Marketing/Public Relations
What Color Is Your Belt?
February 7, 2013
No, this is not a mind-trick. It’s a way to think about sales, and life, and the endless art of doing what we do, but better.
In a sales session last week, the consultant asked if we knew why the black belt is black.“It’s the dirt,” he said, and mimed how hands tie a belt, over and over. “From the 10,000 times you’ve wrapped and knotted it.”
Nearly 35 five years into this business – my first 10 as a reporter and the next almost-25 a PR strategist – it’s easy to get caught in what I know, and stew over what I don’t. For me, the challenge – and delight – is uncovering the new, because it’s what More >
3 Rules for Smarter Sponsorships: The Socially Dirty Underbelly
February 4, 2013
Every week, I hear about another company looking for a demi-celebrity to endorse a product, or spice up an event. That’s cool, sometimes. But other times, it backfires. Consider poor beleaguered RIM – which just tapped Alicia Keys as its ‘global creative director’ for its new Blackberry Z10. So far, so good. But then it turns out that up until just a few days ago, her Twitter account showed she was still using an iPhone.
Note to self, in this newly exposed world: Before you go public with anything, check everything. Accounts. Profiles. Postings. Backstories.
It’s a cynical world out there, More >
PR Confidential: PR Versus Publicity
February 1, 2013
It’s a semantic question. What is the difference? Seth Godin articulates his vision on his blog below:
You can take from this that PR is more strategic.
I would argue further that in order to have sustained and effective publicity, the story needs More >
Good Advice In A Bad Situation
January 30, 2013
The best advice is also the hardest, especially in times of crisis – and the rules of the game are mutating – in this new social world – like never before:
- Go slow. Security breaches create their own momentum. But sometimes, it’s better to take another hour, or two, or twenty.
- Beware of who is involved. Organizations have many stakeholders to protect, and defend. Once law enforcement is engaged, however, there is only one way to move forward; the gray quickly becomes black and white.
- Recognize the power of the individual. In face, assume every individual has the power of a crowd.
- Bring in More >
MIT’s Mistake –One Man, One Life
January 23, 2013
A few years ago, MIT was reeling from student suicides, and publicly vowed to be better at protecting the nearly-grown children it educates. Last week, it took a dark step backwards, when 26-year-old Aaron Swartz, never a student, killed himself in what is widely perceived as his reaction to MIT’s decision to pursue cybercrime/hacking charges that it traced to him. (Penalties included more than $1 million in fines, and a likely jail term.)
No one’s disputing that the acts – trespassing, data theft, hacking – were linked to him.
But they’re also linked to MIT – and while this isn’t yet a More >