tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83840445574442970672024-11-01T00:37:47.657-06:00Public relations insightsJoe Kovacs APRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05811634694365799232noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-32063820172303022782010-12-10T19:15:00.010-07:002010-12-24T17:46:56.637-07:00

Now that the turkey and gravy have been consumed, and annoyingly happy noels stalk us on every wintry street corner, it's time to "plan" for 2011. If you work in public relations or marketing, however, there's one important step prior to planning...something not everyone considers, but one which is critical to the success of communications programming: research.If you support a professional

Joe Kovacs APRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05811634694365799232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-27906405753664027592010-11-10T20:08:00.049-07:002010-11-20T10:19:09.790-07:00

One benefit of bringing a public relations background into marketing management (like I am) is that you're unlikely to either a) drive too hard for an immediate sale that misses opportunities for long-term brand loyalty, or b) linger on facilitating good relationships that never quite influence the behavior of your audience in the intended fashion. Of course, it is ideal for both sides to work

Joe Kovacs APRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05811634694365799232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-56838541347701413612010-11-03T04:09:00.026-06:002010-11-04T20:09:18.468-06:00

How often have you received a marketing or public relations message dripping with the intent of the sender? A media pitch oozing with self-promotion? Marketing collateral inflated with puffery and self-congratulatory language?We are all needful creatures, pursuing solutions to our own unique equations of personal and professional satisfaction, and the examples above reflect that self-focused side

Joe Kovacs APRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05811634694365799232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-53137485492118920342010-10-28T03:29:00.041-06:002010-10-28T04:49:14.802-06:00

Last year, I read an article about social bookmarking in PRSA's Tactics. At the time, I was unfamiliar with sites such as Delicious, which allow users to store web pages and electronic files of interest. Once you register for a free Delicious account, you're given the option of downloading a toolbar, which thus allows you to bookmark a web page with a single button click. As you can probably tell

Joe Kovacs APRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05811634694365799232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-87090715770358197322010-10-20T19:48:00.029-06:002010-10-24T19:04:20.167-06:00

Maybe it's all the studying I've been doing for the APR exam that's got me thinking about copyrights and The Social Network, which I saw the other day at the Avalon on Connecticut Avenue. Very good movie, though my wife did compare it somewhat disparagingly to The Graduate for its lack of an iconic message for our times. Harsh.The crux of the film is the issue of whether Mark Zuckerberg "stole"

Joe Kovacs APRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05811634694365799232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-41948440482448427292010-09-19T04:51:00.022-06:002010-10-07T04:25:15.834-06:00

I just came across a list in a communications textbook that identifies four types of public relations professionals. The first, a "communications technician", is an individual responsible for process-oriented tasks--writing newsletters and copy for collateral, producing and distributing news releases, maintaining a contact database, etc. The role is purely tactical and more often than not

Joe Kovacs APRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05811634694365799232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-16127350945444448482010-09-11T16:06:00.029-06:002010-09-11T17:03:56.419-06:00

This was the first year since 2002 that I woke up and had to be reminded by a news broadcast that it was 9/11. Time passes and our lives accumulate the detritus of daily responsibilities. But nine years later, the terrorist attacks seem no less horrible nor does my memory of the morning fade; I remember the clear blue sky of Washington, DC where I worked two blocks from the White House. I

Joe Kovacs APRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05811634694365799232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-71667612163282617902010-09-06T05:52:00.020-06:002010-09-06T12:25:17.391-06:00

As Twitter allows us to do more things--segment follower lists, add bling to profile pages and categorize topic-related tweets via hashtags--it's easy to come worship at the altar of Twitter. What can't it do? Twitter is a great communications tool!Except when it's not.In honor of Ethics Month, the Public Relations Society of America held a Twitter chat about ethics on September 2 and posted the

Joe Kovacs APRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05811634694365799232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-18280797068247873592010-08-29T04:35:00.019-06:002010-08-29T05:38:38.942-06:00

It drives me crazy the way some phrases get bandied about in the communications world (or elsewhere). I don't believe they contribute to effective strategy or success in your marketing programs; they have been overused to the point of making them meaningless."Doing More with Less"--The only way to do more with less is to develop improved skill sets, efficiencies or communications among existing

Joe Kovacs APRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05811634694365799232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-30081617025580804452009-09-07T19:05:00.004-06:002009-09-07T19:19:22.951-06:00

For those of you who believe you're not doing public relations...for those who think you HIRE people to do public relations, here's a story for you:A few weeks ago, in a neighborhood close to Denver that will remain nameless, I had two not-so-great experiences in a period of only five minutes that helped me form a powerfully negative opinion about that neighborhood at the speed of light. As I was

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-2873247328424373752009-08-22T09:57:00.005-06:002009-08-22T10:11:03.971-06:00

Yesterday, someone I follow on Twitter issued a tweet to this video. WARNING: it is graphic, disturbing and gruesome.The point of the video is to show what horrible things can result when you let yourself get distracted by your mobile phone when you're driving. This is something I also feel strongly about: if someone is calling when I'm driving, I'll most likely let the call go to voice mail or,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-41660186378229464512009-07-27T20:34:00.008-06:002009-07-27T21:07:41.806-06:00

A lot of PR people come from journalism and for good reason. They have prior experience going through the hassle of developing and delivering stories on deadline, even when people don't call back or seem unwilling to talk to you. Consequently, once they enter the PR world, they're more likely to be helpful to journalists calling for information. They've been there before.PR pros who have never

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-17370856393961667502009-06-15T12:04:00.004-06:002009-06-15T12:10:47.260-06:00

Below are additional tips and suggestions for improving your nonprofit’s exposure by using Twitter. These follow a post generated on Sunday, June 7.4. Follow Your Impact on Twitter By Monitoring RetweetsHow are your followers responding to your tweets? Are they retweeting your messages to disseminate them to an even wider audience? Occasionally, click your profile name on the menu that appears on

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-55910019794111974972009-06-07T10:48:00.021-06:002009-06-09T14:02:08.253-06:00

I wish Twitter had been around back in the days when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sri Lanka and the communications director of a non-profit humanitarian organization, American Near East Refugee Aid. Twitter can help communications professionals connect with new supporters, donors and other stakeholders, and develop exposure for the needs facing underserved populations around the world. For

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-32732402702443717912009-05-23T21:37:00.010-06:002009-05-24T18:59:41.675-06:00

(In light of Sri Lanka's high profile these past few weeks, and the end of the 26-year-old war between the Sinhalese government and the Tamil Tigers, I submit this multi-part entry on my assignment as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sri Lanka from 1997 to 1998).When the Peace Corps pulled its volunteers out of Sri Lanka in 1998, I didn't want to go. That year marked the 50th anniversary of Sri Lanka's

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-405422602032082702009-05-13T16:06:00.005-06:002009-05-13T16:45:03.200-06:00

Notwithstanding the Dow Jones nosedive today, the last few months have offered indications that the stock market is showing something slightly better than a flat line. The cover of this week's New Yorker even takes a somewhat Lord of the Rings-ish approach to offering glimpses of hope for future days. (Anyone who has seen that visual of a construction worker perched atop the steel-beam frame of a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-53691621737768499772009-05-07T06:14:00.006-06:002009-05-07T12:38:17.276-06:00

Last weekend, I volunteered at the Green Festival in Denver, co-hosted by Green America and Global Exchange. My assignment was to oversee a recycling, composting and trash station on the trade show floor. Throughout my four-hour shift, exhibitors and attendees stopped by. In many cases, they knew where to put their waste. Other times, I had to help out. Most of the discarded products--plates,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-42524767843675768142009-05-01T06:41:00.018-06:002009-05-07T07:13:06.341-06:00

Last night, I attended the May meeting of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society at Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden. The topic was "Climate Change and the Role of Concentrating Solar Power" and the speaker was Chuck Kutscher, principal engineer and manager of the Thermal Systems Group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and past chair of the American Solar Energy Society.Dr. Kutscher

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-23334755918940190752009-04-03T17:39:00.000-06:002009-04-03T19:50:30.537-06:00

This morning the U.S. Department of Labor released its March (un)employment report and, as expected, the numbers were pretty rough, spiking the nation's unemployment rate to 8.5 percent. One amusing aspect of the DOL language--only a dry, bureaucratic government report could pull this one off--was how it described the unemployed as "job losers" (paragraph 4). Even I had to smile. Yes, I am a job

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-65980274182542998892009-03-22T15:10:00.001-06:002009-03-24T17:03:16.650-06:00

I'm feeling good.At the Tattered Cover Bookstore the other day, a certain book title grabbed my attention: The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Crash Following the Greatest Boom in History by Harry Dent. Searching Amazon.com for similarly inspiring titles later on, I found these lovely little nuggets: Game Over: How You Can Prosper in a Shattered Economy by Stephen Leeb and The Wall

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-61248276691532274812009-03-19T06:54:00.000-06:002009-03-21T09:54:06.460-06:00

At a breakfast meeting of PR and marketing communications professionals in Broomfield, CO yesterday, five of us discussed how a social media tool such as Twitter can be used to reach customers and convince them to make purchases.That question, by itself, has a simple answer: it can't. However, utilizing Twitter as one tool of a broader marketing mix of tactics can help position your product or

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-41183780799325526992009-03-16T21:30:00.000-06:002009-03-21T09:59:51.627-06:00

Beginning a job search is a challenge any time. In late 2007, when people were scratching their heads and wondering how the subprime mortgage collapse might impact the broader economy, I was looking for work in Denver. Now, only a year and a half later, after Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Fannie Mae, GM and Chrysler, we KNOW the impact. And I'm now at it again. A couple thoughts follow from

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-73295132595895309452009-03-15T20:22:00.000-06:002009-03-15T20:39:38.111-06:00

The New York Times has been covering the movement of newly unemployed professionals to freelancing at "In Hard Times, Freelancers Turn to the Web" and "Weary of Looking for Work, Some Create Their Own". Becoming a successful entrepreneur typically takes discipline, persistence, self-motivation, a positive spirit and sufficient skills to develop and implement a solid business plan. But of course

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8384044557444297067.post-32707491534146355902009-03-15T15:58:00.000-06:002009-03-15T16:29:48.669-06:00

A scratch presumes an itch. And right now I'm itching to take the next step in my public relations career following a corporate restructuring that is about to leave me unemployed. First, let me say I am grateful for all I have learned and accomplished over the past year or more. Secondly, it is daunting to begin blogging without having done so before, which leaves one uncertain about one's own

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0