High Road Communications

High Road president Mia Wedgbury recently started a PR column in the Small Business section of The Globe and Mail’s online edition. This is her second column.

What to do when a reporter calls

Our popular perception of journalists has largely been shaped by movies and best-selling novels. For some, it brings to mind the image of the fedora-wearing, whisky swilling newspaper man who loves a sensational headline. Or perhaps it’s the unscrupulous, pit-bull TV news reporter that comes to mind, followed by her camera person as she barges in on some hapless executive.

These popular—and often misleading—notions might explain why a friend of mine, who is the president of a small technology company, recently called me. I could tell from her voice that she was concerned. Turns out a reporter’s curiosity was piqued by her business and, as a result, he called looking to set up an interview for an article. "What do I do?" she asked me nervously.

Read the full column at Globeandmail.com.

High Road president Mia Wedgbury recently started a PR column in the Small Business section of The Globe and Mail’s online edition. Here is her first column.

Turning Dead Fish into Sushi - How to craft your PR message

Recently some colleagues and I decided to have lunch at a new sushi restaurant. We arrived well before the rush hour, but the place was already packed, and we were forced to take a small table at the back. Before long, a line of people had formed at the door. "Not bad," chuckled one of my colleagues, "for a place that makes a living selling cold dead fish."

As president of High Road Communications, a Toronto-based public relations agency, I’m often asked to speak about the value of PR. There are many ways to approach this, of course, but it all boils down to telling your story to the right audience — making sure that when the people who matter most see your company, they see sushi, not dead fish. That power rests in your hands. Those who choose not to tell their story risk being lost in the background noise or, worse, have others tell it for them. For this reason, business owners should at least consider PR as part of their overall marketing strategy.

Read the full column at Globeandmail.com.