Article at a glance:

• If you hire a PR firm, let it do its job.
• Go ahead and make waves – get noticed!
• Never believe ‘no one’s interested in you.’

The guys I know are all looking forward to The Three Stooges remake opening in theaters this weekend. They think Moe, Larry and Curly’s harebrained schemes, silly missteps, and thwacks, smacks and blindside attacks are hysterically funny.

Heck, I don’t need to go to the movies for slapstick – I’ve got men in my life!  (Kidding, of course.)

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Three Ways Social Media Affects What You See, Hear and Read in the Media

You don’t have to do a lot of research to see that the mainstream media uses social media every day. Every major news anchor has a Twitter account and many of them have Facebook fan pages with thousands of followers who receive regular updates on that anchor’s activities and interests.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper spends several minutes every night asking viewers to connect with him on Twitter and Facebook. Ed Schulz of MSNBC’s The Ed Show runs interactive polls on a nightly basis connecting those using social media back to his evening show. Every major host or anchor has a social media presence in which they not only promote their appearances, but also seek feedback from their audiences.

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Whenever times get tough for businesses, CEOs talk about “tightening their belts” as a way to signify cutting back on essentials in order to ride out the rough patch. And cutting back is a correct strategy. It’s definitely not the time to dole out generous bonuses, arrange extravagant company trips or find new company perks to buy into! Instead, it’s the time to review every expense and ensure that only those affecting your bottom line are kept in tact. It’s also the time to evaluate personnel or positions that may no longer be as necessary in slower sales times. Read more →

Many of today’s business owners and executives find themselves frustrated when dealing with the subject of marketing – even if they have marketing specialists in-house.

For that reason, I thought it might be helpful to share some basics about marketing, PR and advertising, as it relates to your company’s growth. Read more →

A short while ago I interviewed David Meerman Scott, author of the number-one bestseller “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” (Wiley…published in 22 languages) and his hit new book “World Wide Rave” (Wiley). David is an internationally recognized viral marketing strategist and speaker at conferences and corporate events around the world. Read more →

Joe the Plumber.

Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Bill Nye the Science Guy.

While plumbing, bounty hunting and science might be worthy industries, few would have ever thought they might be the breeding grounds of some of today’s unlikeliest celebrities. But such is the case when we live in a world where the popular media, indeed popular culture, is plugged in and turned on 24/7, 365 days a year. Read more →

It’s funny, but every time I sit down and write these emails to you, the thing that often comes to the forefront of my mind is “how can I get them to truly understand the value of talk radio?”  You may ask, why is this so important to me?  Because in my 20 years of doing publicity for everyone from The Temptations to Soynut Butter, I have seen companies and individuals alike explode their businesses off the back of talk radio interviews.

Talk radio, (one of the most under-utilized goldmines I can think of), can be a powerhouse in terms of promoting your book, your products, your company and services.  As I write this to you, I’m reminded of a great example of this.  A few years back we worked with Dr. Will Wong, a phenomenal media spokesperson who represented two different companies with natural health products.  Both companies focused all their marketing efforts on ongoing talk radio campaigns. Read more →

Companies wanting to make the most of their PR budgets these days are discovering one of the industry’s best kept secrets that is effective, mitigates risk and beats the traditional retainer-based agency in every way. It’s called Pay-For-Performance PR.  There are only a handful of agencies that operate on this fee basis amongst the tens of thousands of PR firms throughout the entire U.S.

Most of them offer the same service, if not better, than the big retainer-based agencies, but at a fraction of the cost. They’re driven to perform because they only get paid for what they deliver while retainer-based agencies charge for their time and their overhead, but are not accountable for results. If they get media placements, that’s great, but if they don’t, you’re still left holding the tab. Read more →

As we all know, most large corporations have big advertising budgets to promote their products. Yet, savvy corporate marketers understand that publicity can be far more effective than advertising for connecting with consumers.The competition for publicity is fierce and an almost impossible task without having a good angle to grab the media’s attention.  But, that’s where you come in. You and your book can provide an excellent PR opportunity for the manufacturer of products that aligns with your message. Read more →

An Exclusive Interview with Michael Harrison, Talk Radio Pioneer, and Founder of Talkers Magazine. (Referred to as “The Bible of Talk Radio” by Business Week Magazine)

A maverick in the world of radio broadcasting, in addition to being a weathered trade journalist, Harrison has been at the center of many of the most exciting radio revolutions of the past 30+ years.  As you know, Talkers, is the leading talk radio publication and was one of the first radio trade journals to expand into the cutting edge technology of the “New Talk Media” which includes talk on the Internet and satellite radio as well as cable television. Read more →