Archive for PR
Get Ready for the QR Code
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Perhaps you’ve noticed those square barcode-looking thingies in the corner of magazine ads or on product packaging. They’re also beginning to appear on posters in malls, stickers, real estate “for sale” signs, and t-shirts.
Called QR Codes (for quick response), we’ll be seeing more of them as they catch on, and lots of PR uses are waiting to happen. Here’s how they work: first you need a mobile barcode reader app on your smart phone (I downloaded QuickMark and Microsoft’s Tag Reader for my iPhone). When you come across one, aim the phone’s camera at the little icon and voila, the QR Code does its thing and instantly brings up a website or displays contact information or generates an email or a text message (whatever the generator of the code wants to share). They’re a way to deliver “saveable” info to someone on the go. Microsoft says they “add interactivity to your physical materials.”
Aim your phone at the QR Code in this post and you’ll find yourself at the Sawmill Marketing Public Relations website. It took me about 10 seconds to set it up using Kaywa’s QR Code Generator.
Jesse Kaye, who runs HomeTryst.com in Washington, D.C., told me he’s using QR Codes for his real estate company. He also created an informative how-to video on his blog. It’s a good idea starter and can give insights into how businesses can use this new technology, including ways the restaurant sweetgreen is using them!
We’re already brainstorming ideas with clients. How about you?
Media Relations Tip #14: Don’t Ask for Guaranteed Coverage
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Here’s a new one, brought to the PR Buzzsaw’s attention via a Twitter exchange this morning:
Gus Sentementes, a reporter with The Sun in Baltimore, received an unusual request from a PR person who wanted a “100 percent guarantee” that Gus would write a story before he would be granted access to the company. No chance to judge its newsworthiness, no opportunity to see if they had anything interesting to say/show, not to mention what Gus’s editor would decide. Promise you’ll write a story first, and then you can sit down with the company reps. Otherwise it’s a waste of time!
Gus was likely as surprised as we were, and sent out a tweet to see what PR people who follow him on Twitter thought.
I tweeted that the PR person was either clueless about the media or did not have the ability to counsel his/her management team about what a bad idea it is, and that it will have negative repercussions for the company/brand down the road.
Gus confirmed in a subsequent post:
“I meet a lot of people and I have a long memory. Just b/c I don’t write about u now doesn’t mean I won’t in the future.”
Later, Gus tweeted how he responded:
“I said making a guarantee would be unethical and unrealistic. I haven’t heard back.”
If any PR people out there have ever requested a coverage guarantee, we’d love to hear your point of view. Has it ever worked? Maybe we can all learn something.
In the January 25 edition of The New Yorker, Ken Auletta’s Annals of Communications column provides a fascinating glimpse into the role the Internet (the author refers to it as the “third party”) is playing in how the White House press corps covers the President and, in turn, how the White House works with the media.
He reminds us that only six years ago, when George W. Bush was finishing his first term, there was no Facebook, Twitter or YouTube and that regional newspapers as well as television stations were profitable enterprises.
To whet your appetite for reading the column, Auletta describes a typical working day for NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd who, when his day is over, will have done eight to sixteen interviews for NBC and MSNBC (grassy area where he stands with the White House in the background is nicknamed Pebble Beach) PLUS eight to 10 tweets or Facebook pos
tings and three to five blog entries. Whew! Todd says he is “compelled to do more reporting on my Blackberry.”
The column also describes that Politico.com “is the most prominent face of new media at the White House.” In existence since 2006, the site draws more than three million unique visitors each month, making it the ninth-largest newspaper online. While traditional media have curtailed their travel budgets, Politico.com has had a reporter on nearly every one of the President’s domestic and overseas trips.
Finally, the column also details the relationship the President and his Administration have with the media and 
the impact Obama believes the Internet has on its coverage. He told Bob Schieffer on a recent CBS “Face the Nation” show that “…what is different today is that the twenty-four hour news cycle and cable television and blogs and all this, they focus on the most extreme elements on both sides. They can’t get enough of conflict. It’s catnip for the media right now.”
Regardless of your politics, or if you are a journalist, PR professional or some other occupation, the article is a good read and offers glimpses into a world most of us will never be a part of firsthand.
PR Buzzsaw Nominated for The Sun’s ‘Mobbie Awards’ Recognizing Best Blogs in Maryland
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Behind Buzz’s veneer of “smart ass, man-about-town, be seen, be heard and often” lies a modest man who was left speechless upon learning his very own PR Buzzsaw blog was nominated by The Baltimore Sun in its Mobbie Awards program – that’s short for Maryland’s Outstanding Blogs!
Fans of the buzzed one have until this Friday, Oct. 9th to vote by visiting the Mobbie Awards section of The Sun’s Web site, entering their account information (or registering for a free Sun account) and clicking. No paper ballots in this election!
Buzz is up against an eclectic group of blogs, some with a dedicated, unrelenting get-out-the-vote machine in place. Buzz prefers a more personable approach, so he humbly asks for your votes. If you really care about Buzz as you profess that you do, please show your love for him with your vote. And don’t let him fall behind the likes of fellow blog/candidates “Your A Idiot” (yep, sic and all, that’s the name) or the Sandra Shaw – Weather in Satin blog that keeps readers entertained with posts on WBAL-TV’s bubbly weather forecastress.
‘Social Media Road Show’ – Links from My SMEI Presentation in Baltimore This Morning
Posted by: | CommentsHere are links to some of the Web sites and resources I mentioned this morning during the 2009 SMEI Conference and ”Social Media Road Show” in Baltimore. These are good, basic social media and PR tools to get started, and everything listed here is free.
For those of you who were not there, I covered some of the latest thinking in Twitter and PR before a national audience at a conference of the Sales and Marketing Executives International. 
Have anything else to share? Leave a comment!
There are a number of directories to find Twitter followers. A good place to start is Wefollow, where you can search by topics such as ”Celebrity” or “Social Media” or “Baltimore.”
Looking for a dashboard that allows you to better manage your Twitter follows and set up searches for key terms or competitors’ names? Try Hootsuite or Tweetdeck.
To follow the media on Twitter, try this great compilation of national journalists by Jeremy Porter. Interested in Baltimore? Click on our ”Guide to Baltimore Media on Twitter” link on the right.
Want to engage in a weekly Twitter conversation involving journalists, bloggers and PR professionals? Check out #journchat every Monday 
from 7 to 10 p.m., CST.
PitchEngine is a social media news release builder that enables PR pros to effectively package stories and share them with journalists, bloggers, and influencers worldwide via the social web.
Sign up for HARO to receive free daily summaries from media seeking sources for news stories in development. For urgent source needs, follow the companion Twitter account, @HelpAReporter. You can also follow Profnet on Twitter for leads.
And 10 people in PR and social media worth following on Twitter? Love ‘em or not, here’s a variety pack to get your own list going (in no particular order): Scott Monty, Jason Falls, Todd Defren, Geoff Livingston, Amanda Chapel, Chris Brogan, Shel Holtz, Annie Heckenberger, Bill Sledzik and Katie Paine. [Update - here's a great list of 100 PR people to follow, compiled by Valeria Maltoni.]
[Photo, above right, shows my view from the SMEI panelists' table as Gus Sentementes, technology reporter with The Baltimore Sun, makes a point while Greg Cangialosi, CEO of Blue Sky Factory (center), and Steve Kruskamp, head of social media for 1st Mariner Bank, wait for the mike.]
Media Relations Tip #12: 'Socialize' in Real Life, Too
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Don’t get me wrong, social media is a powerful way to connect with people online, and it’s already changing the way public relations pros are approaching their jobs. But nothing beats good ole face-to-face communication.
About a week ago, we visited with the staff of the Baltimore Business Journal during a tweetup at their new downtown Baltimore offices. Next it was off to Chef Geoff’s restaurant in Virginia to meet up with folks at the Washington Business Journal (that’s WBJ Editor Douglas Fruehling, right, in the corner introducing the editorial staff). In both cases, we got to hear first-hand what’s on the minds of the editors and reporters, enabling us to make better decisions as to where a client’s potential news story might fit. Or not.
In addition to specifics about their beats, curiosity about social media is on their minds, but so are the horror stories we continue to hear about PR people either spamming them with press releases or pounding them with unwanted phone calls. One WBJ reporter/columnist (who last week wrote a great piece about a Sawmill client) said she could spend all day simply fielding phone calls from perky PR people making follow-ups. Voicemail is her time-saver. Minutes later an editor talked to us about the balance of using techniques such as tweetups to reach out to younger readers when the core audience is still older businesspeople who aren’t likely spending time on social networking sites. They’re still trying to find that right mix.
It’s one thing to follow media on Twitter and Facebook (which we do and encourage others to do), but the recent meetups bring to mind a few tips for cutting through the clutter: take the time to meet these people in real life, only approach them when you have a decent story (your PR firm should be able to protect you from making a fool of yourself) and make sure you’re reaching out to the right reporter the right way in the right (brief) format. Otherwise, it’s “delete.”
The Biggest Mistake PR Newbies Make on Twitter
Posted by: | CommentsA lot of PR people who are new to social media tell me they just don’t get
Twitter. Then I take a look at who they’re following and have to agree - I’d be bored, too, if I had a similar group of ho-hum accounts to follow!
Here’s what I’m seeing. Since they’re in PR they think, “Wow, I’ll follow CNN, AP, The New York Times and the local newspaper and TV stations. To spice it up I’ll add Lance Armstrong, Oprah and Shaquille O’Neal.”
Guess what? All they’ve done is create another one-way newsfeed of information they were already getting through other sources. There’s little chance for any interaction with the “bots” behind the news accounts, and ditto for the celebs, who have hundreds of thousands of followers (as of this morning, Shaq had 1,906,352 followers!)
What they really need to do is invest the time in following a healthy number (at least 100-200) of people who are interesting. Real people who work in their town or industry, and have demonstrated they have something interesting to say. People with informative links to share, conference tidbits to tweet or news to report (so that means the actual beat reporters and editors, not just the newsroom’s Twitter bot).
So to those who don’t appreciate Twitter, take a look at who you’re following and that should offer a clue. It takes time to build a solid group, but that’s the first step to “getting” Twitter in my opinion.
Social Media a Key Part of Company Success Stories
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When three executives from some of the Baltimore region’s most successful companies got together this morning to share “good news” stories about profitability in the face of a recession, they also took the time to share thoughts about marketing.
And no, they didn’t talk trade shows, direct mail campaigns and press releases.
Try Facebook, Twitter and blogging strategies as the tools they’re focusing on, even if it’s to monitor what customers – and competitors – are doing, linking to, following and saying.
The Greater Baltimore Tech Council event, “Who’s Growing in 2009?” was emceed by Art Jacoby (in photo above, left) featuring Tim Lorello, SVP and chief marketing officer for Telecommunication Systems, Inc. (also known as TCS), Michele Perry, chief marketing officer of Sourcefire, and Todd Johnson, president of Salar, Inc. (right). All three companies are in a strong growth mode, and marketing plays an important role.
But a pleasant surprise of the morning – at least for me – came when they talked about their use of social media and its emerging importance to their businesses. This was no social media how-to workshop where you’d expect that kind of talk. This was a business event and these unsolicited comments about social media’s value came straight from execs in the trenches.
Perry called this a time for “lots of learning and tracking…and numbers to watch” when it comes to social media, with time spent listening to what’s being said about Sourcefire and the industry. She also shared a powerful anecdote of the firm’s success with media interviews as a result of prompt response to Tweets by reporters needing sources for stories. “It all happens within half an hour,” emphasized Perry.
Lorello also acknowledged its importance and talked of winning awards, which leads to news coverage, which leads to results on the search engines, still the most important player in online marketing. Meanwhile, Salar, Inc. has a Facebook page (including pix from a recent Paintball outing) and a Twitter account, but the most efficient use of Web 2.0 tools are the industry blogs that have “10 times more credibility” than other sources, according to Johnson.
“It’s a wonderfully cheap way to market directly to our audience,” he said.
Before the Q and A session got underway, Jacoby, a notable business consultant, proclaimed that “social media is the next giant.”
Amen, Art.
P.S. Check out the blog post about the event written by Baltimore Sun tech reporter Gus Sentementes. It’s on his new blog just launched this week, BaltTech.
Media Relations Tip #1: Do Your Homework!
Posted by: | Comments“Please do your homework before contacting me. At least know what I cover.”
These two sentences are nearly always the opening mantra of reporters talking on yet another panel of media seated before yet another gathering of PR professionals hoping for a tip that can catapult their e-mail pitches and follow up phone calls to the top of the reporter’s “must cover” list.
In a sidebar to a story by Jennifer Nycz-Conner of the Washington Business Journal, she reminds us to “know what kinds of stories a reporter is drawn to.” Or she as she so memorably writes, “you wouldn’t walk into a hardware store and ask for mascara.”
Recently, I got caught not doing my homework by an editor of a major trade publication covering an important client’s industry. Much to my chagrin, my pitch was absolutely out of line. If I had studied the online editions of the publication and then paused before hitting “send” I would have realized that they don’t cover what I was proposing and that the pitch was a waste of his time and attention.
However, he had the grace and professionalism to take the time to instruct me on his publication, including what it would take to get his attention. I got lucky, didn’t I?
I’m now in the process of re-tooling my pitch to him and feel confident that my second and corrected attempt will be a successful one. His magazine gets what it’s looking for and gets it exclusively, my client is thrilled with the prospect of coverage in this prestigious industry magazine and I believe I’ve learned the “mascara in a hardware store” lesson once and for all.
Too Much Information…
Posted by: | CommentsOkay, I’m “it.” I’ve been tagged by Susan Anthony who was tagged by Tracey Halvorsen who was tagged by countless others in the “7 Things…” meme making its way through the blogosphere. Not that you ever asked or wanted to know or even care, but here are seven things you probably didn’t know about me.
1.) I credit my ability to remain calm under pressure to my journalism foundation – especially my days as a newspaper reporter dealing with multiple stress factors, including daily story deadlines and demanding editors. I still wouldn’t trade the low-paying but exciting early days of my career. I got to cover Ronald Reagan and Jesse Jackson as they campaigned through South Jersey in the 80’s. I interviewed Tip O’Neill in 
Atlantic City. In Ohio, many Fall weekends were spent as a photographer for home Ohio State football games. The foundation of that foundation? The outstanding journalism education at Ohio Wesleyan University under professor Verne Edwards.
2.) I played center for the undefeated (10-0) Radnor High School football team that finished the season ranked #2 in football-intense Pennsylvania. Many lessons that lasted a lifetime were taught by Coach George Corner and his staff.
3.)I spent one Thanksgiving inside the Delaware County Jail in Ohio. No, I wasn’t arrested. I couldn’t get home to Villanova, Pa. that year, so decided to stick around for dinner with the inmates and a feature story for the Delaware Gazette where I was a reporter.
4.) Last year around this time I was a finalist in a national Phil Mickelson look-alike contest for a hotel commercial (that’s Lefty, right).
4a.) A dachshund – yeah, one of those weenie dogs that stand a few inches off the ground – once bit me on the mouth, requiring me to get emergency plastic surgery. Don’t ask.
5.) My PR career has exposed me to some interesting assignments, including PR for the family of Chandra Levy, Pope John Paul II’s visit to Baltimore (where I got to board Shepherd I at BWI Airport to check out his private quarters after he headed to downtown Baltimore), the 64th All-Star Game, ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in Port Deposit, Md., the landmark Intelligent Design case, PR during the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, and a lacrosse PR assignment during the Duke scandal.
6.) Years ago I escorted Roots author Alex Haley up Main Street in Annapolis to meet the media for interviews following a press conference I helped arrange for what is now the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation. Today th
ere is a bronze statue of Alex Haley at the City Dock, the starting point for a chilling and controversial event I helped organize (and participate in) many years later - the “slavery reconciliation walk” through the streets of Annapolis where along the way protestors held racist signs and shouted names at us.
7.) Responding to a last-minute invitation, I flew to London on Virgin Atlantic Airways (their awesome Upper Class Suite), stayed at the 5-star hotel Claridge’s and attended the Led Zeppelin Reunion Concert at the O2 Arena, all courtesy of a lifelong friend and major Led Zep fan. An incredible time.
There you have it. Now it’s my turn to ask seven others to expose their innermost secrets. How about it? Annie Heckenberger, Jason Mays, Mutha Mae, Tim Windsor, Daniel Victor, Julekha Dash, Steve Sullivan.
