40 of the most inspiring, light-a-fire-under-your-butt public relations quotes from 2014. Now go out n' get 'em.

1. Top 40
Kick-Ass #PR Quotes
of 2014
Mickie E. Kennedy
eReleases

2. A Brief History of Ass Kicking in 2014
Hey, Friends,
2014’s been a pretty good year for PR
happenings and case studies in crisis management.
From Uber to Ray Rice to scientists in naughty shirts,
from ice buckets to British Airways, the year has been
especially generous with teachable publicity scenarios.

3. The outpouring of finely distilled, distractingly
quotable PR know-how that flowed from these events
has been just as generous, too, and twice as nice.
In a word, we in PR kicked some serious tail in
2014 – and we got the quotes to prove it!
Enjoy,
Mickie Kennedy

4. "Forming a bond with fans in the
future will come in the form of
constantly providing them with the
element of surprise."
- Taylor Swift
Wall Street Journal Op-Ed

5. "Digital is just a means to reach
people…it’s how and why you use it
that matters."
- Brian Solis
www.briansolis.com

6. Keep positive.
You are in control of how you feel about your
work every day. Remind yourself why you got
into your job in the first place and stay as
positive as you can.
- Adriana
NYC PR Girls

7. Building a brand through effective
storytelling is at the heart of what PR
professionals do.
- Brian Greene
PR News Online

8. Own it. Even if you don’t own it.
- Heather Whaling
www.prtini.com

9. Way before “PR” or “marketing” came to be,
humans were doing something both disciplines
hold (or claim to hold) dear:
telling stories.
- Heidi Sullivan
The Future Buzz

10. The story is everything, but conflict is
everything to the story. Our stories
become more interesting when they
go against the natural order of things.
- Kevin Spacey
The Sword and The Script

11. Make it so good people will want to
steal it.
- Diane Schwartz
PR News Online

12. If this keeps up, people may actually
start to feel sorry for Uber. Maybe
that’s the secret strategy behind their
seemingly never-ending string of PR
fiascos.
- Bill McGowan
Media Bistro

13. When you are falling… dive.
We have no choice but to be mindfully
fearless.
- Dr. Yan Jin
Institute for Public Relations

14. They say communications professionals love to talk.
Here’s a tip … don’t talk too much.
Think about how much you need to listen.
Deirdre Breakenridge
www.deirdrebreakenridge.com

15. Failure
is the condiment
that gives success
its flavor.
- Mark Borkowski (quoting Truman Capote)
www.MarkBorkowski.co.uk

16. I wonder what future colleagues will
make of the collective inaction around
wearable technologies and the device
jumps we are about to encounter.
- Judy Gombita
PR Conversations

17. Dear public relations pros: it’s time for
the ultimate ‘aha’ moment:
content promotion is king.
- Lisa Buyer
Social PR Chat

18. Don't let the fear of the unknown (or even the
fear of the known) ever stop you from doing
something.
Don't ever miss out on the potential for
greatness simply because you're afraid of what
else could happen.
- Peter Shankman
www.Shankman.com

19. Think the media won’t cover your product?
Well then, you’re just not thinking
outrageously enough.
- Frank Strong
The Sword and The Script

20. I sure wish they had spoken
to me first.
- President Barack Obama
Re: Sony Pictures pulling ‘The Interview’

21. If a blog post is published on the
internet and no one is there to hear it,
does it really get posted? And does
that post affect PageRank?
- Elena Verlee
PR in Your Pajamas

22. Profits come from customers, not
products: Keep this front and center
when creating a strategy.
- Sarah Wincott
LEWIS PR

23. It is useless to be a creative, original
thinker unless you can also sell what
you create.
David Ogilvy
Ogilvy PR

24. A poorly constructed, badly
researched, or unimaginatively told
story is worse than saying nothing at
all.
- Hannah Gray
The Blue Ball Room

25. I’m just like you.
I have to roll up my sleeves and work the phones
to sell the story too. Notice I didn’t say “work
the email” or “work the Twitter”?
I’m old school in that way – the phone is still the
best tool for scoring press coverage.
- Jeremy Porter
Journalistics

26. Every media feature big or small helps
the brand in more ways than just
sales.
- Robin Doyle
PR Couture

27. When it comes to media relations it’s not just
about establishing a connection with a reporter.
Maintaining a relationship over time will be the
key to driving consistent results for your clients.
- Carol Lee
Tech Affect

28. PR is not advertising.
Your pitch should be about the reporter
and her publication’s needs, not your own.
- Sean Lenehan
Voce Communications

29. A success story without a name behind the
endorsement is like an Indianapolis race car with
its fuel gauge on empty.
If you want your success story to genuinely
impress a prospect, it has to make real noise by
naming names.
- Mary Conley Eggert
PRSA Blog

30. Never write in an e-mail what you
don't want to see in a headline.
- Jim Horton
Online PR Thoughts

31. You have worth. You have value. And best of all
you have an incredible idea you KNOW is going
to be a huge success.
Guess what. So does everyone else
where you are and doing what you are
trying to do.
- Ronn Torossian
ronntorossian.com

32. The silos between art and
science dissolved long ago.
Every public relations professional should love
math and, more specifically, data.
- Kevin Dugan
The Bad Pitch Blog

33. If you care about something, you’ll share it with
others.
Just by viewing and liking and sharing friends’
videos, you become part of the story.
It’s challenging for brands to reproduce such an
emotional experience, but to get this kind of
traction is essential.
- Melanie Taylor
Social Ogilvy Blog

34. Today’s consumer doesn't need to
own.
Why own when you can share, and
increase cost efficiencies at the same
time?
- Sandie Young
PR 20/20

35. It’s the end of news as an event:
News is now real-time, customized to
us. How do PR people get their
content out? (hint: social)
- Heidi Sullivan
Waxing Unlyrical

36. Writing remains one of the
most important skills
in PR.
- Heather Whaling
PRTini

37. A crisis is a change.
More specifically, bad change.
And change requires a response.
One’s adaptability is a measure of how effective
that reaction is.
- Louis Hayes
Agnes Day

38. When it comes to blogging, news
releases, news stories, or most other
content, I hope you get the idea that
the only thing more important than
the deadline is the headline!
- Jeff Domansky
The PR Coach

39. Consumers want more valuable relationships,
meaning that they want to know more about
brands and the companies behind them, and to
participate more in the brand development
process.
- Richard Edelman
6 AM Blog

40. From the magnificent to the mundane, it seems
it’s all fair game for social sharing. But brands
can’t focus on the mundane when interrupting
consumer conversations online.
They need to be incredibly useful resources to
be relevant – and to prompt action.
- Brittany Bang
360 PR

41. Whether it’s PR and communications or another
industry, rejection comes with the territory. My best
advice is don’t stop. You need to be confident and
continue with different ways to build relationships.
Eventually you will hit a relationship home run.
- Deirdre Breakenridge
www.deirdrebreakenridge.com

42. Sometimes roads close due to ice and heavy
snowfall, so you have to take an alternative
route. In public relations, it’s no different. You
may have a method of doing things one way, but
someone has a preference of you getting it done
another way. You have to be flexible in this
industry and learn quickly.
- Shelby Ray
HMA PR

43. If I had to make a generalization, I’d say PR
people are typically “people pleasers.” That
means we want to make our clients happy –
no matter the cost.
- Arik Hanson
www.arikhanson.com