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As part of the intensive media outreach to build awareness of online coupon site RetailMeNot.com, Schwartz Communications deployed an established PR tactic—sending a gift to the desks of tier-one journalists and Web producers. The Holiday… Continued

Most brand stories take a little more than 140 characters to tell, but we pitch media via Twitter. Then we wonder why our messages become confused with competitors, our products seem undifferentiated and our brand stories are often forgotten. Maybe we need to start fresh, with a simple story.

While the contributed article has been a part of PR outreach for decades, another related practice has stolen its thunder—self publishing.

The usual practice in the market research world is to target an elite few when testing products and/or concepts. Now, online survey company Infosurv and BrainJuicer, in the U.K., are turning that adage on its head—the new thinking banks on the premise that large groups of people are wiser than an elite few.

With the explosion of consumer-generated media, opinion research has become one of the pillars of communications strategy. To explore the ins and outs of external surveys as a media relations tool, PR News asked corporate PR heads who often field surveys and an online research firm executive about the benefits, options, challenges and possible pitfalls in conducting meaningful research.

By now it’s a mantra for PR executives and social media gurus everywhere. Listen…learn…engage. Certainly no quibbling here with that advice. But while you’re quietly, unobtrusively monitoring Facebook, Twitter, blogs and forums, there’s another strategy you should be thinking about and deploying: creating and sharing compelling content via digital platforms.

PR professionals who follow the media relations rules are growing increasingly frustrated by PR spam complaints in the blogosphere. The good news is there are things you can do to clearly signal your commitment to respect journalists’ traditional boundaries.

Data gathered by the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that adults with chronic illnesses spend significantly less time on the Internet, which may influence the decision-making of PR professionals in healthcare.

As social media continues to explode, organizations and PR professionals have been quick to jump on the bandwagon. But one PR function hasn’t been so fast on the draw: financial communications.

Three expert panelists weigh in on the hot topics, trends and tools of media relations. What shouldd PR pros be doing to optimize media outreach? What should PR executives be thinking about for the rest of 2010?