Practical Public Relations Experience That Works For You

Sawmill Marketing Public Relations, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is a full service public relations firm offering social media, traditional media relations programs, crisis communications planning and execution and media training. MBE-09-043

Archive for press releases

Does your website press room offer the information the media expects to find there, including an image library, useful contact info for your spokesperson and easily-printable fact sheets and background material? If not, you’re making a journalist’s job more difficult and that could reflect poorly on your brand.

Here’s a link to an informative blog post based on research on “what journalists really want from an online newsroom,” by David Bowen of Bowen Craggs & Co. and posted on the MyNewsdesk customer blog. [Thanks to Keith Childs for sharing it on the FIR FriendFeed room.]

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Jul
29

This Hit Never Gets Old

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One thing that never gets old in our business is getting a client mentioned in the media, otherwise known as a “hit.”

Today we got our hands on the August issue of Baltimore magazine and inside is an article about seniors housing communities that includes our client, Crystal Spring. It’s a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) coming to Annapolis in 2012 that will also include village center-style townhomes for people of all ages and a destination retail village with shops and outdoor cafes, as well as a cultural arts center and village green. A boutique inn and spa is also being considered. It’s all on one “campus,” and is the new way CCRCs are being designed and built vs. the old stand-alone model that isolates the residents from the broader community.

Sawmill has been working with the writer for many months. In fact, the paragraph were I am quoted comes from an interview I did back in January. Proof that publicity also requires patience.

Categories : PR, press releases, publicity
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Inc. is a favorite magazine of mine because I always learn something and enjoy a good read as I do so. Imagine my chagrin when editor Jane Berentson took the PR profession to task with yet another trip to the woodshed for irrelevant pitches and obvious email blast pitches.

When will we learn?

Ms. Berentson shares that, for her, the best story ideas “unfold in a conversation about this and that” which provides valuable insight into her approach for exploring and discovering stories that reside beyond the obvious and the expected.

Our challenge is to find a way to be a part of one of her conversations about “this and that” and in so doing, uncover a story that neither one of us knew was there.

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BALTIMORE, Md. (January 17, 2010) – Sawmill Marketing Public Relations, a Baltimore PR firm, has selected the 2nd annual DigiBall for a pro bono awareness campaign that will include traditional media relations as well integrated social media activities.

DigiBall, a fund-raising event presented by the Digital Harbor Community Fund, a 501(c)(3), benefits graduating seniors from the Digital Harbor High School in Baltimore. It will be held March 26, from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key Highway, and will feature food catered by area restaurants, wine and other beverages, a silent auction and music. The 2010 DigiBall raised approximately $40,000 which funded college scholarships for graduating Digital Harbor High School students.

“This is such a worthwhile and important cause,” said Susan J. Anthony, partner, Sawmill Marketing Public Relations. “We’re excited to learn the impact that the increased awareness will have on this year’s DigiBall fund-raising total.”

About Sawmill Marketing Public Relations
Sawmill Marketing Public Relations is a Baltimore PR firm and social media marketing communications agency established in 1995 specializing in the development and execution of marketing public relations programs as business development strategies for business-to-business, business-to-consumer and professional services clients. The Maryland public relations company specializes in social media, traditional media relations, media training, and crisis communications. For additional information, visit www.sawmillmarketing.com

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I was a featured speaker yesterday at the Boeing Military Aircraft communications team meeting in Arlington, Va., appearing on the agenda under “writing seminar.” Talk about a challenge! I followed an Admiral and then a panel of journalists (Bloomberg, Aviation Week, Flight International), taking the stage just before the afternoon break.

The talk seemed to be well-received and they even stayed awake!  As promised here are a few links from the workshop:

The Readability Tool, by David Simpson — drop in your copy, click on the box and you’ll see an instant analysis of Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease, Flesch Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog Score and more.

We talked about writing “snack sized” copy and using PitchEngine as a tool to create press releases in a format that delivers information in easy to read bits and pieces.

On Facebook, these groups are worth tracking to keep up on discussions about grammar: Association of National Advertisers (ANA); Good Grammar is Hot; and I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar.

Twitter is an excellent source for keeping up on the topic. A few I follow: @AdvicetoWriters; @Quotes4Writers; @GrammarGirl; @APStylebook; @GrammarMonkeys; @johnemcintyre

Finally, I have been a fan of Grammar Girl since its (not it’s) launch a few years ago. Listen to Mignon Fogarty’s “Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing” podcast and read this excellent guest post on her blog, by Julie Wildhaber, on “How to Write Clear Sentences.”

Categories : PR, press releases
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BALTIMORE, Md. (March 8, 2010) – Greater Baltimore AHC, Inc., (GBAHC) has selected Baltimore PR firm Sawmill Marketing Public Relations for a public relations campaign to increase awareness of the firm’s development and property management expertise in affordable housing in the greater Baltimore area.

The Baltimore-based PR and social media company is implementing a comprehensive public relations campaign that includes media and community relations programs including the upcoming grand opening of the newly renovated, MonteVerde, a 301-unit affordable apartment home community for seniors and non-elderly people with disabilities in the lower Park Heights neighborhood of Baltimore.

About Greater Baltimore AHC, Inc.
GBAHC is part of AHC Inc., headquartered in Arlington, VA.  It is a private, non-profit developer of affordable housing in the mid-Atlantic region that has been providing quality homes for low- and moderate-income families since 1975. GBAHC, located at 1501 St. Paul Street, has been in the greater Baltimore region since 2002.  It currently has developed five properties offering approximately 1,000 affordable apartments.  For more information, visit http://www GBAHC.org.

About Sawmill Marketing Public Relations
Sawmill Marketing Public Relations is a Baltimore PR firm and social media marketing communications agency established in 1995 specializing in the development and execution of marketing public relations programs as business development strategies for business-to-business, business-to-consumer and professional services clients. The Maryland public relations company specializes in social media, traditional media relations, media training, and crisis communications. For additional information, visit www.sawmillmarketing.com

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Ok, it’s corny but conducting media relations during any Olympic Games is unlike any other professional experience we’ve undertaken and being glued to the tube these past two weeks brings much of it back into sharp focus.

Sawmill handled media relations for a luxury inn and resort that was also home to many of the cross country and biathlon teams competing in the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. The intensity began to build two months before the start of the games and continued to the end of the closing ceremony. The only time we left the property during the three weeks we were on site was to drive into a nearby town to do laundry.

We spent our days and nights servicing the needs and requests of the who’s who of international major media — from The Today Show that arrived on site @ 1 a.m. to be ready for Al Roker to do his weather segments from the property 6-1/2 hours later to The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, Ski Magazine, Newsweek, Chicago Tribune and countless international media outlets doing live remotes throughout each night.

Our job, of course, was to get every media outlet possible to the property and to then assist them in every way once they arrived. A steady dose of adrenalin was a constant and important companion.

There was a consistent and, in many ways, unparalleled level of professionalism between us and every reporter, producer, camera crew, sound truck driver that we worked with.

During these past two weeks, as we’ve reminisced about the good old days of the 2002 Winter Games, we’ve wondered how the impact of social media — as well the dramatic change in the number, size and financial health of traditional media outlets in the past eight years — has affected, if at all, the professionalism among media outlets and the PR community at the 2010 Winter Games.

We welcome your comments and anecdotes.

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Christmas MailmanOne of my favorite blogs, “You Don’t Say,” by former Sun copy desk chief John E. McIntyre, offers a preview of worn-out holiday cliches that editors and reporters – and press release writers – will be tempted to use in the coming weeks.

If you’re thinking of leading off your piece with “‘Tis the Season…” or “Yes, Virginia,” John has a news flash for you: we’ve seen it already. Same goes for “white stuff” (are you listening, AMS certified meteorologists?), “Christmas came early…” for good news stories and references to “The Grinch” in stories about holiday thefts. It’s a list worth reading (and checking twice).

Image: George Eastman House

Categories : PR, press releases
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“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.

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Feb
15

Practice PR Patience

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Prospective clients who are new to PR many times are under the impression that you write a press release, send it to the media and then Presto! the story appears.  That might work if you’re lucky – or stop-the-presses newsworthy – but it’s certainly not reality.

Here’s a real-life example. Back in April, 2008 we learned of a writer who was seeking sources for a story about “green benefits” and how some companies are linking their HR policies with environmental initiatives. We had the perfect match in a real estate client that has such a policy.

We responded to the query from the HARO (Help A Reporter Out) service, communicated with the writer over the ensuing months, and finally were asked for an interview in February, 2009 for a story that’s scheduled to run in the coming weeks.

Not all media opportunities have an 11-month lead time, but if you are thinking about getting a PR program started, the sooner the better.

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