Category: Media Relations
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 [...]
$11 Billion = “Disappointing”
As I was pumping regular gasoline into my Volvo today that cost $3.65 a gallon – the highest amount I have ever paid – I thought about a news story I had just heard: While Exxon Mobil earned $11 billion during the first quarter of 2008, buoyed by soaring crude oil prices, some oil industry [...]
Ether
Washington, D.C., is conference city. Each day, there are countless conferences and forums held in the city. Seven days a week, year-around. People fly in, attend conferences and fly out. We don’t hear about most, even though many conference organizers hope the spotlight of media attention will shine brightly on their event, if only for [...]
Death of American’s Brand
I think we may be witnessing the death of American Airlines’ brand reputation, caused largely by self-inflicted poor corporate communications. Yes, the airline was faced with a real problem of fixing the aging wiring in their aging fleet of MD-80 jetliners, some that date back to the ’70s. Yes, the airline could have spread it [...]
Starbucks Flunks “Who Cares?!” Hype Test
It’s a hard lesson for companies and organizations to learn in today’s new world of intelligent communications but … here it is: No one cares ‘about’ you. When an organization, for example, issues a news release and concludes with a puffy ‘about’ section, no one … and certainly no one in the news media … [...]
Online Newsrooms: Time for Change
I invite you to read my commentary today in Bulldog Reporter’s Daily Dog online newsletter: Apples to Oranges: Most Online “Newsrooms” Tired and Boring, Not Timely and Relevant.
