Russell Working

When passengers were stuck in a nearby airport, Mall of America invited them over. It’s part of a strategy that emphasizes newsjacking, celebrity sightings and storytelling about big events. Last summer, two days of computer woes forced Delta Airlines to cancel hundreds of flights nationwide—dozens of them at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport—and many more were […]

Are journalists ignoring your story proposals? Pitch ideas that meet the needs of reporters and their audiences—not those of your client—says The AP Stylebook’s product manager. Editor’s note: This story is taken from Ragan Communications’ distance-learning portal Ragan Training. The site contains hundreds of hours of case studies, video presentations and interactive courses. Sometimes even […]

Communicators sometimes must produce stories on dull but necessary topics. Here’s how to transform them into compelling narratives. Every communicator is familiar with the dreaded Obligatory Story. The topic could be the annual United Way drive, an HR benefits update, or yet another article on that darn sustainability initiative. All of them are worthy, informational […]

Host photo contests. Provide digital templates for stories. Encourage curation. These are some smart ways to inspire your colleagues to help you report what’s happening at your organization. You’re swamped. We understand. Communicators are too busy with the day-to-day essentials to cover everything of interest that’s going on at their organization. The good news is […]

An organization’s newsroom shouldn’t just be a press release graveyard. Here are ways to give writers and others what they want—and improve your earned media conversion. These days, every company must be a publisher. As traditional news outlets shrink, organizations are learning to tell their stories in a journalistic fashion through text, photographs, infographics, videos […]

100 years on, ‘The Elements of Style’ holds sway over generations of writers and editors, despite its sporadic contradictions to the go-to reference for modern journalists. Which do you follow? For a wordsmith returning to William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White’s “The Elements of Style,” I am struck by its complete assurance about controversies that […]

Applying tactics that range from launching an intranet campaign to reorganizing the newsletter, Ellie Mae boosted internal engagement. “Run your internal comms like a marketer” is a rallying cry seldom heard across the land. Yet Sara Karam Holtz, director of internal communications at Ellie Mae, is doing just that—drawing on her background as a marketer […]

A free webinar from Signal AI offers essential tips for writing or revising your crisis plan. Can you spare an hour to save your organization’s reputation? Somewhere out there is a crisis with your organization’s name on it. Are you prepared? True, a looming reputational iceberg in path of your ship of state isn’t a […]

From Aflac to Amazon, scores of female communicators reveal their strategies, campaigns and workplace wins in an industry where women predominate. Ragan will recognize their influence. Four industry pioneers are poised to receive Hall of Fame honors in Ragan’s Top Women in Communications Awards, providing a glimpse of the range of talent and successes in […]

Millennials are insisting that their organizations speak out on issues. A new guide from Ragan and 3BL offers tips for doing that authentically. Employees these days want to find meaning in their work, studies show. It’s up to organizations to communicate purpose and take stands, thereby gaining a leg up in retention and recruiting. How […]