When Nations Need a Little Marketing

The New York Times had an article last week about a new company called Placebrands which "develops places with purpose" using brand strategy to add measurable economic, social and cultural value to cities, regions and countries. The company offers a rare combination of world-class marketing and brand management expertise with decades of experience in economic and cultural development, public diplomacy, international relations, governance and policy-making.

Why Celebrity Web Sites Are Good PR Tools

MarketingWonk leads us to an article by USC's Annenberg Online Journalism Review which tells us how high-profile defendants have found a new way to temper the media circus and get more control over the spin on their stories: by becoming Web publishers.

PR People Still Don't Get Blogging

Marketingwonk finds that PR People Still Don't Get Blogging...a survey of 610 bloggers by Blog Search Engine shows that 90.3% of respondents have never been contacted by a company or organization with product or service information, asking the blogger to blog about them. This may, the surveyors observe, be because the public relations industry has yet to direct a large amount of its efforts towards bloggers.

Calculate R.U.M. and Get a Great Buzz

From Folio....a tool every PR pitching practitioner should use...as part of a major magazine survey, two trade groups have developed an analysis -- called the Reader Usage Measure (R.U.M.) -- defining the "experiences" that both motivate and inhibit readership.

The Birth of "Journo-Lobbying"

Alternet describes how "James Glassman and TCS have given birth to something quite new in Washington:journo-lobbying. It's an innovation driven primarily by the influence industry. Lobbying firms that once specialized in gaining person-to-person access to key decision-makers have branched out. The new game is to dominate the entire intellectual environment in which officials make policy decisions, which means funding everything from think tanks to issue ads to phony grassroots pressure groups. But the institution that most affects the intellectual atmosphere in Washington, the media, has also proven the hardest for K Street to influence -- until now."

Can PR People Cope with the Internet?

Executive Summary has a powerful article this week entitled "Can PR People cope with the Internet?"

PR Isn't for Press Release

MarketingProfs.com's Ford Kanzler stands up in his article "PR Isn't for Press Release" against those who think writing and issuing press releases are all PR flacks live and are good for.

Why You Need PR

PR Fuel highlighted an important article in Entrepreneur Magazine today called "Why You Need PR." In their viewpoint, getting the word out about your product or service should always be a priority.

Building a Brand from Inc.com

Inc. Magazine brings us a nice article about branding and how it isn't just about a logo that you slap on or a fancy ad campaign. Your brand is a reflection of your business's personality.

Why Journalism Needs PR

A Media Guardian article was brought to our attention from PR Opinion's Tom Murphy...."members of the fourth estate may love to hate the world of public relations but without it they would struggle to fill their newspapers," argues the Media Guardian's Julia Hobsbawm. She continues, "Given that a (conservative) estimate of 75% of entertainment stories and 50 to 80% of news and business stories emanate from public relations, it is understandable that journalists can resent their reliance on us."

Building a Web Media Empire on a Daily Dose of Fresh Links

From the New York Times [registration required]....Gawker Media is catching the attention of venture capitalists and New York's media elite, but the ad-supported "lemonade stand" is not expected to turn into a money machine overnight.

Making PR an Integrated Part of Your Marketing Mix

"If marketing mix components were people, advertising would be Tom Cruise, promotions would be Mohammad Ali, and public relations would be Rodney Dangerfield. At budget time and at crunch time, public relations gets no respect." So says Marketing Advocate. They go on to say that "a forward-thinking marketer views public relations as an integrated part of the marketing mix that is focused on directly supporting customer acquisition and retention activities."

Media Guardian Profiles Maurice Saatchi

The business brains behind Saatchi & Saatchi has been hired to apply his skills to reinvigorating perhaps the most tired brand in Britain: the Tory party. Is his lordship really up to the job? Found in the Guardian.

Email Interviewing Tips

Marketing Wonk directs us to a very helpful article for journalists in Poynter.org's Writing/Editing Section by Sandeep Junnarkar, entitled "Step By Step Email Interviewing Tips." It's an important read for PR people as it always helps to know what journalists are looking for so you can try to make their job easier.

PR Blueprint on Restoring Trust & Accountability

Creating an atmosphere of accountability is more critical than ever. On Nov. 19, from 12:00-1:30 p.m. (ET) PR NEWS and a panel of reputation experts will give you the a step-by-step PR Action Plan for restoring trust and accountability among your stakeholders. In the aftermath of Enron and Worldcom, and maybe Wal-Mart to come, mis-trust of businesses has become another hurdle that marketeers have to leap in their marketing and PR strategies. This trustworthiness must exude from every touchpoint that customers have with the firm's employees.

How to Increase Responses and Track Results from Your Planted Articles

Marketing Sherpa offers up an article titled "How to Increase Responses and Track Results from Your Planted Articles."

Prince's Flack Should Return Award

According to the Gaurdian, Mark Bolland, the former press adviser to Prince Charles, should be stripped of a prestigious public relations award after writing about the prince's sexuality in the News of the World, the PR trade organization has said.

Bridge the Gap Between Strategy and Tactics

To all those Right-brain/Left-brain PR types, the Harvard Business Review has an excellent piece on bridging the gap between strategy and tactics.

How the Bush Administration is Reinventing the PR War

Michael Wolff, in New York Metro gestures, "We're winning the peace, say the Bushies. But, if so, what about all those body bags?" PR is the key.

PR Jobs — Fun, Tough and Tough to Get Now

This in from the Seattle Times..."when the economy tanked a few years ago, many public-relations positions were shed. That may change when the economy turns around. The number of PR jobs is expected to skyrocket by 2010."

Building Bridges with Ad Execs

Lock PR and advertising executives in a room together, give them a chunk of money and brace yourself for debates over budgets, message development and strategy. MediaInsider [registration required] tells us how to put down the boxing gloves and create a harmonious relationship with our ad colleagues.