On Tuesday, I will be giving a presentation to Oak Park-area business owners on the use of social media in business. As part of my preparation, I was struck by the sense of dread that Facebook and its social-networking brethren routinely strike in the hearts of many business owners that I encounter. Today, there are […]
Category Archives: Public Relations
What’s in a name? The ability to attract attention, for one thing. This morning I was reviewing the 150-odd (some odder than others) videos on my YouTube channel. Most of them stem from public-relations outreach I’ve provided for clients, such as Downtown Oak Park’s mass dog wedding (a Guinness World Record attempt) in November 2008, […]
Whenever I agree to represent a business, it must pass my “newsroom vet litmus test.” In other words, if I were writing for a newspaper or magazine and someone pitched the story to me, would I be genuinely interested in at least digging into story suggestions about this company? In September, after a client, Robust […]
Whenever you can offer the media a story suggestion that has versatility–it can be a human interest feature, a health and wellness story, and a business piece, for example–then it provides you with bigger placement potential. In other words, if a given outlet isn’t interested in the story under Category A, then you still have […]
A recent CNN.com story on innovative social-media approaches to adopting children is just the latest example of how our world has drastically changed in recent years. I’ve documented numerous examples, in this blog and elsewhere, that underscore how the collective “traditional” media is no longer the sole arbiter of what is newsworthy. (News flash! ANYONE […]
Playing basketball over the years, I’ve been pretty adept at offensive rebounding, even if I was no Dennis Rodman (pictured). Often, it’s because I’ve known better than anyone else on the court exactly how that shot I just took was going to careen wildly off the rim. I try to adopt the same mindset in […]
When I was starting out as a newspaper reporter, Ronald Reagan was in his first term as U.S. President, there were three main choices on television and “hyperlocal journalism” meant that I had a lot of energy pedaling my bicycle around town in pursuit of my next story for the Marshfield (Ma.) Mariner. But now […]
I am in the midst of outreach with the media about a story looking at unintended consequences–how the “Back to Sleep” campaign to prevent SIDS-related deaths has contributed to an uptick in “flat head syndrome, or plagiocephaly. A portion of the effort, which I’m undertaking with Plunkett & Associates on behalf of Scheck & Siress, […]
For more than a year, I have helped McAdam Landscaping share stories about the breadth, depth and quality of its work with the Chicago-area media, as well as nationally. Increasingly, a pivotal part of that story can be told via photographs, such as ones that are included in this post. The photos were among those […]
As anyone who knows me well can attest, my life the past three months has often revolved around coordinating the Shop the Village program that debuted in Oak Park. Today marks a high point of the campaign, which has been focused on stimulating commerce among more than 100 participating merchants from across the community. On […]