Gina Rubel is a public relations and crisis planning expert.

About Gina Rubel, Esq.

Corporate and law firm leaders call on Gina for high-stakes public relations, crisis planning, and incident response support including high profile litigation media relations. One of the most widely acknowledged experts on legal marketing and law firm public relations, Gina is a sought-after speaker and media expert. Listed among the Lawdragon Global 100 Leading Consultants and Strategists to the Legal Profession, Gina published the 2nd Edition of her book Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers, in 2019.

She founded and continues to lead Furia Rubel Communications, the award-winning PR and marketing agency that has become a leading legal marketing and professional service communications boutique. The full-service marketing and public relations shop has been listed among the leading agencies by the National Law Journal, The Legal Intelligencer, New Jersey Law Journal, and Philadelphia Business Journal. Under Gina’s direction, Furia Rubel provides strategic planning, marketing, public relations, media training, and content marketing services to a variety of specialized industries.

Gina’s legal background complements her unparalleled intuition as a client advocate and business diplomat, allowing her to partner with professional clients to achieve their objectives. She and the Furia Rubel team are always focused on the client’s unique selling proposition, brand, key messages, and target audiences.

Women Owned Business

As women in business, we see ourselves through our own eyes by looking in the mirror. But hearing what others see in us, is empowering. It’s really public relations and personal branding at the core.

When you look at public relations it’s everything. It’s how you treat your employees, how you treat your family, how you treat people at religious institutions, and all information you put out on social media. It goes for personal and business. PR is more than being on TV.

When Gina brings me in for photoshoots with her clients, she is having me capture the true essence of the clients. PR is getting to the core and essence of who that client is. The PR piece goes across the gamut whether it is the visual touch point or the written word, it matters.

That is PR at its core. Not just understanding who the various audiences are, but what is beneficial for the audiences.

The First Phase

Gina comes from a long line of attorneys. She began her law career in litigation but quickly moved to media and public relations.

Her degree in communications and international business from Drexel paved the way for her career transition into PR.

The transition to opening her own business occurred when her daughter, as an infant, was ill. She made the decision that family was first and she built her business around her life in Bucks County.

The Second Phase

Furia Rubel Communications was launched on Gina’s birthday and she ran with it. Eighteen years of success later Furia Rubel is thriving.

When Gina started her own business, she made a lot of mistakes, but she also did a lot of things right. Her recommendation to anyone starting a business is to hire people who do what you are not an expert at.

Use the time you are delegating for new business development.

Furia Rubel is a Women Owned Business. There are benefits to having a Women Owned Business Certification. Companies that have diversity initiatives that require them to offer bids out to women-owned or minority-owned companies. If the proposals are similar and the quality is the same, companies may make the final decision on the status of being Women Owned. There are definitely benefits.

Crisis management is another expertise that Gina holds.

PR tips

Transparency

No matter the situation, positive or negative, transparency is important. It’s important to be honest and transparent right down to the fact that you need help.

PR and Perception

During a time of crisis, be a resource for people. Don’t sell, it will fall on deaf ears. Send positive messages. Use technology tools and continue to be a positive resource.

Authenticity

Authenticity is a value to live by. Transparency, especially during a crisis, is important. Be transparent about how your business is changing or how the crisis is affecting your business.

Finding humanity and Grace

When in crisis, look for the positive, the humanity, and the grace that gives us hope for the future. Be willing to be agile and approach the changes openly.

Get the Word Out

During a time of crisis, your normal messaging isn’t what the media wants. The media wants to hear about your creativity with how you are handling the situation.

Timing is everything. It is really about creating and building relationships and being a good resource. Sometimes it is about asking someone else to share your story.

Stories are going to have to be very sensitive to the environment that we are dealing with. No different than dealing with an election. The media outlets are covering the election and you are not going to get coverage of a small event on the same day as an election.

Think outside the box. Be creative and educate, inform, and entertain. Share the light and positive stories.

Stay positive, stay true to yourself, know your audience, and don’t expect anything from the media, they aren’t there to serve you, they are there to serve their audiences. Believe that when you have a good story, it will get picked up. It has to be from the heart and the head.

Empathy is a critical component of everyday life, especially in a time of crisis and in the months ahead.