Good News Gal

Looking for exposure? Hire a reporter!

The New York Times published an interesting article yesterday titled, "As Coverage Wanes, Los Angeles Kings Hire Own Reporter."

In response to the declining number of media outlets able to afford to send reporters out to cover stories, the Los Angeles Kings hired their own personal beat reporter, who had previously wrote for The Los Angeles Daily News, to report on the team's Website. A Kings spokesman said the team had given "a multi-year commitment and complete autonomy to post reporting or commentary" on their website. The King’s personal reporter will also travel with the team to cover all of their games.

The story stated that “after years of trimming jobs, pages and travel budgets, many big-city (news)papers no longer provide regular coverage of every local sports team, and sending reporters on road trips has become rare.”

The Kings aren't the first to lead this emerging trend. Major League Baseball has a beat reporter assigned to each team and to write for its website. 

Could the role of the PR practitioner evolve into reporting as newsrooms' reporting structures radically change due to staffing and budget constraints? 

I think a great place to start reporting is on your company (or client's) blog. Social media tools such a Twitter and Facebook have made it extremely easy to push out content and attract followers to your blog site. These days, a blog plan / social media relations is critical to an organization's marketing success and should be included in the company's overall PR and communications strategy. Social media is dramatically changing the newsroom and how journalists gather story ideas and research, therefore, we must change the way that we making information and company news available.

To read the full article, click here.

Measuring social media

On November 17, the Rochester Chapter of the American Marketing Association hosted a breakfast with David Berkowitz, Director of Emerging Media and Client Strategy at 360i, a digital marketing agency, as the keynote speaker. David shared his insights on ways to measure social media and the “Key Conversation Indicators” that his agency uses with their clients.

During his presentation, David touched on some of the ways large companies are measuring social media that are also mentioned in his blog post from yesterday titled "100 ways to measure social media."

Some of the metrics that David mentions are what I am using to measure social media for my clients and find quite effective depending on the size and scope of the PR campaign. They include:

• Mainstream media mentions & connections
• Growth rate of fans, followers, and friends
• Second-degree reach (connections to fans, followers, and friends exposed - by people or impressions)
• Influence on consumers reached
• Demographics of audience reached through social media
• Impact on other offline behavior (e.g., TV tune-in)
• Downloads & Upload
• Comments, TrackBacks, & Retweets
• Change in search engine rankings for the site linked to through social media
• Ratings
• Links ranked by influence of publishers
• Leads generated

How are you measuring social media?

The lessons that Wal-Mart learned when they opened the doors to the media

Recently, the Rochester Chapters of the AMA and PRSA hosted a seminar where Steven V. Restivo, the Director of Corporate Affairs in the Northeast Region for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., spoke on rebuilding corporate reputation.

Many of us wondered for years what strategy Wal-Mart would use to combat all of the negative press that competitors and activists generated through the public attacks on the company and staged protests, and how they would attempt to position themselves positively in the public eye.

It's hard to believe that at one point in time Wal-Mart operated 4,000 nationwide with no PR or public / corporate affairs in place. How did they do it?  Well after 40 years of taking the backseat on PR, the company recently (like 6 or 7 years ago) had no other choice but to implement a VERY aggressive campaign and infrastructure that would allow them to continuously communicate all of the positive aspects of the company. They literally had to pick up the phone and open the doors to the media.

Some of the immediate and key initiatives that Wal-Mart drove through its PR efforts were:

• an infrastructure that could field 700+ media calls per week
• a media hot-line based out of Bentonville, AR
• assigned a media director to every state
• built a community relations campaign that supports more than 100,000 local community organizations and donates over $300 million to charity
• jumped on the media's green bandwagon

I have plenty more to say about Wal-Mart’s attempt to rebuild its reputation on the RAMA blog. Click here to view my blog post. There, you will also find a copy of the Power Point presentation that Mr. Restivo used during his presentation. The most valuable information that I took away from the presentation was the lessons learned.

The lessons that Wal-Mart learned through its efforts to rebuild corporate reputation:

• If you aren’t willing to tell you story and tell it effectively, others will
• Its good practice to survey your customers about their perceptions and experiences in order to effectively manage your reputation.
• Don’t think reputation will take care of itself
• Nurture your story by telling the positive
• Be transparent and open to the media
• Use your greatest assets – your employees – to tell your story as the local spokespeople
• Use consistent, tested messages

52 Days Until Reach Out Tour '08!

I was delighted to receive BlogHer's official invitation to The Reach Out Tour '08. BlogHer is taking the show on the road to six different cities down the East Coast and across the South.

The single day events will incorporate elements of the annual conferences such as offer informational sessions, learning labs, interactive conversations with local bloggers, and networking. The Tour will take place over two weeks beginning on October 11th. The six tour cities include Boston, Washington DC, Greensboro, Nashville, Atlanta, and New Orleans.   

The BlogHer community continues to be very successful in in featuring the truly amazing things women are doing online.

I hope to see you in Boston on October 11th!

The Nation's First African American Female Orthopaedic Surgeon to Speak on a Popular News Topic

i have the privilege of working with America's first African American female orthopedic surgeon and author of God Spare Life, Dr. Claudia Lynn Thomas, as her publicist. Today, Dr. Thomas will present at  Howard University Hospital’s quarterly Grand Rounds as the Visiting Scholar. She will share her personal testimony on “How God Intervened in the Life of a Physician.”

During her talk, Dr. Thomas will explore the relatedness of spirituality and medicine and the role that the mind and spirit play in the healing of the body - a topic that has peaked the interest of those in the medical field and also of the press. The Washington Post recently published an interesting article on this very topic - click here here to view.

In my opinion, Dr. Thomas delivers a powerful message. Her remarkable story about the struggle to rise above societal expectations as a woman of color and how she has learned the value of faith has been told (and continues to be told) all around the country. She also lectures on diversity issues, on how to achieve diversity in the workplace, as well as the healing power of faith.

Dr. Thomas' lecture will begin 9:00 am at the Tower Auditorium, Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC.

A book signing will immediately follow her lecture. Claudia Thomas' autobiography, God Spare Life, was published by Windsor Media Enterprises in July 2007. For those of you who know Yvonne - that's her publishing company.

Click here for more details on the event.

   

Remembering Tim Russert

The tragic news of Tim Russert's unexpected death brings a tremendous amount of loss for the news media and news-viewers alike.

A devastated Tom Brokaw, former anchor of “NBC Nightly News” and longtime friend and colleague of Russert, announced Tim’s death on Friday afternoon.

Brokaw describe Tim as “a beloved colleague and one of the premier journalists of our time.  ....Tim loved his family, his faith, his country, politics, he loved the Buffalo Bills, the New York Yankees, the Washington Nationals. ....This news division will not be the same without his strong, clear voice. He'll be missed, as he was loved, greatly."

Tim's passion and enthusiasm for his family, politics and public policy was admired by many. He truly represented everything that a journalist should be.

Promoting A Major Motion Picture

I had the pleasure of meeting with Peter Cuneo, former CEO and current Vice Chairman of Marvel Entertainment, Inc., during his recent visit to Rochester, NY. Mr. Cuneo was the keynote speaker at the Rochester Chapter of the American Marketing Association's Marketer of the Year Awards ceremony. I spearheaded the PR efforts for the event.

Mr. Cuneo shared how the strategic marketing of characters as celebrity brands helped lead the way for Marvel's success with super heroes like Spider Man, X-Men, Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk.

The Internet has brought significant change to the entertainment industry particularly how major motion pictures are marketed. Web 2.0 has made it easier for companies like Marvel to reach their targeted audiences through social media sites like MySpace and YouTube.

Movie trailers are no longer just for movie theaters to play before the featured presentation. Entertainment companies like Marvel are placing their movie trailers in the online space, and have been hugely successful by doing so.

The trailer for "The Incredible Hulk," an action-packed classic of one of the most popular superheroes of all time, was released online on April 30th for a June 13th movie launch. The Hulk is currently the single most watched trailer in history as it has been viewed online by over 14 million people, according to Mr. Cuneo. This was one of the few marketing and PR initiatives that the company has in place for the Hulk until late May. Iron Man is currently capturing the media's and market's attention.

You can view The Incredible Hulk movie trailer right here. Join the 14 million plus people that have watched it.

One last interesting tidbit that Mr. Cuneo shared is that Marvel spends almost as much money in promoting the release of the DVD as it does for the actual release of the film in theaters.

China Quake Relief Effort - Release Fees Waived

Send all of your China Earthquake Relief Effort news and information at no cost through PR Newswire starting today, May 13th - Sunday, May 18th.

PR Newswire Waives Distribution Fees for China Earthquake Related News Releases

Organizations offering aid to the victims of the earthquake in China can distribute their messages through PR Newswire in the U.S. and China-based Xinhua PR Newswire at no charge; all releases will also be distributed through PR Newswire's partner CSRwire.

NEW YORK, May 13 / PRNewswire / -- PR Newswire has waived fees for all news releases relating to aid in rescue and recovery efforts for the severe earthquake that struck Sichuan province in China on Monday.

PR Newswire, and China-based Xinhua PR Newswire, will waive fees for organizations that wish to communicate their efforts of assistance to media and public audiences in the United States and China. PR Newswire's corporate social responsibility partner, CSRwire, will also waive fees for distribution to their network of academics, activists, CSR investment houses, NGOs, educational institutions and government bodies.

To view news releases issued by PR Newswire members offering aid, please visit http://www.prnewswire.com/gh/cnoc/comp/683207.html under Earthquake in China.

Get your BlackBerry out of our bed! - CNN.com

I had the opportunity to discuss my dependence on technology - my "digital mistress" stories - and how it is playing out in my marriage with Diane Mapes at CNN.com.

Get your BlackBerry out of our bed!

By Diane Mapes

(LifeWire) -- Like other couples, D-D Flannery and her husband have an assortment of buzzing hand-held devices in the bedroom to help keep things lively. The problem is, these devices don't improve their love life -- just their work flow.

A study says that 37 percent of laptop owners "frequently" use their computers in the bedroom.

"If you come to my house in the evening, you'll find me in bed with the laptop on my lap, the cordless land line next to me, and then my Treo," says Flannery, a 31-year-old public relations consultant from Rochester, New York.

She says the same goes for her husband, Aaron Lazenby, 35, a mortgage consultant.

Click here to view the entire story.

Inside the Governor's Office - A View from the Press Room

It's been a week filled with emotion and disbelief, especially for those of us who reside in the State of New York, as Governor Eliot Spitzer's sex scandals have been brought to the public eye.

I am not going to get "all political on you" or share my opinions on this situation as this is not a political blog. However, I do want to share with you an inside perspective on what it was like to be present in the press room when the Governor publicly announced his resignation today.

Immediately following the press conference, CNN corespondent Allan Cherno who was a member of the press, shared his perspective from the Governor's office this morning.

Cherno reported...

"It was absolutely a stunning moment in the Governor's office located in the Upper East Side of Manhattan."

Cherno went on to say, "The mood was of disbelief that it has come to this as we've seen political (sex) scandals in the past. But Spitzer was a politician of ethics, proclaimed to be 'Mr. Clean,' when really he was a client of a prostitution ring."

Cherno finished his statement saying, "again, absolutely stunning moment in this room."

Courting the National Press During Market Week

Today kicks off Market Week – men’s fashion week in New York City where fashion / trade shows such as the Collective, Project & Blue will attract thousands of people from around the world – the media, retail buyers, designers and fashion gurus.

I am in Manhattan attending the Collective and supporting my client as they debut their Fall ’08 Collections at the New York Haberdashery Show. We have several interviews scheduled with trade and national fashion & lifestyles magazines.

When you gain the attention national press, the last thing you want to do is lose control over the interview. Because then, you could lose total control over getting a key (and strategic) message placed. Why not take a few minutes to prepare a BRIEF agenda (in your mind that is)?

Here’s a good place to start:

1. Provide a brief history / background information – who you are, what you do, why people are attracted to your product / service / mission. Keep it brief. The history of your company is not going to gain you national public / media attention.
2. Get right to the point about your key point(s) of differentiation. This should be a statement about what makes you unique and something that no one else in your industry is doing or mastering. This is what makes for a national story.
3. Show what’s new in your portfolio (or product line), speak to the latest industry trends and what it is that is (that you are doing) that's creating a “buzz.”
4. Discuss your channels of distribution (where your product can be found) / target audience.
5. Be open and sensitive to the journalist’s agenda. If the journalist is working on a particular story, stay focused on that specific topic and provide supporting information. You want to position yourself as the authority on the subject so that you become the go-to person. Provide as much useful information as you can, because if he/she doesn’t get the right type of information from you (and enough of it) most likely your competitor will get hit up for it instead.

Your agenda should be simple and one that is flexible. It is supposed to keep you on track and not make you rigid (or panic if you don’t cover all of the items on it).

I've been told that the media isn't impressed by statements such as "the fastest, the best, the first, the most specialized, first-of-its-kind," because chances are that many others can (and are) claiming these statements too. These statements are just too hard to prove and therefore are hard to publicize with confidence.

I remember back to an interview with William Kissel, Senior Fashion Editor for Robb Report. He was probing (with all the right questions) during the interview to better understand my client's key points of differentiation. While my clients were focused on their product and production process, Mr. Kissel asked one simple question. He asked them how many suits they produced annually and how many customers they have. The number supported the fact that they do work with people on an exclusive and limited basis. That's where their tag line, the "Best Worn Secret in America," came into existence.

Sometimes your point of differentiation can be a simple message like how small and specialized of a company you are. Simplicity is a powerful thing!