What follows is the unedited version of my most recent post, currently live at TechCrunch. Credit: Stuant63 via Flickr It’s official. We’re in a recession. Recessions naturally inject fear and panic, which is only heightened by every discussion of market losses, layoffs, bailouts, and somber predictions. We’re only human after all; of course everything affects us personally and emotionally. Fear is not a catalyst for productivity however. With valuable advice pouring in from concerned and sympathetic entrepreneurs and proven leaders,…
TechCrunch Kills The Embargo, But PR Holds the Smoking Gun
Disclosure, I am a contributor to TechCrunch and I have had my fair share of embargoes broken by various reporters and bloggers over the years. In some cases, we trusted the wrong people. Credit In what is sure to come as an absolute surprise to the tech PR industry, TechCrunch proclaimed that it will no longer honor embargoes, unless they’re granted exclusivity. The move was triggered by a growing pattern of underhanded and also irresponsible behavior in the backchannels of…
Redefining the Echo Chamber to Excel in an Economic Crisis
My latest post is now up on TechCrunch. What follows is the unedited director’s cut. The point of this article is to redefine how startups (not solely tech companies) view and define early adopters and the “echo chamber” in order to gain momentum in order to “cross the chasm” to the next tier of evolution, adoption, and monetization. This is about uncovering the very people who can benefit from what they’re introducing and in turn, evolve the product/service based on…
Launching at TechCrunch50? Don’t Fire Your PR Just Yet
Note, This is the uncut, unedited version of my TechCrunch post, “The Big Conference Launch: How to Stand Out from the Crowd.” I’m also running this version to provide a deeper understanding of how to rise above the noise with at least 124 other tech companies/products competing for mind share at TechCrunch50 and DEMOfall. Disclosure: I am not affiliated with TechCrunch50. If you are a participating TC50 company, resident TechCrunch PR expert Sarah Ross is available to share and review…
PR is Not Dead
Source Stop the presses…there’s another “PR is Dead” meme that’s circulating the blogosphere again. This time, all that’s new is that many bloggers are revealing that they prefer discovering new and interesting products on their own and breaking the news before anyone else. Welcome to the news business. Any print or broadcast news reporter would say the same thing, and honestly, it’s the competition and desire to break news first that’s driven the business for over 100 years. Did that…
SEC To Recognize Corporate Blogs as Public Disclosure, What This Means for Wires and Press Releases
Note: This post originally ran on TechCrunch, “SEC To Recognize Corporate Blogs as Public Disclosure. Can We Now Kill the Press Release?” Here’s the director’s cut, “SEC To Recognize Corporate Blogs as Public Disclosure, What This Means for Wires and Press Releases” For several years, Sun CEO, Jonathan Schwartz has lobbied the SEC to allow disclosure of financial information through corporate blogs. In a landmark announcement, it seems that Mr. Schwartz may indeed get his wish, and with it, a…
PR Tips for Startups – The Director’s Cut
Note: This post was originally published on TechCrunch as “PR Secrets for Startups.” Many thanks to Michael Arrington and Erick Schonfeld for giving me the opportunity to share my experiences with the startup community. Due to space constraints, the original draft, which was entitled “PR Tips for Startups,” did not run in its entirety. Some of the edits actually wound up changing the context of the post and its intentions. I’ve included the full draft for you here, as I…
The Evolution of Press Releases
Thank you to Erick Schonfeld and Michael Arrington for giving me the opportunity share my vision, and experience, on the evolution of the press release on TechCrunch. There’s certainly no shortage of opinions on where we are and where we need to be in order to improve the working relationships between PR and bloggers, journalists, and analysts and the brands we ultimately represent – including our own. There are just better ways to share information, and hopefully, this post helps…
The Evolution of the News Business – Did the New York Times Miss the Point?
The Business of News Chapter I – The Town Crier Chapter II – The Printing Press and Newspapers Chapter III – Radio Chapter IV – Television Chapter V – The Web Chapter VI – Mobile Alerts Chapter VII – Blogs OK, yes it’s just a crude and simple representation of the evolution of news. My point is that blogs are merely the latest chapter, and not the only means for breaking news today. I think the New York Times…
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Conversation Has Left The Building
Earlier this year, I wrote “The Value of Online Conversations,” to share and talk through my thoughts related to improving the quality of online discussions in the face of potential degradation and decentralization of important online discussions. We live in the era of Social Media, which represents the socialization of content and conversations as well as the creation of communities around thoughts and ideas. People are the hubs of information and we’re witnessing the creation of mini-societies that expand, contract,…
