“Precycling” Is the New Buzzword of the Week
Here’s a new buzzword to add to your PR jargon: “precycling.” Brandweek reports that this word is starting to catch on as the latest manifestation of the green marketing fad. Now, what does it mean? It’s apparently another way of saying “conserve.” As in, re-using plastic water bottles rather than tossing them and buying another [...]
Free PR Whitepapers From PRWeek
I know that many in the BNET audience are in search of free whitepapers so I thought I would pass along a high-quality source of PR whitepapers: PRWeek. For some strange reason, PRWeek has two different ways to access whitepapers: a) go to their site at whitepapers.prweekus.com and you can sign up to access a [...]
Bonds PR Push is Too Little, Too Late
Barry Bonds, the home run king and alleged steroid user, may still have Major League baseball skills. But no team in either league has picked him up for this season, including my hometime Giants. It’s not his skills that are in question, though — it’s his demeanor. He’s had the reputation of being a difficult [...]
Is Your PR Agency Getting Ready to Fire You?
Do you appreciate the people who work on your account enough? Do you expect your agency to do twice as much work as you’re actually paying for? Do you take your PR agency for granted? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, you are in danger of being FIRED by your PR [...]
When News is Bad, Change the Subject
Here’s the scenario: you’ve had to make a controversial decision or taken a difficult step, and you’re getting hammered by your key constituencies. What do you do? The most tried-and-true strategy under most cases is to change the subject. If you’re been criticized because of Decision A, the longer you let people talk about and [...]
New SEC Guidelines Should Help Companies Communicate Online
The SEC has issued new guidance on how publicly traded companies can use the Internet to communicate online. SEC Chairman Chris Cox said: “The last time the SEC issued guidance in this area, the idea of ’social networks’ hadn’t yet been developed, and creating a social network where shareholders could meet and exchange views was [...]
Kudos to Circuit City: They Have a Sense of Humor
You know you’re still relevant when you’re the subject of parody. That should have been the message at Circuit City corporate headquarters when they got wind of a MAD Magazine — MAD Magazine! — parody of their ads in a recent issue of the magazine being sold in 40 of Circuit City’s 700 stores. But [...]
Use “Press Release Grader” to Find Out If You’re On Target
From the Internet tools file: a “press release grader” that will tell you whether your press release will be an effective marketing tool. Powered by HubSpot, an Internet marketing company, the “press release grader” will “evaluate your press release and provides a marketing effectiveness score. This score is based upon basic factors from public relations [...]
Welcome Kit for Journalists Becoming PR People
I came across the perfect “welcome kit” item for journalists becoming PR people: “dark side” t-shirts. For those who haven’t heard: journalists like to think of PR as “the dark side” in comparison to their noble pursuit of truth and the shining of light in the darkness. With so many journalists these days jumping ship [...]