Archive for June, 2010

Printed and mailed communication can be very effective.

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Is printed paper communication totally old-school? Is the only way to go on marketing and communications outreach to do it digitally? I was talking to Jeff Rubin, The Newsletter Guy, today. He’s been producing newsletters for companies for years. Many of his clients switched to digital in the last few years, often to save money on postage. And I’ve been on that side.

But one of his clients, Mechanics Bank, is doing something interesting. (more…)

Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, Web sites | No Comments »

You must know who your audience is to be effective at PR.

Monday, June 28th, 2010

On many occasions I’ve reminded you that you have to know who you’re talking to with publicity and marketing. If you have a message that resonates to your audience, you have a good chance to achieve your goals. Here’s a post from a delightful new blog by Jerry Seltzer. His father and then he ran Roller Derby. Later on he started BASS Tickets, one of the first computer based ticketing agencies.

He has been giving great stories about his time with Roller Derby. Here’s part of a post about PR.

Here’s what Jerry wrote… Our publicist was a great guy named Herb Michelson.  Herb was moonlighting with us, as he was a columnist for the Oakland Tribune and covered the Giants for AP.  Both he and I would try to figure how we could present things in a different light, and I think the sportswriters appreciated it because the other sports took themselves so seriously. (more…)

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Posted in Marketing, Publicity | 1 Comment »

Contacting reporters to get a story placed.

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Are you wondering what is the process for contacting reporters to try and get a story placed? Jan Burch, Placemaking Group’s VP of PR in our Sacramento office, gave this answer when asked recently on LinkedIn…

There are a lot of facets to public relations. It starts with goals that are backed up with a plan followed by strategies and then implementation. Web site, media campaign, social marketing and events are typical components of a program. As strategies — like blogs and e-mail blasts — become more sophisticated there are certain things we do that never change. Like calling reporters. (more…)

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Use LinkedIn to help your career.

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

Are you looking for a job? Or know someone who is?

There’s an article in the June Real Simple magazine describing how nine women got jobs in this down market. Two of them used Social Media. One person, Marian Schembari, placed ads in Facebook to land a job as a book publicist. She targeted specific companies in her ads and got a job! Jenny Best used LinkedIn to get her job. She used LinkedIn, first to find good companies to apply to; and second, to find people to contact at those companies. She also made sure that her profile was up-to-date and full of her relevant information about her background and qualifications.

Now you’re talking! (more…)

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Posted in Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »

Ethnic media delivers important audiences.

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

If you were asked to put together a workshop for a Bay Area government agency on How to Reach Ethnic Media, as our Sacramento PR VP Jan Burch was, what would you cover? At a time when many traditional, mainstream news organizations are fighting for their lives, ethnic media are thriving.

The bottom line is that ethnic media reaches valuable and important audiences traditional media doesn’t. Don’t miss out on the opportunities. Here are a few suggestions.

Become familiar with the ethnic media in your area. (more…)

Posted in Issues Management, Marketing, Publicity, Social Media | No Comments »