What’s your 20? I’m sure you’ve heard it a thousand times before – if you’re in the entertainment biz, you likely say it all the time – and if not, well, I bet you’re jealous of those of us who do. (In that “I want to feel like I’m on the Dukes of Hazzard!” sort of way….). It’s a cool phrase that’s part of American English and the name of my walkie-talkie rental company. When I was researching its cultural history, I discovered a really interesting parallel between the language and traditions that grew out of CB radio culture and those that we are creating now as we navigate social media’s explosion. While platforms change, our culture’s tendency to [r]evolve following the introduction of each new technology remains the same and is limited only by technology itself. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: October 2009
Build your Community like a Friendship
While building a community around a brand is viewed by many as a business tactic, the manner in which you build your community has very little to do with business. Building a community has a lot more to do with people.
In order to build a strong community, a business must treat their community members like friends. Here’s the why and how: Continue reading
Christina’s Coffee Talk with Michael Schaffer
It’s a bird; it’s a plane, it’s Michael Schaffer for this week’s coffee talk. This non-coffee drinker (gasp) was a former DJ that uses music to “pump up the volume” for his day. He’s a savy PR/ Social Media professional working in the entertainment/sports world as social media director for Brotman-Winter-Fried Communications. To get through his crazy days Mike turns to songs from Glee, the Cupid Shuffle, Ingraham Hill and the Beastie Boys for motivation. Not one to name drop, he did admit to losing his cool when he met Jaleel White, who played Steve Urkel. Also be sure to check out Mike’s blog: The Buzz.
And so I give you, Mike Schaffer, shedding light on the sports and entertainment world of PR. Continue reading
Your Copy Sucks: How to Pitch a Blogger
Do you want to know an inside secret on how to pitch a blogger?
Oh man. Lean in close. No, closer. That’s it. Almost.
You have to talk to them like they’re a human being.
I know, it’s crazy. It doesn’t have much to do with the length of your pitch or the “Hi” instead of “Hello” in your salutation. It doesn’t have anything to do with how many bullet points you have and what Cool Blogger Slang you employ. You just have to talk to them like they’re an actual person, which, gasps all around, they are. (Another crazy fact: journalists are also people. Maybe you should give this a shot with them too?)
Just one rule: talk like a person, treat them like a person. Here’s how to do that.
Continue reading
PR Win! Save by CoffeeCup
All opinions (and I mean all) herein are my own and not the official opinion of PRBC or any of the other writers.
There’s a software company I’m a big fan of — CoffeeCup [and no FTC, they aren’t compensating me in any way]. Most of the software they create is for website development – ftp programs, html coding, flash animation, etc. The software’s always very user-friendly, they provide good support, have an active message board for customers, provide free updates, and give away a decent amount of free software so you can get a flavor of what they produce.
It’s a feel-good company. The company name “came from the domain name of the coffee house where we got our start. (Yes, we owned a real coffee house first.) Domains cost $100 a year back then, and coffeecup.com was already paid for, so why invent a new name?” They claim to run on “an unlimited supply of Red Bull, Mexican food, Jelly Bellies, and passion for our users.” Continue reading
How Do You Pitch
We’ve all heard about the evolution of communication methods. Fax was the new snail mail. Email is the new fax. Twitter is the new email. Snail mail is passé.
So what does this all mean? Some like it in 140 characters and some like it with a postage stamp on it. Continue reading
Cats and dogs? Can PR pros and journalists be friends?
I began my college career as a broadcast journalism major. For some reason, my parents (bless them) thought I was going to be the next Katie Couric . . .
I digress. I had a hardcore journalism professor my sophomore year whom I respect like you wouldn’t believe. She discussed her days as a TV reporter often, and mentioned how many journalists only ever hang out with other journalists. Continue reading
Where’s The Community?
We took away game night in my house growing up because it got too competitive. In a Cuban household, you have the short temper and the ‘always want to win’ mentality. We did away with it because it took away from the family dynamic. Social Media and the blogosphere is starting to point at a typical Fernandez style game night.
Social media can be a selfish space, and it’s starting to reflect in the blogosphere. Who has the best posts, the most comments, who’s publishing the story first – all questions that I hear people chattering about. Continue reading
Your Audience is More Than One
Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar to you:
PR/Marketing Guy: So tell me, Mr. X, who is your company’s audience? Who is interested in what the Widget Factory has to offer?
Mr. X: Well, we consider our audience to be widget consumers, widget manufacturers, those who work in the widget industry and our own internal employees.
PR/Marketing Guy: Sounds like quite a diverse group. How will you be alerting all of these individual and distinct audiences of your upcoming big company announcement?
Mr. X: We were going to do what we always do: Blast out a generic e-mail announcement that goes to that entire group. That way, they all get the same exact message.
PR/Marketing Guy:
Frustrating? You bet. An exaggeration? Sadly, not even close.
Continue reading
XOXO, PR Girl
Spotted, Tyra Banks attempting to play an actress getting ready for her movie premier with a few secrets being held by her publicist.
Gossip Girl is one of my guilty pleasures (other than bourbon and Kentucky sports,) and this week’s episode was anything but settling.
*Spoiler Alert* So here’s the gist on the PR prospective, Serena isn’t going to Brown and wants to prove her worth by getting a job. She happened into a publicist’s job because she knew how to escape from the paparazzi through a back entrance of a restaurant. Continue reading