By Barbara Pruitt, APR

Santa’s not the only one making lists this time of year. You can find them on myriad topics in virtually every industry. The Best … The Worst … The Top .. The Least …you name it. If your content is compelling, lists make great PR tools (at Kauffman, we just released our own year-end list, and our audiences loved it!) because they are appealing to read, make for good fodder during slow news times (like the holidays) and can offer useful lessons.

No surprise that our own profession puts this tool to use. There’s the Top 15 PR Blunders (hope to never make this list) and the PR Power List of 2009 (you have to log in for this one), to name just two. Other useful lists for PR pros include resources and channels of communication, such as the 25 Best Bloggers of 2009 and the Top 100 PR Web sites and Resources.

When the lists appear, it reminds me that it’s a great time to step back and assess, not just my organization’s performance over the past year but my own. This annual self-appraisal keeps me from getting stale and burned out and energizes me for the coming year. Have you asked yourself what you did well this year?