Archive for June, 2010

Q: I heard the Associated Press has new rules for social media. What are they, and how do they apply to public relations writing?                                                                                – Anonymous

Yes, the Associated Press has finally decided to add social media to its AP Stylebook. In fact, the latest edition includes 42 separate entries on the topic, including the “website” change, which we previously discussed.

The most notable addition is a “Social Media Guidelines” entry that discusses what social media is, how journalists should (and should not) use it and how to cite social media as a source. Guidelines PR professionals should note include: Read the rest of this entry »

San Diego PR Pro Lynne Friedmann Featured in New Media Guidebook

Freelance science writer and La Jolla Light columnist Lynne Friedmann is featured as an expert in “Explaining Research: How to Reach Key Audiences to Advance Your Work” (Oxford University Press). It’s the first comprehensive guidebook written for scientists, engineers and physicians describing how to use new media to reach patients, donors, regulatory agencies, policy makers, and the public. She also wrote two entries in “The Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Communication,” a first-of-its-kind resource for students, professionals and scholars. Read the rest of this entry »

Name: Pat Launer

Title: Theater Critic

 Outlets: KSDS-FM (Jazz 88), KPRI-FM (102.1), San Diego Jewish Journal

 Phone: 858-755-5288

 E-mail: Pat Launer  

What are your main daily responsibilities? I see 200+ San Diego theatrical productions a year. I also write about the arts and freelance on a wide array of other topics. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m inquisitive.  I like to find out what makes people successful.  And, I love to serve as a connector of useful information that can help provide critical direction, insight and contacts to help those in need of a better path forward in reaching their goals.   That’s why I absolutely adore my work every day in PR.  With that in mind, I’ve decided to take this “Worth your While” column and get more direct questions answered from business people that I admire.  This forum is a place to find tools from those folks who are simply doing a great job in our field and related industries.

This week, I had a chance to meet an enthusiastic entrepreneur that is seemingly doing all the right things in making it an easy choice to bring her on board as a design resource for clients.  She hails from one of my absolute favorite towns – Boulder, Colorado.  Influenced by the region’s  focus on outdoor sports, she gained a ton of experience working with a variety of fun and familiar consumer brand names.  So, I had to ask how I can reciprocate to get the best result for my clients’ design work.

Three Questions with Tara Brouwer,  Creative Director of  Shovel Creative:  

The best tip I give PR and Marketing agencies that I work with for developing a targeted creative brief is be specific. For example, many clients have a target of middle-aged men. So what do these middle-aged men read? What type of sports do they play? The more specific one can get about a targeted demographic, the client’s goals for the project and the message / purpose for the project, the better the designer can create the impact and provide measurable results with the piece.  Read the rest of this entry »

The DSC Slated to Return, Fact or Fiction?

One of San Diego’s favorite radio teams may be back on our local airwaves in July. Chris Carmichael’s sdradio.net reports that we should hear from Dave, Shelly and Chainsaw on July 12 (there’s even a countdown clock). Dave Rickard’s cryptic Facebook status update on his personal profile last Saturday started all the buzz that’s getting louder and louder online. Just a rumor? We’ll see. Join in on the conversation here and here.

OC Register Organizes Social Media Day Event

The Orange County Register will host an event on Thursday, June 30 in celebration of Social Media Day. Their get-together is from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at their offices in Santa Ana. Their event is just one of many to be held around the world, and the idea of social media news website Mashable . There will be the famous food trucks who are using social media to promote their businesses as well as presentations and panel discussions from Orange County socialites, including Bryan Elliott, Ted Nguyen and Rochelle Veturis. Admission is free, but RSVP is a must.

New Management, Reorganization and Restructuring at the U-T

Just as layoffs are occurring, The San Diego Union-Tribune is adding new hires to key management positions. National Geographic’s Kris Viesselman is now the managing editor and creative director, The Washington Post’s Larry Nista will start soon as the editor of the U-T’s A-section and In-Depth editor, and former free-lancer Peter Nguyen is now the Features design director. All are alumni of the Orange County Register, where the U-T’s Vice President and Editor Jeff Light worked most recently. Check out some of their amazing work here. Plus, Tom Blair, former editor-in-chief of San Diego Magazine, will return to the U-T very soon. According to sandiego.com’s Ron Donoho, Blair will revive the popular city column he once wrote for the publication. Read more about it here.

 Voiceofsandiego.org’s Rob Davis conducted an interview with Light, who explained the new vision and restructuring plans for the U-T. The story comes on the heels of the third major layoff at the news organization. Since May 2009, the U-T has laid off at least 337 employees. Light will be the guest of honor at the upcoming PRSA San Diego/Imperial Valley Chapter breakfast, where no doubt he’ll have some tough questions to answer. Reserve your seat now.

SDNN in Business with New Focus

Around the same time as the big news from the U-T, SDNN’s Neil Senturia announced their new editorial focus. Late last month, chatter and articles described the media organization almost out of business. But, Senturia and team remain committed to San Diego, and their sister sites, Orange County Local News Network and Southwest Riverside News Network are operational and publishing daily.

 Denise Scatena is a founding partner of Scatena Daniels Communications, a boutique marketing communications agency focusing on connections, creativity and results based out of San Diego, Calif., as well as one of the founding editors of SoCalPRBlog. Follow her on Twitter.

Name: Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.

Title: Clinical/Corporate Psychologist

Outlet(s): San Diego Magazine’s “Dr. San Diego” Blog

Phone: 619-743-2555

E-mail: drmantell@me.com

Twitter: @drsandiego

Facebook: Michael Mantell

What are your main daily responsibilities? Running a busy practice in clinical & corporate psychology Read the rest of this entry »

By now we’ve all heard the news – popular email subscription service HARO, which supplies media leads to PR people and anyone else looking to become famous, was acquired by PR software company Vocus (which also owns PRWeb). HARO founder Peter Shankman, who grew at warp speed the resource from its humble beginnings as a Facebook page to the giant it is today, will continue to run the company.

My take – awesome call by the Vocus team. They’ve got an instant audience of 100,000 of their primary client-base at their fingertips. While the number of PR database options have grown over the years, Cision, previously known as Bacon’s, had arguably been the leader historically. I’d wager that Vocus and Cision consider each other their greatest competitors. Those of us courted by the companies probably know that Vocus has the best technology (critical when we are on deadline) and Cision is less expensive, and may have better media contacts and profiles. Now, while we don’t pay for the emails we receive from HARO, we are now all essentially clients of Vocus. That means huge brand awareness and potential loyalty, that in my opinion, Cision’s heritage used to own.

Read the rest of this entry »