I’ve never understood the point of the “name-and-shame” tactic employed by some journalists who feel aggrieved by what they perceive to be an undue amount of pitches from PR pros or just plain spam from PR agencies.Is it that they are trying to teach us a lesson? A Daddy (the media) knows best, and if we (the misbehaving children) know what is good for us, we’ll shape up quick before Dad comes home type of ethos?
Or is it fueled by a genuine desire to help the public relations industry better inform reporters of key trends and provide the sources they need to report on the world’s news?
My cynical side tells me it’s neither. Instead, it’s a good bit of self-righteous hand wringing aimed at embarrassing us into submission. Continue reading →
Monday, will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas wrote a blog post for AdAge entitled “What Does ‘Communiting’ Mean???” In the post, he challenges marketers to make conversations, not ads. I couldn’t agree more.
As he notes, and all PR pros know, we have been and are in the midst of a major shift in the way businesses communicate with their target audiences, and vice versa.
He analogizes the similarities to the 1600s race to discover the new world, placing the major US-founded global technology companies in the roles of world-conquering European countries; “the ocean is the internet and computers and software are the ships…” Continue reading →
In the world of paid vs. earned vs. owned media, things are about to get very interesting. Coming this week, as part of a massive overhaul of its print and Web properties, Forbes will unveil what it’s calling “AdVoice”—essentially, a paid blogging platform for companies, non-profits and other organizations that will reside alongside its editorial content on Forbes.com, and presumably, within its organic search results, as detailed by AdAge this week.
While reading about this new blend of paid/earned media, I was fascinated by the potential branding and content-development opportunities, particularly the content’s prime placement within Forbes’ vaunted editorial landscape, something that has traditionally been off-limits. Also of interest is how these paid company blogs will play into Forbes’ SEO and search results, which at nearly 20 million unique monthly visitors (according to Forbes’ internal analytics), is both large and influential. Continue reading →
As you leave the office and breeze through your post-workday errands you check prices, scan the purchasing list to be sure nothing is missed and, of course, you check in at your chosen bottle of Kraft dressing or package of Gillette razors. Makes perfect sense, right?
Geolocation is a growing trend with many checking into their offices, residences and local haunts on platforms such as FourSquare, Gowalla and Loopt. But checking into your favorite product is a bit different. Unique? Yes. A bit much to digest? Yes. The next wave of geolocation? Undoubtedly. Continue reading →
I don’t usually write about the more tactical, day-to-day issues of PR and marketing, choosing instead to focus on the delicate work-life balance, thinking like an entrepreneur and why I think it’s OK to not have a traditional PR background. But today, bear with me for a bit, as I’m going to get pretty tactical on something every PR and marketing professional uses probably every single day of their jobs: the e-mail pitch.
Ahh, yes, the infamous “pitch.” Loathed by many, MANY, but in today’s smart phone-obsessed world, about as important as ever in terms of driving successful media outreach for brands and organizations. I won’t get into the whole debate about whether e-mail pitches should or should not be used, but there were a couple of interesting points I wanted to hit from Cone’s main points in the article on about how we can all make our e-mail pitches a bit more refined and increase the rate that our e-mails to bloggers and reporters will A) get opened; and B) actually get us some type of response. Continue reading →
…..a chance to start the day off right.