Awards usually don’t mean squat because the true test of a P.R. campaign is how the project has changed people’s behavior or perceptions. If you care about these things, however, two contests are seeking entries. PR News is sponsoring its first-ever Nonprofit PR Awards program for nonprofit communications. It’s open to all communications and marketing… Read More
The news release is dead
Do you write news releases that require six levels of approval before they can go out the door? Do you labor over every word in your releases, and worry what reporters will think about the lame B.S. quote in the third paragraph—the one the boss insists be kept in? If so, you might welcome the… Read More
EzineArticles.com adds eight categories
EzineArticles.com, the giant repository for thousands of articles that can be picked up by editors and publishers all over the world, is one of my favorite places for submitting how-to articles. Now, they’ve added eight new categories for articles: Data Recovery—Lost data? Got data? This computer related category covers all of the issues relating to… Read More
Use the independence theme
Right now, in newsrooms and at TV and radio stations all over the U.S., assignment editors are groaning about having to come up with local stories for the Fourth of July. Even worse, July 4 falls on Monday. That means that in addition to a big Sunday paper, editors have the holiday edition to worry… Read More
Help promote a salsa school
Aleksandra Sell of Calgary, Alberta, Canada writes: “I have a school of salsa dance and I’m looking for ways to generate appreciation for salsa dance and music in a large oil and gas town. In every large city in North America, salsa has taken over by storm, but not here. So far, it’s been like… Read More
Feds should butt out of VNR controversy
The federal government should stay out of the squabble over prepackaged news materials such as video news releases. The FCC is reviewing existing rules and regulations on two types of prepackaged news materials – those involving financial or promotional considerations for broadcasters who air them and those involving “controversial” or “political subjects.” The FCC became… Read More
Media hungry for news on “citizen journalism”
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m fascinated by all the “citizen journalism” experiments under way throughout the U.S. I’m not alone. Blogger Steve Outing says he wondered if he was writing too much about the topic, but that the responses to his blog items, and queries from “real” journalists, leads him to believe this could eventually… Read More
Website to train citizen journalists
One reason newspaper circulation is plummeting is because people feel a real disconnect between real life and what they see printed in their daily newspapers. Complaints of biased and inaccurate reporting, too much emphasis on crime (when in fact crime rates are decreasing) and too little good news are encouraging people to take news-gathering into… Read More
How to pitch to USA Today’s technology columnist
Kevin Maney, USA Today’s technology writer and tech columnist, doesn’t cover daily breaking news, individual product pieces, product announcements or product reviews, unless “they are mind-blowing.” But he wants PR people to let him know about up-and-coming technology that is just coming out of labs and factories, as well as tech trends in other countries.… Read More
How to promote luxury high-rises
Jennifer Marko of Jacksonville, Florida writes: “I represent a luxury high-rise community, which is almost sold out, but we don’t want to lose momentum on our publicity efforts about the community itself. Our target market is retired or almost-retired empty nesters looking to downsize their lifestyle so they can travel. The 12-story building is on… Read More