Peter Shankman Speaker Biography
PR Week Magazine has described Peter Shankman as “redefining the art of networking”, and Investor’s Business Daily has called him “crazy, but effective”. Peter Shankman is a spectacular example of what happens when you merge the power of pure creativity with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and a dose of adventure and make it work to your advantage.
An author, entrepreneur, speaker, and worldwide connector, Peter is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about Customer Service, Social Media, PR, marketing, and advertising.
Peter is best known for founding Help A Reporter Out, (HARO) which in under a year became the de-facto standard for thousands of journalists looking for sources on deadline, offering them more than 200,000 sources around the world looking to be quoted in the media. HARO is currently the largest free source repository in the world, sending out over 1,500 queries from worldwide media each week. HARO’s tagline, “Everyone is an Expert at Something”, proves over and over again to be true, as thousands of new members join at helpareporter.com each week. In June of 2010, less than two years after Peter started HARO in his apartment, it was acquired by Vocus, Inc.
Peter is currently a Principal at Shankman|Honig, a consultancy designed to help corporations, businesses, and retail operations create stellar customer service that resonates in our new “conversation economy,” driving revenue, repeat business, and new customers.
Peter is also the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc., a boutique Social Media, Marketing, and PR Strategy firm located in New York City, with clients worldwide. His blog, which he launched in 1995, both comments on and generates news and conversation.
Peter’s Customer Service and Social Media clients have included American Express, Sprint, The US Department of Defense, Royal Bank of Canada, Snapple Beverage Group, Saudi Aramco, Foley Hoag, LLP, NASA, Haworth, Walt Disney World, Abercrombie and Kent, The Ad Council, Discovery Networks, New Frontier Media, Napster, Juno, Dream Catcher Destinations Club, Harrah’s Hotels, and many, many others.
Peter is the author of three books: Nice Companies Finish First: Why Cutthroat Management is Over, and Collaboration is in, (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2013,) Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work--And Why Your Company Needs Them (Wiley and Sons, 2006,) and Customer Service: New Rules for a Social Media World (Que Biz-Tech 2010,) and is a frequent keynote speaker and workshop presenter at conferences and tradeshows worldwide, including South By Southwest, Affiliate Summit, BlogWorld, TBEX, The Public Relations Society of America, CTIA, CTAM, CES, PMA, OMMA, Mobile Marketing Asia, and the Direct Marketing Association.
Peter sits on the advisory boards of several companies, all visible on the Advising/Investing page, and is honored to sit on the NASA Civilian Advisory Council, appointed to his position by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. He’s also an angel investor, specializing mostly in very early-stage tech and social media companies.
A marketing pundit for several national and international news channels, including Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, Peter is frequently quoted in major media and trade publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Daily News, The Associated Press, Reuters and USA Today.
A proud Boston University graduate, Peter Shankman started his career at America Online as a Senior News Editor, helping found the AOL Newsroom and spearheading coverage of the Democratic and Republican 1996 conventions, which marked the first time an online news service covered any major political event.
Born and raised in New York City, Peter still resides there with his beautiful wife and daughter, and NASA the Wonder Cat, all of whom consistently deny his repeated requests to relinquish the couch. In the few hours of spare time Peter has per month he’s completed 13 marathons, seven Olympic distance triathlons, two half-Ironman triathlons, and one full Ironman Triathlon. He’s also a “B” licensed skydiver with over 400 jumps. He’s currently training for the 2014 Louisville Ironman.
In 2011, Peter authored a tweet that was voted as one of the Top Ten Tweets of the year by Twitter, out of more than 160,000,000,000 tweets sent.
To book customer service and social media speaker Peter Shankman call Executive Speakers Bureau at 901-754-9404.
The Next Revolution Will Happen In Your Pocket
Look around and find one person you know without a camera in their mobile phone. You can't do it. We're a nation of 350 million broadcasters, all ready to share with the world the great, or, horrible experience they had with your company and brand. Which one do you want? In this entertaining, humorous, and interactive 90 minute keynote, Peter Shankman shares case studies from companies big and small, showing why your best defense is good customer service first, and how some of the best social media policies in the world won't help you if you don't have your entire company on board with customer service first, branding and messaging second, and marketing and social media a distant third.
Why Self-Promotion Will Save The World
Here's a tip: When Self-Promotion is done right, it's not Self-Promotion: It's Help. From his award winning speech at South by Southwest, Peter explains why the new rules of Self-Promotion start with helping, and end with other people doing your PR FOR you!
The New PR is spelled "Customer Service"
Whether a multi-billion dollar company, or a small mom and pop business, the new marketing and public relations start with customer service. In this new age of broadcasting, your job is give the customer such an amazing experience, that they do your PR FOR you. Peter discusses how, in this fun, example-filled, 45, 60, or 90 minute conversation.
