If you haven’t noticed by now, there’s an advertiser boycott template and it goes like this. Activists select a television show, a radio program, a network, or a show host to boycott, and then they wait for something they can use as a justification for the boycott they have planned all along.
The goal is to get the show cancelled, the host fired and an opposition voice silenced.… Read the rest
You may be familiar with these quotes about statistics. It was Mark Twain who said, “Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.”
And even if you don’t know Benjamin Disraeli, you may have heard his comment that, “There are three types of lies – lies, damn lies and statistics.”
If Mark Twain and Benjamin Disraeli were around today, they’d probably be quite interested in reading the 2019 State of Science Index from 3M and may consider including “science” in their comments.… Read the rest
Let’s say your background and training is that of an engineer, or a sale exec, or a lawyer, or maybe an accountant, but here you are, your company has selected you to be spokesperson on a particular issue. Perhaps that issue is a pressing one and this situation has already reached high levels of intensity going in.… Read the rest
It’s one of the most potent words a headline writer or a reporter can use, and if it’s used to describe you or your organization, it’s clear what the writer thinks, but more importantly what that writer wants the reader to think. You’re guilty.
The word is, “Denies.” As in, “The company denies wrongdoing.”
Let’s put this proposition to the test.… Read the rest
Of course, it’s much easier to slap a web site together with photos of walnut-paneled courtrooms and a judge’s gavel thrown in for good measure, but by striving for sameness in law firm marketing, you won’t stand out, and while standing out is not the only thing, it is important to most professional services marketing.… Read the rest
My first love when it came to media was radio. It was the music, the personalities, the sounds, the voices, the unexpected, even the commercials. All of it. This was before formulaic formats and research-driven audio.
Soon, I found myself working in any number of studios at all hours of the day, and in the field, talking to listeners, talking to sources, working control boards, writing, planning, editing, producing, using microphones to capture voice and sound.… Read the rest
If you Google the term “social media crisis,” or even the term, “brand crisis,” you’ll probably find no shortage of advice columns or online videos on how to see your organization through a crisis. Typically, the authors or presenters are social media experts or marketing gurus.
What they usually are not are crisis communications veterans. In all too many cases, they may not have even handled a single crisis for a client.… Read the rest
As PR people go, I may be more privacy-minded than most. Yes, I’m on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I have this website and this blog and a podcast.
For the past few decades, I’ve spent most of my waking moments trying to get my clients, my organizations and sometimes myself visibility in the media and other places.… Read the rest
I had an interesting interchange with a colleague, Karen Swim, President of Words for Hire in Detroit, on social media recently. The thing that prompted our discussion was her posting of this article from Forbes about a new analytics program called Protagonist which is claimed to help “better manage communications strategies.”
That sounds good, and if it does what it says it does it could be very meaningful, but I have my concerns for one simple reason.… Read the rest
I’m not sure when school let out right before Christmas break, but I do remember a few times on the last school day before Christmas I was able to rush home and then with my mom take the trolley to Downtown before my dad finished work.
For me and just about every other kid, Downtown was the place to be around the holidays.… Read the rest