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.

What We’re Reading: Instagram Zoom, Twitter Tips and News Consumption Habits

By: Caitlan McCafferty

Zooming on Instagram
No more hacks needed for Instagram users on Apple products. Instagram recently announced an update that allows all iOS users to pinch to zoom  in on photos or videos. It will be available across the app – people’s profiles, users’ feeds, and the explore tab. Instagram says that the Android app will receive the updates in the “coming weeks.” If you’re a dedicated Android user and you can’t wait until then, don’t despair. You still have a hack that will let you zoom in Instagram. AndroidPit has the story.

Twitter Tips
Are you using Twitter to its full capability? This article from Social Media Today highlights “5 Under-Used Twitter Features That Can Help Your Business Stand Out Online .” Bring more value to your Twitter presence by using Lists, Collections, Photo Collages, Featured Tweets, and Gallery features. Twitter Collections and Twitter Lists help users better listen to the accounts they follow. They both offer improved content curation and better organization on the fast-flowing platform. With Photo Collages, Featured Tweets, and Gallery, a user can create a story or message for their followers. Check out the article linked above for specifics on using these tools to create a better Twitter experience for your brand and your followers.

Study Highlights Consumer News Consumption Habits
Pew Research recently released its latest findings on the modern news consumer  and concluded that 8 out of 10 news consumers get their news online. Pew found that 62 percent of Americans get their news through social media and 72 percent get news delivered to a mobile device. Most Americans continue to use news organizations as sources of news, but some receive news from their friends and family. Despite the rapid increase in digital consumption, however, television still commands the largest market share – 57 percent of respondents said they often get their news on TV, while 38 percent said they get the news often online. These findings should help brands and organizations make better strategic choices when considering how best to executive their public relations plans.

Using Technology for Corporate Recruiting

By Kim Tarasiewicz

How many of you were recruited for a job right out of college? Did you attend the sessions where you “dressed for success,” met with corporate representatives, and then typed out or, heaven forbid, hand-wrote a thank you letter? As my son begins life on campus as a freshman at Temple University, I am amazed at how much technology has changed the face of college life and also job recruiting.

This generation of college students is the most tech-savvy group by far; a Mashable infographic shows that 73 percent of students say they cannot study without the use of technology. As the class of 2019 makes its way through college, technology will impact the process of gaining employment even more, and those organizations that want to hire the best of the bunch will have to keep up with those advances, as well.

Just networking and putting out an advertisement on LinkedIn might not be enough for companies to connect with the right hire. Technology companies are launching new applications to help college students find the right job, and you better believe this technology-driven group will know how to use those apps.

Companies like Symplicity have partnered with college career centers to give businesses that are hiring access to highly qualified job candidates. Job seekers can download an app and keep all of their resources and searches stored in one place - yet another reason that any company developing a new website needs to have a mobile site as well if they want to remain competitive.

College students today are aware of how competitive the job market is. To remain competitive as that market evolves, they must partner with their career center early on to match skills with opportunities. As is the case at Temple, on-campus interviews are still important, but much of the process and tracking is done online with your student account.

For talent managers, keeping up with the technology college students are using can be tough, but recruiters should be aware of how potential hires are using QR codes to upload resumes, using calendars to schedule interviews, and checking websites such as Glassdoor to rate interviews and compare corporate hiring processes. Recruiters themselves can access apps to evaluate candidates, keep track of job fairs, and access a database of job seekers.

So to those hiring students fresh out of college, start updating your corporate technology now to keep abreast of the latest resources and hire the best. And to the class of 2019, good luck in your college endeavors and here’s hoping that each of you can connect on the right job with the right company four years from now.

Using Technology to Enjoy a Little More Sunshine This Summer

By Kim Tarasiewicz

As we move into summer, everyone wants more free time to enjoy the wonderful weather and outdoors. And believe it or not, technology can help with that. While technology can keep us connected when we might wish to be off the grid, it also allows us time to work when we are able and not miss important calls, meetings or emails.

At Furia Rubel, we savor our vacation time as much as the next person and we have found some tech tools to save time and be more efficient – and in my case, provide more of my beloved beach time.

Here are some favorites:

IFTTT is an app that lets you combine all of your favorite online technologies. The acronym means “If this, then that” and it allows you to create your own recipes such as “If I post a picture to Instagram, then add it to my Dropbox.” Imagine the time you can save not having to log into each separate application. Even better, you can sign up for a free account and connect your services.

Workflow (for iPhones) and Llama (for Androids) both allow you to connect applications and then combine actions to create automatic tasks. For example, you can set your phone to automatically be on silent when your calendar has you scheduled in a meeting. Or on a personal level, every time you order pizza with an app, it automatically sets a reminder time to pick it up.

Gmail labs are special settings that add helpful features to your Gmail. By going into the “settings” icon at the top right of your Gmail and clicking on "labs," you can manage your email more efficiently. As Gmail states in the disclaimer at the top, these tweaks aren’t permanent, but they are fun to experiment with. "Canned responses" is a great tool for all those times you use the same wording in an email. You can create several and use when needed. And of course the “unsend” feature recently was introduced into the Gmail mix, so when you accidentally hit the send button before attaching your document, you don’t have to send another email with the apology and a big “Oops.”

Carrot is a task application that rewards you when you complete items on your list, but will chastise you when they are not finished on time. As Carrot says, “Greetings lazy human. Slackers make me upset.” It is a fun way to get things done during the day. And if you like an app that interacts with you, it has an alarm, fitness, weather and calorie counter version too.

So get out and enjoy summer this year and experiment with some new technologies and applications. You may find a few that can increase your productivity, making everyone happy. In what other ways do you save time and work and live more efficiently?

Developing an App for Your Law Firm

By: Laura Powers

Supurb case study session today on mobile app dev from @BGLLP @nakosar #LMA14
— Laura Powers (@LPPowers) April 4, 2014

We have been studying the landscape of law firm apps closely this past year. Many firms are reluctant to invest the required time, resources and energy into app development - and with good cause. Most apps developed for law firms are simply an extension of the firm's website. This neither benefits the user, who can access the same information just as easily online, nor the law firm which inevitably will have invested heavily in the app's development and marketing.

The key to building successful apps for the legal industry is in the strategic development of the idea that makes the app useful to the firm's target audience. Firms that are interested in apps need to think critically about what makes an app valuable for users and different from existing apps.

This year, at the Legal Marketing Association’s Annual Conference, I attended a superb presentation by a team from Bracewell & Giuliani. The team described the planning, development, design, integration and marketing of their ShalePlay app, a resource for news and information related to shale gas and hydraulic fracturing. The process took two years of hard work, many hours of critical thinking and in-depth strategic planning, but it has been tremendously successful for the firm as a result.

As I typically do at the presentations I attend, I live-tweeted information from the session. Below, I've distilled some of the main points from these tweets.

• There are two primary areas of concern in app development. The first is targeting the right market - knowing the audience for the tool. The second is "doing mobile right" - considering that, to app users, mobile means immediacy, simplicity & context.


• The team from Bracewell & Giuliani recommends that if you're not going to enable push notifications, don't bother with an app at all. You need to ping users in order to keep the app top-of-mind. If you do plan on sending out push notifications through your firm's mobile app, it should be at a frequency of three to five times during the week.


• The team from Bracewell & Giuliani also recommends that the firm take into serious consideration how the app will fit into the overall brand. In considering what direction to go in the planning phase, start with what the firm knows best. In Bracewell & Giuliani's case, it was their environmental strategies work.


• When developing an app for a law firm, always start with a content plan. Ask yourselves, what content do we usually generate and what is lacking in the app marketplace?


• A critical concern for law firm to consider is that apps need to be useful for potential users, fit into the context of each particular firm and provide a unique value.


• Creating an RFP (request for proposal) for third-party app development is a process that will involve many teams within the firm: marketing, business development, knowledge management, IT and procurement.


• Careful consideration must be given to content management platforms, graphic design and creating the name of the app.


• The extra benefits of mobile apps for law firms include the opportunity to reach out to your audience with a useful tool through direct outreach, article writing or speaking publicly on the benefits of using the app.


• Just like your website, your firm's mobile app is an evolving tool that serves the business – it works to promote the firm to various target audiences.


• Don't overlook measurement and ROI. By measuring the app's performance, Bracewell & Giuliani can demonstrate how the mobile app has opened doors to new clients and generated beneficial conversations with current clients.


• Paul Grabowski, from Bracewell & Giuliani, notes that firms must start looking at new ways to distribute information and ShalePlay is a primary example of this.


• Three key elements of digital marketing to remember: target your market, generate relevant content and stay socially engaged. Launching a law firm app should support all three.

However, there is one caution to keep in mind when evaluating how an app would enhance your law firm's marketing plan. In order for the apps to be successful, people must already know the firms they belong to. In most cases, potential clients must know about a firm before downloading their app. This means that firms need to be reaching out to prospective clients through other marketing techniques first.