Page One, which premiered in 2011, takes us behind the scenes with reporters from the Times’ Media Desk (home to reporters like David Carr and Brian Stelter), revealing the following truths:

1. Reporters are expected to do more, with less. Still.
   In the movie you see writers conducting interviews, typing up notes, negotiating quotes and tweeting away frantically. With budget cuts a central theme of the movie, it’s clear that reporters are tasked to do as much as they can – and that includes social media. The more you can provide a reporter to assemble a full package for a story (spokesperson, customer, artwork etc.), the more helpful you’ll be.
2. Just because a reporter likes the story, doesn’t mean their Editor will. Or their Editor’s editor.
   Editors play a major role in the documentary, and as a viewer we’re even invited in to one of the two A1 meetings that happen everyday at the paper. In these meetings, all of the section reporters pitch their pieces directly to the Executive Editor. It’s no surprise that some of the stories just don’t make the cut. So it’s important to realize that there’s an entire chain of command happening behind the scenes every time you pitch a piece to a reporter.
3. Reporters are tired of hearing you say what everyone else is already saying.
   At one point in the movie David Carr is conducting an interview over the phone, and he says “Okay, but everyone says that.” I think this is along the lines of saying, “We’re so thrilled to partner with…” or “We’re the leading company in the space…” To me, this is another lesson in why it’s so important for companies to truly differentiate their interviews with fresh content and real opinions – even if they’re controversial.

I highly recommend the movie, which also goes into detail on the plight of the media industry (filmed in 2009, the movie chronicles the industry during a time or major cutbacks and layoffs.) Check it out and let me know what you think!

1. What SOPA Means for PR Professionals (Ragan’s PR Daily)

SOPA was a major industry topic this week, with a large amount of websites, including Wikipedia, protesting the act. It’s interesting to see how this act influences public relations. For example, did you know that if you represent a client with a non-U.S. website that hosts offensive content, Google will be required to exclude the website from their search engine?

2. PR: The Best Insurance in a Crisis? (PR News)

After the sinking of a Carnival Cruise ship off the coast of Italy, there was a lot of discussion on how large companies should handle this type of crisis. PR News wrote an interesting story explaining that many insurance companies are partnering with public relations agencies to offer crisis management services to businesses.

3. Interview: Mark Cuban On PR’s Value For Startups (PRSAY)

Last week, Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, wrote a piece in Entrepreneur advising startups on how to have a successful start. One of his rules was to “never hire a PR firm.” After receiving a large amount of feedback on his advice, Mark Cuban spoke with the PR blog, PRSAY, to provide more details on his response.

If you find any additional great public relations articles that you’d like to share, get in touch in the comments section.

• Survey results from Caron Treatment Centers highlight troubling behaviors associated with drinking and workplace parties in USA Today
• CNET explores the features and benefits of LoJack for Laptops by Absolute Software following an in-person meeting at CES 2012
• Microdesk predicts a movement towards building information modeling (BIM) in a January 2012 Constructech feature
• MetricStream’s CTO shares his thoughts on the biggest PCI compliance mistakes companies make to Dark Reading
• SecurityNewsDaily covers the identities of the Koobface hacker gang, due in part to exclusive research released by Sophos

Check back again soon for more great hits from our team!

Another CES has come and gone. From what I’ve seen, 2012 will be the year of Ultrabooks and thin televisions with great resolution. This was my first year working on CES, and I wanted to share what I learned about maximizing press coverage for a company.

Have a strong bench. When you attend a show like CES, you never know when an opportunity to speak with the press may arrive. Train several members of your team on handling the media and make sure they know the messaging you are trying to convey. The key is to not rely on one person to do all of your company’s interviews.

Give journalists a reason to schedule a time to stop by and demo your product. Offer them a special demo or access to a top executive if they set a time. Otherwise, your spokespeople might be busy when they stop by, and an opportunity might slip through your fingers.

Leverage press events. Large tradeshows often have dedicated press events where only journalists and exhibitors attend. By registering for these events, you can get in front of a lot of press in a short amount of time. (It’s also key to pitch attending media for these events as well.)

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight in the dog. When you are at the show, personally go after the members of the media. Sure you may not have a name as recognizable as Microsoft, but strategic persistence can pay off. Don’t give up, but also be careful not to annoy the journalist!

Do you have any press-related stories from CES this year? Share them in the comments below.

While tradeshows aren’t anything new, in the past few years I’ve seen companies who more closely evaluate which tradeshows they go to – making sure they get the most ROI for any event.

I’ve been privileged to have the opportunity to help out on the ground or from the office for a wide variety of shows in the past few years (from the nation’s biggest broadcasting convention, NAB to the mammoth Consumer Electronics Show) and with 2012 tradeshow season coming up, I wanted to list a few tips I share with my clients:

• Plan early and often: Starting a tradeshow planning meeting 3-4 months prior to a show is ideal, allowing a team the necessary time and resources to execute the show vision and helping to avoid last minute set up, building or order costs.
• Leverage a theme: My client, Microdesk, recently attended Autodesk University – a big show with a lot of competition. However, they had a really fun theme (asking attendees to “Get Kinect’d” using the popular Kinect program) that had a cohesive feel and helped them stand out during the pitching process.
• Agree on key messages: In a sea of exhibitors, making sure your company has a clear message is critical. These messages should be agreed upon by the entire team and reflected in the on-site strategy. Your PR team can also help put together announcements and media alerts that help get these messages out to the media attending the show.
• Work it on site: A lot of prep work can be done prior to a show (for example we regularly book media appointments for clients before a show) but networking hours or tweet-ups at the various shows are another great way to rub shoulders with prospects or media personnel. Our clients regularly see the most return from their media relations efforts by bringing us on-site to help get in front of press at the show.
• Debrief right away: Got sore feet and achey bones? (or worse, the famed tradeshow cold.) Don’t let them get in the way of a proper team debrief to address what worked and what needs improvement for the future.

Need more tips? Feel free to get in touch with us or to comment below. And, if you’re heading to CES don’t forget to stop by the Absolute Software booth, on the 3^rd floor of the Venetian (Toscana #3801.)

I love music, so reasonably I’ve been an avid user of Spotify since it first appeared in the United States. Aside from fulfilling my music needs, Spotify has consistently offered so much more. Most recently the company announced that they now offer applications.

One of Spotify’s initial applications was the Rolling Stone application. While users listen to music, they are able to read song reviews directly from Rolling Stone’s editorial team. The symbiotic relationship distributes recognition for both Rolling Stone and Spotify.

As fantastic as Spotify’s idea is, offering integrated applications is not a new concept. For some time, Facebook has provided applications for gaming and retail. But only now are brands starting to catch on.

For instance, Walmart recently released a new application called Shopycat. The application generates gift ideas for a users’ group of friends based on their social media content. Users can then purchase the gift using the application.

This progress creates an exciting opportunity for companies. Instead of just operating a social media account, businesses can provide applications, which give consumers hands-on access to their company’s features. Applications allow companies to offer a more interactive experience and draw more views to their business.

Do you think social media applications are worth the investment? Send us your feedback in the comments below.

I’ll admit it. I’m in a love/hate relationship with my inbox. Don’t get me wrong; there are things I love about it: it bears witness to the exchange of great ideas, documents new relationships with key influencers, and gives me amazing search functionality (hello all-important email I sent back in 2008!). But it also has an ugly side. The side that gives me anxiety after coming back from a week-long vacation, or a full day of back-to-back meetings where my laptop, and phone, don’t belong. I’m talking about the condition commonly known as email overload. 

I recently read that Thierry Breton, CEO of Atos, made a bold statement – he plans to ban internal emails at his company in favor of instant messaging, wikis, texting and face-to-face interaction. Estimating that his managers spend anywhere from 5-20 hours a week reading emails, of which only 10 percent are useful, he hopes this move will boost productivity and cause employees to think differently about the ways they communicate.

My take? As much as I’d like to “select all” and “delete” on days when my inbox seems unmanageable, in the PR business it would be nearly impossible to do away with it for good. But, philosophically, there are some things associated with a zero email policy that are worth exploring. For example, fewer emails to respond to would give you more time to strategize, execute and help clients meet their goals. An email ban would also serve as a reminder of how effective picking up the phone can be, especially when you need an answer quickly and your refresh button isn’t cutting it. Lastly, I have to believe that putting a temporary block on internal emails specifically could help foster improved teamwork. In-person meetings, creative brainstorms and team celebrations help everyone get out from behind the computers and learn what makes colleagues tick – in and out of the office.

How this pans out for Atos remains to be seen, but I’d love to know in the comments – could you imagine doing away with email all together? Is there any good that could come from it?

This week our team earned some great honors at the PR News Awards Luncheon held in Washington, D.C. Affect was named a Top Place to Work in PR for 2011, and our very own Sandra Fathi was a finalist for Public Relations Professional of the Year for agencies in the PR People Awards.

PR executives judge the PR News Awards, so we are thrilled to be recognized by our peers as a top place to work in the industry. I enjoy coming into work each and every day because of the team and overall atmosphere at Affect. Being encouraged to get creative, to think up and implement new ideas and being part of a culture that fosters growth and development makes me proud to be a member of the Affect team.

Also, the PR News PR People Awards highlight those who have set the benchmark for public relations and showcase outstanding PR achievements of the last year. Having Sandra named as a finalist for the agency category of PR Professional of the Year is fantastic recognition for the direction of our agency.

Awards like this are always great reminders of just how hard people in the public relations profession work. Congratulations to all the winners!

A few days ago, Lora Kolodny, tech writer at Fast Company, let her Facebook subscribers know that in order for her to consider covering a company, the pitch had to incorporate answers to the ten questions that she listed.

Kolodny’s questions are wonderfully spot-on and very insightful for us PR representatives in terms of saying the right thing. Four of her questions are particularly helpful when formulating a strong pitch:

Saying The Right Thing

• What do you do or make, and who needs this?
• Who are your key customers/constituents, now? Who will they be? Why do they come back to you?
• Who is your competition and how do you distinguish yourself from them?
• Are you solving problems for your industry, for society, the world? Which problems and how?

But it’s not enough to say the right thing; it has to be said at the right time too, in the right type of context – all with the purpose of providing a sense of meaning as to why what you have to say is important.

At The Right Time

• What is being said in the current industry debate/context in which you are active?
• Do you represent a trend or an anti-trend in that ongoing debate?
• Is there a lack of debate – should you be the creator/initiator of a much-needed discourse, shedding light on a topic or issue that might be overlooked?
• Are there any news items or seasonal themes that highlight what you want to say?

Saying the right thing, at the right time can land you that story, but it’s all for naught if it’s said to the wrong person.  How do you find the reporters who will understand, who will care?

To The Right Person

• What are your target outlets? Who, within those outlets, cover the topics you are interested in?
• Be sure to follow your key reporters continuously. Has their beat changed?
• Be respectful of their preferences. Do they want to be pitched by email or phone?
• Ask them! Introduce yourself and ask what topics and types of stories they are typically interested in.

And there you go – a few easy steps to a successful story! Ok, ok. I know it’s not quite that easy. But let me say this; as someone from Sweden, with experience working with PR in Europe, a post like Kolodny’s confirms how much more open the relationship between reporter and PR representative is on this side of the Atlantic. There’s a mutual acknowledgement and sense of understanding, which ultimately creates relevant story ideas in a context that is current, interesting and important.

The book does a really nice job of setting up the entire business story of ESPN – from the initial concept and founding through several leadership changes and the massive growth of the cable industry. It focuses on how unheard of it was to dedicate 24/7 programming to the sports industry, as well as the battle with other sports programming leaders like NBC Sports, ABC, Fox and even CNN. The book highlights the long hours, pivotal business decisions (from the first NFL contract to the pay-per-subscriber deals they had with broadcasters) as well as the initial branding of the company. If you’re the owner of a start-up tech company, some of these types of decisions made sound all too familiar.

And, like any good business, the book also highlights ESPN’s first branding exercise (one of my favorite parts of the book.) The eventual “This is Sportscenter” branding campaign completely changed the way people thought of the flagship program, as well as ESPN as a company. No longer a scrappy, corporate company, the branding campaign re-focused ESPN as the center of the sports universe – where mascots hang out in the halls and sport stars eat at the cafeteria (cue my favorite “This is Sportscenter” commercials here.)

My passion for PR has a lot to do with being able to help shape a company’s brand in the same way that ESPN’s very first (and last?) branding campaign did for the industry. Public relations has the exact same power to influence how a start-up is viewed, helping to make a company’s message and vision clear to the media and a company’s target audiences. Often, a branding or messaging workshop can help a company clarify these messages and put them to good use across the gamut of communication channels.

Now, I should add the disclaimer that there’s some pretty crazy stuff that happens in the book too, but it shouldn’t be dismissed on those stories alone (I promise.) In the meantime – read any other good business or PR books lately? Tell me below.