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April 21, 2009
PR Media Coverage
It’s easy for public relations firms to overestimate the impact of media coverage. Unless you land your client on the cover of Time or the front page of the New York Times, it can be disheartening to see how little impact a single piece of media coverage brings. My own history with media coverage is an example of how difficult it is to quantify the benefits of media coverage in the public relations world. (Read more…)
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April 15, 2009
Public Relations vs. Journalism: Clashing Agendas
It’s perhaps one of the longest running questions in public relations: How do you deal with a journalist who has an agenda? Some journalists do have agendas; columnists are paid to comment on the news and provide opinion, not just report the news. Even in traditional reporting, sometimes a personal agenda seeps into a story. Just as every public relations consultant has their own style, background, level of intelligence, gifts, resources, etc., so does every journalist. (Read more…)
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March 30, 2009
Branding - How to Recognize Your Brand Values and Protect Them
What is a brand, anyway? It seems like it is a mysterious “something-or-other” that isn’t marketing, isn’t PR, isn’t advertising. So if we know what it isn’t, shouldn’t we also know what a brand is? (Read more…)
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March 18, 2009
Public Relations in the Age of the Sound Bite
Journalists love sound bites. We ask questions explicitly aimed at eliciting snappy, one-sentence comments. We’ve all seen television interviews or press briefings boiled down to a 15-second sound bite. Newspaper and magazine articles tend to have at least one definitive quote you can imagine a speechwriter whispering into a reporter’s ear. (Read more…)
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March 12, 2009
Coordinated PR Is The Key
A coordinated public relations attack can be a thing of beauty. When all the pistons are firing, and the planets align, PR can pour down like rain in a drought-stricken area. But the key to a coordinated PR attack is coordinating the people behind it. (Read more…)
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February 26, 2009
What Marks an Effective Online Pressroom?
The first wave of corporate web sites was often the brainchild of marketing departments looking to do something - anything - to have a presence on this new thing called the “Internet.” As a result, a lot of those early websites weren’t what you would call functional. (Read more…)
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February 23, 2009
Public Relations Basics: There Is No Magic Press Release Bullet
The “magic bullet” theory of public relations — that one press release is all you need grab the attention of journalists — is easily debunked. A single press release will rarely, if ever, do the trick. (Read more…)
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February 19, 2009
Are Press Releases Considered Spam?
A PR Fuel reader writes: “With the CAN-SPAM Act in place, does a massive press release email blast to the media constitute spam? (Read more…)
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February 6, 2009
How to Avoid the TV Talk Show Bait
In the world of modern TV talk shows, civility is a forgotten art. The term “talk show” is probably not even apt; these shows are basically televised confrontations. It’s odd how many talk show guests still expect to be treated with a certain sense of decorum. That’s why PR firms should be wary about booking clients for talk show appearances; seated in front of a combative host, what you thought would be an opportunity for easy publicity can quickly turn into a public relations nightmare. (Read more…)
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Be Careful What You Say or That Media Interview Could Backfire
I’m one of those strange people who doesn’t have cable or satellite television. One of the nice things about the radio I have is that I’m able to listen to a simulcast of financial news network CNBC, and an added benefit of having no picture is that I get to really concentrate on what’s being said by the interviewees. (Read more…)









