When communicating with your customer base, you may make the mistake of thinking they run the show. After all, they have all the money, which you desperately want and need. They have the desire to buy from you so you naturally feel like you have to cater to their every whim. Read More
You want to help your colleagues and friends promote and improve the general well-being of your industry, but you’re not sure how. It can be a little daunting when others are throwing out ideas and organizing get-togethers. Here are a few things you can do in your professional organization to help out more. Read More
“Denial” isn’t a word you hear around the PR community too much considering it’s the opposite reaction you want from your customers. The last thing you want is to see people, upon experiencing your new campaign, covering their ears and shouting, “No, no, no!” Read More
As the internet continues to be flooded with gobs and gobs of press releases, the overall quality seems to be getting watered down. As I have highlighted in a number of posts, it’s not just the actual content (although that is an issue, as people put up release after release for links with no real newsworthy content). But another issue is how these releases are put together. The problem? Sloppy mechanics. Read More
As a PR guy, there may not be a word I hate hearing more than “retraction.” Any time a client approaches me with the request to retract a press release, I instantly cringe. Retractions suck. Not just because they’re a good amount of work, but because they can lead to a lot of negative fallout. A press release retraction can get you unwanted scrutiny, making reporters think something bad is happening. So, often times, when you request a press release retraction, the reporters are like sharks sensing blood in the water, and they’re ready to attack and find out the real story. Read More
English poet Robert Southey once said, “It is with words as with sunbeams — the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.”
Thomas Jefferson showed a similar love for brevity when he quipped, “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”
Nietzsche also had something interesting to say about the subject of brevity… Read More
In the world, the term “spin” has a fairly negative connotation. We think of mega corporations or politicians trying to get out of trouble for something naughty they did or a TV station leaving out information because their owners have an interest in the story being squashed. Read More
In general, your press releases shouldn’t be very long. In most cases, you should be able to write an effective press release in just a few hundred words. However, special situations may exist that call for a longer press release. Read More
Not so long ago, search engine optimization was pretty easy. Basically a standard, moderately successful SEO strategy looked like this: Read More
Tell me if this sounds familiar: You have a great story, so you write a press release. You then send that one press release out to everyone on your media list — local newspaper reporters, editors at national publications, bloggers, TV/radio people, etc. Read More