Media Relations

Media relations can be a real challenge for your brand when there is no real news to offer—no new product or service, no upgrade, no high-profile hire, no acquisition, no new financials to report.

OK, I stole the idea for this headline from Abbie Hoffman, author of “Steal This Book.” But let’s call it an homage instead of outright theft. My headline was inspired by WFMU radio host Tom Scharpling,… Continued

Peruse any journalist’s Twitter account and you’re bound to find a tweet about a terrible pitch they’ve received. Media relations is one of the most important skills for PR professionals to master, and email pitches are a crucial piece of the puzzle.

There are countless communications takeaways from the recent celebrity gaffes. Whether it’s Paula Deen dealing with allegations of being a racist and then dropped like a buttered sweet potato by every brand partner, or Jennifer… Continued

On Saturday, Jennifer Lopez sang Happy Birthday to Turkmenistan’s president, Gurbanguly M. Berdimuhamedov. Today, there’s PR hell to pay.

For the last several years PR agency Peppercomm has worked with Nikon to promote the Nikon Small World photomicrography contest, which features up-close-and-personal views of everything from algae and bugs to beautiful landscapes. Previously, Peppercomm deployed its PR efforts around the winning entries, which offered a relatively small window—perhaps a few weeks or so—to get the word out and pitch the media to cover the contest and the results.

It’s been a little more than a week since we learned about Paula Deen’s damning deposition, in which the food queen uttered the ‘N’ word. But in that time Deen’s “sweet grandmother” image has suffered irreparable damage

If PR pros want to improve their writing skills, perhaps they need to carve out some time to read Charles Dickens, Vladimir Nabokov, F. Scott Fitzgerald and other literary lions whose writing talents have transcended the generations. It’s one piece of advice for how PR pros can improve their writing skills, compliments of Beth Haiken, VP of corporate citizenship and communications at WayPoint Homes.

Twinkies connoisseurs rejoice. Hostess on Sunday announced that the spongy yellow confection is returning to shelves on July 15.

As a PR professional you’re probably aware that client testimonials are an extremely powerful marketing tool. The reason they can be so effective is simple: While it’s fine for a business to tell customers and prospects how great its products or services are, it’s much more persuasive when people who have used those products or services sing the company’s praises.