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 When I first ventured onto social media networks years and years ago, I didn’t have a plan. I just knew that people said it was a good idea to be there. As a  result, my LinkedIn account and Facebook fan page just sat there, doing nothing for me. When I later joined Twitter, I wasRead more

Usually, I advocate writing headlines that appeal to readers’ (and/or editors’) self-interest. But the two headlines below have nothing to do with my personal/business-related goals or interests. Nor do they address my concerns about regional, national or international issues. “Man Accidentally Shoots Wife During Sex” from LiveScience.com “I have firsthand experience with an undead parrot”Read more

Have you ever signed up for a webinar or a seminar and found that instead of providing you with information you could use, it was just a pitch-fest? Or have you visited a blog and realized that all the posts centered the organization and its activities or the features offerings instead of ever sharing usefulRead more

Say you’ve just written a promotional or content piece that’s so fantastic that there’s no doubt in your mind that your audience is going to love it. And that means they’re going to make that purchase, click through to that landing page, fill out that form or whatever action you want them to take. IRead more

“Know your audience” is the communications mantra. After all, how can your message hit the mark if you’re not aiming it at a target? Of course, getting to know your audience means researching and then monitoring their demographics, psychographics, and awareness of you. That in turn, means investing in focus groups, community and industry forums,Read more

“But what’s the return on investment?” If you’re involved in social media marketing, trying to answer this question could potentially ruin your day. In fact, many businesspeople now question whether social ROI is truly measurable or whether we need to employ metrics other than financial returns. The fact is, in order to measure social ROI,Read more

Do you perform reviews at the middle of the year or at the midpoint of a campaign? End-of-year/end-of-program reviews show you how well you met your stated objectives, but a midpoint evaluation can help you adjust course as needed to make your end results as positive as possible. Since the PR Writer focuses on writingRead more

White papers (some call them whitepapers) are in-depth reports that promote information, a technique or best practice, a product or a service as a solution for the reader. Some communications professionals argue about whether or not they should be considered marketing collateral or supplements to marketing collateral, but generally everyone agrees that the white paperRead more

While I share writing tactics and techniques that boost your public relations and marketing efforts, you need information on other aspects of online/offline communications and marketing. I’ve listed some of my favorite marketing blogs for obtaining marketing insights and inspiration. Like most of us, you’re likely strapped for time, so I’ve limited them to six.Read more

Generating leads and deepening customer loyalty are two major reasons that businesses and organizations add social media to their marketing and communications. However, in order to achieve either of those two objectives, you need a wide social reach, that is, a substantial social media following. You have several options for increasing your reach but belowRead more