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How Twitter Made My Website Better
A few weeks ago Chris Brogan published a list of the 100 blog topics that he wished people would cover. One of them was, “How Twitter Improved My Blog,” and I accepted the challenge to write something along these lines. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with Twitter, you can read “The Tao of Twitter,” “Newbies Guide to Twitter,” or “Ode to Twitter.”) Here is my answer to Chris’s request.
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
The title of this post is the name of a great free service. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is the brain-child of East Coast PR pro Peter Shankman. (I did a podcast with Peter that I will publish shortly, but I wanted you to know about this resource right away.)
How Journalists Can Use Twitter Lists
Twitter lists to organize your contacts. Here are 10 ways that journalists can use them to keep up with business professionals, public relations specialists, and other sources.
The Secrets to Successfully Landing Media Coverage
When it comes to approaching the media, keep in mind that there is no one media outlet.  You are not pitching one story, nor are you pitching one media source.  To be successful you need to be developing a number of different stories to pitch to a variety of different media outlets.  Each media source has needs and interests that are specific to it.  The primary secret to a successful PR campaign is to focus on what the various media outlets need and pitch each outlet accordingly.

How To Make Money In A Recession With The Help Of Public Relations
Studies have shown that companies that stop all marketing during a recession are those that fair the poorest not only during the recession, but in the long run. Tough economic times are precisely the times that you want to reach out to and stay in front of your target market. They are also challenging times marketing-wise because you also need to be frugal and savvy with your marketing budget.
Public Relations 101
Public relations is a strategic marketing discipline that involves equal doses of creativity, persistence, substance and cooperation to influence members of the media to look favorably on an industry, client, company, business or service. The third party credibility is one of the greatest benefits of public relations.
Pitch the Story, Not Your Book
Pitch your book and you have a certain number of stories and media hooks. Pitch yourself, your life experiences, your anecdotal stories and your book and you’ve suddenly broadened the bulls eye…
Seven easy ways to promote a new product or service
Inexpensive ways for companies to promote their products and services.
The Most Important PR Secret
What most entrepreneurs and companies don't understand is that often the main job of the PR firm is to find the right story. It's often not the obvious story that works, because that's the same angle that the competition will be pitching. Without the right story and tone, you have a weak campaign, at best. Finding the right story, that's what it all comes down to.
PR Brainstorming Tips
This article features tips to brainstorm your own PR campaign. When it comes to PR brainstorming, your goal is to come up with a list of the most important story ideas including new business concepts, the unique value you offer, important information you can give, and anecdotal stories.
5 Small Business Success Strategies for Beating the Recession Blues
These are volatile times, but learn to view these economic challenges not as obstacles, but as opportunities. The following are five strategies for shifting your perspective and changing your set-in-stone way of doing business.

Why Hire a Public Relations Firm
An outside public relations firm can give you a new perspective on your campaign’s needs, strengths, and weaknesses. They can see your business in a new light. Plus, PR is their job, they know how to pitch, they have the contacts, and they know how to place stories in the media.

A public relations coup
How I got the Globe and Mail newspaper to feature me in a story about moonlighting.
A Real Life View of PR
Many mistakenly view PR as an emergency measure, a tool to be utilized during a crisis, or as a temporary supplement to a marketing campaign. In reality public relations is the most effective strategic business tool at your disposal. You should be garnering media coverage within the second or third month, but an effective media relations is not something that you do for a couple of months, put in mothballs for a year.

The Media Mantra: Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
When it comes to effective PR, preparation is the key. Don't unleash the power of the media until you're prepared to control it.

Headlines, Headlines, Headlines
What makes for a good headline? Anything that will make them read on. You only have about seven or eight words to work with, so it can take some time to come up with the right one.

Keep Your Message Focused to Get More Clients
The key to delivering a powerful message is focus. While you may indeed be an expert in your field, to be considered one by the media, keep your information targeted and concise.

To Phone or not to Phone (pitch) The Media
You’ve come up with your story ideas and pitch angles, you’ve written your press release, you’ve sent out the email pitches and you’ve placed your release on one of the paid wire services and… nothing! Not a single editor or producer has called to interview you or write a feature on you. You’ve done everything right and everything’s gone wrong. What now? How about picking up the phone? There’s a start!

Pitching Lessons
To have yourself, your service or your product featured in the media, you need to effectively pitch the media. It’s an art. By appearing in the media you create a bridge between your company and your clients or customers. You also build your brand by establishing credibility that only comes with being featured as a news story. Your best bet is to hire a public relations firm or PR consultant to develop, launch and implement your media relations campaign for you. It can be a tricky business and you can often do yourself more harm than good by trying it on your own. But, if money is tight and you’re not in a position to retain a firm, you don’t have to wait to get started. There are some PR tips and secrets you can try. With that in mind, the following is a pitching overview.

A Series of Strategic PR Tips and Prescriptions, Part 1 From The PR Doctor
How healthy are your public relations efforts and your media relations? Do you have a prescribed plan to achieve healthy publicity for your organization year in and year out? Do you have preventative measures and cures for unhealthy media relations and media coverage for your organization? Do you complain that your organization never gets the media coverage you feel you deserve? Well, if you do not have a healthy relation with the media and you are faced with some real public relations challenges, “The PR Doctor” has a series of strategic PR tips and prescriptions to help. This article is the first in a three part series of a prescription to present those strategic PR tips. Here are the first 10 strategic PR tips in the 3-part series.

The PR Headline Game
When it comes to your press release a strong, effective headline is the name of the game.

Staying on Target
Keep your message targeted and focused. You may be well versed on a number of topics, but believe me, you don’t want to pitch the media a Chinese menu.

Other story ideas Related Articles

telling stories the brand connection
Today, we're interested in stories, and not particularly interested in facts. Every story needs facts, of course, but they are secondary. The facts are there just to provide some ballast for the story. There are always so many facts that don't fit into the story, and insofar as they don't fit, depending on our commitment to the story, we have a tendency to disregard them. Every good story has some connection to the truth of our experience, but the story's the thing.

Story ideas the media will love
Presenting story ideas and media releases the won't end up in the editor's wastepaper basket.
Put It in Writing: Powerful Tools for Attracting Press Coverage
Covers the key PR tools, including story ideas, releases, bylined articles, case histories and more
Story Ideas that will interest the media
How do you come up with ideas that are intriguing enough to the media to want to follow up on your story?
Resist the Interpretation Addiction
Sometimes we adopt a story and unknowingly our emotions get swept up in it. And 99% of the time we don’t really question or inquire into the story we create. We treat our story as what actually happened. The problem, of course, is that the story influences, in part, the action you take in subsequent events. This article is about identifying the stories you may have created, working around them and managing them.

Free Or Nearly Free Public Relations Tools
From story ideas to media tracking, many of the tools used by public relations pros each day are free. Here's an overview of some of the must-haves.
The Most Important PR Secret
What most entrepreneurs and companies don't understand is that often the main job of the PR firm is to find the right story. It's often not the obvious story that works, because that's the same angle that the competition will be pitching. Without the right story and tone, you have a weak campaign, at best. Finding the right story, that's what it all comes down to.
Make Your Story Add Value to Your Clients Bottom Line
The purpose of your story for a workplace audience is to improve the bottom line. Even in those employee appreciation programs where entertainment may seem the focus, there is an undeniable expectation of increased productivity after your story is heard. The question to ask yourself when using your story is: What is the point of the story and how does the story improve a client's bottom line?
How to Maximize Local PR
Whereas I’m a big believer in going national if you have a strong story, there is a lot to be said for regional and local PR coverage. If you have a personal story that has a local slant to it, use it. Maybe a story as to how you built your business, or a story about how your product, service or company helped transform the life of someone else who lives in the community. The media loves transformational stories, so offer them one with a strong local hook. Always give your pitch a local slant. Remember you’re drilling down, pitching narrow, not wide.
The Power Of Telling Your Story
Story telling is a basic part of being an entrepreneur. Every one of us has a unique story to tell, as an entrepreneur your story connects you to your audience and potential clients. The power of telling your story is an essential tool for every entrepreneur. Your own unique stories make you different than any one else. This difference is essential for you to share with others for them to know who you are, what you do and why you do it.
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