Name: Johna Burke
Email:
Bio: I’ve been in the media monitoring and measurement business for nine years, joining BurrellesLuce in 2000. How did I get here? I was a client. I was the PR and IR director at U-Haul International for nearly 11 years. Then I chose to help make my former peers more efficient and effective. I enjoy my role as a trusted advisor and am enthused to speak about best practices in public relations. My commentaries on the subject have appeared in PR print and web outlets. Currently, I chair the Southern Region of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). So what am I passionate about, aside from measurement? My family which includes my three “boys” (Boston terriers). By the way, did I mention that I am also a master at Seinfeld trivia? Twitter: @gojohnab; LinkedIn: Johna Burke; Friendfeed: gojohnab; Facebook: BurrellesLuce
Posts by Johna Burke:
Growing Your Blog: Video Interview w/ Lisa Gerber, Spin Sucks, and Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, at the 2011 PRSA Counselors Academy
September 6th, 2011Transcript -
JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at the PRSA Counselors Academy. I’m joined by Lisa.
Lisa, will you please introduce yourself?
LISA GERBER: Yes. I’m Lisa Gerber. I’m the chief content officer for Spin Sucks and Spin Sucks Pro.
BURKE: Excellent. You know, this is a blog that a lot of those in the PR community actively read and use as a great resource. Can you tell me about how writing for the blog and how managing the blog helps your business?
GERBER: Sure. It’s huge. We–you know, the blog started a couple of years ago. Gini Dietrich had started it. And it takes a really long time to grow, to gain followers, to gain subscribers and build a community. But now we are at a point where we just have this incredible local community, lots of great comments and discussions, and usually a lot of the–a lot of the gold is in the discussion and the comments section of the blog posts. We really welcome that and try to nurture that. In terms of what it does for our business, it just, it–a lot of things. It gives us a lot of credibility, and when we’re working with our clients and trying to show them and help them with their blogs and get them out there we’re able to show that this–you know, we actually do this and show as an example.
BURKE: And I think it’s a great example and, you know, a true testament to practicing what you preach.
GERBER: Right.
BURKE: And I mean, I love the manifestation of that in all of the posts and in the community that you’ve built. So congratulations on a job well done.
GERBER: Thank you.
BURKE: Where can people connect with you online and in social media?
GERBER: They can find me at spinsucks.com. I blog every other Wednesday. And on Twitter I’m @lisagerber.
Tips for Energizing Your PR Firm: Video Interview w/ George Rosenberg, Consultant, and Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, at the 2011 Counselors Academy
September 2nd, 2011Transcript –
JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at Counselors Academy with George Rosenberg.
George, will you please introduce yourself?
GEORGE ROSENBERG: Hi, I’m George Rosenberg. I’m an adviser and consultant to owners of public relations and integrated communications firms. It’s great to be here at Counselors.
BURKE: Great. And, George, you just talked about giving tips on energizing your firm. Can you share some of those high level tips with the people here?
ROSENBERG: There–yes, I can. Thanks, Johna. There are three major areas that suggest that maybe your firm needs to hit the refresh button: you’ve lost your way as a leader, you’ve lost your enthusiasm for business, and you’ve lost your momentum as an agency. So develop a sales plan, commit to spending 75 percent of your time with sales rather than marketing, make sure you have a business plan and keep going. Take the next six months to develop your business plan, develop a budget for your agency. Think about how you reinvigorate yourself as a leader. It’s a great–it’s a great lesson. If you’ve lost your enthusiasm for the business, something’s wrong. If your agency’s not growing, something’s wrong. So think about reinvigorating, refreshing your business through sales, through marketing, and maybe through new management teams challenges.
BURKE: Great takeaways, George. And can you tell people where they can find you online and in social media?
ROSENBERG: Georgerosenberg.com is my website, my Twitter handle is prcoach. And I look forward to hearing from people.
BURKE: Thanks so much, George.
Professional Development and Business Success: Video Interview w/ Joseph Thornley, Thornley Fallis Communications, and Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, at the 2011 Counselors Academy
August 19th, 2011Transcript –
JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at Counselors Academy. And I’m joined by Joseph.
Joseph, will you please introduce yourself?
JOSEPH THORNLEY: Hi, I’m Joseph Thornley. I’m the CEO of Thornley Fallis Communications in Toronto and Ottawa, Canada.
BURKE: Joseph, you know, here at PRSA Counselors Academy, I know that this takes a weekend out of your life and a lot of time, and so it’s obviously very important. Can you talk about how you work your own professional development into your day-to-day, and how you encourage your staff to do that as well?
THORNLEY: Sure, absolutely. I think–I’m 59, and I was saying to my wife last night, because she’s here at the conference with me, that I’m still learning every day. And that’s what makes me know that I’m still alive. And I learn a lot by reading things online. I’m a big believer in RSS. I can find the people that I really care about and I can read what they have to say and I can learn, I can write about myself. But I come to conferences—I probably come to more conferences now than I did 20 years ago because I’m very often meeting the people I’ve been reading and I’m getting engaged in discussions with them, and it’s a true learning experience. What I look for in a conference is a session where I can have one actionable takeaway once an hour. And if I get that, it’s a tremendous success for me.
BURKE: Fantastic. Now, where can people connect with you online and in social media?
THORNLEY: They can connect with me, I’m thornley on Twitter and I’m—my blog is propr.ca, P-R-O-P-R.C-A.
BURKE: Thank you so much.
THORNLEY: OK. Thank you, Johna.
Video: Martin Waxman, Energi PR Communications Digital, Discusses ‘Inside PR’ w/ Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, at the 2011 Counselors Academy
August 15th, 2011Transcript –
JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at PRSA Counselors Academy. We’re joined by Martin.
Martin, will you please introduce yourself?
MARTIN WAXMAN: Yes. Hi, Johna. It’s Martin Waxman from Energi PR Communications Digital based in Toronto, Canada. We want you guys to come to Canada.
BURKE: We want to come to Canada, too.
WAXMAN: We need you.
BURKE: So, you know, Martin, you just did the session on Inside PR, and you do the blog, and there’s so much valuable resources that go into that for the PR professional. How did you decide to be involved with this program and to really help this PR network evolve and develop so much?
WAXMAN: Well, “Inside PR” started about 250 weeks ago, about four and a half years ago. Because I know that, we’re on show 252, 253. And it started by two people, Terry Fallis and David Jones, who actually work with one of the co-hosts, Joe Thornley. And they started “Inside PR” really in the early days of social media as a chance to get out front and talk about where PR fits into the social media mix. Fast forward to show 100, the two of them were getting a little bit tired, so they brought on a number of new co-hosts. I was one of the co-hosts, there were two others. And then after about six months, I was the only one that stayed on. So the three of us stayed on until show 200. Dave and Terry decided to retire and I thought, you know, I know Gini Dietrich, I know Joe Thornley, I thought the three of us might be a really good group and have some interesting things to say, hopefully, on “Inside PR.” So we got together and we’re having a great time recording the shows. We actually record them separately from our own offices or homes, and then the tracks are produced together. So being at Counselors Academy, it’s really great to be able to be face-to-face and also to meet people while we’re doing it. And we appreciate, you know, sponsors like you guys who help make this happen.
BURKE: Great. Well, thank you so much. And where can people connect with you online and in social media?
WAXMAN: You can find me at “Inside PR,” which is www.insidepr.ca. You can find me on Twitter @martinwaxman, or you can find me on my blog, and it’s martinwaxman.com.
BURKE: Thank you so much, Martin.
WAXMAN: Thank you.
Building a Successful Brand: Dana Hughens, Clairemont Communications, Video Interview w/ Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, at the 2011 Counselors Academy
August 5th, 2011Transcript –
JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at the PRSA Counselors Academy. I’m joined by Dana.
Dana, will you please introduce yourself?
DANA HUGHENS: Hello, I’m Dana Hughens with Clairemont Communications in Raleigh, North Carolina.
BURKE: Dana, you did a great presentation on the three P’s, kind of the pillars that you use to build your successful business. Can you share those with the audience here of PR practitioners and communicators?
HUGHENS: Sure. The first P is promise, and it’s all about defining your promise or pinpoint your promise. And that’s promises that you make to other people, and also you have to think about the promises that you make to yourself. And those promises tie to principles, which are your founding principles and your guidelines for your agency.
The second big P is potential. And what I like to say is purpose plus passion plus possibilities equals potential. So you have to think about your purpose. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Go back to the original thought of why did you start you agency, or why did you accept the job that you’re in now? And then you have to think about the passion, and the passion that you have for that, and how you instill that and nurture that with your other team members. And with those things, what are the possibilities, where can you go with that? Be willing to be open to possibilities and open to take a risk.
And the last P is people, and there are three P’s under this P. And it’s preference. Think about how people prefer to get information from you, and work with them and give them the information in the way they like to receive it. The next one is predict, and that is really just predict that there are a lot of things that you can’t predict when you’re dealing with communicating with people. The last P, and perhaps the most important, is plain and simple.
And this just goes back to a general rule about communications that the more basic that we can make it and the more straight-forward, the easier it will be for people to receive the message that we’re intending to communicate.
BURKE: I think it was a great session. I was there. And I think the power of plain language is always the strongest hook at the end.
HUGHENS: Thank you.
BURKE: Because, you know, we get so caught up in industry jargon, and then information that just doesn’t convey to our audience. And so, Dana, where can people connect with you online and in social media?
HUGHENS: My Twitter IM @blah2voila. You can also connect with Clairemont Communications on Twitter @ClairemontComm. Clairemont Communications is also on Facebook, and you can visit our website and blog at clairemontcommunications.com.
BURKE: Thank you so much, Dana.
HUGHENS: Thank you.
