When LOL Means Career Suicide: The Truth about Social Media and Email Etiquette in the Workplace

When LOL Means Career Suicide: The Truth about Social Media and Email Etiquette in the Workplace

13 Ways to Fail in PR: How to Guarantee Your Press Releases Will Be Completely Ignored

A colleague, Henry Simpson, wrote a blog about what NOT to put in a news release. COMMPRO.com featured it on their blog. I think it is worth spreading around. You can contact Henry at Henry@StimpsonCommunications.com

13 Ways to Fail in PR: How to Guarantee Your Press Releases Will Be Completely Ignored

By Henry Stimpson, Owner, Stimpson Communications 

Yes, press releases still matter in the digital age. And while SEO helps broaden the digital footprint for your release these days—there are still fundamentals that can NOT be overlooked if you want to see pick up from those who matter. Even so, too many in PR are still sending out releases that miss the mark. Here’s how to make sure that yours never fail to fail:

1. APPEAL only to the vanity and ego of your boss/CEO/client, etc.
2. NEVER consider your audience—the news media, potential customers, current clients, etc.
3. CONFUSE. Right at the start, no reader should have any idea what you’re talking about. This shows profundity and complexity of thought.
4. NEVER proofread or use spell-check. Typoes keep the the media on they’re toes. As do bad grammer.
5. A “NEWS” release is not a news story; it’s an ad. Brag from start to finish. Avoid information.
6. PUMP UP the buzzwords. When you pepper your release with phrases like “end-to-end ROI,” “scale visionary initiatives,” and “drive transparent paradigms,” you’re cookin’!
7. INFLATE a brief announcement into 1,000 words. For unusual creativity, shrink an important story into a few opaque sentences.
8. NEVER cite objective outsiders like customers, analysts, researchers, etc. Use lots of long, windy quotes from company insiders—from the CEO to the parking attendant.
9. CRANK ‘em out by the dozen. Then, when you actually have something important to say, no one will notice.
10. SEND them to a huge email list that includes hundreds of irrelevant media outlets with no conceivable interest in your business or industry.
11. USE eccentric Capitalization and odd, Punctuation.
12. FOLLOW these guidelines scrupulously and you’ll be sure that absolutely no one will ever read or remember your press releases, except with disgust.
13. EXPAND! Bonus Tip: Apply a similar philosophy to your website, brochures, advertisements, email, newsletters and presentations to make sure everyone will ignore them, too.

Yuri Rasovsky dies at 67; big name in radio dramas, audio books

For the past three years, I have been working with Archer Mayor to develop audio drama podcasts of his Joe Gunther mystery series.  As I was researching the history of audio drama, Yuri Rasovsky's name kept appearing.

Mr. Rasovsky was focused on rekindling the passion for audio theater.  It is sad to mark his death, but his memory will be a blessing.

To read his obituary, click here.

Looking at Corporate Logos Closely

I received this email today. I don't know the source but was fascinated by the message.  We see corporate logos every day. Did you ever look closely at them? Scroll down and be surprised.




 s
Do you see the arrow between the “E” and “x” ?? I had never noticed this before.



2nd and 3rd “t’s” are two people sharing a tortilla over a bowl of salsa



Probably the world’s most famous bike race. The “R” in “Tour” is a cyclist – yellow circle front wheel of bicycle.




Arrow probably means Amazon has everything from A to Z ??




There is a sideways chocolate kiss between “K” and “I”



 There is a bear if you look closely at image of Matterhorn . Toblerone
chocolate bars originated in Berne , Switzerland whose symbol is the bear.

See “31” embedded in the “ B R” ?? Thirty one-derful flavors !!!




Northwest Airlines. Circle is a compass. Guess which direction the arrow in upper
left corner (or beginning of “W”) is pointing ??? (north west)




See the gorilla and lioness ??


 Smiley face is also a “g” like in “goodwill”



Used to be the emblem for the Milwaukee Brewers. Baseball glove forms an “M” and a “B”.
Logo was designed by a college art student.




Interesting, huh??

Reviving Audio Drama in Modern Times

Using modern technology, audio dramas can be downloaded in a way that fits with our changing entertainment lifestyle. And, it offers a new way to market products and services.
The mission of Vermont Audio Drama Podcasting (VTADP) is to translate the literary works of authors into audio drama presentations suitable for broadcast over the Internet or other audio communication channels. Initially, we are working to convert the Vermont-based Joe Gunther mystery novels by Archer Mayor into audio dramas.
Even for those who didn't grow up during radio's golden era, mention radio drama to most Americans and it culls up the image of a family huddled around the radio anxiously on a Saturday night waiting for a program to come on. Most are familiar with the furor over War of the Worlds, and can bring names like "The Shadow" and "The Green Hornet" to the tips of their tongues. These same people are astonished to learn that Orson Welles started (and may have produced his best work!) in radio, and that "The Lone Ranger" existed long before its television debut.
Audio book sales continue to grow. Audio drama allows “readers” used to single-voice narrator stories to the allure of full dramatizations. The Wall Street Journal in an article about us makes this point.
A classic story about the power of audio drama:

A little girl who, when asked whether she preferred television to radio, answered,
"I prefer radio.”
"Why?”
"Because the pictures are better."

There are some great examples of radio theatre sponsorship from the Golden Age of Radio up to the 1980s:

• The General Mills Radio Adventure Theater, which last aired over thirty years ago, was produced with a young audience in mind but only lasted a year. It attempted to capture the success of CBS Radio Mystery Theater that continued to air until 1984.
• Hallmark Playhouse, which aired from 1948-1953, was geared to family entertainment and was the basis of the long-running TV series.
• Maxwell House Coffee Time, which aired for over two decades, beautifully combined print and radio campaigns with the message that "Maxwell House Coffee is part of the American Scene."

Ten years ago, Richard Fish predicted “…the invention of the internet and the World-Wide Web has brought a new channel of distribution for audio theatre, “broadcasting on demand,” if you will. Many websites now feature OTR programming available to the properly-equipped browser via RealAudio, MP3, or other software. More and more websites offer brand new audio theatre productions, either in part or in whole. The audio theatre art form is having a renaissance of major proportions, and it is now proper to speak of the “audio theatre Industry.” Kept alive for decades by a few devotees and funded by grants, audio theatre is being weaned off the dole and coming back into the marketplace…”

Charles Osgood, noted broadcaster, said:

No television set that’s made,
no screen that you can find
Can compare with that of radio:
the theatre of the mind
Where the pictures are so vivid,
so spectacular and real
That there isn’t any contest,
or at least that’s how I feel.

Using modern technology, audio dramas can be downloaded in a way that fits with our changing entertainment lifestyle. And, it offers a new way to market products and services.

If you are interested in collaborating on this idea, send me an email.

Giving Day is a yawn

The Brattleboro Reformer published an op/ed I penned about declaring the day after Thanksgiving as a Giving Day, a day to reflect on philanthropy. Sadly, I received no feedback.  Click here to read the piece.

Martin Cohn named Paul Harris Fellow

Newfane resident Martin Cohn was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Brattleboro Rotary Club. The Paul Harris Fellowship Award, named after the founder of Rotary International, is one of the highest honors Rotary can bestow upon a person. Recipients exemplify the highest ideal in Rotary in placing "SERVICE ABOVE SELF."

Cohn, president of a local public relations firm, has served as secretary of the Brattleboro Rotary Club for the past two years. He became president-elect at the club’s annual changeover dinner held at the Brattleboro Country Club on Thursday, June 23, 2011. Cohn produces the Club’s annual film festival, which raises funds for international projects.

The Brattleboro Rotary Club, founded in 1950, is an active community service club of over 80 members who engage in community and human service projects locally and internationally.

For more information about the Brattleboro Rotary Club, visit www.brattlebororotaryclub.org

-ROTARY-

PHOTO: L-R Brattleboro Rotary Club President Liz Harrision presented Martin Cohn with a Paul Harris Award, one of the highest honors Rotary can bestow upon a person.