued support of our clients and friends. On Thursday of last week, the "C. Pharr elves" took time to make some special deliveries to our clients and friends to wish them "Seasons Eatings." Check out some of our photos from this year's special deliveries. (Viewing the photos will also provide a clue as to why we're singing, "It's bundt-ginning to look a lot like Christmas...")

Also, the holidays are always a good reminder of taking time to give back. In gratitude of our clients, C. Pharr & Company made donations to the following:

• The Red Cross – City of West and relief for various storms
• Philippines Typhoon Relief – United Methodist Committee on Relief
• Sseko – Generating income for Ugandan women to attend college
• Children at Risk – Improving life for Dallas County children
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas– Volunteer youth mentoring organization
• Network of Community Ministries – A food bank affiliate that helps North Dallas and Richardson families, and several other charities.

If you or your company is interested in learning more about how to get involved, or donate to any of the organizations listed above, please contact us info@pharrpr.com.

Thank you for your support and we wish you great success, peace, joy and good health in 2014!

Cynthia, Leah, Shelby, Kathrine, Kristen, Krystal, Debbie, Katy & our support team

It's "bundt-ginning" to look a lot like Christmas at C. Pharr & Company!

We're Hiring! Spring 2014 Internship Opportunity

C.Pharr & Company is currently looking for an intern! Think you or someone you know may be interested?  After carefully reviewing the information below, all applicants must send a cover letter and resume with a current GPA to Kathrine@pharrpr.com.

Company Overview

C. Pharr & Company is known for generating meaningful results for its clients through creative public relations and marketing. Focusing on business-to-business communications, the agency specializes in media relations, social media, crisis communications, marketing, advertising coordination, planning and research.

We devise communication strategies that help clients achieve their goals through communications, increased business opportunities, higher brand awareness, changed attitudes and greater stakeholder support. Doing so, we build strong and trusting relationships with clients, communities and the media. Our clients value our counsel and support in meeting daily communication challenges as much as our help with long-term communication strategies.

C. Pharr & Company is built upon more than two decades of public relations and marketing communications leadership – a Texas leader known nationally for its business insight, strategic counsel and creative work with the highest of integrity.

Internship Opportunity

Dallas-based C. Pharr & Company Ink is seeking a dynamic intern for spring 2014 to assist with a variety of accounts ranging from real estate and construction services, to retail and healthcare. Junior and senior-level students studying journalism, public relations or marketing communications are encouraged to apply.

Candidate must be a resourceful self-starter with an understanding of media relations and AP style. Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, along with an eye for details and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment are musts. This is a great opportunity to work in a client-focused team setting, interacting with all disciplines within the agency to gain real-world experience and view the collaborative nature of the agency environment. 

Intern Responsibilities

• Manage clip tracking and updating clip logs
• Create/update media lists
• Draft media materials including pitches, media alerts, news releases, backgrounders, fact sheets and media briefing materials for clients
• Review newspapers/industry publications for mention of clients and become familiar with industries of clients
• Assist in the development and execution of plans, events and activities that support client communication goals and objectives
• Distribute articles, media advisories, news releases, photos or other documents deemed necessary for the successful completion of client communication objectives
• Contact media to follow up on news releases or other media contacts in an effort to secure coverage of a client news item, activity, event, etc.
• Perform research on agency prospects, clients, client competitors or other subjects requested by team; this includes web research, in-person, telephone calls or other methods
• Assist in social media planning and account maintenance for clients
• Contribute to agency blog
• Attend occasional PR industry events and participate in seminars, webinars and other professional training
• Work within a client-focused team setting, interacting with all disciplines within the agency to get real-world experience and views of the collaborative nature of the agency environment

We're Hiring! Spring 2014 Internship Opportunity

The C. Pharr Team's Key Takeaways and Tips from 2013’s PRSA Dallas Communications Summit

The C. Pharr team recently attended this year’s Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Dallas Communications Summit and had the privilege of attending several insightful sessions regarding our industry and where it is headed. This and our next post will focus on the best tips and tricks we learned during these sessions. We hope you all will find these helpful hints as valuable as we did!  

Session 1: The Changing Face of Media Relations

Reporters Give Two Thumbs Up to Tweets

Social media, and more specifically Twitter, has become a hot source for getting news and gathering tips.  At C. Pharr, we use Twitter to post news for clients and to keep us up-to-date on what reporters are talking about. More often than not we come across a reporter we think would be a good fit for a client pitch. One question to ask – How valuable is Twitter to the reporters and news outlets we are pitching?

Leona Allen, deputy managing editor at The Dallas Morning News, Judy Freeman, an award-winning and nationally recognized blogger, and Stephen Wright, news assignment editor for NBC DFW answered questions about how they use Twitter to their advantage and the struggles they have found with it. Below are several interesting points we learned from the conversation.

• The media mostly uses Twitter as a news scanner and breaking news source. This keeps them up-to-date on what’s going on in the world and sometimes helps them find news leads.
• Using Twitter for pitching tends to be unsuccessful due to the limited amount of space provided to pitch a story. The panelists agreed they prefer email or phone.
• Journalists must use an entire tweet, word-for-word, if they want to use it as a source in a story. 
• Twitter is not always reliable due to the high amount of non-credible/false accounts that are on the Web. Tweets must be thoroughly researched and verified for credibility before use.

Swing into the Pitch and Score a Hit

It’s true – You can spend hours crafting an immaculate, relevant and newsworthy press release, but if you don’t grab that reporter’s attention in the first few lines of your pitch, it’s all too likely that no one will ever read the release.  Freda Ross of WBAP radio, a local news station, and Dana Driver, the current producer of Fox News’ local morning show, “Good Day” gave tips and bits of advice for pitching the media. Since both are experts in different communication mediums, their pitch preferences varied, but there were some points both enthusiastically agreed on. 

Ross and Driver insisted that pitches be short, sweet, to the point and highlight why the reporter’s audience cares about the topic at hand. Driver specifically voiced a preference for topics that the community was already discussing, stating that she liked to cover topics that viewers think are newsworthy, rather than providing them with what they should think is newsworthy in a producer’s or editor’s opinion.

Both women listed building personal relationships with reporters as an invaluable skill. They also encouraged PR pros to always be prepared for breaking news and know where their client fits into major, unpredictable events like natural disasters.

Below are tips the panelists shared regarding their respective medium.

Radio (Ross)

• Know who to pitch at the station. Don’t just send to the first contact email you can find. 
•   Don’t call radio newsrooms at the top or bottom of the hour.
• If you pitch via telephone, don’t jump directly into your pitch once you have a reporter on the line. Build a relationship and ask if “now is a good time to talk.”

Television (Driver)

• Provide the name of the person who would be appearing on TV and, if at all possible, a video. Whether it’s YouTube, or something filmed in an office on an iPhone, a short, poor quality video is better than nothing at all. Producers want to know who they’re giving air time.
• Know what visuals you can provide.
• Include past media appearances, recognitions or mentions.
• “Good Day” asks these questions of potential segment ideas: “Is it…Visual? Topical? Interactive? Fun? Local?”
• Call the newsroom a little after 10 a.m., or around 1 p.m. If you’re trying to reach a weekend producer, it’s best to call between 8:30-9:30 in the morning.

This blog was contributed by Kathrine Brody (@Kabrody) and Kristen Crosby (@KristenCrosby11)

The C. Pharr Team's Key Takeaways and Tips from 2013’s PRSA Dallas Communications Summit