More and more journalists are considering press release emails spam.
At least that’s what one reporter – Josh Bernoff of Forrester’s Groundswell – feels about his own recent emails.
In his recent blog post, he names three PR ‘firms’ that have sent him emails in the past few days. He’s upset, and rightly so, since these three release have not targeted him. The sender simply sent an email out to as many journalists as possible.
I discussed a bit about targeting last month, but it seems some haven’t heeded my warning.
So let’s get a bit deeper.
Reporters want your news, if it’s what they …read more

I don’t know who Nancy Pelosi and the House of Representatives have doing they’re public relations, but did you catch her YouTube video which was created to kick off the House’s new YouTube Hub?
Here’s the video, just in case you missed it.

I feel bad for the Speaker of the House. A Rick Roll? Really?
It’s so old – and got even older after Macy’s tried to do the same thing at their 2008 annual Thanksgiving Day parade.
Nancy, if this was your (or your PR people’s) idea to look cool, hip and with the times, you’ve made a big mistake.
The Speaker …read more

If you didn’t know (Honestly, I didn’t until I did the research for this post!), is that the Adult Entertainment Expo is this week.
So was it really that surprising that Larry Flint and others have now announced they are heading to Washington to ask for their piece of the multi-million dollar bailout? And although they say this isn’t a stunt, I really can’t believe that it’s not? Can you?
Although this did give the adult entertainment industry some notice and most of us a little chuckle, I think the leaders of this stunt also gave Americans a chance to rethink what …read more

A recent survey from Pew Research Center has found that the Internet has now become the main news source, other than TV, for most national and international news. The survey has found that 40% of respondents use online sources to get their daily dose of news.

So this can only mean that newspapers are going to die and publicity seekers will have to focus their PR efforts elsewhere, right?
No way.
What it does mean is that as there are more sources for news, you’re going to see newspapers (and other media) doing more niche-focused news. And that’s when a savvy publicity seeker …read more

How do you create news when it’s the slow season for your business?
Ask Ben & Jerry’s, the ice cream gods.
They used a major PR tactic, called piggybacking. I talk about piggybacking on Startup Spark’s Monday Media Marketing Minute and at my other blog: The Power Publicist.
The folks at Ben & Jerry’s created a new ice cream flavor in honor of Obama’s inauguration. Called “Yes Pecan,” it pays homage to the president-elect’s battle cry, “Yes, we can.” Plus, they added a bonus, proceeds go to a charity that helps people get involved in the politcal process.
You may think it’s silly. But …read more

The basis of any PR campaign, no matter what tool you use, is to identify your target audience, right?
Then what the heck is going on with the folks on Facebook?
I don’t know if you are experiencing this, but I’m getting a lot of invites to events promoted on Facebook from my ‘friends.’ The problem is that they are just blindly emailing all their Facebook pals their promotion, whether they are in the target market or not.
For example, I’ve gotten invitations to events and classes where I will learn:

to find true love in 2009 (I’m happily married)
the strategies to keep the …read more

Happy new year everyone.
The other day on my free PR teleclass, someone asked me what my crystal ball had to reveal for the PR and publicity field in 2009. I thought you’d like to read my predictions:

It’s an exciting time in public relations, as the landscape will surely be evolving and changing.
And the one thing that’s going to impact publicists and public relations professionals is how more consumers (people in our target markets) will be interacting and shaping what we do. With instant responses via social media, PR folks can monitor and see reactions quickly – and if they are …read more

Have you heard the news? Time Warner may be dropping dozens of channels, as negotiations with Viacom (MTV, Nick and many others) come to a halt. Viacom is “seeking an increase in affiliate fees of less than 25 cents a month for each subscriber for all 19 of its MTV Networks cable channels.”

Time Warner blames Viacom for setting very high fees. Viacom says the fees are needed. The list of channels being taken off the air, effective Jan 1, are:

Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite
MTV
VH1
Spike
TV Land
Comedy Central
Noggin
MTV2
VH1 Classic
Logo
MTV Hits
MTV Jams
MTV Tr3s
Nick Too
Nicktoons
The N
CMT Pure Country
Palladia
VH1 Soul

I don’t know who’s right here, but what …read more

I know some might argue with this, but I think social media is a PR tool. One, that when used correctly, can really create brand awareness and publicity.
JeanAnn VanKrevelen recently listed her 2009 predictions for social media, and I agree that the ones she has highlighted make sense.
I also think it will be used by journalists to monitor trends and hot news stories. That means that a savvy public relations professional will also be monitoring social media to find the trends and lead the trends as the experts to the media.
Plus social media is cost effective, so it’s obvious to …read more

Sure, no airline is perfect. But I have to admit Southwest comes pretty darn close.
Why? They know that good PR comes down to one thing: happy customers. It’s a tough job, especially when you are an airline.

But when they do it, they do it well.
I just learned on Twitter, directly from Southwest (Yes, even they are on Twitter!) that they’ve teamed up with The Container Store to wrap passengers gifts at the Southwest Airline Gates in Dallas, Denver and Phoenix.
It may not seem like a big deal but think about it for a moment…
Thousands of passengers carry their gifts on …read more