Top Journalists Covering Olympic Sponsorships
Here’s a list of the top five most influential journalists covering endorsement deals and sponsorships for the 2010 Winter Games:
| Dan Sewell | Associated Press |
| Bruce Constantineau | Vancouver Sun |
| Katie Thomas | New York Times |
| David Holthaus | Cincinnati Enquirer |
| Janet McFarland | Globe and Mail |
This list was created using MatchPoint. Let the games begin!
Beta Testing engage121!
Checking out engage121. Amazing. More soon…
Tackling PR Spam in the UK
Cheers to RealWire in the UK for putting together this fantastic video outlining the dangers of PR Spam: http://inconvenientprtruth.com/animation/.
My fellow developers and users of MatchPoint agree that the old way of sending out PR Spam via media directory is not only harmful to a PR practitioner’s reputation, but also is an ineffective way to pitch!
.
Apple’s Ongoing Brilliance in Driving Demand
In anticipation of the next big Apple media event this Wednesday, everyone is guessing that the big announcement is the launch of Apple’s Tablet.
Well, it’s no longer really guessing due to Apple’s well-planned PR “leaks”. Check out the latest on Mashable. So, surely the Tablets are on the agenda. But I’m hoping for these two announcements:
1. Ending of exclusivity with AT&T
2. Change of name for the iPhone. Seriously! Is anyone using the phone anymore?!?
My suggested new name is the “iText-iSearch-iUseApps”. No? Yeah, too clunky. Okay, let’s stick with iPhone.
I’m hoping there is a Verizon or other carrier deal announcement coming soon. Because with AT&T’s coverage in several places I need to go, it’s an iPaperweight.
.
Top Ten Consumer Electronics Writers
Here are the top ten of a long list of the most influential writers, reporters, and bloggers covering consumer electronics in December ‘09 and (so far) January ‘10:
| 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. |
Peter Svensson Martyn Williams Cecilia Kang Andrew Berg Don Clark John Sutter Ryan Kim Sumner Lemon Mark Milian Ariel Schwartz |
Associated Press Network World Washington Post Wireless Week Wall Street Journal CNN San Francisco Chronicle MacWorld Los Angeles Times Fast Company |
This index was compiled using MatchPoint based on several factors contributing to level of influence.
.
Pitching Tips – MatchPoint Users
This is the first of our best practices posts to help MatchPoint users maximize their results and find more journalists and bloggers to engage one-on-one.
1. What should I do if my brand / product / client is extremely niche-focused?
Some MatchPoint users are working with products or clients about which no reporter has recently written at all. One such MatchPoint client was promoting a very specialized household appliance. The press release draft with which she was searching the “Point” box was very specific to this niche industry. And guess what? Not one of the 200,000 journalists in MatchPoint has written about this product in the past six months. She then searched keywords about similar products and broader industry terms to find journalists who would be interested. These included home repair, home improvement, holiday gifts for dad, etc. The Matching results showed dozens of reporters for whom her news was relevant. Remember, the objective isn’t to find people who have already written about your specific product, but to find those who are likely to write about you now!
2. Should I include my company boilerplate in the “Point” search?
In general, the answer is “no”. But we recommend experimenting both ways and see how your boilerplate affects your results. If your boilerplate contains many generic words and phrases like “excellent customer service with a mission to create synergies…,” our Matching system may produce results that have nothing to do with your main subject matter. However, if your boilerplate contains specific terms for your topic like “ice cream, snack foods, and easy to make meals for busy families” you may want to include the boilerplate to help find even more relevant articles and journalists.
3. My release includes many high-tech terms – will this hurt my results?
The inclusion of technical jargon and specs should not hurt your search results. But be sure that your release includes general terms and phrases relating the subject – MP3 players, laptops, video cameras, monitors, smart phone apps, etc – and MatchPoint will find reporters and bloggers who write about such devices.
Got a good tip for using MatchPoint? Please comment below or email to me for inclusion on the next list at jmonson@enr-corp.com
Free a trial of MatchPoint for readers of this blog, click here.
.
PR Farmville
PR Pros: Are you playing Farmville? C’mon…admit it!
Farmville has taken over many Facebook users’ Facebook time and has spread throughout my friend list, my firm, and my house.
I have had a hard time understanding the appeal. To me, a requirement of a good video game is that I get to annihilate Nazis, aliens, or Brett Favre. But I’m obviously missing out on something as several people who I think are sane and intelligent have gotten neck deep in it. So now I’m fascinated with this phenomenon.
I would like to ask for feedback about Farmville particularly from PR pros, journalists, bloggers, and any anyone working in or around the media.
Note: this is purely academic and for my own interest. I am not working for Farmville or any competitor.
- What do you like about Farmville?
- What keeps you coming back?
Please comment here or if you prefer to do so privately, please email me your thoughts at jmonson@enr-corp.com or DM me at @jackmonson
Thanks PR Farmers!
MatchPoint: Finalist for PR Innovation of the Year at PRWeek Awards
I am pleased to pass along the good news that MatchPoint has been nominated for The PRWeek PR Innovation of the Year Award!
Full disclosure: I’m a member of the development team for MatchPoint. Additional disclosure: I am freakin’ thrilled about this!
A tip of the hat to all nominees:
Edelman and American Thoracic Society The TB Advocacy Toolkit
Ketchum The Ketchum Media Optimizer: Adding Discipline to the PR Discipline
Ketchum Virtual Meeting Mashups – Reinventing Online Events
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide What’s on Your Mind? Now Anyone Can Decipher Twitter Discussion with the Help of twendz!
eNR Services, Inc. and MatchPoint MatchPoint for PR
Saying it’s an honor just to be nominated along with these top global PR agencies is not just an old cliché in this case. I cannot think of a previous year where any non-agency PR application, software, or service was nominated for PR Innovation of the Year.
See you at the PRWeek Awards on March 11 in NYC!
I’m So Busy! Oh, Shut Up.
The PR and Media Relations industry is made up of people who are chronically busy. But…are they really?
We all have those people in our lives who take every occasion to tell you how busy they are. These are same individuals who can’t make a deadline or return a call promptly. But, they have plenty of time to update their Facebook status with how busy they are, how they are longing for the weekend, or what they’re having for lunch. Lunch?!? Hmmm, I thought you were really busy…
If you’re one of these offenders: Stop! Do yourself a favor and stop!
When you tell people – especially business associates – that you’re “so busy,” you’re really telling them that:
•You are a poor time manager
•You cannot handle your current workload, and therefore…
•You could not take on more tasks and so could not be of much help to anyone else
Face it, you’re no more busy, stressed, or under pressure than ANY of your peers, co-workers, or clients. If you truly believe you are, then it’s time for a change! The New Year is a perfect time to make that change – or suck it up.
I’ve seen many lists over the past two weeks of buzz words for PR pros to avoid in 2010. Let’s make “busy” one of them!
New PR Tool: Pitch with Me
A new free online tool was added to your PR Workbench this month: Pitch with Me.
We have seen many new media relations tools and apps launched this year claiming to be more useful than the rest. Most of these are just more of the same: new ways to blast out PR Spam, SEO “experts” who think they know more about Google than you do, and Social Media monitoring tools that actually do nothing but look cool.
Pitch With Me rises above this PR app jam not with a glitzier app, but with a new concept in media relations. Or rather, a time-tested and proven concept put into an online form.
The idea of teaming up two or more clients for a story pitch has worked inside large agencies for decades. Agencies not only created a more attractive package, but also created efficiencies with resources and time. But smaller firms and independent practitioners often saw an industry peer as a competitor rather than a symbiotic friend.
Journalists will use what they need and toss the rest anyway, so why not offer more to potentially use? And you never know when your partner’s a story may be what grabs someone’s attention.
Kudos to Heather Whaling for creating this online bullpen of potential collaborators! You can check out co-pitching opportunities on the site or by following @pitchwithme. If anyone has used Pitch With Me already, please share your comments here.
PR Links
Feeds
