THINKing » News http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog My CreativeTeam Thinks About Creativity, Marketing, PR & Social Media Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:40:12 +0000 en hourly 1 Media Continues Self Destruction http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/media-continues-self-destruction/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/media-continues-self-destruction/#comments Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:07:36 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=2528
Photo credit: Grafixar from morguefile.com

The US media aren’t trusted by Americans, and the self destruction continued this weekend with the incessant drumbeat of impending doom ahead of so-called Hurricane Irene. As Kendall Allen tells us in her piece Fools In Raincoats,

I was not at all helped along by the sensationalized, character-driven coverage on the major networks and even on the Weather Channel. In all these segments, the slapstick reporter standing IN the surf getting hammered was the story. Does that not break some journalistic principle: thou must not make oneself the story?

I saw video of one reporter excitedly talking about the wind and rain, that obviously was light. I’m sure his producer had told him to hype it up. When I was a reporter back in the 20th Century, we were told to cover the story as it was. No editorializing, no hyperbole. That day, sadly, appears to be gone.

Untrustworthy mainstream media are looking for something – anything – that will bring back their days of dominance.  This was not their finest hour. It was clear before the storm hit the NC coast, that the weakened hurricane was not on the order of 1989′s Hugo. As Irene moved up the coast, it brought a lot of rain and produced serious flooding, but she just couldn’t live up to the hype. Poor Anderson Cooper was clearly disappointed that NY was not about to be wiped out.

I am not saying that there was no responsible coverage of the storm. But the national broadcast and cable networks did not cover themselves in glory. Like the dinosaurs they are, today’s media outlets are one meteor strike away from extinction. Let’s hope some agile mammal is in the wings to take their place.

Did you see any responsible coverage? Wade in to the conversation, but watch out for that deadly hurricane-driven surf.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/media-continues-self-destruction/feed/ 0 Forgotten Gems http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/forgotten-gems/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/forgotten-gems/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:36:53 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/forgotten-gems/ Undiscovered Gems

Through no fault of their own, sometimes really good posts just get overlooked. Here are a few forgotten gems you may have missed.

Grandma Says -  Southern grandmothers have often said, “there are only three times a respectable person’s name should be in the paper: when you are born, when you are married, and when you die.” This is the one area in which I part company with my grandmothers.

Brand Euthanasia -  Some brands should be allowed to die, or if that fails, then we owe it to them to kill them.

New Business Tip: Do Great Work For Current Clients -My marketing mentor, Bill Loeffler, once said the the best new business program is doing great work for current clients. He was right.

The Value Of Connections – As we have discussed before, the value of connections in business cannot be underestimated. I’m talking primarily about tight connections that you use ruthlessly to help you achieve your personal and professional goals.

To Market, To Market… -  What does buying a fat pig have to do with your business? Stick with me and all will be revealed.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/forgotten-gems/feed/ 2 How To Be A Great Radio Guest http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/how-to-be-a-great-radio-guest/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/how-to-be-a-great-radio-guest/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:57:54 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/how-to-be-a-great-radio-guest/ Radio – despite changes in media habits – still is a great way to get in front of a lot of people. As a radio talk show guest on a national program, millions could hear your message. Talk radio listeners tune in about 20 percent more than the average radio listener.

Being a great guest takes some work on your part. Let’s review what you must do in order to attain great guest status.

Be Available. Journalists of all stripes complain about not being able to reach sources when they need them. With radio, it is not just a 9 – 5 job. The great radio guest will show up whenever he or she is needed.

Be Conversational. This goes beyond your ability to carry on a good conversation. You must speak clearly, concisely and in terms the average listener understands. Start throwing around business-speak like “that’s not in my wheelhouse” and get booted off the show before it starts. In fact, don’t talk like that when you are not on radio!

Be Ubiquitous. It was true when I was in radio and it is still true today, radio people follow their print brethren. If you have been quoted by a news magazine or newspaper, radio producers are more likely to have you on. And, help producers locate you. Make sure you have an online presence and that you have your media clips accessible so producers can determine if you are the right source for them.

Be In The Moment. If you are out pitching yourself, take advantage of the news cycle. If there is nothing happening currently that ties your expertise into the topic of the day, then wait. Your day will come.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/how-to-be-a-great-radio-guest/feed/ 0 Front Page Coverage – That’s What I Want! http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/front-page-coverage-thats-what-i-want/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/front-page-coverage-thats-what-i-want/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:41:32 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/front-page-coverage-thats-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.

I was talking with a prospect once who tossed this off as if it was no big deal, “of course we’d like to have the paper come down, meet our principals and do a profile of our business.” Another one wants to become a “rock star-type celebrity” in his industry.

Well, I’d like to win the lottery, but at least I know I have to buy a ticket first in order to be in the running.

Got any thoughts on this subject?

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/front-page-coverage-thats-what-i-want/feed/ 8 5 Best Posts – January 2010 http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/5-best-posts-january-2010/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/5-best-posts-january-2010/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:00:46 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/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?

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/5-best-posts-january-2010/feed/ 0 8 Ways To Use Twitter Lists http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/using-twitter-lists/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/using-twitter-lists/#comments Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:28:17 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=988

UPDATE: We just launched our Fortune 100 Twitter list. Feel free to follow it or any of our lists mentioned below.

We talked recently about the Twitter lists set up by My Creative Team. Are you using Twitter lists? Tell us about it.

We now have a Twittering Media Outlet List, a Twittering US Journalist List, and a Twittering Canadian Journalist List. Because Hootsuite – our favorite Twitter appliance – now allows you to import your lists, we also set up a Social Media List of our favorites in that category.

We have found a number of ways to utilize Twitter lists. Let’s take a couple of minutes to think about the how-tos of lists.

1. Experts. We established our social media list for the purpose of following experts in this milieu.

2. Social media monitoring. There’s a good piece on this at Fresh Networks‘ blog.

3. Industry news monitoring. We have set up the Twittering Media Outlets list to keep up with breaking news. You also could set up niche news monitoring lists, as we are going to do for our client, Camstar Systems, so we can keep up-to-date on topics such as manufacturing execution and quality management.

4. Employees. A number of businesses, ranging from Mashable to the New York Times, have set up employee lists. This could be a good customer service tool for your company, particularly if you work for a Fortune 1000 size firm.

5. Promote Causes. NonProfit Tech 2.0 has a post about how to use Twitter lists for promoting non-profits and causes.

6. Geo-Specific Lists. My Creative Team has been listed in a number of Charlotte, NC-area Twitter lists, like this one. This is a good way to keep up with what’s happening where you live, or where you used to live.

7. News Sources. Poynter Online has a solid post telling journalists how to use Twitter lists to help streamline their jobs.  Mashable also has a piece on how journalists are using Twitter lists.

8. Job Search.  Looking for a job? Set up a list of companies for which you would like to work, so you can get a sense of the corporate culture. Add executive search contacts to the list so you can discover what jobs are available. Our Fortune 100 list may be a good one to follow for job seekers.

Those are just a few ways to use Twitter lists. Got other ideas?

Oh, before you set up your own list, there may already be one out there. Check Listorious, the directory of Twitter lists.   Here’s one we found about job searches.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/using-twitter-lists/feed/ 3 Twitter Lists: Twittering Journalists http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/twitter-lists-twittering-journalists/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/twitter-lists-twittering-journalists/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:20:47 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=978 Finally, Twitter is offering a lists function. None too soon.If you need more info on Twitter lists, Mashable is a good resource.

We set up the My Creative Team Twittering Journalist wiki last year in order to develop a directory of journalists who were using Twitter. This was not an ideal solution, but it was good enough at that time. With the new Twitter list, we can move that wiki online. This makes it easier on everyone to follow twittering journalists.

We have established a USA Twittering Journalist List and a Canada Twittering Journalist List. They are not yet complete, but feel free to begin following them, and let us know if there are other journalists you are following who should be on the list. Next on our agenda, media outlets using Twitter.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/twitter-lists-twittering-journalists/feed/ 1 News Media: Your Slip Is Showing http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/news-media-your-slip-is-showing/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/news-media-your-slip-is-showing/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:46:28 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=976 You’ve probably read about it by now – the hoax pulled on the media by a group posing to be from the US Chamber. The CopyWrite, Ink blog has a good overview.

And it was a hoax on the media, not on the US Chamber of Commerce, as Bloomberg characterized it. Says Bloomberg,

The Yes Men, a New York group that pulls pranks on corporations, issued a fake press release and the text of a purported speech by Chamber President Thomas Donohue under the chamber’s letterhead yesterday, said Jacques Servin, a Yes Men member. The imposters also held a news conference at the National Press Club with ersatz chamber officials.

No, this was a hoax on the media. Plain and simple. Today’s media follow their template and biases, try to get the “news” out too fast, with little to no fact-checking.

Reuters called it more correctly after the fact. Initially, they too ran with the false story that the US Chamber of Commerce was changing its position on cap and trade. That’s what the liberal media wanted to hear and that’s why they didn’t question it. That’s what I mean by the template.

Today’s media members are overwhelmingly liberal.  A 2005 UCLA study confirms this. Former CBS newsman Bernard Goldberg has written a book on the subject – Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How The Media Distort The News that was spawned by an op-ed piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal. Goldberg says that it’s not a purposeful left-wing conspiracy. According to an article in Newsmax,

Goldberg, who spent his last years at CBS in the doghouse for his 1996 Wall Street Journal piece, says that if these correspondents were to take a lie detector test as to whether they slanted the news leftward, they would deny it and pass with flying colors. Many of them don’t consider that they’re leaning in any political direction. They really think they are simply mainstream. There is no other side of the argument except what you hear from a few right-wing nut cases. In their world, mainstream conservatism doesn’t exist.

Don’t be surprised by more of these hoaxes.They are just too easy to perpetrate.

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/news-media-your-slip-is-showing/feed/ 0 Top Content http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/top-content-2/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/top-content-2/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:53:17 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=972 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

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]]> http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/top-content-2/feed/ 0 Reading List http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/reading-list/ http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/reading-list/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:42:49 +0000 Harry Hoover http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/?p=971 What are you reading today? Here are a few items we are checking out.

Newspaper Online Traffic Heads Up

Google Fast Flip Speeds Online News Reading

iPhone App Helps You Find Guinness

Measuring The Business Effects Of Web 2.0

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