July 2010
13 posts
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Florida tourism, the oil spill and the little PR...
Located just across the state line of Alabama lies beautiful Perdido Key, Florida. Just a few hundred yards wide in most places, it stretches some 16 miles, with more than half of it located in state and federal parks. One of the few areas of wilderness remaining in northwest Florida, the Key was on high alert as oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill made its way towards the Florida coast.
As the...
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How to: use annotations to promote your brand on...
If you’re new to YouTube, you may not be aware of Annotations, a new tool from YouTube that can help your videos stand out from the crowd. Catherine-Gail Reinhard recently wrote a great post about Annotations for Mashables, an online guide to social media and one of the top ten blogs worldwide.
There are lots of ways to use Annotations, Reinhard says, from “adding a simple ‘call...
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5 ways to add value to your ads
Public relations is a top marketing tool, and so is paid advertising. One way to stretch your advertising budget is to “piggy-back” your PR messages on your paid ads. If you’re already paying for ad space on television, radio or in print, here are 5 quick and easy-on-the-budget ways to help your advertising do double duty.
1. For television advertising: instead of producing a...
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social network users might be older than you...
A recent study conducted by Royal Pingdom shows that the average social network user is 37 years old. If you use, or plan to use, social media marketing to reach a specific target audience, the following information can help you select the right social network to employ:
— LinkedIn, with its business focus, has a predictably high average user age of 44.
— The average Twitter user is 39 years...
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Responding to media inquiries—5 "don'ts" from a...
Stephane Fitch, Chicago bureau chief, Forbes, participated on a panel of journalists and writers at a webinar, “Responding to Media Queries: How to Stand out from the Crowd,” hosted by ProfNet on Nov. 11, and provided a great list of do’s and don’ts for PR professionals, including:
• Don’t reply to a query with, “What’s the story all about?” He doesn’t know before he writes it. •...
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Cheap Tricks—media kit for beginners
You’ve published a book, launched a new product or started a new company. You want to snag some free publicity from the media but you don’t know how to get their attention. What you need is a media kit, and you don’t have to spend a lot to develop a package that will help put your business in the media spotlight. A basic media kit starts with the following 4 important components,...
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the editor got it wrong: can I get a retraction?
If you’ve ever been quoted in a news article you’ve probably discovered that your words don’t sound quite the same in print as they did when they were leaving your mouth. Reading them the next day can bring all kinds of grief and pain, especially if you were mis-quoted. Should you request a retraction?
My general rule of thumb is to only request a retraction if the information...
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free pr: online community calendars
One way to extend the mileage from news releases you distribute to announce events is to post event details on public community calendars.
Television and radio station and newspaper and magazine community calendars are great venues on which to post events. But there are a number of other calendars that are available in most markets and should also be part of your distribution list:
— Church Web...
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Who are your company's best advocates? 6 traits to...
I was fortunate to hear a presentation this week about building and motivating advocates, given by Terrie Glover Ard, senior vice president of Moore Consulting Group. Important not only to non-profits, advocates are individuals who care enough for an issue, cause, policy or product to influence others to support it. Her company has mobilized advocates in support of everything from Florida...
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What's a Facebook fan really worth to marketers? →
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crisis communication: 4 critical actions
I had the opportunity to see a presentation by Doc Kokol, director of communications for the Florida Dept. of Health a few weeks ago. Kokol shared his personal list of things to remember when communicating during times of crisis. During the H1N1 “Swine Flu” scare of 2009, for example, these tips were a lifesaver. His suggestions are simple to apply in virtually any crisis situation...
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5 ways to maximize event attendance
Constant Contact recently posted a list of ways to maximize attendance at your next event, and here’s a synopsis:
1. Save the date—calendars fill up fast so get your event on your prospect attendees as early as possible. Once you have the who/what/where/when/how determined, send an email or postcard to the guest list.
2. Send an email invitation—6-8 weeks prior to your event, send out an...