Now that everyone’s back from summer vacation, we have some exciting news to share— Pisano Slater Enterprises (PSE) is open for business!
This is our new newsletter, A Better Way to Say That, and once a month we’ll be analyzing the good, bad, and baffling ways people communicate today. Annmarie Pisano and I write from the perspective of comms professionals who are also Regular Folks in our non-working hours. We’re interested in what our industry gets wrong (or right) when trying to reach an audience.
Here’s why we decided to start this agency and this newsletter at this moment:
We’ve spent the last decade neck-deep in the world of public relations. During that time, we’ve seen that there’s a lot of room for improvement. Too many agencies charge a fortune for turning in sloppy work at a glacial pace. And too many clients are left wondering, “What exactly are we getting out of this?”
We think people are ready for an agency that prioritizes the steak of tangible production and straightforward communication over the sizzle of exciting promises and opaque shortcuts to success. In fact, we’ve heard this directly from quite a few of you.
So we’ve decided to test our theory and see if there’s a market for an honest comms firm that does solid work at fair prices. The results have been promising thus far.
Annmarie and I don’t care about getting rich, and we have little interest in becoming Thought Leaders™. We just want to make a living by doing good work on behalf of decent people.
If that describes you (or someone you know), we hope you’ll get in touch!
Because the last word is rarely the end of the conversation.
Much like penguins, we enjoy bringing you little gifts to brighten your day:
Six-figure remote job for someone who loves kids and books: Book Trust is looking for an Assistant Vice President to help kids across the country build their own personal libraries.
Fascinating new book on how ancient India shaped today’s world: From renowned historian William Darlymple, The Golden Road comes out on Sept. 5 (in the UK, but if you’re in the US and don’t want to wait until next April, the publisher will still ship you a copy).
A communications career conference for women in New York: It’s exactly what it sounds like, and it’s happening on September 27 at Spotify in the WTC!
Brooklyn’s festival of books, books, and additional books: Back from September 22-30, the main programming day will be on September 29 in their usual space near City Hall. Annmarie is particularly excited to see Palestinian author/poet Hala Alyan and novelist Vanessa Chan.
Want to learn a little more about how we can help you or your organization? Check out our website, or follow us on LinkedIn!
Working with people you think are interesting is good for your own personal and career growth. If their ideas are good enough to work on for free, someone will eventually pay them for that, and you’ll have forged a professional relationship—or better, a friendship—with someone smart.
There’s nothing wrong with media outlets exploring new revenue streams, and newsrooms are always fluctuating in size. But outlets can only hollow out their core product so much before it collapses entirely, and a growing number of media organizations seem to be reaching that point now. Live events are not going to save them.
Comms agencies that are good at their work tend to be curious and resourceful. We can’t pretend to be ignorant about the people and products we’re telling the public to trust. In all but the rarest cases, the agency knows what it wants to know. Business is never as pure or idealistic as we might want it to be. It does have ethical boundaries, though, and these are especially important at inflection points like the one we’re in now.
We humans like to explore for exploring’s sake. We’re pleased when we find an unexpected beautiful thing, and we feel a sense of satisfaction when we “discover” something that’s not immediately obvious to the casual observer. People want to spend time in environments where these opportunities are available—which is something to consider when building (or updating) your website.
Nonprofits shouldn't have to beg for funding to provide vital services. But with federal funding suddenly scarce—and thousands of organizations scrambling to attract attention from the big donors that remain—a new kind of comms strategy is needed.
The platform doesn't drive traffic to your site. The ads don't convert. And these days most of the "engagement" comes from spam bots or virulent bigots. It's time to move on from Twitter—but to where?
Everybody loves talking about the importance of "storytelling" for building your organization's name recognition. And it really can work—but it requires more planning and effort than firing off the occasional blog post or Instagram post.
If your nonprofit or small business has a clear message to share about a concrete goal it wants to achieve, video can do that better than any other medium—if it's done right.
Today, even a glowing review in the New York Times doesn't move the needle that much. Getting people's attention takes a more creative approach. And it all hinges around owning the means of (content) production.
In the inaugural issue of A Better Way to Say That, we explore important questions like why does this newsletter exist? and why does PSE exist, for that matter? We also share a roundup of exciting new book launches, events, and job postings—along with perhaps the most effective fundraising email ever written. As far as business-y newsletters go, it's a fun read!
