Last month, Lisa Bialecki, senior director of Integrated Communications for Rust-Oleum, and I hosted a PRSA webinar, now available on-demand, called, “Going Beyond the Press Kit to Engage Influencers.” During the webinar, we highlighted the efforts Rust-Oleum has made to develop and deploy a sustainable blogger network as well as eight common ways brands can fail in the blogger space.

The discussion during the webinar was rich. It’s clear that today’s public relations professionals are already incorporating blogger relations into their marketing mix. But many are curious about how to identify the right bloggers, how to disclose your relationship and how to measure the success of your efforts. Here is a recap of some of the most frequently asked questions.

Continue reading " Webinar Recap: Going Beyond the Press Kit to Engage Influencers "

Tying your company into what’s already on the media agenda is a great way to boost the newsworthiness of your pitch angles.

McDonald’s struck an excellent balance this week when reacting to the benevolent neighbor who rescued the three abducted Cleveland women. Charles Ramsey mentioned McDonald’s in both his now-famous initial TV interview and his 911 call, which also went viral. He was the top trending topic on Twitter for almost a full day. Many in the Twitterverse hailed him as a hero and called on McDonald’s to figuratively shower him with Big Macs.

But the company showed appropriate restraint in its eventual tweet. First, they expressed support and sensitivity to the victims. Then, a subtle hint that they would “be in touch” with Ramsey. McDonald’s reps didn’t return calls asking for further comment — another wise move to avoid being perceived as exploiting the sensitive situation.

Continue reading " How Charles Ramsey, The NFL Draft And A Presidential Election Can Help You Land Your Next Big Media Hit "

A few minutes before midnight on the evening of April 3, 2012, I sat alone, exhausted, in a hotel room in Washington, D.C. The room was silent except for the constant click, click, click of my mouse as I nervously refreshed our website every other second. The story had already been broken hours ago by the Associated Press and word was beginning to spread about the next day’s announcement. However, all I cared about was making sure that our website, the central point of information we had worked on for months, went live when it was supposed to.

As April 3 became April 4, the site, as if sensing my anxiety, refreshed and the content — which we had spent countless hours meticulously editing, proofing and polishing — appeared in bright, bold colors illuminating the darkened hotel room. For a few hours, I could rest.

On the morning of April 4, 2012, the ABIM Foundation, along with Consumer Reports and nine medical specialty societies launched the Choosing Wisely® campaign at a standing-room-only event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The ABIM Foundation, long a leader in advancing medical professionalism, created the campaign to encourage physicians and patients to engage in conversations about unnecessary tests and procedures that may provide no benefit, and actually could cause harm. To help begin these conversations, the nine societies created lists of “Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question.”

The event marked the official unveiling of these lists, and while we were hopeful they would be well-received and embraced by physicians and patients, we were surprised, and, quite frankly, a bit overwhelmed by the response.

Continue reading " Do’s, Don’ts and Docs: A Prescription for Improving Health Care Through Physician and Patient Conversations "

Join Joseph Grove for “What Readers Want: Defining Techspeak to Verticals That Care” at the PRSA Technology Section HyperConnections Summit in Atlanta, Sept. 27-28.

I admit it. I can be a real jerk.

I don’t respond to your emails. I don’t return your voicemails. If your call happens to catch me at my desk, I’ll  know within the first five words that you’re a public relations person — maybe an intern — who is pimping a press release, I immediately I will begin to wonder how fast I can get to goodbye.

But I also have to say that some of you kind of deserve it. And for every editor who’d just as soon hit the delete button on your message than read or listen to the whole thing, there is a public relations professional who could use a few pointers on how to convey her message in such a way it might actually make the news.

Let’s face it: We need each other. I asked one of my editors how much daily news she gets from press releases and other forms of public relations. Two-thirds, she said. Among all our sites, we published 4,177 news items for the first six months of the year. Assuming her percentage holds true for our other editors, that’s 2,785 pieces of public relations we picked up. Was yours one of them?

Here are a few things you can do to make sure you are part of the next 4,177 we publish.

Continue reading " Five Ways to Become More Than Just a Necessary Evil "

Join Ann Wylie for “Anatomy of a 2.0 Release” on June 28, 3–4 p.m. EDT, and find out how to take advantage of online distribution to get your release posted on portals, help Google find your site, and reach customers, clients and other stakeholders online. This public relations writing training sesssion is free to PRSA members.

Boilerplates:  We can’t live with ’em; we can’t get a decent one through the approval process.

A boilerplate is the short “about us” paragraph at the end of each news release that describes your organization.

The boilerplate’s ubiquity makes it important.  An organization uses the copy over and over again. Depending on the scope and reach of your media relations efforts, reporters and editors might publish your boilerplate thousands of times, exposing it to thousands of consumers.

So what goes into a good boilerplate? To decide, think like your reader.

Continue reading " Three Tips for Writing a Better Boilerplate "