All Entries in the "Media Relations" Category
How to Get Great Media Coverage
Event publicity is a tough business. There always seems to be something sexier, more appealing competing for the media’s attention. On top of that, resources of today’s mainstream media to cover stories is stretched by cutbacks and shrinking budgets.
Lawyers Do Not Good Communicators Make
The rumor mill over what Apple is up to is once again humming. The world of technology is abuzz, and Apple fans and customers are trying to guess what the company will announce at a special event in San Francisco on Wednesday, January 27.
Ultimately … It’s All About Relationships
The popular misconception in the PR world today is that all you need to do to get the media’s attention is to write a press release and click on a computer screen to blast it out the world, using some service like Vocus or Cision. It’s quick, easy and lazy. Here’s a news flash! It doesn’t work.
Good and Bad about a NewsHour Interview
In a television news world turned upside-down by propaganda, shouting and sensationalism, the PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer remains focused on clarity and solid, level-headed journalism. One reason is the NewsHour spends more than a minute to report news of the day. There is more substance, better understanding and often, better expertise … but not always.
Value of a Great Online Newsroom
With the newspaper business in America in shambles and much of the rest of mainstream media adrift somewhere between wild sensationalism and chaos, there are fewer and fewer places for a corporation, association or not-for-profit to get their stories shared and heard.
David Meerman Scott: Creating Authoritative Voice
Author, consultant and communications thought-leader David Meerman Scott has come out squarely in support of my project with the Imperial Sugar Company, saying “brand journalism creates an authoritative voice” for the company’s new online newsroom.
Build an Online Newsroom, Using WordPress
As you have no doubt noticed, I’ve written quite a bit about the overuse and ineffectiveness of press releases. In this Internet era – a time when the ways of public discourse are changing, whether online or otherwise – one-way shouting out an announcement no longer is effective. Press releases are shouting. We are in [...]
The Short Lifespan of Press Releases …
Let’s talk practical, and about the real world. As we all know, the news media is undergoing seismic changes. Maybe it’s more accurate to call it, chaos. Newspapers are failing. Broadcast news is losing audience. There are layoffs every which way your turn in mainstream media. Online media is all over the map when it [...]
Time to Streamline Online Newsrooms
For many organizations, the online “newsroom” is generally the least visited section of the whole Web site. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out, and ask the IT people or webmaster how many visitors your online newsroom draws each week. Online newsrooms were originally conceived to provide the media with news, background and [...]
Peanut Exec Invokes the Fifth
Listening to radio news while driving my car today, I heard the President of Peanut Corporation of America, Stewart Parnell, invoke the Fifth Amendment, and refuse to answer questions from members of Congress about the massive peanut salmonella poisoning at his company … and, I nearly drove off the road! Salmonella contamination of peanuts has [...]
When Lawyers Get In The Way of Communications
David Meerman Scott, a leading business consultant and best-selling author, had a terrific post on his blog – Web Ink Now – today that is an issue close the heart of any veteran communications professional – what happens when attorneys start messing with public relations. Most often the results include ambiguous and perplexing messages. Let [...]
The Value of Transparency … and an Apology
As we begin a New Year, our country is in trouble. It’s more than an economic crisis, which many people seem to be ignoring. It’s an embedded culture of corruption from Wall Street to Capital Hill. In that context, I wanted to share an entire chapter from my new book, “The Media Savvy Leader: Visibility, [...]
Focusing More on Results
I am in Europe this week to speak at the Changing Times Young Adult Forum. Before departing, I asked Marsha Friedman, Founder and CEO of the successful Florida-based EMSI PR agency, if I could repost an article she wrote for clients about how to develop a news angle that works. Incidentally, EMSI is one of [...]
Interactive Online News Releases
The style and format of news releases has not changed much since the days of Gutenberg. Well, maybe not that far back but it seems like it. Most news releases are not news stories but rather self-serving announcements, written more for the benefit of a company or organization than to get the attention of, God-forbid, [...]
Most Meaningless PR Pitch of the Day
As a journalist, author and long-time Publisher of BoomerCafe.com – the popular online magazine for baby boomers – I get loads of email pitches and news releases each day. Nearly all are unsolicited and nailed by my spam filter, as happens at most news organizations. You see, reporters are looking for stories, but most pitches [...]
The Gobbledygook Manifesto
Readers of this blog know that I am not only an author, blogger and consultant but I publish BoomerCafé, the popular online magazine for baby boomers with active lifestyles. As such, I have gotten on a bunch of PR lists, and receive hundreds of unsolicited press releases and PR pitches every week. In these competitive [...]
