and The Beauty of Please and Thank You. I wasn’t going to respond to the RFP (request for proposal). I usually don’t. They take a toll in terms of time and resources, the odds of wining are typically really slim, and sometimes the process is just a formality. They know who they want, but are required […]
Can Marketing Break the Grammar Rules?
I won second prize in a really difficult grammar contest against a room full of PR agency owners and CEOs. I like to talk about that as frequently as possible. I almost didn’t get married because in our very first argument in the first month we were dating, I interrupted Patrick to tell him “also too” is […]
Why Simple Really is Better in your Messaging
Today, I’d like to share a story about treating your newbie market with care and why it’s important to dumb your message down for the masses. I’m working on getting wine labels printed for a client. (And when I say “client” I actually mean my amazing husband who is a winemaker and has a startup […]
Media Relations vs. Influencer Relations
There really isn’t a difference between media and influencer relations. And I’ll explain. But I’d like to digress first and talk about the future of journalism. Italics mine because I have to laugh at the idea of forecasting the future. Have you seen this special project in the New York Times, Snow Fall: The Avalanche […]
Content Marketing is Just Good Marketing
Any fans of “Miracle on 34th Street” out there? Kris Kringle had all these great ideas. Do you remember? He introduced the idea of creating a massive notebook containing products and services available throughout New York City. If a customer came in looking for something Macy’s didn’t carry, the sales associates would be able to direct […]
Track Your Content Results to Offline Activities
This is a modified version of a post I wrote for Spin Sucks earlier this year. Are you tracking the effectiveness of your online content with offline results? Let me step back and explain why I’m asking this question. My Bernese Mountain Dog Jackson is really big. He has hip and elbow dysplasia, poor baby […]
PR vs Integrated Communications
I guess what I was trying to say when I wrote about the Role of Messaging last week, is that public relations is so much more than the Art of Writing Press Releases. In fact, I frequently steer clients away from news releases (they aren’t called press releases anymore, just like books on tape are […]
How to Motivate Behavior With The Right Emotions
This is a very modified version of a post I wrote for Spin Sucks this time last year. On my drive home last night, I was listening to local radio for a change. During the interminably long commercial break, I realized something: All three ads gave me reason to panic if I don’t buy their […]
The Role of Messaging in Marketing
As communications professionals, we tend to be guilty of the very things we preach against: Speaking industry jargon and catchprases. On a daily basis, I tell my clients to keep it conversational. “Would you say it in person?” then don’t say it wherever you’re saying it. The terms “message development” and “storytelling” get bandied about […]
Presidential Campaigns: You Don’t Tell Me Stories Anymore
I’m sick today, and a bit cranky, so there is no better time than the present to rant about the presidential campaigns. I don’t know a lot about politics which puts me in the majority of the population, and therefore well within my rights to write about the topic </sarcasm>. As do most of us, […]