THINKing

Front Page Coverage – That’s What I Want!

Does everyone in business seem to think all you have to do is call the local daily paper and they come out to do a page one profile of your business? With all the downsizing, it’s hard enough just to get the media to open your emails or take your calls. Getting a front page story just because you want it: priceless.

5 Best Posts – January 2010

We had some very popular posts in January – some old and some new. I thought I’d share them with you.

1. 8 Ways To Use Twitter Lists
2. Twittering Journalists
3. Be Relevant
4. When Billboards Go Bad
5. 7 Ways To Kickstart Your 2010 Marketing 

What’s your favorite?

Twitter Lists: Twittering Journalists

Finally, Twitter is offering a lists function. None too soon.If you need more info on Twitter lists, Mashable is a good resource.

Top Content

In case you missed some of our posts, here are the top five read of all time:

Twittering Journalists

Top 10 Story Starters For Blocked Bloggers

Newspapers: Dig The Grave 

When Billboards Go Bad

It’s The Relationship, Stupid

Aligning Metrics

Years ago, I worked with a Fortune 500 company on an integrated marketing communications program. It was integrated everywhere except with sales. And therein lies the rub. Our marketing metrics were highly successful, but our sales metrics weren’t. Let me explain.

Links – 7/10/2009

Here are a few things we’re reading today:

AP Works Toward Universal Online News Format -  The Associated Press, along with fellow non-profit The Media Standards Trust, unveiled a digital news “microformat” to effectively encapsulate the content and key meta-data of every news story online.

Talk To Me, Don’t Pitch Me

Hey lazy PR people! Now that I have your attention, don’t send off-target information for inclusion in this blog, OK? Just like Valeria Maltoni at Conversation Agent, I get too many press releases from lazy PR people who can’t take the time to figure out what it is that I write about. To them, I’m just another name on the distribution list. Blast away with the shotgun and you are bound to hit something.

Everyman 1, Influentials, 0

Back in the 20th Century, you might remember, PR people were advised to determine who were the influentials in their market and spend the majority of their efforts reaching these elites. The theory was that if you reached these centers of influence – the media or someone who could influence popular culture – you could develop more targeted programs and avoid a mass approach. Approaching influentials was less expensive than mass communications.

Communicating In Tough Times

I didn’t need a new Nielsen study to tell me that a financial institution can improve customer confidence through advertising. It only makes sense. If the bank has the money to advertise, the perception will be, that it has the money to pull through hard times. Could be a totally false perception, but there it is.

Hidden Gems

I was checking out the statistics for my blog recently and found a number of excellent posts had had very little traffic. So, here is our first edition of Hidden Gems that will resurrect these overlooked posts:

Brand Euthanasia

Fighting For The Middle Ground

Client Media Relations Misconceptions