I studied postmodern American literature in college, so the idea of recycling historical content and putting a new spin, or voice, on it rings a lot of familiar bells for me. It seems that advertising has started to catch up to other industries in its efforts to recycle and reuse the gold mine of existing content at their disposal to trigger attention with a wave of nostalgia.

Smart PR professionals know that garnering news coverage for a client is about pitching their story to the right people at the right publication at the right time. Enter editorial calendars, the wonderful guides for creating inroads and becoming a valuable resource to reporters.

You wrote a great pitch, sprinkled in some quality data and sent it to a handful of laser-targeted reporters covering the topic; while you hope they’ll jump at the chance to talk to your client, your pitch gets met with silence instead. Now what?

Public relations professionals come in all shapes and sizes, with unique personalities and quirks; but however different each PR professional might be, there are a few key qualities the most successful among us share.

Dating is just like public relations. Before you laugh, ask yourself: What’s the first association you make when it comes to PR? If you said relationship management, you’re on my wavelength.

The mix of marketing vehicles available to companies looking to tell their stories and sell their wares has never been more extensive: print, broadcast, online, mobile. This reminds us that it's not the channel in which a message is consumed but the message itself and the source of that message that earns a business credibility.

At PReturn, we have a core belief that each time we reach out to the media with client news, we’re actually servicing two clients: our paying client and the reporter we’re pitching. It’s easy to get wrapped up with a client’s agenda (after all, they’re paying!), but forgetting about the reporters’ needs puts you in a bad position. By taking care of the reporters, your paying clients come out on top far more often.

If they haven’t already, PR professionals should start planning 2014 strategies to help clients achieve desired results; at PReturn we’re doing the same.

The concept of "synergy" gives marketers of all types a constant and steady ideal outcome at which to aim. Synergy results when two elements combine to create something greater than the sum of its parts.