Recent Blog Posts

As a Truscott Rossman intern and a junior at MSU, of course I’m thinking about my post-graduation plans. I read an article called, “6 Things Young PR...

Last month I decided to ditch the little black dress, the staple of every woman's wardrobe.  The event? This year's North American International Auto Show annual preview charity ball, the hottest social event in wintry Detroit.

Guide to the 2013 TR Calendar 2012 was a big year politically – and we tried to include as much as we could in Truscott Rossman&rsquo...

We're working with The Detroit News' editorial cartoonist Henry Payne on this year's calendar, which you'll see in the coming weeks. As always, we're asking you to come up with a quote for our calendar.

The Black Child and Family Institute (BCFI) Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School - a Lansing-based community center designed to address social, educational and health related issues among children and families in the community celebrated the end of its six-week summer enrichment program last Thursday. Two of our interns, Nailah Ali and Jared Kissane, were on hand to join students, parents, teachers, partners, sponsors, board members and more for the celebration.

"I am a striver," says Monique Longmire.

Striving is how this Detroit working mom, 28, got to Oakland University, where she earned a human resources degree. It's how she kept going, after the best job she could find upon graduating was an entry-level position as a bank teller.

Two weeks ago, seventeen teams gathered eagerly at the gates of Friedland Industries recycling facility to partake in Lansing's Old Town fourth annual Scrapfest competition.

Seventeen teams waited eagerly beside their empty crates to rummage through the treasures of Friedland Industries recycling facility on Saturday as the annual Scrapfest competition kicked off with the sound of a horn.

Just days after appearing on the list of America’s Brainiest Cities, Lansing proves once again why it is deserving of the title. Aft...

Our principals John Truscott and Kelly Rossman-McKinney appeared on Detroit Public Television's MI Vote coverage of the Detroit Chamber Mackinac Policy Conference. Watch the interview below!

It took several painful days, but it looks like Susan G. Komen for the Cure is finally taking steps to regain its reputation as the world’s leading breast cancer organization. That’s a lofty moniker to live up to, and it’s safe to say everyone who witnessed Komen’s recent descent into partisan bickering was disappointed – some downright devastated.

I'm excited to announce that the Truscott Rossman Lobby Guide is now available for BlackBerry devices!

We fired up the Wayback Machine to take a look at how Michigan newspaper websites have evolved from 1997 to today. 

I understand that automakers can’t make everybody happy, but it would be nice if they at least made me happy.

I have major doubts about that after reading a story in the Free Press yesterday about GM and other automakers’ plans entice my generation into buying new cars.

Our CEO Kelly Rossman-McKinney will be master of ceremonies for the Women's Center of Greater Lansing's "She Laughs VII" event this Friday (January 20) at 7:30 pm at the downtown Lansing Radisson.

Friedland Industries is the "original" recycler, right in the heart of Lansing's Old Town. We're proud to help this family-owned, first-class business launch a new website, which we hope you visit at www.friedlandindustries.com. 

We were proud to help our client Google put together its kickoff event in Detroit for the Michigan Get Your Small Business Online program, which is gi...

Nothing hurts worse than making a mistake that hurts people you care about. But we sure stepped in it yesterday by posting a caption contest for our annual calendar.

A month ago, Coke rolled out white Coca-Cola cans to celebrate the holidays. It was a symbol for a partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, meant to highlight global warming’s threat to polar bears' arctic habitat. The flop-of-a-campaign left Coke customers seeing red, and wanting back their precious red cans. Complaints of blasphemy came from consumers on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Sure enough, the drink giant’s spokesman announced this week that it would halt the production of white cans, shipping red back out by next week. And what happens to the 1.4 billion white cans that are being dumped because of the outcry... so much for saving the planet!? 

Did you know the average Internet video viewer watched 21.1 hours online last month? That and more in today's roundup of links!

Jack Lessenberry's piece on Dale Kildee's "media lynching" deserves your attention. We've quoted part of the story below, but please read Lessenberry'...

As if we don’t have enough to do, this is the week we have to be thankful, too!

Frankly, I think going from 0-60 on that one is just too much to ask.

Still, we probably should make some effort, be it mumbling grace over our Turkey Day feast or doing a mental check-off on our gratitude for having a job, supportive family, whatever.

Don't miss Sharon Emery's op-ed, "End the bias on hiring people with disabilities" in today's Detroit Free Press!  One of the earliest, most p...

Is it just a coincidence that the insular institutions involved in the alleged Penn State child sex scandal and those involving the Roman Catholic Church were both male-dominated? I don’t think so.

If you are expecting to read anything related to the latest medical solutions for killing viruses, you might want to go to Google. The virus I&rsquo...

Here are some of the most exciting new features of the Facebook Timeline – and how they might be useful in the future for businesses and organizations. While the Timeline hasn’t yet rolled out to Facebook Pages (as opposed to personal Facebook profiles), we expect that Pages will reflect some of these Timeline changes in the future.

My daughter Jessica was among Michigan residents honored at the State Capitol Sept. 29 at the first annual “Donate Life” celebration, whic...

Truscott Rossman is currently hiring an Executive Assistant for our Lansing office. For more details or to apply, please contact our Chief Operatin...

I’ll admit, I am obsessed with the weather.  The first thing that I do every morning is check the weather on my phone, on multiple apps.&nb...

How about it? Was everyone obsessed with Hurricane Irene over the weekend or what? I was on the shores of Lake Huron and couldn’t help speculati...

Last week the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was named the most beautiful place in the country. For those of us fortunate enough to have grown up in Northern Michigan, (Traverse City for me), this is no surprise! The summers are magical, making up for the tremendously long winters. The fall is lovely. And Christmas in Traverse City is a Norman Rockwell painting. I am asked several times each summer what people should do on their vacation in the Grand Traverse Area…

Ben Franklin once said that beer was proof God loves us and wants us to be happy. I think Franklin was wrong, though. Coffee is proof God love...

Attention candidates: Your staff's latest brainstorm - a clever photo opportunity - can break your election mojo faster than I can say "Michele Bachma...

As a follow up to Josh Hovey’s post last week, I thought I’d run through a few tips on how TO get one and be successful at it. Here a...

In the interest in helping interns get hired and in the interest of easing the workload of the folks at TR who review internship requests, here are a few tips of what not to do when applying for an internship. Good luck in your internship hunt!

How can we create an environment in our business or workplace where new ideas are encouraged and celebrated? Megan Brown offers ideas for brainstorming.

You might not pay that much attention to what web browser you use. Most computer users seem to just use whatever was bundled with their computer. If you haven’t looked at new web browsers lately – you’re probably missing out.

The other day I had lunch with a woman who is absolutely spectacular.   She has achieved tremendous success in her career and still has quite a list of goals she wants to achieve. She has a strong passion and desire to see women my age become successful.  She was one of the founders of a program in Grand Rapids called Rising Women Leaders.  It is a program sponsored by Huntington Bank and the Center for Community Leadership.  Their mission is to connect rising women leaders in the community and share knowledge, opportunities and information in the community that will help them succeed.

It is difficult to come to terms with the final day of my year-long stint as senior intern with Truscott Rossman. I can’t help but feel nostalgic as I walk the halls of Boji’s eighth floor, knowing that today is the capstone moment of a long, arduous and highly-rewarding internship adventure.

Putting all the ethical questions aside, the recent kerfuffle over News of the World in London casts images in my mind of the great newspaper wars of old. European newspapers just seem more exciting than their stodgy American counterparts.

Sometimes when I tell people I work in “PR,” they look at me with a blank stare and I know they are thinking: what the heck does that mean...

So today’s announcement from Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warning that mail delivery could move to just three days a week – possibly in 15 years – is hardly earth shattering.  Really, Patrick – why wait 15 years? Let’s just accept the fact that we can live with mail three days a week and be done with it. 

There are few better ways to spend a hot summer day than lying on the beach with a good book. While many prefer their summer reading on the lighter side, there are plenty of good reads that will sharpen your PR skills without leaving you passed out and burning in the sun halfway through the book. Here’s my short list.   

Charlie Cain's brilliant writing skills, institutional knowledge, great smile and loving spirit will be missed at Truscott Rossman, and in Lansing. We will miss our buddy. We may just have to memorialize that quote board.

Today, the Swedish music service Spotify launched in the United States. Spotify has long been considered one of the best streaming music services (with ten million users worldwide), but due to copyright restrictions, was never available in the States until now. Pretty cool stuff.

Kick back, relax and enjoy some smooth jazz tomorrow evening at the free “Rhythm of Summer” jazz concert in Durant Park from 5 to 7 p.m., featuring Lansing’s Too Smooth for Notes!

Not that I’m looking for Michigan’s version of Anthony Weiner … but I’d love to see a Michigan politician make a bold, important move on Twitter.

That same teamwork is being applied at Truscott Rossman. Our team has a wide array of skills and experience. It isn’t too often I have to go outside of our team to get the information I need to serve my clients. In addition, we all know that our work product is better with lots of input because you never know who will have the next great idea.

Memories of our friend and colleague Charlie Cain.

It is a beautiful sunny day in Grand Rapids, but today all Grand Rapidians are in shock and disbelief of the tragic happenings that occurred yesterday. From the time I left my home, to the moment I walked into the office, every person that I encountered had a comment about yesterday, and I heard a version of “this doesn’t happen in Grand Rapids” at least three or four times.

Communities like Royal Oak, Sterling Heights and even liberal, hipster Ann Arbor feel that if their elected officials are emailing or texting during meetings, then it must be to discuss city business, which is in violation of the Open Meetings Act. Transparency in government must absolutely be protected, but I can’t help but think an outright ban on these communications tools goes one step too far.

Last week, my family embarked (together!) on our biggest adventure yet - my brother’s wedding in Daegu, South Korea. It was an once-in-a-lifetime experience, and memories were made that will be engrained in our hearts forever. One part of the trip that was sometimes challenging was the language barrier.

Despite previous failures, I think Google+ offers a number of useful features that make it worth using. Over time, I can see Google+ growing to become a formidable rival to Facebook and Twitter. Here are some reasons I think it’s worth checking out Google+.

In celebration of Mashable’s Social Media Day (#SMDay) – “a day to celebrate the revolution of media becoming social” – I thought I would use my weekly blog post to honor some of the things I love about social media.

It’s astounding that the world hasn’t discovered Michigan’s vacation real estate yet. Aside from Madonna in Bay Harbor and a few other celebrity enclaves in Northwest Michigan, the rest of Michigan’s 3,200 miles of Great Lakes shoreline are open for business!

Sitting can kill you. It’s no joke, sitting for prolonged periods of time is extremely bad for your health. Even if you exercise regularly, if you sit for several hours a day, you are at a greater risk for several leading causes of death, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

“It gets better,” is the key message of an incredible social media campaign to support gay youths who face bullying, but it’s also a phrase I found myself using on Tuesday. That’s when 15 of my former colleagues and friends at the Lansing State Journal were laid off. 

Planning quirkiness seems a lot like planning happiness – a direct assault rarely pays off. Like happiness, virality is a byproduct. You have to find just the right initial experience for both happiness and virality to emerge. That’s the quest we’re all on.

I went to work with my husband Sunday night.  He’s a cop in Wyoming, Michigan and I love to ride with him because the view from his side of...

When people have experiences that exceed expectations they will want to come back.  If there’s one central theme a public relations practitioner can learn from becoming a certified tourism ambassador – that is it.

Google is drawing some heat for a Father's Day reminder in Google Voice asking users to "Call Dad." While this probably seemed like a cute idea at the time, it drew immediate backlash from Google users. What lessons can we learn from this?

The Kids' Food Basket is an amazing not-for-profit organization that helps “attack childhood hunger” here in Grand Rapids.  Over the past eight years the Kids' Food Basket has grown from serving 125 school kids a day to now serving 3700 school kids a day. The Kids' Food Basket passes out sack supper meals that provide 1000 calories and five food groups all essential to the development of brains and bodies.

How did LeBron James become the most hated person in professional sports? He made a bad decision. And I’m still amazed someone in his inner circle didn’t stop it. “The Decision,” as it was publicized, was an epic public relations disaster. It instantly hurled a spotless NBA superstar into America’s number one villain. Like many people, I watched the entire hour-long show because I couldn’t believe James and his team would do something so stupid, not because I cared where James was going to play basketball.

Why do my thumbs hurt? Wait, my arm is tingling and numb. Ouch, I have a knot in my chest. Are these just symptoms of getting older? What's up with this?
Well, I narrowed it down to texting. Then I did some research and found it's very prevalent. My trainer said he's seeing a lot of muscle pain and stiff joints because of texting.

In “The Manchurian Candidate,” Frank Sinatra’s character is brainwashed into calling his commanding officer “the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.”  Well, I’ve never been brainwashed – but I’d probably use the exact same words about Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple. 

After record-setting attendance and votes, the Dapper Dads event raised more than $117,000, nearly tripling funds raised during last year’s event. The top finishers (determined by the number of $5 votes each contestant drew) were Ken Stewart from Jackson National Life and Glenn Granger from Granger Construction. The dads included area doctors, lawyers, lobbyists, athletes, news anchors, business owners and more.

My talk on the “Disabled Listener” is 14 minutes of me talking about being a stutterer and dealing with all of you fluent speakers. That description makes even me cringe, so you can understand why I’ve been absolutely blown away by the positive response. (The official versions of the TEDx Lansing talks have just been released on YouTube, so if you’re one of the 600 people who endured the unofficial version of my talk, please take another look.)

The moral of the story is to be ready and act immediately to counter any situation that can damage your reputation. You can’t rely on others to accurately tell your story. Reporters often don’t have the time – and too often fail to take the initiative – to fact check an “official” source before publishing a story. Official sources – from police officers to elected leaders to company representatives – get stuff wrong too.

Lie, deny, magnify.  These penile perpetrators just don’t get it, do they?  It’s not just that several men in the highest of places – politicians and athletes appear the most egregious – are hounds; that is, unfortunately, a given these days.

When I started going to networking events four years ago, “networking” seemed like a euphemism for forced conversation. Plus, I always felt pressure to get something out of it – land a new client, reinforce my personal brand or impress some big CEO.    

It is an exciting time to be a Grand Rapidian. In the past couple of weeks, the Grand Rapids Lip Dub has received national TV coverage, Newsweek  Magazine finally responds to our cries that Grand Rapids is NOT a dying city and Truscott Rossman announced that it is growing our Grand Rapids office!

Successful organizations build ownership among their stakeholders.  I’m not talking ownership as in stock options, profit sharing or 401Ks – although those are nice. I’m talking about creating a sense of personal investment in a cause so that people are empowered to take charge and move their organization forward.

Yesterday, MIRS and EPIC-MRA released their most recent biennial survey of state Capitol insiders. 48 percent of all respondents selected Truscott Rossman as the "Most Effective Public Relations Consulting Firm." We are truly honored!

One message – sent to just a thousand people – set off a firestorm last week, putting a major retail chain on the defensive and generating many negative media stories in the process. This wouldn’t have been possible without the power of social media – and more importantly, the power of building the right network of key online influencers to help carry a message online.

Yes, it’s the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual “Mackinac Policy Conference” – where networking and political fundraising are taken to high art form and lobbyists, staff and reporters steer people – politicians and the business mucky-mucks – either to or away from each other.

Never be afraid to take a step back, ask for help or ask tough questions. It’s the only way you will know if you’re going in the right direction. If you don’t, you may very well find yourself watching as your competition beats you across the finish line.  

Well…it’s here… today is my 27th birthday. It was a year full of ups and downs, and of course, my first wrinkle.

MLive.com is hiring two journalists in Lansing.

Not to prolong this Arnold thing, but the news just keeps getting juicier! The latest headline: “Arnold's Two Sons Born Days Apart.” CNN ...

Here's Truscott Rossman VP Sharon Emery's speech from TEDxLansing 2011: "The Disabled Listener: They can talk, they can hear, they just don't listen:"...

Sharon Emery: I’m experiencing a kind of wonderment today regarding the news that former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered a child 10 years ago with his housekeeper and was apparently able to keep the news under wraps all that time."

The iPad is a great business tool. Here, we look at some of our favorite notetaking apps. 

A look inside Truscott Rossman, with photos by Andrea Kerbuski.

On Sunday, the United States launched one of the most covert raids in recent military history, aimed at taking out the most-wanted man in the world, O...

Not having a social media presence for your business or organization is akin to not having a phone line because you don't like to take calls. It doesn't make much sense.