Today’s guest post is by Deirdre Breakenridge. The words “I’m sorry” can be very powerful and carry great meaning. However, if you don’t have three important elements in your apology, your words may sound hollow. They might also tarnish your reputation, and, quite possibly, end a valuable relationship. Just stating, “I apologize” or “I’m sorry” is not enough today. Being in PR, we are not strangers ... Read More

Elon Musk is a very smart man. After all, he co-founded PayPal and then took that money and founded SpaceX (a company designed to get man on Mars, where he wants to die) and co-founded Tesla Motors (a company designed to make really fast, really awesome, really beautiful, really expensive electric cars). He’s enjoyed a pretty admirable reputation. Everything he touches seems to turn to gold. ... Read More

Thanks to Lindsay Bell and an appropriately pitched story idea from a PR firm here in Chicago, I have a special surprise for you. This is going to both surprise and anger you…at least anger you if you consider yourself a writer. It is both cool and a little disappointing. It is surprisingly accurate, but also a bit limited. It is the Content Idea Generator from ... Read More

Today’s guest post is by Tara Geissinger. There is an ongoing conversation among communications and SEO professionals, alike, about the value of using news releases to boost your online visibility. While there are SEO benefits, publishing news releases plays numerous other marketing roles. The rules, purpose, and audience have changed. It’s time to update how we think about them, write them, and measure their results in order ... Read More

During yesterday’s Facebook question of the week, Kate Finley asked if news releases have SEO value when distributed via a newswire. This has been a long internal battle for me. I know the “coverage” isn’t really such, but it always seems to help search engine optimization. Clients sometimes like to show their bosses the number of places that ran the news release so we don’t always ... Read More

Do you know the story of how BlendTec used Will It Blend to keep content fresh about industrial-strength blenders? While a big fan of their super smart and creative videos, I didn’t know the idea to see what their blenders could blend came about because an executive noticed sawdust on the floor. As it turns out, employees were putting broom handles in the blenders to see if they would blend. ... Read More

Today’s guest post is by Adria Saracino. When you’re a marketer, having “people skills” is more than just a line from Office Space. Interacting effectively with clients is pretty much make-or-break for your career. Do well with one client, and he’s bound to send you more customers. Do poorly, and, yeah, forget about it. Still, the term “problem client” exists for a reason, and there are days ... Read More

Today’s guest post is by Lindsay Bell. Jason Konopinski is a funny guy. He’s an even funnier guy when he uses words like ‘ding-danged,’ as he did in a recent Facebook post. To quote: “Bloggers, for all that is good and holy, COPYEDIT YOUR DING-DANGED POSTS.” While that status update sparked some great chatter around ‘writers – vs – authors’ and whether any monkey with a typewriter ... Read More

Today’s guest post is by Amy Vernon.  Spam fascinates me. Spam filters grow ever more clever, stopping it from even getting to us, more often than not. We’re all tired of it. But it works, apparently. Enough for people to keep doing it. Enough for people to keep sending ot invitations for us to buy pills, sex, or indirectly, money. Spam has different goals: Sometimes it’s ... Read More

I mentioned yesterday I’m reading Andy Crestodina’s “Content Chemistry.” It’s an interesting book that is half theory and half lab; full of tips, cautions and notes for even the most sophisticated content marketer. If you’ve ever seen Andy speak or read his blog (or read his guest posts here), you’ll know you’re going to learn something from the first page (or you’ll discover it when you ... Read More