Gallen.Neilly Thoughts

To Everything (Turn, turn, turn) There is a Season (Turn, turn, turn)

2011-10-12T09:23:00.001-07:00

Music Video:

To Everything (Turn, turn, turn) There is a Season (Turn, turn, turn)

It’s the era of Kindle, Nook … and blog. Is print dead? Perhaps not. I was somewhat heartened to read the news this week (on the Internet, I must admit.) that a small-town blogger in southwestern Georgia has purchased the Albany (Ga.) Journal, a weekly newspaper founded in 1939.

Blogger buys newspaper? That’s the journalism industry equivalent of ‘Man Bites Dog’. That is, it’s NEWS. It’s also a countervailing trend – or would be, if there was another example I could point to here. (Two is a trend, so my old publisher taught me – which makes some sense since One, is the loneliest number.)

But perhaps it’s the start of a reversal in the trend away from print – a trend for which there have been many examples in the last few years – The Seattle Post Intelligencer and Madison, Wis., Capital Times, to name but the obligatory two.)

Of course, it also could be an isolated incident. It turns out that the blogger – Tom Knighton – always wanted “… to be a news man” and when offered the chance to buy the weekly, took it. And unlike the apparent prevailing trend in print media, the Albany Journal seems to be doing quite well. In fact, it seems to have a better ad sales record than the acquirer’s blog, Laws-n-Sausages.com.

So, I think we’ll have to wait and see if this prompts more new media to acquire traditional print media. However, perhaps you have another point of view?

Blog By Andrew Neilly

PR Never Sleeps

2011-10-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

The Gallen Office

Some professions require that extra cup of coffee to get through the daily grind.

In celebration of National Coffee Day on Thursday, September 29^th, Dunkin Donuts and CareerBuilder released a survey finding that Marketing and Public Relations professionals are ranked No. 2 amongst professions that consume coffee the most.

Of course we do!…it’s a 24/7 job, and we’re hungry too!

Here is the full list from the survey:

1. Scientist/lab technician

2. Marketing/public relations professional

3. Education administrator

4. Editor/writer

5. Healthcare administrator

6. Physician

7. Food preparer

8. Professor

9. Social worker

10. Financial professional

11. Personal caretaker

12. Human resources benefits coordinator

13. Nurse

14. Government professional

15. Skilled tradesperson (plumber, carpenter, etc)

- Blog By Aman Chahal

What I’ve Learned Working For Gallen.Neilly

2011-09-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

Mandy Milner

Gallen.Neilly Summer Intern 2011

In the couple of months I have been working at Gallen.Neilly I have learned a couple key tips when dealing with the media. I compiled this list by listening around the office and talking with my boss and coworkers. I know they aren’t mind-blowing ideas, but I hope they show some of the things I have picked up on throughout my internship. Although they are all directly related to PR, I think some of them can be broadened and will be useful lessons that I take with me as my work develops into a career.

Answer the five (or six) questions as quickly as possible in a press release. Who? What? Where? When? Why? (And sometimes How?). This was the first thing I learned – on day one. My boss says his journalism professor in college told this to the students on his first day of class as well. He also continues to repeat it and although the first time I heard it I thought to myself “yeah, yeah, I know.” I find myself listing out each of the five (or six) questions and answering each one before I begin drafting a press release. Although it seems obvious, it is apparent when some of the five questions are not answered. Like when you read a news article and you ask yourself, “why do I care?” or “so what exactly are they doing?”

Don’t be offended when they don’t want your press release. Reporters end up on tons of media lists by a number of agencies and there is a lot of news going on every day – too much for them to cover everything that comes across their desk. Just because your story wasn’t the most interesting that day doesn’t mean the reporter won’t write an article about your client in the future.

Don’t continually call reporters asking if they have received the release you just sent out. Chances are they did. And they will promptly tell you that before hanging up on you. Again, with the amount of releases they get each day, they do not have the time or interest in confirming that they got it.

Be prompt when returning calls, reporters are often on a deadline and are on the hunt for a quote to put in their article. Reporters may call a couple companies mentioned in their article to better the chances of one firm getting back to them with a quote for the article. Getting your client a quote in an article is big, and it’s exciting. Don’t wait around to call the reporter back because if you wait too long, the reporter may get a quote from somebody else, and you (and your client) have missed a great opportunity.

Do your work. On time. This pretty much goes for any job, but in PR, if you wait too long to send out a release or don’t finish it on time another company may beat you to it. Reporters don’t want old news, they want to be the first to report on a particular event, and you want to supply them with the information so they can do that, before anyone else. When clips come in, it also shows your client that you know the right people and can get their information to the public.

Blog By Mandy Milner

Play ball!

2011-09-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

This week has been a stellar one for Oakland. Literally.

On Monday, the stars came to uptown for a special premiere screening of Moneyball, the film adaptation of Michael Lewis’ popular book on the 2002 Oakland A’s. It was great to see stars like Brad Pitt, Philip Seymour-Hoffman and Chris Pratt talking to the thousands of fans who ringed the Paramount Theater. Greater still, to see those stars walking the short block or so to the media and post-premiere event and seeing thousands of well-behaved congregating downtown, enjoying the fantastic weather, and drinking in the atmosphere of Oakland being Hollywood for the night. It was almost like First Friday on steroids!

Not only that, but Pitt’s soundbytes to the media were about as pro-Oakland as we’ve heard and music to the ears of many, especially those of us who have labored to turn around popular misconceptions about our city.

Just having a global celebrity like Brad Pitt standing in the heart of downtown Oakland saying what a great city it is, and how great the people are, probably will do more to promote Oakland than any marketing campaign ever will. But even more important was the face that Oakland showed to the world this week. Not only is our city the subject of a major motion picture that will probably top the box office this weekend, but the whole event was carried off without a hitch and Oakland showed it’s true face to the world. Behind-the-scenes, Ambassadors from the Downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt-Uptown District Associations were on hand to make sure that our sidewalks were clean and free of litter, despite the thousands who flocked to catch a glimpse of the stars. And local restaurants and bars pitched in to offer Moneyball specials to the crowd. All in all, it was a great showcase for the city. A city, mark you, which was also named #2 “Can-Do” City in the natio n in a Newsweek survey.

Monday night showed that the city can-do events worthy of Cannes and Hollywood and that our uptown and downtown neighborhoods are the places to be. As for Mr. Pitt, he’s welcome back anytime.

Blog By Gallen.Neilly & Associates

Good Ol' Pitch's Retirement?

2011-09-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

In the article, 7 reasons why it's time to retire 'pitch' and 'pitching', AB is not offering any alternative to the "pitch" other than personal conversation. I don’t necessarily disagree with all of the points made here, especially if a “pitch” is inappropriate. However, I am not exactly sure yet that social media is the second coming. I do know from experience that many editors have neither the time nor the inclination to spend time talking with me on the phone. The real take home here is that the pitch – or "angle" - is not a license to paper the world, and can be presented in both written form and verbally. Appropriateness is the real test.

- Blog by Tim Gallen

What is PR From A Summer Intern’s Perspective?

2011-09-06T15:02:00.000-07:00

Let me preface this by saying I had a somewhat vague idea of what the field of public relations entailed before stepping into a public relations office on the first day of my summer internship. Through this internship I have learned the details of what daily life is like in the PR world. I have also come up with a list of the most important take-aways from this summer.

What is PR? I typed that phrase into Google one afternoon to see what the vast abyss, that is the Internet, thought of the phrase. Google sent me 880,000,000+ results to my question. Some interesting items came up.

One of the first results was from the website “How Stuff Works.” Sounds promising. It says that the “basic definition of a public relations [firm] is to shape and maintain the image of a company, organization or individual in the eyes of the client’s various ‘publics.’” This sounds like a PR firm should sugar-coat rough issues. Although I understand this must be necessary sometimes, as a ‘public,’ I would like to know facts – what a company is doing and why, so I can draw my own conclusions.

My vague idea that public relation firms send out news to magazines and newspapers comes just from what my parents and friends have told me. These newspapers then have the duty to pass the news on to the public. This is only the tip of the iceberg.

I also figured that reporters or writers were probably excited and interested to get press releases from PR firms because we are handing them a story. I have learned that this is not the case.

Modern technology allows us to send out press releases to a large number of writers quickly and without much hassle. I can only imagine ‘back in the day’ when PR firms had to call or fax press releases to newspapers, magazines, editors and reporters. After I sent out my first press release I got a couple of responses from reporters asking me to unsubscribe them from our database. This surprised me because I figured that the reporters could just delete the emails that they were not interested in. I have been lucky so far and haven’t received any rude responses from reporters, although I can’t help but be a little offended when they don’t want to read our press release. (I mean – doesn’t everyone want to be handed an article?)

I think one of the most difficult things about this business is that clients don’t always understand how relationships with the media are handled. This puts us in a difficult spot because we don’t want to hurt our relationship with a client, but we don’t want to gain the dislike of the reporters. I know that I only know a little about handling media, but if I was a client of a PR firm, I would trust their suggestions about what to say and how to act when interacting with media.

- Blog By Amanda Milner

What Digital Divide?

2011-07-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

My email is full of links: my friends and family from across the world send around YouTube videos to try and get a laugh, we share Picasa and Flickr albums with photos from last weekend's camping trip, and we email around the Yelp reviews of restaurants we're considering going to next Friday night.

I can sit in bed and do this in the comfort of my own home and look productive. So many available resources are out there that it has making e-mailing…..FUN!

E-Mail is very quick and easy for everyone to use. You can now e-mail and share YouTube video’s and watch it inside the e-mail, rather opening a new browser tab or window. Send out a Picasa link and again, view all the pictures in your email. Also, the ever evolving Yelp, which you can share the link to in an e-mail and the Yelp previews show you ratings, phone numbers, and other listings' information right there in the body of your e-mail.

For example, Google Mail (G-Mail) has definitely taken advantage of these qualities, letting its users use their accounts to the max! From Google Chat, Calendar, Document Sharing, etc…

Try it and join us…

Gallen.Neilly@gmail.com

It’s great to be able to know that we pretty much have all the resources out there to communicate and send videos and pictures to family and friends anywhere in the world!

Make use of YOUR “quality” time.

-Blog By Aman Chahal

We’re ‘Connected’ 24/7…Are You?

2011-07-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

Technology is evolving everyday. New programs and systems are coming about to make ‘staying connected’ easier than ever before. With so many choices, how should you choose what will work best for you? For a while now, Gallen.Neilly has been tapped into two different systems that we would like to recommend for your use to get your feet wet.

#1: Dropbox. When Dropbox came up with their slogan “Simplify your life,” they were not exaggerating. Access your files anywhere in the world… all you need is an internet connection. Dropbox is basically a virtual drive that you access with your own personal username and password. Upload your files and access them from your PC, Mac, Blackberry, i-Phone, etc… Best of all, a 2GB dropbox is FREE. Yes, free – no strings attached. For more information, go to their website and start your own dropbox today—if you go over 2GB, no worries…their rates are still quite reasonable.

#2: WebEx. Is an integrated audio/video conferencing site dedicated to you and your company, for use anytime! No reservations or fancy equipment necessary – a simple webcam will do. Simply have your host ‘schedule’ the meeting with your personal WebEx website, and send the invites out to all of those who wish to participate. That invitation will then provide a link for the invitees to click on to participate in the WebEx video conferencing call. Share audio, video and documents. This is a great tool when you have a specific document that needs feedback from several offices or people. Simply invite everyone to the WebEx, have your moderator pull up the document on the shared screen and the moderator can make edits to the document when everyone involved on the call gives their feedback. Don’t have a web camera? Not a problem! WebEx still has the option to let people dial in via phone for the audio part of the call. (You can also record meetings to play back for others who were not able to attend the call.) Prices are extremely reasonable…and we can testify that the service is very reliable, as well as convenient. See their website for more information on pricing.

- Blog By Nancy Amaral

Oakland gets little respect, even abroad

2011-06-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

Picking up a copy of The Daily Telegraph on a recent trip back to England, I was surprised last week to see an article about technology IPOs and their positive impact on housing prices in Silicon Valley. It seems that the rebirth of the technology IPO has created a swarm of demand for upscale homes in communities up and down the SF Peninsula. Good news for Palo Alto, I suppose.

But I was even more surprised to see Oakland-based Pandora referenced in the same article. It seems the reporter either didn’t know that Pandora was based in Oakland or chose to ignore the fact. (Chances are that the former is the case since the same reporter misidentified Stanford University as the “University of Stanford.”)

Perhaps I should be pleased that Oakland has been annexed into Silicon Valley? After all, the moniker carries great cachet around the world.

But I can’t help but feel just a little slighted. It seems that even when Oakland does have a success story – and there are many, of which Pandora is admittedly one of the more recent – something comes along to dampen things. I’ve no idea how many people read the Telegraph on a daily basis but I imagine a fair percentage reading the story probably came away thinking that Pandora was Silicon Valley’s latest success story. The fact is, Pandora is one of the firms driving a bit of a digital revolution in the often-maligned East Bay city.

I’ve emailed the reporter and posted a comment on the Telegraph website to point out the inaccuracy – my one small shot at perhaps redressing the balance a little. Who knows if anything will come of it, but I'll keep you informed.

- Blog By Andrew Neilly

The Maya AND Family Radio Were Right: End of World Nigh …

2011-05-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

I’m not sure if it was the Maya – the Mesoamerican civilization that created the first written language – or the Family Radio Ministry – the religious zealots who recently littered our cities with billboards – who first decreed that May 21, 2011 would be the end of the world. (Upon further research it was the religious group based in Oakland, Calif. The Maya’s Long Count calendar ends Dec 21, 2012. I guess for the sake of having an extra 19 months or so on Earth, I’ll go with the Maya, then.)

The fact is, though, they are both wrong.

The end of the world came earlier than expected: May 19, 2011 at 7:35 a.m. Here’s how the apocalypse was announced (by the LA Times):

“Amazon now sells more Kindle e-books than paper ones”

Somewhere in the bowels of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, that Man of Kent and father of modern books, William Caxton, is rolling in his grave. (And somewhere in Mainz, Germany, Gutenberg too.)

I was hoping the Times’ was in error– or this was propaganda from Amazon, a retailer without shelves or windows or helpful salespeople. It was not to be. Waterstone’s, the British bookseller, corroborated the trend: for every paper book sold, they sell four downloads.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against downloads or even convenience. I own an iPad … and an iPod -- but I can’t help feeling that the onslaught of technology is going too far with e-books. There’s something about browsing for a physical book and then taking it home to read that is comforting and experiential. Downloading seems impersonal. For this reason, I’ll never own a Kindle or a Nook.

But I’m also resigned to being in the minority. Ironically (or perhaps, apocalyptically?) the best selling book of all time – the Bible (in its various versions) is fast becoming the most downloaded book ever.

Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?

--Blog by Andrew Neilly

(After The Event) Photo's: Lake Merritt/Uptown, Downtown Oakland Community Benefit Districts Begin Beautification Program

2011-05-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

The Restored Antique Clock, corner of 17th Street and Broadway in Oakland, CA

The Setup

Oakland Primary Consultant (New City America), Marco Li Mandri

Oakland Primary Consultant (New City America), Marco Li Mandri with a view of the Free Broadway Shuttle in the background. The Free Shuttle, aka "Free B", connects to Jack London Square, Downtown, Uptown, Old Oakland, Chinatown and Lake Merritt neighborhoods.

Downtown Oakland District Association President, JC Wallace

Lake Merritt/Uptown District Association President, Deborah Boyer

Deborah Boyer photographed

From Left, Oakland District's Manager Steve Snider, Downtown Oakland District Association President JC Wallace, Lake Merritt/Uptown District Association Deborah Boyer, and Oakland Primary Consultant (New City America) Marco Li Mandri

Lake Merritt/Uptown, Downtown Oakland Community Benefit Districts Begin Beautification Program

2011-05-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

Restored Antique Clock, Banners and Hanging Plants Begin To Brighten Up Broadway

Clock Dedication Scheduled For
Wednesday May 11^th, 2011, At 10:30 a.m.,
On the corner of Broadway and 17^th Street

The Lake Merritt/Uptown and Downtown Oakland Community Benefit Districts (CBDs) will unveil the first phase of their district beautification program to enhance the public rights of way on May 11 at 10:30 am. Among the significant changes will be the unveiling of the refurbished antique art deco clock at the corner of 17^thStreet and Broadway.

“For those of us managing Oakland’s Uptown and Downtown Districts, that broken clock, with its missing arms and tattered condition, seemed the perfect metaphor for what was wrong with Downtown Oakland,” said Lake Merritt/Uptown District Association President Deborah Boyer. “It appeared as if time had literally stopped Downtown, and that broken antique clock was a reminder of the greatness of days gone by.”

All of that symbolism changes now. In fact JC Wallace, President of the Downtown Oakland District Association, says that with the restoration, the new old clock will now remind both the Uptown and the Downtown that Oakland’s proud history is filled with many examples of how this community constantly renews itself.

In 2008, property owners in the Downtown and Lake Merritt/Uptown Districts voted to assess themselves an additional property tax in order to bring a number of dramatic improvements to the districts. The properties in the districts are owned by both private and public entities alike, and it is this public-private collaboration that drives the success of the districts.

The first item on the District’s agenda was to stabilize security in both Uptown and Downtown. Through the now well-recognized CBD “Security Ambassador” program, both Districts have achieved a business and employee friendly environment. “Our efforts paid dividends almost immediately,” says Boyer. “Look at the new businesses, new restaurants and new night life on the streets of Oakland.”

Wallace said that the next step for both Districts was to enhance the beauty of the area. “Again, the Ambassador program was the model. We created Maintenance Ambassadors and charged them to keep the streets clean, and graffiti to a minimum. By improving public amenities, such as the restoration of this historic clock, and our banners and hanging plants, freshly landscaped medians and the like, we are now expanding the look and feel of small public spaces throughout the districts.”

Boyer added that the clock was originally located on the corner of 20^th and Telegraph in front of the old Davidson and Licht Jewelry store. Following the refurbishing by Peter Weil of Washington Clocks, the 4-foot clock will once again adorn the corner of 17^th Street and Broadway.

“We think it makes a great gateway marker for an entrance to the Lake Merritt business district” says Boyer.

Note: Join the boards of the two community benefit districts as they unveil and dedicate this great asset to the City of Oakland on Wednesday, May 11^th at 10:30 a.m. at the corner of 17^th and Broadway.

For more information, please call Nancy Amaral, Gallen.Neilly, (925) 930-9848

The Downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt/Uptown District Association were formed in February 2009. Property owners in both Downtown Oakland and the Lake Merritt/Uptown Districts voted by a margin of almost 8 to 1 to support a voluntary property tax to fund services that would improve the quality of life in their respective communities. The associations meet and function jointly. Services funded by these Districts include maintaining cleanliness and order in the public rights of way, improving district identity and advocating on behalf of the area’s property owners, business owners and resident.

Typos: Just role with them?

2011-04-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

The two things clients most commonly complain about when they read about themselves in an article are: 1) they have been misquoted; and 2) their name was misspelled. We’ll deal with the subject of being misquoted in a future blog, but, as the headline suggests, this blog addresses typographical errors, or typos. (In the interests of making a point, there are at least three deliberate typos, not including the two examples to follow -- and an unknown number of unintentional typos -- in this blog. Can you spot them?)

Consider this fragment from the Erie (Pa.) Morning News, presumably from a column on cooking or a reader’s letter to the food writer: “I remove bits of dough from my pastry board by sprinkling the board liberally with salt and rubbing it with a damp sloth.” Or this, from the Charleston (S.C.) News and Courier: “An errant youth is on his way to a new tart tonight, thanks to sympathetic citizens here.”[1]

I was going to highlight the typo in each, but on reading them, I don’t think it necessary – and I resisted the temptation to include some of the more colorful typos from the book. (Typos have a habit of often being more than just embarrassing – yes, Physicsworld.com, I mean you!)

The fact is that typos have existed since man first began to communicate through something other than spoken language. I have no reference for this but I expect there are “typos” to be found on the walls of caves in Lascaux or monuments in Giza. Newspapers have been plagued by typos for years. One of the most widely read dailies in Great Britain, The Guardian, has long been derisively known as The Gruaniad, because of its early propensity for typos. Yet, typos are not the sole domain of print, as this still from a local TV news broadcast shows:

The fact is we all assume that newspapers, magazines and TV stations have an army of support staff to pour over copy, editing it for flow, checking it for accuracy and correcting misspellings. Even if that used to be the case at major publications, it isn’t any more. And a Google search for more information on proofreading turned up this background provided by the state of Michigan Jobs and Career portal: “Most major newspapers no longer employ any Proofreaders since their tasks are increasingly being done by reporters and copy editors at computer terminals which have software with such features as a grammar checker, a dictionary for checking spelling, and a thesaurus.”

And there’s the rub: more and more of the detail work is being left to reporters and copy editors, both of which have seen their ranks dwindle in recent years while their work responsibilities have increased – and they, like virtually everyone else who uses a computer today, tend to rely more and more on software. And, while spelling and grammar software is getting better – MS Word’s Spelling & Grammar tool found one of the deliberate typos in this blog – it isn’t foolproof. (The same software missed two deliberate mistakes as well as the two mistakes in the newspaper examples.) When it comes down to it, typos are still a result of human error.

To be fair, reporters are often the first to admit that spelling a name correctly is “Reporting 101” (as one reporter told me recently after she botched a client’s name twice in the same article.) For those not brought up to check and double check names and facts, there are resources – such as Regret The Error’s downloadable Accuracy Checklist. Yet even with resources such as this, there will always be a typo that alludes the reporter and editor. Luckily, today, typos can at least be corrected in the web version, which the aforesaid reporter was happy to do.

Our best advice for avoiding a misspelled name – if the reporter doesn’t ask you to spell your name and your company name at the beginning or end of the interview, be prepared to give them spellings anyway. Follow up with an email offering to be available for any last minute inquiries, if the reporter has them, and prominently display your email signature, which should show your correctly spelled name and title as well as company info that you wish to see attached to any quote attributed to you. This doesn’t guarantee a typo-free story, but increases the chances that a reporter working to a tight deadline will get your name right and, hopefully, avoid you having to point out the mistake to your PR person.

- Blog By Andrew Neilly

[1] For both examples, of which there are literally hundreds more, thanks to my hilarious 1968 edition of More Press Boners, compiled by Earle Tempel and published by Pocket Books.

Something's happening here

2011-04-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

One of the more interesting aspects of living in the Bay Area, and being connected through our business to the ever growing and changing cadre of real estate users, is the opportunity to make constructs. By being in the nexus of information, we get to put together seemingly unconnected happenings and perhaps see a trend even before those in the trend realize what's happening. For example, look at what is happening to Silicon Valley and Northern California…or, should I say, Silicon World?

The birthplace of the computer chip made from silica, and the computer hardware and software movement -- and the ongoing center of intellectual capital for many of the major trends that have happened in the past half century -- is morphing again. The Dot-com movement came and went a while ago, and now med and R&D tech, mobile and other cutting edge technologies reign. But clearly something bigger is happening still.

More and more of the companies that are replacing steel and autos as America's new technologically-based industries, are being birthed and grown in Northern California. And this movement is attracting even established multinationals to relocate here. Even Nokia, that venerable Scandinavian presence, is talking about moving its headquarters to the valley by the bay. And Google, who along with Apple, and a host of others are already headquartered in The Valley, are jockeying for expansion space to grow in, and even more space to create and manufacture in. In fact, it's becoming somewhat of a cacophony of mini-growth stories. Twitter, one of the newest members of the broader technology community, and clearly a new world corporate leader along with Facebook and others, is moving into mid-town Market Street in downtown San Francisco. Not one of your toniest addresses but destined to "gentrify" as the peripheral companies chasing the social media movement flock to be by their side. And San Francisco, no stranger to world headquarters, renews its relevancy once again, this time as a technology-social media center…for the planet. The Valley has now begun to envelop even San Francisco as the twenty-somethings who populate and drive these newer technologies throw off the weight of suburbia for the flash mob that is Urban America these days. It all seems so...logical.

I could go on, but back to the original supposition: I don't think that even many of the brightest and most power leaders in Northern California really understand how powerful their neighborhood is becoming, especially in a global sense. Much less how powerfully diverse the entire region is becoming, with medical and bio-technical lab and R&D centers of excellence on the East Shore technology corridor, digital technologies growing up around Pandora in Oakland, robotics in the Valley, and so on.

This is a good time to be a business person in Northern California. Probably an even better time to be bilingual, because the world it seems is knocking at our door once again. This time for a different kind of gold. As crazy as it seems to many of us who live here, and in spite of a state government that seems to do everything it can to screw it up…Northern California has still got it…and they want it.

Blog by Tim Gallen

KISS Your PR Firm

2011-04-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

In many general writing courses, students are told that the ‘KISS’ theory is always the best route to take when writing anything. KISS, or ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid!’ is the best way to convey your message, without unnecessary complications. This theory continues remain beneficial in many other venues, from small offices to the United States Air Force:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle

This same theory, although redefined slightly as ‘Keep It Short and Simple’ is still widely used in the world of Public Relations. Here at Gallen.Neilly, we like to follow the simple ‘Who, What, When, Where, Why and How’ principle. If every press release includes those basic fundamentals, then we have then conveyed to our reader exactly what our client wants to make public, in a manner that’s easily readable, without over convoluting the facts.

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-KISS---Keep-it-Simple-and-Short-For-Good-Communication&id=2577669

How are you communicating to your targeted audience? Are you engaging them with the facts or confusing them with too many details? Next time you have an important message that you’d like to get across, be sure to KISS your audience, as well as your PR Firm.

Blog by Nancy Amaral

Twitter: Celebrities & Branding… "WINNING"?

2011-03-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

Charlie Sheen has set the Guinness World Record for getting 1 million Twitter followers, in 25 hours!!! According to a report in Advertising Age, Sheen was able to verify his Twitter account very quickly through Ad.ly and acquired more than 60,000 followers within minutes.

Last month, rapper Lil Wayne had the most “Likes” on Facebook with a record breaking 21,423,421. For Guinness, this is the second high-profile application of the brand’s records system to social media.

…So What?

Celebrities are paid an extraordinary amount of money by companies to advertise or endorse their products. Because of the power they hold and the connection they have with their audiences and/or fans, celebrity branding is an easy route for many companies. A few days after creating his twitter account, Sheen sent a tweet through Ad.ly seeking interns to work with him through Internships.com. It is rumored that Internships.com paid Sheen $25,000 to $100,000 or more for their services.

Another example, reality star, Kim Kardashian charges $10,000/tweet just to mention a company’s product in a 140-character tweet.

However, all brands should not jump immediately on the celebrity endorsement bandwagon; you still have to be careful when leveraging celebrity. Selecting a celebrity to endorse your product through social media can be very tricky. When a celebrity does something, it can either increase your brand’s awareness or cause very bad publicity; therefore, you always need to be prepared in case a “crisis” arises.

During the recent Earthquake & Tsunami tragedy in Japan, Hollywood actor Gilbert Gottfried was fired from AFLAC for some insensitive tweets. Gilbert Gottfried was the spokesman for AFLAC, where he provided the voice of the duck that you see in the commercials.

So there are definitely pros and cons to using celebrity to endorse your products or brand. Information online can spread to thousands of websites with just a click of a mouse. It is important to consider how you want to position yourself and your company through the social mediums you use for celebrity branding.

-Blog By Aman Chahal

Any Publicity is Good Publicity?!

2011-03-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

You be the judge! I’m on the fence with this one… but I’ll be honest with you, until I read this article in the San Francisco Chronicle this morning, I had never heard of ‘THQ’ and I had no idea that there was a Game Developers Conference at Moscone Center…

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/03/BAU11I2LER.DTL

-Blog By Nancy Amaral

Who. What. When. And now Where?

2011-02-17T13:46:00.000-08:00

You can share where you are and who you are with on your phones from anywhere in the world! The check-in application for your mobile devices lets you check into places by using the phone’s GPS by finding the current location you are in. Some applications, such as “Places,” even lets you check in automatically!

Once an individual is checked in, they have the option of sharing their location with friends through media outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook, or Yelp. Your check-in will automatically update onto your friends newsfeed through these social media outlets.

Other individuals can respond to your check-ins and connect with you when you happen to be at the same place at the same time. You can also browse status updates of friends who are checked in nearby places to maybe meet up with them for a cup of coffee.

Many retailers and businesses reward their clients by offering individual discounts and sometimes letting clients share the discounted savings with friends, earn rewards, or secure donations for good causes forrepeat visits of the same location. For example, if you check into the same 24 Hour fitness more than 3 times, the fitness club will give you a free 10 day pass. Or with 7 check-ins, Charlie’s Cheescake Works in San Jose gives customers a $7 discount on their cheesecake poppers.

Check-Ins give businesses an opportunity to expand visibility through clients and potential clients through social networking. Their own clients are doing the advertising for the businesses and they don’t even realize it…all for FREE!!!

- Blog by Aman Chahal

Suck it up, Cupcake

2011-02-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

It wasn't so long ago that people began complaining that they were being overcome by e-mail messages, which was only symptomatic of what was really happening. Communication flows grew almost overnight from a garden hose-sized phone call to a huge high pressure fire hose of messages. And now this thing called "social media" has exponentially increased the volume to storm drain proportions.

We receive and process all kinds of traditional communications in our market positioning and media strategies firm. Along with conference calls, meetings, reports, press releases, we now are monitoring and responding to a myriad of messages, blogs, twitters, facebook posts and more – all generated by our ever expanding social networking sites. And all, of course, in the name of networking.

In social media, the initial focus was centered on how to make social activities digestible, readable, actionable…personal. As these techniques evolve into ever more purposeful and productive media tools, the challenge will be to keep the time and effort focused on business purposes. What's more, the job of keeping up with new and evolving trends in social business media delivery systems will grow exponentially more complicated in coming years.

So read up, Cupcake. It's only the beginning. Here Tara Turkington discusses the ever-evolving trends of social networking with an A-to-Z index to watch out for in 2011.

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/424/56080.html

-Blog by Aman Chahal & Tim Gallen

We're back….and talking up a storm

2011-01-27T15:32:00.000-08:00

One of our jobs as market positioners and media strategists (if not our full time avocation) is to stay on top of communication channels, especially changing trends in the media. While we do concentrate on the real estate related channels both on and off line, there are real estate focused writers and editors throughout general media from the Wall Street Journal through the local business journals and now increasingly online. What we've noticed recently is a renewed interest in real estate issues, especially around capitalization and capital in general. We also welcome what appears to be a renewed focus on local and regional coverage. Given my three (now four) trips around the cycle, this is pretty much expected. It is also welcome news because that means things are finally moving up again. This is a good thing.

I receive all kinds of information of course. So, what about the "health" of media in general? This morning I received the following from a media monitoring service company. There is every reason to believe these facts is real:

"Radio is dying. TV is on its last breath. Magazines are on life support. Newspapers are dead. Really? Doom and gloom makes good headlines but the media is healthier than you might think. Traditional media outlets have embraced new media just in time to stop their freefall. Some of the report's findings include:

*Approximately 151 newspapers closed in 2010; that's about half of 2009's folds

*168 new magazines launched in 2010 -- 101 of which were regional

*32 new 4:30am newscasts launched in Q3 alone

*Radio in the top ten markets achieved more listening time in 2010 than in 2009.

So it appears the good news is that channels are returning to healthy condition. And even a brief analysis shows many new and some rejuvenated real estate related information and media channels popping up as the fight for market share begins anew. Green channels, capital markets specialists, property sector focused publications, new writers in general business publications. And lets not forget about the so-called "new media" onliners, and podcasters, and what about those bloggers, twitterers, and other "opinionators" that are flooding the channels with information, much I'm afraid unchecked.

The industry coverage is, at least so far, feeling comfortable. It's also predictable. As I said earlier it always seems to be recapitalization first, then as money frees up it will expand to cover deals on existing assets, then new development, funds, entitlement battles, new topics that evolve around green and sustainability, eventually to be inflated values, overbuilding and on and on.

For now though, the most important thing is that winter appears to be on the wane. It’s springtime in real-estateville. And I for one am enjoying the fresh air.

- Blog By Tim Gallen

The Future of the Press Release

2011-01-21T16:02:00.000-08:00

LEE

Ivy Ledbetter Lee, known to most as the founder of modern public relations, created the first press release in 1906. For most of the century the press release form didn’t change much until the 90’s when online newswire services began to appear, decreasing reliance on fax machines and e-mail for the distribution of news releases.

During the past few years, there has been a shift towards what some are calling the “social media release.” New services like PitchEngine are distributing press releases embedded with multimedia through various social media channels, revolutionizing the way news is disseminated.

The most important aspect of this new form of press release is its multimedia capability. PR Newswire says, “A Multimedia News Release (or “MNR”) is an interactive news release with video, audio, still photos, and text, as well as a growing number of other capabilities. In essence, the MNR is a “one-stop shop” for journalists, consumers, clients, investors, and anyone else who wants to get as much information as they can about a news story.“

It’s pretty clear where the press release will go next. It will get shorter and link to more sources. The press release of the future will deliver it’s content in text, video, sms, microblog and podcast form, to any device of your choice.

But with the addition of countless media platforms and diverse communication techniques, is it possible that the significance of the press release could be lost in all this 21st century noise? Don’t count on it. Just like in 1906, people and journalists look to press releases to have the same five questions answered: WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, HOW….And that will never change, no matter how much technology evolves.

- Blog by Dane Hooks

First, There Was “The Social Network” then came "Twittamentary”

2011-01-14T12:20:00.000-08:00

“I’m about to eat a hot dog” tweeted 1 hour ago

“Oops, almost forgot the ketchup” tweeted 55 minutes ago

“And can’t forget the mustard” tweeted 52 minutes ago

“The best hot dog I ever had” tweeted 45

“Now I’m ready for a shower!” tweeted 40 minutes ago

“I decided to take a bath instead” tweeted 36 minutes ago

“Just ran out of soap, I guess I have to make a trip to CVS after work tomorrow” tweeted 32 minutes ago

“Putting my clothes on and brushing my teeth” tweeted 28 minutes ago

“Getting ready for bed” tweeted 25 minutes ago

“Goodnight Everyone” tweeted 20 minutes ago

“Can’t sleep” tweeted 10 minutes ago

I mean seriously? THIS is taking over Social Networking? Social networking has become so big that it has taken over most of the peoples’ social lives with friends and family.

Twitter has become one of the leading social networking sites, after Facebook. People often talk about the two leading social networking sites in a way that sounds like they’re a single entity: FacebookandTwitter. According to statistics, there are more than 106 million accounts on Twitter. Twitter increases by 300,000 users everyday. And now, both Facebook and Twitter each have a movie.

Ever since the movie premiere of Facebook’s “The Social Network,” it was only a matter of time Twitter also came out with a ‘movie’ or ‘documentary,’ as used by the director. However you want to use the term to claim your own uniqueness to differentiate yourself from the other.

Twittamentary is a film that will explore how everyday lives are linked into ordinary people’s platform from tweeters all over the world. As the Singaporean director, Tan Siok Siok, explores people’s daily lives with their social media lives, she finds some amazing discoveries. In one part of a low-income community, a homeless guy goes to the library to use Twitter, everyday, to network with people across the nation. In another part of a community a prostitute uses twitter as her own GPS system! Really?

YOU are the star of this movie. It’s all about YOU.

The documentary is said to come out sometime this year.

While Twittamentary explores one aspect of Twitter and the use of social media there are also many business applications for Twitter that are being utilized by companies around the globe. The main advantage of using Twitter for businesses is that you are able to control your message and interact with consumers directly. For more ideas on how to use twitter effectively for businesses see below:

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-business/

Is it too late for a historic MySpace film? I’m just saying.

- Blog By Aman Chahal

Then & Now

2011-01-06T16:42:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I came to the realization that I have been with Gallen.Neilly for over ten years! I caught myself saying ‘back in the day’… when describing how we used to send out media releases. All kidding aside, times HAVE changed. We no longer print out 150 hard copies of press releases and set up assembly lines in our break room, stuffing envelopes and applying postage. As a matter of fact, we rarely send anything out by paper at all! (Call it our ‘green’ conscientious efforts, if you want… but we also think of it as being quite strategic and up-to-date with the times.) Now, we actually send all of our releases out via email… but the distribution method does not end there.

Once a press release is distributed to our targeted, specialized media list, it is then posted to our Gallen.Neilly website and then to our Twitter account. Why? Because the more social media avenues we utilize, the more ‘mileage’ your press release gets. http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/online-public-relations/public-relations-pros-must-be-social-media-ready/ Gallen.Neilly is in touch and up-to-date with many new trends in social media. We have even gone as far as to guide one of our clients through the process of creating a professional news-worthy video which was placed on their website, as well as YouTube and many other online venues: http://www.downtownoakland.org/cbd-videos.html

‘Newborn PR Tactics’ are becoming strategically valuable in the PR/Marketing industry. http://www.endgamepr.com/blog/2009/03/25/10-newborn-pr-tactics/

So, all in all, it is important—not only for YOU to keep up with new social media trends – but also for us… to get more mileage out of your pertinent announcements. We are helping you stay connected in the ever-changing, ever-increasing social media/online digital empire.

Blog by Nancy Amaral

Hallelujah!

2010-12-31T14:48:00.000-08:00

Hallelujah!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usfiAsWR4qU

I learned this week that the people of Roseville, California are cultural aesthetes. (That’s not a typo. I didn’t mean to say athletes.) Roseville is a suburb of Sacramento and not the sort of place (forgive me, Roseville) that you’d expect Baroque composer George Friedrich Handel to draw a crowd. 1740s London, maybe; but Northern California in 2010, not so much.

But draw a crowd he did. One of this week’s top viral news stories brought the eighteenth century composer back to life in the most unlikely of places: a suburban California shopping mall.

A “flash mob” – essentially a meeting arranged through web and social media resources such as Facebook and Twitter – called by the non-profit Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra (membership, perhaps 300) to perform Handel’s Messiah, was set for the Monday before Christmas at Westfield’s Galleria Mall in Roseville (pop. 115,781). The idea was apparently spurred by flash mobs organized in several other cities including Philadelphia, where 650 reportedly turned up to sing the famed Hallelujah Chorus.

The SCSO, it appears, was hoping to bring shoppers into the mall for the holiday season to make up for the mall being closed last fall due to fire. Well, Westfield may want to take them up on the offer again – with some security in place -- since the SCSO clearly knows how to use social media to create an event.

Estimates suggest close to 5,000 showed up at the mall. So many people went to the mall for the flash mob that the Fire Department forced an evacuation because the first floor food court was creaking under the weight of such a large crowd. The planned performance had to be shelved as fire officials and police ushered Handel’s horde out of the building.

The moral of this story? Ignore the power of social media at your peril.

-Blog by Andrew Neilly

Facebook, Phase 2

2010-12-16T15:23:00.000-08:00

In the wake of past presidents, foreign dignitaries and many other noteworthy historical figures, TIME magazine has named Mark Zuckerberg -- Facebook's CEO and co-founder and presiding visionary —as its 2010 Person of the Year. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037183,00.html

So, how does TIME go from choosing George W. Bush in 2004 http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/archive/stories/index.html to choosing a 26- year-old social website creator?

What does their shift in selections say about the growing importance of social media on a global scale?

Perhaps we should start by defining Facebook and why is it so significant in today’s society. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook According to Wikipedia, Facebook is “…a social network service and website launched in February 2004 that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc.” TIME states that “Last month the site accounted for 1 out of 4 American page views. Its membership is currently growing at a rate of about 700,000 people a day… In less than seven years, Zuckerberg wired together a twelfth of humanity into a single network, thereby creating a social entity almost twice as large as the U.S. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest, behind only China and India. Facebook has merged with the social fabric of American life, and not just American life: nearly half of all Americans have a Facebook account, but 70% of Facebook users live outside the U.S.”

Facebook is also permeating many other websites… for instance, you can now use your Facebook login as a passport to log onto the New York Times website, as well as YouTube, Amazon and other popular websites. Your reviews on Amazon, when left using your Facebook login, now have ‘social content’. According to the TIMES article, “It doesn’t matter if 100,000 people like x. If the three people closest to you like y, you want to see y.” The same concept can be used from a business perspective…members of Facebook can ‘like’ Facebook fan pages http://www.directcreative.com/blog/facebook-fan-page of certain products and services… thus giving those products and services more social credibility.

Facebook is becoming so much more than just a place to view your friends’ photos and post notes to your closest friends. It is weaving the fabric of our society together square by square… intertwining almost every aspect of our lives. That being said… do YOU have a Facebook page? Does your company/business have a Facebook fan page? It might be something that you want to consider, given Facebook’s rising growth and infiltration into the world!

-Blog by Nancy Amaral

A New Tradition for San Francisco

2010-12-13T13:04:00.000-08:00

One of the most difficult challenges in the market positioning business is to establish a new tradition. Most times, it takes years of hard work before you can gather the critical masses that drive an event forward on its own volition. Sometimes that works slowly, as you patiently grow a following. But every once in a while, a concept takes off-- like the tree lighting at 555 California in San Francisco.

Vornado Realty Trust put on the fourth annual holiday tree lighting at 555 California in San Francisco on November 30— and this year this growing tradition was bigger and better than ever — beyond our wildest expectations. Now understand that San Francisco has the highly successful Macy's tree lighting on Union Square, and a dozen other similar events all over the Bay Area. But, with a great company behind you providing quality and a differentiation to build on, making tradition can be very gratifying.

Vornado is that kind of company. Their goal of establishing a tradition at their 555 California office community became more of a commitment than just a promotion, from day one. They started by choosing to target family, small children to teens. The entertainment was exactly what those youth wanted: Grammy-nominated singer Natasha Bedingfield was chosen as the musical talent and 49ers tight end and hometown hero Vernon Davis was tapped to light the tree.

Early on this year, we secured a TV sponsorship with local news station KRON 4 (www.kron.com) and a radio sponsorship with Alice radio (www.radioalice.com) Both promoted the event through their websites, e-blasts, and custom produced TV/radio spots, and these promos aired in the months and weeks leading up to the event. All this exposure was contributed by these media companies in the spirit of community support. KRON and Alice estimated a total $90,000 of promotional value to the event in total.

On the day of the tree lighting, KRON, as well as several other local TV stations, were on-site doing live coverage of the event. The attendance packed the 555 California plaza area in numbers we've never seen before. Natasha Bedingfield sings: http://www.ktvu.com/video/25971341/index.html

The media are also recognizing that this event specifically encourages youthful participation in the holiday spirit. As a result, the 555 California Tree Lighting has become part of the venerable list of downtown San Francisco celebrations. A front page story in the SF Business Times about 555 California, pretty much recognized the importance of the event. http://www.gallen.com/releases/101203-SFBT-Vornado.pdf

Overall, the 2010 event was a huge success, and we look forward to working with Vornado next year to continue growing the 555 California Tree Lighting into a community event that one day rivals Vornado’s other tree lighting. You may have heard of their other annual tree lighting event… at Rockefeller Center in New York. KTVU coverage: http://www.ktvu.com/video/25968546/index.html

-Blog by Dane Hooks

Tiger vs. Vick: Who wins a PR playoff?

2010-11-29T16:39:00.000-08:00

I wonder if Tiger Woods was watching November 15 as Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles took apart the Washington Redskins, 59-28 on national TV? Perhaps Tiger picked up a copy of last week’s Sports Illustrated? If he watched the broadcast, or saw the cover, I hope he learned a thing or two; not for his golf game, but for the image game.

The Monday night game in front of a national audience of 15 million viewers might just be looked back on as the moment Vick’s tarnished image began to regain some luster. The SI cover article (“The Enigma: What Michael Vick Tells Us About Ourselves”) discusses his conviction for dog-fighting – for which he spent 19 months in jail -- but also addresses the night last year when one of Vick’s friends was shot in the leg just moments after Vick – a parolee -- left the same nightclub. Some felt Vick was lucky to stay out of jail then and keep his Eagles contract. Instead, he’s managed to move his fans and his critics away from his off-field persona and on to his on-field performance. That’s something Tiger has yet to achieve and according to a recent article in USA Today, may be failing at accomplishing. Last week, a year on from his tearful televised confession of serial adultery, the pundits were still debating not just when Tiger will receive redemption, but if he even deserves it.

So, what does Vick’s PR campaign have that Tiger’s doesn’t? Well, performance clearly helps. Vick is on the proverbial roll, while Woods has suffered on the links. Having a respected former coach and mentor like Tony Dungy in your corner doesn’t hurt either. When Dungy speaks, people listen and, more importantly, they believe. One look at Team Tiger and all you see is agents and lawyers…and they are seldom good for credibility.

But Team Vick has developed what amounts to a sophisticated PR campaign centered simply around facing up to the facts.

He’s visited 29 schools this year at the request of the Humane Society. He’s delivered frank, open speeches to kids about honesty, responsibility, cruelty to animals and the fact he’s a criminal. He’s told those kids that regardless of how well he performs on the field, his crime has messed up his life for good. He’s also featured in a reality TV show on BET, “The Michael Vick Project” in which his crime takes center stage. The consistent message throughout: I get it. I messed up. I am lucky to have a second chance.

Tiger? Well, while Vick has been laying his life bare, Tiger has been the real enigma. Yes, he came clean on national TV this time last year but the whole performance was carefully staged and begged more questions than delivering answers. Over the last year, we’ve heard little from Woods, until, that is, the anniversary of his car crash loomed. While Vick was gracing the cover of SI, US Weekly was commemorating the anniversary of Tiger’s fall from grace by reporting that the golfer was building a Playboy Mansion-style pool at his $50 million “bachelor pad” in Florida. Adding insult to injury, The View host Barbara Walters this week declared that Woods was not included on her list of Ten Most Fascinating People of 2010 because “we try to keep it positive.”

Meanwhile, an ESPN pundit wonders whether Tiger has really changed? The problem Woods faces is that most everybody is asking the same question. Until his public is assured that he has changed, any PR campaign is doomed to be unsuccessful.

- Blog by Andrew Neilly

When the media come knocking on your door: Crisis Communication

2010-11-18T15:07:00.000-08:00

Do you have an ‘emergency’ system in place? Let’s face it, unforeseen crises happen. Over the years, we have seen a number of our clients faced with unexpected events that required immediate actions/reactions. From on-site murders to airplanes crashing in front of office buildings, we’ve seen it all.

So… when the media come knocking on your door to find out more information about a crisis… what should you do?

It is important to manage your media coverage. You are building an image for your company and you want to be able to maintain that image. Continuity is the key.

How do you maintain the image you are hoping to maintain while in crisis? Controlled communication. All property managers, employees, etc. should have a list of ‘emergency contacts’, should a crisis occur. They should also be advised not to take ANY calls from the media until their PR Firm or designated emergency contact within their company has been consulted. Your PR firm should then assist you (or the designated emergency contact within your company) in delivering a controlled message to the media regarding the situation. The key is to help, not hinder them…

For more tips on media crisis communication & media interviewing, please visit:

http://communication.howstuffworks.com/how-crisis-communication-plans-work.htm

http://www.gallen.com/10-surefire-ways.htm

Please feel free to contact us if you’d like assistance in putting your own crisis communications system in place.

-Blog by Nancy Amaral

Camden Property Trust discusses their 'Blogger Training' session with Tim Gallen

2010-11-16T11:24:00.000-08:00

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1977962/New%20Blog%20Video%20a_WMV9_Widescreen_640x360.wmv

Basic rules of journalism 101... applied to 'social media' platforms

2010-11-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

Over the past decade, we’ve witnessed a growing shift in readership from traditional media (print, radio, and broadcast TV) to online outlets. This year, Facebook reached 500 million users and Linked In reached 75 million. Twitter gets 300,000 new users every day and You Tube receives more than 2 billion viewers a day. Social media is a growing trend that's here to stay, and many companies are keeping tabs on new social technologies as they emerge to help them communicate more effectively and grow business.

Social media sites are essentially Internet windows displaying what you want the world to know about your company. As more and more businesses dive head-first into the raging waters of social media, here are a couple of things to think about:

The more prevalent social media becomes, the more one has to search through the clutter on the Internet to find good, quality information.

When conveying your message, the basic rules of journalism should always be kept in mind:

· What are you trying to accomplish?

· Why are you trying to accomplish that?

· How are you going to accomplish it?

· Who is involved?

· When is the time to send the message or take an action?

· Where does it take place?

Keep your message short and sweet; stick to what you know. Readers want good, reliable information that they can trust... not more Internet 'noise'.

-Blog by Gallen.Neilly

Tim Gallen on Globest.tv re: The Changing Nature of the Media

2010-11-10T12:18:00.000-08:00