Category Archives: Uncategorized

Spring means a crop of client news coverage

Posted on by
Reply

If the change of seasons motivates you to improve your health, here is some client news to get you moving.

photo

Coach Brendan completed the Antarctica Marathon earlier this month, and proved that anyone can achieve the impossible. See his great coverage in the Chicago Sun Times and WGN Radio.

IMG_1242IMG_1241

Looking forward to Chicago’s next great park and destination? The Bloomingdale Trail, the nearly 3-mile elevated park and trail system planned for Bucktown, Wicker Park, Logan Square and Humboldt Park, received great praise today in a comprehensive, three-page spread in the Sun Times. Continue reading →

Need PR for your App? Sorry, there’s NO App for that!

Posted on by
Reply

No app for that

In the last month, I’ve been approached by three different companies seeking help in generating news for their smart phone apps creations.  Currently, I’m working with a brother-sister team that developed BrainAttack App to help emergency room doctors and nurses save lives for stroke patients. Like my clients, all app creators are trying to rise above the noise being generated in an industry that’s growing at lightning speed.

Since 2008, when Apple launched its iTunes App store more than 800,000 apps have been downloaded. Google has quickly played catch up with just under 700,000 apps on Google Play as it marks its first birthday.

app-store-heart

If there’s a business problem, there’s probably an entrepreneur who’s created or working on an app solution. Unfortunately, there’s no app guaranteed to get news coverage for your new app. With the mix of traditional and social media required to generate awareness of your app, a one-size fits-all solution just won’t get you results.

There are so many target audiences that can make or break your efforts to generate awareness of your apps. With these hurdles in mind, I offer…

Top 10 tips to build media buzz for your App  Continue reading →

Press releases can STILL pack a punch

Posted on by
1

PressReleaseIf you follow me here or on my LinkedIn profile, you probably know I’m a strong believer in the effectiveness of a well-written press release.  In an earlier post, I mentioned that press releases have the potential to go viral and become an excellent lead generator.  Recently, I had a media relations experience that perfectly illustrates my point!

Continue reading →

A reporter wants an exclusive. Now what?

Posted on by
2

ManyMikesRecently, a Chicago broadcast reporter asked for an exclusive about my client‘s latest news. He received our press release (Cournane travels to Antarctica) about my client’s upcoming marathon on the South Pole, and requested that I NOT promote the trip to other outlets until he aired the story first.

I wanted to maintain my great relationship with this veteran street reporter at one Chicago’s top-rated broadcast outlets. Being helpful is one thing — jeopardizing future client coverage is another. What to do?

I made a deal. I agreed not to make calls and emails to any other reporters until his reports were aired. If any other media contacted me during the interim, I would let my broadcast friend know that he should run his story because I’d be working with other media. He agreed.

Did I make the right call? Leave a comment. Later this week, you’ll hear how it all turned out.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Nespresso on Facebook: Brewing great customer service

Posted on by
4

IMG_0618Dear Nespresso, your brand page on Facebook showcases exactly how a consumer product company should be integrating social media into every part of the customer experience. Now I see why your page has nearly 2 million LIKES and thousands of people talking about you (in many languages). I have this real life example of wonderful customer service through social media.

You address complaints immediately and publicly — I have proof! Today you did so to my total surprise.

Yesterday, I complained on your page after twice calling your toll free number and twice having the system hang up on me when I tried to reach customer service. I left this note in frustration (I admit, I did it in haste and it was a bit snarky).

Grab image of complaint

I thought that would be the end of my Nespresso Facebook engagement and was quite shocked to get this email today. Apparently, someone on the Facebook team connected with customer service, or looked up my order history, noted that I had not yet requested my first scaling kit, and took the initiative to order it on my behalf. Continue reading →

PR advice for the Bears’ Jay Cutler?

Posted on by
Reply

 I consider myself knowledgable on a lot of things. Journalism and the news business? Absolutely.  Media and public relations? You bet.  Effectively communicating a message while handling a media interview? Easy.

Sports? Never my strong suit. Football, the weakest pocket in my strong suit!  I’m a fair weather fan, one who really pays attention to the Chicago Bears if they make the play-offs or start a winning streak.  I like watching the Superbowl to see the commercials and follow funny observations on Twitter and Facebook. The game is pretty much an afterthought to me.

So I was pretty surprised and thrilled to be asked to lend my PR expertise to a story out today on the Re-Branding Jay Cutler: How Would PR Execs Fix The Bears QB?

It’s written by local media reporter Michael Sebastian for ChicagoSide, a great Chicago sports web site. Mike sought out a number of Chicago PR professionals to ask what Jay Cutler should be doing to reverse his standing as one of the most loathed players in the NFL.

Check out the piece, and whether or not you’re a diehard Bears fan, I’d love to know what you think. Does Jay Cutler need a PR Fix?

And hey, if anyone out there has a line to Cutler, tell him I’m available to help repair his brand, OK. The fact that I don’t care for football may be a positive in his playbook.

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

Paying it forward matters in Media Relationships, too!

Posted on by
5

I blog so others can learn about my successes and failures working with journalists. If you’re in public relations and marketing I hope you take my lessons and run with them, because that’s the intent.

I offer yet another media relations nugget — perfectly timed for this month of Being Thankful:

Never underestimate the value of paying it forward,

especially when working with media.

Create opportunities to help a reporter, and you will reap rewards. Want proof? It happened about a month ago.  I was pitching Andy Giersher, the veteran Chicago producer for the number one rated radio business show — Noon Business Hour on Newsradio 780. I called him about two hours before the start of his show, offering a client expert on mobile shopping and mobile rewards programs, in advance of the holiday shopping season.

“No thanks,” he said, “right now, I’m trying to round out today’s show.”

“What are you working on?” I asked. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Yeah, I’m looking for someone to comment on Newsweek.”

Continue reading →

Dispelling the Dark Side Myth

Posted on by
9
   I’m joining my former WXRT News colleague, Charlie Meyerson with our first blog brainstorm.
Charlie has graciously agreed to my request about his good, bad and ugly experiences with PR people. I’ve happily obliged his idea to dispel the myths about journalists who switch to public relations. Keep visiting here for this unique online conversation between a veteran journalist and a veteran PR professional. 

 

Often when I meet new clients, someone invariably jokes that when I left journalism for public relations, I entered the “dark side” of communications. Heck, even I feared I’d sell my soul by switching to a PR career after 20 years in broadcast news at WXRT, WBEZ, and WGN radio.

I recalled conversations in the City Hall Press Room, cynically feeding the misconception about PR people with names like: hacks, flaks, spinmeisters, handlers, sellouts and worse.  So in my mind, I too feared becoming one of those dark characters lurking behind the curtains when I accepted the Communications Director’s job for Mayor Richard M. Daley’s 1995 re-election campaign.

After 17 years in PR and media relations, I can tell you that dark sinister image is great for TV dramas, but not a reflection of reality. In fact, these real-life nicknames are more fitting monikers:  ”Story Assistant,” “Mr. Communicator” and “Message Engineer.” Our role, as PR people is to communicate our clients’ stories and help journalists with story ideas.

We serve as the media’s information providers, schedulers, and fact-checkers.   With jobs continuing to decline at newspapers, TV and radio stations, those media reps lucky enough to remain employed need all the help I can possibly give them.

Providing ideas — knowing when and how

Reporters have even greater pressures to feed the beast — the 24-hour news cycle. Without ideas from people like me, they’d have to do more scouting, calling and mining for sources. I routinely get journalists’ request for ideas. In fact, even when I don’t have a client expert, I will go out of my way to find sources to help them out (in journalism as in life, there is value in paying it forward). 

Continue reading →

Top 10 Reasons Why Your PR Efforts Fail

Posted on by
Reply

Does it seem like your PR efforts are wasting time and money? Do you repeatedly try and fail to get reporters’ attention? During my many years helping business, government and non-profit clients secure positive news coverage, I’ve felt the adreniline rush that comes with magnificent news coverage, and the agony and embarrassment that follows a media interview gone awry (scroll down to the graph that starts “Then another tollway spokesperson”). With those memories I present the Top Ten Reasons Why Your PR Efforts are Getting You Nowhere:

  1. You emphasized tactics over strategy so your PR campaign lacks clear business goals and objectives.
  2. You’re targeting the wrong media because you haven’t identified your key audiences.
  3. You’ve re-purposed an old media list and didn’t delete the reporters who lost their jobs when their papers folded.
  4. Your final press release required three complete rewrites because you didn’t create a content outline for your boss’s/client’s review.
  5. You e-blasted the release to reporters and editors and it was dumped in junk mailboxes, never to be viewed.
  6. You wrote a one-size-fits-all pitch letter that left reporters with two choices — trash your news now or trash your news later.
  7. You fumbled through a media interview because you didn’t bother thinking through the possible questions and answers beforehand.
  8. You wouldn’t practice for your on-camera interview and your family still jokes about how your eyes bugged whenever you talked.
  9. Your customers don’t know about your news coverage because you didn’t bother merchandising it or sharing it on social networks.
  10. Your messages are so confusing that even your mother can’t describe what you do.
Leave a comment if you have additional entries to my top 10 reasons for PR failure.
 Post happily written by Michelle Damico

 

 

 

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

My Raised-Bed Garden, Week 5

Posted on by
Reply

My raised-bed garden is bursting. The first set of photos below contains my peppers, lettuce, herbs, broccoli, morning glories and an errant hen & chick. Early planting on right.


The second set of photos is my raised-bed with zucchinis, tomatoes, eggplant, peas, beans, rainbow chard, carrots and beets. Again, early planting on right.Enhanced by Zemanta