Category: Getting media publicity

  • I heart the Elan Form Etch for iPhone

    Recently Griffin Technology sent me an iPhone hard-shell case to review. I don’t often do reviews, but I had just bought the Griffin Woogie for iPhone, and I absolutely loved it. Griffin has some other interesting products so before I ordered anything else I thought this would be a great way to test out a…

  • 5 ways to get your press release trashed

    In all of those years that I sat at a news desk and read through thousands of press releases there were always those that made me wonder: Was the goal of this press release to make it into  the trash as quickly as possible? There are several things that are common in press releases that…

  • Is your press release really an advertisement?

    Have you ever tried submitting your press release to an online press release submission site only to have it rejected for some unknown reason? Or maybe you’ve sent out press releases to the media only to hear nothing back. It could be that your press release was actually an advertisement. There are a variety of…

  • How to make reporters call you

    How great would it be, if instead of you having to hound reporters to get your name in the paper, they were calling you? This is not an impossible feat my friend. Although, like every other great thing, it takes work and dedication. The secret is to become a super reliable repository of information. Say…

  • Please excuse the mess

    If you are visiting this site today it may seem a little wonky. I installed an updated Headway theme that brought down my site late last night. It should be up and running by late this afternoon. Thanks for your patience and understanding! Shelly

  • How to find the right angle to pitch

    No matter where you submit your press release, no one is going to publish what you say unless it is newsworthy. Before I explain what it means to be newsworthy or how you can become newsworthy, let me explain what is not newsworthy. If your press release talks about a sale, that is not newsworthy.…

  • When crisis strikes, send out a press release?

    For the most part people think of marketing during the good times. You send out press releases when sales are good and quarter earnings are up, when your business expands or when you support a good cause. But what about when things are (gasp!) bad? When money is tight? Or even, when crisis strikes? What…

  • The press release is not dead

    Is the press release dead? You know what I’m going to say. However, there was actually a declaration made by Simon Dumenco at AdvertisingAge yesterday that the press release is officially dead. And why? Because celebrity reporters have turned to Twitter to get real time news. Also JetBlue skipped an official press release about its…

  • How to recover when you announce something prematurely

    You are just itching to release the news of your company’s merger with that other big name company. So when the time comes you enlist the press release services of your assistant, draft up a press release and send it out in an email blast to every reporter you can think of. Then you get…

  • What if you have nothing to announce?

    I get contacted a lot by people who tell me “I’d like a press release, but I’m not sure I have anything to announce.” And I say, “That’s never stopped the people who submit press releases to me at the paper where I work.” It’s true. Through the years I’ve received countless press releases that…