Two New Ways to Use Texting in Media Relations
Here are two tidbit’s from yesterday’s Bulldog Reporter PR University audio conference on email/online pitching (which I moderated): Dave Satterfield of Sitrick & Co. said that he has texted reporters to answer questions and make clarifications during major announcement events, while they were all in the room together The Vatican has been send text messages [...]
Clear is the New Clever
I love the title of this post: “clear is the new clever.” There — I said it again. I’m not a particularly “clever” PR person. I don’t come up with lame excuses, I don’t misdirect people to divert their attention. I like to help clients sort out their story, position themselves strongly, and then tell [...]
“Vitch” is the first new PR catchword of 2010
Why send a plain old written PR pitch when you can send a “vitch” — a video pitch? That’s right, the new thing is to make your pitch via video. It’s certainly simple enough to do — plan your video, shoot it with an inexpensive video camera, upload it to Youtube and spread the link. [...]
Free Media Database for UK Media
Here’s another free online database of journalists, covering the UK media: journalisted.com It’s pretty simple: just go to that page, type in as much of the name as you know, and get a set of matches. For instance, here’s a link to a search for Smith. And here’s a page for one of the journalists [...]
Online Directory of Freelancers is a Media Relations Freebie
Most media directories cost money, but not this one: the Society of Professional Journalists’ online directory of freelance journalists. The directory lists 914 professional journalists who make a living as independents, and gives their names, coverage areas and best of all, contact info [including email], right there on the web. It’s true. The reason it’s [...]
Sure Fire Elements of Media Stories, Or How to Get in the Times if You’re Looking for a Job (Hint: Be Cute, Young, Blond and a Twin)
Part of my media training curriculum is explaining to people that the media covers only a set group of topics — they are broad, but they are really all you will find in American mainstream media, so if you want coverage, you better figure out which buckets your story fits in. They are: Novelty: things [...]
Are PR Embargoes Dead?
The embargo is one of my favorite PR tactics, but it looks like it will soon be another casualty of the Internet, if it isn’t already. In the ooollllddd days, you could hand out embargoed news and assuming you had a good relationship with the media, the news would sit in the can until the [...]
Know-Nothing Journalists Give Bad PR Advice (Again)
I almost didn’t even react to this latest example of journalists giving businesspeople bad advice about PR, but I couldn’t help it. I figured it was better to blog about it than to leave a comment on someone else’s blog. Here’s the story: a Boston web trade group held an event on Tuesday called, “An [...]
3 No-No’s When You Pitch the Media By Email
Almost all journalists say they want to be pitched by email. So guess what — they are deluged with email pitches! And to make matters worse, most of them are bloated, non-news pitches that get deleted faster than you can say, “did you get my email?” How to avoid the trash bin? That’s easy — [...]
Cartoon Network, Gays in the Military and Other Things 18-Year-Olds Think
As promised, here’s a link to the Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2013, i.e., 18-year-old freshmen born in 1991 who are now entering college. According to this super-helpful list: There has always been a Cartoon Network. The status of gays in the military has always been a topic of political debate. The [...]