Cambridge’s Conduit Labs was just purchased by west coast Facebook gaming company Zynga.  The deal, announced yesterday, was partially reporter just over a week ago by Scott Kirsner in a tweet after he heard about it while standing on line for ice cream at Fenway — setting up, as Nabeel pointed out, one of the best puns in journalism ever.  (more…)

Summer is either the best or the worst time for getting anything done in the business world, depending on whether you talk with a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty type. (more…)

I went on vacation last week and when I got home the mailman delivered a big stack of newspapers, magazines, and of course, bills and junk mail.  (Surprisingly little of the last category, maybe it is time for a resurgence in the direct mail industry.)  The mailman also delivered a subtle statement on the value of the print media. (more…)

I used to be a PR bigot — PR was better, faster, stronger than all other types of marketing.  Then the World Wide Web happened.  (more…)

Wouldn’t it be great if you knew what a reporter wanted to write?  Well, you can know, if you look at the editorial calendar. (more…)

When sleep doesn’t come right away, I often watch movies on TV, catching bits and pieces of them, rarely watching a movie from start to finish.  Hence, it often takes months before I see all of a movie, if ever.  I’ve seen snatches of the 2008 film Bottle Shock, the mostly true story of how Napa Valley took on the French wine industry in 1976.  It makes for an entertaining take on the vintner wars, even when you know it was shot from a unabashedly patriotic view.

I see it as an interesting public relations story. (more…)

Yes, yes, there are media databases and it is possible to start this kind of a project using one but frankly, you are just going to have to go back through it and do this work anyway.  Plus you are paying big bucks for that database access and the temptation is to not do the research to confirm that the names that turn up are really your best targets.  (And then you can find yourself in the embarrassing situation of contacting someone who “stopped covering that beat 6 months ago” or “When I said I write about finance, I meant personal finance”.) (more…)

This coming week I am going to be part of a panel of local women entrepreneurs speaking about Women in Business.  (This was organized by Andrea Paquette from the Lexington Community Education program where I regularly teach a class on using social media to market your business.)  I have to admit to being torn about being identified as a female entrepreneur.  I wonder if  this is a dated concept or if there is really and truly a unique set of challenges, issues and concerns for women.  Are we still in need of extra assistance?  Do we need our own special panel? (more…)

Last night I attended a dinner organized by local Innovation Economy “catalyst” Scott Kirsner, columnist for the Boston Globe.  (You can read about the dinner itself on my other blog on Mass Innovation Nights.  Since this is my blog for PR and Marketing people, I’ll look at the evening from a different perspective.)  (more…)

Over the years I have had dozens of interns, probably hundreds, from colleges all over New England.  Sometimes I have had one intern at a time.  Other times I have had up to nine interns working for me simultaneously.  I’m still in touch with lots of my former interns – some of them, more than 20 years later.  They are a great group of people and I am honored I got to work with them.

Over the years I have developed a method of managing the primary logistics of internships that has worked quite well for me and the interns.  As I have installed this process in several companies, it has even perpetuated a bit.  So, by request, here’s an overview.  (Note: This has little to do with the actual management of the interns themselves but more the process surrounding their internship.) (more…)