The Oprah Winfrey Show
(noun)
1. (also known as Oprah) the highest-rated and longest-running daytime U.S. syndicated talk show. It is hosted and produced by Oprah Winfrey through her company Harpo Productions, Inc.
2. maker of dreams; the holy grail of public relations professionals, authors, entrepreneurs, and individuals seeking exposure for their products, books or services.

One of the most frequent questions we get at eReleases is, “Can you get us on Oprah?” (Read more…)

The Wall Street Journal published an article this morning about how Starbucks will immediately begin grinding beans each time it brews a new batch of coffee rather than grinding coffee only in the morning. The move will do two things: ensure customers receive fresh ground coffee and fill the stores with the sounds of grinders. It appears this is the one thing McDonald’s and 7-Eleven haven’t figured out how to do — yet. (Read more…)

Whether you’re a pundit, an expert, an analyst, or a third party, it’s important to remember that you rarely know all the facts. The media does not care about this; they just want a quote and a public relations contact to attribute it to. The juicier the sound bites you offer, the better for journalists, but not necessarily for you. (Read more…)

New York is typically considered one of the most cosmopolitan places in the world when it can often be one of the most provincial. My friend Mike grew up in Brooklyn; from the bedroom of his house you can see the Empire State Building. Last week he asked me how to get to City Hall in Manhattan, which is at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. Provincialism can work against public relations efforts because it shines a light on attitudes and ideas that may be foreign to others or that play into stereotypes. A recent story in the Wall Street Journal provided an interesting example. (Read more…)

I recently celebrated my first decade working in the public relations industry, in one capacity or another. As I looked back on ten years in public relations, I realized I have many fond memories and plenty of regrets. I had some big successes, and some terrible failures. I got publicity in a newspaper read by more than one million people everyday, and a write-up in a high school newspaper read by a few hundred students and parents. More than anything, I realized that I’ve learned a heck of a lot about public relations in that decade. Here are just a few of the tips I’ve picked up after ten years in the belly of the beast. (Read more…)

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…)

We see experts quoted in newspapers and magazines every day; journalists rely on third-party sources to offer unbiased opinions or to help sort through facts. The most inexperienced journalist can follow a formula and write a story about, say, computer viruses. However, without an expert to validate the subject, the story will ring hollow. Public relations consultants can help position clients as experts through an “expert pitch.” All it takes is a simple email. (Read more…)

I have one friend from the country of Georgia, and we were talking on the phone when President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia appeared on NBC News to discuss the recent Georgian crisis. Saakashvili compared Russia’s current actions to those of its predecessor, the Soviet Union, in 1956 in Hungary and 1968 in what was then Czechoslovakia. (Read more…)

It’s no secret eReleases works with newspapers. Many of our subscribing journalists are from newspapers. Many of our customers have received print in local and nationwide newspapers alike. I like newspapers. I still subscribe to my local newspaper, the Baltimore Sun, as well as to the Wall Street Journal. (Read more…)

Countless business-oriented magazines have failed in the past few years, and the column space now available for technology companies looking to garner some publicity has become golden turf. Newspapers have slashed technology coverage; many long ago cut their weekly technology or business technology sections. So where can public relations professionals turn for a technology-friendly face these days? (Read more…)