IT’S A PR THING

Stephanie McFarland APR

This is IT’S A PR THING, the show that helps you build relationships that build business. We’re bringing you a better understanding of what public relations is today, and how it can drive your business in ways you never knew it could. FeedSpot (feedspot.com) has named IT’S A PR THING as one of the top PR podcasts AGAIN in 2026 -- two years running. Find out how you can join the movement to change the conversation about public relations, and reclaim the definition of what we do that adds real value. 

  1. 2일 전

    Episode 53 - How to Spot a Crisis Before it Happens: Issue Management Explained

    How to Spot a Crisis Before It Happens  ISSUE MANAGEMENT EXPLAINED  Most crises are preventable — that's a fact. But they're only preventable if you know what to look for. In Part III of our series on Crisis - Not Everything is a Crisis, we break down how organizational problems develop, why so many get ignored until it's too late, and what PR pros can do to support divisions and leaders in catching them early -- because the best crisis you'll ever manage is the one your organization never has. JOIN THE MOVEMENT  Struggle no more to tell your leadership what your value is to the organization.  Join the movement to help change the conversation inside our organizations about public relations (a.k.a - communications, corporate comm, marcom, public-information office, etc.). We've heard you, seen your frustration on LinkedIn -- being disregarded, left out, treated like an afterthought. But we sometimes are creating our own headaches by how we talk about our profession. So we've designed some items we think you'll like -- and these "tools" will start the conversation for you. Check them out here!  NEW RESOURCE PAGE (a.k.a FREE STUFF)  Visit our new resource landing page to check out free downloads and tools to help you lead, manage and implement top-notch PR in your organization. Click here GOT TOPIC IDEAS? WE WANT TO HEAR THEM!  Send topic ideas and mailbag questions for a future episode to podcast@prthing.com We would love to hear from you!  HOST BIO (a.k.a. Who is this crazy woman who can't stop talking about PR?)  https://www.audible.com/author/Stephanie-McFarland/B00YNFH16E

    23분
  2. 4월 15일

    Episode 52 - The First Hour of a Flare Up: Are You Reactive or Deliberate?

    The First Hour of a Flare-Up: Are You Reactive or Deliberate?  Today we cover Part 2 of our series on crisis — or rather, not everything is a crisis. This week we talk about when an incident first flares up, and how we as PR pros think, counsel and act in those moments – because that matters. A lot. The mindset we bring, the discipline we apply. It can make the difference between managing a moment and creating a bigger problem. In this episode, we dig into what it looks like to approach a flare up with discernment in those early minutes. How do you “read the room” in the court of public opinion? What's actually in front of you? How do you stay deliberate when the noise is getting loud, and it feels like things are heating up? This one will challenge you to evaluate yourself, and determine if you’re reactive or discerning and deliberate in that space between drama and crisis.   JOIN THE MOVEMENT  Struggle no more to tell your leadership what your value is to the organization.  Join the movement to help change the conversation inside our organizations about public relations (a.k.a - communications, corporate comm, marcom, public-information office, etc.). We've heard you, seen your frustration on LinkedIn -- being disregarded, left out, treated like an afterthought. But we sometimes are creating our own headaches by how we talk about our profession. So we've designed some items we think you'll like -- and these "tools" will start the conversation for you. Check them out here!  NEW RESOURCE PAGE (a.k.a FREE STUFF)  Visit our new resource landing page to check out free downloads and tools to help you lead, manage and implement top-notch PR in your organization. Click here GOT TOPIC IDEAS? WE WANT TO HEAR THEM!  Send topic ideas and mailbag questions for a future episode to podcast@prthing.com We would love to hear from you!  HOST BIO (a.k.a. Who is this crazy woman who can't stop talking about PR?)  https://www.audible.com/author/Stephanie-McFarland/B00YNFH16E

    9분
  3. 3월 25일

    Episode 51 - McDonald’s CEO Burger-Bite Uproar

    McDonald’s CEO Burger-Bite Uproar   Faux Pas vs Crisis — Know the Difference When did our profession start calling every little flare‑up a crisis? A TikTok trend, a snarky comment thread, a logo people don’t like — suddenly everyone’s acting like the business is melting down. But most of these moments aren’t crises at all. They’re upstream matters that are manageable, or a faux pas with a short life span and a valuable learning opportunity. In this episode, we get into why PR keeps over‑labeling everything a crisis -- and how that habit distracts us from identifying the issues that could be tomorrow’s emergencies at best. Today we’ll walk through the spectrum of incident categories — the harmless creative misstep that gets a couple of days of flareup, the issue that starts quietly and grows over the decades until the industry is in decay, the emergencies that hit daily operations hard and fast, and the rare, true crises that actually reshapes a business for years. Buckle up and take a roller coaster ride today through real stories and case studies about the spectrum of incidents that can either make us or break us – and learn how to tell the difference.   JOIN THE MOVEMENT  Struggle no more to tell your leadership what your value is to the organization.  Join the movement to help change the conversation inside our organizations about public relations (a.k.a - communications, corporate comm, marcom, public-information office, etc.). We've heard you, seen your frustration on LinkedIn -- being disregarded, left out, treated like an afterthought. But we sometimes are creating our own headaches by how we talk about our profession. So we've designed some items we think you'll like -- and these "tools" will start the conversation for you. Check them out here!  NEW RESOURCE PAGE (a.k.a FREE STUFF)  Visit our new resource landing page to check out free downloads and tools to help you lead, manage and implement top-notch PR in your organization. Click here GOT TOPIC IDEAS? WE WANT TO HEAR THEM!  Send topic ideas and mailbag questions for a future episode to podcast@prthing.com We would love to hear from you!  HOST BIO (a.k.a. Who is this crazy woman who can't stop talking about PR?)  https://www.audible.com/author/Stephanie-McFarland/B00YNFH16E

    14분
  4. 3월 12일

    Episode 50 - What Consumers Said. Why the FCC Is Acting on It.

    NEWS UPDATE: FeedSpot named IT'S A PR THING to its list of top PR podcasts in the world again - two years in a row, with IT'S A PR THING moving up four spots in 2026. Read more.    What Consumers Said. Why the FCC Is Acting on It.  Today's episode is a case study in the progress that demonstrates why it's important for companies to regulate themselves -- or else they'll invite regulation to be imposed on them. Consumers have been signaling their frustration with offshore call centers for years — and companies didn’t simply miss those warnings; they dismissed and disregarded them. Now they're facing the real possibility of federal intervention later this month. This development represents more than mere compliance. The FCC may very well be forcing companies to rebuild a stronger, more reliable U.S. customer service industry. Listen in and learn what can happen when companies repeatedly ignore consumer feedback.  JOIN THE MOVEMENT  Struggle no more to tell your leadership what your value is to the organization.  Join the movement to help change the conversation inside our organizations about public relations (a.k.a - communications, corporate comm, marcom, public-information office, etc.). We've heard you, seen your frustration on LinkedIn -- being disregarded, left out, treated like an afterthought. But we sometimes are creating our own headaches by how we talk about our profession. So we've designed some items we think you'll like -- and these "tools" will start the conversation for you. Check them out here!    NEW RESOURCE PAGE (a.k.a FREE STUFF)  Visit our new resource landing page to check out free downloads and tools to help you lead, manage and implement top-notch PR in your organization. Click here GOT TOPIC IDEAS? WE WANT TO HEAR THEM!  Send topic ideas and mailbag questions for a future episode to podcast@prthing.com We would love to hear from you!  HOST BIO (a.k.a. Who is this crazy woman who can't stop talking about PR?)  https://www.audible.com/author/Stephanie-McFarland/B00YNFH16E

    10분
  5. 2월 12일

    Episode 48 - What Customers Are Begging For (and Taco Bell Gets It)

    What Customers Are Begging For (and Taco Bell Gets It) In this episode of IT’S A PR THING, we’re circling back to customer experience — not the buzzword version, but the kind that actually builds relationship capital. Today, we’ll cover a recent customer experience that demonstrates how much it matters when organizations make things easy, give people a way out of technology when they need it, and create moments that become memories. We’ll walk through what happened, why it stood out, and what it says about how we treat the people we work so hard – and invest so much -- to attract. We’ll also touch on what some of the pros — including the C-suite at Taco Bell — are saying about customer experience in a high‑tech world. Spoiler: even the most automated companies know that human touch is still the biggest differentiator. This episode is well worth a listen and a share! ************************************************************************ Struggle no more to tell your leadership what your value is to the organization.  Join the movement to help change the conversation inside our organizations about public relations (a.k.a - communications, corporate comm, marcom, public-information office, etc.). We've heard you, seen your frustration on LinkedIn -- being disregarded, left out, treated like an afterthought. But we sometimes are creating our own headaches by how we talk about our profession. So we've designed some items we think you'll like -- and these "tools" will start the conversation for you. Check them out here!  Bonus Resources Also, check out these bonus free resources to help you manage the PR function inside your organization, and deliver the value that earns you that seat at the table.  10 STRATEGIES TO TRANSFORM YOUR PR FUNCTION  FREE GUIDE - 8 STEPS TO MEASURE CUSTOMER EFFORT  GOT TOPIC IDEAS? WE WANT TO HEAR THEM!  Send topic ideas and mailbag questions for a future episode to podcast@prthing.com We would love to hear from you!  HOST BIO  https://www.audible.com/author/Stephanie-McFarland/B00YNFH16E

    13분
  6. 1월 30일

    Episode 47 - What Is Your PR Return on Time Invested?

    Stewarding our PR Time -- What Is Your ROTI  PR pros are always being pulled in different directions. We are expected, as the nature of the job, to be on-call, to be available to respond to breaking news, to crisis, to bend and flex with urgent deadlines, and to spend much of our day in meetings gathering info and intel – and then finding time to get the work done. That’s all on top of responding to media inquiries and sundry minor fires that happen across a week. And that leaves little time for strategic reflection, planning and the crucial relationship building needed to build business. How in the world can we steward our time, when we often don’t have claim to it?   Meet Lissa Figgins, a time-stewardship coach who counsels CEOs, Christian businesses and solopreneurs. (Notice I did not say “time management”.) Lissa is also the host of REDEEM HER TIME podcast. I heard Lissa as a guest on a different podcast months ago, and I thought about how as PR pros our time is rarely our own – because so many things can change the trajectory of our day. And the concept of time stewardship just seems to fit much better for us. So I reached out and asked Lissa to talk to us about this approach – and I’m delighted she said yes.   Join me today as Lissa walks us through the difference between time management and time stewardship, how to measure our ROTI (she'll explain the acronym), and why it's so important to both our profession, our home life and our personal character.  LEARN MORE, DOWNLOAD THE FREE "IMPACTFUL DAY GUIDE"  Listen to Lissa on her podcast: https://redeemhertime.com/tune-in-redeem-her-time-podcast/ Download the free IMPACTFUL DAY GUIDE: https://redeemhertime.com/day   LISSA'S BACKGROUND https://redeemhertime.com/about-me/   ************************************************************************************************ IT'S A PR THING PODCAST RESOURCES & INFORMATION  DOWNLOAD: FREE GUIDE - 8 STEPS TO MEASURE CUSTOMER EFFORT  BONUS RESOURCE: If you’re new to IT’S A PR THING or if you’re looking for a proven path to make your PR team more effective, check out the free resource: 10 Strategies to Transform Your PR Function. It’s a collection of deeper-dive episodes organized to help you rethink how you implement PR in your job everyday. Click the link above and download the free resource. GOT TOPIC IDEAS? WE WANT TO HEAR THEM!  Send topic ideas and mailbag questions for a future episode to podcast@prthing.com We would love to hear from you!  HOST BIO  https://www.audible.com/author/Stephanie-McFarland/B00YNFH16E

    42분
  7. 1월 16일

    Episode 46 - 8 Steps to Measuring Customer Effort

    Measuring Customer Effort In this episode, we take the next step in the conversation we started last week about boiling customer frustration and what it means in reading the organization’s relationship radar. Today we focus on Customer Effort Scoring — a practical way to see where people are running into friction and operational hurdles long before they turn into a reputational issue. CES helps teams see the incremental operational hurdles that show up in aggregate as overall poor customer satisfaction. When organizations use CES well, they can help reduce customer effort and create a smooth and positive customer experience. And that generates return business, referrals and revenue generation. Listen in today and learn how CES is an excellent tool to add to your relationship radar system. DOWNLOAD: FREE GUIDE - 8 STEPS TO MEASURE CUSTOMER EFFORT  BONUS RESOURCE: If you’re new to IT’S A PR THING or if you’re looking for a proven path to make your PR team more effective, check out the free resource: 10 Strategies to Transform Your PR Function. It’s a collection of deeper-dive episodes organized to help you rethink how you implement PR in your job everyday. Click the link above and download the free resource. GOT TOPIC IDEAS? WE WANT TO HEAR THEM!  Send topic ideas and mailbag questions for a future episode to podcast@prthing.com We would love to hear from you!  HOST BIO  https://www.audible.com/author/Stephanie-McFarland/B00YNFH16E

    14분

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This is IT’S A PR THING, the show that helps you build relationships that build business. We’re bringing you a better understanding of what public relations is today, and how it can drive your business in ways you never knew it could. FeedSpot (feedspot.com) has named IT’S A PR THING as one of the top PR podcasts AGAIN in 2026 -- two years running. Find out how you can join the movement to change the conversation about public relations, and reclaim the definition of what we do that adds real value.