Seems we’ve fallen behind on our holiday shopping so the #PRBC crew’s taking a long weekend to finish up. We’ll see you bright and early, just past midnight on Monday, that’d be in …
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[recent posts]
Letter To The Editor
We’ve got another one folks — a letter to the editor, oddly enough in the (oh so dear to my heart) “Dear Editor” format. The writer? A “PR Gal” who would prefer to remain nameless.
Dear Editor,
This isn’t working out. The whole You-Me-Client trio. This fable we laughingly call a relationship.
I’m done. Simply put – this is the worst relationship I’ve ever been in and I’ve dated some losers. I’m sick and tired of living in fear of you, quivering at your number on my caller ID, and getting panic-stricken at the sight of your e-mail address rolling into my inbox. Continue reading
Serve Your Employees
It’s been over five years since I first entered this biz. In that time I’ve worked in a single small agency. We don’t do a lot of office birthday party type celebrations but we’re all family. There are a number of benefits to working in such a firm – the office manager doesn’t bean count days out, part days may not even count against your vacation/sick days, we’re all relatively familiar with each other’s clients, etc.
There are, however, a number of dangers of working in such an office. After speaking with some flackery brethren at various events it seems a number of these are recurrent themes among small firms.
Some of these come with the territory and are difficult to fix. Others can be easily fixed. Continue reading
A Blog By Any Other Name…
Those of us that work in social media typically spend a majority of our time reading, researching and analyzing blogs. This task might sound like loads of fun, and it is for the most part, but there has been one particular thing that has been irking me lately: blog domain address names.
In a recent article from Blogging Teacher, the author looked at what the top 100 blogs can teach us about domain names. Overall he found that a shorter name is better, .com is awesome, and sub-domains prove difficult to remember.
Your domain address has the ability to make or break your blog. Continue reading
Lady Gaga As a Brand
If you know me at all (follow me on Twitter, read my Tumblr blog, etc.), you know that I am unhealthily obsessed with Lady Gaga. And if you live on the Planet Earth, then you know who the fabulous Gaga is. Lately, as I’ve been talking to people about her, I’ve heard the same thing over and over- “I really don’t want to like her, but I just can’t help it!”. This really struck me as interesting because I don’t think I’ve ever heard that about any other artist, past or present. I decided that I wanted to explore her marketing, personal branding, and public image strategy to see why everyone is falling for Gaga. And I promised #prbc that this post would be based on real examples, and not just an expression of my sheer infatuation (ok, ok, ok). Oh why do we all love Lady Gaga so much? Continue reading
Celebrate Surviving Another Year
Hey NYC-area folks — we’re doing it again! Come celebrate with us and the rest of your media / communications brethren on surviving another year on the front lines. This time we’re getting together at Jack Dempsey’s in midtown on December 29th after work. Please RSVP at the Socializr.com page for yourself and any others in your party if you’ll be attending so we can warn inform the venue of how many we should expect. Any questions – drop me a note. Continue reading
Flacky Don’t Like That
Some call it semantics. Others, being particular. You might call it wordsmithing. I consider it one of the few (errrm. . .many) ‘little’ things that grate on my nerves. So what is this insipid little nudge? I’ll call them this PR pros favorite ‘four letter’ words.
They dominate press releases. Taint headlines. Muddy pitch waters. And, I would find it unimaginable, that they don’t leave reporters wondering what clown slapped these terms together on a piece of paper and dumped them into their Inboxes.
Allow me to break them down for you: Continue reading
Have a Little Patience, My Friends
I had a great discussion the other day with my friend, Arik Hanson, whom many of you that frequently read this blog may know. Arik recently started his own PR/social media consultancy, and from seemingly every indication, his business is thriving.
I pointed this out to Arik, noting how in control he seems to be of everything. Arik then made a comment back that I frankly wasn’t expecting, but it completely makes sense, and shows that he is absolutely on the right track toward a very long and successful business; Arik told me: “Things are going well now, but I never want to get ahead of myself. I’m trying to keep everything under control.” Continue reading
Your Copy Sucks: Who vs. Whom
Are you sick of sounding silly when trying to use “whom” correctly? Of course you are. Here is how you figure out when to use “who” or “whom.”
Whom replaces a subject where the answer to the question could be either “him” or “her” or “them.” I remember it like this: whom ends in an M, just like him. Continue reading
Mine, Mine, Mine
Over the weekend, I helped a fellow PR professional, Mary*, put together her portfolio. We selected the best writing samples, placements to use, and possible interview questions that she may be asked. For most of her campaigns, she worked in teams. In addition to heading certain components of the campaign, Mary wrote all press materials. Yes, the team collaborated to create the key message points, but press kits, pitches, press releases, fact sheets, suggested questions and media letters were all created and fine-tuned by Mary. Continue reading