PR LEADS General Advice

In a crisis situation is there a more lame answer to a reporter than "no comment?" That answer implies guilt. So does not answering at all. Then there's the ever present "the person did not return our phone calls." That's seen as another admission of guilt (even if the desperado councilman was attending his kid's [...]

Customer service lessons from Princess CruisesYes, I am on vacation, but it is hard to tell that from all the email I am answering! At least I can't use my phone since I'm on a cruise ship off the coast of Alaska in Yukon Country.Here's a great lesson from Princess. They have issued a "Customer [...]

In the old days, you had to die to get your face on a U.S. postage stamp.What fun is that? I mean, do you ever really know if your face will be on the stamp? You're dead! No fun at all. Ogden Nash has no idea he's on a stamp.Now, stamps.com will put your face [...]

Here's another installment in what is likely to be a long series of Stupid Marketing Tricks.I received an email the other day from a marketer, a person I've known for years through the National Speakers association. The subject line read: Oops, I made a mistake in the link."The message apologized for making a mistake by [...]

My humble blog has cracked the top 1,000 blogs on Bloglet!That inspiring note comes from my blogmaster, Ted Demopoulos.I find it hard to believe, frankly. I've been doing this for about three months, and I know the traffic numbers aren't Amazonian, or Ebayian. So how did it get to rank so high? Beats me. I [...]

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then the measure of a good picture is if it can be understood with not one single word. Look at the two examples: the new government food "pyramid" and the Cingular cell phone signal strength indicator.The food pyramid cannot be described or understood without at least 1,000 words. [...]

Fame is relative. And I don't mean if your relatives are named Kennedy or Bush that you are famous, although that doesn't hurt.Every niche has its own superstars. You've seen them at conventions. Or you see their names everyone on the web.But only the people in that niche have any idea of who those chosen [...]

TV's Sweeps Month Muddies the WatersTV is engaged in its "Sweeps Month," the semi-annual ritual in which they base their ad rates for the coming season. The rates are based on the ratings of their shows. So all the networks pull out all the plugs to put their best material on the air to attract [...]

PrimeTime Live scored a big hit for their sweeps month by airing the alleged dirty laundry of the American Idol TV show.Put another way, tabloid television has reached a new low point.Unable to come up with a compelling TV program of its own, PTL decided to trash the highest rated show. I guess the best [...]

Reporters aren't just interested in what's new. They also want to see how companies and people are using your products. Be prepared to give reporters the names and contact info for your clients who are willing to do case studies. If this is a new product, you will want to "seed" the marketplace with a [...]