Of Travel, Writing, and Having Your Clients' Backs: Q&A with VP of PR, Sarah Larson

Our VP of PR, Sarah Larson, has spent much of her life traveling
 and meeting people wherever she could,
including these two young girls in central Turkey in 1995.

Our VP of Public Relations, Sarah Larson, is celebrating a work anniversary here at Furia Rubel. To mark the occasion, she shared with us some insight into her career path, her growth as a writer, and her favorite part of her job.

How long have you been working for Furia Rubel?

Three years

I know you’re not a native Pennsylvanian, so, where did you grow up and how did you wind up in PA? 

My wanderlust took root at a young age. I was born near San Francisco and raised in Moline, Illinois. When I was young, my family traveled for months at a time (both my parents worked in education and had summers off) throughout the western states. When I was in college, I worked part-time for a cruise line and traveled throughout the Caribbean, and after I graduated from college, I moved to Hungary to teach English for a couple years, traveling throughout eastern and southern Europe every chance I had. Moving to Pennsylvania for a career opportunity in 2000 was a no-brainer.

When did you first realize you liked writing? Did you write stories as a kid? Were you on the school newspaper?

Before I began to write, I first loved to read. On weekly trips to the public library, I would come home with a stack of 10 to 12 books at a time. Once, a librarian even asked me why I took out so many books. “There’s no way you can read all of these before they’re due back.” I just looked at her blankly. I read every one of those books, and more. 

After consuming so many words, it was inevitable that I would one day begin to release those words back into the world. I really started writing with purpose in fifth grade. I wrote poetry, short stories, murder mysteries, courtroom dramas, and more; I was the kid in class who couldn’t wait for the essay assignment. By the time I got to high school, I worked on the staff of my school’s annual creative arts magazine, and the yearbook, and was first a writer then an editor for the school newspaper.

What made you decide to be a journalist?

People fascinate me. Telling their stories was natural for me - and even policy stories or breaking news stories really are about the people affected by those issues and events. My love of history and politics drove me to see connections and give context to events, while my love of science helped me explain complicated subjects to my readers.

What is the biggest change when going from journalism to public relations?

The move from journalism to public relations is a well-worn career path. Many of the skills you need in order to succeed are the same in both careers. The main difference is allegiance. In journalism, you are an objective third party, but in public relations, you are actively advocating for that client. To advocate effectively on their behalf, you have to believe in them, and they have to have trust in you. 

How has your journalism career influenced how you practice PR?

Having worked in journalism for so long gives me an understanding of how the news is made at both a tactical and a strategic level. This benefits my clients in innumerable ways, from knowing the best day to put out a press release, the best type of story to pitch directly, the best time to hold a press conference, and how to plan an event that will be newsworthy enough that the press will want to cover it.

What do you like most about being VP of PR for Furia Rubel?

Change and challenges are like oxygen for me; I need them to survive, so I love the fact that every day is different. Particularly with the growth in our Crisis Communications services, I never know what the day might bring. My team might be crafting a public statement for a business under scrutiny or arranging a last minute press interview or announcing a major initiative. The uncertainty keeps things interesting.

Do you have any hobbies that help you wind down from a hectic week at work?

I love to travel, and go to shows or museums. I read and write every day. Other hobbies vary with the season. This summer, I spent most of my free time outside in the garden, growing heirloom tomatoes and other veggies, and then in the kitchen, canning and freezing the produce. In the winter, my indoor pursuits usually include something creative (stamping, scrapbooking, card-making, photography, and other artistic pursuits) or related to my family history research. My primary ancestors hailed from Ireland, Scotland, Norway, and Sweden, and I’ve traced the oldest known branch of my family back to 1598 in Gloucestershire, England.

Name four of your favorite apps for your phone.

Paprika, for recipes, meal planning, and grocery shopping
Waze, for driving and navigation
Splice, for video editing
Broadway Box, for discounts to Broadway shows

What are you reading right now?

“Alexander Hamilton,” the biography by Ron Chernow that inspired the Broadway musical with which I am currently obsessed; “The Signature of All Things,” historical fiction by Elizabeth Gilbert; and “Leading from the Front: No Excuse Leadership Tactics for Women.”

To learn more, check out our website or connect with Sarah on LinkedIn.

De-Cluttering for Your Desk and Your Mind

By Rose Strong

Maybe I was pushing spring, since we’ve had more than our fair share of snow and freezing rain here in the Northeast; the days of walking on ice in my backyard with my over-the-boot ice cleats are getting old. I’m done with winter. So, in an effort to force some movement to a more gentle time of year, I did some early spring cleaning a few weeks ago, starting with my office desk drawers.

Straightening up my desk drawers is one of the last chores I have time for during my workday, but the contents therein are essential to much of my work. Making time to go through and clean out the nonessential debris that seems to overtake these little, slide-out boxes that reside on either side of me would be beneficial to not only my daily tasks, but to my state of mind.

Last year, I read Gretchen Rubin’s book, “The Happiness Project.” We all want to be happy, right? For the most part, I thought the book was full of great ideas, stellar research and mostly simple solutions to some long-standing problems common to us all. One of her theories is how clutter can be a significant inhibitor of a peaceful and productive life. This article from Lifehacker.com reveals the scientific proof and as one who tends to pile “stuff” on nearly every flat surface or keep needless ”stuff” on a shelf, in a closet or in a drawer, I can attest to that.

Although I can be lazy when it comes to making serious changes to my life, Rubin’s “Ten Tips to Beat Clutter,” from her blog are really terrific, and I especially like her one-minute rule, which I find pretty amazing when I stick with it. It’s a very simple action philosophy that rewards big.

Let’s get back to my desk drawers and their interesting contents. Since I’m the office administrator, much of my desk items are things all the office staff uses, like a box of refill staples, envelopes, priority mail and certified letter supplies, a label-maker and refill tape, postage stamps, Band-Aids, packing tape, the storage room key, and desk and file cabinet keys. Anyone may access these items, so it’s pretty essential that they are easily available.

My right-hand drawer is home to my favorite local Chinese menu, various business cards, a Mason jar with ketchup packets, a bottle of White-Out, Chapstick, a nail file, a Starbucks splash stick, a bottle of Ibuprofen, paper clips, a magnifying glass and some sticky notes, binder clips, a ruler, and a lint roller. Although people may need items from that drawer, it is relatively private. I use these things pretty regularly, but I tend to toss stuff into the drawer, making it a disarray of nearly unidentifiable objects.

After cleaning out the drawers and trashing items that I couldn’t recycle or use, it inspired me to declutter my desk as well. Now, I’m amazed at how clear my mind feels and the effect has even given me considerable motivation to work on those tasks I procrastinate most.

A recent opinion piece in the New York Times by Pamela Druckerman gives insight into why clutter is suddenly a first-world problem and how both clutter and the lack of it can affect our minds.

How about you? Are you the clutter type or a neatnik? What do you do to keep your mind and your surroundings clear and organized?

How to Explain Public Relations to Friends and Family: Part I

By Megan Quinn

For the longest time, I've had difficulty explaining the public relations industry to friends and family members. 

I would regularly field questions and comments such as, ‘So you’re a member of the media?’ or ‘Maybe *insert random celebrity here* should be one of your clients!’ or ‘So you’re in human resources?’ 

That would be a NO to all of those. 

A recent article on PR Daily got me thinking that there must be an easier way to explain my job. 

At its core, “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” 

That definition comes from the Public Relations Society of America, and is a good, simple explanation of the overall field. But it doesn't do much to explain what we actually do on a day-to-day basis. So here is what I came up with:

The kind of public relations we practice at Furia Rubel is business to business, aka B2B. You know how movie stars and professional athletes have publicists? We are like that, but we’re publicists for businesses. We don’t represent individuals and we certainly don’t go to movie premieres – though we would be happy to accompany Bradley Cooper on the red carpet any time.

We don’t represent just any business, however. We further refine our particular area of practice to professional services. Our clients include law firms, legal service organizations, accountants and tax providers, financial institutions, and more.

In today’s world, public relations can encompass many tactics. One of the tried and true mainstays is media relations. We have offered our clients as experts for print articles, radio features, television interviews and other forms of media.

We work with journalists to provide appropriate sources for their stories. We bridge the gap between the journalists and our clients, working to coordinate interviews, photo opportunities and commentary on issues of the day. To work well and benefit everyone, this requires long-standing relationships with the media and a detailed understanding of how they work. 

We believe in the power of targeted public relations. Blasting out a press release on a distribution platform to hundreds of journalists across the country will do nothing but anger and alienate the journalists for whom that topic is inappropriate.

Instead, we work with our clients to analyze their business and define their target audience, then do research to determine what media that audience commonly consumes. We compile very targeted and specific media contact databases for each client, tailored to reach the audiences that are most important to their bottom line.

We also work with publications to coordinate article submissions from our clients, when the client has expertise that would be valuable to that publication’s audience.

Not only do we keep our clients in the public eye, we also do our best to keep them out of it in times of crisis. When something goes wrong - or has the possibility of going wrong, if not handled correctly - we are the folks working behind the scenes to make sure our clients quickly and accurately respond to the situation to minimize harm and begin rebuilding as soon as possible.

We may not have the simplest job description in the world, and what we do can change by the hour or minute, but any way you look at it, public relations professionals get to share their clients’ interesting stories with the world. That has to be the best part of our job!

This is the first installment of a three-part series of posts explaining the art of public relations. In my next post, I will address media monitoring and reporting services.

Yes, We Felt Dirty – And Oh So Good

By Kim Tarasiewicz

Wearing neon yellow reflective pinnies, rubber gloves, and boots and carrying large green trash bags. Not a normal day in the office for us – or out of the office, for that matter. What were we doing? Roadside cleanup of course! Furia Rubel took a few hours to beautify our world by walking the road that runs along our office, picking up trash.

Yes, we do have one of those signs that reads “Adopt A Road – Litter Control” with our company name on it, but that’s not for advertising; Furia Rubel originally developed the local adopt-a-road program to celebrate our tenth year in business and we won’t be one of those companies that keeps the sign up without doing the work. Most of us travel the busy road next to the office each day, and we want to keep our area looking good.

With the Doylestown Township police department escort providing flashing lights for safety, our team set out to fill our bags. We quickly grabbed sticks to try and gather hard to reach items, entangled in the brush. As I donned my red rubber boots, and climbed over guardrails, I realized just how much trash lurked below the visible surface of the road. I grew up in Bucks County, and lived in New York City after college, and it still amazes me why anyone would chose to litter in either place.
In the city, there is always a trash can within arm’s reach and, in the suburbs, if you’re driving in your car and have trash, either keep a trash bag in the car or take it home to throw away properly.

In true competitive Furia Rubel fashion, we decided to make it interesting and see who could find the strangest trash. There was plenty of the usual – beer cans, fast food containers, and more cigarette butts than we could possibly count in an afternoon. But the other items we found were peculiar at best. Among the items in contention for winning were a sign for a painting company, feminine hygiene unmentionables, and a car key remote, but the winner was…a pair of dirty long underwear.

We try to be “green” at Furia Rubel; we recycle, of course, and turn off the lights and equipment when they’re not in use. We don’t print documents unless we have to, and when we do, we often reuse scrap paper in the printers. Those “Save the Earth” campaigns don’t seem to be as popular anymore. Many of us remember the 1970’s commercial with the crying Native American, but when is the last time you remember seeing a similar commercial reminding you not to litter? After picking up other people’s trash, I think our team would agree that the public could use another reminder like that commercial.

When we were done with our roadside walk, we had bags full of garbage, including the long underwear. The area looked great and we felt accomplished, but now, more than a week later, I see a few new pieces of trash as I drive to work in the morning. Here’s hoping that the visual of us on the road, cleaning up the mess, makes people think before they litter.

To Rebrand or Not to Rebrand, That is the Question

By Megan Quinn

#142188957 / gettyimages.com

It’s funny how a new look can change the entire feel of a company. Sometimes a business wants a change – whether it is a flashy or subtle one. Starbucks made a slight change to their logo in 2011, but it’s barely noticeable (in my opinion). They opted to keep their signature mermaid symbol, while making some updates to it, and removing the words “Starbucks Coffee” from their logo. In short – their company name in the logo was unnecessary because their brand is internationally recognizable.

Sometimes logo changes are not enough. That was the case with Hotmail. Launched in 1996, this email service has been around for almost 20 years and was one of the first web-based email services. However, Microsoft decided to reinvent Hotmail during the summer of 2013 to become Outlook.com. Hotmail users still got to keep the “@hotmail.com” address, plus their contacts and passwords, but significant external changes took place.

“Today, we’re excited to announce that we’ve completed upgrading all Hotmail customers to Outlook.com. Coupled with the growing organic excitement for Outlook.com, this has pushed us to over 400 million active Outlook.com accounts, including 125 million that are accessing email, calendar and contacts on a mobile device using Exchange ActiveSync,” Microsoft said in a blog post on the day it finished the upgrade. The Outlook.com integration process took only six weeks and was completed on May 2, 2013.

Not only did Microsoft’s Hotmail rebrand, but they also backed up their decision with plenty of ways to keep their customers happy and loyal while gaining new ones. Sounds like rebranding and updating was their key to success.

Not every company needs to rebrand. Sometimes it only requires a surface change. In this case, Microsoft’s Hotmail was due for a huge upgrade – and the company delivered.

Another lesser known success story is that of Burberry, the clothing, scarf and handbag brand. Their infamous checkered pattern actually was digging them into a deep hole. The pattern had become associated with hooligans in the UK who acted violently at soccer matches. A pattern that was once seen as a status symbol was now outlawed, so to speak.

Burberry was in serious need of a rebranding effort to keep their customers. They decided to hire young celebrities to endorse their products and also revamped their trench coats. By staying in the loop and realizing their brand was being connected with the wrong crowd, they kept their successful name.

Sometimes rebranding doesn’t fit in with the company's ultimate needs and goals, or maybe it’s just not necessary, if customers are so accustomed to the old logo. Business won’t exactly improve or could stay the same. There are currently some new brand logos out there that I’m not too fond of, but I still give those brands business because I like their products or services.

Are there any new rebranding efforts you feel made a critical difference for companies? Are there any branding schemes you wish had never changed? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Return to Sender 10 Months Later?

By Rose Strong

#75407052 / gettyimages.com

Have you ever wished you could follow a letter from the time you sent it to the time it arrives in the mailbox of your intended recipient? It might be an interesting journey.

As a communications firm, Furia Rubel is ready quite early with our holiday cards and video greetings. We plan for them to go out in the mail about three weeks before the actual holiday.

Last year, our greetings were sent out on or about Dec. 9 from the Philadelphia postal hub. As happens with any mass mailing, some addressees are no longer at the address we have on file. We typically receive these cards back, investigate for the updated address, and resend. This process usually takes 10 to 14 days.

However, we recently received one of our 2013 holiday cards back, marked Return to Sender / Unable to Forward / Not Deliverable As Addressed - more than 250 days after it had been mailed.

Please indulge me as I give a quick and brief history lesson about the United States Postal Service. The organization began as the United States Post Office, a governmental agency first suggested by publisher William Goddard in 1774 as a way to get information out to citizens without the prying eyes of the British postal inspectors. The USPS began moving the mail on July 26, 1775, as approved by the Second Continental Congress. Benjamin Franklin was appointed its first postmaster general.

Upon the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, the U.S. Postal Service functioned as a regular, tax-supported, agency of the federal government. Still an agency of the federal government today, in 1982 U.S. postage stamps became “postal products,” and the USPS now is funded solely by sales of stamps, shipping and other services.

As of this writing, there are more than 30,000 post offices, stations and branches throughout the United States to handle domestic mail. If you take a gander at the USPS website’s ‘About’ page, you can see the numbers regarding mail volume, the people involved, fleet of vehicles and the department’s yearly budget.  Here are just a few of the numbers, based on 2013 data, that I found interesting:

• 152.9 million — total number of delivery points nationwide
• 158.4 billion — number of mail pieces processed
• 211,654 — number of vehicles — one of the largest civilian fleets in the world
• 1.2 billion — number of miles driven each year by mail carriers and truck drivers
• 38.8 million — number of address changes processed
• If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 45th in the 2013 Fortune 500.
• In the 2013 Global Fortune 500 list, the U.S. Postal Service ranked 140th.

From those fine facts, it can be concluded that the United States Postal Service is a colossal organization. So, one long lost letter in that sphere of people and mechanical processes shouldn’t be surprising.

I took our returned card to my local post office and asked the postmistress why it could have taken so long to come back to our office. She made a copy and said she’d pass it along to her regional office and see if they had an answer.

Checking in a few days later, the postmistress told me that there was no conclusive answer.

“It could have fallen off the belt in the sorting facility and gotten stuck, and someone found it when the machine jammed or they cleaned and just sent it along on its way,” she said.

Sometimes one doesn’t get answers to the mysteries they question. I guess that’s all there really is to Return to Sender - unless you’re an Elvis fan.

Saying Good-bye to a Furia Rubel Team Member

By Sarah Larson

The Furia Rubel team bids farewell to Maggie Quinn, second from right.

Today, we bid farewell to a member of the Furia Rubel team, and are reminded that in business, as in life, change is constant.

Maggie Quinn has been a valuable addition to the Furia Rubel family for nearly a year. She took on a wide range of tasks – from writing press releases, to filing, to compiling media lists, to formatting email newsletters – with efficiency, professionalism and a willing attitude – an attribute that, most managers would agree, can make or break a team.

A 2013 graduate of Penn State, Maggie is just setting out on her career. Like so many newly minted college graduates, she is embarking on a journey that could lead her just about anywhere, both philosophically and geographically.

For now, that journey is taking her to California, where she will become an Account Coordinator at Access Communications.

Of course, Maggie’s departure from Pennsylvania means that Furia Rubel has been in hiring mode. After weeks of sorting through resumes and interviewing candidates, we have welcomed a new face to our team.

Her name?

Megan Quinn. No relation.

Because sometimes, life just works out that way.

Cover Girls: Furia Rubel Executives Featured on Cover of W4 Magazine

In December 2012, the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce featured several influential Bucks County, Pa. executives on the cover of its monthly member publication, W4. Gina Rubel and Laura Powers were highlighted for their dedicated service to supporting the organization through technologies such as websites, apps and promotions. Click here to see the cover in full.

Social Media and the Courts: Recap From TLI Litigation Summit, Part IV – The Legal Intelligencer Blog

Gina F. Rubel recently authored a blog for The Legal Intelligencer titled, “Social Media and the Courts: Recap From TLI Litigation Summit, Part IV.” To provide you with a bit of background, in September 2012, The Legal hosted its first annual Litigation Summit in Philadelphia and Gina co-moderated its lunch program with Mary Platt of Griesing Law. Program panelists included Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas President Judge Pamela P. Dembe; Judge John W. Herron, administrative judge of the court’s Trial Division; and President Judge Marsha H. Neifield of the Philadelphia Municipal Court. Gina's blog is an overview of what the panel discussed – specifically highlighting how social media has affected litigation in the courts. To read the full post, go to The Legal Intelligencer Blog.

Holiday Greetings from Furia Rubel Marketing & PR

We hope you enjoy the Furia Rubel Marketing & PR 2012 animated holiday card...

Wishing you a wealth of warmth and prosperity.

From the integrated marketing team at Furia Rubel Communications

Law Firm Crisis Planning and Management: Lessons Learned from #Sandy - Lawyernomics Blog

Gina Rubel recently authored a blog for Avvo.com's Lawyernomics blog titled, "Law Firm Crisis Planning and Management: Lessons Learned from #Sandy." The blog explores crisis management for businesses and how Furia Rubel and its law firm colleagues on the East Coast dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Gina discusses crisis planning and management issues such as life without electricity, transportation / travel, social media and crisis messaging. To read the full article, go to Avvo.com's Lawyernomics Blog.

Personal Branding – You Are What They Google

Laura Powers of the Simpsons(tm)

OK, I’ll admit it. I’ve got Google Alerts set up for my name. I also like to Google my name from time to time, just to see what comes up.

Think I’m weird? An ego-surfer? Maybe, but there is a reason why I monitor my name on Google. You see, I’m not just interested in how I see myself – I want to know how you see me.

In today’s hyper-connected world, you are what you can Google – or rather what others can Google about you. Increasingly those without an online presence are viewed as out-of-step at best and suspicious at worst. Consider these statistics:

• 79% of recruiters screen applicants using information available online
• 86% of hiring managers rejected someone based on information they found online
• 7 out of 10 of people who are online check other people’s profiles

Typically, when someone does a casual search, they will only read what appears on page one. Most won’t even bother to scroll down to the bottom, so it’s the first five or six links that matter the most. Therefore, owning that digital real estate, or at least a significant part of it, is important to your credibility.

That’s not a big deal if you have a relatively uncommon name like mine. However, what if you have a more popular name, like Laura Powers?

Just who is Laura Powers?

• The musician heard on albums like “Legends of the Goddess?”
• The teenage girl who lives next door to Bart on the Simpsons?
• A custom jeweler from Atlanta?
• Vice president of marketing at Furia Rubel Communications?

Obviously, she’s our VP of marketing. If you know anything about her, it’s not hard to distinguish her from the others. But, what happens if her name drops out of the top five? Her credibility could suffer or she could be missed altogether.

To increase your chances of appearing in the top five, try these tactics:

Blog: Creating a blog can help you to be seen faster. Google’s algorithms like blogs and,
so long as you update the content regularly, you’ve got a good chance of being seen. Make sure your bio and profile information are up-to-date so that you put your best foot forward when someone clicks through.

Engage in social media: It’s rare to find a person who does not have at least one social media profile on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook. Make sure you post regularly and that your profile information is complete and presents you in a professional manner. Also, don’t ignore Google+. Connecting your social media profiles to Google+ will help them to appear closer to the top in a Google search. Google likes Google – go figure.

Integrate keywords into your blog and social media: By using keywords specific to your profession, you will score higher when someone searches for your areas of expertise (e.g., marketing), it will help to differentiate you from someone else with the same name (e.g., Laura Powers the jeweler from Atlanta).

Use a content manager: If lack of time is keeping you from engaging in social media, then consider using a content manager to organize your posts. A content manager is simply a computer program that allows publishing, editing and modifying of content on a website. A blog coupled with an RSS feed can serve as a content manager. Other programs like Hootsuite let you set up and distribute media messages at predetermined times. It’s all about using the technology to be more efficient. 

Photos: Don’t underestimate the value of a professional photo, especially in the online environment. Your social media profile photos will often appear in your Google search, so make sure they’re good ones. Ask yourself, could I show my profile photo to my mother? If not, upgrade it now and be sure to use your name in its title. IMG.001 doesn’t cut it.

Video: YouTube has become the second most powerful search engine and Google indexes YouTube videos instantly. In fact, Google owns YouTube, so creating, personalizing and optimizing a YouTube channel will help you to rank higher in a search. Here are a few things to remember: Include your name in the title, check the visibility box, check the email location box and most importantly, choose three to five relevant keywords, separated by quote marks. 

Post on your company’s website: Having your profile connected to other high ranking websites will help to increase your search engine visibility. So, if it’s appropriate, post your bio and photo on your company’s website and blog on your company’s blog.

Get quoted in articles, press releases or on popular blogs: Being mentioned in a relevant article will help your name to rank higher in a search. This can also apply to press releases, if they are optimized with appropriate keywords or appear on a popular website. Is your company’s website popular and well optimized? If there is an opportunity, ask your PR department to issue a press release that mentions your name.

Submit for professional awards: Prestigious awards carry value for your name, especially if the organization posts the winners on their website or in a press release.

Wikipedia: Few of us have the chops to have a Wikipedia page or appear in a Wikipedia article. That said Wikipedia articles appear in over 96% of Google subject matter searches, so being cited in a Wikipedia page will increase your visibility.

There are other ways to increase your visibility on Google, but this should give you plenty to work on. If you’re fighting for that coveted Google space, then you’ll want to start using these tactics on a consistent basis. You never know who is watching.

Proofreading Your Content: The Area to be Nit-Picky

Posted by Rose Strong

Have you ever read an article or book and found that one glaringly wrong typo and wonder how no one caught the glaring error? We’ve all read signs in store windows and thought the person who wrote it should go back to high school English class and review sentence structure. Many of these typos have made it into emails or on Facebook for some good belly laughs.

- Gun Shop
- Prince Harry

Fresh eyes are so important in writing professionally. Regardless of what your business is or who you’re writing for, if it isn’t well-written on your website, blog post or printed materials or even your Twitter feed and Facebook status, you could be losing potential business.

Mangle a sentence or misspell a few words, forget a comma or two and you immediately send the message that your business does haphazard work.

This past May, I started with Furia Rubel in the capacity of office administrator. With an office staff of five, this position is more than just keeping an appointment calendar, answering the phone and filing. It offers a variety of tasks, one of which is proofreading.

For the past nine years, I’ve been writing professionally as a part-time freelancer, mostly for a local weekly newspaper here in Bucks County. Let me say one thing, there is a world of difference between being the writer and being the proofreader.

As a writer, I do my research, put words on the screen, review a few times and send them off to an editor. Regarding proofreading, you’d think that it’s basically about checking for misspellings and making sure sentences make sense. Oh no! That’s only part of the job.

For the last five months, I’ve had a crash course in proofreading and I’m still learning. And the job of course, is about making sure things are spelled right, but don’t forget about extra spaces, over-used quotation marks and the Oxford comma.

And then of course there’s style. In Furia Rubel’s case, that’s the AP Stylebook for most things, but there are those odd questions we ask one another, “Is it health care or healthcare?” “Does nonprofit have a hyphen?” “Is board of directors capitalized?” “Should that have a comma or semi-colon?” “Shouldn’t that word be pluralized?” “Is third-world-country a politically correct term?” And the list goes on, every day. The AP Stylebook is our go-to source for these kinds of questions.

It sounds nit-picky, (yes, there is a hyphen in that) but it all comes down to doing great work, making sense and sharing a cohesive and well-thought-out message with our audience.

- Cost of Not Proofreading
- Grammar Girl

Thoughts on My First Week as MarCom Director

Photo by Allure West Studios

Posted by Jonathan Morein

They say that when you start a new position, you should take plenty of notes.

Well, on this, my first week at Furia Rubel Communications in Bucks County, I’ve taken pages. Books even. So, for my first blog post, I thought I’d boil down my thoughts and share what I’ve learned so far. First, I have to say, this is going to be a great job! I’m amazed by my colleagues. They are organized and detailed and will challenge me to perform at my very best.

Second, I felt I knew the company, its philosophy and its team before I even got started. For a boutique integrated marketing agency, Furia Rubel has a powerhouse presence. Their posts about marketing have influenced my thinking for years. This speaks well for a company that practices what it preaches when it comes to the power of thought leadership.

Third, Furia Rubel is extremely well organized in its thinking and its programs. I’m amazed at the sophistication of our strategic planning processes. My first assignment is to prepare an assessment for a strategic marketing plan for a new client. I’ve conducted brand assessments many times before – or at least I thought I had. This one is like nothing I had ever seen. Comprehensive is an understatement, with dozens of questions on everything from their business model to their work style.

Why so much detail? I think it’s because Furia Rubel leaves nothing to chance. We’re building a blueprint for communications success. From great plans spring successful marketing and public relations campaigns. I’ve read through hundreds of strategic plans and these are the most detailed and well-integrated that I’ve seen in a long time.

Furia Rubel defines its process as “Communications Made Simple.” Achieving simplicity is hard work. It’s like being the proverbial duck gliding across the water. The smaller the ripples on the surface, the more furiously it’s paddling below.

Looking forward to paddling with you in the months ahead.

All the Best,
Jonathan Morein

By the way, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanmorein or on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/JonMor to share your thoughts.

Gina Rubel quoted in SmartCEO magazine's Women in Business issue

Gina Rubel, President/CEO of Furia Rubel Communications was quoted in a recent SmartCEO magazine column, “Ladies Room, ” about women in business. The author, Mark Carrow, managing partner of Citrin Cooperman's tax accounting, business consulting, and valuation services office in Philadelphia, quoted Rubel as saying:

“It is important for women to have confidence and capitalize on their natural abilities to develop and nurture relationships. “Being successful in business means building and maintaining great relationships. That includes your colleagues, referral sources, competitors, customers and even the media.” She said, “It also means not to be afraid to speak up, having integrity, never stepping on toes, and always knowing who else is in the ladies’ room.”

Other notable women quoted in the article include Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young law partner Linda A. Galante, Esq., president of FranWise, Mary O'Connell, forensic accountant Colleen Vallen, and former PA Supreme Court Justice, The Honorable Sandra Schultz Newman.

Rubel adds, “What does it take to update your LinkedIn profile, share your good news on Facebook, write an article for a trade publication, or update your online corporate bio? Not much effort with a great deal of return.”

Thank You PRSA Philadelphia For The 2011 Pepperpot For Montgomery Mall Marketing

The People Behind The PR Lawyer

Posted by Leah Ludwig

Many of you know our PR Lawyer bloggers very well from our daily posts about social media insights, updates in technology, PR and marketing tips and tactics and much more.

Well, here is a behind-the-scenes, everyday-person sneak peak at one of the Furia Rubel team members who helps to fuel The PR Lawyer with breaking industry news and content.

Allow me to first set the stage.

My husband and I recently purchased our first home from a family member. Along with the home, we inherited a herd of nine chickens (hens).

This morning at the wonderful time of 7:30 a.m., as I was strolling to the kitchen of our home to pack my lunch for the day, I noticed our nine hens ranging freely in our backyard. They had broken out of their pen! With my husband (the main chicken caretaker) long gone and off to work, it was up to me to get the escape artists back into their pen. I proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes sweating, cursing and doing my best to make all right with the world and to get our new “pets” out of harm’s way – only to have my feathered friends break out through a hole in the pen’s wiring just 15 minutes later. What a morning!

My colleague and the founder of The PR Lawyer, Gina Rubel, thought our readers would get a kick out of hearing about the people behind the blog. I hope you all got a good chuckle from my Friday morning frenzy.

Vice President Of Marketing, Laura Powers, To Present At Local Career Expo

Laura Powers to present at Bucks County Career and Opportunities Expo on March 15, 2011 at Bucks County Community College - Lower Bucks Campus. The Expo is free of charge and open to the public from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Laura will be joining experts on a panel to discuss "Creating Your Own Job Security – Are You Ready to Start a Business?" The panel presentation is sponsored by the County of Bucks Department of Community & Business Development. Join our inspirational panelists who have successfully started their own business and hear their motivational stories on the risks and rewards of being an entrepreneur. Learn the 5 key ingredients you need to identify before starting a business: Finances, Branding & Self-Promotion, Time Management, Support Network, Licenses & Regulations.

Laura Powers is a marketing strategist with a history of developing award-winning campaigns that create continuity of brand, Web, print, promotions and public relations. She understands how design and image components fit within comprehensive marketing and public relations programs in order to build brands and their affinities. As Vice President of Marketing, Laura works with Furia Rubel clients to strategically identify the messages that are theirs alone and helps them deliver those messages creatively, effectively and across all lines of their communications. In 1996, she founded HG Marketing Group, LLC, a strategic affiliate to Furia Rubel until their merger in 2010.

Furia Rubel merges, adds clients - Philadelphia Business Journal

Great coverage today from Peter Van Allen of the Philadelphia Business Journal.

What a wonderful way to begin a Monday morning.

Here's a link to the full story: Furia Rubel merges, adds clients - Philadelphia Business Journal

Furia Rubel Recognized by Philadelphia Business Journal as a Top Philanthropic Corporate Giver

Posted by Katie Noonan

We are pleased to share with our friends and colleagues that Furia Rubel has been recognized by the Philadelphia Business Journal as one of the top philanthropic givers in the publication’s 2011 Book of Lists. The firm was honored along with other top corporate givers at the Corporate Philanthropy Summit where Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter congratulated the recipients. Senior Account Manager Leah Rice accepted the award on the firm's behalf.

The Philadelphia Business Journal, a weekly newspaper covering breaking business news in the Greater Philadelphia region, compiles a Book of Lists, which provides listings of hundreds of the most cutting edge area companies in their fields by ranking. The Corporate Givers List recognizes the area’s top contributors of service hours, monetary donations and in-kind donations across industries.

“Giving back speaks to the core values of our agency and staff,” said PRLawyer, Gina F. Rubel, President and CEO. “We support up to three pro bono clients each year while encouraging all staff members to participate in furthering various worthy causes.”

In 2008, Furia Rubel donated more than 1,450 hours of service, $1,405 in cash contributions and more than $180,000 in-kind to community and nonprofit organizations. The agency offered pro bono public relations and marketing services to support the endeavors of Elephant’s Eye Artists Studio Tour, Philadelphia VIP (Volunteers for the Indigent Program), Deep Run Mennonite Church East, and Bucks Fever Film Fest.

The Philadelphia Business Journal's Corporate Philanthropy Summit gathers the region's leading business and civic leaders to share best practices about philanthropy and community engagement. The summit featured guest appearances by Mayor Michael Nutter and WTFX-TV FOX 29 News Anchor Kerri-Lee Halkett and Jim Ellis, Innercity Swim Coach & Inspiration to the well-acclaimed movie PRIDE, served as the keynote speaker at the awards ceremony.