Marian Salzman - Agile PR: Expert Messaging in a Hyper-Connected, Always-On World

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Agile PR is a true achievement! It provides fresh insights and advice that will be as relevant a decade from now as they are today. This is because agility in PR, as in life, is about learning how to learn: not just responding to whats next, but shaping it. Its among the most important books Ive ever read.

Leo Bottary, adjunct professor, Northeastern University, and coauthor, The Power of Peers: How the Company You Keep Drives Leadership, Growth and Success

Most startup founders know that agility is a mindset required in order to thrive. No longer just reserved for the product development cycle, this approach needs to be integrated into all aspects of growing and scaling a company. All too often, emerging technology companies struggle with when and how to leverage public relations and PR professionals. Foundersdo yourself a favorread Agile PR as soon as (or before) you start your company. The days of startups waiting for the right time to start PR are over. Agile PR gives you the foundation you need to connect with key stakeholders at every stage of development. Find someone that has a nose for newsfluence and put them on your team!

Stephanie Agresta, Co-founder, Virago

As a PR student, I am constantly learning from amazing professors about the art and practices that occur every day in PR. This book takes that learning further to focus on the future and how PR is evolving. Every student or young professional should read Agile PR to get a broad sense of what this industry is and does. If this book doesnt get you excited about the endless possibilities that constitute PR, then I dont know what will.

Emily Irgang, millennial/student, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University

Marian puts the P in PR: personality, passion and punch; as for the RMarian gets results! Anyone who follows the advice that leaps from every page of this book will find themselves prepared to deliver big results of their own.

Heidi Diamond, CEO, Frederiques Choice (and former Havas PR client)

With a deep understanding of trends, its hardly a surprise that Marian Salzman is ahead of the curve in her knowledge of the complete transformation of the communications industry. While it seems like my job has evolved overnight and we are treading water to understand how to do it all, Agile PR offers insightful guidance and thoughtful strategies. This book makes the hard work we do as PR/communications professionals evident in ways that we cant even fathom.

Stacy Mackler, Vice President, PR and Communications, Lancme (LOral USA)

Volatility is the new normal; the only constant is change. Every day (and sometimes seconds of a day), we see mass fluctuations in foreign currencies, destructive storms, fast-spreading viruses, and other life-changing events that impact each of us in profound ways. Agile PR captures the warp speed of news, communication, crises and everyday life that require PR professionals (and all top-notch business people) to be much more agile in their view of the world and their work to deliver meaningful and value-add outcomes.

Rob Matteucci, former CEO, Evenflo; adjunct instructor, University of Arizona Eller College; and director, Pittsburgh Brewing Co.

... Agile PR combines the new genre entrepreneurialism of Silicon Valley with the disciplined history of New York. Marian Salzman and her team have framed the narrative we are all experiencing in communication. This book is for anyone who needs to rethink telling a story in a changing marketplace. And by that, I mean everyone!

Seth Goldenberg, Founder and CEO, Epic Decade

The primer for the new world of public relations. Relevant to all who influence the public, students to CEOs. Written in an astute and conversational manner by the acclaimed trendspotter who put the word metrosexual into our everyday lexicon. Agile PR brings the information we need to succeed in the next generation of communication.

Donna M. Renella, Founder and president, ABW Solutions

Marian Salzman is not simply a master of PR, she defines (and redefines) the industry. Exhibit A: Agile PR, which demonstrates an understanding of PRs ever-changing and nuanced landscape of messaging, audiences, causes, geography, tools and platforms. I have never entrusted my personal brand to anyone with such a level of confidence than that which I have in Marian. Now the rest of the world can benefit from her guidance, too.

Erin Schrode, Citizen activist, community organizer, and vocal advocate for environmental action

Marian Salzman, as only someone astutely and passionately calibrated to her profession and the world at large can, has surveyed the full spectrum of modern PR to extract its gleaming insights, authentic stories, and immutable truths. And the one certainty that rises above allagility is the key to survive and thrive in the thoroughly weird and wired world that is PR. Wise and vital, Agile PR is a full stack of vibrant ideas, toolboxes, trends, and lessons learned. For newcomers and veterans of brand marketing and communications, it is a clear and compassionate roadmap for success.

Matthew Wahn, Digital marketing strategist and consultant (Fifteen-plus year veteran of Edelman Digital, MSL, H&K, Siegel & Gale), New York, NY

Agile PR

MARIAN SALZMAN

and the Team at Havas PR

EXPERT MESSAGING IN A HYPER-CONNECTED, ALWAYS-ON WORLD

For the people, clients, and friends of Havas PR and our

Havas Health Village

Special thanks to Edie Jarolim (Tucson) and Sheri Radel Rosenberg (Brooklyn), editors-slash-writers-slash-thinkers who tag-teamed the creation of the first real draft of this book. None of Agile PR would be possible without the editorial genius of Ellen Mallernee Barnes (Nashville) and Heidi Ernst (Charlottesville), both permanent members of our Havas PR team and true wizards of the word, and Stuart Harris (Bath, England), a man we rely on for global insights and strategy, research methodologies, and that special perspective that comes from fluency in more languages than I have fingers on my right hand.

A few key members of our New Yorkbased Havas PR leadership team, Jody Sunna, Karina Meckel, Lisa Vanella, and Ravi Sunnak, contributed their expertise and served as first (and second) readers of drafts as they flew off the presses. Out of Boston, Julie Hall helped to shape our vision of measurement for that inherently tricky chapter on the subject. Out of Providence, Linda Descano gifted us with a close read of the manuscript, which benefited from her insights on everything from measurement to social media. Taylor Jeffrey (Providence) has project-managed the book, tackled permissions with a smile, lovingly massaged hundreds of pages of research I compiled (life in the age of Google), and meticulously pulled together much other research, with assistance from interns, especially Romina Cecea (Tucson), managed by Stephanie Clarke and Audrey Arbogast, both of the Havas PR Phoenix office, and Queen Nefertiti Shabazz and Yvonne Yu (both in Providence)and Taylor did it even when that involved evenings, weekends, and decoding completely incoherent suggestions, most of which originated from my keyboard.