T&B Named to City and State’s Westchester Power 100

By | Blog, News

The City and State Power 100 highlights the movers and shakers who are shaping Westchester’s future.

Thompson & Bender

This trio handles it all for big-name clients like New York-Presbyterian, Westchester County Parks, ArtsWestchester and the Archdiocese of New York: public relations, crisis management, marketing, special events and government relations. Dean Bender and power couple Elizabeth Bracken-Thompson and Geoff Thompson co-founded the agency in 1987, bringing with them experience at what is now The Journal News. Outside the office, each of the three partners serves on various Westchester-area boards and organizations.

 

Read about all the Westchester Power 100 here

Don’t Have a Crisis Communications Plan? Here’s Where to Start

By | Blog

It seems like in the wake of the Coronavirus, news is moving at the speed of light and it’s hard for consumers to keep up with the latest information. Our tip? Get the word out there. Coronavirus is something that is on the top of everyone’s mind. Businesses across all industries need to be prepared with both internal and external communications plans. Whether you’re a medical organization, a not-for-profit, educational institution, retail establishment, commercial/residential real estate or a small business, your customers want to hear from you. Here are some of our recommendations on making sure your message is reaching your audiences.

Who do you need to reach?

  • Create an internal communication plan
    • A process for reaching employees through combinations of emails, intranet postings, flyers/ posters, video/phone conferences, leader talking points, FAQs or a website situation room. The plan should identify simple, key messages, a reliable process and the vehicles for providing continual updates and collecting feedback from employees.
  • Create an external communication plan
    • A process for reaching external stakeholders, customers, media, shareholders, suppliers, local community, health care providers, analysts, retirees, union representatives, etc.
  • Communicate Often and Effectively
    • Communicate any new changes/updates to policy to consumers when you learn about them, don’t keep audience in the dark

How do you reach them?

  • Hold a Facebook Live Q&A
    • Answer questions that affect your customers and interact with them in real time
  • Post on Social Media or Send a Eblasts
    • Quickly get the word out to the public through posts (ie. news releases, official statements, video announcements, etc.) on social media and directly to customers through eblasts
  • Write a News Release or Media Alert
    • Organizations can use news releases to clarify the facts, and/or emphasize the actions they have taken
  • Signage
    • Add signage around your establishment to communicate any changes or reminders from the CDC (ie. hand sanitizing stations, remember to wash your hands, etc.)
  • Hold a Press Conference
    • If you’re in an industry that is directly affected by the Coronavirus, holding a press conference can be a good way to share facts with a mass audience

Please remember Thompson & Bender is here for you in all of your Coronavirus planning and don’t hesitate to call us at any time during this critical period.

AHMAD TALKS WITH AL LEITER ON MLB TONIGHT ABOUT THE INSIDE STORY ON TOMMY JOHN SURGERY

By | News

Geoff Thompson accompanied Chris Ahmad, MD, Chief of Sports Medicine and an Orthopedic Surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia University Medical Center to the set of MLB Now show. where Al Leiter interviewed Dr. Ahmad in depth on the subject of Tommy John surgery and the complications that both high school pitchers, as well as MLB players face. The show is scheduled to air on the MLB Network on MLB TONIGHT on Thursday, Dec. 20, and on HOT SAUCE on Friday, Dec. 21st at 9 a.m. Dr. Ahmad is an expert having written books and 200+ articles and done extensive research on the subject. Dr. Ahmad, who is the Head Team Physician for the New York Yankees, the New York City Football Club and the Rockland Boulders, sees patients in New York City, and also at ColumbiaDoctors in Tarrytown and at the new sports performance center coming to Eastchester in 2019.

T.E.A.M.
Together, Everyone, Achieves More.

By | Blog

By: Kerry Tropeano

Without getting too “philosophical,” Aristotle first coined a term that dates all the way back to ancient Greece. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

And how can you forget “teamwork makes the dream work.”

OK – I know what you are thinking, enough with the coined phrases. And while I get your point, I think we all should get this point – in business today, having a strong team is the most essential ingredient to success.

Today’s media landscape is changing.  Clients’ needs are changing.  For us to continue to deliver value, Thompson & Bender has needed to evolve.  According to Forbes “Agencies that will outlast the current dynamic market shift need to start looking at every employee as a thinker and a doer – a creator who is part inventive problem-solver and part imaginative-maker.”

At Thompson & Bender, we have more than 30 years of experience with a range of specialty disciplines — public relations, media planning and buying, creative and branding services, lead generation and customer acquisition and event planning and support.  So, we basically do it all.  But how do we build the perfect dream team that’s specific to each client?

“Teamwork is the ability to work together towards a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results,” Andrew Carnegie.

We create teams of individuals that have complementary skills. Each one of our teams are custom designed to fulfill each one of our clients’ objectives.  We utilize each member’s specialized strengths and experience to accomplish a common goal.  Gone are the days of generalists wearing multiple hats; now we have a team of specialists each performing a specific function, elevating the overall quality of work.

Within the team, it is essential to keep order and workflow moving in the right direction.

Every team has individuals playing different roles. It’s imperative that each person be an expert at their core responsibility. In football, there is only one quarterback, but there are 10 other players on the field who each play an essential role towards achieving success.

Each client receives some combination of the following:

  • Team Lead – This is the quarterback, able to see the whole field and ensure that everything and everyone is operating smoothly.  They are your brand’s strategist and are focusing on the big picture while confirming that all team members are clear on the ultimate vision.
  • Producer – In today’s world, content is king and your producer is the person creating that content.  What kind of content? Copy, creative, video, social imagery and more. It can be overwhelming.  The producer is highly focused on quality and accuracy but more importantly developing a voice that is authentic to your company.
  • Distributor – They execute the content. Where, when and in what fashion is that content distributed. They are responsible for getting your initiatives in front of the eyes of current and new customers across multiple platforms.

Our client teams are intentionally small.  It keeps the company nimble and innovative as we manage projects.  Having a small team allows for knowledge to be easily shared and actionable.  We are not the agency that waits around for answers…we are the agency that gives the answers.

So, what does this all mean for you – the client?

As the great Henry Ford once said: “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”

Let’s move forward together.

Geoff Thompson

The Power of PR

By | Blog

In today’s fast-paced, overcrowded media landscape, communications firms are more crucial than ever in helping businesses get their message to the masses.

Which is most important to business success: advertising, public relations, or social media? What about logos, package design, or websites? Opinion influencers? Eblasts? Events? Signage? If you don’t know which (or which combination) of these and other myriad tools will work best to build your business, you need to hire a communications firm. Fortunately, Westchester is home to many — all expert in navigating the communications landscape.

 

Most business owners are too busy keeping up with the changes in their own industry to even scratch the surface of what’s going on in the vast array of media outlets where their message needs to be seen. “We’re doing all sorts of things that 10 years ago were unheard of,” says Geoff Thompson, principal of the county’s most prominent firm, Thompson & Bender, based in Briarcliff Manor. In addition to advertising, PR, and social media, Thompson points out, “Among the new tools we are using is geo-fencing which enables us to target and reach specific audiences that would have been difficult to impossible to separate out in the past. For example, we have identified individuals interested in health clubs or families seeking defined education opportunities for their children.”

The new tools are changing Thompson & Bender, too. “Collectively, it’s reshaped our agency by creating new positions and job definitions,” Thompson observes. “It’s also drawn in younger people, which is a good thing.” The 32-year-old firm started off with two partners producing presentation materials and press releases. Today, it has three principals and 15 employees handling a wide range of tasks for clients. “We have organically blended event planning into the overall marketing strategy,” Thompson says. “We do a lot of social media, advertising both digital and print, and we’re doing a lot more with video. We shoot our own video of client events and provide it to News 12 and Fios.”

Smaller firms — even one-man shops, like Tuckahoe-based Michael Dardano’s Buzz Potential — tap a huge pool of freelance talent in Westchester to deliver the wide range of services required to be competitive in the field. “I draw on freelancers ranging from kids fresh out of college to people in their 60s,” Dardano says. “The young ones are eager and glad to get some experience on their resumes. Many times, they continue to work for me on the side after they land full-time jobs. The older folks are experienced marketing professionals with amazing resumes.”

Today’s Media Landscape

What’s the key to increasing exposure of your company’s message today? Kris Ruby, owner of Ruby Media Group, cites the four major media channels in the “PESO” model. A solid integrated communications strategy will include a mix of all these elements, she says.

Paid Media Earned Media Shared Media Owned Media
Advertising, including
everything from full-page
magazine ads to
sponsored
posts on Facebook
“publicity” from press
releases, influencer marketing,
radio and TV interviews,
and other unpaid exposure
garnered through traditional PR
Social media such as
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
and YouTube where
you provide the content that
appears on a third-party
social media platform
Your website, blog,
webinars, newsletter,
eblasts, and other content
curated by you as the
expert that you create
and distribute

The PESO model comes from Spin Sucks: Communication and Reputation Management in the Digital Age by Gini Dietrich

Dig a little deeper into the services provided, and you find other values from a communications firm, according to Christina Rae, president of Buzz Creators in Valhalla. “When you bring on a PR and marketing agency,” she says, “they give you an outside viewpoint on what’s going on in the world. It’s constantly bringing fresh ideas and thinking.”

Rae’s firm handles the gamut of communications services. “We do media relations, a ton of writing and editing, events like grand openings, influencer and blogger relations, social media management, graphics, and advertising,” she says. “We also do award submissions for our clients since it’s a great way for them to get themselves out there.” Rae points to another valuable service her firm provides: “We do a lot of work to match up businesses with nonprofits [to support]. The business is doing the right thing by giving back to the community and the nonprofit benefits from the support. We also generate a lot of good publicity for both.”

Carolyn Mandelker, owner of Harrison Edwards in Armonk, believes that what is said during the communications process remains key. “What’s still extremely important,” she says, “is messaging, positioning, and strategy. That hasn’t changed — just the platforms have changed.” Mandelker says her firm has evolved to use those platforms. “We are not just involved in digital marketing and social media, but in analytics and more refined measurement. Today’s firms, if they are to be successful, need to have staffs trained across multiple platforms.”

Cohen explains that those platforms reach different market segments that require different approaches. “We’re doing much more digital marketing these days and you have to understand the target audience more than ever, especially what content is relevant to them,” she says. “It’s our job to come up with a campaign — a big idea — to break out of the clutter. That’s always been the case.” She points out another factor that digital media exacerbated: “The latest data says the average American has an attention span of eight seconds. That’s maybe 20 words to get your message across. You’ve got to be the master of first impressions to crystalize the message.”

Most if not all of the new platforms are types of digital data delivered to our smart phones, computers, and other devices. Websites became blogs which became YouTube channels, Facebook pages, and Twitter and Instagram feeds. Each one has different audience reach capabilities and message strengths and weaknesses.

“When a client comes up with a new idea,” explains Kris Ruby, owner of Ruby Media Group in White Plains, “I instantly think about how it will play on Instagram versus Facebook versus a video component versus Twitter. How will it play with the media?” The solo practitioner also appears regularly on national broadcast and cable networks and prides herself on her ability to get TV exposure for her clients. “Because I’ve been on the other side,” she says, “I know how a producer thinks, what they need.”

Sadly (for some of us), much of traditional media is practically imploding, which impacts the communications firms’ approach for many clients. “Staffs are shrinking at the media, so it’s harder to get ink,” Ruby says.

Mandelker agrees, adding, “There is a lot of turnover in media today and some shrinkage in print staffs. But the media still looks to us to provide interesting, relevant story ideas. They still like to work with firms who provide good background and visuals.”

Many firms count contacts among the media (and others) as marketable strengths. “The one thing that has not changed over the 20 years I’ve been doing this is the importance of relationships,” Rae points out. “The relationships I have with my clients, with the media, with opinion influencers, with business and government officials.” She says those relationships pay off in a variety of ways. “I work on making connections for clients. It may be an editorial opportunity with a reporter or even a referral for potential business.”

When it comes to marketing their own services, the communications firms we talked to rely heavily on word of mouth (which they’re pretty good at generating, belying the widely held misconception that it just happens). “We get leads from many avenues, but our growth is almost entirely by referral,” says Van Dekker.

Thompson explains that much of Thompson & Bender’s growth is organic. “We’ve been around so long now that we’re known,” he says. “The single most successful way we’ve grown has been through existing clients. We may have been retained initially to work on a news release, then they need a website, then something else, and you end up working on many tasks for that client.”

Like companies in most intangible service industries, communications firms face difficulty relating the value they deliver to the fees they charge. On the one hand, clients expect miracles. On the other, they don’t want to pay for them.

“Clients think we can create a 180-degree turn in 10 minutes,” Thompson says. “The mistake they make is thinking that by hiring a public information firm, they can turn around a situation that may have been years in the making. It’s also hard for people to grasp that the successful messages we see every day have often been running for years. That’s a sizable investment because there is a financial cost to doing these things.”

Despite the ever-changing landscape, ever-demanding clients, and ever-present deadlines, few of these professionals would dream of doing anything else. Stacey Cohen says, “I still love what I’m doing. The business has changed more in the last six years than the 25 or so that I’ve been in it. You can’t stand still for long.”

Think Local First: Why It Pays to Have Local PR Representation

By | Blog

By: Nikki Hernon D’Aleo

There’s just something better about the tomatoes you find at the farmer’s market. They’re juicier and sweeter than those found at the grocery store. It makes good sense, too. The local tomato doesn’t have to travel across the country to get to your caprese salad. And the same goes for that locally-sourced, farm-to-table meal. It’s infinitely more delectable than the frozen-then-reheated menu selections offered by a chain restaurant. The key ingredient? Local.

Around the country, small businesses rally together under the “Think Local First” flag to remind their friends and neighbors to consider supporting and patronizing their local stores, restaurants, coffee houses, plumbing shops – you name it. When residents support their communities, everyone wins.

When it comes to public relations, businesses and organizations can benefit from keeping it local, too. By welcoming local PR representation into the fold, they find a homegrown partner invested in their target market, connected to community influencers and familiar with the lay of the land.

 

Landscape Experts

Your local PR team is only in business because it has successfully built and maintained long-standing relationships with the media in their market. A local PR team is well-attuned to what news residents are consuming and what stories journalists want to hear about. This enables them to take your news and mine for the story angle relevant to the local market. They also know the needs of the media. Perhaps the local print weekly is a bit understaffed, as is unfortunately becoming the norm. It might not have a reporter available to cover your story, so your publicist might recommend packaging up some sharply-written, well-researched content that an editor can run as-is. They know the nuances and realities and can meet the media right where they are – to the benefit of your business or organization.

 

Roots Run Deep

Public relations pros spend years building relationships with their local media counterparts, earning their worth as the local go-to resource for experts and stories. Beyond their media connections, the local agency in your target market has established deep community relations. They’re connected to the movers and shakers, from the business owners, non-profit leaders and elected officials to the philanthropists, PTA presidents, and micro-influencers. A local agency knows how to connect the right people together. ln particular, public relations agencies with a deep and diverse client roster provide a unique perspective, because of their experience in a variety of industries and sectors.

 

Boots on the Ground

There’s also a practical angle at play when communications teams lean on a local public relations agency to help manage efforts in a smaller, more focused market. Very simply—but very importantly—the local public relations professional can be nimble and agile when responding to media and community relations needs. An American company expanding into London might enlist the help of a British public relations agency. On a smaller scale, a New York City non-profit looking to extend its reach out of the five boroughs could consider engaging a PR firm in Westchester County. It’s much easier to turn to a local public relations agency instead of flying to the United Kingdom or schlepping upstate on Metro North Railroad to manage an event or respond to a last-minute media request. Facetime is not just about iPhones – media, clients and stakeholders need some in-person attention, too.

So whether you’re picking tomatoes or PR partners, think local first.

Communicating with Stakeholders: Getting Community Buy In For Your Client’s Project

By | Blog

By: Victoria Hochman

Working with government and non-profit clients can be tremendously rewarding but can sometimes present a challenge.  Unlike promoting a flashy new shopping mall or a trendy eatery, the goals of a non-profit and government agency are not, well… as sexy. Grabbing the headlines for programs that promote social good requires some thought, and homework.

At Thompson & Bender we recently took on this challenge with a not-for-profit/municipal housing agency. Our expertise working with government and our familiarity with all things Westchester made us the logical choice to handle this project.

Our clients had spent more than 10 years putting together funding and approvals needed to start the renovation of thousands of units of public housing, but two obstacles remained: persuading government officials to finance the final piece of the plan and gaining the trust of residents in the buildings that were about to undergo work.

Anyone who deals with government knows that nothing is simple. So, the challenge was to make a presentation to officials that would eliminate the jargon and get the heart of the matter: The difference that this would make in the lives of public housing residents.

Our graphics team designed a lean and mean pitch packet for our client’s presentation. This was a challenge since it was crucial that the audience understand the complex funding scheme without getting lost in too many details. Using info graphics, charts and a colorful, eye-popping design, we crafted a clean presentation that simplified the numbers. To add the human element, we interviewed public housing residents who would benefit using their personal stories in compelling testimony which our client delivered before key legislators who would be voting on the funding.

Nothing is more critical to moving elected officials than public opinion. Stage 2 of the plan involved launching our public relations campaign. Thompson & Bender worked with our client to write a well-researched op-ed to run in the local newspapers. After coaching our client, we followed that by arranging for a video interview with a well-respected local journalist that made a compelling case. We invited TV and print media on a tour of the public housing showing why renovations were needed.

Knowing our community played a key role in our PR strategy. It was critical that we show that the taxpayer dollars would be spent to benefit the entire community, not just public housing residents. We underscored that these renovations were the lynchpin to the economic revitalization of the entire community. Millions of dollars in private investment to build new luxury housing in the area would not be as successful if public housing remained a blight.

Stage 3 was to help our clients to gain and keep the trust of public housing residents. Since the renovations were being funded in part by private companies, it was essential to convince residents that once the renovations were completed they would not be forced out of their homes in favor of higher paying tenants. Thompson & Bender created a streamlined website, making it easier to communicate with residents and provide essential information. We launched a colorful resident newsletter in English and Spanish to keep residents informed and invite them to participate in the process.

To thank all our stakeholders, Thompson & Bender arranged for a celebratory event/press conference inviting elected officials who helped obtain the needed funding as well as residents, community members and housing agency representatives.

The victory was tremendously rewarding not only for our clients and public housing residents, but for Thompson & Bender because we were able to make a difference in bettering the community.

Liz Bracken-Thompson: Westchester’s biggest booster

By | Blog, News

By: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy for LoHud.com

Elizabeth Bracken-Thompson remembers the day when as a 19-year-old “shy” girl, she was confronted with a challenge.

An envelope arrived at her home in Eastchester, with an invitation to attend a “familiarization” meeting for the Miss Westchester pageant.

It was 1971, and the woman who owned thewallpaper store where Bracken-Thompson worked part-time had submitted her name to be invited.

“My mom received the envelope at home and decided it would be a good thing for me to get over my shyness,” recalled Bracken-Thompson, a founding partner of Thompson & Bender, the Briarcliff Manor-based public relations, advertising and marketing firm. “It was my first experience at taking a risk. As I look back on my career, anytime that I really succeeded was when I took a risk, when I jumped into something where I had no comfort level.”

Not only was Bracken-Thompson crowned Miss Westchester and then Miss Rockland (after moving to Suffern), she went on to compete in the Miss America pageant in 1974 as Miss New Jersey, a title she won as a visiting student at Ramapo State College in Mahwah.

The experience taught her a lesson that has served her well: with risks come rewards.

“It gave me confidence and taught me discipline,” she said. “I had to stay in shape, stay focused and learn to deal with fear.”

She also learned that your first job doesn’t define you.

Despite a college degree, she began her career as a receptionist. She worked her way up to senior marketing roles at Gannett and now at Thompson & Bender, where she is a partner.

For almost 30 years, she’s had her fingerprints in the promotion of all manner of entities looking to make inroads in the county, from real estate conglomerates to hospitals to colleges to nonprofits.

Pulled into the then-fledgling two-year-old public relations firm of Thompson & Bender in 1990, Bracken-Thompson brought her expertise in advertising and marketing, doubling the number of clients in one year.

The company today does over $5 million in business and boasts a client list that includes the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the county’s Office of Economic Development, City of Yonkers and Ritz-Carlton in White Plains.

Teaching was not in the cards

Growing up in Eastchester, Bracken-Thompson said she always thought she would work as a teacher, following in her mother’s footsteps.

Entering the world of pageants while enrolled as a student at the College of New Rochelle revealed a side of herself she said she didn’t know existed.

“It was a really a great training ground for me because it was a scholarship pageant and there was a talent portion,” said Bracken-Thompson, whose talents were singing and dramatic reading. “In those days, there wasn’t a lot of opportunity for women to compete in sports. We were always on the sidelines. I was a cheerleader and twirler but never competing.”

From 1974-75, as the reigning Miss New Jersey, Bracken-Thompson made appearances throughout the state at ribbon-cuttings and conferences. The title also came with money to pay off her student loans.

Facing obstacles

With her college degree in hand, Bracken-Thompson, married and started her search for a teaching job in 1975, but an oversupply of teachers meant few open positions. Instead, she went to secretarial school to learn to type.

Her first job was as a receptionist at the headquarters of the Gannett Suburban Newspapers in White Plains, then a chain of 10 newspapers in the county along with the Rockland Journal-News.

She wasn’t long for the job. Within three months Bracken-Thompson was promoted to the marketing department as a copywriter for promotions.

From that initial receptionist position, Bracken-Thompson worked her way up over the next 15 years to the vice president of marketing and community relations, reporting directly to the publisher.

Bracken-Thompson said she was totally committed to the job. Along the way she got divorced.

“I was a single woman and for me, my career became my baby and I put all of my passion, my focus into what I did,” she said. “I got a lot of personal reward and satisfaction from that.”

On her own

By the late ’80s, two of her Journal News colleagues, Geoff Thompson (whom she married in1998 after a divorce) and Dean Bender, decided to establish their own public relations firm, Thompson & Bender, working with local businesses.

As business picked up, more clients started inquiring about other services such as marketing and advertising.

When they needed advice, Bender and Thompson would inevitably end up calling the expert they knew.

“I started getting more and more calls with them asking ‘how do I do this’ or ‘how I do that’,” said Bracken-Thompson.

Soon she decided to take another risk and join them.

Within a year, the Thompson & Bender client roster doubled, from six to 12.

Joe Simone, the CEO of Simone Development, a developer who has built more than a  million square feet in commercial real estate in New York, said his firm’s 15-year partnership with Thompson & Bender was in large part due to the vision and energy Bracken-Thompson brought to every meeting.

“She takes the time to understand your business and where you want your business to go,” said Simone. “We worked together on the Hutchinson Metro Center project in the Bronx and everything from branding of the name itself to marketing and advertising, she did everything with creativity. She does everything with passion.”

Many of her clients have stayed on for the long haul, including New York-Presbyterian, a partnership that has lasted 25 years.

Other than the three partners, the firm has 18 employees. All happen to be women.

“Because of our sensitivity and emotional make-up, we (women) have a higher perception of what’s going on with a client,” said Bracken-Thompson.

Numerous studies have shown that women outperform men when it comes to emotional intelligence, which includes empathy, self-awareness and social skill. Indeed, companies are starting to recognize its advantages when it comes to positions like sales, teams, and leadership.

Over the years, she worked with Lou Cappelli, one of the biggest developers in the area, on multiple downtown revitalization projects including New Roc City in New Rochelle and City Center and Renaissance Square in White Plains.

Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of the Business Council of Westchester, said Bracken-Thompson’s strength lies in her understanding of the Westchester business community.

“She’s able to take a strategic view of where they fit in the fabric of the economy of Westchester,” said Gordon.

Along the way, Bracken-Thompson has also made it a mission to give back by mentoring and serving on local not-for-profit boards.

Among the many awards she’s won over the years is the “Woman of Leadership and Excellence Award” in 2012 from Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson.

Her advice for female entrepreneurs:

“Trust your instincts, take risks, be optimistic, embrace change and be financially disciplined,” she said. “And live by the numbers.”

Making Sense of it All (without making your head spin) – Navigating the 24-hour news cycle

By | Blog

By: Courtney Walker

In a recent conversation with my father, we were discussing those ‘where were you when” moments. Dad always remembers where he was when JFK was assassinated or the excitement of the first time a man walked on the moon. Similarly, I can recall where I was for the Challenger disaster or the day Princess Diana died. Those moments truly were breaking news.

As the years went by, though, and the influx of online news, cable news and social media took over, the news cycle went from reading one morning paper and watching one half-hour of evening news on the big three networks to a 24/7, 365 day-a-year influx of information.  It can be a little hard to process when the human brain has a lot of other information to digest.

Here we are in 2018 and It seems as if a ‘breaking news’ alert comes through my newsfeed every two minutes. How hasn’t the term ‘breaking news’ become the boy who cried wolf? And how do communications professionals make sense of what is important and what is ‘fake news’? Well, there are mixed opinions about that, but that’s a conversation for another day.

The 24/7, 365-day-a-year cycle has evolved right along with me. Here are some tried-and-true tips from my 15+ years in the industry to keep you from breaking down when there’s breaking news:

  • Have a system:  This is really an individual preference, but it’s a good idea to have a game plan for the day. For me, it’s a morning scroll through the following – two large online national outlets like the NYT and NPR, NYC focused outlet WNBC, an industry trade publication, a hyper-local daily pub and a scroll through my social media feeds. After getting ready and out the door, it’s listening to NPR or a news radio program on the commute.  I repeat this process midday and in the early evening.
  • Manage your newsfeeds:Subscribe to what is pertinent to you and your clients. For example, a former client was in the aviation industry, so knowing the trade pubs and getting on their email lists was key.
  • Alerts and newsletters: Don’t go overboard! Choose your newsletters and alerts with caution and manage your preferences. Don’t be afraid to unsubscribe. I promise, you won’t miss anything.
  • Take it with a grain of salt and take a break: I am way too familiar with every journalist on CNN. Know that it’s ok to pick up a fiction book, see a non-documentary film or go for a run and listen to music.
  • Shut it down: Did you know that smartphones weren’t a ‘thing’ until about a decade ago? Generations survived before these devices, and they thrived. Ever heard of Walter Cronkite? Pick-up a real newspaper once in a while, have a conversation with a mentor, take pen to paper when you hear an idea. When the news breaks next time, you won’t.