Mike’s Points

This is off the focus of what I regularly post, but the photographer in me just had to share . . . .

My family and I saw two rainbows outside our back door Saturday evening after a bit of a freakish and brief thunderstorm. Around 6 to 6:30 p.m., it was only lightly raining in our back yard — across the street, the rain was coming down noticeably harder. When the rain turned to a sprinkle or light mist, we saw two rainbows!

Has anyone else seen two rainbows before? We had never seen two at one time before. One was dominant, but both visible. Below are four of the dozen or so photos I took:

In looking at the dominate (lower) rainbow, the colors were amazing. Not sure if you can see it, but the R-O-Y-G-B-I-V colors were clear.

Just gotta say, “Thank you, God for breaking out the second pallette Saturday evening!”
– Mike

Technorati tag: rainbows

Awhile ago, I wrote about the “growing media tree.”

With so many emerging media avenues — blogs, vblogs, podcasts, etc. — combined with the plethora of established media why are good journalists being fired?

Why isn’t there room for all — particularly those who are trained, talented, professional gatherers of information and providers of opinions?

Blogs, for the most part, are nothing more than opinion, rants and compliments — as I’ve said before, we’re columnists or online versions of radio talk show hosts. Jeff Jarvis/BuzzMachine echoed those same points just the other day.

Why can’t traditional media — print media — find out how to make more money from the valuable services they provide?

Is the fact that bloggers and others are giving away their insight, knowledge and the rare news scoop making people assume that information should be free?

Is there less advertising — the primary revenue stream for publications — because the payback is decreasing? (Okay, I think we all know the answer is yes.)

Should publications seek sole sponsors for entire issues?

Should they pimp their top journalists as speakers and guest writers to obtain additional revenue?

Are publications just going to lay down and roll over in the growing onslaught of social media?

There just has to be opportunities — paying opportunities — for the good journalists who are being dumped daily. Right?

– Mike

Technorati tag: journalism

(UPDATED approx. 9:30 a.m. with a Shake Well Before Use post at the bottom.)

For your humor, thinking and just surfin’ pleasure, I offer the following for your consideration:

Yom Kippur: A Post of Atonement, Gary Goldhammer/Below the Fold (Gary is sorry. I can relate to quite a number of Gary’s apologies. So, even though I’m not Jewish, I am sorry as well.)

Dear Americans, Noble Duty Milblogger Coalition/A Soldier’s Perspective. (A letter to Americans from President of Irag Jalal Talabani.)

September 2006 issue of PR-e-Sense, with a focus on corporate blogs, PRIME POINT Foundation. An India-based PR e-zine, with podcasts. (Note: Check out the great piece by the guy on page 7 of the e-zine, in pdf format.) Seriously, it’s great to get industry perspectives from around the world.

Cafepharma discussion board. A follow up to my earlier post on discussion boards. With so many anonymous posts, the pharmaceutical industry must be a dangerous place for employees. Found the board from ex-Pfizer exec Dr. Peter Rost.

Small Business (A Special Report), by WSJ’s Gwendolyn Bounds. I’ve only glanced through this, but it looks like a good read. I found it from another blog, but don’t recall where. My apologies for no pointer.

bloggers, where are they now?, Ariel/ShakeWellBeforeUse. Great observation and question at the end. Here’s a teaser: “New bloggers are only as good as their last post, but is ‘blog tenure’ deserving of such leniancy?”

You know, it’s really never too early to shop for your favorite public relations pro, or client contact you want to impress or educate, co-worker, spouse, neighbor or friend.

Yeah, I don’t like shopping that much either. But whether you are looking to celebrate Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan or even Boxing Day, let me help you.

Peter Shankman’s first book — “Can We Do That? Outrageous PR Stunts That Work–And Why Your Company Needs Them” — starts to ship Dec. 6, 2006. You can pre-order your copy now.

Peter is CEO of GeekFactory, a company he’s started twice. He blogs, started Airtroductions, is involved in the YoungPRPros Group on Yahoo!, and probably other stuff.

I first came in contact with Peter at the YPRP group. Like many others there, he provides some valuable insight, as well as some goofiness. My take on Peter is that he looks at and practices our profession with a unique eye.

And, that’s what I think we can learn from his book: To not do the same you did last year for clients with a new product, or other PR program. Think what you can do that will do more for your clients. Think of something that your clients won’t expect but should achieve the results they need. Think differently.

– Mike

Technorati tags: books, Peter Shankman

Blogs, by nature, are opinionated. Right? Okay, not always, but they are full of opinions and comments more so than cold, hard news and facts.

So, if you blog, you’d better have a thick skin. Be able to take criticism and, like we should do in public relations, decide if criticsms are worth responding to.

IF you respond — whether via comments, your own blog or e-mail — don’t get into a cat fight. Really, what good ever comes from name-calling?

The need for bloggers to be thick skinned hit home (okay, I was at work) Friday after I tried to post a comment about Amanda Chapel/Brian Connolly’s strumpette for sale sign.

Now, AC/BC’s blog was pretty well-known for being critical of many if not most PR professionals and the industry as a whole. That’s fine. Many of the posts were good reads, and made for good discussion. Many posts, however, were personal and professional attacks. Especially, if you ask Edelman.

If you’re going to hurl attacks or even just an opposing point of view at some, you’d better be ready to receive criticisms back. And, how one replies reflects a lot on that person — good or bad.

AC/BC’s e-mailed reply lead me to believe my comment was not going to be posted:
“You, my knucklehead friend, are the bottom of the barrel. The very reason we are raising money is to get past your kind. You don’t know what you’re talking about and you are not capable of learning. The time to takes to set you (plural) straight is annoyance that rises to distraction. We don’t want a conversation with you. We made that clear some months ago. Go away now.”

Okay, for clarification and to get a reference or two to what AC/BC meant, here’s my comment that I just don’t think will be approved:

“Compelling and extendible brand with huge upside potential”

Funny. That could be read that the strumpette.com site is currently near the bottom of the heap or a risky bet. You often hear about high school basketball stars who might be drafted by the NBA as having “huge upside potential.”

So, is strumpette.com high school-ish? Or, just too fresh?

But, seriously, any site is only as good as its contents. Are the current authors — Web master as well — included in that offer? Even the best of succession plans fall apart if the new owners don’t have the — dare I say — talent and vision as those who lead it to success?

Yes, AC/BC and I had a bit of back-and-forth, with my pointing out their thin-skinned approach, and pointing out that I did pay them a compliment (even if it was a bit back-handed). (If you are interested in seeing the e-mail exchange, let me know.)

Earlier this summer, I was critical of, or at least disagreed with a point made by Josh Hallett about branding and who controls it. (See my comment in Josh’s post.) Did he blast me? No, he explained and clarified his point.

Look at another example early in my blogging life. I criticized some points made about and by Dave Taylor in a “Rocky Mountain News” article. (The article has since been removed or archived as my original link to the article isn’t valid.)

Dave replied to my post and explained his points in the comments. He didn’t YELL AT ME, or hurl insults.

If you blog and if you are going to stick your neck out to make positive and/or negative comments about others, don’t respond with nasty, name-calling e-mails when someone calls you out on it. Be constructive in replies, and for heaven’s sake, get a thick skin.

– Mike

Technorati tags: blogging

Are journalists better diggers of information than police and prosecutors? Or, do “sources” trust or simply like journalists better?

Investigative journalists have done a lot of good. Unless, of course, you’re President Richard M. Nixon. Or, Barry Bonds. They might disagree.

“USA Today” Columnist Christine Brennan (and Toledo, Ohio, native!) has a column today that talks notes the possible jail time two “San Francisco Chronicle” reporters face if they do not divulge to federal prosecutors the source(s) who leaked grand jury testimony from Bonds that he allegedly unknowingly took steroids.

While reading the column, this hit me: Why can’t federal prosecutors do the same digging that the two Chronicle reporters did?

“In a hearing in U.S. District Court in San Francisco Thursday afternoon, the two reporters will tell Judge Jeffrey White why they shouldn’t be put in jail for refusing to reveal who leaked them confidential grand jury testimony they reported in exposing Bonds and others. The U.S. attorney on the case, Debra Wong Yang, wants Williams and Fainaru-Wada to go to jail for 18 months unless they reveal their source, which they of course will not do.”

Why is it that “sources” will talk to journalists but not to the authorities?

Well, in this case, I guess the fact that divulging grand jury testimonial that isn’t your own testimony is illegal.

But — and I don’t mean to disparage the police or other authories, I have the utmost respect for them — there must be other reasons why these “sources” tend to speak up more to journalists than authorities.

For an opposing view to Brennan’s column, check out, Why Reporters Must Reveal Illegal Leakers at the Ethics Scoreboard.

– Mike

Technorati tags: investigative journalism

I knew something productive and worthwhile would come from my blatant pitch for links last week. (Okay, I really didn’t know, but somewhere in the recesses of my ego, I hoped.)

A “separation Saturday” post from David Binkowski reminded me of an often-spoken comment from one of the partners at my employer. It’s something to the effect of:

Clients will always find a way to pay for a good idea.

Even if/when budgets are gone, if we come up with a good idea, one that will make an impact, clients will buy into it and pay for it. That line of thinking is true whether you are with an agency or an in-house department.

That approach and philosophy helps me to look at different and atypical ways to promote clients’ products and services, better educate their customers and prospects, and, as noted above, help clients make an impact in their respective marketplaces.

It also forces me to continue to become more aware of and informed of clients’ businesses.

Afterall, if an agency is not continually offering clients value, why do the clients need the agency?

And, I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank the following for the “link love” and birthday wishes:

BloggingMeBloggingYou

Below the Fold

The previously-mentioned Mr. Binkowski

Flackette!

Communication Overtones

Media Guerrilla

Strive Notes

And, Mr. “PR 2.0″ himself, PR Squared

– Mike

Blogs are probably the most well-known and popular of social media. However, discussion boards can’t be far behind. (Regarding the headline, yes, I know there are different types of social media.)

Discussion boards are good for getting the pulse of a subject or industry, surveying and getting direct feedback from members, and interacting with members in other ways.

Some boards, by gollly, even have forums to post news releases. It can’t get much easier than that! But, few do offer that blatant of an PR opportunity.

Like in blogging and other forms of interaction, focus on building relationships, being active, involved and contributing, and helping — not overtly pitching.

I’ve been involved in a few boards of late, and listed them below. I also found many more just by doing a search for “discussion boards.”

Homebrewing. Gosh, there are three that I found: BrewBoard, RealBeer and HomeBrewTalk.

Plastics: Injection Molding Magazine’s Network Forum

Community forums like Toledo, Ohio’s ToledoTalk, and one by the “Honolulu Advertiser” newpaper.

If you want to reach the narrow-minded, bigoted white pride people demographic, then register at the Stormfront White Nationalist Community.

If you looking to reach a literary audience, there’s the African-American Literature and Book Club board.

What about those interested in Pregnancy & Parenting? Or, a broad range of online communities?

For the utility industry, there’s TheMeterGuy (see the Tailboard link).

Of course, there are many automotive-related boards and chat rooms.

If the video gaming market or demographic is your target, check out the Neoseeker Forums.

And, finally, we can’t forget about the violin demographic.

As you can see, there is a discussion board for nearly every interest, topic and subject. When using social media for your company or clients, there’s an entire universe of discussion boards. If you don’t find yours, start one.

– Mike

Technorati tags: discussion boards, social media

For anyone who knows me, next Monday (September 18) is kind of sort of noteworthy. Even if you don’t know me — and few if any of you really do — if you know my Yahoo! ID (miked918), then you might get a hint (my BIRTHDAY!) of just what that day is.

Now, I try to be a humble man and not really tout myself, nor my blog like . . . oh others do to try to beef up links and the like. (Right, Scott?!)

And, honestly, I don’t expect any presents or special suprises like that.

But maybe . . . just maybe . . . I could get a few more links and new people to link to me.

Now, I don’t want to seem ungrateful. I’m very appreciative of those who I have asked– I think it’s only three people — to link to me (Mike, Colin, Peter . . . any others?).

And, of course, I am also very appreciative of those who have blogrolled me out of the goodness of their hearts. Fine people like Todd, John, Kami, Ed, the good people at NAM, of course AC/BC, Robert, CJ and his Noble Duty Milblogger Coalition, Mike, Peter, Ellee, Lisa Renee, Mike again, Mike again2, the good folks at Hass MS&L, Chris, Mike again3 (gotta appreciate your local bloggers!), Ryan (though, unfortunately, I think he’s on hiattus), Mike again4, Chuck Roast, Amena, Sherrilynne, Tony and Fleishman-Hillard’s CSR blog.

Least we not forget the other fine peole who after — much to my surprise — have also linked to a blog post. I mean folks like Scott, B.L., Jeremy and via BlogRun, Todd, Drew, Doc, Tom, Josh, Phil, Philip, Phillippe, Christian, Matt, Fard, the other Phillippe, the other Todd, Michael, David, Zaid, Craig, Paloma, Don — though you really should visit his cancer-related blog, BlueOvalBlogs, Ian, Marie and the other Michael.

Now, for my birthday, it would be really nice — though not at all expected, mind you — for these kind people to toss another link my way and (sorry, getting greedy here) encourage their friends to link to me. Yes, I’m looking for a few new blog links.

Well, more than a few, I guess.

Plus, what about other equally wonderful bloggers like Richard, Mike and Steve? Or, Robert, Stephen or Heather, Constantin, Richard or Kevin — strike that. I don’t want to be noted there. Make that Kevin’s other. Or, how about it David or David, or Joseph, Shel, Mike, Gary, Paul, Andrea , Susan or Lauren? At least, David?

Just a one-time link — as it’ll expire from Technorati in three or six months — and I’ll be back to where I should be, Technorati-wise.

If I’ve forgotten anyone who has linked to me, I do sinicerely apologize. Please let me know with a comment or e-mail (remember, that’s miked918!), and I’ll add you.

Afterall, I’m not expecting any presents. Consider this post my present to all of the great people I’m fortunate to have met — even if only digitally — and have read.
– Mike

I know you don’t care what I was doing the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, and I’m not going to drag you down memory lane. Fine for those who do, but that’s not me.

Ten weeks to the day before Sept. 11, I was at Windows on the World at the World Trade Center, preparing for a major client news conference that morning. I’ve never been one to play “what if,” but maybe being there so soon before the terrorists’ attacks makes 9/11/01 mean a little different to me than it does to you. Not any better or worse. Just different.

Let me indulge in a couple points before you leave, if you please:

One fact about those killed on Sept. 11 that I rarely ever hear about is the diverse nationalities of those victim. It was an attack on America, but it wasn’t an attack only against Americans.

The 2996 people who were killed represented 37 countries, based on the victims’ known citizenship. Yes, the bulk were Americans, but 36 other countries felt the attack that day.

If you want to learn more about those killed on Sept. 11, 2001, — and I just learned of this today — go here or try here. There was a call for bloggers to profile each of the 2996 victims. (As of this posting, the DCROE site was down or slow; likely do to heavy traffic.)

In the meantime, you can read about Edward (Ted) R. Hennessy, Timothy Patrick McSweeney or Julian T. Cooper.

– Mike

Technorati tags: Windows on the World, Sept. 11, 200, 2996