All the best for 2006
Posted Saturday, December 31, 2005 at 5:00pm in Off topic | 2 Comments
May you have a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!
Stephen
I got coverage in three national newspapers
Posted Friday, December 30, 2005 at 6:09pm in Blogging, PR General | 7 Comments
I’m pretty smug with myself today. A press release of mine received coverage in UK national newspapers, the Daily Star, Telegraph and Daily Mail.
Some time ago, I sent an email offering free PR to a number of small North East businesses that are members of a scheme called the Hatchery based at the University of Sunderland. The Hatchery aims to help small start-ups with office space, advice and a host of other necessities needed to begin in business.
My offer of free help was to try and gain myself some first-hand experience. Although I am a firm believer that a PR degree is a very worthwhile degree to study, I still think it’s an extra feather in the hat to show potential employers what you’ve done out of university also.
I received a fair amount of responses - so much so, that I couldn’t help all so I decided to focus on only one. I’ve got to have some sort of social life right?
I don’t want to give too much away about the company as I believe client confidentiality is imperative, but I will say that the director is a forward-thinking, open-minded young entrepreneur who is always willing to try new communication channels including blogs – more on that in 2006 though.
The company is an ecommerce business so I’ve been helping out with their online presence and communication for a while but also concentrating with the offline activities also.
In September we received national coverage in the News of the World which I blogged about, but this time it’s three! What a feeling it is to read my own words that I wrote in my bedroom in Durham in three national newspapers. It feels quite surreal!
The buzz you get from reading your own words in black ink is amazing and I don’t think doing the same online could ever compare really.
I wonder, as practitioners age and become PR dinosaurs (as Tom Murphy puts it) does the buzz from a print hit wear off or do you still get the feeling of accomplishment from a job well done?
Googlewood
Posted at 2:31pm in Blogging, Media, Technology | Leave a Comment
Yahoo! News: “Google Inc. co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are making their first foray into the movie business, helping to finance a friend’s independent film.
“The Internet moguls are the executive producers of “Broken Arrows,” the story of a man who loses his pregnant wife in a terrorist attack and then takes a job as a hit man.”
Could this be the media company’s first dip of the toe into the movie making business?
Technorati tags:
google, hollywood, movies, films
The Sage and Tyne Bridge
Posted Wednesday, December 28, 2005 at 8:23pm in Blogging | Leave a Comment
Rollyo: A powerful research and monitoring tool
Posted at 12:13am in Blogging, PR General | 1 Comment
Although it’s been around some time, I’ve recently started playing with the personal search engine, Rollyo, and have to say it’s got a lot of potential.
If you aren’t familiar with Rollyo, it allows you to create your own search engine using up to 25 websites of your choice. Type a search query into your personalised search engine and it will only scan the websites you’ve assigned.
I’ve created a search roll using UK newspaper websites - so if I were to type in a key word, it will only scan each site for that particular word - ideal as a monitoring tool. Entering specific regional newspaper websites could come in useful for small regional PR agencies also.
But it doesn’t have to be just newspapers. I’ve created a search roll using 25 of my favourite PR blogs which will allow me to read and compare other PR bloggers’ opinions on any particular subject - saving time and aggravation. Using the keywords ‘the press release is dead’ was a good one.
You can create any amount of search rolls and can also add each to your Firefox searchbox.
As more and more publications start shifting their content online, this tool will become even more useful and who knows, could perhaps pose a challenge to traditional media monitoring?
Technorati tags:
rollyo, research, monitoring