Advice on working from home, in time for the G20

Working from home during G20? As an all-virtual company based in Pittsburgh, the members of Pascale Communications, LLC are experts on working from a home office. Devon McSorely, Director of Business Development, offers her insights to fellow Pittsburghers planing to work at home during the G20 summit. Read more to see how working from home has fueled five successful years for our team!

Article Link: http://pascalecommunications.com/index2.php?p=our_thoughts&did=working_from_home

The Importance of Mentoring to Budding Female Entrepreneurs

Pascale Communications’ Georgette Pascale was a featured author for WomenandBiz.com’s back-to-school article issue. What makes a great mentor? Georgette says, “Honesty, accountability, encouragement, and guidance.” Read on below!

Article Link: The Importance of Mentoring to Budding Female Entrepreneurs

Getting Traction for a Radio Show

In a recent Business Week column, Pascale Communications’ Georgette Pascale utilizes her versatile background to offer advice to an up-and-coming radio host. Urging him to “stay realistic” when establishing a new listener base and promoting his show, Pascale also encourages the host reminding them, “Now more than ever, success is all about networking and who you know." Read more below!

Article Link: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/aug2009/sb20090819_678801.htm

Georgette Pascale Comments on AHIP's New National Ad Campaign

Pascale Communications’ Georgette Pascale was cited recently in the debate over healthcare reform. In an article published in Managed Healthcare Executive about a new ad launched by America’s Health Insurance Plans, Pascale responded positively to the campaign and reform saying, “Simply put, this is definitely a great strategic decision from a marketing/ ad/ PR messaging perspective.” Read on below!

Article Link: AHIP's new national TV ad campaign supports bipartisan reform.

Ad on Youtube: "Illness" - AHIP Reform Ad

Virtual Internships

By: Ashley Paterra and Shannon Larkin, summer interns at Pascale Communications, LLC.

Interning in a virtual public relations agency is a unique opportunity and one that we seized with open arms. While the set-up of a virtual work environment may prove challenging for some, we have found it is a perfect match for us. As first-time interns at Pascale Communications, we have found that there are many benefits of working with a virtual PR firm. This internship has taught us to work independently, define project parameters before commencing on an assignment and to think more creatively.

The means of working virtually differentiate from that of the day-to-day work at an office. Having the ability to work from our home office, while convenient, also allows us to learn in a relaxed, familiar environment. We arrange for occasional in-person meetings with our co-workers to catch up on our progress and talk about upcoming projects. Our day starts just as any other PR professional. We check our e-mails, confirm assignments with our co-workers online, dive into our tasks and meet our deadlines. So far, we gained experience confirming media lists, researching medical conferences, writing pitches and even a few bylines. Each day we are given tasks that help us further understand the “nuts and bolts” of a healthcare PR campaign. We are gaining valuable experience that could not be taught in the classroom.

When compared to some of the internships we hear from our fellow classmates, we find that being a virtual intern has challenged us in a very good way. We take the time to work independently and seek out the guidance of our co-workers when we reach a hurdle. This process has taught us to be better problem solvers and also allowed us to be creative with our projects. The team at Pascale Communications truly supports our development, challenging us to come to a solution on our own. After interning virtually with Pascale Communications, we both agree that we learn more in a private, relaxed environment and have a bigger advantage over those who intern in an office setting. The experience we have gained this summer will carry us into our professional careers.

In need of innovation and creativity – step outside your office!

Last week was my first business trip since the birth of my third baby in April. I enjoyed every second, too. Two days, southern California (LA, Orange County and San Diego), jam packed with meetings for current clients, potential clients, former clients and industry colleagues. Included in this mix were two happy hours that netted referrals and general good, relevant industry insights. One highlight was a partnership event that I organized with a publisher contact of mine; we hosted a reception of all of our local contacts that was very successful in terms of cross referencing resources to one another. Feedback from our reception was overwhelming. We linked a lot of our client contacts together, intermingled with new faces and were viewed as more than a business partner – we were a valuable resource with connections beyond the standard PR firm.

At the end of two busy days, I walked away with referrals, mutual respect, accolades, compliments, project confirmations and business cards. Something a full week of work from my office could not have netted. The trip revived me, inspired me and helped line up some new business opportunities for the PC Team.

It’s not a new message, but one that is worth repeating. GET OUT THERE! In a recession, especially after your third child, it would be easy to hunker down in the office and work, work, work. Yes, we need to make sure our current clients are being serviced beyond the norm. We also need to go beyond our office walls, meet people on their terms, get excited about our business, partner with people who support us – never underestimate the power of networking! There is new business to be had. It’s a small world, go meet it!

Reader's Digest embraces multimedia, reduces frequency of print publication

This article is from the Chicago Tribune and shows a trend that we are starting to see with print publications. This change in the way publications are working presents challenges and opportunities to us in the PR field. It really highlights how important PR is.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-readers-digest-changes,0,4577597.story

Eli Lilly ‘Ghostwrote’ Articles to Market Zyprexa, Files Show

This article from Bloomberg is a good reminder about validity of peer-review data and helps to put perspective on corporate involvement in ghostwriting activities. There is a lot of buzz about this topic in the consumer media recently.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aVvfe.v1k_VY

Welcome from Pascale Communications

When I started Pascale Communications, LLC, one of my main goals was to cultivate an experienced, diversified staff that brought many different backgrounds and areas of expertise to the table. Nearly five years later, PC is expanding our communication and networking model by taking advantage of the social media that is at our fingertips. On a personal level, most people dabble in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networking sites. Now, as president of a growing healthcare public relations firm, I seek to increase PC’s professional network online and offer relevant insights into current trends in healthcare, as well as pharmaceutical and medical device public relations. We will also provide feedback from medical conferences that our team attends, recent campaign successes, networking tales and some articles you might have missed about us. My team and I will also offer professional insights into entrepreneurship, mentoring, managing (and working in) a virtual office and other related business development topics related to our team’s expertise – healthcare PR. We welcome you, happy reading and please feel free to send us feedback or request any other topics that you’d like us to cover. Enjoy.